Home-grown head coaches hold top CBA positions

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The 2018-19 CBA season entered the first national-team-window on Friday after 15 rounds of games. While players were fighting on the court, head coaches of the 20 teams were also competing behind the lines. CGTN Digital brings you a brief wrap-up of how some of the coaches have done so far.

Du Feng of the Guangdong Sothern Tigers may become Coach of the Year provided the season ends now. Though the team's significant improvement this summer Randolph Morris had to rest for at least two months due to injury, Du signed Sonny Weems and introduced the Southern Tigers to the small-ball style he learned in America.

Du Feng, head coach of CBA's Guangdong Southern Tigers, leads the team undefeated after 15 games in the 2018-19 season. /VCG Photo

Contrary to the expections, Guangdong have won each of the 15 games so far in the season. Du is willing to give young players enough time on the court that is his another merit.

Though the team's core members like Yi Jianlian, Weems and Zhao Rui suffered injuries, youngsters like Du Runwang, Xu Jie and Zeng Fanri were able to make useful contributions to help the team keep winning.

The other head coach of the top three teams who deserves attention is Li Qiuping of the Shanghai Bilibili Sharks. As the team that ranked only 10th in the 2017-18 regular season, the Sharks became a real dark horse and now ranks third with a record of (11W-4L).

The team did not have to put their fate on Jimmer Fredette; instead, they were turned into a franchise of team play by Li who had more home-grown players shoulder bigger responsibilities. Li has been flexible with the squad and often made the right change to defeat different rivals.

Li Chunjiang (L) and Guo Shiqiang (R) both help their teams remain top four of the league. /VCG Photo

Veteran head coaches like Li Chunjiang and Guo Shiqiang have maintained the solid performance of their teams, too. Li Chunjiang and his Zhejiang Guangsha Lions are current No. 2 on the standings table by losing only two games and remain as one of the leading candidates for the championship.

As for Guo and the Liaoning Flying Leopards, though they once lacked multiple key players in their franchise, Guo was not bothered and ensured that every player got enough rest. Now the team made it back to top four of the league with the same 11W-4L-record of the Sharks.

By contrast, foreign head coaches have not been doing so well this season. Thanks to the success achieved last season by the Beijing Shougang Ducks under Yannis Christopoulos and the Jiangsu Dragons Kentier coached by Memi Becirovic, multiple CBA teams hired foreign coaches for this season.

Anton Vujanic (L) and Dirk Bauermann (R) have to watch their teams rank bottom two in the league. /VCG Photo

However, after 15 rounds of games, the Sichuan Blue Whales, led by Dirk Bauermann and the Tianjin Ronggang Gold Lions under Anton Vujanic ranked respectively the second last and the last in the league. Even Becirovic and his Jiangsu Fragons are only the 13th on the table. By contrast, all top four ranking teams are coached by Chinese coaches.