The NBA’s lone Chinese player Cui Yongxi, aka Jacky Cui, will make his G League debut Friday night in Canada. Our Scott Montgomery spoke with him Wednesday.
Times are a bit tough out on the Island for the Nets. After beating the Maine Celtics, the team that sent them packing last season, Long Island went on to lose its next three games. Two of these losses came at home against the Westchester Knicks, and most recently, the G League Nets lost on the road to the Capital City Go-Go.
Despite the talent on the Long Island roster including a number of NBA vets, they have not been able to put it together on the scoreboard. Now, though, reinforcements have arrived in the form of Cui Yongxi, aka Jacky Cui.
Cui, one of three Brooklyn Nets two-ways, has been practicing this week with Long Island in anticipation of his first G League game Friday night vs. the Raptors 905 in Mississauga, Ontario. Cui has already played a couple of minutes of garbage time in three games with Brooklyn.
Why the way? Cui says the rationale was simple: Brooklyn wanted the 21-year-old to get himself accustomed to the NBA game.
Cui has been one of the most talked about Nets prospects for quite some time for one big reason. He’s the first Chinese player in the NBA in six years, the heir apparent to the long line of Chinese players starting with Yao Ming. A 3-and-D prospect, Cui is also a member of the Chinese national team.
“It’s two different experiences,” Cui told NetsDaily, comparing the experiences of sitting on the bench in Brooklyn with practicing at Long Island’s Yes We Can Center in Westbury. “Playing for the Nets (Brooklyn) it’s a lot of reading and watching games. When I’m here, I need to learn how to lead the team and do my thing on the court.”
Cui made it known that a big thing he wants to do here is to take what he learned at the NBA level in terms of shooting and other skills and apply it in the G-League.
“The things I learned from the Nets, I’ve got to use in the G League.” he said.
Cui comes to Long Island having already represented his Chinese culture well on the Chinese men’s national team. This is something that has remained very important to Cui.
“It’s a good development chance for me,” says Cui. “I kept fighting this whole summer to continue to grow in this league. The challenge for me is to improve so I can help my country, impress and help the young players and children go out to do it themselves.” On the topic of his main goal for the year, Cui kept it short and simple, “get better.”
Specifically, Cui said he has even set a goal for Friday’s game. “I give myself a goal of may 10 points. couple of rebounds, couple of assists, but maybe next game I will get higher.”
The 6’7” shooting guard is probably China’s top young player and has already spent time at the NBA Academy in Australia, the G League Combine and the NBA Summer League, playing for the Portland Trail Blazers. (He is not the only Long Island Nets player to say his international commitments are a priority. Patrick Gardner, their Egyptian American center, has expressed similar motivations.)
With the big club, Cui developed a reputation as solid teammate during training camp and the first few weeks of the NBA season. In a recent tweet Nets players were asked to “say something nice about a teammate,” Cam Johnson, who’s been a bit of a mentor to Cui, told Nets social media, “Jacky brings positive energy every day.” In the same tweet, Cui said he loves all his teammates.
The Nets player he’s probably closest to — and a teammate in both Brooklyn and Long Island, Dariq Whitehead and he shot around together following practice.
Obviously, it remains to be seen exactly how long he will be here for, but ND can confirm he will be playing for Long Island both games in suburban Toronto this weekend, 7:30 p.m. Friday and 2:00 p.m. Sunday. Both games will be televised on NBA G League’s YouTube channel.
While Cui will be visiting Canada, A.J. Lawson will be heading home. The 6’6” forward who played 52 games for the Mavericks last year, is a native of Toronto. He was vocal in talking to ND about his home which increasingly is a hoops hotbed.
This weekend’s games will feel like home games for him in front of his family and friends. Lawson has been averaging a little over 19 points per game and has been a bright spot for Long Island. He also brings to the team his NBA experience, which he spoke about.
“I guess I can say I’m a veteran,” says Lawson. “My presence here is the energy. I need to bring the energy and pick the guys up. We have long days when we’re tired, but I have to be that energy game and lead the team.” Lawson spoke about how he has to be the guy on both sides of the ball and be able to knock down the shot.
Aside from AJ Lawson, there’s been another big surprise this season on the Island. Amari Bailey has been one of the best bench players in the entire NBA G-League.
Averaging 24 minutes per game so far this season, the 20-year-old Bailey sits at close to 18 points per game, 17.8 to be exact. The former UCLA guard knows what he brings to Long Island and is looking to impress each time he steps on the court. “I’m just a player who wants to do anything to help impact winning,” says Bailey.
“I love to have a coaching staff that allows me to be myself and trusts me and my abilities, so I couldn’t ask for a better coaching staff.” As for goals for the season, Bailey is looking to just take things a day at a time. Simply put, Bailey said it best himself, “I hate losing more than I love winning.”
Still TBA is when Cui will make his home G League debut at Nassau Coliseum. Long Island isn’t back home till December 4 when they play the Delaware Blue Coats.