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 (appro ...

team based in

Jinan Jinan is the capital of the province of Shandong in East China. With a population of 9.2 million, it is one of the largest cities in Shandong in terms of population. The area of present-day Jinan has played an important role in the history of ...

Shandong Shandong is a coastal Provinces of China, province in East China. Shandong has played a major role in Chinese history since the beginning of Chinese civilization along the lower reaches of the Yellow River. It has served as a pivotal cultural ...

, competing in the Northern Division of the

Chinese Basketball Association The Chinese Basketball Association (), often abbreviated as the CBA, is the first-tier men's professional 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 of the team's home games are also held in the nearby city of

Linyi Linyi ( zh, s=临沂 , t=臨沂 , p=Línyí) 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 eas ...

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

History

In its early years, the team was known as the Shandong Flaming Bulls (), but was renamed the Shandong Lions at the start of the 2003–04 CBA season. At the same time, the club moved its homecourt from

Yantai Yantai, formerly known as Chefoo, is a coastal prefecture-level city on the Shandong Peninsula in northeastern Shandong province of the People's Republic of China. Lying on the southern coast of the Bohai Strait, Yantai borders Qingdao ...

(six games) and

Dongying Dongying ( zh, s=东营 , t=東營 , p=Dōngyíng), is a prefecture-level city 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 ...

(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 ...

, 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, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, 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 of ...

Players

Current roster

References

External links

Club official website

Team profile at Sports.Sina.com.cn

Shandong Hi-Speed Kirin on Weibo.com
{{Chinese Basketball Association Chinese Basketball Association teams Sport in Shandong Basketball teams established in 1995 1995 establishments in China