Recently, the domestic basketball world has changed abruptly, and a lifeless atmosphere has shrouded it. The men's basketball team lost to Japan in the Asian preliminaries, breaking the record of the Chinese team's undefeated defeat to Japan in 88 FIBA Asian Cup and above. Since then, ticket sales for the CBA All-Star Game have been dismal, and fans have been critical of the performance of the star players.
After suffering a setback in the World Cup, the men's basketball team missed the Paris Olympics. Coupled with the loss to the Philippine second team in the Asian Games and missing the finals, this series of setbacks made fans see the continuous decline in the level of the Chinese men's basketball team, which triggered reflection among industry insiders and **.
Legendary Ma Jian also poured out his heart late at night, accusing basketball practitioners of lack of responsibility, whether it is players, coaches or managers.
He bluntly said that the Chinese Basketball Association may be in a quagmire, but Chinese basketball should not stop moving forward.
The remarks seemed to point the finger at Yao Ming, the leading figure in Chinese basketball. Since Yao Ming became president of the Basketball Association, the performance of the Chinese men's basketball team on the international stage has deteriorated, and the CBA league has been full of chaos. Last season, the Shanghai team and the Jiangsu team openly played tacit balls, ignored the referee's blowing penalty, and even were fined for complaining about the referee. Not long ago, there were even rules prohibiting the losing head coach from conducting sideline interviews, which made people feel that speech was directly restricted. The young player development program that has been admired for many years has not yet paid off.
On March 4, 2024, a group stage caused a sensation in the North-South Regional Competition of the National U14 Youth Basketball League. The Heilongjiang U14 team lost 8-107 to Daqing Sports School, forming a 99-point difference.
Heilongjiang U14 had a total of 10 players on the field, five of whom had a scoring record, but only three scored two points, and the other two scored only one point. A fan said in the comments: "This is still a fellow countryman, it is simply a face-saving one, and the score difference has not broken 100." The humiliating defeat highlighted the sluggish level of the Heilongjiang Under-14 squad and raised questions about the young player development programme that has been nurtured over the years.
As Ma Jian said, "The future of Chinese basketball cannot just stop at slogans, boasting and statements. We need to deeply understand the rules and concepts of basketball and really put them into practice. "What kind of situation Chinese basketball is falling into, we need to think about it urgently.