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.