As the current league leader, Zhejiang Guangsha has truly become one of the most championship-worthy teams in the new season, boasting an impressive record of 23 wins and 4 losses. This is not only due to their remarkable performance but also because they resemble the Liaoning team that accumulated strength over many years.
Initially, the overall strength of the team was close to being able to defeat any strong opponent. To further enhance their frontcourt and increase Hu Jinqiu's rest time, the team made great efforts to sign Boban, the tallest player in the NBA, which undoubtedly makes the road to the championship for the new season's Guangsha team appear even smoother.
Why does Guangsha have the potential to win the championship this season? Here are several reasons:
Firstly, it is very similar to Liaoning's situation when they found Ferg after failing to win the championship for consecutive years in Beijing, which helped the team achieve a three-peat dream.
Zhejiang Guangsha once declared their championship aspirations several seasons ago and even reached the finals stage. However, due to the overall youthfulness of the players and lack of experience in major competitions, they were unfortunately swept 4-0 by Liaoning. After that, the core players were affected by injuries, and attempts to reach the finals again failed. Especially during last season's offseason, there were rumors that the "three little ones" of the team might disintegrate, but the team not only retained them but also strengthened their weakest link through a trade with Li Jinjiao. More importantly, they followed in the footsteps of Liaoning and chose Barry Brown, who was discarded by Beijing BAIC, from among many abandoned foreign players. Does this resonate with Liaoning's championship-winning strategy?
Barry Brown seems somewhat similar to Ferg, not showing significant offensive prowess or the ability to turn the tide in other teams, especially after joining Beijing BAIC. He only played 5 games for the team, starting in 2 of them. The data is still acceptable, averaging 17.4 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 2 assists in 18.4 minutes per game.
As a small foreign aid, such data can be considered average, but Beijing BAIC at that time wanted a foreign aid to help the team get out of trouble, especially one capable of delivering outstanding statistics. Therefore, before the end of the season, Barry Brown was abandoned by Beijing BAIC. Later, Barry Brown briefly played for Guangzhou, but only as a substitute for Moore, a typical firefighting foreign aid. He played only 16 games for Guangzhou, starting in 8 of them under the guidance of Guo Shiqiang, averaging 19.8 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 5.9 assists in 28 minutes per game. This is quite different from super-scorers who average over 30 points. As a firefighting foreign aid, he should have shown stronger scoring ability, but Brown seemed incapable of single-handedly saving the team. Consequently, he became an unwanted foreign aid again during the offseason, but Guangsha showed keen insight and did not give up on Brown just because he performed averagely in other teams; he was the first foreign aid signed during the offseason.
This is absolutely a big challenge for Guangsha, who aims to win the championship in the new season, and some fans even question whether the team might suffer losses again in the introduction of foreign aids. Unexpectedly, Guangsha "bet right" this time. After joining the team, Barry Brown did not disappoint, demonstrating his versatility both when playing alongside Sun Minghui and when leading the team alone during Sun Minghui's injury absence. Since joining Guangsha, he has played 26 games, averaging 26.7 points, 4.2 rebounds, 6.3 assists, and 1.8 steals in 36.8 minutes per game, with a key three-point shooting percentage of 38.6%. Especially recently in the game against Tongxi, he played 36 minutes, shooting 15 for 10, making 7 of 11 three-pointers, 4 of 6 free throws, scoring 31 points, 2 rebounds, 8 assists, and 2 steals, with a plus-minus of +26; in the game against Liaoning, Brown played 40 minutes and 11 seconds, shooting 21 for 12 to score 41 points, 3 rebounds, and 5 assists, including a three-point shooting rate of 50% (7 of 14), and crucially, he made all 10 free throws, helping Guangsha defeat Liaoning.
Does this remind you a bit of Ferg back then, who played reasonably in Beijing's Forbidden City but didn't turn the team into champions, and after joining Liaoning, directly elevated Liaoning to a three-peat team? Of course, the second point to mention here is that the current Zhejiang Guangsha is even more similar to Liaoning back then.
Currently, except for the foreign aids, in terms of domestic players, there are basically no full-Chinese teams that can defeat Guangsha, especially Hu Jinqiu, who is difficult for most teams to contain. Adding Sun Minghui's control ability, Zhu Junlong's defense, and Zhao Jiaren's support, especially as Zhao Yanhao gradually recovers, the team's overall offensive and defensive effectiveness improves. Of course, Guangsha's biggest weakness is the bench, but as the schedule progresses and Wang Bo's awareness of the danger of fatigue leading to injuries grows, the team is gradually activating bench players like Xu Zhonghao, Wu Xiao, Duan Liqian, and even Wang Xinrui, especially Lin Bingsheng, who was signed during the offseason, is also gaining confidence. This makes Guangsha more flexible in personnel adjustments, and more importantly, core players like Hu Jinqiu and Sun Minghui get more rest and adjustment time, which significantly reduces the risk of injuries in the playoffs. This is an important guarantee for the team to improve their record in the playoffs.
The third point: Similar to Liaoning is signing the big foreign aid Boban. Back then, Liaoning picked up Morand from Shanxi, which played a pivotal role in key games for the team's frontcourt, although his offensive performance was average, defensively, Morand's contribution to Liaoning was no less than Han Dejun's, especially providing more rest time for Han Dejun. Guangsha has two foreign aids, Knight and Carton, but neither seems capable of taking over the team alone after Hu Jinqiu leaves the court, especially in terms of interior defense. Therefore, the team decisively signed Boban, an NBA interior player standing at 224 cm tall. It is said that Boban moves slowly, but Guangsha's playing style is not about being small, fast, and agile; it is generally about grinding positions and controlling the rhythm, which will undoubtedly allow Boban's height advantage to be maximized, especially since the CBA has no three-second rule limiting defensive actions, allowing Boban to exert a covering effect on defense.
Of course, finally, Guangsha is also one of the teams that has repeatedly failed to win the championship, with the accumulation of experience, complete personnel configuration, and reasonable foreign aid pairing, especially the encouraging record of the new season and the ease with which they handle strong opponents, making the team reach the standard for winning the championship. Moreover, the team is the first to declare their championship aspirations in the new season, so the timing, location, and people are basically in place. The key is that they are even more similar to Liaoning at the beginning of their three-peat, which may really be the destiny predestined for Guangsha to win the championship in the new season.