Last night, Round Six of the Chinese Basketball Association’s regular season came to its conclusion with a full slate of eight games being played simultaneously.
Also coming to its conclusion: Javaris Crittenton’s career with Zhejiang Guangsha.
Half a month into a one-year contract with Guangsha, Crittenton was officially cut by the team before the team’s 98-96 win last night over Tianjin. Speaking to reporters before the game, general manager Ye Xiangyu confirmed what had been a long suspected rumor within China that both Crittenton and Guangsha were unhappy with each other, and that a split was inevitable. Starting every game for the 3-2 Guangsha, Crittenton was averaging 25.8 points per game.
“Yes, we’re changing Crittenton,” Ye said. ”His individual offense is fine, but he’s not doing a good job organizing the team offense. Also, his defense is bad and his shooting is off. Our new import [Tre] Kelly has already arrived in China. Right now he’s in Beijing and he’ll be in Tianjin soon. He’ll play in tonight’s game against Tianjin.”
Crittenton joins a growing list of high profile NBA players who came into the league with big expectations, only to be released only a handful games into the season. Jiangsu is already looking to replace Ricky Davis and Zhejiang Chouzhou is also aiming to switch out Mike James.
Despite arriving midseason, Ye expressed no concern over Kelley’s ability to come in and contribute right away.
“Last year Tre played in the CBA so he’s pretty familiar with the league. Plus, he was in NBA training camp earlier, so his conditioning shouldn’t be a problem.”
True to Ye’s word, Kelley played all 48 minutes and scored 54 points in the win. The former South Carolina star participated in the Memphis Grizzlies pre-season camp in the fall before being cut on October 11th. Last year, he played 23 games for CBA outfit DongGuan, averaing 21.3 points, 4.4 assists and 1.4 steals.
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[...] (via NiuBBall) [...]
[...] with the Charlotte Bobcats this fall. He briefly played for a professional team in China but was released on Christmas Eve, despite averaging 25.8 points per [...]
[...] This past year, Crittenton signed with the Charlotte Bobcats, but failed to make the team’s regular season roster and took his talents to China. With Zhejiang Guangsha, Crittenton averaged over 25 points per game before being released due to, well, I’ll let the team’s general manager explain it. [...]