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Xiaochuan Zhai

Not in any ranking or draft
Height: 6'9" (206 cm)
Weight: 205 lbs (93 kg)
Position: PF
Hometown: Hebei, China
Current Team: Beijing
Win - Loss: 19 - 18

Articles

FIBA U-17 World Championships: Top International Prospects

Jonathan Givony
Jonathan Givony
Aug 07, 2010, 09:53 am
6-8 forward Xiaochuan Zhai also drew a fair amount of intrigue from the Chinese ranks, as he was their second leading scorer. A long, skinny and fairly athletic player who sees time at both the 3 and 4 spots, Xiaochuan is an extremely aggressive scorer with intriguing skills for his size.

Facing the basket is where Xiaochuan looks most comfortable right now. He made a good amount of jumpers from beyond the 3-point line to back that up. He has excellent touch and range to go along with very good shooting mechanics. He's capable of knocking down shots off the dribble as well as when he's set.

In the post, Xiaochuan mostly prefers to face up and beat his man off the dribble. He has a solid first step and above average ball-handling skills, but he can also knock down smooth-looking turnaround jumpers, showing excellent scoring instincts in the process.

His ability to create his own shot from the perimeter and score from beyond the arc gives him great potential to make a full conversion to the small forward position down the road, a position where he already spends a decent amount of time. Xiaochuan must improve his decision making skills, though. He settles for some extremely bad shots and can be very turnover prone.

As intriguing as Xiaochuan is offensively, he's a weak rebounder and an extremely poor defender who has a long way to go until he can legitimately guard players on the perimeter. His instincts and fundamentals are poor on this end of the floor, as is his effort level at times.

Only 17 years old, Xiaochuan is far from being a finished product and has a long way to go in his overall development. He's not consistent from game to game—at times he's barely noticeable on the court—and has to round out his game, particularly in terms of his passing ability. He'll be an interesting player to follow over the next few years to see he continues to improve.

Latest results

03/17/2024 93 - 95 vs Beijing BG Beijing BG
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03/12/2024 97 - 89 at Jilin Jilin
03/09/2024 92 - 90 at Qingdao Qingdao
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