Elite NBA players light up CBA new season

The NBA lockout made many players put their sight to oversea leagues and China became one of the most prefered destinations. Elite players joined the Chinese Basketball League (CBA) and made the new season more attractive. The 33-year-old power forward Kenyon Martin chose to play for Xinjiang, the former champions in CBA, who lost to Guangdong in last season's finals. Martin was selected first in the 2000 NBA draft and is currently the last American-born college senior to have been the top overall pick. In NBA, Martin has played for New Jersey Nets and Denver Nuggets. In his rookie season, he moved from center to power forward and averaged 12 points, 7.4 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game, being named to the All-Rookie First Team. He helped the Nets rise from last place in the Atlantic Division to an Eastern Conference title and the best season to date in the Nets' NBA history. Along with Jason Kidd and Richard Jefferson, Martin led the Nets to the 2002 and 2003 NBA finals. At the end of the 2003-2004 season, Martin was traded to the Denver Nuggets. His commitment on the defensive end helped Nuggets to a franchise record-tying 54-28 record in 2008-2009 season and the Western Conference finals. Martin's joining in will help Xinjiang on the defensive end as Menker Bateer is getting old while young talented center Maiwulan Tuerxun was traded to Foshan for a season. Along with Martin, other two Nuggets players decided to play for Chinese clubs. J. R. Smith selected Zhejiang Chouzhou and Wilson Chandler picked Zhejiang Guangsha. Smith was selected 18th overall in the first round of the 2004 NBA Draft and was traded to Chicago Bulls in 2006. Later that year, he was traded again to Denver Nuggets where he finally found the place he belongs to. Playing with the Nuggets "bad boys" as Carmelo Anthony, Chris Anderson and Kenyon Martin, Smith also experienced the Western Conference finals against Los Angeles Lakers in 2008-2009 season. On April 13, 2009, Smith scored a career-high 45 points and made a franchise-record 11 three-pointers, which was one shy of tying the NBA record. Different from Martin and Smith, Chandler only played for Nuggets for half a season as he was traded on February 22, 2011. He was picked 23rd overall in the first round of the 2007 NBA Draft by New York Knicks, and had an average of 13.4 points and 5.1 rebounds per game after three seasons in NBA. Foshan got Gerald Green, who won the 2007 NBA Slam Dunk Contest and played for Houston Rockets along with Yao Ming. Former Nets player Marcus Williams, who had three-double four times, decided to play for Shanxi, who finished in ninth place last season and is looking forward to the first playoff.