24 sounds old for a development player, unless they are transitioning him to the front office.

I think 24 is the age limit for a DP so should be okay for this season but the season after would need to be moved onto the full roster.

This is about as good a 'training fodder' signing as one could get. He's 7'5, and will bring more interest to the team in Asia. I don't see him having any real impact on court or getting minutes but moves like this do exactly what the NBL wanted in the Asian region. If the NBL picks up Zhou Qi then we're really cooking with gas when it comes to Asian interest.

Yep, his CBA stats don't paint the total picture. Averaging 10 & 9 seems solid, but watching him play offers a better gauge. He needs some time to be a more solid player. Even the coaching staff of China did not give him any minutes in the OQT.

Happy for his signing! I could see him being a better player through the NBL. I am excited about seeing him and Zhou play. Would like to see a stronger Liu in the future.  

Colton Iverson was a legit Euroleague Centre and he struggled with the speed and agility of some of the undersized Centres in the NBL.
How is this guy going to guard anyone let alone the 3point line?

Although it's true that it's hard to see him not being a liability on D away from the paint, there is a marked increase in length/size this season - like, ten-fold increase... I think there is going to be an adjustment even for established NBL vets against some of these dudes.

"How is this guy going to guard anyone let alone the 3point line?"

WTF makes you think he will be guarding the 3-point line?

"poor guy can barely dunk"

You don't need to dunk when you can reach above the rim standing flat on the floor.

"Why would he come to the NBL when he would earn way more $ if he stayed in China."

I've heard there is some pay dispute going on in China. Don't know the details, and don't really understand why, but supposedly several players are looking to sign elsewhere.
But yes, if he's looking to further his international aspirations, getting on the court in the NBL is better than the CBA.

And who knows what he's getting paid. There is only a MINIMUM for DPs. There's no maximum.
Many teams are now using DP slots to simply extend their roster. We had DPs starting last season.

It's probable they needed League permission to sign an Asian-Market player as a DP, and possibly the league is chipping in.

Liu doesnt have to be very good to justify this signing - it's a development player spot after all. But I think the upside from a commercial standpoint makes the signing a no-brainer.

As for what he can do on court, well, he can be 7 ft 5. He seems very clumsy. Isn't overwhelmingly strong and seems to get bodied out of position a fair bit. Would benefit a whole lot with NBL strength and conditioning and having to face a higher standard of competition every day in training. He will return to China a better player but I don't think his upside is a whole lot higher than the CBA.

I think Liu can develop into a really good reliever for Zhou and Wang Zhelin in FIBA. I don't really think that his ceiling is that high, especially for a 24 year old, but the NBL would fast track his development for sure. 

"How is this guy going to guard anyone let alone the 3point line?"

WTF makes you think he will be guarding the 3-point line?

True, he'll likely be sitting on the end of the bench.

He looks WAY better than that other Chinese bloke a few weeks back. If he applies himself I can see him decelop into a 10-15 minute backup big in the NBL and if he gets there, he'd do very well in the Chinese league in future.

"
EssenX
Within the hour

He looks WAY better than that other Chinese bloke a few weeks back. If he applies himself I can see him decelop into a 10-15 minute backup big in the NBL and if he gets there, he'd do very well in the Chinese league in future."


I feel like you're confusing Liu for Qi

Just learned that in the CBA playoffs, he upped his output from 9 and 8 in the regular season into 17.5ppg and 13rpg and 2.5 bpg during the playoffs.



The first video was his highlights from the quarterfinals against Hamed Haddadi.

Despite his playoff performances, he was rarely used by China in the ACQ and OQT. Dude played a minute against Japan and got a DNP in their second game. He also had a DNP against Canada in the OQT and played a minute or two against the Greeks.

The only game that he had significant minutes was our tune-up game together prior to the OQT.



2nd video shows his heroics, start at 4:23.

Overall, I think 2-3 years of NBL training and mins will make him better. Looking forward to his development in here.

Remember there's no defensive time limit here. Dude can camp all night in the paint at the defensive end.

As for being "clumsy", ffs it's all relative. Guys like Cotton can turn on a coin, because if they couldn't they'd never play Bball at their height.
If a 7'5 guy had the same skills he'd an NBA all-star, not an NBL DP.
At that size, all he has to do is be able to catch the ball and stuff it in.

@Stevy: Those clips don't paint a very good picture.
The competition he’s playing in is awful compared to the NBL.
His match up in the first video (Hamed Haddadi) is entering his late 30’s, is 15-20kg overweight and 4-5 years past his best. Hell, he’s glued to the floor in those clips and is certainly not a good gauge to compare performance against. Hope I’m wrong but he could be another Amritpal Singh.

@Bullets

No problem man, I was not trying to hype Liu or play him down. Just being very transparent with him. His form right now is not very good which resulted to his DP classification with SEM and multiple DNPs in FIBA ACQ and OQT.

Oh? I was not aware that Amritpal Singh played in the NBL. Guessing at your reaction, I guess he was not very effective with his NBL stint. Dude had a monster game against Palestine in the ACQ. He carried India to a Asia cup/WC qualifiers appearance 2-3 weeks ago.

I think Liu has a higher ceiling than he does especially that Liu at least right now has a decent jumper, but of course, just because Liu has a higher ceiling than Amritpal does not mean that Liu at his best would be equivalent to Zhou or even Wang Zhelin. Liu would probably be a decent reliever for them in the future.  

Amritpal Singh wasn't much chop in his one season with the Sydney Kings.

Amritpal Singh was an efficient shooter, but was too slow. Great guy though. If he had more speed he would be still in the league. Definitely too old now to keep up. Played well in India's must win qualify.

Strange, yesterday I thought this signing of Liu would happen, and it did happen.

["How is this guy going to guard anyone let alone the 3point line?"

WTF makes you think he will be guarding the 3-point line?]

Cos it's 2021 and everyone needs to guard the 3 point line?

eg the best two bigs last season, one of them was a killer 3 point shooter.....and the other one shot about 50% from 3.

re Bullets, @Stevy: "His match up in the first video (Hamed Haddadi) is entering his late 30's, is 15-20kg overweight and 4-5 years past his best. Hell, he’s glued to the floor in those clips and is certainly not a good gauge to compare performance against."

His defender wasn't one of my faves, Lamar Patterson, was it?

To be fair though, there's a lot of mostly inside bigs this year

But having watched the highlights above, regardless of that, hard to see this guy making a big impact in the NBL. Seems unwieldy and slow. Most guys who are 7'4 and 7'5 etc in basketball end up more hype than substance.

I think that is a fantastic signing for Brisbane, I mean they seem like a completely shithouse team so far and then they sign this guy that is 7'5 every game of the season and he's allowed 5 fouls every game... even if he plays 5 minutes a game then what's wrong with that?

He's a development player and if I was the Bullets and momentum was going against our team and the opposition guards are getting to the rack to easily then out him on and let him change some shots.

Also the eyes from China and social media etc mentioning him is huge... I vaguely remember TNA wrestling doing a show I think it was China and it got 0.3% of the population watching the show on television but it was still their most watched show. Disclaimer - that may have been India but you understand that with so many people, even a tiny audience is still a whole heap of humans.

I hope with the Asian influence this season and the eyes of the NBA and maybe even Europe that the sponsors can benefit greatly in what could be one of the biggest and best seasons of all time... and come back next season willing to part with more money for higher quality imports

Is he the biggest player ever for the NBL

Sam Harris 7'3" also played for the 36ers and I think the Slingers too.

At 7'4", Kaywal Shiells is Australia's tallest person. He played in the SEABL and QBL (and still might be playing down south?).

Interestingly, while looking up correct spelling of his name, I noticed tallest of all is/was(?) an American, Robert Wadlow at 8'11".

Ming Yao 2.29m
Chuanxing Liu 2.25m
Arvydas Sabonis 2.21m
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar 2.18m
Luc Longley 2.18m
Luke Nevill 2.18m
Luke Schenscher 2.16m
Qi Zhou 2.16m
Andrew Bogut 2.13m

@RobT

Goodness gracious, imagine a 5'6 5 year old? Highly unthinkable. Thanks for sharing!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Wadlow