Results tagged “basketball”

• Get lost Yao Ming. Alright, stick around. But make room for the Harlem Globetrotters, playing at Yuanshen Sports Center on December 12! If you're not b-ball buff some quick stats: the Globetrotters were formed in 1926, have lost only two games between 1968 to 2000, and have a current winning percentage of 98.4%. Details on how to get tickets coming soon! [Urbanatomy]
• Many were left a bit disappointed by Obama's Town Hall in Shanghai: we wanted chairs flying and Chinese students drunken on Baijiu yelling obscenities at the President... or maybe just something a little less programmed. But there are some positive things to take away from the visit, and what it means for China-US relations. [Huffington Post]
• An interior-design company has been fined 40,000 yuan for employing a majority of foreigners without a work permits. Each of the 40 employees was fined 500 yuan. Ouch. Get your work permits before you start working in Shanghai. [Shanghai Daily]

Oh no, it looks like Yao Ming hasn’t bought the Shanghai Sharks after all. Instead, all they’ve signed on to be is an “entrusted investor” for the next five years. Despite agreeing in July to transfer stakes in the Sharks to Yao, it seems that those stakes will now be sold on the open market. But those who worry that this just means even more disappointments for Sharks fans needn’t: Yao has said that even though he’s not the owner, he’ll be doing everything he can to improve the team’s performance.

And he got the characters right. 冠軍 means "champion" (he's using traditional characters). The other side says "Chatty." According to Artest's Twitter page, Chatty is the name of a friend who passed away. On Twitter, Artest also says he flew in Boogie the barber from Orlando for the cut and paid him a hotel room plus $20. Artest and the Lakers begin their quest to prove the left side of his head correct at 10:30 am Shanghai time against, fittingly, the Clippers. Source: Ball Don't Lie

Yi Jianlian is so excited about not being forced to play in the Chinese National Games that the guy’s actually playing some good basketball. He scored 21 points and grabbed 11 boards in an exhibition game against the New York Knicks last Friday. In the Nets’ two previous games, against the Boston Celtics, Yi went for 20 and 8 in the first, but just 2 and 4 in the second.

With the Washington Wizards coming, and Lebron James' recent Shanghai stop on his world tour, it seems that pro-basketball stars can't seem to get enough of China (or Chinese publicity).

Right alongside Kentucky Fried Chicken, basketball has proven to be one of the most popular exports from the States. So it comes as no surprise that the first ever NBA team to come to China is an event worthy of celebration.

We guess even if Yao Ming's foot takes him away from playing the game, it doesn't mean he's out of basketball. The superstar athlete is becoming the new boss of his former team, the Shanghai Sharks. In what China Daily calls the highest profile deal in Chinese Basketball Association history, Yao Ming signed an agreement with all three of Shanghai Shark's current shareholders to buy their stakes. The 2.26m center said he is willing to “pay back his home team and Shanghai where he started his basketball career” and will “help Shanghai return to glory.” The last CBA championship the Sharks won was in the 2001-02 season with the help of Yao. Since he's left, the team's fallen into dire straits, placing second last most recently.

       

Here's a change: the biggest NBA news in China right now isn't about Yao Ming or Kobe, but rather their 7-foot-1 compatriot, Shaq. The Cleveland Cavs center arrived in China on Monday on a promotional tour, but made an unplanned stop at the Shaolin Temple in Henan Province, claiming, "I always wanted to know if Shaolin kung fu was real or not. Now, at last I know - the Chinese kung fu I saw on television, it was all real."

Forget about snapping up cheap U.S. real estate--Kenneth Huang and his cash-rich Chinese partners are about to make history and change the game for the Cleveland Cavaliers by purchasing a stake in the NBA franchise.

This is an advertisement. International sports marketing agency headquartered in Shanghai is offering unique work opportunities to three youth basketball coaches from North America. Right candidates must possess varsity basketball playing experience at the high school (minimum) or college level (preferred) and be a native English speaker. Chinese language skills not required. Duties include youth basketball coaching, marketing and program operations. One-year work contract includes free housing, competitive salary, performance bonus, and China work visa. Internship position is also available. Please send CV to wes@zoumarketing.com. More job ads. Place a job ad.

• Time to Board China's Infrastructure Train [Barrons.com] "Around 250 Chinese cities are planning to build new subway lines by 2015; the city of Changshang in central China alone is investing 22.4 billion yuan in two new subway lines." Changshang?
• China says U.S. provoked naval confrontation [LA Times] "China blamed the United States on Tuesday for a naval confrontation in the South China Sea over the weekend, contending that an American surveillance vessel was illegally conducting activities in China's special economic zone."
• Hoops in the Far East: A primer on China's basketball development [Sporting News] "Indeed, Yao has been away from the CBA long enough to have lost some perspective on it. But, in the coming years, the league figures to grow in importance. As crises in older economies around the world deepen, belt-tightening already has seeped into the basketball universe, with some players having trouble getting paid in Europe and with the NBA taking out a loan to prop up half of its struggling teams. China, though, is on the uptick, which figures to give its league more sway in the future."

It looks like the Sports Illustrated cover curse applies to the Chinese version as well. Former NBA player Bonzi Wells was released by the CBA's Shanxi Zhongyu a couple of days ago, shortly after his mug graced the cover of SI China.

We pass this billboard (almost) every day, between Shanghaiist headquarters and the gym. For a long time it featured Barack Obama on the cover of the Chinese version of Men's Health. Recently a Twitter user named Shaquille O'Neal has taken the president elect's place. It's an ad for Li Ning basketball shoes, Shaq's brand of choice for a couple years now. (You might remember the real Li Ning from such Olympic opening ceremonies as Beijing 2008.)

Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian square off in New Jersey Monday night. Notice how the I Heart China gang was there in full force. [H/t to John Shabe of NJ.com!]

The only two Chinese players currently in the starting lineup for NBA teams will face off in New Jersey Monday night, at 7:30 p.m. EST (8:30 a.m. Tuesday Beijing time). It is the third meeting, and the first this year, for Yao Ming (姚明) and Yi Jianlian (易建联). The game will air live on CCTV's sports channel.

This summer, China was accused of using underage gymnasts in the Olympics. Now they've caught their own basketball players fudging their ages the other way. Thirty-six players in the China Basketball Association (almost 15% of the league) were found guilty of "age-shaving" Wednesday, and had their names submitted to FIBA, the governing body of international basketball, and the Asian Basketball Association. The identities of the offending parties were not made public.

Gary Payton’s agent was reportedly in talks with the CBA’s Shanxi Zhongyu team to bring his retired client over to China, but talks broke down over the former NBA star’s salary. Apparently the team was offering $50,000/month, while Payton (a.k.a. the “Glove”) was looking for double that amount.

The NBA keeps doing its best to dominate the post-Olympic China sports news cycle. The latest: the Milwaukee Bucks and Golden State Warriors will play a pair of pre-season games in China in October.

In what we're sure is a total coincidence, NBA entities had two big China-related announcements right around the time Team USA finished its gold medal romp in Wukesong Arena in Beijing.

After losses for its women's basketball and volleyball teams last night, China has just one shot remaining at a gold medal in a team sport. The women's field hockey team takes on the Netherlands in the final tonight at 8:30, Beijing time. China upset European champions and 2004 gold medalists Germany to reach tonight's final.

With its 77-62 win over Belarus Tuesday night, the Chinese women's basketball team has met coach Tom Maher's goal of reaching the Olympic semifinals. It is a vast improvement on the team's ninth-place finish in the 2004 and 1996 Olympics, and its failure to qualify in 2000.

China stumbled off to a poor first half in its match against Greece Monday evening, scoring only 24 points and missing every attempt at a three-pointer. In the third quarter, the team launched a strong comeback and managed to cut the deficit to 10 in the last three minutes, but Greece was simply too far ahead to beat. After the game, Yao Ming who led the team with 16 points to finish 91-77 was said to have walked past reporters without saying a word, shouting angrily at himself and punching his left hand as he left the tunnel. Speculation is that Yao was pissed off at being given 18 minutes to play by China coach Jonas Kazlauskas (from Lithuania), who when asked by the Wall Street Journal responded by saying:

"Yao is a fighter. He wants to play. He wants to fight, but he is a player and I am the coach... I am the one making these decisions . . . Yao should play for a long time, but today was not the time."

"Is that a basketball player? Does he play for our team? And I don't understand why you are asking a question about him."

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That's the headline of a New York Times story about the controversy surrounding a now much-talked-about photo of the men's Olympic basketball team from Spain (See: "Spain's Olympic Basketball Team: Racist? Or just stupid?" for details). Oddly, the story has nothing to do with any possible punishments the Spaniards would face (honestly, we can't think of any — the bad PR and embarrassment should be punishment enough), but the story does offer a little bit of insight as to why the Chinese don't appear to be too bothered by any of this. We are also treated to some rather awkward quotes from the Spanish players trying to explain away their actions. José Calderon even broke out the “Some of my best friends are of Chinese origin" line!

From The Guardian:

With the opening Olympic tournament game against Team USA just around the corner, a less than fully recuperated Yao Ming finds himself sandwiched between angry fans on both sides of the Pacific Ocean. Chinese fans blame the Rockets for the stress fracture Yao Ming sustained during this last NBA season, thus jeopardizing his upcoming performance and China's chances to shine in the Olympic tournament. American fans hurl back that it is the year round obligations to the Chinese National team that have worn him out, and remind the Chinese exactly who is footing Yao Ming's $15 million salary. Given the headache of dealing with pressure from both sides, it should come as no surprise when Yao stated that he would like this to be his final Olympic appearance.

"It will be my third," he said. "I was a very young player and got my first taste of the Olympics in 2000 at Sydney. I played in Athens in 2004 and now this is my home country and the highest special honor in 2008. Enough, I think. Why would I need to play in London in 2012?"

China's Premier today urged the country's men's basketball team to "win honor for the motherland." But mostly we just wanted an excuse to run this photo of 65-year-old Wen's proper form — and, yes, we are talking about his decision to don dark socks with black dress shoes.

Despite getting docked 10 points by Xinhua (the state-run news agency is reporting a score of 79-68), the U.S. Olympic basketball team cruised past Russia in the team's first defensive struggle leading up to the Beijing Games. Kobe Bryant led the U.S. with 19 points, much to the delight of the crowd at Qizhong Tennis Center in Pudong. The AP reports: "The sellout crowd of 14,523 at this arena built for tennis clearly favored the U.S. team, and Bryant clearly was the fans' favorite. Besides the familiar 'MVP!' chants, fans booed when he was called for an offensive foul in the second quarter, and generally oohed and aahed whenever he squared up to take a shot." Team USA plays Australia at 8 pm on Tuesday, also at Qizhong. Tickets appear to be available, starting at RMB 500 a pop.

We just got off the phone with a very upset American Steak & Eggs employee who confirmed the diner's forced closure until August 6. They said it was because the teams playing in the USA Basketball International Challenge are training in Jing'an Stadium, which houses the restaurant. "There's lots of security outside right now," she said. "It's really bad." She said Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, also in the building, was also forced to close. This is all quite strange to us — wouldn't the members of Team USA, who we hear are staying at the Portman Ritz-Carlton next door, enjoy some American steak and eggs? Also read: Tongren Lu to close for the Olympics?