Recently, the 21-year NBA’s No. 2 pick, Houston Rockets super rookie Jaylen Green has become the investment ambassador of the East Asian Super League.
What is the relationship between Green and Asia? It turned out that Green’s mother was Filipino. Green also expressed his willingness to play for the Philippines. In the future, the Chinese men’s basketball team will usher in a strong opponent in Asia.
Looking at Green’s resume, although he has only played in the NBA for one year, the 20-year-old has been famous for a long time. In high school, Jaylen Green averaged 31+5+5 and became a five-star high school student in the United States. Green did not choose a famous NCAA school after graduating from high school, but chose the Ignite team of the NBA Development League (that is, the team that Zeng Fanbo played for), and quickly hit the NBA in one year.
During the igniting team, Green could score 17.9 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.8 assists, shooting 49% from the field and 36% from three-point range. In the 2021 NBA draft, Green was second only to the No. 1 pick Cunningham, and the second was taken by the Rockets. Checked.
In the habit of single-player fighting developed by the Ignite team, when he first entered the NBA game with stronger defensive intensity, Green struggled very much. Many people thought that the Rockets selected a parallel importer. However, after half a season of hard work, Green showed his strength as the No. 2 pick, scoring super high consecutively, becoming the player with the most 30+ points among rookies, and the only rookie who has scored 40+ points in a single game rookie player. After the All-Star Game, he averaged 22.1 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.2 assists per game, while shooting 47.6% from the field and 38.7% from three-point range. In the last five games of the regular season, he averaged 28.6 points, 4.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game, while shooting 49% from the field and three-pointers. The shooting rate is 39%, which has reached the level of star players.
With his dazzling performance in the final stage, he made the rookie first team, which surprised many people who looked down on him.
Some pundits believe he has the highest ceiling among the 21 rookies. With the Rockets, he showed more star power than Porter Jr. and Wood. Perhaps after leaving Harden, the Rockets will welcome another star guard. Green has a bright future for the rebuilding Rockets.
On October 29, 2021, Green met fellow Filipino guard Clarkson of the Jazz during the game. This is the first time in NBA history that two Filipino players have competed on the same court.
In this game, Clarkson had 16 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists, and Green had 13 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists. In the end, the Jazz defeated the Rockets 122-91.
“Filipinos love basketball. The two of us here are very inspiring to every Filipino-American, every Filipino, every person of Filipino descent,” Clarkson said after the game.
Chinese fans used to be able to witness the NBA “China Derby” staged by Yao Ming and Wang Zhizhi, Battelle and Yi Jianlian. However, since Zhou Qi left the Rockets at the end of 2018, the NBA has been without Chinese players for more than three years.
In the 2018 Indonesian Asian Games, Clarkson has represented the Philippines as a naturalized player. In the match against the Chinese men’s basketball team, the Philippines lost by 2 points. In the next quarter of the game, the Philippines lost to South Korea and lost its chance to advance to the semi-finals. In the two games Clarkson played, he averaged 26.5 points, 8 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game, but his team lost to China and South Korea one after another. The reason is that Clarkson does not have much time to practice with his teammates, and there is almost no chemical reaction with his teammates during the game.
FIBA stipulates that each team can use one naturalized player in international competitions. At present, the Philippine Basketball Association is fighting for FIBA’s immunity, trying to allow Clarkson and Green to represent the Philippine men’s basketball team as local players.
Such an exemption is not without precedent, after Philippine center Greg Slaughter, through the Philippine Basketball Association, won the qualification to represent the national team in international competitions as a local player, although he did not obtain a Philippine passport until he was 16 years old.
It can be said that the Philippines has already set its sights on the 2023 World Cup. The 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup will be played simultaneously in Indonesia, Japan and the Philippines.
In the World Cup, the best Asian team will get a direct ticket to the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Recalling the 2019 World Cup, the host Chinese team put itself and the weakest teams in each level Poland, Venezuela and Cote d’Ivoire into a group, but they had no choice but to overturn their cars and missed the Tokyo Olympics.
In the 2023 World Cup, except for the weaker Indonesia, the Philippines and Japan will show their magic at home. It can be expected that the host group will take advantage of the home field.
There are already two NBA players in the Japanese team, Rui Hachimura and Yuta Watanabe are both in their prime.
The Philippine team also has the title of “Philippine Yao Ming” Kay Soto. This 20-year-old potential center is entering the NBA draft this year. His agent said that Soto is stronger than Zhou Qi and Wang Zhizhi of the same age. a lot of. Ideally, the Philippine men’s basketball team might be able to field a lineup of three NBA players.
The Chinese men’s basketball team, which missed the Tokyo Olympics, has added another huge “stumbling block” on the road to the next Paris Olympics.
(Editor: Wu Di)Return to Sohu, see more