Bonzi Wells is a CBA Basketball God

[Indazone]

Tuesday, 13 January 2009
Hallelujah chorus reigns down on Bonzi Wells in China


When Handel's Hallelujah chorus blares out of the gymnasium loudspeakers here it means only one thing - Bonzi Wells has slammed home another dunk.
Wells, 32, has received a warm welcome since coming here last month to play basketball, with the state media dubbing the former NBA star the best player ever to grace the Chinese Basketball Association.

Last week, in a badly needed win against the Beijing Ducks, Wells scored 19 of his 44 points in the fourth quarter as Shanxi turned a close game into an impressive 98-83 win.

In the final period, the 1.96-metre (six-foot-five-inch) guard/forward repeatedly played off the screens of his Nigerian teammate Olumide Oyedeji to beat his defender and race down the lane for slam dunks.

That's when the public address system blared a five-second snippet of Handel's Hallelujah chorus as the frenzied crowd -- few of whom were likely to know the classic's homage to the resurrection of Christ -- stood and cheered.

"In all my years, I have never heard the Hallelujah chorus at a basketball game," Shanxi's American coach Bob Weiss, formerly of the National Basketball Association's Seattle Supersonics, told AFP.

"The crowd has really welcomed us, the reception has been great."

Ironically, Shanxi's 14 win, 11 loss record in the 50-game CBA season is largely due to the efforts of Weiss and Oyedeji, while Wells has won in six of the 10 games he has played in.

But while Weiss has brought basketball knowledge and has helped Shanxi improve to sixth in the standings from a last place finish in the 2007-2008 season, Wells has brought star power.

He is currently averaging 32.6 points and 9.4 rebounds a game, notching a season high 52 points in his homecourt debut in late December.

After going through a strategy session at a practice last week, Wells spent the rest of the afternoon at a photo shoot for the Chinese edition of Sports Illustrated magazine.

Wells is expected to grace the cover of the magazine for its Chinese New Year's edition -- an impressive accomplishment for a new comer to the country.

"I just want to thank God that I am able to play," Wells said after the Beijing game.

"I'm very proud of my teammates, we have been working very hard on a few things over the last few days."

In his 10-year NBA career, Wells averaged 12.5 points and 4.6 rebounds with Portland, Memphis, Sacramento and Houston but he was dogged by troublesome on-court behaviour and various run-ins with coaches.

Since arriving in China he has vowed to shed his "badboy" image and help his team rise to a higher level even if it means risking injury by playing the entire game, something NBA players rarely do.

"I have been playing this game and I am old enough to understand that injuries are a part of the game and you have to know how to play through them ... I am not going to sit and leave my team out to dry," Wells said.

For Weiss, the key for Shanxi is to keep his foreign stars healthy and develop a team concept that has the Chinese players taking up more of the scoring burden.

Like on many CBA teams, Shanxi's foreign players once provided up to 70 percent of the team's scoring, but that changed in two weekend games when Wells averaged 22 points a match -- both wins.

Much of Wells' star power in China comes from his days with the Houston Rockets when he played with the nation's iconic centre Yao Ming.

Yao's tremendous success has made China the hottest market for the NBA outside of the United States. Now many of his former teammates are playing in China and helping to develop the game here.

Besides Wells, Yao's former teammates Kirk Snyder and Mike Harris are among the roughly one dozen many former NBA players playing in China.

But the cross-cultural exchanges are not always easy as players struggle to come to terms with a new country, culture, cuisine and language.

"I have been here about a month, so I am kind of getting adjusted to it. It was a big cultural shock to me for the first few weeks," said Wells.

"But I am starting to understand my surroundings. Since I have been here it has been all business and I haven't had any fun yet, so I am looking for some fun."


I’ve already written about how average NBA player Bonzi Wells has gone to China for 40k and is serving the Chinese Basketball Association on a nightly basis. He went for 52 in one game, and he had 19 fourth quarter points in another game to help his team get a victory.
Wells has been called the best player to ever suit up in the CBA, and now he has his own theme song. It’s actually Jesus’ (Christ not Shuttlesworth) theme song, but Handel’s Hallelujah chorus is played whenever Banzai Wells makes a big play.
Here’s what it sounds like when Bonzi throws one down:



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnHksDFHTQI

[portpower_11]

What's a biased article!

He's not that good.

I watched most his gams and his team lost majority of them. Before his arrival, his team had much better standing and record.

He did consitantly get high scores, as he have been constantly trying 30 shots or more each game. In most part of his game, he was lazy and kept bricking 3pts.

He is clearly the most talented player in CBA. However, he's a cancer to the team. He got good stats (except shooting percentage), at cost of his team victory.

Players like Lee Benson and Donnell Harvey performed much much better than Bonzi

[pawe]

all hail Bonzi the Spurs killer!

[portpower_11]

If Spurs had michael Harris, they would have swept Kings in that series.

Harris just perfectly outperformed Bonzi last week.

[Indazone]

Bonzi is no dummy. He is doing the Yao thing in reverse. He goes over there and dominates and is really the first NBA star player "In terms of China" to go over. His fame preceeded him with his time as Yao's teammate on the Rockets. He didn't go over there to play for 40,000 dollars. He could have played semi-pro over here and gotten more than that.

This is about marketing himself. He goes over and the shoe deals and product endorsements he gets are huge. He will simply be the Michael Jordan of the CBA. He also gets to showcase himself and he'll come back to the NBA a much wealthier man.

[Kill_Bill_Pana]

Bonzi is no dummy. He is doing the Yao thing in reverse. He goes over there and dominates and is really the first NBA star player "In terms of China" to go over. His fame preceeded him with his time as Yao's teammate on the Rockets. He didn't go over there to play for 40,000 dollars. He could have played semi-pro over here and gotten more than that.

This is about marketing himself. He goes over and the shoe deals and product endorsements he gets are huge. He will simply be the Michael Jordan of the CBA. He also gets to showcase himself and he'll come back to the NBA a much wealthier man.

Actually semi-pro in US makes much less than $40K net even much less than $40K gross.

[Indazone]

oh oh

From Wiki

Wells chose to sign with Shanxi Zhongyu of the Chinese Basketball Association rather than play for the NBA's minimum salary.[18][19] In his debut with the Shaxi Zhongyu, Wells scored 48 points and tallied 11 rebounds.[20] Later, it is suggested by the Chinese media that the main reason Wells signed for Shanxi was the $50,000 monthly salary the team offered; in addition, rumors have circulated that Wells signed only on the condition that the team will arrange lucrative endorsement deal for him.
After the initial impressive string of performances, Wells' performance has tailed off, and many have questioned his condition and his at ude, espeically on defense. However, Wells remains the biggest foreign name in China, and routinely sell out the games that he appears in.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonzi_Wells

[pwilliam]

According to the CBA website, before Wells's arrival, Shanxi's win-loss record was 8-7. In the 14 games Wells played, the record 7-7, so it is safe to say that Wells has not improved the team very much despite his averages of 34pts, 8.9rbs, 4.1asts and 3.8stls.

[portpower_11]

According to the CBA website, before Wells's arrival, Shanxi's win-loss record was 8-7. In the 14 games Wells played, the record 7-7, so it is safe to say that Wells has not improved the team very much despite his averages of 34pts, 8.9rbs, 4.1asts and 3.8stls.

Most of his games have been broadcasted in CCTV or local TVs. I watched most of them on Internet. Typically, he started most games strongly, then failed dramactially during the clutch times. He did get good stats, but his TOs and careless bricking 3s led to several losses for his team.

Talent-wise, he is the best player in CBA. But performance-wise, he might not be among the top 5

[Rogue]

I've heard the chinese enjoys pork, if so then there is no wonder he is famous there.