This season, the CBA has relaxed its foreign player policy, changing from four quarters with four players to seven players per quarter. This greatly increases the impact of foreign players on the game while reducing the playing time of domestic players. For many teams, domestic players must work hard if they want to stand out, but there are also mediocre teams that rely heavily on foreign players, allowing them to dominate the court while domestic players simply go through the motions, playing health-preserving basketball. Don't doubt it, this season there are several such mediocre teams in the CBA.
In a CBA regular-season match between Shandong and Ningbo, Shandong won 112:102 with five players scoring in double figures. Honestly, Ningbo is a weak team, while Shandong is one of the top four strong teams this season. It's not disgraceful for Ningbo to lose to them, but the way they lost was not right. Why do I say that? Let's take a look at the statistics.
In this game, Ningbo attempted 80 shots in total, with foreign player Ma Qi shooting as many as 39 times, almost half of the total attempts. In contrast, the entire Ningbo domestic squad (8 players) only shot 14 times and made 5 of them, with a shooting rate of just 35%. It can be seen that they not only shot less but also had an extremely low shooting rate. On the contrary, foreign players attempted 66 shots, more than five times the number of domestic players.
After several years, I really don't know what Ningbo men's basketball is doing. The team still doesn't have an absolute core player. During the offseason, they trade back and forth, basically gathering a few players from the previous Bayi men's basketball team. Players like Wang Zirui, Lin Juntao, and Ma Yong are basically substitutes among substitutes in other teams, but when they come to Ningbo, they become starters or important rotation players. Taking this game as an example, Ma Yong played for 35 minutes and 50 seconds, but only shot once, grabbed 2 rebounds, and made 1 assist without scoring. Honestly, I really don't know what he was doing on the court.
On the contrary, foreign players in Ningbo enjoy unlimited shooting rights. In this game, Ma Qi shot as many as 39 times, eventually making 20 of 39, 7 of 18 three-pointers, and 13 of 19 free throws, scoring 60 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, and 1 block. It's normal for a team with good feel and ability to shoot more. Mainly, Lokesevic played 11 minutes in this game, but he also shot wildly with only 2 of 10. I really don't know what the domestic players of Ningbo are doing. Do they only know how to defend and run back and forth? If domestic players play like this, aren't they just mediocre players?
In stark contrast to Ningbo is their opponent, Shandong men's basketball. Although foreign players are the absolute core and shoot more, domestic players play a very important role in the game and also shoot a lot. The team attempted 78 shots in total, with domestic players attempting 41 shots, accounting for more than half, and their shooting rate is quite good, close to 50%.