Rocky road reaches its end

Coach Bob Donewald (right) led guard Chen Jianghua and the Chinese national team to a somewhat surprising Olympic berth but couldn't do much once there. Cui Meng / China Daily

Donewald's tumultous tenure in China ends with five straight losses, Sun Xiaochen reports.

It didn't have a happy ending, but it still left Bob Donewald smiling.

Donewald, who took over the Chinese national basketball team in April 2010, came to the end of his contract on Monday as the team's Olympic run ended with its fifth defeat in a row in the group stage at the London Games.

It was the team's worst result in recent history, after it cracked the top eight at both the Athens and Beijing Games.

"I am a little bit proud, a little bit happy and I left with a smile," the Michigan native said as his tenure with the team came to an end following a 90-58 loss to Britain.

Even if he would've liked to see better results, Donewald succeeded in achieving what he set out to do reaching the Olympics.

He spent five years as a head coach and general manager in the British Basketball League (BBL) in the 1990s, leading three clubs to the finals of the national championship series. He moved back to the US and became an assistant coach with the New Orleans Hornets.

When he was 25, his father Bob Donewald Sr, himself a well-known college basketball coach - asked him if he'd prefer to coach in college or the NBA.

The Olympics, was Donewald's answer.

Now that he's done it, he said he has no regrets about his often-tumultuous three years in China.

"It's been an honor for me to be with China in basketball the past three years," he said at the post-game news conference.

"My son has learned some Chinese and my wife (picked up the language better than I did). We had a lot of fun, and I met a lot of people here I can say are like family."

He traveled a rocky road to reach that peaceful ending, beginning with his first major tournament, the 2010 World Championship.

Fans and media immediately questioned his tactical ability after China placed 16th, its worst finish in 32 years.

He led the injury-plagued squad to the 2010 Asian Games championship but still faced critics who doubted he could lead the team to the 2011 title and Asia's only Olympic berth.

He succeeded again, guiding China past Jordan in the final, only to be met with another wave of skepticism following a 1-point victory.

Many fans disliked his signature defensive style, which frequently led to a high number of fouls. And his motion offense was slammed as nothing more than one-on-one battles set up for the team's only consistent scorer, Yi Jianlian.

Not all of this was fair, of course. Donewald was handed an aging team whose younger players were not ready to help it compete at the highest level.

Outsized and overpowered by every group opponent, China's average deficit was 25.2 points by the time it was knocked out, and it ranked last in rebounds, assists and points among the 12 teams.

On the other hand, Donewald had run out of ways to make the team more competitive.

Su Qun, the editor-in-chief of Basketball Pioneers, wrote on his micro blog: "Mentally, Donewald helped the team to be more aggressive than ever, but tactically he didn't bring any improvement."

Another well-known commentator, Yang Yi of CCTV, echoed Su's sentiment.

"What (Donewald) brought to the team is only some psychic hallucination," Yang said after China's elimination. "He kept encouraging his players with inspirational remarks, making them believe they were competitive against the best teams on the world. But he lacks the stuff to really (help them win)."

Donewald gave himself credit for dealing with the hot potato he was handed.

"When I took this job, someone told me, 'don't take it; you won't go to the Olympics'," he said. "It was a tough time. But no one thought we could do it three years ago. It's not the way we want to end it, but I think we at least work in the right way.

"I don't think anybody could do a better job than we did. I thought we just did the best that can be done in this era."

Donewald has grown used to being the center of debate.

In addition to his role with the national team, he also coached two Chinese Basketball Association teams - the Shanghai Sharks and Xinjiang Flying Tigers. His time with both ended prematurely.

Now that it's over, Donewald said he's ready to spend some quality time with his family.

"I asked my son when I was in Beijing, 'what do you want?' Donewald said. "He said 'I want a dog that can talk'. Last night, I talked with him on phone, asking him again, 'son, you still want a dog that can talk?' He said, 'no, I want to see you'. So I am going home."

Contact the writer at sunxiaochen@chinadaily.com.cn.

(China Daily 08/08/2012 page11)