Beijing Ducks

The Bay Area Dragons have added three stars from the Chinese Basketball Association to complete a roster that already contains former NBA players Andrew Nicholson and Myles Powell and the aptly named Big Liu for the inaugural season of the revamped East Asia Super League.
The Dragons on Wednesday confirmed Zhu Songwei, Ju Mingxin and Liu Xiaoyu have signed from the CBA, joining the new club which will be based in Manila for Season 1 of the EASL.
The eight-team league will launch in October and feature the winners and runners-up from the Japanese, South Korean and Philippines leagues as well as the Taiwanese champions and the Bay Area Dragons, who will also be playing in the Philippines league.
Zhu, a forward who played with Sichuan in the CBA and was the fourth overall pick in the 2020 CBA draft, said he&rsquo;s looking forward to the challenge with the Dragons and &ldquo;being part of the new face of Chinese basketball.&rdquo;
Ju, a 10-year CBA veteran who has spent the last three seasons with the Shanghai Sharks, said the lure was being part of &ldquo;the first fully professional Chinese club to play internationally.&rdquo;
The Bay Area Dragons have recruited players from across greater China.&nbsp;
&ldquo;When we started building this team, we wanted to aim for a mixture of youth and experienced guys. Ju Mingxin is the perfect balance in this mix,&rdquo; Dragons head coach Brian Goorjian said. &ldquo;His years of experience in the CBA will be a huge asset for our team, and he is also only 29 . . . He&rsquo;s stepping into his prime years as a player.&rdquo;
Goorjian, who coached Australia&rsquo;s national team to a bronze medal at the Tokyo Olympics and has been a multiple coach of the year winner in Australia&rsquo;s National Basketball League, will also be reuniting with Liu Xiaoyu.
Liu won CBA championships with the Guangdong Southern Tigers and also played for the Shanghai Sharks and Beijing Ducks and represented China&rsquo;s national team.
&ldquo;The Dragons are a one-of-a-kind team,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;I previously played under Coach Goorjian with Shanghai and I&rsquo;m very excited to be back with him.&rdquo;
Liu Chuanxing, a 22-year-old, 2.25-meter (7-foot-5) center for China&rsquo;s national team, was among the first 10 players who signed for the Dragons after a brief stint in Australia, where he was widely known as Big Liu.
The Bay Area Dragons will play exhibitions later this month before joining the Philippine Basketball Association&rsquo;s Commissioner&rsquo;s Cup as a guest team.
Their first game in the EASL home-and-away season is scheduled for Oct. 12 against the PBA runners-up.
The pan-regional basketball league has started production on a reality series covering the inaugural season of the EASL.
South Korean film director John H. Lee will lead the project and work with executive producers Ezra Holland, director of CTRL Media owned by former NBA star Steve Nash.

The Dragons on Wednesday confirmed Zhu Songwei, Ju Mingxin and Liu Xiaoyu have signed from the CBA, joining the new club.

Dragons complete roster with 3 players from Chinese league

SAITAMA, Japan (AP) &mdash; It wasn&rsquo;t just that the U.S. had been losing. It was that the level of play was practically un-American.
Playing passively and passing up open shots isn&rsquo;t the way its players became basketball&rsquo;s best. And when it resulted in them dropping their Olympic opener, the Americans decided to do something about it.
&ldquo;After that loss we came together,&rdquo; guard Damian Lillard said. &ldquo;It was a lot of communication between then and now where it&rsquo;s like, &rsquo;All right. It&rsquo;s time to start looking like Team USA.&rsquo;&rdquo;
Lillard scored 21 points and the Americans got back to winning &mdash; and winning easily &mdash; with their first victory of these Olympics, romping past Iran 120-66 on Wednesday.
Devin Booker scored 16 points and Jayson Tatum had 14 for the Americans, who had their 25-game Olympic winning streak snapped with an&nbsp;<a class="" href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/united-states-loses-to-france-83-76-25-game-olympic-win-streak-ends" target="_blank" rel="noopener">83-76 loss to France</a>&nbsp;on Sunday.
The U.S. not only bounced back but did it in a Dream Team-type performance against an overmatched opponent, racing out for transition dunks and stepping back to knock down three-pointers.
&ldquo;We came out with more freedom as individuals and took the shots that we normally take,&rdquo; said Kevin Durant. &ldquo;And they went in tonight and we guarded up, so it was a good step.&rdquo;
The U.S. plays the Czech Republic on Saturday to close pool play, with a victory guaranteeing the Americans a spot in the single-elimination quarterfinals.
The Americans are probably through already thanks to what will be an enormous point differential as a result of this rout.
The U.S. probably doesn&rsquo;t care what type of team the performance came against. The Americans just needed to look good against somebody.
They came into the game just 2-3 this summer after splitting their exhibition games in Las Vegas before the loss to France. They had rarely looked sharp while navigating roster changes, a game cancelation for coronavirus safety concerns and the absence of Jrue Holiday, Khris Middleton and Booker until the eve of their opener because those three had played in the NBA Finals.
Holiday, who was the best American player in the opener, and Booker moved into the starting lineup Wednesday.
In their second game, the Americans made the shots they normally take. The U.S. knocked down 19 three-pointers and 23 of its 37 shots (62%) inside the arc.
&ldquo;Now that they&rsquo;re complete and the whole group is here, they&rsquo;re having fun doing what you saw,&rdquo; coach Gregg Popovich said. &ldquo;Each time we get out on the court, they do it more and more and better and better because they get confidence in the group and how we want to play.&rdquo;
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It was a loud statement that might quiet some of the criticisms the team has heard right from the start of its summer, when it dropped its first two exhibition games.
Those came against a different caliber opponent. The Americans had played some of basketball&rsquo;s best, with games against Spain, Australia and Argentina &mdash; the Nos. 2-4 teams in the men&rsquo;s rankings &mdash; before facing the seventh-ranked French.
But Iran presented none of the problems of those contenders, a team that only earned its spot in the field in Tokyo by being the highest-finishing Asian team at the 2019 Basketball World Cup. The Iranians are ranked 23rd, ahead of only host Japan &mdash; which qualified for the Games automatically as the host country &mdash; in this 12-team field.
Lillard struggled and then stumbled in his Olympic debut, going 3 for 10 from the field before a costly fall and foul with 17 seconds left.
But he came out aggressively looking for his shot, a player known for his deep three-pointers in the NBA having it easy while shooting behind the closer international line.
He had six of the Americans&rsquo; 13 three-pointers in the first half. All 11 U.S. players who played in the first half scored &mdash; late roster addition Keldon Johnson of the San Antonio Spurs didn&rsquo;t play until the second half.
Former NBA center Hamed Haddadi scored 15 points for Iran (0-2).
The U.S. and Iran are longtime rival nations in the political arena but have little history in the basketball one. They had played only once before, a U.S. victory in the 2010 world basketball championship in Istanbul.
Players on both teams then &mdash; Durant was one of them &mdash; said it was just a regular game despite the history of tension between their nations and this game looked the same. Players exchanged cordial fist bumps and some pats on the arm before tipoff.
The Iranians wouldn&rsquo;t be anywhere near the Americans much longer.
The U.S. led 28-12 after one and pushed the lead to 30 on its 10th three-pointer in 17 attempts to begin the game, making it 47-17 when Zach LaVine made his second in a row.
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TIP-INS
U.S. Durant is up to 331 points in his three Olympics. Carmelo Anthony set the U.S. record with 336 in his four appearances. He posed for a photo after the game with an Iranian player, a familiar site during the Dream Team days.... LaVine scored 13 points.
Iran: Iran fell to 2-10 in the Olympics. This is its third appearance in men&rsquo;s basketball, having dropped all five games in Beijing in 2008 and both here. It also competed in 1948.
UP NEXT
U.S.: Plays Czech Republic on Saturday.
Iran: Plays France on Saturday.

Damian Lillard scored 21 points and Team USA got back dominating, blowing out Iran 120-66 in their first victory of these Olympics.

Team USA bounces back from Olympic-opening loss, routs Iran 120-66

Jeremy Lin announced via Twitter that he is returning to the Chinese Basketball Association and signing with the Beijing Ducks.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-theme="dark">
No regrets about the past, excited for the future. Still got a lot of basketball left in me and we&rsquo;ll see where this road goes. Beijing Ducks, excited to be back! Thank you all for going on this journey with me <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NeverDone?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NeverDone</a> <a href="https://t.co/axfivntlCO">pic.twitter.com/axfivntlCO</a>
&mdash; Jeremy Lin (@JLin7) <a href="https://twitter.com/JLin7/status/1403481902603030531?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 11, 2021</a></blockquote>

<script src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"></script>

Lin played with the Ducks during the 2019-20 season, averaging 22.3 points, 5.7 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 1.8 steals per game in China.
He joined the Santa Cruz Warriors of the NBA G League this past year and competed in the G League bubble. With Santa Cruz, Lin put up 19.8 points and 6.4 assists per game across nine contests. However, it didn't lead to a contract with an NBA team.

Lin played with the Santa Cruz Warriors during the 2020-21 G League season.

Jeremy Lin to re-sign with Beijing Ducks of Chinese Basketball Association

Michael Redd still reps the franchise that drafted him proudly.
The 12-year pro, former NBA All-Star and longtime Milwaukee Bucks fan favorite made a recent appearance on <a href="https://youtu.be/ne5Iv_2obU0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Basketball Network's 1-ON-1 podcast</a>. Among the items discussed, Redd got into his NBA Championship favorites, Kevin Durant and Team USA's journey to the gold medal in the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
When speaking of what Milwaukee's built thus far, Redd seemed quite pleased and made a prediction that Bucks fans will love to hear.
"They have all the ingredients, they have experience, they have the talent; I believe they have the coaching," <a href="https://youtu.be/ne5Iv_2obU0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Redd said</a>. "They have the organization, the ownership group that has come in over the last six, seven years &mdash; they've been terrific and they provided the organization every opportunity to be successful. So they're on a little skid right now, but that happens throughout the season.
"They have a deep team, they just got to continue to do what they've been doing. They defend well, they certainly can shoot the three well, I see them as a top team in the East again. They're right there and I do expect them to win a championship."
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When asked about the other Eastern Conference teams he sees as contenders this season, Redd pointed to two more.
"The Sixers sure, they got an upgrade in the coaching. I love Brett Brown, Doc Rivers has an incredible career coaching so he's been a great addition. Joel Embiid is playing at MVP level, Ben Simmons is playing at a high level, so you gotta look at Philly and what they're doing," Redd said.
"You have to certainly look at the Nets, what Brooklyn is doing and they're being strategic and adding roster spots. So glad KD is back and he's healthy this year is so good for the NBA, Brooklyn definitely is certainly a contender...I've always been a Kevin Durant fan even when he was a young fella and I was playing against him. Just to be at that height at seven foot, to do all the things that he can do is just really special. So gifted in every facet and he's just a joy to watch, because he plays as if he's a guard at seven foot with guard skills. Defensively he's gotten better over the last five, six years. I would love to see him on the all defensive squad, but he's the total package. Hopefully they stay healthy.
As for the West, there were many more franchises in the mix for championship gold among Redd's selections.
"Obviously the Lakers, with LeBron and a healthy AD [Anthony Davis], being favorites, one of the favorites at least," Redd said. "The Clippers are playing extremely well with Ty Lue with the helm this year. They're just playing more hungrier, and they're deeper this year. And then, you can't sleep on Phoenix and Denver and obviously, Utah. Utah is playing extremely well. My little brother plays for Utah, Mike Conley, really proud of his career and what he's been able to add to that team.
"But the West is deep. There's about legit four or five teams in the West that could contend for the Western Conference championship and then in the East you've got legit three, four teams."
In the rest of the 47-minute interview, Redd discussed his days at Ohio State, business ventures and life after basketball. To watch the discussion in full via Basketball Network's 1-ON-1 podcast, click <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ne5Iv_2obU0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">here</a>.

Michael Redd still reps the franchise that drafted him proudly.

Former NBA All-Star Michael Redd picks title favorites, says Bucks 'have all the ingredients'

With all due respect to Reggie Perry, replacing Jarrett Allen in Brooklyn is a difficult ask. As we have seen since the Nets parted with Allen as part of the James Harden trade, they have a bit of a donut problem &ndash; a hole in the middle.
DeAndre Jordan is an accomplished NBA veteran who has been starting since Harden was traded, but he is now in his 14th NBA season, and has a lot of mileage on his wheels with 892 career games logged for the Clippers, Mavericks, Knicks and Nets.&nbsp;
Perry is a 20-year-old rookie who is 6-foot-8 and played power forward at Mississippi State, and asking him to be the backup center through the NBA playoffs is asking a bit too much.
In their five games since trading for Harden, the Nets have been outrebounded only twice &ndash; although one of those was a 50-29 discrepancy in a loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Two nights ago against the Miami Heat, Brooklyn avoided getting outrebounded by having everyone attack the boards. Bruce Brown joined Jordan with eight rebounds apiece, Harden had seven and Kyrie Irving had six.&nbsp;
Perry and Jeff Green each had six boards in that game, which was more than Heat center Bam Adebayo&nbsp; had (five) in his career-high 42-point effort.
&ldquo;If roster composition changes for the better defensively, that&rsquo;s great,&rdquo; Nets head coach Steve Nash had said last Friday. &ldquo;But I don&rsquo;t think we can rely on that because that may not be possible. You know, it&rsquo;s not like they&rsquo;re just falling off trees for us to pick up guys that are going to change our defense.&rdquo;
There were reports Monday that Brooklyn would be interested in Cleveland&rsquo;s JaVale McGee, and they could acquire him without sending back any salary by absorbing him into the Disabled Player Exception that they were granted following the season-ending injury to Spencer Dinwiddie.&nbsp;
But could the Cavs get more for McGee elsewhere? &nbsp;That depends on whether Nets general manager Sean Marks would want to surrender a player or a second-round draft pick in a trade. The Nets&rsquo; own second-rounder is owed to Charlotte, but they have the rights to second-rounders from Indiana, Atlanta, Phoenix and Golden State between 2021 and 2025.
A league source said Brooklyn is looking at a variety of options and staying flexible, not feeling a need to commit to any specific player at the current time.&nbsp;
In a usual season, the Nets could look to the G League for help. But as we all know, this is an abnormal one because of the pandemic, and the G League will not begin its bubble season until Feb. 8. G League players begin <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-g-league-2021-season-orlando-bubble-teams-format-rules-two-way-players-jeremy-lin-rule-health-safety-covid-protocols-draft-ignite" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reporting to the bubble at Walt Disney World</a> on Tuesday.
Overseas, there will be options for Marks once the Chinese Basketball Association playoffs have ended, and maybe even sooner. In the Chinese Basketball Association, Donatas Motiejunas is leading the league with 15.6 boards per game with the Xinjiang Flying Tigers, but that team is currently in third place in the standings and could make a deep playoff run.&nbsp;
Considering Chinese teams that will not make the playoffs (and thus their players will become available in March), among the centers will be Arnett Moultrie of the Nanjing Monkey Kings, Marco Todorovic of the Tianjin Pioneers, Devin Williams of the Jiangsu Dragons, Isaac Haas of the Guangzhou Long Lions and Justin Hamilton of the Beijing Ducks.
But again, those players will not get letters of clearance to play in the NBA until their Chinese seasons are completed, and that is still several weeks away.
In the NBA, one name that could make sense is Hassan Whiteside of the Sacramento Kings. Whiteside was starting and putting up huge numbers for the Portland Trail Blazers last season before Jusuf Nurkic returned in the NBA bubble, and he has been used sparingly this season by Luke Walton backing up Richaun Holmes.&nbsp;
Whiteside is making a salary of $2.32 million that Brooklyn would have to match in any trade.

Chris Sheridan ponders what direction Brooklyn can look to find a suitable backup for DeAndre Jordan.

Where will Sean Marks find the Nets' next big man?

According to <a href="https://twitter.com/ShamsCharania/status/1339977916432658441?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Shams Charania of The Athletic</a>, veteran guard Jeremy Lin is finalizing a deal with the Golden State Warriors, pending on clearance from the Chinese Basketball Association. The Athletic's Anthony Slater adds t<a href="https://twitter.com/anthonyVslater/status/1339980300546293762?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noopener">hat the contract will be an Exhibit 10 deal</a>, meaning he won't be on the 15-man roster, but rather in the Santa Cruz system in the G League.
ANALYSIS: It all circles back to the beginning for Lin, as he returns to the franchise where his career started. Lin played in the CBA last season following an NBA Finals run with the Toronto Raptors. For the Beijing Shougang Ducks, he averaged 22.4 points, 5.6 rebounds, 5.6 assists and 1.9 steals per game. <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-news-free-agency-jeremy-lin-golden-state-warriors-brooklyn-nets" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Our own Alex Kennedy reported</a> back in late November that Lin was seeking a return to the NBA. Playing significant minutes in the the G League could be his ticket to achieving that goal.

It all circles back to the beginning for Lin, as he returns to the franchise where his career started.

Jeremy Lin finalizing Exhibit 10 deal with Warriors

Jeremy Lin has practiced with the NBA G League's Ignite squad and played earlier today in a scrimmage against G League veterans as he continues to push for an NBA comeback. Lin has been wearing No. 3, according to the league, but not as an official member of the Ignite roster, reports <a href="https://twitter.com/TheSteinLine/status/1338996825081122819" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Marc Stein of The New York Times.</a>
Lin is hoping to make an NBA comeback. Last season, the 32-year-old guard out of Harvard averaged 22.3 points, 5.6 assists and 5.7 rebounds per game for the Beijing Ducks.
Lin had spent nine years in the NBA before playing overseas last season. Lin said he felt like he was pushed away from the NBA following the 2018-19 season, which was also the year that Jeremy captured his first and only championship with the Toronto Raptors. Lin was acquired in a midseason trade from the Atlanta Hawks that year and appeared in just 23 games for Toronto. As the playoffs began, Raptors head coach Nick Nurse shortened his rotation and Lin found himself on the outside looking in during Toronto's championship run.
Lin's NBA career has featured a lot of ups and downs and in an interview last year, he said he felt like he had hit rock bottom. From going undrafted to being the talk of the league in the NBA's biggest market to once again struggling to make a roster, Lin's career has been anything but normal. As Jeremy struggled to generate any NBA interest last offseason, Lin said in an emotional press conference that he felt like the NBA had given up on him.
When Lin started his uncanny streak of brilliant games with the New York Knicks (AKA 'Linsanity'), nobody should have expected him to maintain that level of play throughout his NBA career. The truth is that the expectations laid upon Lin in such a short time were unrealistic and unfair.
Following Lin's stint in New York, he was awarded a three-year, $25 million contract with the Houston Rockets (which at the time was sizable money for a guy that was relatively unproven). Lin took over starting point guard duties in his first season with Houston and he had a pretty solid year, playing in all 82 games and averaging 13.4 points, 6.1 assists and 3.0 rebounds per game. But these numbers were largely overlooked or criticized since he didn't duplicate his Linsanity-level production.
The truth is Lin is a solid backup guard at this stage in his career and there is no reason why he should not be on an NBA roster. No, he&rsquo;s not going to give you 22 points and 9 assists a night (as he did during his breakout month with the Knicks), but he&rsquo;s showed there&rsquo;s still something left in the tank.
Lin is hoping to get another chance in the NBA this coming season and if he is ultimately given an opportunity, it is likely that he would end up on a contending team, as our own <a href="https://www.basketballnews.com/stories/nba-news-free-agency-jeremy-lin-golden-state-warriors-brooklyn-nets" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Alex Kennedy reported during free agency.</a>
It's time we start accepting Jeremy Lin for who he is.

Jeremy Lin is working out with the G League's Ignite squad, but not as an official member of the team. He hopes to make an NBA comeback.

Jeremy Lin working out with G League squad, waiting for NBA call

"According to a reliable source, the Golden State Warriors have expressed a clear interest in Jeremy Lin. The Warriors&rsquo; core [Stephen] Curry likes Jeremy Lin&rsquo;s way of playing and clearly expressed his hope that he can join the Warriors. Although Jeremy Lin has not made a decision yet, [he'll have] an important choice to make this offseason.
"In addition to the Warriors, the Nets are also likely to be one of the teams that Jeremy could join in the future. Everyone knows that the owner of the Nets is Joe Tsai. He has always hoped that the team can have Chinese elements in it. More importantly, Joe Tsai and Jeremy Lin have very good personal relationships."
Source: <a style="color: #ffffff;" href="https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MzAxNDA4NDk1MQ==&amp;mid=2650244786&amp;idx=1&amp;sn=4889db77a556fb75547cb8bfa4df9ce6&amp;chksm=839b988ab4ec119c27b02ece15c8e357ebec13c99b7020997e5f10761b4ef94f24098a42b7e4&amp;mpshare=1&amp;" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Weixin (Translated)</a>
ANALYSIS: Last season, Jeremy Lin played for the Beijing Ducks of the Chinese Basketball Association. Now, he's hoping to return to the NBA and he's expected to receive interest from a number of teams once free agency begins. In China, Lin averaged 22.3 points, 5.7 rebounds, 5.6 assists, 1.8 steals and 1.3 threes while shooting 49.1 percent from the field and 33.8 percent from three-point range. 
Lin last played in the NBA during the 2018-19 season, averaging 9.6 points, 3.1 assists and 2.4 rebounds for the Atlanta Hawks and Toronto Raptors. Lin won his first NBA championship with Toronto. Over the course of his 9-year NBA career, Lin has averaged 11.6 points, 4.3 assists, 2.8 rebounds and 1.1 steals in 25.5 minutes per game. 
Interestingly, Lin started his career with Golden State, playing 29 games for the Warriors during his rookie season. He also spent two years with Brooklyn, where he averaged 14.6 points, 5.1 assists, 3.6 rebounds, 1.6 threes, 1.1 steals while shooting 43.7 percent from the field and 37.3 percent from three-point range. It'll be interesting to see where the 32-year-old ends up.

The Golden State Warriors and Brooklyn Nets are reportedly interested in veteran point guard Jeremy Lin.