Two years later, as US managing director Jerry Colangelo says, no one has changed more than LeBron, who's still one of their leaders, even with veterans Jason Kidd and Kobe Bryant around now. Says Colangelo: "He's a man."

As a player, James is a superman. Going to the basket, he's like a locomotive who can fly. Teammate Chris Paul, asked what players here must think when they see him coming, said, "Foul him or get out of the way. Same thing we think in the NBA."

Yi looked promising in his first half-season in Milwaukee before hitting the wall. Not that he's as far along at the same age as LeBron was, but he'll also have to grow into stardom—and the first thing he has to learn is to think of himself as a star. Now he looks like a big, talented supporting player.

Beyond that, China has some very nice players—by which I mean players capable of playing in the NBA—but no more fledging elite players, at least not here.

Zhu Fangyu of China (L) drives to the basket against Leonel Paulo of Angola during their men's Group B basketball game at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, August 14, 2008. [Agencies]

Sun Yue can do everything, possibly even shoot, but he doesn't put many up. For all his all-around skills, he's essentially China's No.5 option. In four games, he has taken 19 shots.

The good news is, this is the national team where some good players have to assume roles and he's doing it gladly. Still, with his talent level at 22, you'd like to see him get, or seize, more of an opportunity.

Zhu Fangyu is 10-21 on three-pointers, putting him up there with the best shooters here. US scout Tony Ronzone speaks highly of point guard Liu Wei. Wang Zhizhi looks about 100 times better playing with his countrymen than he did in the NBA where he was told to just sit on the arc and shoot threes.

For Americans, it's wonderful to see how the Chinese love their team, from the entire crowd singing the National Anthem as if it was their favorite song, to press people cheering during the game and applauding Coach Jonas Kazlauskas when he walked into the interview room Saturday night after the win over Germany.

Press people in the US are taught never to cheer, that it's not professional, but this isn't the US..

Of course, we all cheered when we were young, before we became hardened professionals. All China is young when it comes to basketball (and so much else, I guess) so have a ball.

http://aoyunpl2.blog.sohu.com/97483082.html