Beijing Aoshen Olympians have upped the stakes in their dispute
with the Chinese Basketball Association over point guard Sun Yue by
announcing they plan to press ahead with legal action.?
The Beijing-based Aoshen, which quit the CBA in 2003 to compete
in the American Basketball Association (ABA) in the United States,
holds that national team head coach Jonas Kazlauskas' comments on
Sun have adversely affected his chances of getting picked in the
June 28th NBA draft.
The Lithuanian said last week that Sun has a long way to go to
reach NBA level and skipping national team training will hinder his
chances of being selected for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.
"We will sue him if we don't receive a formal apology to Sun and
the club," said a statement released by Aoshen yesterday.
"Sun joined the pre-Draft camps in the United States after
getting official permission from the CBA. He didn't disobey rules
to skip national team training as Kazlauskas indicated. His
defamation has made Sun into the second Wang Zhizhi, who refused to
return to China from the United States in 2002. Is there an NBA
team that would dare to draft a player like him?"
Sun, a 2.06m point guard, joined a training camp in Orlando on
May 28 and then trained with the Sacramento Kings and Washington
Wizards. He has an outside chance of getting drafted, with some
draft websites ranking him narrowly in the top 60.
"Some NBA teams invited Sun to train in private camps but some
of them withdrew the invitation once they heard Kazlauskas' words,"
said the statement. "We have to say Sun's future in the draft is at
stake.
"We are furious to see the future of such a talented player
killed by Kazlauskas' irresponsible comments."
Aoshen also challenged the CBA, saying its support for the
Lithuanian was unreasonable. CBA released a statement on Saturday
and said the coach's comments were fair and technically
subjective.
"As an experienced head coach, he should know his words will
have some effect on his players, and he should know how to comment
on Sun especially when Sun is on the edge of the draft."
However, China's basketball chief Li Yuanwei said the CBA won't
get involved in the incident.
"We are not going to say anything about it as we have made our
position very clear in the statement," said Li during the ongoing
Four-Nation Tournament in Guangdong. "Kazlauskas is entitled to
comment on his players, it is very common to see a head coach
criticize his players, he has criticized Yao Ming a lot of times
before. As for Aoshen, they have the right to file a lawsuit
against the coach."
The coach has defended himself by saying he was misunderstood by
the Chinese media.?
But he has gained a reputation for being outspoken in his
judgement of his players, including NBA prospect Yi Jianlian and
returning Wang Zhizhi.
Sun, who averaged 13.5 points and six assists last season, led
Aoshen to a best-ever third place finish in ABA last season and he
also made the All-star roster of the league.
This is not the first time Aoshen has clashed with the CBA over
Sun.
Two years ago the team would not allow Sun to play for national
youth team, and this dispute was part of the reason Aoshen left the
CBA for the ABA.
(China Daily June 19, 2007)