The top five star players, including Chen Hsin-an and Tien Lei, were included in the 30-man rosters of the 2012 Taiwan men’s national teams announced by the Chinese Taipei Basketball Association on May 23.
Hsu Chin-tse, who led Pure Youth to its first ever SBL title last month, would be the head coach of Taiwan’s national team while Chiu Da-tsun, coach of Dacin Tigers, would be the head coach of the national second team, which is also known as Kwang Hua team.
Chen Hsin-an, arguably Taiwan's best player, would play in his home country Taiwan next season after signing with Pure Youth Construction on Friday, local media reported.
Chen, who spent the last two years with Dongguan in the Chinese league CBA, decided to play closer to his family as he now have two daughters.
The 1.96-meter forward sign with Pure Youth for two years with the maximum monthly salary of NT$120,000 (US$3,936) allowed under SBL regulation. Signing bonuses and incentives were not disclosed. (However, I suspect that PY would pay Chen more than that.)
Chen Hsin-an to sign with PY?
Chen Hsin-an, 31, reportedly will return to Taiwan and sign with Pure Youth after spending the last two years in China with Dongguan.
Chen has finished his two-year contract with Dongguan, where his playing time was limited due to injury and other reasons. According to the United Daily News, Dacin Tigers is also trying to sign Chen, but Chen has not reached a final decision on his future, saying that he wants to focus on the upcoming FIBA Asia Championship for Men right now.
Chen Hsin-an made two free-throws with 0.8 seconds left in the game as Taiwan defeated Japan 75-74 Friday in the opening game of the 2011 East Asian Basketball Championship, which serves as the qualifying tourney for the Asian Championship, in Nanjing, China.
The victory marked the first win for Taiwan NT head coach Chou Jun-san, who debut with the national team Friday. The Japan game was also Taiwan's first game under the guidance of technical advisor Bob Hill, a former NBA head coach.
[No Tien Lei (middle) and Tseng Wen-ting (right) for Taiwan NT this year. Lee Hsueh-lin (left) returned from China to be back with the team.]
The Chinese Taipei Basketball Association on Friday announced the final roster for the upcoming East Asian Basketball Championship, the qualifying tournament for the 2011 FIBA Asia Championship.
The 12-man lineup is led by three core players who played last season in China, including former Taiwan Beer forward Lin Chih-chieh and a pair of ex-Yulon Luxgen stars -- forward Chen Hsin-an and point guard Lee Hsueh-lin.
Taiwan NT head coach Zhang Xuelei announced his 12-man roster for the upcoming FIBA Asia Stankovic Cup tournament with center Tseng Wen-ting back in the mix to boost up the thin frontline.
The tournament will be held in Lebanon from Aug. 7-15 as a qualification tourney for the 2011 Asian Championship, which incidentally will also take place in Lebanon.
It will be also important for Taiwan to participate in this tournament and finish in the top five, which will win seeds for five subzones under FIBA Asia. Since the East Asia zone is granted two seeds in the next Asian Championship, if Taiwan fails to finish in the top five, it will have to vie for the two East Asian seeds with China and Japan, who will not send their teams to Lebanon next month, in the next East Asian Basketball Championship that also serves as a qualifying tournament.
Zhang will welcome back Tseng Wen-ting, who has been in the U.S. for individual training, after Taiwan NT’s miserable 2-4 record and the 5th-place finish in the 2010 Jones Cup. Entering the Jones Cup without a true center, Taiwan NT was outmatched in the paint defensively and could only rely on their perimeter game.
The addition of Tseng may not be probably enough though as most of Taiwan’s core players are still under rehab of their injuries. Tien Lei, Wu Tai-hao and Lin Chih-chieh will once again skip the Stankovic Cup. The health of Chen Hsin-an, who is now playing for China’s Dongguan, is also unclear. Chen was not selected to the national team partially because he did not play in Taiwan at all last year.
Po., Name, Ht., Age
G Lee Hsueh-lin, Yulon, 175cm, 26
G Chen Shih-nian, Taiwan Beer, 180cm, 26
G Yang Ching-min, TB, 188cm, 25
G Hong Chih-shan, Pure Youth, 176cm, 24
G Chen Shun-hsiang, BOT, 190cm, 25
G Jet Chang, BYU Hawaii, 190cm, 21
F Chien Chia-hong, Pure Youth, 196cm, 22
F James Mao, Pure Youth, 196cm, 27
F Lu Cheng-ju, Yulon, 192cm, 23
F Cheng jen-wei, KKL, 194cm, 23
F Chen Tse-wei, Dacin, 200cm, 24
C Tseng Wen-ting, Yulon, 204cm, 26
Head Coach: Zhang Xuelei
Assistants: Chiu Tsun-chih, Chiu Chi-yi
Cross-Strait tournament
The fifth edition of a cross-Taiwan Strait tournament will be held in Taiwan in the end of the month with four teams participating, local media reported. The four teams are: Taiwan Beer, Fujian SBS Xunxin from Chinese League CBA, Hong Kong champion Nam Wah and Macau Fukien basketball team. The tourney will be played at Taipei Municiple Arena and National Yilan University Stadium.
With Chen Hsin-an and Lin Chih-chieh off to China already, more players are expected to leave Taiwan and play in China's Chinese Basketball Association and hurt the popularity of the domestic league even more.
According to media reports, Lee Hsueh-lin of Yulon, Chen Shih-nian of Taiwan Beer and Su Yi-chieh of Dacin are all considering to relocate to China next year, which means the SBL is in danger of losing three starting point guards.
It appears to me that all of them are going because they've been in talks with Chinese teams already with the assistance and consultation of Taiwan Beer marketing director Chen Jian-chou, aka Blackie.
There's no stopping them from going since thier contracts with former teams were up and are free agents.
Given the increasing gaps, in terms of size and financial capability, between the SBL and the CBA, most Taiwanese players would love to play in China to make more money if somebody showed interests. However, I think neither the CTBA nor the seven SBL teams want to see their better players leaving Taiwan.
After seven years, there are still many problems haunting the SBL, including management and marketing for the seven teams and the league, inconsistent officiating, the venue issue, the lack of sponsorship and decreasing interests of local fans.
The SBL and these teams have only themselves to blame because they always spent time to argue the little things rather than sitting down to discuss the vision, plans and future of this league. I love to describe them as street vendors who try to make as much as possible here and there and don't think about tomorrow, instead of serious owners who want to build a brand and a business that lasts 100 years.
Saving money has always been their No.1 priority as well. Hiring extra guys? Salary promotion? Building practice facilities? You can just forget them all.
However, these guys figure that since the SBL is the top domestic league and basketball has always been one of the top two sports (baseball is the other), they can ask for a high price with the TV stations on broadcast rights. But the only reason for ESPN Taiwan to sign the right is to fill up its airtime. That's all.
To solve all these problems, Mao Kao-wen, the newly-elected CTBA president, has to make things happen. After all, CTBA is the driving force behind not only the SBL, but also the development of Taiwanese basketball. But it has been incompetent and dysfunctional for most of the last 20 years.
This will be the first time in the last 20 years that the CTBA president does not own a domestic team, so I guess we can at least have some neutrality here.
Lin Chih-chieh had 8 points and 4 rebounds in Game 3 of the Chinese CBA semifinal between Zhejiang Lions and Xinjiang, a 98-89 Zhejiang loss as the Lions was swept by Xinjiang 3-0 for the second straight year in the playoffs.
Lin is scheduled to return to Taiwan this week but is uncertain to rejoin Tawan Beer for the SBL playoffs. According to the CTBA, citing FIBA regulation, Lin is not allowed to play for teams in different countries in a single season, but TB said it's going to appeal.
Lin was the best Taiwanese player in China this year. Still, his average was down, averaging 11.7 points, 4 rebounds and 2.9 assists in 34 minutes.
Chen Hsin-an had a disappointing season with Dongguan due to injuries. He averaged only 2.4 points in 19 games and was not a regular starter.
Performance of other players in China:
Yen Hsin-shu (Shanghai): 0.9 points in 24 games.
Hsu Hao-cheng (Shanxi): 2.7 points in 23 games.
Lin Kwan-lun (Shanxi): 3 points in 3 games.
Honestly, I don't think these players went to China to "challenge a tougher competition level" like they had claimed. They went there to make more money and could care less about their playing time.
Nobody can fault them with making more money. After all, they are professional players who make a living by playing basketball. But seeing their miserable playing time in China is simply unbearable.
(Chen Hsin-an, left and Lin Chih-chieh, source: Apple Daily)
According to Apple Daily, stats of five Taiwanese players currently playing in China are as follow. They are probably making big bucks, but none of them is receiving enough playing time and making big impacts though.
Chen Hsin-an, Dongguan: 3.7p+1rb
Lin Chih-chieh, Zhejiang: 9p+4.3rb+2s
Yen Hsin-shu, Shanghai: 2a+1s
Hsu Hao-cheng, Shangxi: 1.5rb+1s
Lin Kwan-lun, Shanxi: 3.5p+1.5rb
Apple Daily reported that Yulon Luxgen forward Chen Hsin-an is scheduled to go to China next Sunday and is expected to sign with Dongguan New Century.
Chen, who had surgeries on both knees in June, is working on his conditioning to prepare for the upcoming season in China, which will tip off on Dec. 19.
Once the biggest star in Taiwanese basketball, Chen has been plagued by injuries during the past three years and his skill deteriorated.
With or without Chen, Yulon has been and will always be competitive with the core of center Tseng Wen-ting and a group of aggressive and experienced guards. Which was why Yulon let go of Chen.
Sources told me that Yulon planned to send Chen to Shanxi but Chen opposed the move. Luxgen head coach Zhang Xue-lei, sources said, made up his mind that Yulon would stay competitive without Chen. At the same time he can be a valuable asset for his good friend Wu Qing-long, Shanxi's head coach.
Feeling unwanted, Chen then made his move to contact Chinese teams although he's still under contract. He figured that Yulon would let him do whatever he wanted again, just like what happened in 2002 when he tried out for Sacramento Kings and 2005, when he signed a lucrative contract with ETSN Antelopes before changing mind and re-joining Yulon.
Guess what? Chen was right. Not only Yulon approved his transfer to China but Yulon decided not to challenge Chen's breach of contract.
On other news, Lin Chih-chieh, who's currently in Zhejiang's pre-season training camp, said that his goal for the new season is averaging 10-15 points and 5 assists.
But Lin will have to make a major adjustment in his game, which contains a lot of penetration. Zhejiang head coach Wang Fei, a former Chinese NT member, stresses a lot on set-up plays which require less penetration, more ball movement, cutting and screening.
(Photo: Apple Daily)
Several local media reported that at least three players, including Yulon Luxgen star forward Chen Hsin-an, will sign with Chinese teams and play in China next season and a news wave of Taiwanese players exodus to China looked inevitable.
According to the reports, Taiwan Beer point guard Hsu Hao-cheng and former Kinmen Kaoliang Liquor (KKL) guard Lin Kwan-lun, who was released in the summer, will sign with Shanxi, one of 18 teams in Chinese pro league CBA (Chinese Basketball Association).
Hsu signed a one-year contract and will be paid US$15,000 and Lin signed a two-year contract of a monthly salary of US$8,000.
It was also reported that Chen Hsin-an, one of the best players in Taiwan, will sign with Guangdong for an annual salary of NT$11M (US$340,000) which is 7.6 times of his current salary with Yulon.
Taiwan Beer forward Lin Chih-chieh was the first Taiwanese player to sign with Chinese club this year, inking a one-year contract with Zhejiang in September which will earn him around US$15,000 per month plus incentives.
However, Central News Agency reported that Chen has not signed with any team although he expressed his wish to play in China for better salary.
Chen was quoted as saying that it was true that he has been in contact with three CBA teams, but stories about the NT$11M salary were incorrect.
The 29-years-old forward still has two years left in his contract with Yulon. The interesting thing was that Yulon' general manager Chiang Yu-cheng told a press conference that the team will grant Chen his letter of clearance which allows him to transfer his registration to Chinese basketball authority.
These are not all. Taiwan Beer head coach Yen Chia-hwa was quoted by the media saying that TB center Wu Tai-hao has been courted by as many as six CBA teams with lucrative offers. Yen would not let of Wu, however, stressing that Wu is an irreplaceable piece in TB's quest for the SBL title.
Rumor said Yulon lead guard Lee Hsueh-lin is entertaining the idea of playing in China for better pay, too.
All these rumors make you wonder what will the 2009-2010 SBL season look like when it tips off next January. Will half of Taiwan NT players play in the opposite side of the Taiwan Strait?
On the other hand, I guess we can't blame the players for dumping the SBL for greener pasture when the league they try to leave behind is one which is still without a TV contract and not knowing whether it should allow foreign players or not with one month before its season opener.
Lee Benson and Donta Smith dominated the tournament throughout as China's Shanxi won the 2009 Guanhu Cup Invitational Tournament in the eastern Taiwan resort city of Hualien Sunday after routing Taiwan Beer 102-69 in the title game.
However, the annual tournament which was also known as Hualien Probation Basketball (HPB) tournament has been marred by none other than South Korea's Kyunghee University. The KU team, one of South Korean college basketball powerhouses, boycotted the game on opening day before going for a bench-clearing brawl on the final day.
A good news for Yulon was the return of Chen Hsin-an, who had both of his knees operated in the U.S. this summer. Sitting out for almost the enitre year, Chen Hsin-an was still rusty in his first game back, scoring 6 points and pulling down 6 rebounds in 26 minutes.
Taiwan Beer signed a pair of veterans in Shan Wei-fan and Shin Jin-jan to fill the void of Lin Chih-chieh, who left taiwan to play for China's Zhejiang this year.
Oct. 14
Shanxi 91-76 Yulon
US 99-45 Malaysia
KKL 84-76 Dacin
TB 62-60 Kyunghee Univ.
Oct .15
Kyunghee Univ. 84-81 KKL
Shanxi 91-52 Malaysia
Yulon 82-65 US
TB 78-75 Dacin
Oct. 16
US 75-71 Shanxi
TB 94-85 KKL
Yulon 94-64 Malaysia
Kyunghee 73-58 Dacin
Oct. 17
Shanxi 94-76 Kyunghee Univ.
TB 90-82 Yulon
US 79-66 Dacin
Oct. 18
3rd-place game: Yulon 83-73 Kyunghee Univ.
Title game: Shanxi 102-69 TB
Final Placing:
1. Shanxi
2. Taiwan Beer
3. Yulon
4. Kyunghee University
(Photos: Liberty Times, Apple Daily, UDN.com)
CTBA on Sunday announced the 12-man roster for the upcoming East Asian Qualifying Championship, the qualifying tournament for the 2009 Asian Men's Championship.
Head coach Chung Kwang-suk, a South Korean, submitted the final roster which comprised of players from the top three teams -- Dacin, Yulon and Taiwan Beer -- in the regular season.
Since the team has only 10 days to prepare for the tournament, Chung said, he decided to pick players from only the top three teams who had international competition experience.
One glaring absentee is Yulon star forward Chen Hsin-an, who has been plagued by a knee injury all year which resulted in a mediocre season. It was reported that Chen has flown to the U.S. to seek treatment on his knee.
Local media also reported that Wu Tai-hao, Lin Chih-chieh and Chang Chih-feng could all possibly withdraw from the team due to injury.
The qualifying tournament will tip off in Nagoya, Japan on June 10. Taiwan, along with Mongolia, South Korea, China, Japan and Hong Kong, will fight for two seeds for the Asian Championship.
Taiwan is scheduled to meet host Japan on June 10 and Mongolia on June 12 in the preliminaries.
Taiwan NT roster
Po., Name, Ht., Age
G Lee Hsueh-lin, Yulon, 175cm, 25
G Su Yi-chieh, Dacin, 181cm, 22
G Chang Chih-feng, Dacin, 183cm, 28
G Chen Shih-nian, TB, 180cm, 25
G Yang Yu-min, TB, 176cm, 30
F Lin Chih-chieh, TB, 192cm, 27
F Ho Shou-cheng, TB, 196cm, 26
F Tien Lei, Dacin, 202cm, 26
F Lin Yi-hui, Dacin, 193cm, 23
F Yang Che-yi, Yulon, 193cm, 31
C Tseng Wen-ting, Yulon, 202cm, 25
C Wu Tai-hao, TB, 202cm, 24
Avg. Height: 189.6cm, Age: 26
Regular season champ Dacin Tigers and two-time defending champion Taiwan Beer were one step closer to facing each other in the 2009 SBL Finals after both taking 2-0 leads over their opponents. TB got past Yulon 87-82 in over time and Dacin escape with a 96-93 win over PY.
Chang Chih-feng had 23 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists. Tien Lei had 20 points, including four three-pointers. And import Byron Allen tallied 20 points and 9 rebounds.
Chang Yu-lin, who committed the deadly turnover, and Tsai Wen-cheng each scored 23 for Pure Youth.
Yang Yu-min scored 28 and led Taiwan Beer overcome the loss of Lin Chih-chieh and a 10-point deficit in the third quarter for a hard-fought 87-82 victory in overtime. TB takes a 2-0 lead in the series and is now in the driver's seat.
TB also had a little more luck. Point guard Hsu Hao-cheng banked in a three-pointer with 13.5 seconds to go in regulation to tie the score at 76 all and forced overtime.
Yang Yu-min, who didn't join TB until late season after finishing his season in China's top pro league CBA, picked up the scoring gap. Ho Shou-cheng turned in a double-double in consecutive games with 11 and 15. Center Wu Tai-hao was also brilliant with his 14 points, 8 boards and 4 blocked shots.
Yulon center Tseng Wen-ting shook off a minor slump, contributing 27 points and 9 rebounds. Lu Cheng-ju had 17 points.
However, Chen Hsin-an was once again up inconsistent, failing to score in 22 minutes. With a player of Chen Hsin-an's caliber scoring zero points in 22 minutes, you know Yulon would be in trouble. The chance for Yulon to win was pretty slim.
(Photos: Yahoo Taiwan Sports)
Chang Chih-feng, Dacin.
Two-time SBL Finals MVP Lin Chih-chieh scored 30 points as third-seeded Taiwan Beer cruised past Yulon 78-68 in Game 1 of the SBL first-round playoffs Friday and took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-five series.
Led by Chang Chih-feng's 20 points, regular season champ Dacin Tiger regained its focus in the second half and routed fourth-seeded Pure Youth 88-70 to take the opening win in the first round series.
Lin Chih-chieh had 10 of his game-high 30 points in the second quarter. Ho Shou-cheng contributed 15 points. Center Wu Tai-hao was dominant in the paint, collecting 11 points and 9 rebounds. Wu's three consecutive blocks in the third quarter basically set the tone of this high-intensity game.
Chen Hsin-an was once again the only player Yulon could count on in the post season. He had a team-high 21 points. Tseng Wen-ting, Yulon's top scorer in the regular season, only had 12 points and 8 rebounds.
"The better team won the game tonight, obviously, " said Yulon head coach Zhang Xue-lei. Zhang was not pleased with the team's offensive performance.
Chang Chih-feng led Dacin with 20 points while Tien Lei had an off night with eight points. Wu Chien-lung paced PY with 13 and 9.
(Photos: Yahoo Taiwan Sports)
Chen Hsin-an returned to the court for the first time since the season opener and had an above-average performance of 18 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists, but Taiwan Beer spoiled the party with a 82-79 win as Yulon was knocked down from the No. 1 spot it claimed one day earlier.
Dacin, which defeated Taiwan Mobile 92-76 Saturday, was back on top at 11-3 and Yulon (10-3) fell a half game behind.
TB opened the high-intensity game with a 19-5 run. Yulon quickly recovered and stayed close for most of the game but failed to take advantage of TB's foul trouble. Lin Chih-chieh and Wu Tai-hao were both plagued by early foul trouble. Lin had four fouls with 4:30 to go in the first half while Wu was also whistled for two quick fouls in the first half.
Tien Lei recovered from the worst game of his career and chipped in 18 points, including four dunks. Byron Allem also had his best game of the season, scoring 21 and pulling down 11 boards, in the win that handed TM its 4th consecutive loss.
TB 82-79 Yulon
TB: Yang Ching-min 20p, Lin Chih-chieh 16p+9rb, Ho Shou-cheng 14p
Yulon: Chen Hsin-an 18p+6rb+4a, Chen Chih-chun 18p, Yang Che-yi 16p, Tseng Wen-ting 13p+11rb
Dacin 92-76 TM
Dacin: B. Allen 21p+11rb, Tien Lei 18p+8rb, Chang Chih-feng 19p
TM: Ouyang Ching-heng 18p, M. Boggan 16p+8rb
PY 94-83 KKL
PY: Chien Chia-hong 25p+8rb+5a, Hong Chih-shan 16p, Chen Shih-chieh 14p
KKL: Hsiao Yuan-chan 14p, Lee Wei-min 13p, Shan Wei-fan 13p
The SBL announced the complete 24-man roster for the 2009 All-Star Game Wednesday. Red team also announced that TB forward Lin Chih-chieh will replace injured Yulon forward Chen Hsin-an in its starting lineup.
The replacement meant that Taiwan Beer will have four players start for the Red Team in the annual mid-season All-Star Game, which will be played in Jhubei City, Hsinchu County on February 28.
League-leading Dacin Tigers also placed three players -- including top votegetter Tien Lei, Chang Chih-fung and import Byron Allen -- in the White Team starting lineup.
Red Team (TB, Yulon, Pure Youth)
Starters
Lin Chih-chieh, TB
Ho Shou-cheng, TB
Wu Tai-hao, TB
Yen Shin-shu, TB
Lee Hsueh-lin, Yulon
Subs
Lee Chi-yi, Yulon
Chou Shih-yuan, Yulon
Chien Chia-hung, PY
James Mao, PY
Wu Chien-lung, PY
Chen Shih-chieh, PY
Tseng Wen-ting, Yulon
Chen Hsin-an, Yulon
White Team (Dacin, KKL, TM, BOT)
Starters
Tien Lei, Dacin
Hsu Chih-chan, BOT
Byron Allen, Dacin
Wu Yong-jen, TM
Chang Chih-feng, Dacin
Subs
Su Yi-chieh, Dacin
Lin Yi-hui, Dacin
Cheng Jen-wei, KKL
Chen Ching-hwan, KKL
Lin Kwan-lun, KKL
Yen Cheng-hung, TM
Chen Shun-hsiang, BOT
Top 10 votegetters
1. Tien Lei, Dacin 22,676
2. Wu Tai-hao, Taiwan Beer 20,668
3. Byron Allen, Dacin 19,832
4. Wu Yong-jen, TM 19,574
5. Yen Shin-shu, TB 19,183
6. Lee Hsueh-lin, Yulon 18,641
7. Chen Hsin-an, Yulon 18,473
8. Ho Shou-cheng, TB 17,942
9. Chang Chih-feng, Dacin 15,956
10. Hsu Chih-chan, BOT 14,703
(Photo: SBL)
Yulon beat longtime rival and defending champion Taiwan Beer 72-67 in the 2009 SBL season opening game despite losing Chen Hsin-an to a knee injury late in the game Saturday in Miaoli. Dacin beat KKL 73-67 for the first win of the season but it looked like Tien Lei, who sat out last season due to his knee injury, still needed some time to return to his top form.
Reigning regular season MVP Chen Hsin-an was not going to play the game. However, Chen was the man new head coach Zhang Xu-lei looked for after Yulon dropped its 16-point lead in the second half. Chen did not score though. And he had to leave the game after being stepped on the shin by TB center Wu Tai-hao when he was fighting for a rebound.
Taiwan Beer cut the deficit down to one with 15 seconds left before Yulon saved the day with four late free-throws.
Chou Shih-yuan led Yulon, which changed its team name from Dinos to Luxgen, with 27 points. Tseng Wen-ting had 13 points and rebounds while Chen Chih-chung scored 15. Yang Che-yi had 10.
Yang Chin-min paced TB with 21 points. Two-time Finals MVP Lin Chih-chieh tallied 19 points and 11 boards. Wu Tai-hao had 7 points and 7 rebounds.
Led by Chang Chih-feng's 24 points and 7 rebounds, Dacin kept KKL -- previously known as dmedia -- from winning its first game after an ownership change. Tien Lei had 13 points and 10 rebounds but admitted after the game that his game was still rusty and maybe only 50% of what it used to be.
Chen Chin-hwan led KKL with 14 and 11. Hsiao Yuan-chan had 11 points and 9 rebounds. Shan Wei-fan, who left TB and joined KKL, had 11.
Tseng Wen-ting vs. Wu Tai-hao.
Chen Chih-chung goes up against Wu Tai-hao.
New Yulon head coach Zhang Xu-lei
(photo sources: UDN.com, Apple Daily)
Chen Hsin-an's intention to play in China has become the hottest issue in Taiwanese basketball this past week as it stirred up heated discussion among fans on the current Taiwanese basketball environment. And the CTBA's response, a sanction on 24 local players prohibiting them to play for overseas clubs, didn't help either.
To maintain the competition level of the domestic league, the statement said, twenty four players will be listed on a "protection list" which will be released on an annual basis. The players on the list are not allowed to play overseas.
Individual players, however, will be screened by a CTBA committee after submitting their application to play for foreign clubs. The permission, once granted, allows a maximum one year's time and will have to be renewed every year.
The decision infuriated Chen and many fans. And it's easy to know why. Chen stressed that the CTBA is not entitled to block his right to play for anyone while most fans would like to see Chen play in a more competitive league.
Playing in China, where most NBA teams sent their scouts year round to observe talents, will provide an opportunity, regardless of how slim it is, for him to be seen. Which might lead to a chance to play in the NBA, said Chen.
Anyway, I think a lot of people missed the point here. Last I checked, Chen is still under contract with Yulon. Word is that he has two and a half years left on his contract. If Chen leaves Yulon, it will be the second time he leaves the team in the middle of his contract.
About two years ago, Chen also intended to leave Yulon and sign with ETSN for a much higher salary. Surprisingly, Yulon didn't say a word. However Chen failed to reach an agreement with ETSN and rejoined Yulon.
I don't really understand what is happening here. Fans and some newspapers said all the good thing about a player who has breached his contract not once but twice?
True, the CTBA has no right to keep players from signing with foreign clubs as long as these players are free agents. But it is also true that no basketball federation would love to see an exodus of the local players. It has gone too far with the 24-player sanction list, but it's not difficult to understand its concern that players of Chen's caliber opt to play in China either.
The reported offer of Chen's annual salary of 1.5M RMB (220,000 USD) looks overestimated because that's more than Wang Zhizhi's salary. And I doubt that Chen is willing to buy out his contract with 8M NT (260,000 USD) as no one wants to buy out his contrct for 10 dollars and go make eight dollars in China. It's a simple math. And it doesn't make sense to me at all.
What's interesting was that Chen said in a China Times interview which was published today that his objective is not playing in China but to point out the stagnant environment of Taiwanese basketball.
An Apple Daily story reported yesterday that Chen is still on NBA scouts' watch list. The story, which I thikn is very questionable, said that Chen is on the watch list of scouts from Milwaukee Bucks and Charlotte Bobcats but did not cite any source in the story.
Anyway, when all is said and done, Chen is staying with Yulon for now.
