China tap Christopoulos as assistant basketball coach

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The Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) announced on Friday that it will invite Yannis Christopoulos, head coach of the Beijing Ducks, to work for the country's national basketball team as assistant coach of Li Nan.

The Ducks offered their support to the CBA's decision. "We want to thank the national team for their recognition of Yannis' coaching ability. We expect his joining of the coaching staff to bear good work," wrote the team on Chinese social media.

Christopoulos was connected with Chinese basketball in 2013 when he came to the country as the assistant coach of Panagiotis Giannakis. After Giannakis left, the CBA convinced Christopoulos to stay and work with coach Gong Lei. During that period, Christopoulos' job was to find proper game plays for the national side. Christopoulos also participated in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil as a member of the Chinese national team's coaching group.

Yannis Christopoulos (C), head coach of the Beijing Ducks, gives instructions to his players during a game. /VCG Photo

In June 2017, Christopoulos became head coach of the Beijing Ducks. He spent the following two years building the Ducks into an iron army that has been well-known for their defense. Considering that Chinese players don't have the physical advantage compared with their opponents at the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup, focusing on team play (European style) and defense can be the right choice for China.

The Ducks told Beijing News that Christopoulos joining the national team will not have too much impact on Beijing's preparation in the offseason. According to the Ducks, the Greek coach already made general plans for the Ducks and assistant coach Harris will take over to implement those plans. Moreover, Christopoulos will also keep on eye on Beijing during his time with the national team. "He (Christopoulos) will still be our head coach next season so will stay in touch," said the Ducks.

Christopoulos's appointment came upon the 100-days countdown of 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup. On Thursday, the Chinese national basketball team started the first training session open to the public.

The China national basketball team had its first public training session on Thursday. /VCG Photo

Commenting on the upcoming World Cup, former NBA player, Chinese basketball's rising star Zhou Qi, cautioned against the idea that the Chinese team's competitors in the group phase were not so competitive.

"We will prepare ourselves fully and compete despite misperceptions from the outside," he said. "China is, as a matter of fact, relatively less competitive than the other participants at the World Cup; therefore, we will always try our best to compete."

Zhou Qi plays during the first public training session of the China national basketball team leading up to the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup. /VCG Photo

Without core players like Yi Jianlian and several others joining, head coach Li Nan emphasizes the importance of coordinating everyone in the team.

"Making sure everyone works with each other is the priority at the moment," Li Nan said, "apart from that, the coaching team is also looking into those players we are not that familiar with."

Speaking of the not-familiar ones, the 20-year-old NCAA player Zhang Zhenlin definitely made his name known during the first public training session.

"Zhang distinguishes himself from the younger-generation Chinese basketball players with his athletic abilities. However, in terms of his technical skills, we expect more from him."

"I would really love to inject new blood and energy into the team and learn from the experienced," Zhang said. "Whether I make it to the final 12-squad, it is my honor to be able to play with them."

20-year-old NCAA player Zhang Zhenlin takes questions from the media during China national basketball team's first public training session. /VCG Photo

After concluding the training session in Beijing, the China national basketball team will participate in warm-up matches and fly to the United States for further training.

As Team China is busy with preparing for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019, let's take a look at the historical moments they celebrated before on the world stage and wish them the best of luck this year.