RealGM

Such is the sentiment within a nation so determined to top the medal table for the first time that it has spent millions -- perhaps billions -- to target and train a massive pool of athletes, hire expert foreign coaches and build state-of-the-art facilities as part of an astounding athletic machine. The head of the U.S. Olympic Committee said the Chinese in recent years have been training some 260,000 athletes at nearly 2,200 sports schools around the country, a single-minded dedication whose reward will become obvious in the coming weeks. source

With China training 260,000 youths full time as athletes, you have to imagine that a lot of athletic kids will be trained as basketball players. With that kind of dedication from a country of a billion in ten years the Chinese Basketball Association could rival Spain's ACB. Not only will they have a larger pool of locals they might even get the funds to get some international talent. The country will also flex it's will in keeping it's own talent when this happens as well.

fivas14 wrote:Inappropriate

This post almost made me spit my food out

Crap, I put this in the wrong forum. Can a mod move it to International?

no....that wont happen

Yeah, right, that'll be the day. China has a large pool of players, but they lack the training, control, creativity, and mind-set to compete with the Euroleague or even the D-League. The CBA is a joke, has been for years, and will continue to be for at least 10 years. Stop drinking the Kool-Aid.

Except 10 years ago someone would have said the same thing if you used Russia as an example and now they have a few teams that are as good as any teams in Europe, with CSKA Moscow being the best team in Europe. Largely, this is done on the strength of international talent they are bringing in with money. Where does the money come from? Rich owners who are told by the government to spend on their teams to make Russian sports great. China has no shortage of money and it's not too far fetched to see the Chinese government forcing local businessmen to spend large sums of money on foreign talent and coaches or even doing so itself.

jt142 wrote:Yeah, right, that'll be the day. China has a large pool of players, but they lack the training, control, creativity, and mind-set to compete with the Euroleague or even the D-League. The CBA is a joke, has been for years, and will continue to be for at least 10 years. Stop drinking the Kool-Aid.

That's the point. This applies to the 20 something players now. They have taken such a strong training program stance the 10 year olds will get that training.

They really seem to like basketball in China and the market is there. What's so absurd with having a competitive league within ten years? This is a 1.3 billion country we are talking about, a booming economy and each generation grows taller. What they need is to bring over some coaches and players from abroad to teach them some things.

IMO China lacks the basketball tradition Spain or Russia have and you also have to consider that in Spain basketball is a growing sport now that our National team is top 5 with Greece, USA, Argentina and Russia.

jt142 wrote:Yeah, right, that'll be the day. China has a large pool of players, but they lack the training, control, creativity, and mind-set to compete with the Euroleague or even the D-League. The CBA is a joke, has been for years, and will continue to be for at least 10 years. Stop drinking the Kool-Aid.

Damn, your obsession with bashing Chinese basketball is almost pathological.

Chinese basketball has made massive strides and will continue to.

considering spanish basketball will continue to grow too, doubt china in 10 years will be as good as spain, although I think the gap will be closer. maybe you meant china in 10 years will be as good as spain is today? maybe... I'd say give it 10-15 years. Chinese guards and wing players are terrible, i'm frustrated watching them play, hope we can address our problem of inadequate wing and backcourt players, as they are pretty damn important in int'l play.

Where was Spanish basketball 10 years ago? Who were the great Spanish national team players? NBA players? Basketball in today's China is already more popular than it is in today's Spain. Give it 10 years and we'll see. Is it likely? Probably not. It is possible - certainly is.

Geiger, you really must be a sophomore... in high school! No knowledge of basketball history. Spain already had an Olympic silver medal under its belt, not ten, but 24 years ago. Spain has been a world power in basketball since the 1970s. China never has - at least, to this day.

DelaneyRudd wrote:

Such is the sentiment within a nation so determined to top the medal table for the first time that it has spent millions -- perhaps billions -- to target and train a massive pool of athletes, hire expert foreign coaches and build state-of-the-art facilities as part of an astounding athletic machine. The head of the U.S. Olympic Committee said the Chinese in recent years have been training some 260,000 athletes at nearly 2,200 sports schools around the country, a single-minded dedication whose reward will become obvious in the coming weeks. source

With China training 260,000 youths full time as athletes, you have to imagine that a lot of athletic kids will be trained as basketball players. With that kind of dedication from a country of a billion in ten years the Chinese Basketball Association could rival Spain's ACB. Not only will they have a larger pool of locals they might even get the funds to get some international talent. The country will also flex it's will in keeping it's own talent when this happens as well.

a country with a billion people will top at sports a country with 45 million people. The billion people country is also the richer one

**** or something

People are making very valid points about Spain's history and love of the sport. The thing they don't have is a billion people moving from poverty to the middle class. Also in most of the world the athlete will choose soccer first. Even in the USA many kids would rather play football or baseball (even if it isn't their favorite sport- they have longer more lucrative careers with fewer injuries). If you have a group of people that large and nearly all the top athletes would like to play you are looking at an unparalleled situation.

DelaneyRudd wrote:People are making very valid points about Spain's history and love of the sport. The thing they don't have is a billion people moving from poverty to the middle class. Also in most of the world the athlete will choose soccer first. Even in the USA many kids would rather play football or baseball (even if it isn't their favorite sport- they have longer more lucrative careers with fewer injuries). If you have a group of people that large and nearly all the top athletes would like to play you are looking at an unparalleled situation.

But, you're not taking into consideration other aspects of the game that can't be taught (i.e athleticism, creativity, mental toughness, and competitiveness). While I truly believe that the creativity and court vision are innate qualities, they can also be developed over a long period of time, depending on the social environment. There's a lot more to producing a basketball superpower than money and population. China can certainly find plenty of 7 footers out of 1.3 billion people. However, as we all know, height isn't everything. Whether or not any of them will be as good as Yao depends on a lot of other factors, which I've mentioned in previous posts. These 7 footers could just as well be the next Peter Ramos, Shawn Bradley, Menke Bateer, or worse.

China will eventually catch up to European countries like Spain, but I think it's going to take a lot more time than you're predicting.

What ridiculous comparisons. When will the United States, with 250 million inhabitants, surpass Spain, with 45 million, in soccer?

What ridiculous comparisons. When will the United States, with 250 million inhabitants, surpass Spain, with 45 million, in soccer?

What ridiculous comparisons. When will the United States, with 250 million inhabitants, surpass Spain, with 45 million, in soccer?