Mixed blessing for the CBA this season

Nobody wants to hear something's been a mixed bag. Mixed bags are boring.

That doesn't change the fact the influx of NBA players this season in the CBA has been a mixed bag.

Sorry.

Five big-name foreigners joined the Chinese Basketball Association this season. When the NBA began seriously contemplating a lockout, it became clear some talent would land here, and that it would have an impact.

Kenyon Martin, J.R. Smith, Wilson Chandler, Aaron Brooks and Patty Mills rolled the dice, trading potential NBA deals for a sure-thing chance to play in the world's most populous market. Stephon Marbury re-signed, but Marbury already loved China, so we'll leave him out of the equation.

Let's face it - most of the imports are not living their dream here. It's understandable, even.

Brian Goorjian is an American who coaches the Dongguan Leopards and used to coach the Australian national team, so he's got some insight.

"To be honest, if I'm (former Denver Nugget) Wilson Chandler, I'm worried about rolling my ankle or I'm worried about if I've got something waiting for me," Goorjian said in a phone interview last week.

Chandler is arguably the league's best import, averaging 27 points and 11.8 rebounds for the Zhejiang Lions. On the other hand, the Lions went on a late-season skid that jeopardized their playoff chances.

Kenyon Martin ended up personifying the league's worst fears. He didn't invent an excuse, he didn't try particularly hard, he didn't mail it in particularly obviously. He signed with the Xinjiang Flying Tigers for the biggest deal in league history, left almost immediately after the NBA resolved its labor issues and convinced the Powers That Be to revoke the stipulation in his contract that should've prevented him from signing with the Los Angeles Clippers.

It's hard not to let that one rub you the wrong way, but not impossible.

"You could put him in a basket with a million Americans who come out here and it doesn't work," Goorjian said. "I don't think it has to do so much with that fear of being an American player and walking out. There's a lot of Americans that have left under similar circumstances."

Goorjian is friends with Mills. Mills left mid-season under a cloud.

He suffered an ankle injury, then said the Flying Tigers were rushing him to get him on the court. The Flying Tigers said he was faking an injury in a rush to get back to the NBA, where he was a budding star for the Portland Trail Blazers last season.

"There's confusion and confliction there on the injury, but I know when he spoke to me he was injured and he was concerned about that injury," Goorjian said. "As far as he was concerned, he was getting moved along because they couldn't afford to have their import - with the record they have - sitting on the sideline recovering from what he had to recover with, which in his mind is 4 to 6 weeks. He's still not playing."

The other two fared a little better. J.R. Smith was voted to the All-Star team, but opted to skip it in favor of heading back to the US. Aaron Brooks led the Guangdong Southern Tigers to the best record in the league with 21.8 points and 4.8 assists per game, so he'll be around until the postseason ends.

Goorjian, for his part, has coached his young team into the playoffs without availing himself of any big-name talent, because he didn't want any big-name talent.

The team's imports are Josh-Emmanuel Akognon, who never played in the NBA, and Randolph Shavlik, who played a little.

It's worked for the Leopards, who are looking to build a perennial contender. It might not work for everybody.

"I thought it could be a nightmare, and these guys wouldn't get out of first gear," Goorjian said. "We just played against Brooks - he was sensational and unbelievable.

"They're great for the league and they're good for their team. I'm just saying I selected different for a reason, and now that we're at this point that we are in the season, I'm happy that we went down that path."

Dusty Lane is a sports copy editor at China Daily. He can be reached at dustin.l.lane@gmail.com.