June 21, 2011

Max Zhang - Zhang left California early to go and play professionally back in China, and is technically automatically eligible this season due to his age. He joined up with the Shanghai Sharks - the team owned by Yao Ming - and returned with some expectation. However, he frankly disappointed early, and while Max (or, as he's really named, Zhang ZhaoXu) brightened up later, his final statistics of 7.1 points, 6.1 rebounds, 1.8 blocks and 2.9 fouls per game are rather underwhelming in a league where bigs should dominate. Zhang is a legit 7'3 and not immobile, and is a paint presence defensively through size alone. But he's raw and clumsy and just not very along for a soon-to-be 24 year old.

If he'd never played in college and been eight years older, he'd've been drafted in the first round. Think Pavel Podkolzin. Alas, it is not to be.

I have yet to ever mention Max Zhang without mentioning his eyebrows, so why start now.

This picture is not doctored.

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March 11, 2011

Also on the Sharks is Max Zhang, former California centre, now better known by his actual name of Zhang ZhaoXu. Max has averaged 7.1 points, 6.1 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game on 56% shooting, but has still not plucked his eyebrows. The team also has national team mainstay point guard Liu Wei, who averaged 19.4 points and 5.3 assists per game, ranking fifth in the league in the latter category. With all this talent, it's something of a disappointment that the Sharks only finished 12th.

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