Last offseason, Shanghai men's basketball team took the lead in securing the powerful small forward Blackney's joining, but unexpectedly he kept letting them down and later joined the Israeli league, which affected the overall planning of the Shanghai team. They first brought in Walters, Billy Barron, etc. for the small forward position. After going around in circles, they eventually returned to familiar faces like Bledsoe and the mediocre Hawkins.
However, recently, Shanghai men's basketball team has been able to go northward all the way, winning 15 consecutive victories. To some extent, they may really have to thank Blackney for letting them down because there is no super tough core player with a ball in the small forward position, which also gives more opportunities to local players, such as Li Hongquan and Li Tianrong who seized this opportunity.
Especially Li Tianrong, who mainly plays as a guard, has played a career masterpiece this season, basically becoming half of the "small foreign" role of Shanghai. In the game where Shanghai defeated Guangzhou by 31 points at home, Li Tianrong made it rain with three-pointers (6 out of 12) and scored a career-high 31 points.
As a result, Li Tianrong's average score this season has risen to 16.2 points, with shooting percentages of 54.3%, 50%, and 79.3%, among which the average score has surpassed Wang Zhelin, rising to second in the team, only behind the big foreign player Lofton. In addition, Li Tianrong's three-point accuracy ranks first in the entire league (including foreign players), having made a total of 72 three-pointers, ranking second among local players after Yuan Shuai, Xu Jie, and Lin Wei.
As previously mentioned, the reason why Li Tianrong can have such a big playing space is also thanks to Blackney's letting them down. The returning Blood Cloth did not take on everything as before, but instead focused on defense and organization, averaging only 12.4 shots per game, scoring 13.5 points, 5 rebounds, 9.8 assists, and 1.6 steals per game.
With Lofton becoming the undisputed core foreign player of Shanghai, the other three foreign players (Blood Cloth, Hokinsson, and Wilson) are actually auxiliary roles, especially on the guard line. Neither Blood Cloth nor Hawkins occupied too much offensive share, allowing Li Tianrong to play the role of half a small foreign player for the team.
Now, the lineup configuration of Shanghai men's basketball team is indeed something that many teams do not want to encounter when it comes to the playoffs. Their one-star (Lofton) and four-shooter tactics can really give other auxiliary players an outside touch. Even against championship favorites like Guangsha and Liaoning, they are not without a chance to win. For Li Tianrong, who has played a career masterpiece, many fans believe that in next month's Asian Qualifiers, he should continue to wear the Chinese men's basketball jersey and showcase his influence on such an international stage.