Chinese center Liu Chuanxing, who was playing for the CBA's Qingdao Eagles last season, signed with the Brisbane Bullets of the National Basketball League (NBL) in Australia, confirmed the player himself on Tuesday.

"I am extremely happy to join the Brisbane Bullets and have the chance to play in one of the highest-level leagues in the world. I know this will be a challenge for me but will give it 100 percent effort, starting with every practice, and earn my chance to help the team win games. I know that I'm lacking many things in my game to play at a higher level and want to use this season and every practice to get better and ultimately help my national team China win games in FIBA competition," posted Liu on Sina Weibo.

Standing 2.25-meter-tall Liu averaged 9.4 points, 8.1 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game in 21.7 minutes per game for Qingdao in the regular season. He raised his stats to 17.5 points and 13 assists and 2.5 blocks in the playoffs.

The 24-year-old did not reach contract extension with Qingdao during the off-season so he turned his eyes overseas.

"With Liu's size and length comes additional rebounding and rim protection, but he also plays with finesse and finishes well around the basket. We look forward to Liu joining the team and welcome the versatility and depth he'll add to our roster," said Bullets head coach James Duncan.

"Securing 7'5 Big Liu gives us a player like no other in the NBL and the ability to play a variety of different styles which we know will be difficult for other teams to play against. Having a player from the Chinese national program brings added depth to our squad and additionally opens up a whole new fan base for the Bullets as the NBL's global audience continues to grow," said the team's general manager of basketball Sam Mackinnon.

Compared with the CBA, the NBL is much more physical, which is exactly what many Chinese players need to improve on, judging by the Chinese national team's performance in the FIBA Basketball World Cup at home two years ago and the Tokyo Olympic qualification tournament in July.

The other Chinese star who failed to reach agreement with his team, Zhou Qi, is reportedly talking to an NBL team as well. According to Marc Stein of the New York Times, Zhou may join the South East Melbourne Phoenix.