Chen Hsin-An (陳信安; born July 1, 1980), also known as Sean Chen, is a retired professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player from Taiwan. He plays

small forward The small forward (SF), also known as the three or swingman, is one of the five positions in a regulation basketball game. Small forwards are typically shorter, quicker, and leaner than power forwards and centers but taller, larger, and stronger t ...

in Taiwan, while adjusting to play

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional positions in a regulation basketball game. A shooting guard's m ...

in leagues where there are bigger

lineup Lineup, line up or line-up may refer to: Groupings * A queue area of waiting people * A police lineup, or identity parade, of suspects * The roster of a sports team at a given time ** Batting order (baseball) in baseball ** The starting position i ...

Early life

Chen was born in

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...

, Taiwan. He initially played

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the g ...

when he attended Tian Mu Junior High School. He began playing basketball after he entered

Taipei Municipal Song Shan Senior High School The Taipei Municipal Song Shan Senior High School (SSSH; ) is a Taiwanese high school, located in the Xinyi District, Taipei. Outline *1958：Founded and named as Taipei Municipal Song Shan Junior Middle School (). *1968：reorganized into Taipe ...

, where his talents showed early, winning the HBL (High School Basketball League) tournament in his freshman year. On 4 April 1998, he won a dunking contest at an Asian invitational while representing Taiwan. Chen attended

Taipei Physical Education College Tianmu Campus, University of Taipei () is a campus in Dunhua North Road, Songshan District, Taipei, Taiwan. History The campus was originally founded as Taipei Physical Education College () in 1968. In August 2013, it was merged with Taipei Muni ...

Career

Chen helped the Bank of Taiwan (BoT) team win the Taiwan Amateur League (A-League)

title A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify either generation, an official position, or a professional or academic qualification. In some languages, titles may be inserted between the f ...

in 2000 against the then-dominating Yulon Dinos. He was subsequently recalled by Yulon who initially signed him and allowed him to play for the BoT, and formally became a Yulon Dino. Named the first

most valuable player In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

(MVP) for the championship series of the new-born

Super Basketball League The Super Basketball League (超級籃球聯賽), often abbreviated as the SBL, is a semi-professional men's basketball list of basketball leagues, league in Taiwan. Current clubs Currently, there are four teams competing in the SBL. They are ...

(SBL), Chen led Yulon to back-to-back championships in 2004 and 2005 as the primary scorer of the team. Having been regarded as one of the most talented players in

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

, Chen was the scoring champion of men's basketball in the

2001 East Asian Games The 3rd East Asian Games were held in Osaka, Japan from May 19, 2001, to May 27, 2001. Sports The 2001 East Asian Games featured events in 15 sports, which was a new high for the competition. *Aquatic sports, Aquatics () ** Swimming (sport), S ...

where his team

Chinese Taipei "Chinese Taipei" is the term used in various international organizations and tournaments for groups or delegations representing the Republic of China (ROC), a country commonly known as Taiwan. Due to the One-China principle stipulated by th ...

won the

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...

. He also participated in the National Basketball Association's (NBA's) preseason games and Summer League in 2002 and 2003 during off season. While helping Yulon repeat the SBL championship, Chen also set out to pursue a new career in the United States, although he did not succeed in getting into the NBA. Instead, he appeared briefly on two teams of the

American Basketball Association The American Basketball Association (ABA) was a major men's professional basketball league from 1967 to 1976. The ABA ceased to exist with the ABA–NBA merger, American Basketball Association–National Basketball Association merger in 1976, ...

(ABA) between 2004 and 2005 where he played shooting guard and concentrated on

long-range shooting Long range shooting is a collective term for shooting disciplines where the distance to target is significant enough that shooter has to put effort into calculating various ballistic factors, especially in regards to the deviating effects ...

. Since 2005, Chen has suffered from sporadic

ligament A ligament is the fibrous connective tissue that connects bones to other bones. It is also known as ''articular ligament'', ''articular larua'', ''fibrous ligament'', or ''true ligament''. Other ligaments in the body include the: * Peritoneal li ...

injuries in his left knee and has therefore missed several opportunities to play abroad or to represent his country in international tournaments. Despite winning his first regular-season MVP award and scoring champion title in the SBL in the 2007-2008 season as he resumed to play for Yulon, Chen failed to lead his team back to championship as he promised. After such disappointment, he announced a decision to seek breakthrough in the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) of the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

. Despite possible penalties warned by Taiwan's official basketball association, Chen Hsin-An became a player of the CBA's

Dongguan Leopards The Shenzhen New Century Liebao Club, also known as Shenzhen Marco Polo or Shenzhen Leopards (previously Shenzhen Aviators) are a Chinese professional basketball team which plays in the Southern Division of the Chinese Basketball Association (CB ...

in 2009 until 2011. On 16 November 2013, the opening day for the 11th season of SBL, Chen announced his retirement.

Early life

Career

References

See also