Second chances are a beautiful thing. We don't always get them. Sometimes, life presents you a big opportunity that you can't capitalize on because of a variety of factors. The things that hold you back from accomplishing your goals can be both internal and external.
If you're an NBA player, you can get a second, third, fourth, or fifth chance by landing on a different team if things don't work out with your current one. There are 29 other situations after all. But after a while, teams make up their mind and decide that you are who you are, and you end up falling out of the league that you spent your whole life dreaming of being a part of.
When a player can't make it on an NBA team anymore, they have the option of playing overseas to keep their skills fresh and dreams alive. Some guys venture onto the far-off continent of Europe, but another place the players land is the CBA, The Chinese Basketball Association. It has provided many a rejuvenating experience, and even granted guys like Chris "Birdman" Anderson and Michael Beasley enough success to land them back in the NBA. However, there are a few unique cases of guys that found so much success in China that they ended up experiencing a greater level of fulfillment compared to their time playing ball in the states.
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Jimmer Fredette
Jimmer Fredette experienced the highest of highs during his college career at BYU. He was must-see TV during the early 2010's when he was just dropping bomb after bomb from deep. The kid couldn't miss! He was such an excellent shooter that you couldn't help but think that his one crucial skill would carry him into a long and serviceable NBA career.
He was drafted by the Sacramento Kings in 2011 where he immediately brought life to the floundering franchise. Kings merchandise exploded by a 540% margin! "Jimmermania" was still piping hot as he was swarmed by the public after he touched down into Sacramento for the first time. Hopes for Jimmer were high, and he played well his first year. After some time, the league realized he was a little too short for a shooting guard at a measly 6'2, and his feet weren't nearly as quick as some of the other SGs in the league. He ended up being bought out by the Kings in 2014, then he bounced around to three other teams until he was out of the league in 2016. He got four chances in the NBA until he ran out of takers.
Jimmer decided to explore his options overseas with the Shanghai Sharks in the Chinese Basketball Association. He would be making the journey into a foreign land alone as his wife (a former BYU cheerleader) was still living back in the states. His new fellow Chinese teammates heard that a big American player was coming over, but they were befuddled when they found out this short white guy was about to roll up to the practice facility. They were like, "This is the guy who is supposed to get us all our buckets?". No one was impressed with him just yet.
Then tipoff came and he took control like it was crunch time and BYU needed a crunch time three to tie or go ahead. Around the start of the season on November 11th, Jimmer laid a whopping 51 points on the Guandong Southern Tigers in a display of perimeter wizardry. Shortly after that, he dropped a ridiculous 73 points against the Zhejiang Guangsha Lions. He rolled out season averages of 37.6 points, 8.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists, and 1.6 steals per game for his Shanghai Sharks, and was crowned the league MVP for the 2016-17 season. He hasn't won a championship in the CBA yet, but he has instilled himself as the leader of a perennial playoff contender.
Jimmer has welcomed a baby into his life since moving to China, but he still has to deal with living an entire ocean away from his family during the season. Still, he's living it up in the limelight of China as one of the top scorers in the entire CBA, in a country of over one billion fans. He's a celebrity who is beloved by all in Shanghai, and he soaks it all up by obliging every fan who wants a picture. He also uses public transport like the subway during his everyday commute. That'd be like if you saw one of your country's biggest athletes just standing next to you on the bus/subway holding onto a rail as he was on his way to practice.
I love Jimmer's nickname in China. He's dubbed "The Lonely Master". He's never really alone with all the attention he gets, but a big reason they love him is because they value his work ethic and determination. It fits right in with Chinese cultural values about hard work. Becoming a master at something is a lonely path filled with time and deliberate effort. Maybe that's why they've annointed him so. Honestly, it's way cooler than any NBA nickname I've ever heard.
If you have time, you need to check out this 15-minute video that Outside The Lines did of Jimmer Fredette. It goes through his journey from BYU phenom, to NBA dud, to Chinese hero
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Stephon Marbury
Stephon Marbury shot out into the league hard and fast like a cannonball. He was an All-Star with the New Jersey Nets shortly into his NBA career and experienced more success with the Suns just a couple years later. He was a volatile player though, causing a ruckus behind the scenes and demanding trades. He was a hell of a guy to watch on the court though when he was feeling it.
The Marbury show made its way to Madison Square Garden for a stint with the New York Knicks in the mid-2000's. Deep down, Marbury always craved the spotlight and prestige that came with being the franchise player in a marquee NBA metropolis like New York. He kept up his trouble-making ways though and feuded out in the open with head coach Larry Brown. These public confrontations left such a sour taste in the public's mouth, that the local media began viciously smearing him. It eventually led the public to turn on him. It was just Marbury hate day after day. He even began feuding with dysfunctional Knicks GM and Detroit Pistons legend Isiah Thomas, threatening to blackmail him if he didn't let him start.
When a new regime headed by coach Mike D'Antoni rolled out, Marbury saw it as an out and an end to all the pain he felt in New York. It wasn't an amicable finale though, as Marbury ended up getting banned from all Knicks practices and games to end his tenure. He was able to fall onto a contender in the 2009 Boston Celtics, but he didn't re-sign the following year, and he fell into a pit of depression. He had some very public meltdowns where he would just post vlogs of himself crying on Youtube. I remember they were met with laughter at the time, but the guy seemed genuinely tormented. Still scarred from all the beatings he took from the New York public media. He later remarked that he contemplated suicide according to Slam.
After getting hammered in the New York city media every single day and failing to live up to the expectations of many who anointed him one of the NBA's next great guards, Stephon Marbury arguably found his greatest successes in life as a member of the Chinese Basketball Association. He entered the league in 2010 and played for a couple teams before settling with the Beijing Ducks. He felt like an outsider at first, only eating McDonalds and other American food every day because it's what felt familiar to him. After some time, he began to venture out and immerse himself into the Chinese cuisine and culture. Once little things like that happened, Marbury slowly became more comfortable and acclimated himself to the Chinese lifestyle. It affected his on-court play too, where he was finally starting to find his groove in basketball and in life.
In the two seasons before he joined the Beijing Ducks, he made the CBA All-Star team but he never brought his team to the playoffs. His first year with the Ducks started out scorching hot with a 13-0 record. He then finally made it into the Chinese postseason, even averaging 45 points a game in a series against Shanxi. He squared up against the Guangdong Southern Tigers in the CBA Finals and emerged victorious in an inspiring series to cap off the 2012 season with a championship victory. He finally got that chip that eluded him! And felt widespread praise for what felt like the first time ever
Beijing fans were absolutely overjoyed with what Marbury was able to bring them. It was the first championship in their franchise's history. They were so enamored that they even built him a statute the very next season while he was still a member of the team. When have you ever heard of an NBA team giving their player a statue the year after they win one championship? That's how much it meant to those Beijing Duck fans! Marbury brought them two more championships in 2013-14 and 2014-15. He remarks that he has never felt more alive and felt more love than the time he has spent in China with the Beijing Ducks. Below you'll find a 10-minute video recapping Stephon's journey to Chinese Basketball legend. Check it out.
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J.R. Smith
Ok, I lied. JR Smith didn't actually get a new lease on life out in China. He did quite the opposite during his brief stint in the CBA. I just thought it was so funny that it had to be mentioned here.
JR Smith spent some time playing in the CBA during the NBA lockout, where the NBA season wouldn't start because the Players Association and Team Owners couldn't come to terms on their Collective Bargaining Agreement. Once new terms were agreed upon and the season was cleared to begin, JR couldn't come back to the NBA because he didn't have an opt-out clause in the contract he signed with his temporary Chinese club. He decided to spend that remaining company time going all out like it was his last day on Earth.
In his short couple-months stint in China, he managed to accrue 1 million dollars in team fines as a result of skipping practices to go shopping in nearby cities and maxing out his team's credit card by ordering $3,000 in room service meals, just to see if they'd pay for it! You know what kind of person does stuff like that? A god damn legend.
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