Next-gen thinking puts trust in youth

Youngest ever national training squad selected as China rebuilds for future

Almost certainly an onlooker at next year's Olympic tournament, China's men's basketball program has begun rebuilding for the future by assembling its youngest ever squad for an offseason training camp.

Having failed to secure Asia's only direct Olympic berth at last year's home FIBA World Cup, the Chinese Basketball Association is pinning its hopes on the next generation of hoopsters after calling up 24 players with an average age of 20.7 on Wednesday.

None of the 12 players that lost the Tokyo qualification spot to Iran at the World Cup were invited to attend the three-week camp, which will open on Tuesday at Beijing's national training base behind closed doors.

Nine of the new call-ups have no CBA league experience, such as rookie forward Zhu Mingzhen, who was selected by the Guangzhou Loong Lions as the second overall pick in last week's draft, and teenage prospect Zeng Fanbo, who plays in the American high-school system.

Born in Beijing to a Ugandan father and a Chinese mother, Zhu, a graduate of Peking University's CUBA program, becomes China's first adult national team member of foreign descent.

The oldest player in the camp is 25-year-old center Jiangsu Dragons center Wu Guanxi, who averaged a career high of 15.3 points and 8.1 rebounds last season, his sixth CBA campaign.