Zhang Ziyu Is Not a Savior, So Stop Overhyping Her; Gong Luming Has Found the Right Way to Use the 'Female Yao Ming'

Because of Zhang Ziyu's sudden emergence, many fans have viewed her as the savior of the women's national team, hoping she can use her height to dominate everything. There is no denying that Zhang Ziyu was a player with a major advantage during her time with the youth national team, but after being promoted to the senior team last year, people have also rationally recognized many of her current shortcomings.

Because Zhang Ziyu is the team's greatest height advantage, Gong Luming, a head coach whose tactical ideas are described in the article as somewhat outdated and stubborn, also hopes Zhang Ziyu can become the women's national team's Yao Ming. As a result, for much of the time, the team has given the ball to Zhang Ziyu to force attacks in the paint.

This approach would have had no problem two or three decades ago, but in recent years the global basketball trend has changed significantly. Teams no longer focus only on size, but instead emphasize transition play, faster pace and outside shooting. Zhang Ziyu's agility is precisely one of her weaknesses, and giving her the ball repeatedly for interior attacks at this stage can significantly slow down the team's overall pace.

In China's 71-51 World Cup group-stage win over Italy, Gong Luming seemed to have finally adjusted his thinking. He stopped relying exclusively on Zhang Ziyu and instead treated Han Xu as the team's central player, building a series of tactics around her.

Han Xu also delivered, playing 30 minutes and shooting 8 of 11 for 19 points and 10 rebounds, while Zhang Ziyu played only 8 minutes, shooting 4 of 7 for 8 points and 3 rebounds. In response, media figure 'I Love Women's Basketball' analyzed the change in how China's women's national team used Zhang Ziyu in the game.

'I Love Women's Basketball' said: Move away from the previous approach of blindly throwing lobs, forcing passes inside and excessively using young players. By using Zhang Ziyu's presence in the paint to stretch the opponent's defense, the team can fully utilize her talent while creating comfortable offensive space for teammates both inside and outside, allowing every player to find their own rhythm and achieve progress for both individuals and the team.

In this important matchup against Italy, Gong Luming made adjustments, reasonably arranging Zhang Ziyu's playing time and tactical role instead of continuing to rush her development or overuse her. This also helped activate the team's overall offense. At only 19 years old, Zhang Ziyu is not yet at the stage of becoming the absolute core of China's women's national team. If Gong Luming can recognize this, use Zhang Ziyu in a scientific way, develop young players through a team system and then use their talents to benefit the whole team, that would be truly good news for China's women's basketball.

The best role for Zhang Ziyu at present is to serve as a backup center, playing around 10 minutes per game and helping relieve some of Han Xu's offensive and defensive burden. This would not only maximize Han Xu's impact, but also prevent Zhang Ziyu's weaknesses from being increasingly exposed as games progress.