Tonight, the second phase of the CBA regular season restarted, and the Sichuan Jinqiang men's basketball team was away from 94:121 Guangdong. I remember that in 2013, the Sichuan Jinqiang men's basketball team, which had just been promoted to the CBA, played the first game away against the Guangdong team, and suffered a 53-point defeat. Over the years, the Sichuan team has only 5 wins and 30 losses against CBA giants. This season, the Sichuan men's basketball team "suffered internal and external troubles", and only won the first victory of the season in the 10th round. The biggest attraction of this campaign is that Zhou Qi, who has the halo of "the first person in Chinese men's basketball", has made a comeback after 32 months away from the CBA, and the Sichuan men's basketball team can only become the background board for Zhou Qi's comeback debut. As a result, Zhou Qi, who played 19 minutes, scored 14 points and 6 rebounds, and his performance was decent, but he shot 1 of 6 free throws, and he also invested in "oolong" in the game. Many fans sighed, "From the national team to the club, I have practiced free throws for so long, and I have practiced loneliness."
The "farce" turned the page, and he "slackened the war" for a long time
The Sichuan team is at the bottom of the league, and Zhou Qi has a strong desire to "ask for battle" when he chooses this comeback, not to mention that he has been waiting for this day for too long. The last time Zhou Qi appeared in the CBA was back in April 2021, when the Xinjiang team he played for lost to Shandong and missed the playoff semifinals. After that, Zhou Qi fell out with the Xinjiang team because of contract problems, and because the latter had the right of first refusal, Zhou Qi announced his withdrawal from the CBA, and then joined the South East Melbourne Phoenix team in the Australian league. In the 2022-2023 season, Zhou Qi's dispute with the Xinjiang team was unsuccessful, and he returned to the NBL to play for a short time. This farce also fully reflects the imperfection of the current CBA system, and there are too few "available talents", of course, I have also seen that before the implementation of the salary cap salary system, the CBA's first-line stars can indeed get an annual salary contract of 20 million yuan.
Limited by the local basketball mechanism, the CBA's rules themselves have many irrationalities. Encourage the team to develop youth training, but you can't "lock" a player with a long contractIf there are fewer people who can play, it will be a "strange commodity to live in", but players cannot "open their mouths" and completely ignore the current financial pressure of investors. If it weren't for the full involvement of the Basketball Association and the Guangdong team's use of another main national player, Zhao Rui, as an exchange weight, this two-season farce would probably continue, and the "No. 1 local star" might still be at home. Therefore, tonight's battle between Sichuan and Guangdong is another worthy stroke in the history of Chinese basketball, and the trajectory of Zhou Qi's career will be remembered from now on, whether it is up or down.
Back to the "origin", how much is he "worth"?
As the inheritor of the Chinese men's basketball center tradition, Zhou Qi's performance in the two Men's Basketball World Cups has been unsatisfactory. The most recent time in Manila, he even missed a number of empty baskets, but it's no wonder that his training has not been normal for the past two years. "Lack of strength, no defensive rebounding, insufficient ability to fight on the floor and in the air, too quiet and uncommunicative", this is the report given by NBA scouts at the time, professional and to the point. During his upswing, he played two seasons in the NBA, making a total of 19 appearances, averaging 12 points 12 rebounds;Later, he went to the NBL to develop, and averaged 10 per game2 points 60 rebounds ......In fact, skills and strength can be improved through hard work, but Zhou Qi has little blood, which determines that he can't be the boss, whether in the national team or the club.
However, he is still the hottest star in the league. Some insiders also lamented that the league lacks competition, and the comfortable environment has spoiled some players, with no goals, no responsibility, no hard work, and they can earn by lying down. Three years ago, Zhou Qi's average data in the CBA was 208 points 119 rebounds, he is 28 years old, if he can continue the 20+10 data, his market value will continue to rise, after all, he only signed a one-year contract with Guangdong. Of course, it also depends on his health, and the herniated disc and knee ligament injuries should not be **. Also, in the 2025 National Games, Zhou Qi will also represent Sichuan in the National Games, such "mercenaries" are not uncommon in previous National Games, and only more player mobility can promote the Chinese men's basketball team to break the imbalance and achieve healthy competition.
Chengdu **Jinguan News Reporter Huang Yike **Xinhua News Agency Sichuan Men's Basketball Team Editor-in-charge He Qitie Editor Wen Zhu.