In this season, Zhao Rui's situation is not very optimistic. It should be noted that he has missed many games of the Xinjiang team in the first place. And when he took to the court to play, his overall state seemed a bit off, as if his mind was not fully focused on the game, appearing somewhat distracted. Moreover, his temper is really fiery, and he can be easily provoked by the slightest incident. Just recently, didn't he get into a conflict with the referee and openly defy the referee, resulting in a suspension and a fine?
In this season, there is another top-paid player, Zhou Qi, whose performance seems to be aligning with Zhao Rui's trend. In the first stage of the competition, Zhou Qi missed several games due to injury. When he returned in the second stage, his participation was intermittent and unstable. Take this round's match against Qingdao as an example; Zhou Qi actually received technical fouls one after another during the game, ultimately leading to his ejection from the court.
During the matchup with Yang Hanshen, Zhou Qi's performance was far from outstanding. In the third quarter, when he faced Yang Hanshen, dissatisfied with the referee's decision, Zhou Qi directly vented his emotions at the referee, resulting in two technical fouls and being ejected from the court.
On the verge of leaving the court, Zhou Qi played for 17 minutes. During this time, he made 10 shots and hit 4, scoring 10 points and grabbing 3 rebounds. However, what is quite comical is that Zhou Qi, who has experience playing in the NBA, actually missed three free throws. In this game, several players from the Beijing team were unable to participate, such as Omore, Zeng Fanbo, Chen Yingjun, and Lei Meng. As a result, Zhou Qi's departure put Beijing in an even worse position, making the situation increasingly passive. Ultimately, Beijing lost to Qingdao with a score of 89 to 99, swallowing the bitter fruit of a two-game losing streak.
In fact, as early as last season when he was playing for the Guangdong team, Zhou Qi's attendance had already shown a significant downward trend. By this season, after the team had completed 31 games, Zhou Qi had only played in 12 games. In an average playing time of 23.9 minutes per game, he could score 12.3 points and grab 6.6 rebounds, with a free throw percentage of 50.9%, which is the worst performance of his career.
During last year's offseason, Beijing completed a major transfer move by bringing in Zhou Qi. However, after joining Beijing, Zhou Qi's situation has not been ideal. The team did not achieve the expected excellent results due to his arrival, and looking at Zhou Qi's own performance, it has set the worst record of his career. After this incident where Zhou Qi angrily scolded the referee, it is likely that he will find it hard to escape the punishment from the league. Perhaps, such a punishment is precisely what Zhou Qi secretly hopes for deep down in his heart.
Looking back to the past, Zhou Qi and Zhao Rui were once seen as the two core pillars of China's men's basketball team, both inside and outside the court. Think about the grandly held Men's Basketball World Cup in 2019 at their doorstep, where the Chinese men's basketball team failed to secure a ticket to the Tokyo Olympics, and this reason is indeed closely related to these two individuals. Time flies, and several years have passed like this. What is unexpected is that not only have they made no progress or improvement in their ball skills, but they have also presented another scene. On the court, they seem to have gradually lost the spirit of wholeheartedly investing in the game and striving hard, and their tempers are getting bigger day by day. Such a situation is truly enough to make people sigh deeply, feeling extremely regretful.
During last year's offseason, Beijing men's basketball team exerted great effort and spent a lot of money. Their goal for this season is quite clear, undoubtedly aiming to enter the finals and take the championship trophy. To this end, the team specially brought in two powerful players, akin to two hefty "big fish." One of them is Chen Yingjun, who is still recovering from an injury and cannot fully exert his level on the court. The other is Zhou Qi, surprisingly, whose state has shown a noticeable decline, and judging by the data, he has regressed to almost the level of an ordinary blue-collar player in terms of rotation. This is undoubtedly a significant obstacle for Beijing's goal of winning the championship.
As for Beijing's fans, they must also prepare mentally to face the worst-case scenario where the team might not even reach the semi-finals this season. Speaking of Zhou Qi again, he has now presented a similar "working without exertion" passive敷衍 attitude on the court as Zhao Rui, leaving the management of the Beijing team with no choice but to pray for good luck.