Yi Jianlian According to FIBA

by Atma Brother ONE on Aug 18, 2006 8:47 AM PDT in News Comment 8 comments

Guangdong (China-CBA, 2001-06).
Yi Jianlian has long been considered the next big prospect from China. He revealed himself in 2003, at the early age of 16, at the FIBA U19 World Championship in Greece, leading his team with 18.9 points and 11.5 rebounds per game. He has been under the radar of the NBA since that competition and has to live with the pressure. He debuted in the CBA in 2002-03 with the Guangdong Tigers and won the Rookie of the Year award.

His excellent combination of size and athleticism as a 7-footer, and his decent strength, permitted him to dominate the CBA this season, averaging 20.5 points and 9.6 rebounds and being named MVP. With the Tigers, he won the last three CBA titles. He made his debut with the National Team at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, playing alongside Yao Ming.

Yi sounds great, but he needs to get on the Twinkie diet!

What are you expecting from Yi in FIBA 2k6?

For more on The Yi Movement:

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age

first off i would love to have this guy and i am a huge supporter of the Yi movement. I was just wondering if he would be eligible for next years nba draft cuz i hear he's only 16 years old

by travisl212 on Aug 18, 2006 3:47 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Eligible

He's in all the major 2007 mock drafts. I'm not exactly sure what his age is though and I don't think many do.

93 'til Infinity: The Warriors' playoff drought?

by Atma Brother ONE on Aug 18, 2006 4:28 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

18 or 21

China claims Yi is 18, although there are reports that he is pulling a Danny Almonte and is actually 21 already.

by LancerEvoV on Aug 18, 2006 5:59 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

age

that is interesting i wonder if people will make a big deal about this and if they will find out exactly what age he is. that would be crazy if they found out he was older and his stock in the draft dropped

by travisl212 on Aug 20, 2006 11:40 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

he's no yao

i compared his stats to yao's stats when yao was with the cba. i'm not saying yi won't be good, howver yao, in his last season at age 20, averaged 32 points and 13 boards and yi has 20 point and 10 boards at only two years younger if chinas telling the truth. i think yao was something of a micheal jordan to the cba and yi is just another mvp. now i believe yi could be very good someday but we shouldn't think he's another yao ming. i also think that we should remember how soft yao was inside and realize that yi will be even softer without as nice of a shooting touch. yi looks to me from what i saw like a slasher in a 7 footers body. i'm torn on the yi movement right now

by mydedgerbil555 on Aug 18, 2006 10:50 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

I'll be honest

I'm kinda skeptical Yi will be any sort of superstar in the NBA. I definitely don't think he'll be a second coming of Yao, but at the same time I suppose I wouldn't put it out of reach that he could be a viable above average starting option at center for somebody. He seems awkward on the court at times to me, though, like his body is trying to two different things at once, if that makes any sense. He doesn't seem to have a lot of fluidity to his game, which is what often gets GSoM favorites Andris Biedrins and Adonal Foyle (har, har) in trouble a lot.

by jonathan on Aug 19, 2006 3:07 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Really?

I think he'll play 3 or 4 in the NBA. His handle and shot looked pretty fluid to me.

93 'til Infinity: The Warriors' playoff drought?

by Atma Brother ONE on Aug 19, 2006 9:30 AM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Yi is no Yao

I'm not really sure how good Yi is, but he def has a fiercer side than Yao did when he first entered the NBA. The dude naturally loves to dunk! And look at him in this linked picture... Yao never seems to have an angry face like that!

But seriously, he didn't become irrelevant versus the TEAM U.S. bigs in the exhibition games, but I guess we'll have another look at him soon. Do I think he's a top 10 pick? The next Skita or the next Biedrins? If anything, he seems to be somewhere in between when it comes to skill set. If he drops enough I'd pick him up in the mid to late first round.