http://www.nbadraft.net/profiles/yaoming.htm here is yao's numbers when he was in the CBA. They are pretty close imo cuz Yi is only 17 years old.
I've seen this Kid Yi play once in an invitational event a couple of years ago. He was a member of an international squad playing against the American high school all-stars. The kid was absolutely destroyed by Al Jefferson in that game (got dunked on for about five times). He may have potentials (haven't seen enough of him to make a comment), but he isn't like a Yao Ming who entered the league ready to contribute. One thing I remember about Yi from that game is that he was extremely weak physically and would require a lot of work in the weight training room. Any team that drafts this kid will be looking at a three-year project. The Rockets are in the rare window of a potential championship run with both T-Mac and Yao in their primes. We can't afford to use a lottery pick to draft a project big man. If you want a foriegn big man a lot of the P word, we already have one in Lampe.
If Yi is 17, then Andrew Bynum is 14 and Dikembe is 37. I watched him play 2 and 4 years ago during the olympics and world championships. I'd say that age is at least 3, maybe up to 5 years too low.
Yao was doing 32ppg and 19rpg the year he came out. Yi is doing 20 and 9, not too bad for a guy his age but the numbers aren't even close.
I am not proposing whether or not to draft Yi, but your argument is not convincing. He is still very young now, so him being physically weak a couple of years ago is not a big deal to say the least. When Yao first entered NBA, he was quite weak too and I believe Yi is as strong or even stronger than Yao was back then. Like Swift, Yi can play both center and PF positions. As to the window for championship, I agree the window is not that wide. But, we can't rush things, that's what caught us in this season: trying to do a patch-up job with veterans. I agree we cannot wait for a three-year project, but a one-year or even two-year project is worth it (again I am not sure how long will it take for Yi to develope, so I am not proposing either way).
Actually, Yi's 7'0". What I meant by "undersized" was weight and muscle mass. He weighs about as much as Swift. Guys like Swift and Kenyon Martin are already too thin/lanky and lack the strength to bang with the elite power forwards in the west. Weighing in at around 230 lbs with a 7-foot frame implies that he lacks some serious muscle mass. Unless you have a freakish strength/mass ratio like Garnett (who still manages to amaze me with the amount of strength he has in his slender 225 lb. frame), he's going to be "undersized" in my book. Incidentally, I've watched more than just a few highlights of him play. Granted I'm no scouting expert, but from the clips I've seen, when he tries to get his shot off, he sort of throws his body around and leans into his defender instead of moving away. Something like that really won't work in the NBA seeing as how he won't be able to budge his defender with his thin frame. He'd probably get his shot swatted every time he tries that leaner. EDIT: Just to clarify, I'm not saying Yi Jianlian can't develop into a good NBA player. I'm just saying he's most likely not going to be NBA-ready as early as the Rockets need him to be. We need solid contribution now, not all-star "potential" 4 years down the road.
That's the thing. Yi may very well be a good fit for this team. A lot of question marks, yes, but he should be considered. I don't think anyone here is suggesting we draft him JUST BECAUSE he's Chinese. Many scouts have a high opinion of him. We should not discount a prospect JUST BEACUSE he is Chinese - as some here do.
Acturally Yi is 110KG(approx 242 LB). The biggest problem with Yi should be his age. If he is only 19(born at 1987), he has the chance to be a lottery pick for sure.
Really....every profile I've read on him has him listed at 104kg (~230 lbs). If he is indeed 242 lbs, then I take back the "slightly undersized" statement. Just from seeing recent pictures of him though, I don't think he weighs quite that much. He's built more like Kevin Garnett...not Chris Webber. I thought even 230 lbs was a bit on the generous side.
Actually, I don't care WHO they draft as long as they don't make any more stupid decisions. 3 #1's for EG ?? Pure suicide. Bryce Drew, Mirsad Turkcan?? Treating Rashard like dirt?? Good lord, where would this franchise BE if not for the crazy luck in the Yao Ping-Pong-Ball Challenge? That led directly to TMac wanting to come here. This team actually has done remarkably well considering how little the draft has contributed to the picture. Now drafting Luther, especially as low as we drafted, was finally a decent move. He should be a decent bench player for a lot of years, but is by no means a vital piece, a-la Dwayne Wade, or someone of that caliber. That's all fine, but we have been so exposed with the health issues of TMac and Yao. This team has GOT to get it right in the draft, AND in Free Angency. Hopefully Morey will let us see more clearly than in the past. And if that means Li is the guy, then so be it. But they better be sure as HECK that they are making the right decision, whatever they do.
After seeing all these video hightlights, you'd think Yi's stats should be a lot better than 20.5ppg 9.6rpg 1.3bpg in CBA. What's going on with his coach and teammates, not feeding him enough balls?
I haven't followed CBA closely, but my impression is that his club has a lot of offensive weapons just like Wang Zhizhi's club used to be, unlike Yao's club which relied on Yao heavily.
I know they are just video clips -- and you could have probably put together similiar clips of Shawn Bradley in college. But that being said -- he can move for a big man.
