Zhang Ziyu doesn t play in the Asian Cup? If Li Yueru doesn t return, Gong Luming should take the opportunity to "rescue" the female version of O Neal

This summer, the Chinese women's basketball team will usher in the Asian Cup at home in Shenzhen, and the team's goal is to defend the title. Although it was reported not long ago that Li Yueru may not play in this Asian Cup, there seems to be no clear conclusion about this matter. When everyone hopes that Zhang Ziyu can play in this year's Asian Cup, according to the latest news, Zhang Ziyu is likely to participate in the U19 Women's Basketball World Cup and will not appear in the Asian Cup of Adult Women's Basketball Team.

Compared with some talent in the defenders and forward positions, the Chinese women's basketball team has a relatively sufficient manpower reserve in the inside position. In addition to Zhang Ziyu, another young inside player is Liu Yutong. However, she was 24 years old and was actually not young anymore.

Liu Yutong, who is 2.01 meters tall, is actually a good insider, but she may have only played in the 2023 Universiade in recent years. At that time, she followed the Chinese women's basketball team to defeat Japan 99-91 in the final and won the championship. Although I don’t know whether Liu Yutong can adapt to the intensity of European and American competitions, Liu Yutong should be able to use her figure advantage in Asian competitions.

If Zhang Ziyu really wants to play in the U19 World Cup this time and Li Yueru cannot return, Gong Luming can actually consider summoning Liu Yutong to the national team and let her partner Han Xu to form a double tower in the inside. Liu Yutong, known as the "female version of O'Neal", was listed as the 12 most noteworthy players of the U17 World Cup by the FIBA ​​official website in 2018, and was also praised by O'Neal herself. However, she has been staying in the domestic league in the past two years and has indeed become increasingly popular.

For the Chinese women's basketball team, it is indeed time to renew. If you don't take advantage of the past few years to quickly cultivate some fresh blood, once the main players such as Li Meng, Han Xu, and Wang Siyu grow old, the speed of the Chinese women's basketball team falling can be said to be even more than that of the men's basketball team. In the 24-25 season, Liu Yutong's performance has begun to decline compared to last season. Whether she played for Shanxi or went to Beijing later, her average score was less than double digits. Especially during her playing time in Beijing, although Liu Yutong averaged 9.7 points in 15.6 minutes of playing time, she averaged only 2.7 rebounds per game, and only 1.3 rebounds per game. If Gong Luming didn't take the opportunity to "rescue" her, a good seedling like Liu Yutong would probably be delayed.

Although the women's basketball team's goal this time is to defend the title, if they are still worried about missing the championship due to inconsistent lineups, as mentioned earlier, once these main players grow old or retire, the Chinese women's basketball team will probably fall out of the front line, let alone on the world stage, or even on the Asian stage.