McGrady vows to help DoubleStar Eagles win title

Seven-time NBA All-Star Tracy McGrady vowed on Sunday to help Qingdao DoubleStar Eagles win the CBA championship.

"All I can do is try hard day in day out and provide great leadership to my teammates to achieve the goal," McGrady told reporters when he was officially presented to the fans and media at a ceremony.

McGrady, a two-time NBA scoring champion who played alongside Yao Ming for the Houston Rockets for six years from 2004 to 2010, signed a one-year contract with the DoubleStar Eagles for a reported 800,000 U.S. dollars.

There were speculations that money was a factor in McGrady's decision to join the DoubleStar Eagles, but he said the fans played a big part.

"Have you seen the video at the airport? My fans are there, they are the reason ... I want to give them an opportunity to see me play in person and thank their support for my 15 years in the NBA," said McGrady, who was greeted by hundreds of Chinese fans when he arrived at Qingdao airport on Wednesday.

The 33-year-old McGrady, the highest-profile foreign basketballer ever to sign for the Chinese league, has already impressed his new team with his work ethic and professionalism in practice.

"Tracy started training the second day after he arrived and worked very hard. We are very pleased with his professionalism," said club manager Sheng Xishun.

For McGrady, working well with his teammates is his immediate priority.

"They are a talented group. They work hard everyday. I'm feeling well with them. And we are building the chemistry. They learn how to play with me and I learn how to play with them," he said.

McGrady also had confidence in working with the team's South Korean coach Kang Jung-soo.

"I'm looking forward to being coached by him, and we are going to have a lot of fun and great success," he said.

"At the end of the day, basketball is universal, and the coach was a basketball player. He knows how to put us together and get us work."

As the new CBA season schedule has yet to be announced, the DoubleStar Eagles has decided not to let McGrady play pre-season games.

The DoubleStar Eagles was ranked ninth in the 17-team CBA last season.