Yi Jianlian of the Guangdong Southern Tigers pauses during a game against the Beijing Royal Fighters in Dongguan, south China's Guangdong Province, July 1, 2020. /VCG
Yi Jianlian, arguably China's best current basketballer, beat Zhou Qi and Wang Zhelin to win the Most Valuable Player award for the fifth time on Thursday as the CBA released its honor roll for the 2019-20 regular season.
Having played 39 games for the Guangdong Southern Tigers, Yi averaged 20.1 points, 10.4 rebounds and 1.5 rebounds per game. More importantly, it took him only 12.8 attempts to drop such numbers. Zhou and Wang were better when it came to individual stats, but Yi led Guangdong to an epic 44-2 record, not to mention the unstoppable 29 straight wins to round off the regular season. He was also named in the All-CBA First Team.
Du Feng, head coach of the Guangdong Southern Tigers, reacts during a game against the Tianjin Pioneers in Dongguan, June 29, 2020. /VCG
Guangdong's 39-year-old head coach Du Feng became Coach of the Year for the second straight year. Under his instructions, Guangdong defeated their opponents by an average of 20.3 points. After such an outstanding regular season, all that is left is for the team to claim their 10th championship in franchise history.
Zhou Qi of the Xinjiang Flying Tigers holds the ball in a game against the Fujian Sturgeons in Qingdao, east China's Shandong Province, July 20, 2020. /VCG
Defensive Player of the Year: Zhou Qi
Though losing to Yi in the MVP competition, by putting down 22.2 points, 13.3 rebounds and 2.3 blocks, Zhou Qi proved he is already a top 3 player in China. Furthermore, his average of 9.9 defensive rebounds and 2.3 blocks tells you how significant he was in defense. When Zhou was on the court, the Xinjiang Flying Tigers were rated 98.0 defensively. It's safe to say that in this area, Zhou has already become the most reliable choice in the CBA.
All-CBA First Team: Yi Jianlian, Hu Jinqiu, Zhai Xiaochuan, Wu Qian, Sun Minghui
All-CBA Second Team: Zhou Qi, Ren Junfei, Jiang Yuxing, Zhao Rui, Zhao Jiwei
Joseph Young of the Nanjing Monkey Kings celebrates after scoring against the Shanxi Loongs in Qingdao, July 15, 2020. /VCG
Scoring champion: Joseph Young
If there was anything during the CBA restart that could impress you more than the winning streak of Guangdong, it must be the crazy scoring performance of Joseph Young of the Nanjing Monkey Kings. Averaging 38.3 points per game for the whole season was good enough, but Young also scored 74 points against the Shandong Heroes and got 45+points in six games in a row. Such ridiculous work compounded the sadness of Nanjing who were haunted by injuries for the entire period that followed the restart of the season.
Young's teammate Hamed Haddadi was the rebounding (14.4) and blocks (2.4) leader. The Iranian center, 35, remains one of the toughest big men on court, despite his age.
Sun Minghui of the Zhejiang Lions gesticulates to a teammate in a game against the Jilin Northeast Tigers in Qingdao, July 23, 2020. /VCG
Most Improved Player of the Year, assists and steal leader: Sun Minghui
Sun Minghui of the Zhejiang Lions was one of the biggest surprises for Chinese fans. Only one year ago, he was just a young boy who had only 8.1 points, 3.6 assists, 1.9 steals per game. By contrast, this season Sun dropped 16.9 points, 7.1 assists and 3.0 steals – no wonder people have already begun to compare him to the country's top point guards Guo Ailun and Zhao Jiwei.
Fang Shuo of the Beijing Ducks handles the ball against the Sichuan Blue Whales in Qingdao, July 20, 2020. /VCG
Sixth Man of the Year: Fang Shuo
This was the first time in CBA history that the league has granted this honor and nobody deserves it more than Fang Shuo of the Beijing Ducks. Putting down 11.3 points, 3.1 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 1.1 steals per game do not tell what an important role Fang has played for his team. During the regular season, he could get 11 points in the key moments (when the score difference was within five points during the last five minutes of the game), only next to teammate Jeremy Lin. When Beijing needed to give the ball to one of their players to win, Fang was definitely the go-to guy.
In other awards, Hu Mingxuan of Guangdong was named Rookie of the Year and Yuan Shuai of the Shanxi Loongs became the 3-point shooting leader as he buried 3.5 shots from downtown per game.