Ducks determined to give youth a chance

After a summer of roster reshuffles and arduous national duty, the Beijing Ducks are looking to the future with a youthful rebuild.

With no big-name imports or major domestic reinforcements added, the Ducks have spent the offseason experimenting with a young roster built around homegrown talents for the new CBA season, which tips off on Monday.

Opening its 2022-23 campaign against Fujian SBS on Tuesday, the Ducks are determined to bring more young guns to the frontline after releasing a high-profile cast of foreigners and veterans, such as ex-NBA star Jeremy Lin and local playmaker Liu Xiaoyu over the summer.

The reshuffle signals a major shift toward sustainability as the whole league deals with the prolonged financial woe brought by the pandemic.

Head coach Xie Libin, a former Ducks guard, has stressed that "patience" is the keyword for the upcoming season, when even a playoff spot could be a big ask for the team.

"We are facing quite a difficult situation to be honest. We have reached a consensus throughout the franchise that we need to give it time and be realistic about long-term success," Xie said after an open practice at the Ducks' western Beijing home stadium last week.

"As a franchise with a championship tradition, our goal for the season is to make it to the playoffs first, while having our young players honed and developed in the process."

In the 2021-22 season, the Ducks were knocked out of the playoffs 0-2 by underdogs the Jilin Northeast Tigers in the first round, raising questions about the club's expensive acquisition of four foreign players.

Without Lin and Liu, signed respectively by the CBA's Guangzhou Loong lions and the Bay Area Dragons of the East Asia Super League, coach Xie is left with guard-forward tandem Fang Shuo and Zhai Xiaochuan to dictate play together with towering duo Li Muhao and Fan Ziming in the paint. Fang and Zhai were two key pieces in the club's three championship runs from 2012-15 led by star import Stephon Marbury.

The lack of finesse and firepower on the backcourt, however, remains a major concern with the Ducks' new signing Nick Johnson, an American combo guard, unable to join the team anytime soon due to a visa delay. Despite being in only his second year with the team, last year's substitute Tian Yuxiang is expected to come off the bench more to back up Fang.

"To take it with a positive mindset, we could give our own players more minutes on court, allow more room for them to make some mistakes and help them grow faster without a foreigner to run the play," said Xie.

The conditioning status of Zhai and Fan is also uncertain with only four days to go before the opening night after both players endured a draining summer of national team duty — first battling against COVID-19 infections while traveling abroad with Team China before having to undergo long quarantines without quality training upon returning home.

Making it worse was the indefinite injury-enforced layoff of rising star Zeng Fanbo, who dislocated his finger during a scrimmage on Sept 9, just a month after the 19-year-old returned to Beijing from a yearlong stay in the United States competing in the NBA G League.

The 6-foot-11 (2.11 meters) Zeng, who took part in this year's NBA Draft but wasn't selected, was touted as the next big thing for the Ducks' rebuild, boasting a rare combination of athleticism, shooting touch, playmaking and defensive coverage.

He underwent surgery two weeks ago, pushing back his debut in the CBA. A medical check on Thursday will decide how soon Zeng can resume full-strength training, according to Xie, as the team on Wednesday left without him for Hangzhou, the host city of the league's first-phase regular season inside a bio-secure bubble.

The timely arrival of TJ Leaf, an American-Israeli power forward who last season played in Guangzhou, has brought the Ducks some positive energy though.

After contributing an average of 25 points, 11.7 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game for the Loong Lions last year, Leaf has excelled in the Chinese league with his all-around game expected to be a good fit for the Ducks' team-focused basketball under Xie's helm.

Leaf, who joined the Ducks two weeks ago when the preseason camp opened, said he's ready to help his second club in China wherever needed.

"I don't think I can bring anything new to a team that's as good defensively as they are, so just continuing to instill those principles on myself," said the 25-year-old, who was selected 18th overall by the Indiana Pacers at the 2017 NBA Draft.

"Rebounding is a big one for me on defense and then the offense just attacking the rim and getting everyone else involved, and just kind of being a playmaker at the four position to dump off to the five or kick out the shooters and things like that.

"I'm just going to do whatever I can to help the team win … if coach wants me to play 40 minutes, so be it. If it's 30, then that's great too. It's just whatever coach thinks on that given night."

The Ducks' captain Zhai, a 29-year-old versatile forward, said he's willing to adapt to Leaf's game to bolster the Ducks' frontcourt threat.

"With TJ on board, I think we can play quite aggressively and quite fast even with enough height on the court," said Zhai, whose summer gym regime saw him lose an impressive eight kilograms.

"As I'm normally a small forward, I will try to take more ball-handling responsibility to share our guard's workload and shift to the power forward position to protect the rebound when needed.

"This is the modern basketball that we are aiming to develop and adapt to. I am ready for the challenge."