One day after Chinese center Yi Jianlian signed contract with the Milwaukee Bucks, the attention of Chinese fans was attracted back by the domestic league.

 

The Chinese Basketball Association league (CBA) will announce a list of short-term transfers for the upcoming 2007-08 season on Thursday, with a couple of uncertainties supposed to be settled down in a week.

 

Mengk Bateer, former San Antonio Spurs center, was reported to sign a 4.2-million-yuan (about US$555,556), one-year contract with Xinjiang Guanghui.

 

The Beijing Ducks, which Bateer served in 2005-06 season, claimed having the reserved right of the center though he didn't play for the Ducks last season.

 

Two sides are negotiating over the issue with Xinjiang having the advantage of the transferring rules.

 

The Zhejiang Cyclones announced its squad for the new season, only finding that the head coach Jiang Xingquan was also on the list of Xinjiang's squad.

 

Jiang, former national team head coach, joined the Cyclones last season and had one year remained on the contract. Rumors said he signed another two-year contract during the offseason with Xinjiang.

 

Beijing Aoshen is planning a comeback to the CBA after a two-year ban for refusing to release its players to play for the national team.

 

The team wanted to move the home court to Macao of China, which could be turned down by the CBA. The move could hinder its comeback as some CBA teams criticized the league for welcoming Aoshen back.

 

Former Miami Heat forward Wang Zhizhi received an invitation of Italy's Benetton team to play in the European league next season after his eye-catching performance in the national team this summer.

 

The Bayi Rockets is unlikely to let him go as it won the title last season, the first time in the past four seasons.

 

Bayi's assitant coach Liu Yudong could return to the league as his home team Fujian SBS invited him for a one-year spell.

 

The Rockets is also involved in a law suit on its new comer, Wang Lei.

 

Wang was transferred to the Rockets during the offseason by Henan team, but Shanxi Zhongyu, whom Wang played for last season, claimed the right of the forward and suited Henan for the illegal transfer.

 

The league halted the registration of Shannxi Dongsheng's squad as rumors said the club sold the team to the Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel, which has the biggest casino in Asia.

 

The 2007-08 season will be the shortest one in the CBA history as it will end in February.

 

The Chinese national team will start the training camp earlier than before preparing for the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, which is to start on August 8.

 

"We are working on all these issues and hopefully we could solve the problems at the end of next week," said Hao Guohua, director of the CBA league office.

 

(Xinhua News Agency August 31, 2007)