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Yi's "a sight to behold"

By Atma Brother ONE

Yi Jianlian traveled quite a distance from China to LA in preparation for the highly hyped 2007 NBA Draft and NBA life in general. Now, NBA heads are traveling coast to coast just to get a glimpse of The Movement [ajc.com]:

A large contingent representing the Hawks (including front office folks, coaches, scouts and several players) have either already made it to Los Angeles or are en route to watch Chinese 7-footer Yi Jianlian work out. From what I’ve gathered it’s a closed session (for media hounds and fans, of course) that will give those in attendance a personal showcase of the draft’s remaining mystery player. Some of those same sources I’ve talked to have seen Yi in person already and claim that he’s a sight to behold. So I’m expecting rave reviews after his controlled work out (those things are usually designed to make the prospect look like a million bucks). This dude is the wild card for the Hawks. If he blows everybody away, he could easily become the frontrunner for the No. 3 pick (whether he makes sense or not). That said, several of the people I talked to are still convinced the Hawks are going to trade one (and in some cases both) of those picks for veteran help, which could complicate this entire mess even more.

Most of us will in all likelihood not get the chance to see Yi work out in LA (unless his people want to fly down the GSoM crew for a scouting report!), so I thought I'd leave you with a few Yi sights via the good old YiTube:

Fundamental x18.

This dunk is so icy!

In these 34 seconds Yi's already spent more time working hard than Erik Dampier spent in all his years with the Dubs.

Yi can hit the pressure shots.

You gotta love these announcers.

Over 9.5 minutes of Yi madness!

Warning: Turn off your speakers. The soundtrack on this clip is painful.

And of course Yi Just Doing It.

GSoM friend Adam Laudridsen is also a big fan of trading up for The Movement, Al Hordford, or Brandan Wright. I'm all in favor of moving up, but I probably wouldn't shop a consistently proven stud like Jason Richardson to trade up. I'd see what I could get for Monta Ellis and the #18 pick from the teams slotted high in the lottery though. I think it's harder than people realize to find a sweet shooting swingman like JR that can consistently drop over 20ppg, be a serious long bomb threat, rebound the rock, and fun and gun for Nellieball. Plus those viscous dunks excite the crowd and pump up teammates big time.

What pick will Yi get selected at?


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