Even though Beijing has indeed seen a number of promising young talents emerge in recent years, the team's excessive emphasis on seniority has allowed many veterans to continue occupying crucial positions. Despite the change in head coach to Xu Limin this season, under his leadership, several veteran players have remained firmly entrenched. If Xu Limin lacks the courage to "remove" them from their positions, the team's prospects, even with the anticipated return of Zhou Qi, may not be particularly optimistic.
In the recent match where Beijing narrowly defeated Tongxi by one point thanks to Jerman's buzzer-beater, the team's three veterans—Lei Meng, Fang Shuo, and Zhai Xiaochuan—combined for only one point, which was scored by Zhai Xiaochuan through a free throw after four attempts. Had any of them performed normally, Beijing would not have been so vulnerable, allowing Tongxi to keep the game suspenseful until the last moment.
Xu Limin's current rotation lineup does not feature many young players. Once the mid-career players like Zhou Qi and Chen Yingjun are limited in their performance, coupled with the veterans like Zhai Xiaochuan and Fang Shuo also experiencing slumps, and considering that the foreign players' abilities are already average, Beijing will be at a significant disadvantage when facing strong teams like Shanghai, Liaoning, Guangsha, and Zhejiang.
However, with the season already halfway through, Xu Limin is now in a difficult position and dare not rashly provide too many opportunities to other young players. After all, he has been very cautious even in using Zeng Fanbo, let alone other young talents who are less naturally gifted.
This season, among Beijing's main rotational players, only Zeng Fanbo is a post-00s player. In contrast, Shanghai's local player lineup is largely carried by the "young bulls." Beijing continues to rely heavily on its mid-career players and foreign players, which will undoubtedly incur significant time costs if they need to undergo a major overhaul and rebuild in the future.
The addition of Zhou Qi and Chen Yingjun this season has greatly restricted the opportunities for veterans like Zhai Xiaochuan and Fang Shuo, especially Fang Shuo, who is becoming increasingly marginalized as he watches Chen Yingjun take his place. This is certainly unpleasant for him.
Rather than letting these veterans "occupy the toilet without doing their business," if Xu Limin wants to bring about a qualitative change in the team, he should really consider activating young players like Fan Yiming, Jin Yipeng, and Wen Song. However, given the complex internal situation at Beijing Auto, it seems unlikely that Xu Limin has the boldness to carry out drastic reforms.
Beijing's next three matches are all tough battles, against Xinjiang, Liaoning, and Zhejiang. If the team's veterans continue to perform poorly and the foreign players' on-site performances are just average, Xu Limin should seriously consider activating the young players and giving them a chance to test the waters at that time.