The main matchup of the evening was between Stephon Marbury and former Lakers starting guard Smush Parker. Parker had 13 points, 6 assists and 7 rebounds while Marbury more than held his own with a 15 point, 15 assist and 4 rebound effort. Marbury still hasn’t managed to find his shot (which at this point could be lost forever) and was 4-18 shooting overall. His 3 point shooting has been particularly shaky (must be those cLose Weight Exercise/”>Lose Weight Exercise 3 point lines) with a 1-7 showing that has brought his CBA 3pt shooting % to a measly 8%. Starbury aka The Lone Wolf aka Taiyuan’s Finest also had 3 fouls, 3 turnovers, 3 steals, and 1 block in 43 minutes of play .

Stephon Marbury’s team is now in last place in the CBA. The only consolation at this point is that this is a situation Marbury is fairly accustomed to.

The next match for the Shanxi Zhongyu will be another tough one, they go head to head with 3rd place (16-3)  Zhejiang Guangsha Lions on February 5th.

To see video highlights of the game, go here. To read the full game report, check out Anthony Tao’s live blogging of the game. Also worth checking out is his fantastic report for Deadspin where he accurately presents the Marbury in China story from a truly human perspective.

But how about we focus on the positives? 7-11 from the field, 4 steals, 15 points, and the right play down the stretch when he unselfishly set up the team’s leading scorer and hot hand Maurice Taylor for a chance to win the game. In fact, Marbury even went on to apologize for his team’s loss and promised a brighter future:

“I’m sorry about the game last night. I wish we would have won for you guys. I will get better every game, I promise. I hope all is well with you guys and thanks for the support last night.”

It’s hard to criticize Marbury in this case – he has taken a lot of time off basketball, is clearly not at 100% yet, and must be experiencing some serious jet-lag and culture shock. Nevertheless, he went out and played as well as he could, made no excuses, and comforted the fans… it’s almost as if he’s ready to embrace the role of, might I say….*gulp*… a franchise player!

Marbury’s next game will be on February 3rd against the Guangdong Southern Tigers who stand at the top of the CBA currently with their impressive 17-1 record. It should be Marbury’s first appearance on national television, and it will surely be an interesting one to watch.

The CBA…where Marbury happens!

Despite not expected to play a single minute of NBA action this season, Yao Ming could have the busiest year of his life in 2010. He is currently the ambassador of the 2010 Shanghai Expo, the leading figure in the revival of the Shanghai Sharks, the anchor at the heart of China’s 2010 FIBA World Basketball Championship hopes in Turkey this summer, but all those will have to cease way to something much more important come July: the arrival of Yao Ming’s first child.

The news broke out through Guangzhou Daily when Ye Li’s friend and Chinese Basketball Team teammate Miao Lijie let out the following answer when asked why Ye hadn’t attended a 2010 expo show with her:

“Pregnant woman deserves less public activities”

Ye Li (Yao Ming’s wife) and Yao Ming tied the knot back in August 2007 with a spectacular wedding in Shanghai. Almost three years later, they are expecting their first child - who’s gender most likely won’t be revealed until birth due to China’s laws on the matter.

Whatever the gender, Ye Li at 6’2 (1.90 meters) and Yao Ming at 7’6 (2.26 meters) are expected to produce a baby of epic proportions. In fact, it has become a popular topic of discussion amongst the highly speculative Chinese netizens. In a poll conducted by Chinese news portal Sina, 39 percent of participants predicted that Lil Yao will be taller than 2 meters but not pass his/her father’s height, 23 percent predicted that Little Yao has a good chance to surpass the 7’6 mark set by Yao while 9.4 percent believe that 2 meters is the limit for the child. Medical experts on the other hand calculate that if male the height is likely to be from 2 – 2.1 meters, while if female from 1.94-2.08 meters.

Yao Ming and wife Ye Li are currently both residing in Shanghai, and Yao Ming’s season ending injury now might come as a blessing in disguise. Altough on second thought, a July 2010 conception and a little backwards math indicates that this was not a coincidence after all. Being one of the most hardworking individuals on the planet and with probably more expectations than anyone not named Barack Obama, we can only wish Yao Ming the best as he takes a well deserved rest from Basketball and focuses on his family.

Oh and little Miss Lijie let out another bomb to the media:

“Ye looks well now and sleeps early every day for the wellbeing of the fetus. The couple hopes to have a boy,” said Miao Lijie.

For the sake of Chinese Basketball, I have similar hopes for Little Yao.

This brings us to today and the sudden transformation of a basketball team, a city, and perhaps of the sporting world in general. It all started more than a year ago when Cavaliers Vice-Chairman and part owner David Katzman and his Camelot Venture Group (amidst a business fallout with majority owner Dan Gilbert), decided to sell a part of the Cleveland Cavaliers in China. Prospective buyers were narrowed down, and over the past year negotiations and details have been ironed out. In Mr. Katzman’s own words, the background of the buyer was of importance in making the deal work:

“It was very important to us that whoever acquired our ownership piece be able to add value to the team and also realize the appreciation to the value of the team that was created over the past 4 years.”

This is where Kenny Huang came in, the young, smart, and connected Chinese business man that has as good insight on the China-US business world as you can possibly find. He is the man who has been involved both at home and abroad trying to take advantage of the growth of basketball in Asia and China’s growing sports marketing opportunities. Huang had put together a group of investors several months ago that looked ready to buy a significant stake in the Cavs, but several of the investors have meanwhile changed – prolonging this process longer than expected.

It was announced yesterday that the deal has been finalized with Albert Hung (Hung Chao Hong), one of the richest man in Hong Kong, as the primary financier of the deal – making him the first Chinese owner of an American sports franchise. The Cleveland Cavaliers are valued around $475 million  by Forbes, which would mean that Albert Hung will pay out a sum near $60 million  in cash to acquire the rights to 15% of the Cleveland Cavaliers from David Katzman.

This may seem like an interesting way to finance an American basketball team, but it’s not unheard of. Although investment tends to come from sources more traditional than a big-time player at partypoker.com china, getting investors interested is always important – the UK’s Chelsea Football Club became one of the best in the world once Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich invested his considerable wealth in their upkeep. It just goes to show – money from the outside is never something to turn down.

Unlike New Jersey’s soon to be new Russian owner and controversial figure Mikhail Prokhorov, Albert Hung is the ideal owner for an NBA franchise. As Cleveland.com reports:

Hung is a member of numerous powerful groups and committees including: the Standing Committee of National Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, the Vice President of China Sports Foundation, Vice Chairman of Major Sports Events Committee, the President of All Stars Sports Association Ltd. of Hong Kong, and Vice President and Director of the South China Athletic Association.

Perhaps his most valuable political affiliation is with the Hong Kong Selection Committee, which is the group that elects the chief executive of the massive Asian commerce and cultural hub.

If there were those wondering what kind of business opportunities and synergy this sort of deal would open up, few precious hours were wasted answering such concerns. Tsingtao, China’s most popular beer and also most well known international brand, has just signed a multi-year partnership with the Quicken Loans Arena and the Cleveland Cavaliers. The partnership will no doubt increase Tsingtao’s image and reputation in international markets as well as strengthening it’s brand back on home soil. Millions of basketball fans will be able to see Tsingtao billboards and ads plastered around the stadium through the 34 Cavs games scheduled to broadcast in China during the 09-10 NBA season. Further details of the deal include:

In addition to being the exclusive Chinese beer of Quicken Loans Arena, the Tsingtao partnership elements include:

• LED signage during Cavaliers games and Quicken Loans Arena events
• Permanent signage inside Quicken Loans Arena for all arena events (cLose Weight Exercise/”>Lose Weight Exercise to 200 annually)
• Basket pole pad signage for Cavaliers games
• Hospitality benefits during Cavaliers game and Quicken Loans Arena events
• Ad placement in Tip Off Tonight, the Cavaliers official game night program
• Strong presence on digital properties, cavs.com and CavFanatic.com
• Community relations outreach program designed to educate and share cultural ideas in northeast Ohio

As can be seen, the Cleveland Cavaliers are well on their way to an exciting journey along with their Chinese business owners. The opportunities and potential out there is immense and the pieces have already started moving. One major determinant of the success of the Cleveland Cavaliers will no doubt be LeBron James himself. LeBron’s free agency tales have been a topic of discussion forever it seems, or at least ever since he set foot into an NBA arena. If LeBron’s actions are anything to go by, it seems that there is some legitimate threat that the King could leave the Cavaliers at the end of this season and go somewhere like New York where the lights shine brighter, and the audience is more befitting for a King.

This seemed plausible … until the recent Chinese invasion of Cleveland. While New York and the Madison Square Garden might have been the grandest of stages before, that has been surpassed today with the possibility of playing on aged Chinese TV sets across China’s provinces becoming a far more appealing prospect – particularly for an athlete that’s primary goal (besides Championships) is to be the world’s first sports billionaire. As it looks now, with the Cavs built to contend for years, the Knicks on a hopeless path down mediocracy, and the “Chinalization” of the Cavaliers – it would be foolish for LeBron to go anywhere.

This is the story of how a troubled sporting city in the middle of the United States was first saved by a King and then by the Middle Kingdom. This story, has just begun.

“American Basketball Association (ABA) Joins in $200 Million Global Expansion.”

I must admit, I thought that the ABA had died in 1976 when it officially merged with the NBA. When I think of the ABA, I think of the blue/red/white ‘money’ ball (used today in the NBA three point contest), of Julius Erving, and of afros and tight shorts. So I had to check out what this league was all about and headed over to their official site, www.abalive.com. The long domain name didn’t do much to settle my suspicions and upon witnessing the website, which ironically looks like it was made in 1976, I started thinking I must be on an episode of Punk’d.

I then began reading the latest news from their news feed to try to catch up with this mysterious league that had just dawned upon me. One recent news headline stated that two NBA players would be going head to head on opening night: Isaiah “JR” Rider (NBA dunk champ) and Anthony “Pig” Miller (a nobody). Another news was announcing that Troy “Escalade” Jackson (of And1 fame) was named the assistant coach of the Florida Thundercats. Then there was the news that 9 ABA teams would be playing games in China. I wanted to see one of the teams so I decided to check out the team page of the “Los Angeles SLAM” . The website look dodgy with a logo that seemed to be stolen from Slam Magazine and site design stolen from a MySpace teenager high on Mountain Dew, but regardless….the famous rapper “The Game” was on the team!

It seemed that this league was making things happen and well worth the attention. Finally I saw a big headline that was the biggest piece of linkbait I had ever seen:

“Owning a professional sports team is fun and profitable experience. Contact us for more info!”

All I had to do was fill in a simple form and I could own a pro sports team and be the next Mark Cuban?!

That was all I could take, I had to head over to Wikipedia and find out what in the world this was all about. Turns out, I wasn’t in the middle of a dream, this league really existed and the rights of the ABA were bought back from the NBA around 1999. However the league had seen its fair share of incidents and seemed more disorganized than the kindergarden basketball leagues where I first started playing. Teams didn’t show up to road games, left in the middle of season, and only around 35% of the games were actually played in the 2007-2008 seasons. Having said that, I was still interested in this China team participating in the league – but upon reading further, it would have probably been better to leave the matter alone:

“Another team that only played home games was Beijing Aoshen Olympic. This team was kicked out of the Chinese Basketball League and played home games in Singapore. Beijing would pay $3000 and fly teams to Singapore for a 2-game homestand. Early teams complained on Our Sports Central that they were forced to stay in a hotel that doubled as a brothel. Joe Newman CEO forced Beijing to find a new hotel on hearing this news. Later teams stayed in a Holiday Inn.”

(On a side note, Beijing Aoshen were kicked out of the CBA due to refusing to surrender their star point guard to the junior national squad in 2004.The player in question was Sun Yue who recently won a championship ring with the Los Angeles Lakers).

This brings us back to today and this CNN story of this 200 million $ global expansion that has just been announced (to me at least). 200 million is not a small amount, it’s around the same as what minority stakeholders Disney and Bank of China among others paid to acquire 11% of the NBA China entity back in January 2008. Who would part with such a large sum and take on this massive challenge of epic proportions was the new question brewing inside my head. The answer to that is none other than Paul Monozca, a Singapore-based Filipino sportsman-businessman who also holds the following lofty titles: investment banker, sports philanthropist, international fiancier, global kingpin..ok so the last one I made up. It’s no one I had heard of before, but someone that should be on any basketball enthusiasts’ to-follow list from this day on if his aspirations are anything to go by:

The ABA Global expansion initiatives will include a player exchange program, participation in a China-based league, the ABA USA League itself, and the ABA’s World Basketball Cup in Atlanta in 2011. Mr. Monzoca’s vision is certainly optimistic:

“The ABA Global program is timely. When countries see their very own players and teams play with the benchmark that is American basketball, it gives basketball a whole new meaning. This is global basketball with national pride worldwide.”

The key allure of this league is that it caters to smaller cities which NBA teams can’t target to in the US, and allows foreign teams to play against top global competition on an international level. If the management, organization, and marketing falls into place, it will mark an interesting global league that hasn’t really ever seen the light of day in basketball. Their first summit which will take place in Las Vegas, Nevada will feature big names such as Dr. J and George Gervin and should get them much needed publicity.

I’m never one to discount crazy and wild ideas, and I won’t make an exception this time regardless of the negative press this league has received in the past with many looking at it as somewhat of a joke. Fact is that basketball is on its way to becoming the most popular sport in the world and there hasn’t ever been a proper global initiative to make it a global competition. The NBA has such a plan many years down the road and they surely have their reasons for taking their time. So until then, I can only extend my best wishes to the rebirth of the ABA and will surely be keeping an eye out on them. I have a feeling I won’t be the only one.

The 18,000 seat arena being built at Shanghai’s World Expo Site is  still underway, being currently jointly built by partners AEG and NBA as well as the Oriental Pearl Group (of the Shanghai Media Group). The $280 million stadium is being constructed around the Huangpu River and will have a look reminiscing a clam or a flying saucer, depending on personal taste. A glimspe of what the arena will look like can be seen in the artist rendering displayed below .

Shanghai Mercedes Benz Arena

In what is considered a first in China – the NBA and AEG have managed to sell the naming rights of this arena for an estimated value of ~$100 million (terms of the deal have not been announced and analysts estimate anywhere from 75-150$ million dollars)  to German luxury car maker Mercedes-Benz. The stadium will be ready in time for the 2010 expo set to begin in May, but the deal and naming of the stadium will only begin in 2011 and last a total of 10 years. To put the price in perspective, Staples had to pay $100 million for the rights to name the arena where the prestigious Los Angeles Lakers play along with the Los Angeles Clippers and Los Angeles Kings (NHL) for a contract lasting 20 years.

Shanghai is considered by some as the capital of Asia, and the business center of the soon to be superpower of the world. Many companies were interested in placing their name on Shanghai’s number one arena to be, but it took a company of Mercedes’ size, ambition and growth prospects (55% growth in China in first 9 months of 2009) in China to get such an astronomical figure. Analysts predict that it will be near impossible for Mercedes-Benz to get adequate returns on this investment (even with a showroom for its cars, and exlusive rights relating to the Arena) but according to Mercedes-Benz China CEO Klaus Maier, this deal is about more than that:

“The new Mercedes-Benz Arena will reinforce Shanghai as culturally-rich city on the world map and create a new destination of arts and lifestyle on the international stage.”

Tim Chen, NBA China CEO, also agrees:

“Mercedes-Benz Arena will truly become Shanghai’ s and all of China’ s state-of-the-art showplace for culture, arts, sports and entertainment events when this world-class arena debuts. With the help of our partners, we are certain this arena will be the premier destination for sports, entertainment and cultural events in Shanghai.”

In essence, the above claims are more than just PR jargon and hold some valid and important claims. China is still a hugely undevelopped market in terms of entertainment, arts, lifestyle and sports. It’s a country with rich culture and much to offer on the grandest of stages (as was demonstarted in the Beijing 2008 Opening Ceremony), but so far a lack of business experience, logistical capabilities, and market know-how have kept this potentially enormous market dormant. The NBA and AEG were well aware of these limitations when commiting to build world class arenas all around China, and they stepped in trying to change that course. Basketball was the main factor in pushing such a project, but hardly the only factor.

Already, companies involved with the deal have said the arena will include recreational elements such as a cinema, public ice skating rink, bowling alley, live music club and retail space. Top performers from all four corners of arts and entertainment world have already started flocking to the Pearl of the Orient – and the arena will only attract more. Shanghai is a metropolis in dire need of commercialization and proper marketing of cultural showcases, and Mercedes-Benz have acquired the rights to be in the same sentence of every conversation we will have about this booming market in the next decade.

Putting aside Mercedes-Benz and the new arena, this is no doubt a tremendous development for the sports business in China. While there have been previous namings of stadiums in China after sponsors (most notably the Chinese Super League football team Shaanxi Neo-China Chanba playing in the Shaanxi Coca-Cola Stadium), it is the first major arena to sell naming rights. The sports marketing field never managed to develop as rapidly as predicted following the Beijing Olympics, but this development is sure to give new hope and inspiration to those in the industry.

After 5 weeks of being out with a sprain that bothered  his right knee, Yi was expected to return on Sunday to play against the New York Knicks. However, it seems that his series of unfortunate events hasn’t ended quite yet. He was accidentaly hit by teammate Sean Williams during a 3 on 3 scrimmage where Yi went up to contest a dunk, opening a gash inside Yi’s upper lip. Yi wanted to continue playing afterwards, but he was told he needed medical attention. Now it seems that it will be one more week until Yi Jianlian can hit the hardwood again.

This happened days after being reunited with his new assitant Coach Del Harris, who at one time coached the China National Basketball team. The good news out of all of this? Yi got a piece of the ball and Sean Williams’ dunk missed. The bad news? It cost 50 stiches.

Team Yao signed a framework agreement on July 15 with the club’s three state-owned investors to run the Shanghai Sharks, where the 2.27-meter center started his professional career.

Under the agreement, the companies agreed to transfer their stakes in the Sharks to Yao, but now those stakes will be sold on the open market.

There’s already an anonymous fitness center that has expressed interest (surely not the Yao Ming sponsored California Fitness club?!).  If Yao Ming doesn’t agree to pay more, he will have to share ownership with other bidders. Currently the Shanghai Sharks are managed by Team Yao as an “entrusted adviser” for the next 5 years.

It’s not clear at this time whether Yao will raise the offer to be the sole owner or not, but he plans to support the team regardless of who is at the helm. Team Yao is already working on getting foreign help to revitalize the Shanghai club who finished in 17 th (out of 18) in the CBA last season.

This should serve as a reminder of the complex Chinese business environment; nothing is really ever set in stone, not even for the most popular Chinese individual in the world…

One of the biggest basketball developments during this year’s offseason that largely went unreported in the Western media was the CBA’s introduction of a salary cap. The Chinese Basketball Association has been under large scrutiny recently for A) failing to produce top quality Chinese players B) not creating an exciting or marketable product in a country where basketball is loved and C) failing to generate sustainable revenue leading to many teams facing near bankruptcy.

The CBA in turn has introduced a salary cap that it hopes will alleviate some of these problems. Foreign players in the CBA are looked upon negatively by many in the Chinese basketball community. Foreign players tend to not only dominate the ball and the scoring (resulting in 19 of the top 20 scorers last year being foreign players), but also the teams’ payrolls. Many of the larger teams this year where rumored to be looking to spend in the vicinity of 1 million dollars to recruit some top level foreigners for their teams.

The new salary cap will limit foreign players to make no more than 30,000 dollars per month, and the total that teams may spend on foreigners per month will be limited to 60,000 dollars per month. There is already a quota of two players that CBA teams are facing on the number of foreign players allowed.

The cap doesn’t stop there, Chinese club players will have their yearly income cap set at no more than 300,000 yuan ($44,000).  Chinese media Xinhua reports that the average annual income of the CBA players and coaches is 500,000 RMB. The new cap is also applicable to the national team where the players and coaches can’t earn more than 1 million yuan ($146,000) per annum. Players who have played in the NBA will be exempt from this rule, but they will still count towards the total cap of a team that is 55 per cent of the total annual income of the club, which is no less than 5.5 million RMB (about 820,000 U.S. dollars).

That’s definitely some interesting and at the same time controversial rules that the CBA has developed for its league in turmoil. There are already many critics of the new cap, claiming that this will not grow the popularity’s sport but instead limit it and the amount of Chinese players who aim to play professionally. The 700,000 RMB per year cap gap on club players and national team players is also expected to create problems within teams and between players.

CBA’s Strategy

If we’re to analyze what the CBA has achieved to do and dissect their strategy we can come to the following conclusions:

1. Foreign players should not have a big effect on the league in anyway.
2. Chinese players shouldn’t be content in mediocrity and should be motivated to be permanent contributors to the National Team
3. Teams should be governed more tightly and not promise to hand out salaries higher than they are capable of paying

Analysis of the New CBA Salary Cap

Given the problems that the league has been facing in recent years, they needed to do something drastic to change the course of Chinese Basketball that has been on a downward trajectory ever since the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Some of the new rules they have set forward were indeed necessary.

Cap Being set at 55% of Annual Income Rule

The cap per team being set at 55% of the annual income of a club is certainly an innovative rule and will see different teams have different caps. Some will think this rule as being totally unfair – teams in wealthier areas will have naturally more income and be allowed a higher cap. Teams that are struggling will see a lower cap, able to recruit a lower level of talent, and it would seem they might be stuck in that downward cycle.

At the same time, the CBA and Chinese sports in general has always been criticized of being too passive, not creative, not innovative, and largely blind to the potential that basketball as entertaintment can provide. Perhaps this new drastic approach will motivate teams to create more sources of revenue and increase their income levels, which will guarantee the long term safety of the league to stay above troubling financial waters.

Players Cap Rules

It was only last season when the CBA had increased the quote of foreign players per team from 1 to 2. So now introducing a rule to limit foreign players will be somewhat of a flipflop. But if anything, the league tried to find a solution last year to increase level of competition, saw that it led to negative consequences, and now is rectifying its mistakes. While foreign players did bring an extra level of competition and excitement to the CBA, it prevented any Chinese stars from emerging. When a league is still at its relative infancy, and players are still trying to develop, it is wise to develop a system where local players can develop the best.

Local players on the other hand will see huge boosts to their salaries, if they are able to make the national team. This kind of rule might encourage a level of selfishness and more of star system instead of team system, but perhaps this is exactly what the CBA wants. The NBA has become so successful through largely creating teams revolved around star players, rather than players revolved around a team. It is certainly easier to market players than teams, and this hopefully should help team’s branding, marketing, promotions, sponsorships, and help raise the interest of local fans. If it can result in players making the jump to the NBA, the CBA will not mind that either

Conclusions

With foreign player influence on teams down, and a clear incentive to be a star and make the national team, this will set the stage for a truely competitive level of play from the Chinese players. In essence, the league is using  protectionist measures to protect the domestic industry from foreign domination, while setting a capitalist system for its local businesses to compete and the most succesful being rewarded heftily. Does this sound familiar? It’s actual the same rules and principles that the Chinese government has used on its businesses. Whether it will work as well with basketball, is something that we will just have to wait and see.

The NBA has resumed play on October 27th for it’s 2009-2010 campaign and what better time to review all the NBA China Basketball developments of the past couple of months:

• This season everyone who was anyone in the basketball world visited what is now the new sports mecca of the world, the People’s Republic of China. LeBron James, Chris Paul, and Kobe Bryant were just some of the big names that paid visit in hopes of promoting themselves further in the Chinese market and connect with their millions of fans.
• The NBA China Games 2009 took place this October where the Denver Nuggets and Indiana Pacers split the 2 game series taking place first in Taipei followed by a match in Beijing’s Wukesong Arena where Carmelo erupted for 45 points to give his throng of Chinese fans a little something to hold on to until the NBA China Games 2010.
• Kobe still the number 1 jersey seller in China in 2009, LeBron James rises to second place.
• Sun Yue, first cut by the Los Angeles Lakers for cost cutting reasons, was also recently waived by the New York Knicks. His future in the league is under jeopardy.
• An astouding 350 million Chinese smoke cigarettes (about 1/3 of the whole world) and one million Chinese people die every year related directly to smoking – Yao Ming will be the anti-smoking ambassador in hopes of reversing this alarming addiction.
• Huang Jianhua, 15% part owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers, has bought the struggling Jilin Northeast Tigers. He has plans to use his connection with the NBA to improve the domestic club.
• Sun Mingming, the 2.36m 370 pound center out of China, still has his eyes set on playing in the NBA.
• The NBA China cheerleaders competition will send the 6 finalists of its competition to the USA to be trained by proffesional cheerleaders. Here’s a little video of the competition.
• Yao Restaurant (the fake Yao Ming restaurant that in fact has no direct link to the basketball superstar) has closed unexpectantly.