The disappearing ace: The Chinese men s basketball team without Guo Ailun is like a headless fly

When Zhao Jiwei said to the camera that "the absolute leader is needed at a critical moment", the entire Chinese basketball world was asking: Why was that man who could tear apart the defense lines of Europe and the United States forgotten in the corner?

Recently, the core guard of the Chinese men's basketball team, Zhao Jiwei, was asked many topics of concern to fans in an interview, which was the reason why he played well in the league and performed poorly as soon as he arrived at the national team. Zhao Jiwei also answered this question sincerely!

Zhao Jiwei cannot deny the difference in his performance, because the style of playing in the league and the national team is different, and players need to change. Some players are more anxious about playing, which is the reason. To put it bluntly, their ability cannot reach that level!

The score is in a stalemate, who will solve the problem? When the reporter raised this fatal question, Zhao Jiwei's Adam's apple rolled violently, and finally squeezed out a heart-wrenching sentence: "I can't reach this level." This sentence is like a sharp knife, piercing the last fig leaf of the Chinese men's basketball team. In the last two minutes of the Asian qualifiers against Japan, the Chinese team fell behind by 3 points. Zhao Jiwei pushed forward with the ball, but was forced to stop by double-team at halftime. He hurriedly passed the ball to Hu Mingxuan, who made a three-pointer. The Japanese team then succeeded in counterattacking and completely killed the game.

This fatal round made millions of fans slapped in front of the screen: If Guo Ailun was there, Guo Ailun would break in and cause 2+1 to score overtime and overtake the game. Once upon a time, this moment always belonged to the figure wearing the No. 6 jersey. In the 2019 World Cup battle with Nigeria, Guo Ailun broke into and out of the muscle jungle, scoring 14 points in a single quarter; in the 2021 undraft against Greece, he scored three-pointers against the NBA-level defense and scored 22 points in the game.

Guo Ailun's breakthrough is like a scalpel. Former national team coach Gong Luming once commented: he is the only Chinese defender who can create opportunities in the international arena.

And today's national team, when the opponent uses the full-game press, the ball needs to be played through the center for half. Zhao Jiwei admitted painfully: "Everyone is waiting and watching after getting the ball, and no one dares to make a decision." This leadership vacuum has evolved into a deadly black hole in the two years when Guo Ailun was absent due to injury.

lens flashed back to the 2022 CBA Finals G4. Liaoning fell behind by 1 point in the last 15 seconds. Guo Ailun held the ball and attracted three people to double-team, and suddenly threw the ball to Zhao Jiwei at the bottom corner. With a knife, a three-pointer kill! The scene of two people roaring against their chests becomes a classic CBA moment.

The tacit understanding of this pair of double guns in the backcourt is a deadly weapon tempered in fifteen years. "Allen attracted the defense and passed the ball, Jiwei took the ball and shot," Yang Ming once deciphered the pair, "The whole league knows this tactic, but it just can't be defended." Last season, when Guo Ailun was healthy, Zhao Jiwei's three-point shooting percentage was as high as 42.7%; and when he was absent, the number plummeted to 35.1%.

This chemical reaction was forcibly dismantled when it reached the national team. In the semi-finals of the Asian Games last year, Zhao Jiwei tried to play pick-and-roll with Wang Zhelin six times, but made four mistakes. "The king always bounces out after pick-and-roll," Yao Ming on the sidelines shook his head, "What Ke Jiwei needs is the center forward who will eat the cake. "

The deeper pain was revealed in the subsequent revelations of Zhao Jiwei: "Other national teams can quickly establish cores, but we are making players switch roles constantly. " This heavy hammer hits the coaching staff's tactical board.

foreign coach Joeljevic was obsessed with the "European system" and required all defenders to become pure organizers. So we see: Zhao Rui, who is used to charging, became a dealer, and Xu Jie, who is good at shooting, ran back at the bottom corner. The irony is that he put a big killer like Guo Ailun away from the Chinese men's basketball training team, because the reason is that "injuries do not meet the tactical requirements."

"Modern basketball needs to hold the core of the ball,"Su Qun, a famous basketball guru, hit the nail on the head, "Look at Doncic in Slovenia, and then see how we treat Guo Ailun?" When the Japanese team let Yuki Kawamura, who was 1.72 meters, fired infinitely, the Chinese men's basketball team put shackles on the ace guard.

Zhao Jiwei's interview video hit the hot search. On the night, a well-known sports media person also posted a message overnight: "What the Chinese men's basketball team needs is not naturalized players, but to find the No. 6 who can break through the ball! "

Walking through the player channel, Zhao Jiwei stopped and stared at Yao Ming's huge poster on the wall. At the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Yao defeated Germany with a bone crack. Sixteen years have passed, and the Chinese men's basketball team is still looking for the next person to "give me the ball".

When Japanese players ran in the Paris arena and when Philippine naturalized star Clarkson scored 30+, our men's basketball team was in panic without a terminator. Isn’t Zhao Jiwei’s cry of “needing an absolute core” also a deep call to Guo Ailun?

Basketball won't lie. *The data will not lie. In the past five years of international competitions, Guo Ailun has won 3.2 points per 100 rounds while he is present; when he is absent, the number becomes -12.7 points. This 17-point gap is the value of the ace.

Instead of spending tens of millions of naturalized second-rate foreign aid, it is better to return the scalpel to the sharpest surgeon.