Donewald: Cohesive teamwork will make up for Jilin's lack of big names

Four months after he was tapped to lead Jilin in the upcoming season of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA), the former coach of the Chinese national team Bob Donewald Jr. said he is optimistic about the chances for his young squad.

"We're a young team. It's a team that's hungry," Donewald said.

"It's a team that's eager to learn. It's also a team that has a lot of work to do," he added.

Because Jilin is such a young team, no big names can be found in its ranks, but apparently this does not worry Donewald.

He says that cohesive teamwork is more important than big name, showstopping players.

"You tell me, what's a big name? To me, there's good teams and bad teams. Teams that win play together. Teams that win play hard. That's what we're trying to finish," he remarked.

When asked about his target for this season, Donewald said it was too early to talk about playoffs or even a specific ranking.

"The club is not in a hurry to win early," he said. "Our goal is to get to a point where the fans will be very proud of the way we play."

Considering that the average age of the team is very young, around 24, Donewald asked the fans to be patient.

"It may take some time to finish our goal. But before the season is over, everybody will be pretty proud of us," said the American.

It's often the case that many young teams in the League face a contradiction between opportunities for young players and good results of the matches. But Donewald says he does not see it that way.

"I think the best teams in the league had the best Chinese talents," said Donewald, adding that talented foreign and local players are both necessary to make a team successful.

"When I'm building the team, I'm not going to let American players play alone, and everybody else gets out of the way. We're going to play team basketball," he said.

Malcolm Thomas, who joined the team this year as the new center, kept winning applause from his teammates at the training ground. Muscular but flexible, Thomas averaged 22 points and 20 rebounds in preseason games.

Donewald says Thomas' playing style meshes well with the rest of the team.

"He fits the way we play," said Donewald. "We want to play fast. And he is a specialty rebounder. That will be his job of this season."

Jilin has just celebrated its 60th birthday. Sun Jun, chairman of the team, said that the club would strive for a middle place in the coming season.

Developing young local players and improving team management are also key tasks for the club in the coming season, he added.

Jilin only had entered the playoffs stage of CBA once in the last decade. It ranked the forth from bottom in the CBA standings last season. Endit