As reported by Karen last week, Sasha Vujacic visited China for the second time and received a warm reception from Sun Yue’s countrymen so much so that he promised to be back next year if given the opportunity.

Shortly after his arrival, Sasha shot a commercial for PEAK where he gamely sported traditional Chinese garb aside from a red PEAK basketball outfit.

After the shoot in Beijing, he traveled to Chengdu and joined former Houston Rockets player Dikembe Mutombo as they presented a check to the Juyuan 7th Middle School at Dujiangyan — one of the most severely hit areas during last year’s Great Sichuan Earthquake. The students in return handed over gifts to Sasha and Dikembe which were photo albums showing their life before and after the tragedy.

Sasha was very pleased to see the smiling faces of the students. “As soon as I walked out of the car and when I saw the children and the way they walked with us and how excited they were, you can’t hide that. You can see in their eyes that just us being here, spending the afternoon with them was very important, and for me it’s very special. These kids are the biggest treasures that we have.” Sasha wishes they remain strong and confident as they rebuild their lives.

During the trip, Sasha also accommodated media interviews and he fondly talked about Sun Yue, who taught him how to say a few words in Chinese. While Sasha acknowledged the efforts exerted by Sun Yue with the Los Angeles Lakers, the rookie guard was unfortunately waived by the team days later.

On a much lighter note, Sasha and Dikembe played a basketball game with the students which Sasha’s team won. Sasha also didn’t have any difficulty showcasing his half-court shot that he nailed after only three attempts.

After the visit to Juyuan, the duo proceeded to Chengdu Sports University for the training camp and autograph signing session where they also played another round of a friendly basketball match.

On the next day, Sasha met with his new Laker teammate Ron Artest at Quanzhou — the location of the PEAK headquarters and manufacturing plant. In the morning, they showed up at Quanzhou Qiaoxiang Sports Center for PEAK’s training camp. Sasha participated in a 10-minute game against Ron’s team and he played point guard instead of his usual shooting guard position. Always excited to display his skills, Sasha asked for the game to be delayed at one point so that he could show the crowd a very challenging half-court shot. And even with a slight injury, he made great passes and his team managed to win against Ron’s during what was called the Lakers Civil War.

But Sasha truly has only good things to say about Ron Artest. He said, “We lost one player and I think that Ron coming to us, he matured. He’s a player who wants to win the championship and that’s why he came. And I think he’s gonna give us definitely defense, presence, toughness, and what we needed. He’s gonna be a great part of the team that’s trying to defend the title.” He also just shrugged off the previous rifts between the Tru Warier and the Black Mamba. “Now that we are all on the same team, we know what our goal is and we are all professionals. We all realize how important it is to win the championship… I think there’s not gonna be any problem.”

Not one to say something bad, when an interviewer blatantly asked Sasha about his “bad shooting” last season, Sasha laughed and said “I like you!” and went on to explain how he never looked for excuses in life and basketball.

Sasha was on his own in the afternoon when he attended an autograph signing session at Zhongting Street in Fuzhou. He also permitted an exclusive media interview as he offered tips to the Chinese players aiming to play for the NBA. Sasha was deeply moved by the enthusiasm of the fans at Fuzhou. They truly made him feel like a champion.

In the final leg of his China tour, Sasha had a very candid interview with Sina.com. The discussion ran the gamut from basketball-related topics like the Lakers, EuroBasket, and Sasha’s most embarrassing rookie moment to more personal ones like foreign languages and Chinese food, just to name an interesting few.

The increasing popularity of NBA in China and Sasha Vujacic’s NBA performance and marketing appeal has provided an opportunity for him to endorse a domestic brand. PEAK actually stands for Passion, Evolution, Achievement, Knowledge and who could better represent these principles than The Machine himself. And to his fans in China, Sasha’s message during his trip to Fuzhou was loud and clear: “I love China! I love Fuzhou! I love the fans!”

Interview sources: Sina, 163, QQ
Chinese news translators: Ana Lo and Lynn Wang