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Jerian Grant to China
Emiliano Carchia: Free agent guard Jerian Grant has signed a contract to play in China next season, a source told @Emiliano Carchia. The team likely to be Qingdao. Grant has played 60 games for the Orlando Magic last season
Anyway Qingdao has no plan to stop here. The team entered into negotiations with Iranian center Hamed Haddadi, who's pursued also by Spanish Real Madrid. Haddadi can be signed with the Asian spot and will allow Qingdao to sign another American player. The team already signed former Zalgiris Kaunas point-guard Justin Dentmon.
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NBA star Tracy McGrady has stopped a game in China - after fans of his new Chinese club began throwing things on court, angry he wasn't playing. Authorities in China halted a basketball match involving former NBA superstar Tracy McGrady after fans began tossing objects onto the court, angry at his limited time in the game, a report said Wednesday. The seven-time NBA All Star created a sensation when he signed with the Chinese Basketball Association's Qingdao Eagles last month, selling out each of the club's three pre- season exhibition matches against a team of American players.
If there was any doubt remaining over Tracy McGrady’s widely reported, widely confirmed and officially-announced-by-T-Mac-himself-on-Facebook news that the five-time NBA All-Star will be playing for the Qingdao Double Star Eagles this season… you can now safely remove all of it and throw in the nearest garbage can. Or you can just throw it on the street, which remains as the preferred method for garbage disposal for many in this country. We won’t judge, promise. Over the weekend, Qingdao held a special press conference to officially announce that McGrady will be playing for the Eagles this season. Called “Briefing for Tracy McGrady Officially Signing with Qingdao Double Star Eagles”, a representative from the team formally declared that the deal was done and to prove it, held up a copy of the written agreement, complete with McGrady’s signature.
According to Qingdao’s general manager, Sheng Xishun, the Eagles’ goal with McGrady is to win a championship. But with the idea that his new signing will stick around for three years to rival Beijing’s Stephon Marbury as the CBA’s most popular foreign player, the goal for this year is to just make the playoffs. Good call when you consider the team saw a whopping seven players leave the team in the off-season, including the top Chinese scorer in the entire league in 2011-12, Li Gen.
Sheng Xishun, manager of the club, confirmed the news to multiple media outlets on Tuesday morning, and revealed that McGrady will agree to the signing by Wednesday. "Qingdao chooses McGrady for two reasons. One is that we hope he can help improve the team. The other is to take advantage of his influence to promote the team and the whole group," said Sheng in a Tencent Sports interview.
Sheng also revealed the signing was inspired by what Stephon Marbury and his Beijing Ducks accomplished last season, as the 35-year-old veteran led the Ducks to their first league title in two decades. "We will try best to help McGrady adjust to life in the Chinese Basketball Association and extend his career as a player. We hope he can continue to play for Qingdao next year and make the team a championship contender."
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After 15 often spectacular seasons in the NBA, Tracy McGrady is finalizing agreement on a one-year contract with Qingdao of the Chinese Basketball Association, sources told Yahoo! Sports.
McGrady, a seven-time All-Star, couldn't secure a guaranteed NBA contract for this season and decided against trying to make a roster in training camp. McGrady, 33, will likely complete the deal within the next couple days and leave for China within the next one to two weeks, sources said. McGrady's long-time partnership with former Houston Rockets center Yao Ming made McGrady a popular player in China, and he'll be afforded star status there.
According to a spokesman who was in charge of McGrady's publicity activities in China last season, the Qingdao Doublestar is in touch with McGrady right now. Should both parties come to an agreement, this NBA superstar will appear in the CBA league shortly.
"During his visit to China last year, McGrady was approached by the Guangdong Southern Tigers and Foshan Dragons. Due to various reasons (including family), McGrady rejected Foshan's generous salary package and chose to battle on in the NBA at the veteran's minimum."
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