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Prodigal hoopster comes back

By Zhao Rui (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-04-11 05:51

And his meeting with CBA chief Li Yuanwei in the US this February is seen a catalyst for his return.

"I will try to play my best basketball in this year's World Championships and the 2008 Beijing Games to pay back my fans," he said.

Wang averaged 22.8 points and 8.9 rebounds when he led the Chinese military club, the Bayi Rockets, to consecutive CBA titles from 1996 to 2001. He was widely believed to man a crucial position as a power forward in the Yao Ming-led Chinese national team.

He played in the 1996 and 2000 Olympics, averaging 13.5 points and 5.0 rebounds at Sydney, when he teamed up with Yao as part of China's "Walking Great Wall."

But he has played sparingly in a lacklustre NBA career that began with the Dallas Mavericks in 2002, and then was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers before he was cut from the Miami Heat late last season.

The CBA welcomed the return of the problem star.

"It's a crucial move for him to return in an answer to the motherland's call. He has enough time to reunite with his parents and friends in China, and think about how to start a new future here," the CBA said in its official press statement.

In an online survey conducted by China's leading website Sina.com, 78.81 per cent of participants said they still love Wang despite his abandoning his side; and 88.72 per cent believe he will earn a spot in the national team and improve it as a whole for the coming World Championships and the Olympics.