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China head coach Kazlauskas gives thumbs-up to Wang and Yi
16/12/2006 10:56

China men's basketball head coach Jonas Kazlauskas praised Wang Zhizhi as great talent and Yi Jianlian as great prospect in Doha yesterday.

"Wang Zhizhi is more talented than you can imagine," said the Lithuanian-born coach. "In my life and my coaching career, only a couple of players who are as talented as him."

Kazlauskas then pointed out that the "couple of players" are NBA all-star center Yao Ming and former star center Arvydas Sabonis of Lithuania.

Wang, 27, a former NBA player, hit a game-high 28 points plus six rebounds to lead China to regain their Asiad title after their loss in Busan Games 2002.

"Wang Zhizhi was by far the most dominant player in the final," Kazlauskas said in the post-game news conference. "He is the most experienced player in our team, who was at the highest level, the NBA. For sure, we had him more than the others to take those shots and make those decisions."

When asked if Wang had a chance to go back to NBA, Kazlauskas said that it all depended on Wang's own desire.

"Everything is in his hands," said Kazlauskas. "If he wants to, he can make it easily."

Kazlauskas also highly commented the performance of Yi Jianlian, the 19-year-old NBA prospect.

"If you saw Wang down low today you also saw Yi was the guy on the perimeter. And that's not easy for a player with his size," he said. " But he was very good. And he didn't have foul problems."

Yi, the 2.16-meter-tall center who averaged 17.9 points and 9.6rebounds in the previous seven matches, scored eight points, but grabbed a team-high 15 rebounds in the final match against a strong and sharp Qatari team.

"I like how he plays and works in practise," Kazlauskas added. "And you heard me say a couple of days ago that he played just Okay after 16 points and 14 rebounds. That's because I expect a lot from him."

"He has a very good future. But why are we talking about the future? He is good now. He is better right now than many of the players there (in the NBA)."

Yi, the Chinese rising star, who has announced for next year's NBA draft, was considered as one of China's "top prospects" by his national team coach.



Xinhua News