On August 25, 2023, the Chinese men's basketball team ended their World Cup journey and won the third-to-last place in the men's basketball World Cup with a record of one win and four losses, once again refreshing the worst ranking of the Chinese men's basketball team since its establishment.
Such a result undoubtedly angered the enthusiastic Chinese fans, who could not accept the self-depravity of the Chinese men's basketball team, so that they burned their anger all over the Internet, and Wang Zhelin, the CBA MVP of the year, who performed unsatisfactory that night, became the concentrated target of netizens to express their anger.
Some people complained that he was 2.14 meters tall, but his movements were as slow as a snail; some people ridiculed that the CBA's MAP became a soft persimmon when it came to the international arena, and he could pinch it at will; some fans were dissatisfied with the Chinese team's appearance list, saying that Wang Zhelin, who was in the prime of life, was not as good as the 36-year-old veteran Yi Jianlian.
This group stage of the Men's Basketball World Cup not only made the "poor" of the Chinese men's basketball team known, but also made Wang Zhelin a "household name".
Shonen Naruna
In fact, it is not the first time that the men's basketball team has suffered a Waterloo in the World Cup. When the Men's Basketball World Cup was held in China in 2019, the Chinese men's basketball team, which had the right time and place, also missed the round of 16, and lost the qualification for the Tokyo Olympics with two wins and three losses. Therefore, losing so ugly in the 2023 Men's Basketball World Cup is not Wang Zhelin's fault alone.
However, the reason why public opinion pointed at him was not only because of his performance on the field, but also because the fans' great hopes for him were shattered, after all, before participating in the World Cup, Wang Zhelin's resume was too beautiful, and even made people mistakenly think that he would follow in the footsteps of Yao Ming and become a popular player in the NBA.
Wang Zhelin, born in Fuzhou, Fujian Province in 1994, because his parents are basketball players, it is not an exaggeration to say that he was born in a basketball family. Because of this unique condition, Wang Zhelin started his career very early, playing all the way from the Fujian Youth Team to the World Youth Basketball Championships.
At that time, Wang Zhelin was full of spirit, and he was more than 2 meters tall at a young age. Relying on this innate condition and acquired basketball skills, Wang Zhelin swept the 2010 U17 and U18 Youth Basketball Championships, and became a rising star in Chinese basketball with a good score of 14.3 points and 8.6 rebounds per game.
With this strong wind, Wang Zhelin became a member of the 21-member training list of the Chinese national team as he wished. At the same time, because he scored 19 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocks at the Nike Basketball Summit, his ability once again attracted widespread attention, and he became the best Chinese player at the Nike Global Summit in 17 years.
These competitions and good results made Wang Zhelin quickly attract the attention of a large number of industry insiders, and also made fans remember such a brave teenager.
With the repeated improvement of the competition level, Wang Zhelin's personal shortcomings have gradually been revealed. In particular, in September 2012, his shooting percentage in the 2012 Asian Cup Basketball Tournament greatly reflected his weakness in confrontation.
However, international competitions have not affected his invincibility on the domestic stage. In June 2012, the general manager of Fujian SBS signed Wang Zhelin with the best treatment the club could provide.
In the following nine years, he played 296 games for the Fujian men's basketball team, contributing 6,531 points, 3,491 rebounds and 314 blocks. Even, because of his personal data and entering the playoffs for the first time, he won the league's "MVP God of War Cup".
Not only that, but because of Wang Zhelin's excellent performance, the American media also locked their eyes on him. In 2016, Wang Zhelin was favored by the Memphis Grizzlies, who ranked 57th in the NBA, and many people thought that Wang Zhelin could enter the NBA smoothly since then, after all, he was only 22 years old that year.
However, due to operational problems, Wang Zhelin failed to play in the NBA, but sank with the Fujian team. Fortunately, when the soldiers were useless, the Shanghai Shark handed him an olive branch, which did not let Wang Zhelin continue to be depressed in the weak brigade.
At that time, even foreign reporters believed that Wang Zhelin's big man was very much in line with the trend of the NBA, and if he could run on the NBA court, he would definitely become an excellent player with both offense and defense.
Moreover, foreign media predicted that Wang Zhelin should not be a minority shareholder of the Fujian team in the best time of his career, but should seek more opportunities to show himself, and the 2023 World Cup is the moment for the Memphis Grizzlies to see his value.
No one expected that the 2023 Men's Basketball World Cup not only failed to make Wang Zhelin usher in a turning point in his career, but ushered in the biggest low point of his career.
Falling Valley
At the start of the 2023 Men's Basketball World Cup, the Chinese men's basketball team played a total of five games, but only won against Angola, of which the most ugly loss was with South Sudan, which only established a team in 2021, and the worst game against Wang Zhelin was the one with Puerto Rico.
In that game, China lost 89-107 to Puerto Rico, swallowing the bitter fruit of three consecutive defeats in the group stage.
Among them, Wang Zhelin, who holds the title of MVP of the CBA League, although he has been honored, has not played the role of MVP at all, not only making mistakes under the basket many times, but even the defense is a mess. In particular, his height of 2.14 meters is particularly conspicuous on the field, which angers the fans who come to watch the game even more.
Therefore, as soon as the game ended, Wang Zhelin was scolded on the hot search. The sports media even described it as a "terrible performance".
Among them, the biggest criticism by netizens is Wang Zhelin's hit rate, he missed the pitch many times, and was easily covered by the opponent, the most fatal thing is that the team finally played a good match, but as soon as Wang Zhelin appeared on the stage, this good momentum would be interrupted by him.
All kinds of problems are stacked together, so that MVP Wang Zhelin only contributed 4 points in the whole game, and even the head coach of the national team doesn't know how to help him say good things.
With such a "best player", it is no wonder that netizens are unscrupulous, describing him as a soft persimmon and saying that his running is like a snail. In addition, in the match against Serbia, Wang Zhelin also performed poorly. In that game, Wang Zhelin could barely grab rebounds because he couldn't keep up with his reaction and speed, and he could only hit three shots in six shots, which also made people feel anxious.
Especially compared with Zhou Qi, the center forward in the same game, the difference in strength is even greater. Even, some blind fans feel that players like Wang Zhelin are not as big as the 36-year-old Yi Jianlian's surprise to fans.
The 2023 Men's Basketball World Cup not only failed to become a good opportunity for Wang Zhelin to go to the world, but instead became a colosseum to strangle him. According to the analysis of many industry insiders, although Wang Zhelin has a unique height, his physical condition may not be able to become a qualified center.
There are two fatal weaknesses, one is his arm span, and the other is his slippery shoulders, which cannot be made up for by hard work. So much so that although Wang Zhelin is tall, he is very poor at touching the height, his movement speed is not fast, and his bounce power is insufficient, which makes him unable to compete with players who are taller than him, let alone block his opponent.
Coupled with the fact that Wang Zhelin is good at low-post singles is often whistled for fouls in international competitions, his play is even more limited. It's a pity that although the World Cup has ended, the condemnation of Wang Zhelin by fans and the Internet is far from over.
Cheer up
Just two months after the end of the World Cup, Wang Zhelin met his old club Fujian team on the domestic field.
In the first half of the day's game, Wang Zhelin faced Kong Lan twice but failed to make a layup, which instantly evoked the scene he left for fans in the World Cup, so that many angry netizens couldn't help but scold him again, angrily accusing him of playing at a level that was not as good as that of middle school students.
However, this is not what makes the fans most angry, but his negative attitude during the game.
In the second quarter of the day's game, due to the interference of foreign teammate Ferrer, Wang Zhelin failed to get the rebound as he wished. This incident may have angered Wang Zhelin, making him keep talking on the field, suspected of swearing.
I thought that this was just a small friction between the players, but no one expected that when teammate Ferrer's three-point shot missed, Wang Zhelin faced the opponent's fast attack, and actually responded passively, and refused to step forward to actively scramble, which made the team almost fall into crisis.
However, this is not the king's ultimate revenge against Ferrer. Just 17 seconds before the end of the first half, Ferrer, who had already dribbled the ball for more than half of the time, wanted to ask Wang Zhelin to cooperate with him to attack, but the king didn't want to shoot at all, but walked to the sideline with a black face all the way, ignoring the attack organized by Ferrer.
Such a game that was obviously aimed at teammates once again triggered the crusade of netizens. It's hard to imagine that a professional basketball player would do such an unprofessional thing in a game.
Of course, there are also people who express understanding and sympathy for Wang Zhelin's actions. After all, after the World Cup, Wang Zhelin suffered a lot of cyberbullying and injuries, even if he didn't perform well, it was understandable.
However, for athletes, their careers will inevitably usher in their peaks, but they will also usher in their lows. Wang Zhelin, who has been smooth sailing on the basketball court, has suffered a setback, which is not necessarily a bad thing. What's more, it's also motivating.
At the beginning of 2024, Wang Zhelin regrouped and set off again. Although Wang Zhelin was absent when the Shanghai men's basketball team defeated the traditional powerhouse Liaoning men's basketball team away, according to the official data provided by the Shanghai men's basketball team, Wang Zhelin is still one of the strongest players in the local interior line.
Regarding the fact that Wang Zhelin cannot play a role in the international arena, but can compete in the domestic competition as the top, industry insiders analyze that aside from the fact that the local competition cannot be compared with the international competition, the main reason is that Wang Zhelin, as an insider, has not met an excellent outside player who can partner with him in the national team, such as Bradeso.
This makes an excellent insider like Wang Zhelin can only be a soft persimmon, and there is no way to harden it at all. Therefore, if you look at it from this point of view, the failure of the Chinese men's basketball team in the World Cup is not caused by Wang Zhelin's abnormality, but the problem of the Chinese men's basketball team as a whole. I only hope that on this point, the relevant units can pay attention to it.
After all, as a large country with a population of 1.4 billion, it is somewhat unreasonable to not even be able to pick out a few good players who play basketball.