I saw him caught ball low post and went right away to work against Melo. It was pretty strong post move. I thought that was pretty good. He has good shooting touch. But he needs to play more agressively, and his defense is poor. He used his body instead of moving his feet. I remember Yao had that problem too.
I agree, Yi is good! He is the most atheletic player coming out of China. It is impossible to compare chinese players and US players because of their naturally born body condition. You look at most of the players in the CBA and on the CNT, they are puny compared to the NBA players (Excluding height). Yao was skinny and weak when he first entered the NBA, but he is coping fine and now it is others who are finding it hard to move him. I think if you give Yi some time to workout in the NBA, he could be a force like Yao
He is too much like Stromile Swift. Good for producing highlights, then disappear in major chunck of the game.
Yi JianLian has the potential to be better than Stromile Swift. Pretty soon, we'll forget about "The Stro Show" and we'll be watching "The Yi Show"!!!
I think Yi is the Chinese version of KG, he really has those KG moves. I really do think Yi has a lot of potential to grow, give him times to develop and train in the NBA, he will definitly become something special.
uh....not really. hold off with the NBA superstar comparisons until the guy actually does something first... like make it to the NBA and play. he moves really well for his size. Has a nice shot. Needs to develop a post game, learn how to play D and get stronger. I just don't believe the hype. He hasn't done anything significant in the worlds...
I think it was a mistake of them to bring back Wang Zhi Zhi. Wang may be a short-term fix and can hit a few 3-pters for them. But the future of their NT really depends on the development of Yi to form a formidable duo with Yao in the middle. The presence of Wang will hold back the development of Yi, IMO. Pairing up Yao with Wang is not going to work. Yao needs an athletic bulldog type of frontcourt partner who can play tough defense, rebound and block shots. Wang is far from being one. They should have let Yi play heavy minutes in this WC so he could get the all-important experience by playing in bigger games with more at stake. And they should also let Yi come to the NBA as soon as possible.
With all due respect, I thought most of us agreed that Yao is dominant under the basket and a Cato-like 4 is not the ideal fit any more? -- ain't the rox itself trying to find a long range PF to compliment Yao's low post game? I agree that Yi is a BIG part of CNT's future, but I do see a healthy wang being a great compliment to Yao's game...
Yi is nothing special yet. Being an average player on the world stage right now, he is gonna be a first round pick mainly for the sexy "P" word. He is a good athlete with great length, can do a little of everything but nothing spectacular right now. He has to improve every facet of his game to become a solid pf in the NBA. And no, without that explosiveness he doesn't have KG potential. I'd rather say it's Horace Grant or Boris Diaw potential, if he improves his all around game and bulks up.
Unlike stromile swift, yi is a very consistant shooters. Some say up to 16-17 feet, but at least just outside the key, he is very consistant. With his size and speed, he should have no problem finding those shots in a game. You look at the game between China and USA (exhibition) he was open a lot of the time cause he is smart. He has the court vision as well as the weak side movement to be effective. Unlike swift who is much more lazy on the court. Pair him up with a good guard, he should be able to put up consistant numbers.
Pretty good Chronicle article. It seems tho that Yi is getting older then they are saying. http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/4142625.html The problem is the teams in the Chinese Basketball Associa-tion do not want to give up their best players, weakening their teams. Yao's former team, the Shanghai Sharks, used to be CBA champions, but now are at the bottom of the league. Concerns such as that probably have kept 6-11 forward Yi Jianlian out of the NBA draft in recent years and playing for the Guangdong Southern Tigers. Yi is long and athletic, with good instincts and quick moves around the hoop. The NBA received a notice at the start of last season that Yi was 19 years old and would be draft eligible in 2006. Then another notice arrived in January, informing that Yi was only 18 and too young for the draft. Most insiders believe he is 22. During an exhibition game two weeks ago, Yi told Shane Battier he's 24.
It is pretty short sighted to try to keep the top players in China. If Yao has spend the last four years in China, where would he be today? Where would the CNT be today without the progress Yao has made during the last four years? Let Yi come out and mature in the NBA environment.
I think he has not been playing recently because he hasn't been playing so well and Wang Zhizhi has been playing better. Although I'm not sure why he has played less than 10 minutes in each of the last two wins, but China has won both games.... coincidence? Anyway, watching him play it seems like he has the skills to be really good, but is not strong enough (see Santiago back him down right to the basket) and isn't very consistent. He also likes to hang out in the paint, and thus clogs up the paint for Yao. He needs better coaching and better competition to improve himself.
It's funny these articles are full of **** without any concrete sources. It's straight up bull**** written from idiot writers that doesn't have anything better to write about. It's like saying "Oh he told him he's 24, oh wait, he told him he's 30." How you know what he told him? And did he tell him he said that? Where you hear it from? Out of someone's ass? Yea... SUREEEEEEEEEE!!!
I agree! If CBA did cover up his age, then it would be stupid for Yi to go around telling others that he was older. It would just ruin him. The CBA would not tolerate this kind of behaviour.
So that idiot writer FRAN BLINEBURY claims Yi JianLian told Shane Battier he's really 24 years old. First of all, Yi doesn't speak English. 2nd, Shane doesn't understand Chinese. It's all Bullshiet. I believe I just busted out FRAN BLINEBURY for talking out of his ass. HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!!!!
