When Del Harris sees his point guard out of position, he rushes nearly to midcourt, ready to start screaming instructions before covering his mouth with his hands.
Catching himself in midbreath, the longtime NBA coach doesn't say a word. He just walks back to the bench, shaking his head. Harris knew exactly what to say, but only in English. His players speak Chinese.
So goes the biggest challenging facing the first foreigner to coach any of China's national teams.
"I know lots and lots of phrases, but it seems like the one I need at the time, I can't think of," Harris said, chuckling. "It's not terrible. It's just frustrating at times."
Chinese basketball officials broke from tradition to hire Harris for this summer's Olympics in Athens in hopes of improving on a 12th-place finish at the 2002 world championships and, ultimately, being ready for the 2008 Beijing Games.
With Yao Ming at center, a 16-year-old with NBA lottery-pick potential at forward and a former NBA coach of the year, their chances seem good to at least reach the quarterfinals for just the second time.
Yet optimism is tempered in China, where some are reluctant to embrace an outsider and others wonder how much impact a coach can have.
"He has brought something new to the Chinese players, including concepts," said Wang Qi, a sports reporter in Beijing for government-run China Radio International. "But because of the existing problems of the Chinese players _ for example, inexperience, the lack of strong physical strength and weakness in basic skills _ it is not easy for Harris' new concept to be digested by the players."
Basketball is booming in China, spurred by Yao's Jordan-esque popularity. He's the third player from the nation of 1.2 billion to play in the NBA, all centers who arrived since 2001.
It's no coincidence that all are big men. The irony of China's burgeoning basketball machine is that so much emphasis has been placed on developing 7-footers that there's a shortage of capable guards. With few great ballhandlers, Harris instead is relying on experienced ones. The three oldest players on his 12-man roster are guards.
The roster also shows China's eye on 2008 as seven players are 24 or younger. Among them are Yao and Yi Jianlian, a 16-year-old whom scouts expects to be a high pick when he becomes eligible for the draft in two years.
Wang Zhizhi, who three years ago became the first Chinese player in the NBA, is not on the team because of a falling out with China officials. However, he's still part of the story of how Harris wound up as coach.
Wang broke in with the Dallas Mavericks, thanks mostly to team executive Donnie Nelson's persuasion of Chinese authorities. When the same officials thought about hiring a foreign coach for Athens, they asked for Nelson's advice. He recommended Harris, who has been a Mavs assistant since 2000.
Carlos Alcaraz on Sunday fought through a second-set slump to post a roller-coaster 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 victory over Damir Dzumhur in his opening match at the Cincinnati Open. The Spaniard, playing his first tournament since losing to Jannik Sinner in the Wimbledon final, raced through the first set, but completely lost his way in the second, dropping his serve twice against the 33-year-old Bosnian. Alcaraz regained his intensity and cut down his errors in the third set as a seventh ace took him to a match point that was converted when Dzumhur fired wide. “It was just a roller coaster,” said the second
Defending champions Jannik Sinner and Aryna Sabalenka on Wednesday led the way into the Cincinnati Open quarter-finals, with Carlos Alcaraz hot on their heels after a straight-sets victory of his own. Sinner shrugged off a mid-match weather delay lasting nearly three hours as he advanced 6-4, 7-6 (7/4) over Adrian Mannarino. Alcaraz, the second seed who has reached the final in his past six tournaments, hammered Italian lucky loser Luca Nardi 6-1, 6-4. After sweeping the opening set in 28 minutes, Alcaraz hit a speed bump, dropping his serve to trail 2-4. He promptly regained the break, then fought through a marathon ninth game
Taiwan’s men’s basketball team on Monday clinched a spot in the FIBA Asia Cup quarter-finals with a 78-64 win over Jordan in Saudi Arabia, securing their best finish in the tournament since placing fourth in 2013. The win was sweet revenge for Taiwan, who were denied a quarter-final spot by Jordan at the same stage of the previous Asia Cup in 2022 after blowing a nine-point lead in the final minute and losing 97-96 on a half-court buzzer-beater. “History is part of the journey,” Taiwan head coach Gianluca Tucci said when asked about the 2022 collapse of the team, who he did
Leicester City on Sunday launched their quest for an immediate return to the English Premier League with a 2-1 win at home to crisis club Sheffield Wednesday after the visitors’ supporters protested against Owls owner Dejphon Chansiri. Wednesday are under several English Football League embargoes for a range of financial breaches, with payments of wages to players and staff delayed for the past three months. Owls fans made their feelings toward Thai businessman Chansiri clear by delaying their entry to their seats and the away end was empty as the players came onto the pitch at the King Power Stadium, with a
RSS