As of the 20th round of the CBA schedule, Beijing Men's Basketball Team has a total record of 15 wins and 5 losses, ranking fifth in the standings. This performance does not match the luxurious lineup of the Beijing team.
The five games that Beijing has lost so far were against Jilin, Tianjin, Shanxi, and Guangdong men's basketball teams. Among these four teams, Jilin and Tianjin are at the lower levels of the league. The fact that Beijing lost to them indicates that the team's performance is extremely unstable, and they do not have a sure win even against weaker opponents.
Out of the 15 games that Beijing won, six were close victories, failing to demonstrate the aggressiveness expected of a strong team.
What exactly is going on with Beijing Men's Basketball Team? Why are they struggling this season? It all boils down to these five reasons, and I'll only discuss the key points.
Reason One: Xu Limin's Coaching Style is Too Gentle
In basketball, exerting pressure on referees is also a strategy that can change their refereeing tendencies to some extent. However, Coach Xu rarely protests during games and seldom shows emotional expressions. As a result, Chen Yingjun, the core organizer of the perimeter, and Jermaine, the main offensive point of the perimeter, often suffer physical harm from opponents and do not benefit from favorable calls.
Reason Two: The Frontcourt is Too Easily Targeted
On the offensive end, Fan Ziming, Qiu Tian, and Solomon do not aim for mid-range shots when they get the ball, and even if they do, they often miss. They tend to pass the ball more often by standing still and handing it off. To defend against these players, one only needs to stand near the three-second zone and disrupt their shooting and layups by crouching and interfering.
On the defensive end, when Zhou Qi is not on the court, one can exploit Fan Ziming's lateral movement rigidity, Qiu Tian's tendency to reach in, and Solomon's physique.
Reason Three: Unreasonable On-site Player Deployment
A normal approach to player deployment for a team would be to let those with greater ability and better form play more, while those with average skills or poor form should play less. However, Beijing Men's Basketball Team does not follow this approach. Taking the game where Beijing lost 80-93 to Tianjin as an example:
In this game, Solomon, who shot 6 out of 5, and Omore, who shot 7 out of 4, only played for about 20 minutes. On the other hand, Lei Meng, who shot 10 out of 2, played for over 30 minutes, and Zhang Cairen, who shot 7 out of 1, could play for 23 minutes. Such an arrangement is extremely unreasonable.
Reason Four: Foreign Player Issues
The small foreign player, Jermaine, has average three-point shooting ability, poor rhythm in breaking through, and lacks the ability to score consistently. Solomon only excels at scoring under the basket. Omore is more of an outside shooter. None of them possess the capability to make breakthroughs.
Reason Five: Overemphasis on Team Basketball
Looking at the player statistics, it becomes clear that everyone on the Beijing team has an overly balanced number of attempts. When everyone is in good form, playing this way is fine, but when some are in poor form and others are doing well, maintaining such an even distribution of attempts is just asking for trouble.
Dear basketball fans, what are your thoughts on this? Welcome to leave your comments and join the discussion!