by Dave Albarado
Chinese giants to see action in NBL Australia
Chinese giants will be seeing action in the National Basketball League (NBL) Australia this coming season that will start in October 2021.
Brisbane Bullets just signed 7-foot-5 Chinese center Chusming Liu.
On the other hand, Zhou Qi will be making his debut down under as he joins the Southeast Melbourne Phoenix.
The 2 Chinese giants will be joining Filipino center-forward, Kai Sotto, as the Asian imports in the NBL this coming season.
Chuaming Liu is a 25 year old center and expected to be the cornerstone of the Bullet’s interior defense. He will be going to play as a rim protector.
Liu has played 3 seasons in the Chinese Basketball League (CBL) , which means he is already a pro basketball veteran.
Liu played for Qingdao Eagles and averaged 9.4 points, 8.1 rebounds and 1.1 blocks, doing 51 games where he played in 34 contests as part of the starting 5.
He is no Yao Ming and pretty slow. He is a traditional big force which means he will be unlikely to shoot from the outside. He may be used in pick and rolls, but he could be a slow roller. He will be pitted against Australian centers who can shoot from the outside. The Australian centers may end up drawing Liu outside the paint and in the process defeat the purpose of having him fill up space inside the shaded lane.
He is too slow but too tall. During the Fiba Asia qualifiers back in July, he averaged only 5.5 minutes while playing for the Chinese basketball teams. He averaged 5.3 points, and 3 rebounds.
The Bullets are expecting a lot from Liu because of his high efficiency. In the last CBA season, he had a 66% field goal percentage. Although, we have to consider that production will only come with playing time. The more playing time and basketball touches mean more opportunity to score a basket. I hope Liu gets plenty of playing time.
Moreover, Zhou will be playing in Australia after leaving CBL due issues.
Zhou is a second round pick of the Houston Rockets, he was the 46th pick overall in the 2016 NBA Draft.
He is expected to be the best Asian player in the NBL given the fact that he used to play in the NBA.
Zhou is quicker than Liu, more mobile and more agile. Zhou is never afraid to shoot from the outside. He is not that good from the perimeter shooting only 29%.
Nonetheless, he is an agile big man who can create space for the penetrators to cut to the basket. He can shoot.
Zhou took 134 three-point attempts in the 2020-2021 CBA season.
Zhou stands at 7-foot-1 with a 7-foot- 7 wingspan.
Zhou did an average of 2.3 blocks a game in the CBA. I expect Zhou to score 19 points average per game.
Again, Zhou will only be effective with plenty of playing time.