I don't know why everyone is mad at you for your opinion of yao's physical assessment. It doesn't make you any less of a yao fan. I don't think yao's at his physical peak yet though he's still pretty young and with weight training etc you can always get better physically. That's the thing you can't really compare Yi yet because he didnt play college ball or NBA regular season ball. Asian competition seems a lot easier since im sure they are a lot shorter and less physical. Seems like a lot of people that always "theorize" about a player certain becomming the next certain player always seem to jinx them or get it wrong. Remember Penny Hardaway? Grant Hill? Jason williams (bulls point guard) , Adam morrison , etc
It's not his assessment of Yao's physical condition. It's the fact that he uses it to make Yao sound like a big stiff while using the fact that Yi is more athletic to say that Yi will be a better player. If athleticism were the sole determining factor, Stromile Swift would be one of the best players in the game. It's the same bogus argument people make to say that Amare is better than Yao. I think it is not unreasonable to say that if Yao can sustain his production for 5-6 years and win a few playoff series or possibly a title, his career will wind up around where Ewing's did; that is, borderline top 10 center of all time and surefire Hall of Famer. I don't see Yi approaching that level. Yi might be Chris Bosh at best.
Yi turns "20" before the season, and that age is in serious dispute. In the 1996-97 season, when Kevin Garnett was 20, he averaged 17 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 assists a game, shooting .499 from the field with 1.4 steals and 2.1 blocks a game. In the 2004-2005 season, when Chris Bosh was 20, he averaged 16.8 points, 8.9 rebounds, and 1.9 assists a game, shooting .471 from the field with 0.9 steals and 1.4 blocks a game. Its easy to see why people are reacting so strongly to your assertions about Yi. Yi would have to duplicate or exceed those numbers for your statements to be valid. And even then, the questions about his age remain. I'm not going to pretend to know how good Yi is going to be. I'm just advising you to be careful when you make strong statements like that, because you are going to get a reaction.
One good pre-season game, Yi is better than Yao already. If Yi scored 20points in the season, I bet the same person will say Yi is the best Power Forward ever to play in NBA! Yi is aggressive? When the super timid Wang Zhizhi trash Yi's team in the CBA Finals, I dont see Yi aggressiveness at all, in fact he is more timid than Wang in the NBA. Coaching Staff said Yi is smart and hardworking blah blah blah. That is diplomatic way of speech. Bucks of cos not gonna diss their Money Cow in front of the media. As a chinese i wish Yi can be successful in the nba. Like many posters above have said, Yi has the potential. It is now all depend on him how hard he wanna work to improve his game in order to take it to the next level. What i wrote above is not to diss Yi but to let his fans know dont get too excited after one pre-season game and overhyped Yi. The more you expect the more you will disappoint!
LOL. So the coaching staff is being diplomatic? LOL. You're stupid. Why would coach K say these things about Yi? Yi is already signed. Yi has no leverage. In fact, coach K has no reason to reward Yi, but Yi is challenging Charles Villanueva for the starting position, legitimately. Yi is according to the coach, very bright. Even Yao Ming stated that Yi is super smart. Was Yao Ming also being diplomatic? LOL. Stop being dumb. If Yi is the starter, and has an 16PPG, 8 rebounds season, is Yi still overhyped? LOL.
He won't sniff that production this year. If he can even average double digit scoring I will be impressed. Those sound like decent projections for his peak years.
Do you guys like write down numbers then pull them out of a hat? Where are you getting these numbers?
If Yi gets the starting position, are you saying that you think he won't average double number in points?
Yeah well isn't there a new coach in Milwaukee this year? I think Coach K is high on Yi, and would want him to take a fair # of shots. Look at CV's rookie year. He averaged 13PPG. So it's not true that the guards on that team are so selfish, they won't let a PF get at least 10 ppg. Moreover, with a new Coach, things may change. If Yi gets the starting position PF position, and they move CV to SF, then I think it's a good possiblity that Yi will average 13+ PPG, and 8 rebounds per game. Remember, this guy is 7foot tall. And has a good shooting touch. There's a reason why he was drafted so high...
he is also a stick compared to other NBA PF. all they have to do is crowd him to screw up his jumper and out muscle him when he tries to drive. Yi wont be able to hang with TD, Boozer, Bosh, KG, rasheed, O'neal, jefferson.
Dont argue with this guy, he treats Yi as god! He wont accept any bad things about Yi. For your information, Charlie Villanueva played his rookie season as a Raptors! Andrew Bogut, a former no.1 pick of Bucks never averaged more than 10shots a game as a bucks despite a better player than Yi. Why? Because like poster Dominator said, Mo and Redd and now Simmons will take majority of the shots. Yes, the new coach will change this but we will have to wait and see about it!
I was wrong about the CV rookie season but he did play for the Milwaukee Brewers last season, and averaged 11.9 points per game. He played 24 minutes compared to 29 minutes in his rookie season, so that probably accounts for the slight decrease in points. To JLWee: If you can't take discussion, then what the hell are you doing on a messageboard? Please, for your sake, just ignore me in the future since you can't even read dissenting viewpoints without threatening censure.
I know. And I'm not joking either. I honestly think I'm a very reasonable poster. Yeah, I can say things that infuriate people from time to time, but frankly, it's their problem if they can't accept differing viewpoints. This is a messageboard, and you will find opposing ideas. If you can't accept that, why come here in the first place? But anyhow, thanks. You're ok too.
This is exactly why I have mixed feelings about Yi's performance in the NBA. On one hand I really wish him to succeed and be the best he can possibly be; on the other these crazy Yi fans really piss me off sometimes. Yi hasn't done squat in the league and they have already anointed him to be someone great. Learn how to walk before think about running! Beat Bogut first before even thinking about comparing to Yao!
First you said yi will be better than yao because of his athleticism. I disagreed because i think he is only above average athleticism and athleticism doesnt equal to greatness. Then you said Yi is aggressive than yao. I pointed out Yi disappeared in the CBA finals. Like yao, yi plays timid and passive too! You said coaching staff praised Yi. I said all coaches never bad talk their players. Even JVG didnt thrash VSpan until he said was TMac of Greece. What more Yi is a Money Cow to the Bucks' organisation. You said Yi will averaged more than 13pts 8 rebs in his rookie season, better than yao and better than 18yrs old of KG and Bosh. Yi has yet to play a single regular season game. All the above is all based on few preseason games and your own assumptions. I disagreed with it because i dont want to overhype yi until he proves me wrong and you simply cant accept others downplayed yi which is ridiculous. If yi failed to average double digits points in his rookie season, please dont blame it on Redd/Williams/Bell, didnt pass yi the ball!
Please do not put Garnett and Bosh in the same sentence and Yi ever again. I dont care what it is you're talking about just dont do it. You're talking about one future hall of famer and a guy who IS going to damage in this league for many years to come. Dont compare him to Yao anymore either. The only thing they have in common is that they're both Chinese. Nobody compares Lebron to Shaq cuz you cant do it. They dont have the same game. Nobody is comparing Oden to the all time greats. I dont know what you've been watching or reading. Same goes for Durant and Tmac. All they say is that their games are similar.
