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Yi's Sweeter than Mango Mochi Ice Cream

By Atma Brother ONE

Draft guru Chad Ford from ESPN.com dropped a draft watch on the hottest international prospects for the highly anticipated 2007 NBA Draft. The first name on Ford's list was none other than GSoM favorite Yi Jianlian aka The Movement. Here's some of the highlights from his section on Yi...

Yi is more like Toni Kukoc than Yao Ming:

The similarities to Yao are there, but somewhat superficial. They both are Chinese and have dominated the Chinese Basketball Association league. But that's about it.

Yi is an athletic 7-footer who likes to play on the outside. He runs the floor, dunks on people and has a pretty nice handle. Some scouts compare him to Toni Kukoc.

yi.jpg
Sweet swisssssssshhhhhhhhh!

Yi could go anywhere from the top 10 to the mid-first round:

Scouts are pretty evenly split on his draft prospects at the moment. A few of them love him and think he could go in the top 10 this year. Others are more skeptical and have him ranked as a mid-first rounder.

Best case scenario for the Dubs:

  1. Make the playoffs this season... finally!
  2. Yi gets slept on by other team's scouts big time.
  3. The Warriors select Yi with a mid-first round pick.
  4. Nellie abandons the run & gun style of Nellieball for the run & fun Nellieball 2.0 with a lineup of PG: Baron Davis, SG: Jason Richardson, SF: Al Harrington, PF: Yi Jianlian, C: Andris Biedrins plus the mightiest bench in all the league featuring Monta Ellis and Stephen Jackson.
  5. The Warriors win the 2009 NBA Finals. (Haha, okay maybe that's going too far, but the Warriors would be... UNSTOPPABLE BABY!!)

And of course a lil' something for the fans:

Yao's been immensely popular, and teams such as the Golden State Warriors and Seattle SuperSonics -- with potentially huge Asian fan bases -- would love to get Yi.

Think the Bay would go nuts over having Yi on the Dubs? Chris Cohan and Robert Rowell aren't stupid (OH MY! Did I really just write that?). They know that Yi would be an instant money maker and hit at the box office. Also, Del Harris one of Nellie's longtime assistants, had high praise for Yi back when he coached the Chinese national team. Think Nellie could work some magic with this sweet shooting big man with handles? Count me in as a Nowitness!

What does your crystal ball predict for The Yi Movement?

 

The Yi Movement Past, Present, and Future:

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