Low-key returnees are expected to become the answer to the future men s basketball forward

When the final whistle of the Chinese men's basketball team defeating the Netherlands in the warm-up match, 19-year-old Wang Junjie scored 13 points and 7 rebounds. Although the data is not particularly dazzling, fans have seen hope in him - this unknown returnee forward line is quietly changing the disadvantages of the national team with its all-round attribute of "both offense and defense".

The basketball path of Wang Junjie is not a product of the traditional system. As early as high school, he went to the United States and honed in the NCAA Division II League for three years. This experience allowed him to develop traits that are difficult to replicate in China's youth training: his ability to catch the ball outside the three-point line on the offensive end (2 of 3-pointers against the Netherlands), and his agile ending when breaking through combined with European steps; his accurate sense of defense and strong rebound positioning awareness were both chosen to surpass the domestic forward line. While his peers in China were still adapting to professional confrontation, he had already tempered the prototype of "3D+" in his hand-to-hand combat with the American forward.

Technical puzzle, filling the national team's shortcomings

Currently, the men's basketball forward line is deeply trapped in the dilemma of "strong offense and weak defense" or "strong defense and weak defense". Wang Junjie is like a perfect puzzle: the offensive end can be used as a space-type fourth position to open the position (height 2.06 meters), can also hold the ball to start the pick-and-roll, and has a small throw shot near the basket; the defensive end moves horizontally enough to replace the defender, and the European inside is not frightened. In the game against the Netherlands, he switched defenses many times to limit the opponent's defenders' breakthroughs, and was able to follow up dunks in fast breaks. This ability to seamlessly switch off offense and defense is the most eager forward answer in the men's basketball system. The future core needs to cross the triple goal

Wang Junjie's rise coincides with the key node of the Chinese men's basketball team's new and old alternating between old and new. Against the backdrop of Zhou Peng's gradual retreat and Zhang Zhenlin's emphasis on ending, he is expected to form a "high and low position dual axis" with Yang Hansen, becoming the tactical fulcrum for positional combat card dealing. But in order to shoulder the core responsibilities, he still needs to break through the three tests: First, strengthen muscles and strengthen confrontation (currently only 95 kilograms) to cope with the physical crushing of European and American teams; second, improve the stability of holding the ball and evolve into the organizational forward; third, stay healthy - he missed a critical season due to an ankle injury during his stay in the United States, and tolerance will be a key variable in the growth ceiling.

This once unknown young man is using his actions to interpret the value of "returnees". When Wang Junjie runs tirelessly on both ends of the offense and defense, what we see is not only the rise of an all-round forward, but also the answer to the dilemma of the Chinese men's basketball team's forward line - a low-key but hard cornerstone is already on the road to growth and rise.