“If I can, I hope to try a higher level stage.”

In the face of various questions from the media, Zhou Qi mentioned this sentence four times in the interview time less than 30 minutes.

On September 5, Beijing time, in the online media home activity organized by China Basketball Association, Zhou Qi said that he had not yet determined his next destination, but everyone, including him, seems to have reached a consensus-only by truly going out can we achieve greater improvement.

When Zhou Qi, who was referred to by fans three years ago, became the “hope of the whole village”, it seemed to prove one thing. Today’s CBA really cannot produce too many talents.

Hit my ball and sweat

Over the past summer, Zhou Qi became the most mentioned name in China men’s basketball.

Not only because his performance on the court is strong enough, but also because of Zhou Qi’s pending whereabouts. But no one doubts that Zhou Qi has grown into the new leader in China’s men’s basketball.

Du Feng said, “Zhou Qi is now the irreplaceable No. 5 player in China’s men’s basketball insider.”

In the third stage of FIFA World Cup qualification against Australia and Chinese Taipei, Zhou Qi scored 14.5 points, 10.8 rebounds and 2 caps in each game. After the fire line supported the Asian Cup, Zhou Qi played 3 games, the game averaged 15 points, 12.7 rebounds, 1.7 caps and 1 assist; In the fourth stage of FIFA World Cup qualification, Zhou Qi still output 20.5 points and 9 rebounds.

During this period, Zhou Qi encountered many disadvantages such as inadequate preparation and epidemic infestation. Even under the influence of the new coronavirus pneumonia, Zhou Qi once lost 5 kilograms of weight due to fever. But compared with his teammates, Zhou Qi is still the one who can change the situation most.

But Zhou Qi is quite modest about this: “I think we are in a team that plays by the whole. Everyone bears different responsibilities. I try my best to do everything I can, do my duty well. Then we can improve our performance as a whole.”

From this sentence, it seems that you can realize the maturity of Zhou Qi.

His maturity is not only the deterrent force on the court, but also various details on the court. Du Feng commented: “The growth of Zhou Qi is not only in terms of football skills, I think he has become more mature and sensible, and his role in the team is gradually changing.”

“Not only on the court, but also began to communicate with many players in life. Personal feelings towards the team are becoming more and more upward.”

Stability is the most prominent feature of Zhou Qi today. On the court, Zhou Qi can not only make better use of his own technology, but also rarely see Zhou Qi out of control in terms of emotion.

Zhou Qi said to this, “as for myself, I just try my best to train and play games. Since I entered the national team, there are good times and bad times step by step.”

“I have been keeping a mindset-to do what I should do, to play my own ball, to improve where I should improve.”

CBA is really not enough

if Zhou Qi’s mentality keeps him positive all the time, then what catalyzes Zhou Qi’s growth is the experience of overseas war.

According to Zhou Qi, it was the experience of playing in the Australian league that kept him in a high-level confrontation for a long time. “my own level of confrontation and perception of the game will be better, I have always been at a relatively high level in the Asian arena.”

Even when Zhou Qi talked about the Australian league, he first talked about one year’s experience and then changed his mouth, “In fact, it only takes half a year.”

“I have felt a lot in the past season, and their competition is very fierce, whether it is an old player or a young player.”

“Each of them is in the state of competing for the team position. The training time is not long every day. It may end from morning to more than one o’clock in the afternoon, but the amount is very large and the effect is also very good.” The environment is crucial to the growth of a player, which is not only reflected in Zhou Qi, but also in other players in China men’s basketball.

After the game ended this summer, Du Feng mentioned the player’s ability to move and shoot most. “Now all games require fast shooting ability, which I have been emphasizing with the team.”

“But the team has basically been in some domestic leagues in the past two years, which has caused the players to think that some skills I can use in CBA. In fact, on the platform of international competitions, these technologies can’t be used at all, and the gap is still relatively large.”

Similar stories have been heard as early as when Du Feng was a national team player.

At that time, Wang Shipeng and Zhu Fangyu were both targeted at jumping. After Yunas led China to participate in the World Cup men’s basketball in 2006, Wang Shipeng saw the world-class attack line and understood how to improve.

“They all sprinted to a point quickly and pulled them up to vote. At that time, Yunus told me, ‘dapeng, this is your development direction. ‘After coming back, I practiced sprint every day, and I felt too relaxed when playing league games.”

Sun Minghui also felt the same way: “I haven’t fought against the International team for a long time, and their confrontation intensity far exceeds that of our league.”

And these confrontations are only at the Asian level……

But you really can’t blame the players completely. After all, when people are used to winning the match by using simple mode in the match, it is difficult for you to ask them to tighten their nerves all the time.

Gu Quanyi reflected in the interview: “We don’t need mobile shooting ability in CBA. The team basically relies on foreign aid to break through and pass the ball to the vacancy, and then you finish the shooting, in addition, the rotation of the other party is not so fast, so we have formed a lot of bad habits.”

From habit to ability, environment is exactly the crucial factor for the growth of a player. At the moment when CBA is not “rolling” enough, how to improve personal level may be a problem that every national team player needs to think about.

Zhou Qi still wants to have a try. What about others?

In view of the current situation of CBA, many fans called for Zhou Qi not to come back. At present, Zhou Qi’s plan has not yet determined the final destination.

“The direction has not been decided yet. It depends on the communication between the agent and other teams. The start time of each league is also very close, and it may be determined as soon as possible.”

But compared with the undetermined destination, Zhou Qi mentioned a similar expression four times in the 30-minute interview: “If I can, I hope to try a higher level stage.”

Facing the topic of whether he is willing to challenge NBA again, Zhou Qi’s answer is also very frank: “As I said before, I always want to, even if I just try again.”

When asked whether this attempt included basic salary or an insecure contract, his answer was: “I don’t think I can go to the level of inverse yet, so if there is a chance, still willing to try again.”

For Chinese players, it is not an easy choice to compete in overseas league matches, which not only requires players to have enough strength to stand on their feet overseas, at the same time, the players are still in a “stormy” career planning. However, trying it has become a very important word in Zhou Qi’s planning.

Three years ago, when Zhou Qi was criticized by fans, it was hard for anyone to think that now he said this sentence so appropriately: “What do you want to regard basketball as is very important. If you just take it as a job and think you can do something else without playing basketball, your efforts will be different.”

Behind the story may not be Zhou Qi who has made progress too fast and has the capital of the face-beating fans, but the whole Chinese basketball ecology is too comfortable and lacks competitiveness.

After all, in the European Championship, which was nicknamed “better than NBA” by fans, the Bosnia-Herzegovina group match, which was once unable to raise funds, defeated the defending champion Slovenia; belgium, ranked 37th in the world, won Spain, the second in the world.

If China men’s basketball, which ranks 29th in the world, is put into any group of the European Championships, it may not be able to win one game.

We hope that Zhou Qi can stand up to men’s basketball days in China, and we also hope that more and more people will help Zhou Qi to stand up to men’s basketball days in China together.