MANILA (Enzo Flojo's Asia on my Mind) - There are plenty of FIBA Asia talent on display in the many club leagues currently ongoing around the continent. Naturally, these national team stars are taking the lead and taking their teams to the heights of success. We will see many of them soon enough when the FIBA Asia calendar begins its various tournaments in 2017, but, for now, let's appreciate them for their big time efforts in their respective professional circuits.

The local club leagues, of course, are the prime feeders for the Asian national teams, especially since hardly anyone at men's level plays outside of Asia. Off the top of my head, the only ones who stand out aside from the naturalized players are China's Yi Jianlian, who had a brief stint in the NBA this season, and Japan's Yuta Watanabe, who plays in the US NCAA.

This is the reason it’s paramount to keep tabs on the club teams and tournaments in Asia. These are places where, inevitably, the national teams will get the talent for the upcoming international jousts.

CBA
Let’s start in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA), which is considered by many to be the most competitive pro league outside of the NBA and Europe. Many former NBA stars go to the CBA to ply their trade, and even top tier FIBA Asia players from all over are signed to lucrative contracts as Asian imports. Some prime examples this season are the Iranian trio of Samad Nikkhah Bahrami (Guangzhou), Mahdi Kamrani (Jilin) and Hamed Haddadi (Sichuan). Jordan's Zaid Abbas (Jiangsu) continues to be a highly productive journeyman in the league along with tireless workhorse Sani Sakakini (Tianjin) of Palestine. For a while, naturalized Filipino Andray Blatche (Xinjiang) also played this season before being downed by an injury and replaced.

Perhaps the most impressive, though, has been Chinese Taipei's Liu Cheng, who currently stars for league-leading Guangsha. The 1.92m breakout player is averaging modest numbers at a shade under 7 points a game, but he is contributing in other areas, stealing the ball nearly twice per contest to go along with 4 rebounds and 2 assists. Another young player from Taipei's national team making his mark in the CBA is 1.96m 23-year-old Hu Long-Mao.

Of course, the locals haven't been too shabby as well. 2.17m Zhou Qi, to be specific, has been doing really well. In the absence of Blatche, the 20-year-old has stepped up big time, norming 16.3 points, 9.3 rebounds, 1.6 steals and 1.9 blocks per outing. It stands to reason he will be China’s best center for years to come.

KBL
Over in Korea, it is the Seoul Samsung Thunders and the Goyang Orions at the top of the standings. Seoul have 11 wins in 14 games, and they are being led by veteran national team playmaker Kim TaeSul, who last played for the country in the FIBA Asia Championship 2015. TaeSul is currently putting up 10.0 points, 2.5 rebounds and 6.1 assists. The Orions, meanwhile, have young big man Lee SeungHyun at the helm. The 2.01m Lee has excelled as Goyang's stretch 4, averaging 11.7 points and 6.9 rebounds while shooting an impressive 35.1% from beyond the arc.

B.League
Japan have seen their new professional league's maiden season flourish, and one big reason has been the steady play of national team mainstay Naoto Tsuji. The 1.85m combo guard leads the B.League in three-point shooting with 2.5 triples made per game, and this has been a big reason his team, the Toshiba Brave Thunders, have been able to stay atop the league table. Tsuji is expected to reprise his role for Team Hayabusa in the FIBA Asia Cup 2017 and FIBA Basketball World Cup Qualifiers.

PBA
The Philippine Basketball Association also just started its 2016-2017 season, and one guy who was on everyone's radar was spitfire Terrence Romeo. The flashy 1.80m guard was among the league's best scorers last season, and he did not disappoint in his first game this conference for GlobalPort. Romeo dropped 29 points and 6 assists as his club defeated the Mahindra Floodbuster. Romeo's legions of fans in and out of the Philippines expect to see him in a Gilas kit again soon as they try to preserve their status among Asia's elite teams.

IBF Superleague
The Iranian Superleague started its season in late October, and so far only Petrochimi Bandar Imam remains unbeaten with a a 5-win, 0-loss record. Buoying their surge has been the stellar play of 1.96m wingman Behnam Yakhchali. The soon-to-be 21-year-old has been a fixture of Team Melli since 2014, and many see him as the country's future ace for the next decade. He has certainly proved himself worthy of that accolade this season, where he is putting up 15.6 points, 4.2 rebounds and nearly 2 three-pointers made per contest.

All these players, along with a lot more, will surely grace the international stage with their superb production and entertaining stylistics soon enough, but, at least for now, they are torching the hoops making an impact for their own club teams all over Asia.

Enzo Flojo

FIBA

FIBA's columnists write on a wide range of topics relating to basketball that are of interest to them. The opinions they express are their own and in no way reflect those of FIBA.

FIBA takes no responsibility and gives no guarantees, warranties or representations, implied or otherwise, for the content or accuracy of the content and opinion expressed in the above article.