Young Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) center Tang Zhengdong
of the Jiangsu Dragons team will go to the United States for a
week-long NBA trial on April 27th.
During his stay in the US, 2.13m Tang will attend special
training sessions held by the Los Angeles Lakers and the Toronto
Raptors.
Jiangsu's Tang Zhengdong shoots against a player during a game
against the Guangdong Southern Tigers in CBA.
Tang has quite good athletic ability and mobility; but isn't as
athletic as fellow NBA prospect player Yi Jianlian or as quick as
Chinese NBA star Yao Ming.
He knows how to use his body and strength to overpower smaller
opponents and his strengths are rebounding and shot blocking - even
Yao has trouble defending against him.
Tang, who turns 22 this year, has been automatically entered
into the June NBA draft, but his agent Xia Song says the young
athlete may have little chance to be picked up by an NBA teams
after the trials.
Tang played at the 2001 ABCD camp and was one of the top
rebounders. He averaged 12.2 points and 8.6 rebounds at the Junior
World Championships 2002 in Greece.
Despite being the CBA's Most Valuable Player in the 2003-2004
season, Tang withdrew from last year's draft as he did not meet the
criteria.
Another China's star basketballer Yi Jianlian withdrew from the
2006 NBA draft this summer, the Chinese Basketball Association
(CBA) announced on Wednesday.
The CBA said Guangdong informed the decision to the Chinese
governing body after an executive meeting of the club.
"It's not a good time for Yi to play in NBA," said Hu Jiashi,
vice president of China's Basketball Administrative Bureau.
Hu said the club was afraid that Yi would have little playing
time if he could be drafted by any NBA team.
According to the statement of the Guangdong Hongyuan club, Yi
agreed on the decision and was ready to be recruited by the
national team.
Sun Yue, guard of the Beijing Aoshen, announced for the NBA
draft, according to local reports. Hu said the CBA received no
confirmation from the Aoshen.
"Aoshen is traveling in Europe. We cannot get in contact with
the club. We are not sure whether Sun will go for the draft. But we
respect any decision from the club and the player," Hu said.
(Xinhua News Agency and?China Daily?April 26,
2006)