{"id":8190,"date":"2017-07-01T16:03:11","date_gmt":"2017-07-01T20:03:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lwosonnba.ms.lastwordonsports.com\/?p=8190"},"modified":"2017-07-01T21:02:55","modified_gmt":"2017-07-02T01:02:55","slug":"inside-look-newest-houston-rocket-zhou-qi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2017\/07\/01\/inside-look-newest-houston-rocket-zhou-qi\/","title":{"rendered":"Inside Look at the Newest Houston Rocket: Zhou Qi"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On Saturday, the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonprobasketball.com\/category\/rockets\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Houston Rockets<\/a> agreed to a four-year deal with Chinese center\u00a0<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/q\/qizh01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Zhou Qi<\/a><\/strong>. The 7&#8217;2&#8221; big man was drafted by the Rockets in 2016 and spent time with the team close to the end of last season. Financial details of the deal are yet to be disclosed by either party.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Rockets agreement with Zhou Qi, a four-year deal, Zhou&#39;s agent said. As reported Thursday, that was Rockets preference, but costs MLE money.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Jonathan_Feigen\/status\/881199140306374656?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 1, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Inside Look at the Newest Houston Rocket: Zhou Qi<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h3><strong>Who is Zhou Qi?<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Zhou Qi is a 21-year-old center who brings great length to this Rockets team. Standing at 7&#8217;2&#8221;, the Chinese center\u00a0has an outstanding 7&#8217;8&#8221; wingspan, leading some to compare him to Rockets and NBA Hall-of-Famer <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mingya01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Yao Ming<\/a><\/strong>. An impressive specimen, Qi has great potential and is a smart addition to an ever improving Houston franchise. After being drafted 43rd overall, Qi headed back to China to continue playing for\u00a0Xinjiang Flying Tigers. His career in China was a successful one. Leading the league in blocks (2015, 2016) and going on to win a CBA Championship\u00a0in his final season with the team.<\/p>\n<p>This is a big talent and one to watch out for in the future.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>What to expect from Qi<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Versatile at both ends of the court, Qi will be a useful player in Houston. Providing elite length, Qi will likely contribute off the bench in his first season. Rebounding and shot blocking are his two best qualities, both can be valuable for head coach <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/dantomi01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mike D&#8217;Antoni<\/a><\/strong>. Now, this might sound crazy but the Rockets may have unearthed a Kristaps\u00a0Porzingis style player. Capable of shooting from three-point range at 7&#8217;2&#8221; is almost &#8220;Unicornish&#8221;. If he can develop his game, there is no reason why Qi can&#8217;t become an established NBA player.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Nene&#8217;s Situation<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Reportedly signing a four-year deal, center <a href=\"http:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hilarne01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Nene Hilario<\/strong><\/a> was set to re-sign with the Rockets. However just hours later, the Brazilian was back on the marke, due to complications\u00a0with his new contract.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Sources: Nene, Rockets unable to finalize an agreement on his contract. He has reentered free agency.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShamsCharania\/status\/881196147213205506?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 1, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Originally signing a four-year deal, the Rockets had to reduce the contract to three years. This is because\u00a0of the NBA&#8217;s &#8220;Over 38 Rule&#8221;. Nene has since rejected the new deal, due to a $4 million drop in his contract.<\/p>\n<p>According to the <strong>Marc J. Spears<\/strong> of <em>ESPN<\/em>, the Rockets remain &#8220;optimistic&#8221; about a potential deal with Nene.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The Rockets are optimistic they will work a deal out with Nene, a source said. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/4u2tz4qJUs\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/4u2tz4qJUs<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MarcJSpears\/status\/881197033159180288?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 1, 2017<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>So, is Qi an addition to this Rockets roster, or a replacement for Nene? Only time will tell, but GM <strong>Daryl Morey<\/strong> has positioned himself very nicely, after signing Qi.<\/p>\n<h4><\/h4>\n<p>Main Photo:<\/p>\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color: #fff; display: inline-block; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; color: #a7a7a7; font-size: 11px; width: 100%; max-width: 594px;\">\n<div style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0; text-align: left;\"><a style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/587116696\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; position: relative; height: 0; padding: 65.151515% 0 0 0; width: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"display: inline-block; position: absolute; top: 0; left: 0; width: 100%; height: 100%; margin: 0;\" src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/587116696?et=8ZLNT_3FRYJNa8gdiE1HHw&amp;tld=com&amp;viewMoreLink=off&amp;sig=YnZFPEgSWDEOdNJmb1JmiFAjqCD26iB82ACQbyX70zM=&amp;caption=true\" width=\"594\" height=\"387\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p style=\"margin: 0;\">\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Houston Rockets agree to sign Zhou Qi. The Chinese center will sign a four-year deal with Houston after being drafted 43rd overall in 2016.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":638,"featured_media":8211,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[31,62,3],"tags":[65,1107,333,96,202,121,1106],"class_list":["post-8190","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rockets","category-nba","category-news","tag-basketball","tag-daryl-morey","tag-houston-rockets","tag-nba","tag-nba-news","tag-nene-hilario","tag-zhou-qi"],"modified_by":"Lior Kozai (Managing Editor)","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8190","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/638"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8190"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8190\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8190"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8190"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8190"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}