Dude, he never said that drafting at a lower position will give him more playing time. He said that being draft by the most suitable team will get him the most playing time. Whatever position those teams are at doesn't seem so important to yi and his agent right now.
So you think the GMs will not smart enough to draft a player that is suitable for the team? Again, a high draft pick means more investment and committment from the team. If a team draft him high, that means they believe he is worth to develop. Which more than anything will translate to more playing time. Teams with lower draft picks are teams with better players on the roster, if anything, he will have a difficult time crack the rotation.
I have to disagree, I think it has to do more with the talent of the player and how he fits with the team that dictates playing time, etc. For instance, Darko. He was #1 overall yet had no time because of the team he was on. Kwame, cause he actually sucked, even tho was #1 overall. So then you say, yea those are the odd times. So lets look at Lebron, Yao. They get time because they are good. Yi Jian Lian is an awesome player, and paired up with a team that fits him well, will get tons of time, AND tons of commitment by the team if they like him, not because of what number he gets drafted.
I agree with ooliverb1 here. Every prospect should work to get drafted as high as possible. I think Yi got very poor advice from Fagen. The comparison with Yao is crazy. Yao flat out sucked in his first year. He was given play time to develop by the Rockets only because he was the #1 pick, otherwise he would have been released after the first year.
Find me any rookie who scored 9/9 against LA Lakers for 20 points to have Charles Barkley to kiss the @$$ of a donkey in his 8th game and scored a double-double (30 points/16 rebounds) in his 10th game against Dallas Mavericks, not as a starter but just from the bench BEFORE you made such ridiculous and laughable comment about Yao Ming's rookie performance.
OOPPSS....I imagined ??? What/who did you see and remember? Darko ? Kwame Brown ? Yao Ming still hold the NBA record now for his rookie performance for making 31 out of 35 field goal attempts (89%) during that stretch of his rookie season. He did not show good form/conditions in his first 4 to 5 games, as he had to represent China in the 2002 World Championship in Indianapolis and had to skip the training camp. Nevertheless he had his first breakout game from the bench in his 8th game against LA Lakers, and then the eruption in the 10th game against Dallas Mavericks, scoring 30 points/16 rebounds. And from his 11th game onward, he just took over the starting centre position from Kelvin Cato, a position he never gave up in the past 5 seasons unless he was forced to be sidelined by injury.
Man if only Yi ends up in a JVG coached team... he can then say goodbye to his fancy little dribbles and dunks.
Then you must be blind to make that kind of statement that Yao Ming flatly sucked in his rookie season. He might not be dominant the way he is now. But to snatch the starting centre position from Kelvin Cato from the 11th game onward, got 13.5 ppg/8.2 rpg/1.8 bpg in his rookie season, and lead all rookies of that year for most of the season in itself spoke alot about Yao Ming's game that he had not been a bust in his rookie season. For players as great as Kobe Bryant or Tracy McGrady, they did not even have that kind of performance in their first and second season.
Read my post again. Yao flat out sucked in his first few games. If he was not the #1 pick, he would have rode on the bench for the whole season then got released after it. He was given the play time that he didn't deserve to develop and improve his game ONLY BECAUSE he was the #1 pick.
WOW !!! HOW FAST you back-pedalled !!! Please read AGAIN what you posted. First year becomes now first few games..... If you have followed the full Yao Ming's career, you'll know in his first 2 to 3 games, he was still adjusting to the NBA game and tempo; as I mentioned above, he had skipped the preseasons, and training camp that year, as he had to represent his country to play in the 2002 World Championship, so he was not in the conditions for the first 3 to 4 games. But starting his 5 to 6 of his games, he was already demonstrating good offensive/defensive skills from the bench. It was during that 10 initial games, that he awed the NBA world with a 31/35 FG%.....and why do you think Rudy T had opted to start him for Kelvin Cato, if he flatly sucked out in his games right after the 10th game, if he was not good enough ??
you're so full of ****. Kwame Brown flatout sucked not only in his first few games of career, but his entire career. so did Michael Olowokandi. both were #1 pick. No team is gonna release a #1 pick after just 1 season no matter how much they suck you idiot.
Out of all the stupid things I have read, this sir takes the cake. People with low mental capacity that don't think often say the same thing.
