Thursday, August 24, 2000

Teams Announced Protection Roster

Five CBA teams officially announced their five-man PROTECTION ROSTER on August 22. A total of 25 players are protected. Players who are not on the protection roster will be automatically in the draft pool of the September 4th BALANCE DRAFT.

Although several players were dropped from the protection list, there is no major surprise in the protection roster. Almost every team was able to hold on to its starters.

The only surprise could be former Mars Taiwanese-American player Matt Bryant. 6-2 guard Bryant, who played in U.S. Christopher Newport University, was protected by the Hong-fu Rams. Roster-thin Rams negotiated with Mars for Bryant before the announcement and will have to pick last in the first round draft.

Complete Protection Roster

Hong-kuo Elephant
Chou Jun-san, PG ; Lo Shin-liang, SG ; Chiu Ter-chi, SG/SF ; Huang Chun-hsiung, SF/PF ; Liu Yi-shiang, C

Yulon Dinos
Chen Hsin-an, SG/SF ; Chiu Chi-yi, SG ; Chou Hong-yu, SF ; Wu Chi-wei, C ; Chiu Tsun-chi, F

Luckipar Panthers
Hsu Yung-yi, SG ; Lai Kuo-hong, C/PF ; Lin Hsin-hwa, C/PF ; Chen Chih-chun, PG ; Yang Yu-min, SG

BBC Mars
Yen Hsin-shu, PG ; Chen Tser-min, C ; Lin Chia-hwang, SG ; Chen Huei, PG ; Lee Chi-yi, PF

Hong-fu Rams
Chu Chih-chin, PF/C ; Hsiung Jen-chen, SF ; Shan Wei-fan, PF ; Liaw Wei-chen, PF/C ; Matt Bryant, PG/SG

Among the protected players, Yen Hsin-shu and Chen Huei of Mars, Chen Chih-chun of Luckipar are/will be in the military service, but their team decided to protect them anyway. Protected players cannot be traded until after the balance draft.

CBA will held the open tryout on August 25 for all free agent players who are not on roster of any team right now. The official draft list will be released on August 28. On August 31 the draft order will be decided by open draw.

Wednesday, August 23, 2000

Teams Stick with Local Coaches

Hong-fu Rams hired Lee Chi-chan as its head coach and filled the last coaching vacancy of CBA teams. The hiring leaves the league without any foreign coach for the first time in league history.

A former Mars player, Lee also coached the team in two different stints and compiled a 51-54(.486) record. At one point he was a player/coach with the team. Lee was released as an assistant last year by Mars after the financial crisis of the Kuo-yang Group, which owned the Mars at the time.

Aside from Hong-fu, no other teams make coaching changes in the new season. Yulon stays with Chien Yi-fei, the only coach in its team history starting from 1994. Luckipar's Jack Mai will again be the only GM/coach in the league. Hong-kuo keeps Chiu Da-tsun, who was promoted from assistant after former American coach Paul Coughter left, as its head man. Chun Chi-men, who guided Mars to 1998 CBA Finals, also stays with the team.

In order to keep their budgets down, teams prefer lower-paid local coaches. Although they cannot but admit that most foreign coaches are better than locals in terms of basketball knowledge and coaching experience.

South Korean Cheng Kwon Hee of Dacin Tigers, the only foreign coach from the last CBA season (1999), left the team after his three-year contract expired. At the same time, Dacin announced it will not participate the 2000 CBA season. Tigers will play in the lower level A-League instead.

Prior to leaving Taiwan, Cheng led Taiwan Junior NT to bronze medal in this year's ABC Junior Championship.

Friday, August 18, 2000

CBA Salary Cap Announced

CBA announced the salary restrictions of the new season on August 16. Each team will have a team salary cap of 1.2 million NT (38,710 USD) per month, while the monthly salary for local player can be no more than 180,000 NT (5806 USD).

Compared to the old salary restrictions before the league suspended its season in March, 1999, the new figures are about only 60% of the old ones. It means teams do not want to overpay their players like they used to, and they want to run the team on minimum budget.

Even the import players will get a much lesser pay. Observers think the lesser pay for import will hurt the league because better players will opt to play in Europe or other Asian country. Before the suspension, better import player are usually paid for up to 8,500 USD per month. Under the new rule, the maximum they can have is around 6,000.

Notes on new salary restrictions ( NT : USD = 31 : 1 )
Team salary cap: 1.2 million NT per month(Import salaries not included)
Minimum player salary: 40,000 NT per month
Maximum player salary: 180,000 NT per month
Import players salary cap: 10,000 USD per month

Import players salaries will not count against the 1.2M team salary cap. Since each team are allowed to keep two imports, I figure they will applied either the 6000-4000 format or 5000-5000 format.

CBA will hold the Balance Draft, which aims on moving local players around and balancing the competition level of each team, on September 4.

Friday, August 11, 2000

CBA Balance Draft Report

Chinese Basketball Alliance, which will re-open after suspending it's season in March, 1999, will hold its first ever BALANCE DRAFT on September 4. The purpose of the draft is to balance the competition level of all five participating teams in the new season.

Each team is allowed to keep five original players, while place other players in the draft pools. Teams will make draft picks in orders decided by a later draw this week. A total of 58 players will play in the 2000 season.

The only team not participating the new season is Dacin Tigers, which announced it will leave the CBA and opt to play in the semi-pro A-LEAGUE. Cheng Chih-Lung, the most celebrated Taiwanese player thruout Asia, is with the Tigers and will be missed in the new pro season.

Broadcast Corporation of China(BCC), which is owned by political party KMT, also announced it will officially take over Mars on August 14.

League office did not release the KEPT PLAYER LIST. However, the prediction is as follows:

Hong-kuo Elephants
Conant Chu 182cm PG
Chou Jun-San 175cm PG
Lo Shin-Liang 182cm SG
Huang Chun-Hsiung 200cm SF
Liu Yi-Shan 200cm C

Yulon Dinos
Chen Hsin-An 194cm SF/SG
Chiu Chih-Yi 182cm SG
Chiu Zhon-Chi 197cm SF
Wu Chih-Wei 202cm C
Chou Hong-Yu 195cm SF

Hong-fu Rams(still one player short)
Chu Chih-Chin 198cm C
Shun Jen-Zen 190cm SF
Shan Wei-Fan 195cm PF
Wu Shien-Chen 188cm SG/PG
??

Luckipar Panthers(5 out of 6)
Chen Chih-Chun 182cm PG
Lai Kou-Hong 197cm PF
Lin Hsin-Hwa 199cm C
Yang Yu-Ming 180cm SG
Hsu Yon-Yi 190cm SG
Sun Kuo-Chan 194cm SF/PF

BCC Mars(5 out of 6)
Yen Hsin-Shu 182cm PG
Chen Huei 185cm PG
Lin Chia-Huang 184cm SG
Chen Tser-Ming 200cm C
Yang Tse-Yi 192cm SG
Lee Chih-Yi 197cm SF/PF

The Balance Draft will be broadcasted live by MUCH-TV, which will also be the league's new television partner. There will be 120 games in the 2000 season.

After the local balance draft, teams will start bring in import players. Sources said the league has dropped the idea of import draft and will let the teams find players on their own. The league believes the import draft spends too much money and, based on past experience, teams were not satisfied with the players in the draft pool.

CBA will again set the height limit of 6-8 on imports. Players who are between 6-4 to 6-8 will be classified as BIG import. Those who are shorter than 6-4 will be classified as SMALL import. There will probably be a MINUTE RULE on imports, which limit the imports' playing time, but the situation is not clear at this moment.