The Good And Bad From Emmanuel Mudiay’s CBA Debut

High School Basketball: McDonald

Emmanuel Mudiay made his regular season debut for the Guangdong Southern Tigers in China on Saturday against the reigning league champs, the Beijing Ducks, whose starting point guard happened to be local Chinese hero, Stephon Marbury.

Mudiay came off the bench, recording 18 points, five rebounds, two assists and two turnovers in 30 minutes of play. Offensively, he started off forcing illadvised shots and driving head on into traffic. His eyes looked to be solely on the basket on some possessions, instead of using his vision to find open teammates.

Emmanuel also had a rough time, defensively, guarding Marbury. Stephon finished the night with 32 points on 13-for-19 shooting, leading his team to the 103-89 victory on the Duck’s ring night.

It wasn’t until the second half that Mudiay seemed to calm himself down and play like the top-five NBA prospect he is. It was evident that he shifted his focus from forcing shots and driving to seeing the court and assisting his teammates. Things looked like they turned around in the third quarter after he pulled down a rebound, pushed the ball down court, and eventually set a teammate up for an alley-oop. After that, he began feeding his players in the low block a little more, which showed his ability to adapt to a game plan.

As far as shot selection goes, Mudiay mostly lived at the three point line or was driving into the paint. Some of his drives to the basket were after beating his man, but most ended with a forced shot. His his stat line wasn’t too pretty (6-for-19 from the field and 1-for-3 from behind the arc), but overall, Mudiay put on a show of athleticism and showed glimpses of an elite playmaker.

We shouldn’t judge too harshly on his first game, though. His game will improve, as will his court vision. Mudiay simply had to learn the first lesson anyone has to learn in their foray into the sport overseas: Chinese basketball will forever belong to Stephon Marbury.