Ma Jian Offers Suggestions to Gong Luming: Recall Two Players and Be More Tolerant of Capable Players

China's women's basketball team’s game against the Czech Republic was, in many ways, a very poor performance, with the entire team committing 29 turnovers, which was shocking. However, China eventually survived and defeated the Czech Republic 74-70 in overtime. The process was difficult to watch, but the result was positive.

After the game, Chinese men's basketball veteran Ma Jian also commented on the match. Ma Jian said that committing 29 turnovers in a single game fully showed that China's women's team played poorly. However, winning the game was good news because the team did not leave itself with regrets.

Ma Jian believes that China's women's team only performed well and played at a normal level during overtime. Regarding the key players behind the victory, Ma Jian identified Han Xu as one of them, saying she is the backbone of China's women's team and provides enough help on both offense and defense. The other was Yang Shuyu, who delivered consecutive crucial scores at key moments to help the team secure the victory.

Ma Jian said that based on China's women's team's performance, there are many areas that need improvement, including tactical issues, turnover problems, and issues related to the development of basketball.

In addition, Ma Jian discussed another important matter: when China's women's team competes in major international tournaments, it needs the best players available to represent the country. The team needs Li Yueru and also needs Li Meng. Clearly, Ma Jian believes it is a great regret that Li Yueru has been unable to play. At the same time, he believes Gong Luming's decision not to select Li Meng was also a mistake. After all, Li Meng has proven herself in international competitions.

For this reason, Ma Jian also offered a suggestion to Gong Luming: capable players and players with strong personalities should be treated with more tolerance. Chinese basketball has never lacked talented players, and coaches should not use developing young players as an excuse to repeatedly waste players' potential.

To be fair, the writer believes Ma Jian's comments are very reasonable. Capable players will inevitably have more distinctive personalities. How to manage talented players is also an important task for coaches. If a head coach is repeatedly unable to handle capable players, then that coach cannot be considered an excellent coach.

Therefore, a good coach, an excellent coach, should not reject outstanding players, but should find ways to integrate them into the team. Clearly, in terms of player management, China's women's basketball head coach Gong Luming has not done well.

So, readers, what do you think about Ma Jian's views?