Author/titan sports Basketball Editorial Department
On September 2nd, China lost to the Philippines, ending its World Cup journey with a record of 1 win and 4 losses, ranking 29th among all 32 teams and missing the Olympic Games for the second time in a row.
After such a fiasco, the whole basketball world was immersed in great pain caused by failure. But if you can’t sum up the lessons after the pain, such a failure is meaningless. In the past two weeks, titan sports conducted a detailed investigation and invited experts from various fields to write and publish the White Paper on the Men’s Basketball World Cup from the perspectives of the world basketball development trend, the comparison between CBA league and other leagues, and the current situation of China-Japan basketball youth training. We hope that through this white paper, people from all walks of life and fans in China can really see the world, get rid of stale ideas as much as possible and update their understanding of basketball.
On this basis, in the name of the Basketball Department of titan sports and on behalf of the authors who participated in the compilation of the White Paper on Men’s Basketball World Cup, we put forward ten suggestions to chinese basketball association. The purpose of advice is not to fire a gun, let alone ridicule, but to hope that China basketball, which is at a low ebb, will return to a benign track with the joint efforts of all walks of life. We don’t expect the ten suggestions to be implemented one by one, and we don’t expect chinese basketball association to respond. It’s just that as a media, we have the obligation and responsibility to present what we have obtained through interviews and research to readers and fans. The level is limited, and there are many shortcomings in our suggestions. However, if one or two of them can be adopted, even if it only brings some thoughts and touches to chinese basketball association and all walks of life, and plays a small role in promoting basketball progress and deepening basketball reform in China, our enthusiasm and efforts will not be in vain.
1. Turn shame into motivation and reshape the basketball image of China.
During the World Cup and after the defeat of China men’s basketball team, many people criticized China men’s basketball team for its lack of fighting spirit and sense of honor, arguing that there was a lack of ideological education from the national team to the clubs. Ideological education is indeed important, but the non-professional environment in which our professional players live increases the difficulty of ideological education and greatly consumes their sense of honor and fighting spirit. Every day, the players are exposed to shortcuts, back doors, finding loopholes in the rules, disobeying the law, and tacit understanding. There are rumors of all kinds of fake and gambling in the circle; The Basketball Association jumped repeatedly in dealing with qi zhou, and finally acquiesced in the club and players trampling on the rules. Immersed in such a so-called professional alliance, coupled with the influence of some bad social atmosphere, ideological education can easily become a slogan and sermon that cannot touch the soul.
Chinese basketball association should take the lead in summing up seriously and turn shame into motivation. It is no exaggeration to say that he should turn over a new leaf, reshape the basketball image of China and boost the confidence of the whole society in basketball. After the internal summary, we should tell the public the reform ideas and come up with specific measures-the existing rules and regulations are reasonable and must be resolutely implemented; If it is unreasonable, correct it as soon as possible-and take the initiative to ask for supervision by public opinion.
2. Add Basketball Association Cup and lay out multi-level league structure.
Although the men’s basketball team suffered setbacks in two consecutive World Cups, at present, China is actually in a period of vigorous development of basketball. The attendance of CBA and NBL leagues is gratifying, CUBAL and Naigao leagues are both applauded and popular, and various grassroots competitions and online celebrity competitions, including Village BA, have great social influence. We can hold the Basketball Association Cup, on the one hand, to meet the needs of fans and online users idolize and Curiosity, so that more people can pay attention to and appreciate basketball; At the same time, it also builds a bridge between grassroots and professional players, so that grassroots players and young players have the opportunity to realize their dreams of challenging professional players and tell more touching basketball stories. In the future, if CBA expands its army, it can also take the performance of Basketball Association Cup as a reference for NBL team to upgrade.
In addition, chinese basketball association should also build a multi-level league system. The professionalization direction of China’s league should not be to imitate NBA. According to the current situation of basketball development in China, we should at least form a three-level or even more league structure. Such a structure can bring hope to low-level league teams, pressure and stimulation to CBA teams, form greater competition and enhance the intensity and level of the league.
3.CBA league duration changed to 40 minutes, in line with FIBA.
Specific to the competition system and rules, we don’t need to copy the NBA at all, but should be more in line with FIBA’s competition. The purpose of this is to ensure the intensity and wonderful degree of the competition, and to make China players adapt to the international competition environment. At present, except CBA, NBA and PBA League in the Philippines, the competition time of all major leagues is four quarters, each of which is 10 minutes. Chinese basketball association set the match for 48 minutes, which was based on the consideration of strengthening players’ physical fitness, as well as the need to serve advertisers and TV broadcasters. However, judging from the World Cup competition, the 40-minute high-intensity competition requires more players’ physical fitness. China players who have experienced the 48-minute competition system have no advantage at all, but they are very uncomfortable. Considering the demand of commercialization, CBA can appropriately increase the number of pauses and adjust the pause time on the basis of FIBA competition to ensure the interests of TV broadcast and advertisers.
In terms of rules and interpretation of rules, it is also necessary for CBA to be consistent with FIBA, so that players can adapt to the international competition. We also suggest that chinese basketball association keep close contact and exchange with international referees, conduct business discussion and study, and invite foreign whistle law enforcement competitions if necessary, which is also a necessary step to strengthen international exchanges of referees and regain the right to speak in the referees.
At the national team level, although the results of this year’s World Cup are not ideal, there is no problem in organizing high-quality warm-up before the World Cup, which should be maintained and carried forward. We should ensure that national teams at all levels play a certain number of games with high-level teams every year, better understand international basketball from the perspective of actual combat, and try our best to narrow the gap between us and high-level teams in the world.
4. Resume foreign aid in Asia and gradually liberalize foreign aid restrictions in Asia.
Due to the epidemic situation and other reasons, perhaps based on the judgment of the China men’s basketball team’s fighting environment in Asia, CBA cancelled the foreign aid in Asia. However, it turns out that such changes have not limited the strength of opponents, but also reduced the overall level of CBA league. The strength of many games is too clear, which not only leads to the decline of the wonderful degree of the league, but also provides a hotbed for match-fixing and tacit ball. Coupled with the policy of foreign aid for four people in four quarters, domestic players are under insufficient pressure in the league and have insufficient ability to resist pressure in international competitions. As a result, the strength of our league is not enough to support players to play their level in the international competition stage. In the current Olympic promotion rules, the Asian Cup no longer carries the task of going straight to the Olympic Games. We want to return to the Olympic stage and need higher training level and greater competition intensity.
Based on the above reasons, we suggest that CBA should resume its foreign aid policy in Asia, gradually and completely liberalize the restrictions on foreign aid in Asia, and consider increasing the rules for the use of other foreign aid from the current four sessions with four people to four sessions with six people, and even further increase the appearance time of foreign aid in the future. In addition, drawing lessons from the experience of European leagues, chinese basketball association should take the lead in establishing multi-level official intercontinental club competitions, including AFC Champions League, Asian UEFA Cup and Asian Youth Club Cup, so that as many teams and players as possible can get more opportunities for competitions, especially international competitions.
5. Further liberalize the flow of players and unlock them.
From August, 2021 to August, 2023, the "qi zhou Incident" brought great shock to China basketball, and also made China basketball encounter many rounds of substantive and image crises. Behind the qi zhou incident, people have great doubts about the legitimacy and rationality of the club’s "lock-in" with the D contract in CBA’s Regulations on the Management of Players’ Draft, Salary Cap, Employment and Transaction. In the absence of collective bargaining system, there is a lack of channels to express players’ interests in the interest game among CBA companies, clubs and players. However, in the case of fruitless appeal, qi zhou chose to bid farewell to CBA temporarily, and then there was no official competition for a long time, and the competitive state declined seriously, which had a great impact on the preparation and competition of the national team.
Chinese basketball association should demonstrate and negotiate with CBA company about the possibility of amending the current regulations, such as shortening the life of the mother team’s priority to renew the contract, and whether and how the mother team should be compensated. At the same time, CBA should further liberalize the flow of players, encourage clubs to rent players, especially young players, to places where there is a ball to play, form healthy competition, and avoid the phenomenon of not playing and not playing.
6. Formulate feasible incentive policies for studying abroad.
After qi zhou, China players never appeared in the NBA, but Japan has two players who play in the NBA at the same time, and the development and performance of these two players are quite bright, which makes many China fans feel envious. But this may just be the beginning. There will be seven Japanese players in the NCAA first-level league in the new season, while only four Chinese mainland players are Wang Junjie, Yu Hongkai, Zhang Chenzhifeng and Li Xinyi. Is our young players less talented than Japan? No, but because the Japanese Basketball Association and clubs are trying their best to send their children abroad. Their clubs are very open-minded and know that the level of B League is limited, and they will try their best to meet the personal development of players.
Professional players in China don’t want to go abroad because their competitiveness is weak and they can’t find a suitable position, and because playing abroad will be economically affected. It is difficult for the younger generation to go abroad because the club is unwilling to let go, and the players’ families are also worried. Although it has a good platform and a higher probability of success, its risk coefficient will definitely increase compared with staying in China.
In the face of such double difficulties, chinese basketball association must first realize that sending young players to a higher level is the most important and direct way for China basketball to get out of the trough; After that, we should formulate a feasible incentive policy for studying abroad, which should be both encouraging and affordable to the club and young players. Young players lack experience and judgment when faced with choices. The Basketball Association can set up a special working group for young players outside the country to provide suggestions and related services for young players to play abroad, track their development at any time, and provide suggestions when necessary to help players grow up. This group can also provide professional advice, videos and data analysis when some organizations organize young players to study abroad.
7. Gradually relax the right to operate CBA teams.
The Japanese men’s basketball team won the qualification of representing Asia through Paris in the World Cup, which also triggered a heated discussion among China fans. Such a record is not enough to show that the Japanese men’s basketball team is the strongest in Asia, but through the investigation of Japanese B League, we found many references for chinese basketball association and CBA companies. It can even be said that the process of Japan’s B League from scratch and on the right track provides us with an excellent sample of how to build a professional league. CBA has a lot of homework to copy, and the most important point is that B League regards self-financing as the most important admission standard: all professional clubs in B League must be profitable and cannot have deficits for three consecutive years, and the financial status of each club is audited by a third-party company.
In CBA, most clubs can’t make ends meet. Guangzhou Dragon and Lion Club released its financial report in April, and the team lost 26.095 million yuan in 2022. Many people attribute the losses of CBA teams to environmental, social and market problems, but it is difficult for you to explain why some MCN companies can make a lot of money in the vertical field of basketball. During the interview with the reporter of titan sports, a number of CBA club management members said that the reason for the loss was that the CBA league did not pay attention to the profitability of the team. The league attaches importance to the management of clubs, not only in words and documents, but also in formulating policies, setting up rewards and punishments, and promoting and guiding them. Specific management and marketing methods, such as match day activities, social media operations and community services, should also provide guidance to the club.
The second problem reflected by the club is that the CBA league is too tight in controlling the right to operate and the club lacks operational autonomy. On this issue, the practice of Japan’s B League is that only a few rights and interests, such as broadcasting rights and naming rights in the finals, are packaged and sold by the league, and most sponsorship contracts are negotiated by the team independently. You can also consider copying this assignment.
8. Construct a double pyramid system belonging to China basketball.
Many countries and regions, including China, have put forward the concept of "pyramid system" and regarded it as the core framework of project development. However, in Japan, both football and basketball have established a training system of double pyramid mode, two pyramids, facing the public and the elite respectively. Facing the public, it is oriented to stimulate interest and lifelong sports, and the pyramid of elite system is to cultivate national talents.
The advantage of the double pyramid structure is to avoid the concept of "victory first" in children’s adolescence. Japan’s juvenile training emphasizes that you can pursue victory, but you should also enrich your life and learn the necessary value of life. This is the real victory. After teenagers formed an interest in basketball and good habits, the pyramid for the elite began to select materials. The Japan Basketball Association will devote great energy to this, organize the best players of all ages in the country to conduct training, assemble the best coaches and use as many resources as possible to serve the future national players.
This elite model can be completely imitated by us: chinese basketball association can organize top athletes of all ages from all over the country to receive unified training during the winter and summer vacations and even the 11th holiday, and be taught by high-level coaches. According to different age groups, let these potential stocks get familiar with each other as soon as possible, and lay the foundation for future joint operations. On the other hand, the Basketball Association can invite some high-level teams of the same age from other countries to compete with these top domestic young players, so as to understand the development trend of world basketball and enhance the overall competitiveness of players and teams.
9. Prepare a youth training program that closely follows the development of world basketball.
Many European countries have a common feature in youth training, that is, the basketball knowledge and training received by young people from primary school are very consistent. This feature is also fully reflected in the Japanese men’s and women’s basketball team in recent years. It is precisely because of this reason that the Japanese men’s and women’s basketball team has played a respectable performance even if it lacks some core players.
Basketball training in our country is in an unprecedented golden period in recent years. Basketball Association attaches great importance to youth training, and parents of students are also willing to let their children play basketball. These are all very good phenomena, and they are also opportunities that need to be cherished and grasped. Behind this gratifying situation, there are also hidden dangers, one of which is that our basketball training lacks systematicness and unity. The reporter of titan sports visited a number of basketball training institutions, and most of the coaches interviewed didn’t know whether there was a basketball training program suitable for teenagers in China. Some coaches know that there is such a thing as an "outline", but they say that they use the training institutions’ own textbooks.
In fact, we have a set of "China Youth Basketball Training Syllabus", which was first published in 2012. In 2019, representatives of the Organizing Committee of the "Syllabus" expressed their intention to establish a basketball training syllabus with complete technology and in line with the education system from kindergartens, primary schools and secondary schools to universities. But so far, the staff of basketball associations in various places interviewed by reporters have said that they have not seen it yet.
If this outline is still being compiled, I hope that chinese basketball association will appoint experts who know more about the development of basketball in the world today to the organizing Committee; If this project has not been started or suspended, I hope that the Basketball Association will start or restart as soon as possible, organize a team with modern basketball thinking and cognition, and prepare a youth training program that keeps up with the development of world basketball.
10. Online coach training, providing free teaching videos.
What does advanced basketball look like? Through this year’s Men’s Basketball World Cup, many people have a perceptual knowledge while enjoying the wonderful games, which is also briefly described in the White Paper of Men’s Basketball World Cup of this newspaper. However, when the craze for the men’s basketball World Cup recedes, except for a few professionals, most people will not mention the current development status and trend of world basketball. Specific to the field of youth basketball training, managers and coaches of training institutions and coaches of school teams can care about the evolution of world basketball concepts and advanced basketball teaching methods.
Lack of scientific theoretical guidance, strict training and assessment system, and lack of mastery of modern basketball teaching methods lead to uneven coaching level, which is the biggest crux of youth training in China. Especially in the background of the combination of physical education and education, the level of school coaches and training is relatively low, which makes many children’s talents buried. A person in charge of a basketball association who is familiar with youth basketball said that basketball training is too hot now, and the gap of coaches is too big, not to mention passing on advanced basketball concepts, even the old methods can’t be trained.
Therefore, we suggest taking online training or even providing free teaching videos to expand the number of grass-roots coaches who receive training, so that coaches can understand the world basketball trend and master the training direction and methods. Today, short basketball videos are very popular, and the real systematic basketball teaching video was directed by Zhang Weiping for CCTV in 1990s. Basketball Association should organize shooting open-source teaching videos with modern basketball vision and teaching methods as soon as possible. Such free teaching videos can not only be learned by grass-roots coaches and school teachers, but also be downloaded and accessed by parents of students, so that more children can receive a good basketball education from an early age.