Zhang Bing felt it made sense, yet also felt uneasy.
"You can watch the tape of this year's NBA Finals. The Lakers' number 5, my teammate Horry, is the best development template for Da Zhi… Trust me, Da Zhi is not suited to be a pure center! A power forward, and a shooting power forward, is Da Zhi's ultimate destination…"
Zhang Bing was also a decisive man. Relying on the relationship of "fellow disciples" as a foundation of trust, he gritted his teeth and stamped his foot, and despite pressure from all sides, he summoned Yao Ming from the Shanghai team. After Yao Ming reported, he did not disappoint Zhang Bing's expectations. Although he was a bit too thin, just as He Ximeng had predicted, Yao Ming's appearance could liberate Da Zhi, giving the Chinese team another very formidable tactic to use!
Finally, after more than a month of training camp, Zhang Bing finalized the 12-man roster for the World Championships in Greece.
Center positions: three players – Wang ZhiZhi, Ba Te'er, Yao Ming.
Forward positions: five players – Liu YuDong, Gong XiaoBin, Li Nan, Sun Jun, Zheng Wu.
Guard positions: four players – He XiMeng, Hu WeiDong, Adi Jiang, Li XiaoYong.
In late August 1998, under Zhang Bing's leadership, the Chinese team embarked on their journey to Greece for the 13th World Championships.
This year, the Chinese media was full of expectations for this Chinese team. Because they had not experienced the devastating defeat of 1997, Chinese fans were still immersed in the joy of the Chinese men's basketball team reaching the world's top eight at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Coupled with the addition of the talented guard He Ximeng to this Chinese team… The Chinese public was quite optimistic about this team… This was why Zhang Bing now bore immense pressure. Because fans were still expecting the Chinese team to break their historical record, to push beyond the top eight and see if they could reach the top four… While the high-level officials of the Basketball Association, although not explicitly demanding it, had a clear attitude: qualifying from the group stage was the minimum, reaching the top eight was satisfactory, and the top four was excellent…
This year's World Championships, due to the NBA labor dispute, the Dream Team did not participate. USA Basketball only sent a second-rate team composed mainly of college students to compete.
Among the 12-man roster, He Ximeng only saw two familiar names: Brad Miller and Jimmy King!
Brad Miller was still a junior at Purdue University and had not experienced the baptism of the NBA.
Jimmy King was once called one of the "Michigan Five" along with Webber and others, but he had not established himself in the NBA and began drifting in European leagues last season.
The rest, such as David Wood, Alexis, William Edwards, Andrew Amaya, Kiwan Garris, Steve Hawkins, Gerald King, Trajan Langdon, Jimmy Oliver, Jason Sasser… were all little-known players.
There were NCAA college students, players from the Italian, German, Spanish leagues, and even players from the Chinese CBA league.
However, American basketball in 1998 was still basking in the dream of the Dream Team sweeping the world of basketball and was in an arrogant state.
Even with such a motley crew, Americans still believed the championship was within their grasp!
"American basketball is more than one level ahead of world basketball!"
"Even without NBA players competing, the American basketball team is still the world's top basketball team!"
"Every man in America plays basketball, and sending any college basketball team would be enough to rule the World Championships!"
……
Regardless, in the pre-competition strength predictions, the American men's basketball team was still ranked first!
However, other world powerhouses were clearly sharpening their knives, ready to give the American team a good thrashing on the world stage…
Famous Yugoslavian star Divac was not called up due to injury, but with the new MVP Bodiroga, who shone in Europe, and the sharp shooter Peja Stojakovic, the Yugoslavian team remained a top-tier world power. Therefore, in the predicted rankings, Yugoslavia was ranked second, and Lithuania was ranked third.
Lithuanian star Sabonis could also not participate due to injury, but they had another star player, Karnisovas, whose strength was also considerable.
Ranked fourth to eighth were Spain, Russia, Italy, Greece, and Australia!
Argentina and Germany failed to make it into the top eight, ranking ninth and tenth respectively.
However, He Ximeng saw the names of two old friends among these two teams: Ginobili and Nowitzki!
With Ginobili on the team, Argentina could not be a team outside the top eight.
Similarly, with Nowitzki on the team, Germany should rise smoothly in the crowded European basketball scene.
Therefore, this year's rankings would be very inaccurate!
America was not that strong, and Argentina and Germany were not that weak.
And the Chinese team, in the pre-competition prediction, was only ranked 12th! This was already a temporary boost from Western media after He Ximeng agreed to play for the country; China's original ranking was even more embarrassing, at 15th, only one spot higher than Nigeria, ranked 16th.
Ahead of China were Canada, Puerto Rico, Brazil, and Croatia.
This ranking order made He Ximeng a bit confused. Two years ago, the Chinese team had at least reached the quarterfinals of the Olympics, and a year ago, the Chinese team had not faltered in the Asian Championships, so why was their international ranking so low?
Were Western media deliberately trying to provoke China and dampen their morale?
Or were Western media digging a trap for China, hoping the players would be enraged and perform poorly?
Regardless of the reason, their intentions were clearly not good.
Fine! Wasn't it just second to last? The better the Chinese team played in the upcoming matches, the more they would blind the titanium alloy eyes of the Western media!
China's group draw for the pre-competition was actually quite good! They successfully avoided the top three ranked teams of America, Yugoslavia, and Lithuania, and were placed in Group D!
In Group D with China were the sixth-ranked Italy, eighth-ranked Australia, and tenth-ranked Germany.
Therefore, Group D was considered the weakest group in terms of overall strength.
The strongest overall group was known as the Group of Death, Group A! The top-ranked American team, third-ranked Lithuania, and fourth-ranked Spain were placed in the same group, while the thirteenth-ranked Brazil expressed their utter despair!
Group B's four teams included Yugoslavia as the dominant force, along with Russia, Argentina, and Canada.
Group C's four teams were led by the host nation Greece, along with Croatia, Puerto Rico, and Nigeria!
In He Ximeng's opinion, Group C was the real "lucky group"! There wasn't a single team that could pose a threat to the host nation Greece! Greece was highly likely to be directly advanced to the quarterfinals…
On August 28th, the first game of the World Championships group stage officially kicked off at the Marousi Stadium in Athens, Greece!