I guess I am naive, and I know the point has been made before, but: how can you blame the guy for trying, especially as there's plenty of pro-sports precedent for this kind of thing for US Americans? I remember thinking Francis was a problem coming in b/c of the way he pouted about Vancouver, but everyone got over that. Is it okay b/c Francis was seen as less of a "project?" or because he wasn't, say, Greek or Chinese?
Francis received tons of public backlash and criticism for his whining about playing for Vancouver. He was ripped apart by the media...and rightfully so.
im sure kobe loved it in Charlotte so much that he had no part to do with that trade. This stuff happens all the time. This was just more public because of the hype around Yi who is supposed to be the next yao ming.
If Vancouver still had a team, you'd realize that not "everyone" got over that. If I remember correctly, the last time Francis played in Vancouver, fans tried throwing tomatoes at him from the upper deck while he was shooting free-throws - not to mention the whole stadium jeering him every time he touched the ball. I think Yi is lucky that he's staying in Milwaukee. There would be a lot of booing around the league otherwise.
Can't speak for others. But I did lose some respect for Francis because of that. I lost respect for all players, including John Elway and Eli Manning, who refused to play for the team that should have rightfully drafted them.
What else do you call drafting a player who has not worked out for you, who you have not scouted in person and has made it publicly known he has no interest in playing for your team - just because you know that he can make additional revenue available to you via the Chinese market place? I find it particularly offensive when you consider the recent cases of Fran Vazquez and Vassillis Spanoulis. These guys have proven that foreign players don't have to go (or stay) in the NBA if they are unhappy with the situation. Milwaukee got lucky here, but they could have very well ended up in a situation like Orlando where they had no player at all to show for their lottery pick. If that happened to the Rockets, how would you feel? Would you be satisfied with them taking that gamble? I doubt it. But they did take that gamble and I cannot be convinced they did it for basketball reasons. They did it for the money.
LOL Engels and Marx would be rolling over in their graves if they saw today's brand of communism as excercised by China and Russia.
I thought that they did scout him in person, and thats why Milwakee said they didnt need private workouts.Was that untrue? Foriegn players dont have to come or stay in the Nba , but that is the only rights they have.As far as I know, The NBA draft is so that teams pick the players, not the other way around.Also, JianLian wanting to be traded wasnt for basketball reasons.Even if Milwaukee picked him for monetary reasons, why do you have a problem with that?You do know that the NBA is a business right?
Fact is they signed the standard NBA contract. Fact is neither clauses were added to the contract in terms of PT nor any other "greedy" requests as rumoured. Apparently Bucks is the winner in this wrestling, may be CBA and Yi too if he would concentrate on his basketball skill development from now on. HongYuan and his agent lost. I wonder the chances of team Yi decided to sit out the whole season then re-enter 2008 draft if there wasn't 2008 olympics in the agenda. The responses from Bucks fans forum were positive so far and I think those are the responses that only matter. Sen. Herb Kohl appeared to be a very classy gentleman from the press conference and honestly, how can a person reject the request from this old gentleman esp when he just took a 15-hour flight from the other part of the earth to come and knock on your door?
They didn't scout him. They supposedly relied on third party scouting reports. Isn't that enough? After Fran Vazquez, any team who picks a foreign player that hasn't already given them the nod is crazy. As a fan of the Rockets, I'd be furious if the Rockets used a lottery pick on a foreign player who has flat out said he wouldn't come play in Houston. As for the first part, we're in agreement on that. And I also agree that it's a shame such things even have to be considered. However, they DO have to be considered. Steve Francis did refuse to play in Vancouver. Kobe Bryant did refuse to play in Charlotte. Jim Jackson held out for over a year before signing with Dallas because they couldn't agree on a contract. All of that took place before the Fran Vazquez debacle and before Vassillis Spanoulis decided he'd rather be a star in Europe than a bench player in the NBA. If a franchise is acting responsibly and thinking in terms of the product they're putting on the floor, they WILL take these kind of things in consideration. Milwaukee ended up lucking out and getting their guy, but they took a gigantic gamble that, personally, I think was incredibly irresponsible. They had dollar signs in their eyes though, so what do you do? I have a problem with it for several reasons. First and foremost because the fans of Milwaukee are paying for the best basketball team their organization can put on the floor - not the most marketable. Realistically, I know that the business side has to come into consideration, because yes, I also know that the NBA (and each individual team) is a business. However, it seems to me that they must first make basketball decisions, then let the business decisions follow. Not the other way around. Which brings me to my second point - had Yi have stood his ground and just waited it out and been re-drafted next year (or gone to Europe for that matter), then this would have been both a bad basketball decision AND a bad business decision. They would have absolutely nothing to show for the #6 pick in a VERY deep draft. I still feel bad for the fans in Milwaukee when I think how they must have felt for the last few months while they were in limbo over this. Again I ask, can you imagine how we would feel if the Rockets took a guy who had publicly stated he didn't want to play in Houston then spent several months holding out before he agreed to come over? Or worse still, that he never came over? Hell, that would be more painful than the Eddie Griffin debacle. It'd be right up there with Rashard Lewis getting passed on three times. It might even be worse. At least we had the players, even if they didn't pan out. For the sake of the fans of Milwaukee, I really hope Yi lives up to his hype. They deserve it after what they've been through. As for the actual organization, I still think they were blinded by greed and neglected their responsibility to their fans.
So what if they relied on Dell Harris to scout him rather than one of their internal scouts - what difference does it make? I hadn't realized this earlier, but Bucks GM Larry Harris is Dell Harris son. I'm pretty sure he trusts his dad's opinion on basketball evaluation as much as he trusts his own scouts, what with knowing him as well or better than any human being on the planet, right? You're b****ing about them taking a player projected to go 5th by most experts at the 6th spot. I don't see the bucks signing up Wang Zizi or Mengke Bateer to be the 12th man, or drafting Sun Yue. Also I don't recall anybody making a stink about them drafting Andrew Bogut first. What is the problem here? Yes by taking the best available player and then signing him to a contract they are raping their fan base. Did Herb Kohl or Larry Harris beat you up and take your milk money? You are being completely absurd here.
The difference between Yi and Kobe's situation is this: Yi will at least play for the Bucks, Kobe will probably never play a game as a Hornet.
