In the second round of the battle between Tianjin and Guangdong, many fans of the Guangdong team were delighted as the team defeated Tianjin 120-111 away from home, achieving a double kill over Tianjin for the season and also securing their longest winning streak of four games this season. It's somewhat bitter to say that just four consecutive wins have become something worth celebrating for Guangdong, but from a realistic perspective, this year's Guangdong team has limited investment and basically lacks the strength to compete for the championship. At present, Guangdong can only feel their way forward, taking one step at a time.
After Guangdong's victory over Tianjin, three pieces of news have emerged. The first concerns the recovery status of Hu Mingxuan's injury.
Last year's battle with Jiangsu was costly for Guangdong, with Du Runwang being suspended and Jilunwalt fined. More heart-wrenching was Hu Mingxuan's shoulder injury. After getting injured, Hu actively sought treatment, visiting experts in Guangzhou and Beijing. It was eventually determined that surgery would not be necessary, but the injury would require three months to recover. Recently, Hu Mingxuan has been undergoing rehabilitation training under the guidance of the famous domestic rehabilitation coach Ye En. Judging from Hu Mingxuan's video updates, having a national-level rehabilitation coach to protect him, his recovery progress is quite optimistic.
The latest news is that Hu Mingxuan has gone to the Haigeng Training Base in Kunming, Yunnan for rehabilitation. The news actually came from Xu Ziqi, the center of the National Youth Women's Basketball Team, who shared a photo with Hu Mingxuan on social media. Since both the men's and women's national youth basketball teams are currently training at the Haigeng base in Yunnan, Xu Ziqi's photo with Hu Mingxuan indicates that Hu Mingxuan is also in Yunnan.
Interestingly, after the second stage of the CBA ends and the Spring Festival is over, it will be time for the men's basketball national team's window period training. Last August, the men's basketball team trained at the Haigeng base. Does this mean that Hu Mingxuan has a chance to catch up with the Asian Qualifiers during the window period? It's possible, since rehabilitation training can be done anywhere, so there's no need to go to Kunming specifically. Of course, it's also possible that the rehabilitation coach Ye En is currently in Kunming, and Hu Mingxuan might have followed Ye En to the Haigeng base for rehabilitation training, taking advantage of the opportunity to tap into national team resources and train with the national youth team to prepare for the national team and the third stage of the CBA.
The second piece of news involves Peng Shijun, who once claimed he would never play for the Guangdong team. There are recent rumors that he may return to play for Guangdong, or alternatively, he might be traded by Guangdong to Jiangsu in exchange for Cui Xiaolong, who hasn't been playing much for Jiangsu recently, or to Tianjin to follow his uncle Zhang Qingpeng. Currently, Peng Shijun is said to be training at a friend's gym in Jiangsu.
Regardless, it's good news that Peng Shijun, whose talent is second only to Huang Mingyi, is returning to play in the CBA. No matter what his character is like, as long as he has talent, it shouldn't go to waste, right? Of course, whether he returns to Guangdong or is traded, it's actually a reinforcement for Guangdong (I personally favor a trade). Given Guangdong's current situation, trading Peng Shijun for an immediate domestic guard to relieve pressure on Xu Jie is urgent. Therefore, it's likely that Zhu Fangyu will choose to trade with either Jiangsu or Tianjin, as Guangdong doesn't lack forwards at the moment.
The CBA will open the player transfer window from the 10th to the 16th of this month, and we'll find out where Peng Shijun will end up then.
The third piece of news is about the possibility of De'Shan Nichols becoming Guangdong's fourth foreign player.
The second stage is already in its later half, and there have been many rumors about Guangdong's fourth foreign player. Du Feng had previously put pressure on management to find a substitute point guard for Xu Jie, which led to Zhu Fangyu signing Les. However, after using Les for a few games, Du Feng was very dissatisfied, and Zhu Fangyu subsequently released Les some time ago.
During this period, Zhu Fangyu also expressed in his personal video updates that the team has been pursuing a suitable small foreign player. However, after all these days, Zhu still hasn't made any moves. In fact, Zhu has recently been competing with other CBA teams for an NBA-level guard, none other than De'Shan Nichols. Familiar fans of the Timberwolves and Rockets should know him well. De'Shan is 22 years old, 193cm tall, plays as a point guard, but weighs as much as 103kg (and may even be heavier), making him comparable to Zhao Rui and Zhang Ning in terms of physique. De'Shan's physical qualities are not inferior to those of Armes. During his time with the Rockets, he averaged 4 points, 1.7 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game. While playing for the Timberwolves' affiliate team, he averaged an impressive 22.1 points, 5 rebounds, and 7.3 assists, with stats that are no worse than Armes'.
Of course, De'Shan Nichols also has his shortcomings. Firstly, his shooting accuracy is not great, and his organization and defense are not top-notch either. He also tends to hold onto the ball too much. According to some fans' evaluations, he is considered a "tank" for the Rockets (the Rockets' current success is also inseparable from De'Shan). His performance in the NBA is historically abstract, and most people don't think highly of him. So, isn't it a coincidence that this fits Zhu Fangyu's unique taste in selecting foreign players? But for Du Feng, isn't this also a difficult choice?