College push making the grade

Record university representation at CBA Draft vindicates Yao's reforms

Yao Ming's efforts to invigorate Chinese basketball's youth development are bearing fruit after a record number of college prospects were plucked from this year's CBA Draft.

Following a season when a number of rookies memorably upstaged some of their more experienced colleagues, another 19 youngsters joined the professional ranks after being selected by 12 clubs at the sixth annual CBA Draft in Quanzhou, Fujian province, last week.

The 11 players selected from the Chinese University Basketball Association was an all-time high for the draft, underlining the collegiate platform's growing importance to CBA scouts and managers as the league expands its talent trawl beyond the traditional State-run system. The CUBA also enjoyed its biggest ever representation in the draft, boasting 25 out of the 64 young hopefuls.

"The quality and quantity of talents signing up for the draft are pretty encouraging," CBA chairman Yao said in his opening remarks at the draft night.

"We have witnessed the growth of a decent group of young homegrown players over the past season," added Yao, a former NBA All-Star who was elected CBA chief in 2017, six years after his retirement.

"We hope by opening the doors wider to talents from all corners of the game we can have more players promoted and tested in the league to become future stars."