KUALA LUMPUR (Mageshwaran's AsiaScope) - Andray Blatche may well be named as the Man of the Year for FIBA Asia, in certain ways of defining the term. The 2.10m center delivered big numbers and made a huge impact as the naturalized player for the Gilas Pilipinas at the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain.

But these days Blatche is playing a much bigger role - as a 'big brother' lending a big hand in shaping the future of one of the most promising players on the FIBA Asia circuit Zhou Qi. To state that the 2.17m youngster holds the key to Chinese basketball is redundant and repetitive.

Zhou Qi became one of the youngest to play on the professional circuit with a sterling debut at that. His performance of 9 points and as many rebounds along with 2 blocks, 2 steals and an assist in Xinjiang's season opener against Sichuan is second only to veteran Wang Zhizhi's performance (in 1995-96), among the tall players in their debut CBA game.

Here's a quick look at what some of China's past tall prospects achieved in their first CBA game:
- Wang Zhizhi (1995-96; for Bayi against Beijing): 18 points, 8 blocks and 2 rebounds in 25 minutes.
- Yao Ming (1997-98; for Shanghai against Air Force): 8 points and 7 rebounds in 25 minutes.
- Yi Jianlian (2002-03; for Guangdong against Jilin): 3 points and 3 rebounds in 9 minutes.
- Wang Zhelin (2012-13; for Fujian against Qingdao): 11 points and 6 rebounds in 37 minutes.
- Zhou Qi (2014-15; for Xinjiang against Sichuan): 9 points, 9 rebounds, 2 blocks, 2 steals and 1 assist in 32 minutes.

The 18-year-old has since grown in stature, emerging as one of the mainstays for the team. At the time of writing, Zhou Qi has been averaging 13.4 points and 6.3 rebounds per game. And by the time many of you read this, he will have played another game.

But the more heartening part of Zhou Qi's statistics is the playing time he's got in the 10 games so far and - God forbid any injury - that he is likely to be given the way the team management is thinking. He has averaged 29.1 minutes per game so far, making him one of the very few teenagers to have been seen on court for that long in the CBA history.

"I'm enjoying every minute of it," Zhou Qi said with his characteristic succinctness.

"I'm getting to learn with every game, with every teammate and with every opponent."

Knowing Zhou Qi, those words - and more importantly the attitude - are not at all surprising. Playing alongside Blatche is obviously helping. And playing against the likes of Hamed Haddadi, Yi Jianlian and Wang Zhelin is certainly a huge step in his learning process.

But the key to his growth comes from how he is handled and judiciously used by the team through the remainder of the CBA season.

When all is said and done, Zhou Qi doesn't yet have the body to take the full toll of a long and arduous CBA season. The manner in which he's been contributing to the team's success will obviously be tempting to keep him on court for long time. But… is his body ready to take it?

I for one - who has all along professed the need to give domestic players long court time in CBA - may sound like the Devil's Advocate when saying this: Preserve and protect Zhou Qi.

His potential is well known and his performance is only proving that. There is no need for any further test on this. And to ask him to play just for the sake of it might stretch the process a little too far.

Domestic players have to be tested and tried for long in the CBA. There is no need to repeat this. But Zhou Qi belongs to a class and category of players who has crossed those trial periods. All that he needs now is proper nurturing and nourishment. Else we may be left with a case of killing the goose that lays the golden egg.

So long… 

S Mageshwaran

FIBA Asia

FIBA's columnists write on a wide range of topics relating to basketball that are of interest to them. The opinions they express are their own and in no way reflect those of FIBA.

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