One’s out of necessity; the other out of choice.  Yet a little more than one week before the opening game of the 2010-11 CBA playoffs, both DongGuan and Beijing are set to make major changes to their import lineup.

NetEase first reported that DongGuan, who sat firmly in second place almost the entire year before dipping into third on the last game of the year after losing to Guangdong, was releasing center Jackson Vroman because of a fractured finger that refused to heal well enough in time for the playoffs. According to the report, Vroman headed back to the States late last week to undergo surgery.

Shortly after Vroman’s release, DongGuan management indicated that they were searching for another center and according to an Asia-Basket report posted last night, that center is going to be Courtney Sims.  Ridiculous Upside, citing multiple sources within the D-League, is also reporting that Sims is headed to play for the New Century Leopards.

In 42 games for the D-League’s Iowa Energy this season, the 6-11 Sims averaged 16.7 points, 9.6 rebounds and 1.2 blocked shots on 56% from the field.  He also took took home MVP honors at the 2010-11 NBA D-League All-Star Game last February in Los Angeles.

Replacing Vroman will be a tough task.  Though Sims probably would have been called up to the League in any other season (NBA lockout, anyone?) it’s questionable as to how he’ll fit into DongGuan’s highly structured motion offense. The Lebanese-American Vroman found himself as the focal point for DongGuan, not only as a scorer but also as a high IQ distributor and was a key reason why the Leopards, who finished above all pre-season expectations at 25-7, had been the most pleasant surprise of the CBA regular season.

In 27 games, Vroman averaged 22.5 points, 10.6 rebounds, 4.9 assists, 2.8 steals and 1.6 steals over 27 games.

Sims’ success at integrating himself into a team with real finals aspirations will largely depend on how he plays alongside volume scoring combo-guard, Josh Akognon.  Playing mainly off the ball early and mid shot clock, Akognon benefited greatly from DongGuan head coach Brian Goorjian’s offense, getting most of his shots off of off-ball screens and hand-offs. Though comfortable facing up from the high post, Sims hasn’t been known up to this point for his passing and being that he will come in on extremely short notice, DongGuan’s hopes of meeting Xinjiang in the finals don’t appear to be as bright as they were two weeks ago.

Eighth seed Beijing, however, is hoping their pre-playoff import swap is going to at least make them competitive in the first round against that very same Xinjiang team.

Asia-Basket and Ridiculous Upside are both reporting that the Ducks have officially bought out Orien Greene from his contract with the Utah Flash and will sign him in time for their series opening game next week at Xinjiang.  He will be replacing Joe Crawford, who was let go by the team over the weekend.

One of just 12 Gatorade Call-Ups this year, Greene Greene averaged 17.0 points, 5.2 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 2.0 steals in 34 games this season for the Flash.

The reason for Crawford’s departure from Beijing remains somewhat of a mystery.  Though Beijing had been largely dissatisfied with his play over the last month, it appears that an incident last Wednesday was Crawford’s ultimate undoing in the capital city.

According to a report on Sina, Crawford had sustained an ankle injury during practice in the days leading up to Beijing’s regular season finale at home against Jilin.  The game was a big one: A win would have virtually clinched seventh place, which would have guaranteed avoiding heavy favorite Xinjiang in the first round, whereas a loss would have dropped them into eighth.  But, when the ankle was still not recovered on gameday, Crawford went to coach Min to tell him that he couldn’t go for the must-win match.

This is where the story gets tricky.  Midway through the game, despite knowing about the injury, Min called Crawford’s number on the bench anyway.  Crawford entered the game, but after trying to play called himself back onto the bench just 59 seconds later and refused to re-enter the game.

After the game, a disgusted Min told reporters that Crawford was faking it.

“He came to me at about 5:30pm, two hours before the start of the game, and he told me that he sprained his ankle,” said Min. “But the past few days during practice, to me it didn’t look like he was having any problems with the ankle.”

Shortly after Beijing lost 122-121 in overtime, sealing their first-round fate against Xinjiang, Min along with Beijing general manager, Yuan Chao, and other team officials, met to discuss the incident and promptly decided to cut Crawford and search for another import.

Sources with direct knowledge of the situation, however, have informed NiuBBall that Crawford remains adamant that he was hurt and is angry over the nature of his release.  During the game, teammate Randolph Morris told Min that Crawford’s ankle was in fact sprained and he shouldn’t be forced to play.  This isn’t the first time issues over player substitutions have come up — unexpected even to him, Steve Francis was inserted to the game wearing an ice pack on his ankle despite being told by Min prior the game that he wouldn’t play due to a lack of conditioning and severe jet lag.

In 16 games, Crawford averaged 24.1 minutes, 14.2 points, 1 assist and 2.5 rebounds on 40% shooting.

Known for his on ball defense, Greene will be depended upon mainly to contain arguably the best import in the league, Xinjiang’s Quincy Douby.  But, there’s a catch: Greene, who will arrive in Beijing this Friday, will not be able to practice with his team for more than a few days due to All-Star Weekend this Saturday and Sunday in Beijing.  Coach Min, Morris, Taiwainese point guard, Li Xuelin, and Chinese local, Chen Lei, will all participate in the All-Star Game; Min as an assistant and the players as reserves.

Beijing plays game one of their opening round series at home against Xinjiang next Wednesday, while DongGuan visit Guangsha on the same day.  The first-round playoff format is a best-of-five 1-2-1-1 format, with the lower seed hosting games one and four.