With J.R. Smith and Kenyon Martin already back in the NBA and Aaron Brooks and Wilson Chandler soon to return, four players’ lockout-inspired China Basketball Association adventures are essentially over. What once seemed like a good way to make money and increase international star power during an NBA break turned out to be a bit of a mess. Foreign stars are expected to do a lot overseas, and the expectations for notable NBA players were even higher. That things didn’t work out perfectly was mostly due to a lack of communication and the cultural divide.
Yet to say that these players didn’t get along with their teams equally is entirely wrong, because Smith broke all sorts of records for team-player animosity during his season with Zhejiang Chouzhou. In November, Smith raised the ire of the team when he handled an apparent knee injury in poor form — they even thought he was faking it. And while things appeared to improve once Stephon Marbury played peacemaker — yes, that really happened — it turns out the relationship between Smith and Zhejiang was strained until he left a few weeks ago.
In fact, they ended up fining him more than $1 million over the course of his employment. From Jon Pastuszek at NIUBBALL.com (via SLAM): Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nba-ball-dont-lie/j-r-smith-chinese-team-fined-him-more-004858221.html
