Just enough NBA guys to make it interesting
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China Daily, November 18, 2011
In the end, it was neither a trickle nor a flood.
As the NBA's labor problems worsened over the summer and fall, it seemed inevitable that the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) would end up with at least some of the locked out players.
The questions were, how many would come, and how good would they be?
The CBA took matters into its own hands in August when it enacted a set of regulations that forbade the signing of players under NBA contracts, and also disallowed contracts with opt-out clauses in the event the NBA solved it's labor problems mid-season.
So, the pool of potential signees shrank significantly.
Kobe Bryant would not be coming. Tony Parker would not be coming.
That doesn't mean nobody came.
The league will boast some reasonably big names this season.
Perhaps the biggest new addition is Kenyon Martin, who signed with the Xinjiang Flying Tigers.
Martin, the No 1 overall draft pick in 2000, said he came for a simple reason - to win a championship.
"Lockout? I don't know, it's out of my control," he said. "When it ends it ends. My contract ended with the Nuggets, so I'm going to find another place to play. The NBA has a lockout right now - there is no basketball. So this is a great opportunity to continue to play."
Martin had hoped to team with former Sacramento King Quincy Douby to bring the Flying Tigers a title after they were runners-up last season. But with Douby missing much or all of the season with a wrist injury he suffered on Sunday, ESPN.com reported the team may instead pursue Jamal Crawford, who most recently played for the Atlanta Hawks.
Crawford, a former NBA sixth man of the year, recently signed with the same agent who arranged Martin's deal with Xinjiang.
Joining Martin in the CBA, albeit with different teams, are two of his former teammates - J.R. Smith, who signed with the Zhejiang Golden Bulls, and Wilson Chandler, who will also play in Zhejiang, for the Lions.
"My expectation is to win the championship," Smith said. "I don't plan on losing. I hope my teammates stand with me."
Perhaps the biggest-name foreign player isn't a new one. Stephon Marbury, who had stints the past two seasons with the Shanxi Zhongyu Brave Dragons and Foshan Longlions, will play for the Beijing Ducks.
Marbury, the fourth overall pick in the 1996 draft, is a two-time NBA all-star and was the MVP of the 2010 CBA All-Star Game. Other NBA players include the Jiangsu Dragons' Dan Gadzuric, a former New Jersey Net, and Josh Boone, another former Net who joins Smith with the Zhengjiang Golden Bulls.
As the NBA careens toward what's likely to be an unplayed season, more players may join their ranks.
