Memi Becirovic, former head coach of the Jiangsu Dragons, has been appointed as the new boss of the Nanjing Monkey Kings, announced the club on Sunday.

"We're glad to announce that Memi Becirovic will take over as the new head coach of the Nanjing Monkey Kings," said the Monkey Kings in a statement. Becirovic led Slovenia into the FIBA World Championship in Turkey in 2010. He also helped Iran win the titles at the FIBA Asia Championship and the FIBA Asia Cup in 2013 and 2014, respectively.

Becirovic became the head coach of the Jiangsu Dragons in 2015. Not only did he lead the team back to the playoffs for the first time in seven years, the Dragons also ended ranking the fifth in that season (2017-18).

The Monkey Kings believed that Becirovic is the right choice to help the team nurture young blood and teach them how to play like a winning team.

Meanwhile, former head coach of the Shenzhen Aviators Jiang Xuyong has been named the assistant coach under Becirovic. Jiang has rich experience in finding and developing young talents. Multiple big names in today's CBA – Li Muhao, Luo Hanchen, Meng Duo, He Zhongmian – all grew into who they are under Jiang's instructions.

Jiang also worked as head coach of the Jilin Northeast Tigers and helped the team return to the playoffs in the 2014-15 season. The Monkey Kings would like him to join Becirovic and contribute building the team into a true strong organization in the coming years.

The Monkey Kings finished the 2019-20 season ranking 14th. Injuries held them back during the CBA restart. The team's foreign guard Joseph Young put up a series of crazy scoring performances in the team's last few games. If the Monkey Kings can keep him, Young should be of great help to them in the new season.