By Sportswriters Shan Lei, Lin Deren
BEIJING, July 29 (Xinhua) -- A record fourteen young players were picked on Sunday by teams from the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) league in the 2018 CBA Draft, a sharp contrast to the situation in 2015 when the draft was first introduced to China's basketball league.
Only one player was selected by Chongqing in 2015, while the other 19 CBA teams gave up their chances of injecting new blood.
Four years on, more and more CBA teams have got to know the draft is an opportunity.
"This is going to be a new start to everyone of you, no matter you're from colleges or youth teams. I wish good luck to everyone and we make a better basketball league together," said CBA President Yao Ming at the Draft conference.
In 2002, Yao Ming was drafted as the No. 1 pick by the Houston Rockets to start his NBA career, but he didn't attend the 2002 NBA Draft personally as he was in Beijing.
"I hope you have a good memory of today, not like me," Yao joked.
The 2018 CBA draft is sure a good memory to many people as cheers, surprise and relief were witnessed by club officials, players, agents and journalists for the first time in the history of the event.
Powerhouse Guangdong Hongyuan picked in both rounds as they selected Shandong young player Ji Xiang in the first round and in the 2nd Wan Shengwei from Beijing University, the Most Valuable Players of last-season's China University Basketball Association (CUBA).
This is the first time either reigning or former CBA champions use their picks at the annual draft.
Guard Si Kun clapped with his agent after Guangzhou picked him in the second round, and was cheered up by audience when he received a Guangzhou-branded basketball.
Jilin used their No.1 pick to land guard Jiang Yuxing from Henan. Bayi traded their No.1 pick to Jilin, the first-ever pick trade in CBA Draft history.
Three college players were selected in the 2018 Draft and the No.1 pick Jiang is promised to receive at least 500,000 RMB (about 73,434 U.S. dollars) for his debut season.
Nothing similar happened in the past three draft conferences and the event is not like a copy piece of the NBA Draft procedure as usual.
A total of 50 players from around the country joined the CBA Draft weekend as they took tests and played matches in front of all the 20 CBA teams in the past three days.
"The CBA Draft is a dream-come-true to player like me from NBL (National Basketball League). I didn't know I could be picked as No.1. I thought I had a chance into top 10," Jiang said.
Yet the draft still has a long way to go.
Defending champions Liaoning gave up their both picks at the meeting for the fourth consecutive year. Liaoning and Xinjiang, also former winners of the CBA league, never selected any player from the draft since 2015. In total, only 34 players have been drafted by CBA teams in the past four years.
Days before the draft, Zhejiang admitted that they offered a 3-year contract worth 25 million U.S. dollars (around 170 million RMB) to NBA All-Star Dwayne Wade. They picked Wang Zilu from their own youth team after two rounds.
This is the second time Yao Ming announced the picks as CBA President. Maybe the CBA Draft is nowhere close to the fantasy of NBA Draft, but it is for sure has a bright future.
