You know what would be worse than holding out on a draft. Out of your own free wil, signing a contract with a team, then quitting the team by calling the player that took a paycut so you can be signed fat and lazy. Also doing that in public so that the team that gave you the biggest contract of your career up to that point have no leverage in trade and got back absolute junk. F*ck Quitten
I'm pretty sure they pay the national team money for playing and bonus money if they win anything. Yao has made lots and lots of money for the NBA already. By allowing Yao to go to the NBA, the CBA is essentially sending their cash cow to America to produce the big bucks for the NBA. The CBA doesn't need to compensate the NBA because they already did so by letting Yao go; he is now making money for the NBA and not the CBA.
Yi won't be as sucessful as Yao. But I'm sure he can at least reach the ODOM's stardard. Yi Needs time(1~2 seasons) to adapt himself to NBA just as Yao and all Chinese players.