|
Sun Yue Shines in Beijing Olympics
The Olympics is always a great time for NBA scouts to assess the pool of new talent China has to offer. Menk Bateer (Atlanta 1996), Wang Zhizhi (Sydney 2000) and Yi Jianlian (Athens 2004), for example, all had their first exposure to NBA teams at Olympic competitions.
So which basketball star have NBA scouts had their eyes on in Beijing? His name is Sun Yue.
The 2.06m point guard played a key role in China’s advance to the Olympic quarterfinals9. He didn’t score much, but his ability to run the team’s offense has made him an important player for Team China, which has longed for a decent guard for a while. His performance has also driven up his stock as a future NBA player.
“I want to show myself to the world,” said Sun. “I tried to do my best and play my part on the court. For me, every second counts at the Olympics, so I want to take the chance to let people know me.”
With Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian already finding success in the NBA, the whole nation is wondering who will be the next big thing for Chinese basketball. There are numerous possible candidates, such as point guard Chen Jianghua, forward Wang Lei, or small forward Yi Li. But none of them have Sun’s potential.
The 6-foot-9 point guard averaged 6.8 points, 2.5 assists, 1.7 rebounds and 1.3 steals in six games for China in the Beijing Olympics.
Sun declined to comment on his deal with the Lakers, but the guard did admit that playing alongside Kobe Bryant is his ultimate goal. It turns out he already passed an informal interview with the Lakers star.
“I met Kobe and told him I’d like to play with him next season, he said ‘OK’, and ‘see you in training camp’,” Sun told China Daily after China’s opening loss to the US.
Sun played a strong game despite spending most of it being guarded by Bryant, arguably the best outside defender on the planet. Sun protected the ball well and kept Bryant from disrupting China’s offense too much.
The NBA’s Most Valuable Player was impressed with Sun in the first meeting.
签约湖人
1979年，洛杉矶湖人队在NBA选秀大会上以第一选秀权签得“魔术师”埃文·约翰逊的时候，没有一个人觉得意外。28年后，湖人队又挑选了一个“魔术师”。
人们亲切地称孙悦为“中国魔术师约翰逊”。在孙悦的履历上，没有美国大学联盟锦标赛冠军的头衔，而且他的个性也没有约翰逊那么迷人。事实上，孙悦在很多方面更像托尼·帕克，而不是约翰逊，因为孙悦的女友是中国的超模。但是无论怎么样，如果你选的控球后卫有着小前锋的身材时，便必然要和约翰逊作比较。
“我和约翰逊的风格不一样，”孙悦说，“的确，我像他是因为我喜欢传球胜过得分。可能我打球风格有点儿像他，但他是超级巨星。”
孙悦的技艺给人留下了非常深刻的印象，他和同样来自中国的易建联是中国篮球运动员新生代的代表人物，这名6英尺9英寸高的后卫有着极为出色的手感，在同普通控卫对抗中，他的身高具有很大优势，所以善于发起进攻灌篮，和20年前的约翰逊颇为相似。
“我们一直很注意孙悦，”一名东部球队球探在提到孙悦时说，这名球探表示他很可能加入姚明、王治郅和巴特尔效力NBA的行列，“尽管有些分歧，但是我们中的很多人都看好他。”
当然湖人就是这么认为的。湖人在第二轮第十位选中孙悦（第四十顺位），他们放弃了很多NCAA著名控卫，比如杰拉德·乔丹和塔瑞恩·格林。湖人在首轮选中了乔治亚理工大学的控卫加瓦利斯·克里滕顿之后，还是选择了孙悦。但是湖人看重的是孙悦全面的技术——他几乎能防守四个位置，他很可能会被留在中国队再打一个赛季。
“我们觉得孙悦很有潜力，”湖人队总经理米切·库普切克说，“他可能早点过来和我们一起打球，要么送去海外锻炼一番。”
“我一直梦想加盟湖人队打球，”孙悦说，“那里的队员都很年轻，而且很有才华，我觉得湖人很适合我。”
上一页 [1] [2] [3] 下一页 【已有很多网友发表了看法，点击参与讨论】【对英语不懂，点击提问】【英语论坛】【返回首页】
|