When I went to my first Zhejiang Guangsha Lions game, during the 2009 season, I had no idea how many foreign players had taken their talents to China. In the rafters of Guangsha's small stadium hung a banner for each player on the team. I immediately recognized Rodney White's face and name, this wasn't the case for Guangsha's other foreign player, Nigel Dixon.
Rodney was a former lottery pick of the Detroit Pistons at 9th overall in the 2001 draft. He played 1 season and UNC-Charlotte and was selected by ESPN as freshman of the year. If you research the 2001 draft, also referred to as the Kwame Brown Draft, you will find that there was talk of him going #1 overall. Inconsistent play, lackadaisical defense, and problems with the law ultimately sent him packing overseas after 5 seasons in the league with three different teams.Nigel Dixon (shattering the backboard) is a product of Western Kentucky, and is a poor mans Michael Sweetney. At 6'11 and 320 lbs, Dixon is a big boy and is consistently dealing with weight issues. He has had a few short stints in the NBA, but has spent the majority of his time playing overseas.
Not that I'm surprised, but these are two typical stories of foreign players in China. I learned that each team is allowed to have two foreign players on the roster. More often than not, these players are from America and are still trying to live the NBA dream. This, however, is beginning to change. Last season, former All-Star Stephon Marbury made a highly publicized move over to the Chinese team Shanxi Zhongyu. Unlike other foreign players in China, Marbury has had a fantastic NBA career, making two trips to the All-Star game and earning over $150 mil in his career. He is not playing in China to win championships (Shanxi is awful), but rather to cash in on the exploding market for basketball in China, which I discussed yesterday.
As a part of his deal with Shanxi, Marbury and the owner of the team will manufacture, promote and distribute Marbury's shoe brand, Starbury. These shoes will be sold to basketball fans all over China for reasonable prices (as low as $14.88). (WSJ)
I was fortunate enough to have front row seats to one of Marbury's first games in China versus Zhejiang Guangsha. I arrived early and greeted Stephon as he got off the bus, saying, "Welcome to China, Stephon!". We made eye contact but he did not reply. While Marbury may have fallen out of favor to fans in America because of bizarre behavior and his inability to lead a team, he is loved in China. At the game I attended, there was more energy in the crowd than there had been all season and he was cheered relentlessly. (Although there was one taunting sign towards Stephon that read, "NY Knicks PG = Chris Duhon"). Even if Marbury's pro career has ended in America, his playing and business career are just beginning in China.Attending CBA games in China is great fun. Only a 10 minute bike ride from Zhejiang's stadium, I went to every game. Tickets are only $5 and there is no assigned seating. The crowd is always engaged, unlike the NBA, and every fan claps plastic noisemakers after each made basket. After games, players walk out of the locker room and fight their way through hundreds of short, rowdy fans to the exit. I once stayed after to see if I could meet and talk with Rodney White. When he walked out I hip-checked a few smaller Chinese men out of the way to make room and said hello. He was very nice, and seeing as he did not have many English speaking friends in China, we exchanged numbers and met for beers later that night. To Be Continued in Part 3 on Monday...
(P.J. fighting through the crowd)
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