The height of 1.96 meters is not prominent in the basketball court ruled by senior people, but in Macao, Li Jiadong, which is 1.96 meters tall, is called “Macao Yao Ming” by friends “. He also played the middle school team in the third grade of a fine example, but Li Jiadong in the third grade was already a member of the Macao team representing the highest level of basketball in Macao. “Because we have fewer Macao people, then my height is a little higher, and because I (play basketball), everyone calls me Yao Ming.” Li Jiadong said.
Because of his height, Li Jiadong started playing basketball at the age of 12. At the beginning, Li Jiadong thought that he could make a start in the junior high school team by virtue of his height advantage, but his rough basic skills gave him a blow, being tall doesn’t mean everything. He can only start from the replacements. “At that time, the school team was training, so I followed them to practice. I started from defense first, cap and rebounding, and gradually became the main force.” Li Jiadong said. In high school, Li Jiadong represented Macao in Japan to participate in the men’s basketball Asian Cup, which is also a rare experience among basketball players of the same age.
After entering the University of Macau, Li Jiadong chose the major of human resources. Because the University of Macau does not have a special sports department, the students in the school team, like ordinary students, have to focus on their studies and can only use their spare time for training. Compared with the college teams participating in CUBA in the mainland, the Macao University team only trains three times a week, which is far from enough in terms of training volume and systematicness. In the three years since he officially joined CUBA, the University of Macau has never entered the top eight in the partition competition men’s basketball. “weak brigade” and “bottom” are their labels. Until 2017, when Li Jiadong led the team of Macao University to enter the final in the Southwest Division of CUBA, they overturned everyone’s views on Macao basketball.
Li Jiadong is very mobile on the court, has a strong sense of off the ball, and has the ability to tossing accurately. During the game, Li Jiadong attached great importance to defense and had a good sense of rebounding. However, he occupied more ball rights and dared to shoot when he had a bad chance. However, he didn’t care so much about personal data, it is for the victory of the team who is willing to be a green leaf. In 2019, with the broadcast of a basketball reality show, more mainlanders met Li Jiadong, a diligent 3D player from Macao.
In 2021, Li Jiadong set foot on the professional field of three-person basketball in China for the first time. This year, as the only participating representative in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, Macao Dafeng Macao branch is also the first team in Macao to participate in the professional competition of three-person basketball of the highest level in China. As Li Jiadong, who is committed to making more Macao people fall in love with basketball, said, their team has players from the mainland, Macao, Taiwan, China, and foreign aid from Serbia, the integration of players in different regions brings completely different team styles, which will make opponents unpredictable. And he sincerely hopes that his team can go further in the Super Triple match this season.
