Why doesn't Hong Kong have a bball team?

[ChosunX]

Is China afraid that stuff would get political? Hong Kong does not care about bball/no one wants to own one? Basically from what i heard from here the Chinese just grab tall guys to learn bball. I tried to Google how they develop players and i did not come up with anything. I wonder if Hong Kong could be more open minded and develop some really good guards.

[winter_mute_13]

Is China afraid that stuff would get political? Hong Kong does not care about bball/no one wants to own one? Basically from what i heard from here the Chinese just grab tall guys to learn bball. I tried to Google how they develop players and i did not come up with anything. I wonder if Hong Kong could be more open minded and develop some really good guards.

Basically that, LOL.

HK, like many other former British colonies, is football mad (soccer for Americans).

Internationally, HK fields a separate team from China, in the Olympics, FIFA, and yes FIBA too. But as basically a single city with a relatively low population, HK hasn't had much success in sporting competitions.

[CarMalone]

They do have a team, it's just not very good.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hong_Kong_national_basketball_team

[quatin]

Don't you need a large population base to draw tall people from? Wonder if that has something to do with it?

[DoubleLintendre]

The "Hong Kong Haze" is a pretty catchy team name. Their mascot could be a shroud of looming aerial pollution and the fans could wear indoor flu masks in solidarity during playoff games.

[ChosunX]

Don't you need a large population base to draw tall people from? Wonder if that has something to do with it?

Why cannot they just have a club and be part of the Chinese League? In that case take talent from where they want.

[Bevzil]

Don't you need a large population base to draw tall people from? Wonder if that has something to do with it?

Hong Kong has about the same population size as Croatia and Lithuania combined. I guess it's more about lack of interest than anything else. Average height may also play a role, but I doubt that among 7 million + people there aren't any seven footers.

[mvpshaq32]

Don't you need a large population base to draw tall people from? Wonder if that has something to do with it?

Hong Kong has about the same population size as Croatia and Lithuania combined. I guess it's more about lack of interest than anything else. Average height may also play a role, but I doubt that among 7 million + people there aren't any seven footers.

HK doesn't carry the basketball culture you'd find in other countries. Lack of interest + no proper training in fundamentals + career oriented lifestyle/culture are all the major reasons

[cammac]

Lived in Shenzhen which is next door to Hong Kong.
The only professional sport that draws well in HK. is Rugby which is a great event went to some.
In general basketball is a disaster very low turnouts and really they haven't any type of development in High Schools or universities.
As a pass time its likely the most popular sport for children in China they play everyday but no coaching or organization.
When I 1st moved to China I was very tall at 6ft1 but now kids because of better food are growing much taller.
But the reality is the comment a European coach of their soccer team said " how can a country with 1.3 billion people be so bad at a sport".
Reality is Yi is still by far the best basketball player active in China.

[qm22]

Is China afraid that stuff would get political? Hong Kong does not care about bball/no one wants to own one? Basically from what i heard from here the Chinese just grab tall guys to learn bball. I tried to Google how they develop players and i did not come up with anything. I wonder if Hong Kong could be more open minded and develop some really good guards.

Another WTF post from you when it comes to an East Asian place.
Your rationale is seriously messed up. "Chinese just grab tall guys to learn bball"? Hong Kong could be more... open minded? I don't know if I dare to ask what that means. Political fears, because of bball?

OK, anyway, HK is literally right next to one of the larger teams as it is (Guangdong Tigers). Geographically, Guangdong is the province of HK before European invasions.

About the development of players being discussed, I think China has no upper-level training and competition. There is a lot of popularity that is still increasing the amount of kids who grow up playing basketball frequently enough at a young age to develop into better players. But their league and college basketball is nothing like a pre-professional development as it is in the US and other places. Talent wise, and with their population, there is a good enough base to at least compete with non-US countries, such as in Europe. It might change as more and more borderline NBA players go to Chinese leagues, but change does not happen as quickly as people sometimes hope/imagine.

Actually Chinese do not grab tall guys to learn bball, they have a genetics-lab player-creation program. In essence, they are picked in a pre-zygotic stage before entering the womb and made to dribble basketballs before walking.

[young_frogger]

As someone who grew up in HK, I can say that people saying there's no bball culture/complete lack of interest are very much wrong. Basketball is quite easily the second most popular sport there besides soccer. Rugby, while popular among European and American expats, isn't played at all by locals. The problem really does boil down to a lack of upper-level training and athleticism. It is possible to find people who can play at a decently high level with street ball and everything, but even so it's rare to see people dunking and the level of play is generally worse per capita compared to America, Europe, South America etc. there's been a bit of a fitness craze in HK lately so I think slowly but surely the kids and the locals are gaining athleticism, but the fact remains that they're generally much shorter and weaker than American ballers, and while their training regimens are hardly 'primitive' they're still no where near that of American schools, so their skills are still less refined overall.

In the U.S I am pretty short for a basketball player but I get by with my quickness, shooting and handle. I enjoy going back to HK and transforming into someone with average height and way-above average athleticism lol. I become a force on the court. My game transforms from Damien lillard to Kevin Durant (street ball standards of course)

[ChosunX]

Is China afraid that stuff would get political? Hong Kong does not care about bball/no one wants to own one? Basically from what i heard from here the Chinese just grab tall guys to learn bball. I tried to Google how they develop players and i did not come up with anything. I wonder if Hong Kong could be more open minded and develop some really good guards.

Another WTF post from you when it comes to an East Asian place.
Your rationale is seriously messed up. "Chinese just grab tall guys to learn bball"? Hong Kong could be more... open minded? I don't know if I dare to ask what that means. Political fears, because of bball?

OK, anyway, HK is literally right next to one of the larger teams as it is (Guangdong Tigers). Geographically, Guangdong is the province of HK before European invasions.

About the development of players being discussed, I think China has no upper-level training and competition. There is a lot of popularity that is still increasing the amount of kids who grow up playing basketball frequently enough at a young age to develop into better players. But their league and college basketball is nothing like a pre-professional development as it is in the US and other places. Talent wise, and with their population, there is a good enough base to at least compete with non-US countries, such as in Europe. It might change as more and more borderline NBA players go to Chinese leagues, but change does not happen as quickly as people sometimes hope/imagine.

Actually Chinese do not grab tall guys to learn bball, they have a genetics-lab player-creation program. In essence, they are picked in a pre-zygotic stage before entering the womb and made to dribble basketballs before walking.

I tried to look up things but had not found anything, so i just went with with the last thing i heard on these boards. What was so WTF about my Korean thread?

[HeartBreakKid]

Is China afraid that stuff would get political? Hong Kong does not care about bball/no one wants to own one? Basically from what i heard from here the Chinese just grab tall guys to learn bball. I tried to Google how they develop players and i did not come up with anything. I wonder if Hong Kong could be more open minded and develop some really good guards.

Basically that, LOL.

HK, like many other former British colonies, is football mad (soccer for Americans).

Internationally, HK fields a separate team from China, in the Olympics, FIFA, and yes FIBA too. But as basically a single city with a relatively low population, HK hasn't had much success in sporting competitions.

Hong Kong isn't all that mad for football,in fact your statement is kinda off because a pretty decent number of former British colonies are not mad for football at all (pretty much the most influential ex British colonies do not even have football as their most popular sport or even second).


Basketball is actually quite popular in Hong Kong. I worked there over the summer and the basketball courts were always filled even in 100 degree weather and insane humidity (in New York a lot of the courts would be empty in that climate). I didn't see many football advertisements at all, but I did see that they are trying to push rugby quite a bit.


I'll say this, in general Hong Kong is not really a sports town. The biggest football fans you will find are European expats, the biggest rugby fans you will find are Oceanic expats, and the biggest basketball fans you will find are American expats. The locals are not all that crazy about sports relative to other nations/world cities.




As for the question at hand, I'm not sure what the OP means. Hong Kong has a basketball team in an international sense, they just are not good. Hong Kong has a population of 7 million and the youth development is not strong.

If this is in regards to CBA, I'm sure there is a lot of political jibber jabba for that since Hong Kong is semi-independent. It would also be really expensive for CBA to host games in Hong Kong since the rent is really damn high.

[theonlyclutch]

Coming from experience (grew up in HK), there are a few things:

-HKers are super pragmatic, there are very little families which would allow their children to pursue athletics (esp. BBall) as a career choice, also, much higher focus on education than in U.S leads to very competitive battles to get into the best primary/secondary/unis, doesn't leave that much time for sports...
-Weak youth development due to size diff. (our HS bball team's tallest guy was like 6'4 or something)
-Crappy outdoor environment (haze+heat+humidity = ugh..)