The Shanghai Sharks finished the 2021-22 Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) season with a 28-10 record to rank third in the regular season. The last time this team reached the top four was 12 years ago.

This was Wang Zhelin's first season in the Sharks. They beat the Shenzhen Leopards in the CBA playoff quarterfinals and then were knocked out by the Zhejiang Lions in the semifinals.

"I'm excited that we reached the top four. It's the first time in my career," Wang said in an interview with Xinhua News Agency. "At the beginning of this season, the team's goal was to make the playoffs and we did it. But both my team and I want more. As a professional player, I'm always after something bigger."

Wang revealed that it has been the target of his career to win the CBA Championship. He left the Fujian Sturgeons, the team he had played with for nine years, to join the Sharks in August 2021. In the 2021-22 season, he has averaged 17.8 points, 8.4 rebounds, 1.6 blocks and a 3-point rate of 40 percent, the highest of his in four seasons.

Wang said he's satisfied with his improvements on the defensive front and gave the credit to coach Li Chunjiang. "Our team attaches a lot of importance to defense and counterstrikes. So you must defend well first. That's what coach Li asks everyone to do," Wang said.

The Sharks were one the CBA's best teams to rally back from trailing this season. Wang said their secret is unity. "Sometimes we trailed by 20 points in the first half, but we worked our best together to beat the deficit in the second half. It felt great," he told Xinhua. "When the team was trailing, coach kept stress defense and unity to us. We didn't give up when we were trailing by a lot and we could maintain our defensive intensity."

The Sharks' remarkable performance this season couldn't have happened without the rise of the team's young players. Guo Haowen, Li Tianrong and Dai Hao all achieved great progress in their performance, especially in the postseason.

"They all have excellent talent," Wang said of the three youngsters. "We communicate and discuss a lot with each other both on and off the court."

Wang said the experience of winning so many games and reaching the semifinals gave him a lot of confidence and helped him stay positive. As "the team's soul," in coach Li's words, Wang wants to lead the Sharks to better results in the future.