What's wrong with the CBA's new MVP?

The CBA finals matchups for this season are set: Guangsha vs. Shanghai.

The two best teams from the regular season will stage a top-tier clash, with the series adopting a best-of-seven format.

This will be a spectacular finals series to watch.

Today, let's break down two aspects:

First, why He Xining, the newly crowned regular-season MVP, couldn't make an impact against Guangsha?

As expected, if Shenzhen wanted to extend the series back to Zhejiang, he had to deliver tonight—he needed to go all out and take charge.

But he didn't.

Why is that?

He Xining is essentially a scoring finisher, not a playmaker. When double-teamed, he is slow to pass, has limited vision, and is average at distributing the ball—he can't smoothly dish it out like top-tier imports.

With Shenzhen's young star sidelined due to injury, the pressure on him only grew heavier.

The remaining two imports—Christopher, a shooting guard-type player, and Baji, a role-playing center—couldn't compensate.

Guangsha, through precise tactical planning and quality defensive resources, perfectly neutralized He Xining's playing style, rendering the regular-season scoring powerhouse completely ineffective offensively.

In terms of both ability and talent, He Xining is not yet the homegrown ace capable of leading a team to the finals.

To be fair, those three-pointers by Sun Minghui truly had an MVP-like quality...

However, Shenzhen making it to the semifinals this season is already a huge surprise. Giving it their all to this point, they've exhausted every resource and have no regrets.

Though there's disappointment, they should still celebrate after the game.

The second point is a personal observation of mine.

Witnessing Beijing's shocking collapse last night, then contrasting it with Shenzhen's fight until the very end tonight...

I wonder if you guys have noticed: Looking at the championship trends in the CBA over the years, teams that consistently contend for titles all share one core trait—they are built around homegrown players developed through their own youth systems, who form the foundation.

Guangsha is a prime example, with Hu Jinqiu and Sun Minghui leading the way.

Guangdong Hongyuan, from the Zhu Fangyu-Du Feng duo to Yi Jianlian, Hu Mingxuan, and Xu Jie, has seen successive generations of talent emerge from their youth pipeline.

Liaoning men's basketball relies on local players to form their core starting lineup. The common characteristic of these championship teams is that they have a group of self-developed core players who have grown up within the system, are deeply familiar with it, and have a strong sense of belonging.

This fact explains why Beijing lost by 28 points in a single quarter last night, and also why the most relentless player on the court was Zhai Xiaochuan.

This fact also adds intrigue to the upcoming CBA finals: If Shanghai Sharks win the title, it would prove that money can still solve problems.

After all, the CBA is still a league dominated by imports...

Finally, here's my prediction (jinx): Little Fatty (Wang Zhelin?) for FMVP.