Chinese basketball has a problem. With stellar big men in Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian and solid outside shooters like Zhu Fangyu, the team would be an international force if only it could get them the ball.

Incumbent point guards Liu Wei and Sun Yue have consistently struggled at the top level, and youngster Chen Jianghua is failing to live up to expectations.

Faced with this scenario and the pressure to secure a medal at the Beijing Olympics next year, head coach Jonas Kazlauskas has been forced to think laterally.

His solution? Everybody will pass the ball.

"I am not a magician, I cannot make China a World Champion in a second. I need good players and competition," the Lithuanian told China Daily.

"I cannot say who has been selected to pass to Yao because everybody will pass the ball to him at the Olympics. We play team basketball and everybody is important in offense, not only the guards. Zhu Fangyu can pass, Du Feng can pass, everybody will be in the rotation to assist Yao."

In China's lop-sided 95-64 loss to Greece at the World Championships last August, Liu and Sun failed to give even a single assist to Yao while Chen managed just one all game.

"I really worry about our point guards," he said. "Now we have excellent big men like Yao Ming, Wang Zhizhi and Yi Jianlian. They are able to play against all the inside players in the world.

"We have some pretty good forwards, I see they are improving day by day. But our guards have a lot of trouble, their defense is weak and offense is somehow error-prone. So I have been thinking about how to solve this problem."

"I am sure we need more point guards coming through. I am looking for more guards, and I think there will be a competitive challenge for them in the team. Anyway, the door of national team is always open to talented point guards."

The current point guards are feeling the pressure.

"I know fans and the media are expecting China's Steve Nash or Jason Kidd. Of course they are great players and are able to lift their teams to the level the fans want to see," Liu, who averaged 22.3 points and 5.9 assists for Shanghai Sharks last seaon, told China Daily. "But the problem is that Kidd plays for the Nets and Nash is Canadian.

"We have to build the team on our own foundations, we can't pick and choose."

Liu started in Shanghai at the same time as Yao, but continually frustrates fans and coaches by committing too many turnovers. Sun plays for Beijing Aoshan in the American Basketball Association, and is favored by Kazlauskas for his size and ability to move the ball. But his lack of strength has limited his effectiveness against top teams.

Lacking instincts

However it is Chen who offers the most clues to China's point guard conundrum.

He burst into the international spotlight after being tipped by the New York Times in 2003 as "the guy to pass the ball to Yao in 2008". But his quickness and athleticism offer clues to his roots his break came when he impressed during the Guangzhou 3-on-3 championships.

Last month he attended the Hoop Summit in Memphis, a training camp for talented teenagers from across the world, but his performance failed to impress observers.

"He lacks the point guard instincts that would compliment his quickness so well. During practice, he did make a few nice dump-off passes on the way to the basket, but those were few and far between over the course of the week," Mike Krzyzewski, head coach of Team USA and Duke University, told US media.

"He's still very weak physically, he will need to improve his diet and workout regime to enhance his potential in the NBA. His weak strength limits his ability to finish inside."

Kazlauskas reached a similar conclusion after Chen's uninspiring show at the World Championships, where his minutes shrunk as he failed to adjust to his teammates and the team's style of play.

System shortcomings

With millions of kids inspired to play basketball by Yao's NBA exploits, the law of averages suggests that China should be brimming with point guard potential.

However, shortcomings in the professional system make cultivating talented guards difficult.

The majority of China's professional players rise up to the CBA through local sports schools. The sports schools are required to produce talent capable of playing professionally, but when they are scouting children as young as six or seven, it is inevitable that the safest attribute to invest in is size.

Generally only children that are likely to grow to be over 1.95m will be selected by schools, which means that down the line the CBA receives lots of big men and very few point guard-sized players.

As a result, it has become a neglected position in a slow-paced league leaving most of the quality point guards playing amateur ball in 3-on-3 competitions, and just like Chen, not receiving sufficient coaching in their formative years.

Without any major tournaments this year, Kazlauskas will have a series of games against European national teams to solve the puzzle.

"I think we should be more like the European teams not the NBA teams. We have speed and we have very good shooters, what we lack is defense. I will test my team as much as possible this summer."

(China Daily April 19, 2007)