FIBA 2023 World Cup: Analysing The China Roster

With the 19th edition of the FIBA Basketball World Cup beginning on August 25th, there follows a look at the rosters for each of the 32 teams taking part. This instalment looks at the team from China, which will be hoping to improve on its lowly 24th-placed finish back in 2019.

Zhao Jiwei

• PG – 6’1 – Born 25th August 1995
• Liaoning Flying Leopards, China

The Chinese Basketball Association – with its longer games, weaker defence, higher rate of play, and generous tendency to award dimes to any domestic guard who dribbles over halfcourt and gives the ball to the NBA guy before he scores – is an assist-happy league. So whereas Zhao’s 8.6 assists per game last season would have led essentially every other non-NBA league in the world, it ranked only tied-third with fellow Chinese guard Sun Minghui (the final cut to this roster) in the CBA. Nevertheless, it is still a lot, and speaks to Zhao’s playing style.

With a bit of flair and a bit of wildness to his game, the small guard keeps his dribble going, has some craft in his handle, changes direction, crosses over and gets into the lane, where he is an ineffectual scorer himself but where he can dump and kick from. He may have little individual scoring talent inside the lane, but he is unafraid of getting there, and he has much improved as a shooter over the years. And unlike Guo Ailun, he has not fallen out of favour with the decision-makers.

Rui Zhao

• PG/SG – 6’5 – Born 14th January 1996
• Xinjiang Flying Tigers, China

This is Rui’s second World Cup appearance, and in his first back in 2019, he averaged only 6.0 points in 23.4 minutes per game. He was a young man then, though. Since then, he has only grown in experience, and become a much better playmaker than merely the (admittedly extremely efficient) scoring guard that he once was. In 2022/23, Zhao averaged 11.1 points, 5.7 assists, 3.6 rebounds and 1.6 steals in 54 games for Guangdong, with the assists total trending upwards year on year.

An unselfish two rather than a full-time point, Zhao has great offensive instincts and passes very well on the move, while also able to finish high bankers himself or take some quick-release jumpers off the catch. He is an important and versatile offensive cog to this team as a result.

Mingxuan Hu

• PG/SG – 6’4 – Born 10th March 1998
• Guangdong Southern Tigers, China

Hu is well on his way to becoming the next Rui Zhao, the man he has started alongside for Guangdong over the last few seasons and backs up in this tournament. He averaged 10.8 points, 3.7 assists and 2.4 rebounds per game last season, shooting 42.9% from the field and 34.6% from three – nothing remarkable, perhaps, but useful all over. Operating somewhere between the guard positions, the lefty Hu has a quick release on the jumper, some quickness with the first step and some shake in the dribble, albeit minimal strength and a tendency to throw the ball into the car park.

Cui Yongxi

• SG/SF – 6’6 – Born 28th May 2003
• Guangzhou Loong Lions, China

This is Cui’s first international tournament with the country’s senior team, but it will merely be the first of many. He is the best wing prospect in the country right now, and averaged 12.0 points, 5.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.8 steals and 0.6 blocks per game for Guangzhou despite still being only a teenager. Cui’s frame is narrow and needs a lot of filling out, but he moves well, has a nose for the ball, scoring instincts, a well-developed offensive OK and a solid shooting stroke. He can and will run and gun, with the imperiousness of youth paired with a high skill level. One for the future, and maybe also for the now.

Zhu Junlong

• SF – 6’7 – Born 13th July 1993
• Zhejiang Guangsha Lions, China

Last season, Zhu played in 50 games for the Lions, and had some interesting stat lines. He averaged 9.5 points, 6.9 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.2 steals and 0.5 blocks in 34.7 minutes per game, taking not that many shots, more than half of which were threes, which he hit at only 31.6%. Junlong’s percentage are usually a little better than that, but the scoring volume is always low; he is instead in to focus on defence and to finish. Zhu has a high and loose handle, but he also has some burst which he uses to run the court, spot up and pursue the ball. He often draws the NBA-calibre athletes on the opposing team. And, relative to the competition, he does OK.

Zhou Peng

• SF/PF – 6’9 – Born 11th October 1989
• Shenzhen Leopards, China

Despite having been listed at 6’11 on many official rosters in the past, Peng is definitely not that. If he was, then his relative rebounding rate would be even worse than it is. Nevertheless, despite being poor in that area of the game, while also not an above-average athlete nor especially strong, Peng does his best work on the defensive end. He is pesky, plays with his hands up and takes a good number of charges in the lane, and although the offence is incidental and not something that can much be game-planned for, Peng hits some jumpers and drives on occasion. He plays a role, and he has been the captain of the team for seven years. Intangibles count, even when the tangibles aren’t the best.

Li Kaier (or, as he is usually known, Kyle Anderson)

• SF/PF – 6’9 – Born 20th September 1993
• Minnesota Timberwolves, NBA

Until the announcement that Anderson would join the Chinese team for this tournament, I was under the impression that, even if he or anyone else qualified for citizenship through their heritage rather than residency (or as a business transaction), China did not allow dual citizenships. Guess not. With him now on the team, China gets an enormous upgrade at the non-centre frontcourt spots, where they have traditionally been the weakest. Anderson’s game – part point guard, part power forward – is well established by now, and with his simple addition, the floor of the Chinese team is immediately raised. Not enough to be competitive for the title, but perhaps enough to be the best Chinese team to date.

Zhang Zhenlin

• PF – 6’9 – Born 28th January 1999
• Liaoning Flying Leopards, China

Known as Kevin Zhang during his time in college, Zhang left Tulane in 2020 after a sophomore season in which he averaged 5.1 points, 2.1 rebounds, 0.6 steals and 0.6 blocks per game. He returned to China – bypassing the need to go through the CBA’s draft process – and has slowly improved in his three seasons there, to the tune of averages of 15.5 points, 6.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.7 steals per game last season. Zhang has talent as a face-up four, as a driver, passer on the move, and inconsistent but improving shooter. Like so many Chinese players, his slender frame makes physical defence and imposing his will on the game hard to do. But his skill level is high, and his athleticism and mobility plenty good enough. The passing in particular makes the offence far more potent and is vital to this team’s chances.

Hao Fu

• PF – 6’10 – Born 24th August 1997
• Liaoning Flying Leopards, China

Over the first six seasons, 214 games and 5,765 minutes of his Chinese Basketball Association career, Fu attempted nine three-pointers, hitting none. But over the last two years, he has gone 30-79 and 28-101 respectively. He has reworked himself into being a stretch four in intent, then, if not in results, with a release like a lefty John Stockton that does not suggest high-volume high-efficiency shooting is to come. Fu averaged 10.0 points, 5.1 rebounds and not much else in 21.4 minutes per game for Liaoning last season, and has a nice face-up, middies, fakes and dribble-drive scoring knack, but his limited athleticism and lack of core strength will make him extremely attackable outside of the cosy confines of CBA play.

Zhou Qi

• PF/C – 7’1 – Born 16th January 1996
• Guangdong Southern Tigers, China

Zhou never cut it in the NBA, because he never had the physical profile to thrive in it. The 7’1 part worked for him. But the very thin frame did not, and could not. Since being waived by the Rockets, he has had something of a nomadic run of things, spending some time in Australia and also spending some time as a free agent due to contractual disputes, one only resolved a week before this tournament began when he was traded for the aforementioned Rui Zhao. Nevertheless, he remains China’s best talent since Yi Jianlian and an excellent shot blocker wherever he goes. The pick-and-pop element to Zhou’s game never really developed as it once looked like it might, but in being a dominant rebounder and shotblocker in CBA play, Zhou remains the dominant interior force among Chinese players.

Wang Zhelin

• PF/C – 7’0 – Born 20th January 1994
• Shanghai Sharks, China

One-time Memphis Grizzlies draft pick Zhelin – whose rights have worked their way now to the New York Knicks after their token inclusion in a couple of trades – never left China in the end. He did however leave Fujian, the team he had been with for more than a decade, when he joined Shanghai in the summer of 2021. Wang has always put in the big numbers and dominated his own competition, so his 23.0 points, 11.7 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.0 blocks per game this past season are not new, but he is taking more jumpers now that when he came up, and adding that to his post-up, pump-fakes and occasional dribble-drive game makes him quite the scoring weapon. However, the book on him has always cited a short wing span, a lack of core strength, a narrow frame that prevents much from being done about that, and an avoidance of physical contact. The NBA is not that infatuated with stretch fives, and nor is Wang any more than an occasional one anyway.

Jinqiu Hu

• C – 6’11 – Born 24th September 1997
• Zhejiang Guangsha Lions, China

A regular 20/10 guy back in China, Hu stuck to the brief last season, averaging another 20.2 points, 11.0 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game. He may not have the athleticism or diverse skill set to ever be able to play in any other league. He does however have an intriguing combination of size and touch that is hard to find anywhere, and which adds some muscle to the wirier contributions of Kevin Zhang, Hao Fu, Wang Zhelin and Zhou Qi.

With decent hands and good right hand touch (albeit with very little with his left), Hu is a very efficient scorer in the paint and on the roll who combines this with an excellent mid-range shot from the baselines and the elbows. The drawbacks almost all come defensively, where Hu has little leap and poor lateral speed, thus defending neither the rim nor the perimeter with much aplomb. Aside from rebounding and keeping his arms up around the paint, Hu can be invisible on this end and is going to be attacked by any guard foraying into his paint. Despite their talent at the five spot, then, China must pick their poison.

Group A: Italy, Angola, Philippines, Dominican Republic

Group B: China, Serbia, Puerto Rico, South Sudan

Group C: USA, Greece, Jordan, New Zealand

Group D: Egypt, Mexico, Lithuania, Montenegro

Group E: Germany, Finland, Australia, Japan

Group F: Slovenia, Cape Verde, Georgia, Venezuela

Group G: Iran, Spain, Brazil, Côte d’Ivoire

Group H: Canada, Latvia, France, Lebanon