2022-2023 the Chinese men’s basketball professional league (CBA) will be kicked off on October 10. Last season, the “Dark Horse” Jilin team has recently assembled and rushed to the Hangzhou competition area, in an exclusive interview with Xinhua News Agency, Jiang Weize, the team’s main defender, talked about the gains of participating in the national team training and the Asian Cup this summer, and expressed his new expectations for the future.
Asian Cup fire line supports the most unforgettable goal of the first national team
After finishing the CBA playoff journey last season, Jiang Weize was selected into the second team of China men’s basketball, later, he was urgently called up by the national team to participate in the men’s basketball Asian Cup held in Jakarta, Indonesia and the fourth window of the World Cup qualifier held in Kazakhstan. Reviewing and summarizing the experience of this summer, Jiang Weize said that he had gained confidence and still needed to work hard in the future.
In the list of 12 participants in the men’s basketball Asian Cup, there were a large number of defenders online, including Zhao Rui, Sun Minghui, Xu Jie and other “frequent visitors to the national team”, however, Jiang Weize, who participated in the competition on behalf of the national team for the first time, also left a deep impression. The little pitcher performed quite calm. In the 15 minutes of the Asian Cup, the three-point shot percentage reached 44 percent, and he dropped into shots many times.
In the first game of the group match against the South Korean team, when there were four minutes left in the third quarter, Jiang Weize’s 45-degree angle on the left side of the quick attack was three point line. The ball was adjusted, jumped, and shot, the ball responds to the net. The TV broadcast captured that Jiang Weize just wanted to celebrate the first national team goal and suddenly realized that he wanted to defend the opponent’s counterattack, so he loosened his half-grip double fist, instead, he stared at the South Korean team members who were serve.
“That goal means a lot to me.”
Jiang Weize, who was fighting for the first time on behalf of the national team, was somewhat ignorant, but his determination was impressive.
In the key game against the Barlin team, Jiang Weize ushered in the highlight performance of the Asian Cup. On the bench, he hit tossing in a row in the third quarter and became the “hero” of the national team who finally won by one point “.
When talking about playing the role of “key sir” repeatedly, Jiang Weize said that the mentality of this expedition was relaxed but he also held back a lot of energy. “I didn’t put too much pressure on myself when I went to the national team this time. Although I didn’t take part in the training before and still lacked tacit understanding with my teammates, I didn’t doubt myself, thank you very much for your trust in me. As long as you play, you will do your best.”
The high-quality training of the national second team is also an important reason why Jiang Weize can maintain a good state and play stably on the field. “There are many excellent young players in the team, and the training every day is very systematic, which keeps me in good condition and competitive.” Jiang Weize said.
In 2018 and 2019, he was successively selected into U18 and U19 national teams. This summer, he joined the national team again. Jiang Weize completed his “triple jump” in the stadium “.
Clear goals for the new season
Jiang Weize was born in Yanbian Korean autonomous prefecture of Jilin province in 2000. He began to get in touch with basketball from primary school and was found by Sun Jun, a famous basketball player in Jilin in the second grade. He came to Changchun from Yanji and was later selected into Jilin men’s basketball youth team, and officially launched the CBA arena in the 2018-2019 season.
He is 1.81 meters tall and does not have an advantage in the basketball court. However, with his hard training and the spirit of never giving up, Jiang Weize came to today step by step.
During the four seasons, Jiang Weize played steadily and gradually gained a firm foothold in the team. The regular season played an average of 22.6 minutes to 37.9 minutes and scored an average of 7.8 points to 17.6 points. Now, he has become an indispensable scorer for Jilin men’s basketball.
This summer, the rookie contract between Jiang Weize and Jilin men’s basketball expired and the two sides renewed for five years. Faced with the increasing popularity and value, the outside world speculated that he might leave Jilin for men’s basketball, but Jiang Weize chose to renew the contract. “I have been in the Jilin team since I was a child. The Jilin team gave me all this, so I chose to play for the team again.”
Last season, when Jilin men’s basketball was not optimistic, the first round of the playoffs hit Beijing men’s basketball and advanced to the top eight, creating the team’s best record in the past eight years. Focusing on the new season, Jiang Weize said that the team’s goal is clear, “the first goal is to ensure that you can enter the playoffs, and then hope to go further”.
Jilin men’s basketball often has a rotation of 7 to 8 people. With accurate external projection and defensive counterattack tactics, as well as the tacit cooperation of players for a long time, it is often able to “go to the following grams”, it is called “giant killer” in the alliance “.
Jiang Weize, who soon returned to the team, was also slowly adjusting his state. He admitted frankly that there were occasional errors in running position during training, but his teammates were very tolerant and patient. “Although everyone didn’t see each other for a holiday, the atmosphere of team unity has always been there.” In the new season, Jilin changed his job in men’s basketball. Wang Yi left office and Cui Wanjun took charge of pointer. In addition, Dominic Jones, a foreign aid who renewed his contract with the team, returned to the team in early September and will also serve as an assistant coach in the new season. The fifth season with his old partner Jones is about to come. Jiang Weize said that the two have a very tacit understanding, “the characteristics of each other and the style of play they are good at will be known in the last eye on the scene”.
Personal goal: hope that every year is better than the previous year
Although it has excellent field goal percentage, due to objective factors such as height and movement, Jiang Weize said frankly that he still has a lot of room for improvement. “At present, I am still a pitcher, and there is still a certain distance from the full-scale defender.”
Jiang Weize’s advantages and shortcomings in techniques and tactics are strong attack and weak defense, strong shooting stability and weak organization and series ability. Jiang Weize told reporters that he would spend more energy on shooting since he was young, which also laid the foundation for his current playing style. “It is hard to defend, poor in consciousness, and weak in body. These aspects are the direction of their own efforts (changes) in the future. I hope that they can grow a little bit in the future, slowly get better.” Jiang Weize said, “in the next step, we need to improve our ability to” thread the needle “and have the opportunity to give priority to passing it to insider.”
After a summer of experience, Jiang Weize said that he had gained a lot. He not only saw the gap with the world’s excellent defenders, but also strengthened his confidence. “As a pitcher, you must be firm in your actions. Now the coach and teammates trust me very much. Everyone knows my characteristics and believes that I can enter. In the future, I will try my best to maintain this confidence.”
The CBA league is about to start, and Jiang Weize is full of expectations: “In the new season, I hope I can take on more and help the team better. Every year is better than the previous year.”
(Text/Li Dian, Cao Yibo, Yu Sihui, Zhou Wanpeng)