Ask any fan what they think of Chinese basketball and, while each would acknowledge the greatness of center Yao Ming, they would all point out that China is strictly second tier material in today’s FIBA tournaments.

At the moment China cannot realistically expect to challenge the top teams in worldwide international competitions. Not one soul at the Beijing Olympics expects them to finish near the top three. All the hosts can hope for is a courageous battle against Lithuania in the quarter-finals where, if they play at their best, they might force overtime, like they did earlier against Spain.

The fact that China only qualified for the Games as hosts should not cloud their extraordinary achievements so far. Ten to 15 years ago China weren’t even on the map as far as basketball was concerned. As a matter of fact, Asian basketball couldn’t keep up with Europe and the Americas.

Today China have put down a marker for Asian basketball and achieved a status where opponents cannot treat them lightly any more. They have shown themselves to be one of the top eight teams at the current Olympics.

Heck, they practically eliminated a German team that featured an NBA MVP (Dirk Nowitzki) and a bona fide NBA center (Chris Kaman) who was unable to handle the hosts’ top star, Yao.

However much I praise this Chinese team, the really scary thing is that their future will only get better. Did anyone notice that during the opening ceremony basketball players got the biggest ovation when the participants were being shown on the big screen? If Japan are regarded as a baseball-crazed nation, guess what, China should officially be regarded as a nation of basketball fans.

Want to guess what happens when this population of more than a billion hits the mark of being exposed to basketball for more than 20 years? They will have a massive generation of ballers that grew up living and breathing the sport, having idolised not only local heroes Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian, but also Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James. Think they will not have enough talent at hand to challenge the US for basketball supremacy?

With more Yao Mings and Yi Jianlians I can see basketball growing quicker than it already is. The LA Lakers are looking to sign Sun Yue, a versatile player who has shown flashes so far in these games, but is way too raw at the moment. This trend is bound to continue.

Basketball fans should watch this Chinese team with a view to the future. They might lose against Lithuania in the quarter-finals, but a good performance and a close game could mean so much to them in the long run.

Yao’s boys have already achieved what most experts saw as the maximum performance from them. Anything more can only be seen as gravy from now on. Ten or 15 years from now, they might be favoured to reach the finals.