Shandong Hi-Speed Kirin () is a Chinese 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 ...

team based in

Jinan Jinan (), Postal Map Romanization, alternately romanization of Chinese, romanized as Tsinan, is the Capital (political), capital of Shandong province in East China, Eastern China. With a population of 9.2 million, it is the second-largest city i ...

Shandong Shandong ( , ; ; alternately romanized as Shantung) is a coastal province of the People's Republic of China and is part of the East China region. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilizati ...

, which plays in the Northern Division of the

Chinese Basketball Association The Chinese Basketball Association (), often abbreviated as the CBA, is the first-tier professional men's basketball league in China. The league is commonly known by fans as the CBA, and this acronym is even used in Chinese on a regular basis ...

(CBA). Some home games are held in the nearby city of

Linyi Linyi () is a prefecture-level city in the south of Shandong province, China. As of 2011, Linyi is the largest prefecture-level city in Shandong, both by area and population, Linyi borders Rizhao to the east, Weifang to the northeast, Zibo to ...

. The Hi-Speed Group is the club's corporate sponsor. The long-time previous corporate sponsor was Kingston.

History

In its early years, the team was known as the Shandong Flaming Bulls (

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

: 山东火牛), but became the Shandong Lions at the start of the 2003–04 CBA season. At the same time the club moved its homecourt from

Yantai Yantai, Postal Map Romanization, formerly romanization of Chinese, known as Chefoo, is a coastal prefecture-level city on the Shandong Peninsula in northeastern Shandong province of People's Republic of China. Lying on the southern coast of ...

(six games) and

Dongying Dongying (), a prefecture-level city, lies on the northern (Bohai Sea) coast of Shandong province, People's Republic of China. As of the 2020 census, 2,193,518 people resided within its administrative area of and 1,188,656 in the built-up area ...

(five games). For the 2004–05 CBA season, they relocated to

Tai'an Tai'an () is a prefecture-level city in Western Shandong Province of the People's Republic of China. Centered on Mount Tai, the city borders the provincial capital of Jinan to the north, Zibo to the east, Linyi to the southeast, Liaocheng to ...

, but have been back in Jinan since the 2005–06 CBA season. During the 2004–05 CBA season, the freshly-rebranded Shandong Gold Lions finished in sixth place in the CBA North Division, and out of the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

. In the 2005–06 season, the team finished fifth, yet again out of the playoffs. The club's most successful campaign so far has been the

2012–13 CBA season 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

, when it advanced to the CBA Finals, but got swept in the best-of-seven championship series in just four games by the

Guangdong Southern Tigers Guangdong Hongyuan Southern Tigers () or Guangdong Southern Tigers, also known as Guangdong Dongguan Bank () for sponsorship reasons, are a Chinese professional basketball team owned by the Guangdong Winnerway (Hongyuan) Group. The team is one o ...

Players

Current roster

External links

Club official website

Team profile at Sports.Sina.com.cn
{{Chinese Basketball Association Chinese Basketball Association teams Sport in Shandong Basketball teams established in 1995 1995 establishments in China