Yi Jian Lian will end up where?

[rhk111]

This is a tragic story.

It's every basketball player's dream to play in the NBA. Not every player gets drafted, just ask those who were left out in the 2007 draft.

And yet, we now have Yi, whose NBA dreams are being endangered because of this, or because of that.

I just hope, that things will work out well for him soon.

[RetiredJordanStopper]

I read somewhere that as per NBA-FIBA agreement, anyone who voluntarily applied in the NBA draft, then decides to sit-out / hold-off instead of play for the NBA team that drafted the player, the player cannot sign-up to play for another non-NBA team for the entire duration of the season whether in Europe or in Yi's case, the Guangdong Tigers or in any FIBA sanctioned team in the world. This is to prevent this thing, like Yi's case from happening.

so if Yi decided to sit out this season instead of play for the Bucks, he'll be laid-off for a year and just be scratching a different kind of ball. I hope Yi's handlers have the foresight to just let the kid play with Bogut and Charlie V in Milwaukee.

[appimo]

?

What?!

Go with the Bucks!

You're no Yao Ming and you're never better or will be better than Yao!

Grab the oppurtunity to play in the NBA.

You might just end up like Wang Zhizhi or worse like Menk Bateer.

Goodluck, I hope in 3 years time you won't end up playing again in CBA.

But I doubt it!

[ballerwannabe]

yeah i don't like the way his 'group' (agent, or whoever) is conducting the situation. Like lots of people have said above, its not really beneficial for any party on both sides - milwauke loose a possibly solid backup PF, Yi doesn't get to play pro hoops in NBA, future potential chinese basketball prospects get screwed because of him, etc...

[rhk111]

* Blurred vision: Effort to steer Yi From Milwaukee Could Cost His Career (Sports Illustrated Web Article)

[Phantim3dx]

i couldn't agree with this guy anymore.

for god's sale let yi play for the bucks, and if it's his personal decision to not play for them and he cries about it, man his pr is definitely gonna have to do some major band-aid repairs...

from the website rhk put up

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200.../yi/index.html

Blurred vision
Effort to steer Yi from Milwaukee could cost his career
Posted: Tuesday July 17, 2007 4:26PM; Updated: Tuesday July 17, 2007 4:26PM





Irresponsible. That was the word chosen by Guangdong Tigers chief Chen Haitao when describing how the Chinese Basketball Association would feel if they allowed 19-year-old Yi Jianlian to play next season for the Milwaukee Bucks. Seems Milwaukee, with all their young talent in the frontcourt, would pose too much of a challenge for Yi to play significant minutes next season.

Forgive me while I try to contain my laughter.

You want irresponsible? How about forcing a developing player to sit out an entire season just so the Chinese hoops association feels better about the market that he lands in? That's what Yi would have to do if the Tigers carry through with their plan to block Yi from playing with the Bucks.

According to an NBA spokesman, if Yi decides he wants to re-enter the NBA draft next season he would have to sit out the entire 2007-08 season. I'm not just talking about the NBA season. Yi couldn't play anywhere, not in the States, not in Europe and certainly not in the CBA. If he does, Yi would continue to remain the property of the Bucks.

And how exactly would sitting out a season help Yi? How would that help the Chinese national team, which is hoping to make a big splash in the '08 Beijing Olympics, improve? Instead of a getting a bigger, stronger, more skilled Yi next summer, the team would have a rusty player whose growth has been stunted by his own government's short-sightedness.

Truth be told, the idea that Yi is ready to step in and contribute right away is ludicrous. For every LeBron James (20.9 points in 39.5 minutes as a rookie) there is a Jermaine O'Neal (4.1 in 10.2) to match. The learning curve for some rookies is practically a 90 degree angle, and the fact that Yi has faced very little American competition means his will be enormous.

Yao Ming was the first overall pick in '02 and unquestionably is the most-talented player to come out of China -- and he averaged 13.5 points as a rookie.

What makes anyone think Yi can do any better?
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He can't, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Exactly what is so bad about Yi having to earn his playing time? O'Neal was talented but raw, which is a pretty accurate description of Yi, who has had some phenomenal workouts against steel chairs. But four years of development (both physically and emotionally) in Portland later, and O'Neal was ready to become a five-time All-Star in Indiana. A little time learning the playbook and the NBA style of play couldn't hurt. And even if Yi had landed in Atlanta, there are no guarantees he would step in an contribute right away. In fact, it is more likely he would have struggled and eroded his confidence to the point where he might not be able to recover.

The road to starting isn't much tougher in Milwaukee. Andrew Bogut and Charlie Villanueva aren't exactly Hakeem Olajuwon and Ralph Sampson. If Yi proves he is half the player the Chinese government believes he is, Bucks coach Larry Krystowiak would be foolish to sit him on the bench.

If the CBA wants to pull Yi back to China and make him sit out the season just so he can land in a city like Memphis or Minnesota, fine. The NBA, which cherishes its profitable relationship with China, will be upset but it shouldn't feel beholdened to a government and a country that, to date, has produced exactly one viable player. It sets a bad precedent. If commissioner David Stern intervenes and forces Milwaukee's hand, what's to stop China from hand-picking cities for all their players? Yao has decided to take up surfing -- let's get him to Los Angeles. Sun Yue is terrific snowboarder. How about developing him in Denver or Utah?

If the CBA wants to sink their own ship, let them. Their quality of basketball is decades behind Europe and even further behind the U.S. The only hope for the development of their precious national team is to export their players to markets that will make them better. Holding them back will only serve to make them worse.

[rhk111]

Harris Takes Right Yi Angle
Posted: July 21, 2007SportsDay

Bob Wolfley

So far, Milwaukee Bucks general manager Larry Harris has played it perfectly in trying to move along the process of getting power forward Yi Jianlian to become a member of the Milwaukee Bucks.

But he and the Bucks have some work to do in the middle- and end-game portions of this negotiation in order to lock down the sixth selection overall in the draft.

According to people who have knowledge of such negotiations involving foreign players, Harris has hit the right notes so far.

For him to continue in that manner, the Bucks need to understand what's really going on here. In fact, there's evidence they already do.

The chief obstacle, really the only obstacle, the Bucks face is Chen Haitau, the private owner of the Guangdong Tigers, the Chinese Basketball Association team for which Yi plays.

Chen doesn't merely view Yi as an employee.

Rather, Chen literally owns Yi and wants to make himself richer by negotiating a buyout agreement, retaining a portion of Yi's endorsement income and maintaining Yi as an ambassador to further Chen's business.

It has been suggested Chen might be looking for as much as 50% of all of Yi's endorsement money.

Yi has to buy out his old contract with the Tigers, agree to assign his representation rights to the Tigers and sign his NBA representation to an agent approved by the Tigers.

When Chen says he wants Yi to play in a National Basketball Association market with a significant Asian population, that's just hooey.

He thinks, naïvely, that Yi could earn tons more endorsement income in some markets other than Milwaukee. I say naïve, because if a player really does have game, he can endorse products whether he plays with New York, Miami, Cleveland or Golden State.

If the player can play, a small market is not a deal breaker. LeBron James plays in Cleveland. Kevin Garnett plays in Minnesota. No. 1 overall pick GregOden plays in Portland, and Oden will have all the big endorsements he wants if he can play up to expectations.

Yi's agent of record, Dan Fegan, has been made the fall guy by many in the court of public opinion. He's been cast as the manipulator of Yi, the one giving Yi bad advice, shielding him from the media. Fegan appears to be willing to play the villain so far. But if he's a villain, he's a mute one.

Who precisely is Fegan's client here? Is it Yi or is it Chen? If Fegan had to be approved by Chen, whose interests is he representing? If part of an agent's job is to negotiate a buyout with the club that owns Yi, how can he vigorously represent Yi's interests if he has his job because Chen put him in it?

In any case, the guy to watch here is Chen.

Right now, by all accounts, Chen is marinating in bad publicity in China.

That's why he keeps changing the story about why Milwaukee is the wrong place for his player. First it was the dearth of Asians here. Then it was playing time and helping the national team. What's next? The Bucks team uniform colors are not acceptable?

The Chinese people want Yi to play for the Bucks.

Obviously, Harris and the Bucks have no control over Yi's endorsement income. But Harris can point out the endorsements will come only if Yi is in the NBA, and the only way he is going to play in the NBA is in a Bucks uniform.

Harris has resisted the temptation to criticize Chen publicly or in any way appear irritated by Chen's tactics. A misstep in this area will only give Chen an out from the place public opinion has him boxed.

Harris and owner Sen. Herb Kohl have been taking the open hand, open arms approach - the Bucks love Yi, Milwaukee is eager to meet Yi, Wisconsin is a great state with blue waters and clean air.

They might want to observe our state is the home to the University of Wisconsin, a major research institution that welcomed Chinese scholars in the late 1970s when China opened its doors to the world, initiating an economic boom that continues.

Harris needs to take whatever course will bring him Yi and help Chen save face in the process.

If that means going to China to meet with Chen, so be it.

While he's there he might want to meet the chief of the Chinese Basketball Association and tell him what a thrill and privilege it would be for the NBA, the Bucks, Milwaukee, Wisconsin and the United States to have Yi play at the Bradley Center.

He might want to meet with the media and have an Internet chat with Chinese fans, answering all their questions, demonstrating to them Milwaukee and Yi are a terrific fit.

Public sentiment in China is running on the Bucks' side. Harris and Kohl are in a good position to keep it there.

Call SportsDay at (414) 223-5531 or send e-mail to bwolfley@journalsentinel.com

[bolabasket]

Report says Yi will play for Bucks


BEIJING (AFP) - Basketball star Yi Jianlin will likely play for the NBA's Milwaukee Bucks, Chinese state media reported Monday, contradicting reports last week that the move had been ruled out.

Officials with the Guangdong Tigers, Yi's Chinese team, said the earlier reports were wrong, the Beijing Daily Messenger said.

"Yi will play for the Bucks after all," it quoted the team's vice general manager Liu Hongjiang as saying, giving no reason for the apparent turnaround.

Yi's camp made it clear before the June 28 NBA draft that they did not want the seven-foot (2.12-metre) power forward to play for Milwaukee, one of the NBA's smallest markets and a city with a tiny Asian population.

Worried that his development might be stifled there, Yi's handlers would not even allow him team officials see him train before the draft, but the Bucks selected him with the No 6 pick anyway.

Last week, Guangdong Tigers owner Chen Haitao was quoted by state media as saying the team would block Yi's move to Milwaukee and that he "definitely" would not play there.

But Chen said that report was wrong and that Yi would not return to play in the Chinese Basketball Association, according to the Daily Messenger. It said Guangdong Tigers officials offered no further details.

The Bucks have offered assurances that Yi's development would not be stifled and various media reports have said team officials plan to visit China soon to woo the 19-year-old.

Yi is considered a key part of the national team that China hopes will perform well at next year's Beijing Olympics, and Chinese officials are said to be keen to maximise his development beforehand.

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryId=85557

[ballerwannabe]

man, im really getting tired of all this "Yi and co not interested", "Yi will not play", "Yi might play"... etc. I mean, common this is getting really old!!! I don't even think he is going to be a role player anytime soon in the NBA. My say in this is - stop with the time wasting and join the bucks!!

[lamarhen]

end up being the 2nd best player ever just behind KOBE, and win 9 nba champions

[bobo81]

You guys do understand if Yi goes to the Bucks now he will have even more pressure

From all of these news speculations, to the Bucks trying hard to get him...all eyes will be on Yi. He better perform well lool

[joel23]

Yi's end up to CBA(Chinese league)

[Phantim3dx]

Yi's end up to CBA(Chinese league)

what!?! wheres the link, i gotta f'in read this!

you know if he does this its not good

[saints13]

YJL haven't settled down?

[jxuusa]

Currently there isn't any news regarding the Yi situation. The last news was that the CBA officials were getting in on the action, but its been quiet since the end of July.