Friday, September 29, 2000

Taiwan's Next Great Hope: Scouting report on Chen Hsin-An, Taiwan's upcoming hoop star

PROFILE
HEIGHT: 6-3 1/2(193cm)
WEIGHT: 187lbs(85kg)
AGE: 20
BIRTHDATE: July 1, 1980
BIRTHPLACE: Taipei, Taiwan
EDUCATION: College Junior, Taipei Physical Education College
POSITION: Shooting Guard/Small Forward
STATUS: Signed with CBA's Yulon Dinos. Endorsed by NIKE Taiwan.

BRIEF
* Did not play organized basketball prior to high school. Handball was his first sport.
* Father stands only 5-8, mother 5-3. Tallest member and the only athlete in the family.
* Discovered by head coach of Sanchung HS in the street pick-up games. However Chen enrolled in Songshan HS and made the basketball team after finishing No.1 in tryout score.
* Lists Philadelphia star guard Allen Iverson as his basketball idol.


CAREER NOTES
2000
* Named on Yulon Dino's Protection List. Will start his rookie pro season in November.

1999
* Played with BANK OF TAIWAN, one of eight teams in Taiwan's amateur league(A-League). Heavily-favored BT finished third. Chen spent most of his playing time in small forward. Named to the league's All-Star Team as a rookie.
* At 18, Chen became the youngest national team member ever in May 1999, tying the record previously set by 6-3 local hoop star Cheng Chih-lung, who remains the primary scorer in the national team at the age of 30.
* Received his first U.S. college recruiting letter from Cal-State Fullerton in July. Cal-State Northridge and the University of Pittsburgh are also interested.
* MVP and All-Star Team member of the President Cup, one of the two events in A-League (the other one is the A-League regular season games).

1998
* HS Senior. Single-handedly carried unheralded Songshan HS to the 5th place in HBL Division I in his senior year, the first year Songshan jumped to Division I.
* Averaged 20.1 PPG(#21 among all players), 5.6 RPG, 2.3 APG and 1.8 SPG in 19 regular season games. Averaged 18.4 PPG(#3 among all players in the final eight) in Elite Eight playoffs.
* Led Taiwan HS All-Star Team with 17.8 PPG in the International High School Basketball Tournament, which features four teams from Taiwan, South Korea and Japan.
* Starred in 1998 NIKE JAPAN CAMP and drew rare review from NBA star guard Penny Hardaway.
* Selected to Taiwan Junior National Team, which participated in 1998 Asian Junior Basketball Championship(Calcutta, India). Led the team with 23.0 PPG, 7.0 RPG in 9 games and was named to the All-Tournament Team. Emerged as Asian's brightest basketball star ever since. However Taiwan only finished 4th in the tournament.
* Named by ABC(Asian Basketball Confederation) as "THE MOST PROMISING JUNIOR PLAYER IN ASIA", along with 7-5 Chinese center Yao Ming, in December 1998.

1997
* HS Junior. Led Songshan HS to the 3rd place finish in HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL LEAGUE(HBL) Division II.

SCOUTING REPORT
Chen is a super athlete who possesses rare combination of perimeter shooting and various explosive move in the air. A very very exciting player in the open court.

The most unusual aspect of his game that drew insiders' attention is his on-court poise at this young age, plus his passing ability. He's a very unselfish player, sometime so unselfish to a fault.

Physical talent and the will to learn are two of his biggest upsides. Though spending most of his time at small forward, Chen realized he would have to be a shooting guard in order to get to the next level.

Because of his youth, Chen tends to fade into the background sometimes, referring to his elder teammates. He always let the game come to him and never force shots. This fact leads doubters questioning his desire to dominate. However Chen is not afraid to take big shot when the time's right. And he proved it in last year's ABC Championship(Fukuoka, Japan), when he provided instant firepower and knocked down several big shots as a national team reserve.

A yes-sir-no-sir type of kid...very polite...leads a simple life, all basketball and no bad habits...