Shanghai Sharks

Shanghai Sharks
Shanghai Sharks
	Shanghai Sharks logo
Founded	1996
League	CBA
Arena	Luwan Gymnasium; (capacity: 3,000)
Based in	Shanghai, People's Republic of China
Team colours	blue, red, purple
Owner	Yao Ming
Manager	Bob Donewald, Jr.
Championships	1 (2001)
Division Titles	1 CBA
Mascot	Shark
Team website	http://xiyang.yundongren.com/

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

The Shanghai Sharks (Chinese: 上海大鲨鱼; pinyin: Shànghǎi dàshāyú), are a Chinese Basketball Association team based in Shanghai, China. As a form of corporate sponsorship, there is often an additional name used: for many years they were also known as the Shanghai Dongfang Sharks (上海东方), but now are known as Shanghai Xiyang Sharks (上海西洋).

It is best-known outside China as the club that developed Yao Ming before he entered the NBA.

In the 2004–2005 season, the Shanghai Sharks finished in fifth place in the South Division, out of the playoffs. In 2005–2006, they tied for fifth, just one win away from making the playoffs.

In earlier seasons, they did better: they made the finals three years in a row (in 1999–2000, 2000–2001, 2001–2002), facing the Bayi Rockets each time. They were runners-up the first two years, but won the CBA championship for the first time on their third try, snapping a string of six Bayi Rockets championships in a row. Yao was a key player on the team in those years. Yao has been the starting all-star center for the Houston Rockets of the National Basketball Association (NBA), although as of the 2009 offseason his playing future is in question due to a broken foot that has yet to properly heal.

The team faced serious financial issues in the 2008–09 season, and were in danger of not being able to compete in the 2009–10 season due to their shaky finances. On July 16, 2009, Chinese media reported that Yao had stepped in to purchase the team, presumably enabling them to continue in the CBA.^[1]

[edit] Current Players

Shanghai Sharks roster

Players

Coaches

Pos.	#	Nat.	Name	Ht.	Wt.
3.5 F	1	USA	John Lucas	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)	75 kg (165 lb)
1.5 G	3	TPE	Yan Hsing-Su	1.83 m (6 ft 0 in)	74 kg (163 lb)
5.0 C	4	CHN	Dai Botong	2.12 m (6 ft 11 in)	103 kg (227 lb)
1.5 G	5	CHN	Meng Lingyuan	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)	90 kg (198 lb)
3.5 F	6	CHN	Cai Liang	2.02 m (6 ft 8 in)	85 kg (187 lb)
3.5 F	7	CHN	Peng Fei	2.03 m (6 ft 8 in)	105 kg (231 lb)
1.5 G	8	CHN	Liu Wei (C)	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)	89.7 kg (198 lb)
3.5 F	9	CHN	Zhang Xiaowei	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)	90 kg (198 lb)
3.5 F	10	CHN	Li Gen	1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)	110 kg (243 lb)
3.5 F	11	CHN	Gu Aoke	1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)	90 kg (198 lb)
3.5 F	12	CHN	Wang Yong	2.05 m (6 ft 9 in)	95 kg (209 lb)
1.5 G	13	CHN	Luo Xudong	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)	80 kg (176 lb)
5.0 C	21	CHN	Wang Ligang	2.04 m (6 ft 8 in)	92 kg (203 lb)
3.5 F	23	JOR	Zaid Abbas	2.03 m (6 ft 8 in)	96 kg (212 lb)
3.5 F	24	CHN	Tian Yuchen	2.05 m (6 ft 9 in)	90 kg (198 lb)
5.0 C	31	CHN	Wu Yang	2.06 m (6 ft 9 in)	100 kg (220 lb)
3.5 F	32	CHN	Zhang Lei	2.05 m (6 ft 9 in)	97 kg (214 lb)
5.0 C	33	USA	Garret Siler	2.11 m (6 ft 11 in)	130 kg (287 lb)