Jonas Kazlauskas, the Lithuanian head coach of China's basketball team, unexpectedly lashed out at young centre Yi Jianlian and his team-mates after China's victory against Kazakhstan 89-77 in their opening match at the Doha Asian Games on Saturday.

"Yi is a very good boy on the court. They (the Kazakstan players) pushed him around and kicked him out of position. He did not show his talent on the court," complained the coach, whose side struggled, with Kazakhstan trailing within 6 points in the fourth quarter.

Kazlauskas said Yi should develop a tougher attitude if he hoped to be drafted in the NBA. The teenaged centre announced last month that he would enter next year's NBA draft.

"He has to fight for every ball, stand firmly in position and get the feed," said Kazlauskas.

Yi averaged 25.9 points, 12.5 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game for defending champions Guangdong Hongyuan in this season's CBA league. The Asian sports extravaganza is widely seen as his chance to explode onto the international scene.

Yi contributed 14 points and six rebounds in his Asian Games debut, but his play-time was trimmed to 22 minutes due to turnovers and four fouls.

"As a player, you need to be 100-per-cent focused on both offence and defence. But our players are not tough enough in their hearts. If you want to play in the NBA, you have to defend and play offence to the fullest," said Kazlauskas. "I need to change their minds, but it is difficult."

Kazlauskas was also critical of his substitutes. "They did not play well off the bench. Some of them seem to think it is OK to sit on the bench after being named to the national team. I would rather have some other young players with motivation and determination," he said.

"I really need more talented players," Kazlauskas added. "Also, we should play like a team instead of just taking terrible shots when they are open."

Houston Rockets all-star centre Yao Ming skipped the Asiad in order to steer the Rockets into the NBA playoffs.

Kazlauskas, already criticized by the China Basketball Association (CBA) for slamming the nation's premier league, once again blamed the league clubs for the players' bad habits.

"Whenever these players are training for the national team, I try to change their approach to defense. But in the clubs, they have to play a different style of basketball. Sometimes in the clubs, the coaches tell them to relax on defense in order to save energy. But in modern basketball, it is important for you to give your all when playing defense."

(China Daily December 4, 2006)