The six teams that have tried out have a total of 9 second-round picks, but they still haven't been able to get the word "Choi Yong-hee".
But after losing the election, an "Exhibit 10" from Portland gave Xiao Cui and all Chinese fans some hope.
Text / Li Jiajun
Edited by Li Luyuan
It's far from the time to hang your head . .
From announcing his participation in the joint trial on April 25, to announcing on June 17 that he would stay in the draft pool and continue to participate in the team's individual tryout, and then to losing the draft on June 27, Choi Yong-hee flew 18,000 kilometers and crossed 4 time zones, except for almost all the distance training on the court, in order to "leave no regrets".
There's no such thing as the best time, or "ready or not", and you will never see the entrance to a higher stage without taking the first step – Choi Young-hee has already won when he failed to get a joint tryout offer through the G-League elite training camp and remains in the United States looking for a solo tryout.
During this trip, Choi went to six NBA teams, including the Trail Blazers, for individual tryouts, to continuously improve his strength, and also laid the foundation for the "Exhibit 10" he got after he was defeated
After the draft, the Trail Blazers offered Choi Young-hee an "Exhibit 10" contract
It's important to note here that this "Exhibit 10" is not a ten-day contract, but a non-guaranteed base salary contract, plus some custom terms - Choi can not only play summer league for the Trail Blazers, but even have the opportunity to enter the team's preseason training camp, and the team can upgrade it to a two-way contract or even a full-time contract based on performance, and of course, can abandon the contract at any time and lay off the player.
It is worth mentioning that Yuta Watanabe, a Japanese player familiar to fans, started his NBA career with such a contract.
If the process before the draft still needs to be comprehensively considered and pray for luck, the next part of the road is completely up to Xiao Cui himself
Source: The official social media of the Trail Blazers
Looking back, Choi Yong-hee's U.S. special training has been going on for a month, and his NBA draft documentary "Jumping Out of the Line" also revealed to the audience about this stage of the experience. Xiao Cui's heartfelt voice in the first episode really illustrates the greater significance of this journey:
"I've counted, I'm counting now."
"I now know what my peers are."
As we all know, whether in terms of scale, habits or lineups, local leagues are relatively comfortable and closed, and it is difficult to provide a world-class competition environment.
But you can't polish fine iron in the greenhouse, you need to jump into different kinds of furnaces, adapt to different degrees of high temperature again and again, and collide and grab other ambitious small pieces of iron in order to test and improve your hardness, and finally when you return to the battlefield, you can only show your edge. And the blood and sweat shed before is the best confidence for you to face a strong enemy next time.
Under the operation of the American agency MSG (Montgomery Sports Group), Choi Yong-hee has gained the opportunity to communicate with top combat forces of the same age through this trip, and has accumulated rare valuable experience.
Even if we don't achieve the desired goal, we should still do everything we can to continue to cheer for this young man who represents China's top talent. But at the same time, he shouldn't prematurely tie his future to Chinese basketball.
Although, it has been a long time since anything good happened to the Chinese men's basketball team.
It has been 8 years since a Chinese player was last called by name in the draft. During this period, we experienced the touchline ball against Poland, ushered in the first naturalized player, witnessed the retirement of leader Yi Jianlian, accompanied by the men's basketball team's repeated defeats, and the sighs in front of the screen in the stands.
In the post-game comment area where the Chinese men's basketball team lost to the Macau Grizzlies two days ago, the hot discussion scene in the early years has disappeared, and it has become "how to love". The last thing people want is starting to emerge – we seem to be losing our habits.
Therefore, when the Chinese men's basketball team is at a low point and is about to usher in a window period for international competitions, Cui Yongxi's name was called out in this NBA draft, which can indeed give Chinese fans something to pay attention to and look forward to in the future.
But that's all.
A famous commentator once used "a good way to make a statement" to describe Xiao Cui's candidacy process - sorry, he doesn't need to express his stance to anyone, this is just a 21-year-old young man who has just entered the workplace and goes to the world for his dream, but his stage is bigger and the audience is larger.
Yao, Yi not to mention, Zhou Qi, who traveled to the United States and Australia League, can prove the growth that the overseas environment can bring, and Cui Yongxi even showed the independent offensive ability that he did not have before in the documentary and training short film, and the training effect was remarkable. It is worth mentioning that Liao Sanning, who went to the United States for training with Xiao Cui some time ago and rushed back to the national team to leave Macau, has also achieved a good promotion.
In addition to the improvement of technology, what we need to pay more attention to is the self-awakening of this group of young people.
After the documentary was broadcast, many fans were surprised by Choi Yong-hee's cheerful and talkative attitude in his training life - he answered fluently in English in the face of foreign media interviews, and he was able to talk and laugh with his teammates he just met during the trial, which is the ability that the previous generation of athletes who went abroad to work hard did not have when they just arrived.
In 2019, 16-year-old Choi Yong-hee participated in the NBA's Global Player Development Program
After losing the draft, Xiao Cui's statement to the media also made the fans who followed him extremely gratified: "It took 101 times for the stonemason to knock the stone open, but I can't attribute the success to that one, maybe it takes 200 times for me who is not so talented, but as long as there is a little possibility, I will go on here, please rest assured this time!"
And an industry source who went to Macau with the Chinese men's basketball team also told Krypton that not only Xiao Cui, but also Liao Sanning, Zhao Weilun, Yang Hansen and other outstanding young players have seen such qualities, as well as the desire to constantly improve themselves.
So despite not being selected, Xiao Cui has already jumped out of this big step. For him, who may or may not continue to play in Summer League as an undrafted player, he may or may not be able to stand firm in the future, but that shouldn't be our judgment on this journey.
What we should do is to give him an environment without fetters and worries, so that the burden of "making achievements for the country" does not fall on this young man too early, so that he can cherish and enjoy the challenges in front of him without worries, focus on his own improvement, and let more and more small pieces of iron be inspired by this, and be willing to jump into that difficult but hopeful furnace and fight for himself.
It is worth mentioning that, according to Krypton, Cui Yongxi's parent team, Guangzhou Dragon Lions, also showed a high degree of support for Xiao Cui in this election process, and continued to provide help and encouragement. From the perspective of the professional environment of Chinese basketball, such an attitude is also worth learning from many local clubs.
Source: NBA official website
Back to Xiao Cui. The new journey has only started now, and the window period that the Chinese men's basketball team is about to face may be a golden opportunity for Xiao Cui, I hope he can find his own form as soon as possible and continue to improve in the next challenges.
Better yet, don't come back!