Transcript from NBA Games 2009 Beijing press conference

MODERATOR: Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the NBA Games 2009 Beijing press conference. My name is Xu Jicheng and I will be your host today.

It is a great honor for me to introduce two special guests here with us and they will talk about the NBA's forth set of preseason games in China and also they will talk about the joint initiative to foster the coaching development between NBA and CBA.

And also with us here today is the director of the Chinese Basketball Association training and scientific research department Mr. Bi Xilin.

Now, I'm pleased to welcome commissioner David Stern to give his opening remarks.

COMMISSIONER STERN: Good morning. I'm delighted to be here with Mr. Li Jinsheng, the vice president of the Chinese Basketball Association at these fourth China games, our third in Beijing.

And I'm especially delighted to be here at beautiful Wukesong Arena.

And my first thank you goes to our host and partners, the Chinese Basketball Association and the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Sports. We thank them for their continued support of our efforts.

This game between Denver and Indiana will not only be seen throughout China, both on television and online, but it will be seen around the world in 209 countries, who will get a chance to share this lovely Wukesong Arena with us.

Like our other visits, we have been able to be the recipients of the warm hospitality of the people of Beijing and of China and our teams and all of the traveling parties asked me to express their gratitude for the way in which they have been treated so warmly.

And we were thankful for the opportunity to go to the ChunFeng school where we were able to build new ball courts and provide books to a new learning center so children of migrant workers would have the opportunity to share in the learning and success of this great country.

And before I make the very important announcement, I want to say one thank you to the partners of the NBA, our business partners, without whom this event could not take place. Adidas, China Mobile, the Coca Cola Company, Lenovo, Mengniu, Soho, Tsingtao beer and Toyota.

Today it's my great pleasure to be able to announce a joint initiative, an agreement with between the NBA and the Chinese Basketball Association to foster the development of coaching capability in China by a series of exchanges that will include visits by NBA coaches to China together with strength and conditioning trainers and nutritionists to meet with and counsel coaches, important coaches at elite levels as well as important coaches at the grassroots levels so that all levels of basketball were taken care of to further the development of coaching in China.

In addition, the NBA will be hosting visits of Chinese coaches at training camps in the United States where techniques will be shared and some number of coaches after the initial training camp period will be invited to stay in the United States for a full season where they can observe and visit with NBA and NBA Development League teams so that there can be a complete level of cooperation.

This is a very deep and fundamental agreement between the Chinese Basketball Association and the NBA, and we think that it will further our common goal which is the development of basketball in China, both at the grassroots level and at the elite level.

In addition, we'll be working with our mutual online partner Tom Group to provide basketball instruction online across a broad array of categories so that the youth who perhaps are not accessible to individual coaching will have the opportunity to go online to develop and learn in a most positive way.

I apologize to my translator for doing this in one gulp but I'm going to see how well he can do it (Applause).

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, commissioner Stern. I think all the Chinese coaches will start to learn English this afternoon. And, ladies and gentlemen, now please join me in welcoming vice president of the CBA, Mr. Li Jinsheng to give his remarks.

VICE PRESIDENT LI: Thank you, Mr. David Stern, for your wonderful speech just now.

Ladies and gentlemen, friends from the media, good morning. So right now is beautiful weather in Beijing, October, usually what we call the Golden Autumn in the city. And we just celebrated the 60th anniversary of the founding of a new China, the People's Republic of China, and also the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and U.S.

So at this time we're very happy to usher in the two great teams, from Denver and Indiana, to do the 2009 China games. On behalf of CBA, I'd like to greatly warmly welcome all of you to China and to Beijing.

We have just concluded a very, very brand new collaborative agreement between CBA and NBA under which NBA will form or line up a team consisting of trainers, of coaches and nutritionists to come to China to help train the meet level and senior level coaches selected by CBA in its annual training courses.

And also we'll provide some continuous training and then the content of the training will depend on the recommendations suggested from the Chinese side.

Based on the agreement CBA will also select outstanding coaches at a national level and other levels to go to NBA Development League to observe and also to participate in the capacity of assistant coaches in different kind of training and games of the U.S. teams.

As we all know that NBA possesses excellent resources of basketball coaching, and CBA attaches great importance to a comprehensive collaboration with NBA. We believe to improve the level of basketball in the country, the coaches' quality and level and skill is the key.

So the Chinese coaches will enjoy opportunities to work together and learn from the NBA coaches which have very, very high level of skill and expertise. That would represent an excellent opportunity for them to improve their skill.

It is our sincere hope that the collaboration between CBA and NBA will further develop and will be broadened and be deepened in content and we are going to have continuous exchanges and constantly develop enhanced friendship between our two associations so we can jointly contribute to the development of the level of basketball of the whole globe. Thank you.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Mr. Li (Applause).

Now we will open the floor for the media questions. And please raise your hand first and then state your affiliation and name clearly.

Q. Vice Chairman Li, I'd like to find out the time line of the collaboration. How long will this agreement last? And, you know, coach of the Chinese National Team, Mr. Guo Shiqiang, is already in the U.S. for some training. Is that already part of this agreement?

VICE PRESIDENT LI: Actually, this agreement is a midterm agreement. It will not last very long. But it is very, very profound in its content. And so on the basis of this, we will consider to have a longer term collaboration on the basis of the existing agreement.

Actually, the national team, Coach Guo Shiqiang was already in the U.S. when we were discussing and signed this agreement. We will value this kind of opportunity a lot. We will give special attention to sending the younger generation coaches or coaches for the young people to the U.S. to learn from their NBA counterparts, national team.

COMMISSIONER STERN: I would just add that this is a new step, but in a very long term journey between the CBA and the NBA, and it would be my expectation that this deal, this arrangement, as we continue with it, will be a very long term arrangement.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you Mr. Li and Mr. Stern.

Q. Commissioner, last year you talked about a joint cooperative league perhaps in China. Are you still discussing that? What are the implications of I mean, any new developments in that area? And could you brief us a little bit on the arena development over the last year? Is there any new developments there? Earlier this week you talked about a possible NBA team in Europe. What is in the pipeline here for China?

COMMISSIONER STERN: On the arena issue, we are involved deeply in the renovations that are taking place to Wukesong. We are working closely with the authorities and our partners in Shanghai for the completion of the Shanghai Arena in conjunction with the Shanghai 2010 Expo. And we are consulting with the sports authorities in Guangzhou for the construction of the third arena with which the NBA will be involved.

Our plate at the moment is very full on arenas.

On the question of a league, our colleagues at the China Basketball Association have indicated to us that their most important subject is the improvement and growth of basketball at all levels throughout China. And as a result we have begun to focus more on the kinds of announcements that we have made here today for the development of basketball and have decided to leave for another day, a later day, discussions of a potential collaboration on the subject of a league.

But we will stand ready to make available our expertise on basketball operations, marketing, officiating and all matters relating to league operation as our colleagues at the CBA seek them.

Q. I have a question for Mr. David Stern. Yesterday the mayor of Hangzhou announced that Hangzhou will build an NBA class arena and he expressed the hope that they could help to host a China Games in Hangzhou. Do you have such plans to have China games in some other cities, in cities such as Hangzhou? When will that happen?

COMMISSIONER STERN: The answer is that as new buildings become available in large and very good cities like you described, we will meet with them to discuss the holding of NBA Games in those cities. So the short answer to your question is yes.

Q. Question for Mr. David Stern. To what extent you got a good understanding of the situation at the CBA league? Also, what kind of assessment systems does NBA have to evaluate overseas leagues?

COMMISSIONER STERN: I have enough of a problem evaluating the NBA that we don't spend any time evaluating our colleagues around the world. That's not an important agenda item for us. We only respond to requests for assistance in particular areas.

Every country has its own issues, every league has its own issues, and they have issues that I couldn't possibly understand. And so all we do is stay ready as friendly colleagues to assist in any way we can.

Q. Question also for Mr. David Stern. Recently a financial tycoon in Russia purchased the Nets team of the NBA and NBA adopts a very open posture towards this attempt. So is it possible some day after Yao retires he would like to buy another team of NBA or to serve as an investor, what attitude will you take toward that attempt?

COMMISSIONER STERN: I have told Yao that he should save his money (Laughter). And when he saves enough, after his retirement, he should definitely buy an NBA team.