China reliant on Yi Jianlian for success

Despite ruling Asian basketball for decades, China have struggled to translate that dominance to world-wide competition. And now the Chinese are not only going into the post Yao Ming era for good but they are also fighting to stave off Iran for the upper hand in Asia.

China were expected to be on a collision course with Iran for the final of the 2011 FIBA Asia Championship before the Iranians were upset by Jordan, who proved no match for Bob Donewald’s team in the final – securing a spot at London 2012 for China.

The 15-time Asian champions China are making their 10th appearance at the Olympics – and their eighth straight showing since 1984. But it’s the first time since 1996 that former NBA superstar Yao Ming will not be on board as he has since retired after a series of injuries.

Yao hanging up his sneakers leaves a huge void in the middle of China’s team – one that the Iranians were able take advantage and beat China in the final of the 2009 Asia Championship and some expected would be the same last summer.

In London – as in 2011 – Donewald’s team will rely predominantly on Yi Jianlian – who himself has been battling injuries in recent years. Yi dominated the 2011 Asian tournament, averaging a double-double including 25 points, 16 rebounds and six blocks in the final against Jordan.

But will Yi be able to do that against the best teams in the world on a regular basis? Donewald and the rest of the Chinese fans are all but counting on it.

Center Wang Zhizhi was still very productive at the Asian Championship but he will be 33 years old when the London Games tip off and the wily veteran is slowly losing a step.

Small forwards Zhu Fangyu and Sun Yue may be asked to pick up more of the slack offensively though Sun is a strong defender for Donewald’s side.

Besides Yi, the other real question mark is how well point guard Liu Wei can run the team as promising playmaker Yu Shulong – who will be 22 years old come the Olympics – is not yet far enough along to contribute at the highest level.

Even with Yao Ming, the Chinese struggled to make noise on the world stage. In FIBA World Championships and Olympics since 2000, China only reached the quarter-finals twice – losing to Lithuania in both the 2004 and 2008 Olympics. And the Asians were unable to move past the eight-finals at the 2006 World Championship.

Donewald knows his team faces an uphill battle in London. And how Yi Jianlian returns from his injury concerns from earlier this season will play a huge role in how long China spend in London this summer.