Trends that emerged at Buyant-Ukhaa were as refreshing as the greens around it!

KUALA LUMPUR (Mageshwaran’s AsiaScope) - Continuing from where we left last week, there indeed were a few more talents as impressive and interesting, if not more, at the 22nd FIBA Asia U18 Championship, which concluded at the imposing Buyant-Ukhaa Arena on the outskirts of the Mongolian capital on Sunday.

Coming straight to the point, there was a new and refreshing trend that was set at Ulaanbaatar when almost all the teams – at least all those who made it to the Second Round – who presented players who stand tall in the range of 190-200cms. Gone are the days when FIBA Asia teams fielded players who had only speed and skills as their strength.

The latest, and the appropriate, approach adopted by the teams is to look for players who are tall and have the athletic abilities. Speed along with size is the refreshing buzzword in FIBA Asia.

Given that these youngsters are yet Under 18 and will add a couple of more centimeters in the next couple of years I can only look forward to a more competitive fray when these players come into the senior ranks.

Japanese Yuta Watanabe is one such youngster – as one of the long term observers of FIBA Asia competitions quipped in jest: “This kid is the tallest junior player ever from Japan.”

Be that as it may, Watanabe is certainly the key to Japan’s basketball future – something that the player himself acknowledges with modesty and his coach ordains with hope.

“The kid has it in him to lead the senior Japanese team back to its glory,” said Japan’s coach at Ulaanbaatar Sato Hisao about his 200-cm ward.
For Watanabe, the experience at Ulaanbaatar was a reality check on his standards and an experience that was as enjoyable as educative.

“Frankly, I came in with a lot of haughtiness. It has been a shock to me in a manner of speaking to play against players like Wang Zhelin and Lee Jonghyun. I really didn’t think the standards of these players would be this high,” the Jinsei Gakuen HS lad from Zentsuji City said.

“But I’m glad this reality check has happened to me this early in my career. Now I know what I lack and the areas I need to work on.”
Not to forget Watanabe is only a part of a group of Japanese players who are all tall and quick at the same time.

Yusei Suguira – at 194 cms – has shown improvement from his international debut at the 2nd FIBA Asia U16 Championship at Nha Trang City (Vietnam) last year. And the 193-cm Yudai Baba’s turn-table on Iran’s Vahid Dalirzahan in the bronze play-off at Ulaanbaatar was certainly one of the most glorious shows of individual brilliance in the competition itself.

If you thought a Japanese player of 200-cm playing as a small forward was a rarity, even rarer it is to find a Korean shooting guard who is 200-cms! Choi Junyong who was voted for that position when the All Stars for the tournament was drawn is exactly that.
Like Watanabe, Choi too is a leader by instinct.

He does have a wide repertoire of plays – which combined with traditional Korean style and his unusual height – makes him a huge threat especially considering that he is also the playmaker of the team.

It was Choi’s persistence, perseverance and the ability to strike when the moment came that led Korea to victory over Iran in the semifinals. Choi convinced even the most doubting of the Thomases with a crafty three-point play in the crunch moment of that game, which was good enough to set him as a future star.

Continuing with the changing trends in the East Asian teams’ approach, Chinese Taipei center Fan Shih-En also falls in the same category as Watanabe and Choi.

Now, where Watanabe and Choi have been given the opportunity to use their height and skills in positions that suit them Fan has been ushered into the position of center just for his height.

Fan did welcomingly strayed from his position in the formation which provided a glimpse of his enormous potential to play in a more resourceful position – may be as a forward – and those in Taipei think tank would do well to allow the youngster to grow and flourish instead of shackling him down as a center.

Pushing players into positions with premeditated thinking is as debilitating as dangerous to the process of the development itself. Allowing them to blossom in positions that suit them is the correct way forward.

But in an overall assessment of things that emerged at Ulaanbaatar I can only say with a lot of emphasis: The future of FIBA Asia basketball is certainly bright!

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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