Coach goes all in with the future

There should be little doubt remaining as to Bob Donewald Jr's commitment to the future of the Chinese national team.

Secure in the knowledge China would take fourth place in Group C regardless of the outcome against Turkey, the coach sent out his reserves for a 40-minute crash course in international basketball. The end result was an 87-40 rout that left the home fans in a celebratory mood.

Just how much there is to celebrate for Chinese fans remains to be seen. Thursday's result was always going to be irrelevant once Cote d'Ivoire failed to beat Puerto Rico by 12 points, leaving China on top of a three-way tiebreaker between the teams, but what about the performance? Donewald has gone to great pains to develop confidence and a fighting spirit among his young players, a mentality easily punctured by spending 40 minutes being physically dominated in front of a hostile crowd.