Cui nets dream opportunity

Cui Yongxi, playing for the Portland Trail Blazers during this year's NBA's Summer League, shoots a free throw during a game on July 16 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. Six years since the NBA last saw a Chinese player in action, the world's No 1 league is likely to soon see another talent — the seventh so far — from its biggest overseas market shine on the big stage, after the Nets, owned by Joe Tsai, chairman of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, signed Cui to a two-way contract as part of the franchise's preseason recruitment. "First and foremost, I am looking forward to improving myself in the development league, hopefully I can turn some heads," Cui, a Chinese national team starter at last summer's FIBA World Cup, said during an online interview with Chinese media on Saturday. Later in the Summer League, Cui totaled nine points in nearly 22 minutes representing Portland across three appearances in Las Vegas, showing quite an impressive efficiency as a typical "3&D", a standard role player in the league who's good at shooting open threes and playing defense.