yup.. just because he's asian does not mean he's ha hard worker. IT was mentioned a lot at the time that Yi was not like Yao in the work ethics department. He preferred to go out and have a good time rather than hit the gym and focus on his craft. Yi is definitely a bust. He's much more talented and gifted than the crappy Qi that we got but he seemed mentally weak and lazy
Vet minimum, no big deal. I do not believe Yi tried to be the best player he could be when he was in the NBA, maybe he have changed since last time. He has a lot of physical talent, but does not have the mental toughness of Yao. Hmm, now the report is for eight million for one year, he was making more than three million a year in CBA.
I remember having Yi/Yao at the 4/5 in 2K. Very good combination, unstopable even. Wrecked the whole league with a 45-37 record, all the way to the second round before getting eliminated.
8M seems closer to his market value but the Lakers don't have 8M in cap space even with renouncing Kelly and Metta I don't think. I think the Lakers could sign him to a 4-5M contract w/o jumping through hoops.
here is the link.http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/17327744/los-angeles-lakers-agree-terms-china-star-yi-jianlian
He can set you a decent pick, then roll for a jumper, nowadays that means at the very least you can be a 15-20 min backup. His problem was always in the head. Not much in terms of bball iq, natural feel and awareness. Hopefully he's more polished coming back. I read his wife and son have been living in LA last couple years, maybe that was a driving force. They wanted him back last year, but don't blame him for wanting to avoid the Kobe departure and waiting for the cap to blow.
Good pick up for the money. And for the system - he is a big that can run the floor set picks, decent rebound and got good size. I wouldnt be surprised to see him do well in the walton offense if it is like the GSW.
According to Bobby Marks the Lakers have 8,691,631 in cap space so they could pay him the reported 8M. For that kind of dough he better be better than Randle.
this article on Lakers nation mentions 8 million. http://www.lakersnation.com/making-sense-of-the-lakers-signing-yi-jianlian/2016/08/17/
Didn't know he was married or a father. Remember back in the day when a poster named pryuen posted all the latest and greatest about Yao on the Garm and there was this website called Yaomingmania which I think he ran. I think the website is still active, here's a thread of Yi and his family. His wife is a fox and his son's got an American name Gary. He just had a second son last month that was born in LA like his first son which explains why his wife and sons are in LA. http://yaomingmania.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=17542
wow $8 million is a lot. Are the Lakers under the salary minimum? If not, that's a lot of money for Yi. I guess it's possible that the front office convinced the ownership that the team will make more than $8m in merchandising and Chinese money.
There are couple reasons for Yi's 8 mil salary. 1. Yi was making 20 mil RMB last year in Guangdong, plus his endorsement in China, he's already making in the range of 3-4 mil of USD, and he was the MVP of the CBA (Chinese player MVP) last season, so there is very little chance he will leave that to play for a minimum contract here. So if the Laker will pay him for 8 mils, even for 1 year deal, it is a very attractive offer for him, considering his age, even this is a good chance to be back into NBA, the money on this deal is much more important than the chance itself. Hence everything makes sense. 2. Considering this is a one year deal, and the Lakers most likely will not go anyway, he will be a good trade chip at the deadline if indeed the Lakers will find any kind of opportunity. Think about couple years ago, when Morey will offer scrub like Papa for 5 mils, the situation is pretty similar, you take a gamble on that player, if it doesn't work out, his salary and cap space will still net you something eventually.
This dude is lazy as Doug Collins and Yao Ming said. He got ROIDed up with the Wizards and that ended his NBA career Look at his 2010 ROIDed pic
His wife has been living in Los Angeles for the past 2 years trying to break into Hollywood, so that's the only reason why he decided to go back to the NBA. He has no interest in working hard and becoming a real basketball player according to Yao Ming Who can blame him for listening to his wife when she's doing this?