There's a great video up at ESPN.com on Yi Jianlian showing him working out (check out his finishes with both hands! Boozer-esque) and featuring an interview. The most surprising thing, at least to me, is that his English is really good -- already better than Yao's.
http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/ivp/index?id=2873957&catname=NBA
Here's an excerpt from Chad Ford's Insider article:
Several top draft prospects are working out in Los Angeles, including Joakim Noah and Corey Brewer of Florida and homegrown star Nick Young of USC.
But for the past four days in L.A., as I traveled from gym to gym, the chatter wasn't about two Gators or a Trojan.
Yi, who has been living in L.A. for the past month, has been making the rounds and earning awe and respect everywhere he goes.
"Have you seen the Yi kid yet?" Young's trainer Don MacLean said after I watched him work out Young and Jason Smith on Saturday. "That kid was amazing."
"The dude can play," Young chimed in. Then, with a wide grin, he proudly declared he had dunked on Yi in a workout. "When you see him play, you'll know how impressive that is."
Different gym, same buzz.
At the Home Depot Center, trainer Joe Abunassar interrupted a discussion of the players he's training to say, "Wait until you see Yi. There isn't a drill I could come up with that Yi couldn't excel at."
Noah was giving love, too.
"Where did that guy come from?" Noah asked when I asked him about his workouts with Yi. "That's something to behold."
That "something to behold" walked into the Velodrome at the Home Depot Center at around 11 o'clock on Tuesday to unveil the mystery.
It was worth the wait.
After a brief warm-up, Yi began his shooting drills. He rarely missed. He got great elevation on his picture-perfect jump shot -- high release, elbow in, nothing but net from both inside and outside the 3-point line.
Nevada's Nick Fazekas, a draft prospect known for his shooting stroke, followed suit on the set shots, but started to lose ground to Yi once the players moved to shooting off the dribble. For Fazekas, the accuracy started to waver a bit. The needle didn't move for Yi.
...
So what's he got? One way to find out was to see him next to Noah, a very athletic big man. Could Yi keep up?
It didn't take long to get the answer. After the shooting drills were over, Yi, Fazekas and Noah went through a drill in which they took the ball at the top of the key, cut right or left, were given one dribble and then had to finish around the basket.
While Fazekas labored to get to the rim from that distance, Noah had no problem, as expected. He finished every time with either a finger roll at the rim or a dunk.
Yi's performance was more surprising. I had to change angles to make sure it wasn't an optical illusion.
As Yi finished at the rim, his elbow was often at or just below the rim.
His elbow.
Whether he kissed the ball high off the glass or finished with a dunk, his explosion off the floor was impressive. Not impressive like Tyrus Thomas, mind you. But for a 7-footer, he could really explode.
Yi continued to impress in full-court sprints, flying up and down the court. His pull-up shots around the basket looked nearly impossible to block, thanks to his impressive 7-foot, 4½-inch wingspan.
He also possesses great lower body strength, which should help him hold his position on the post. His upper body appeared to need work, but given his good frame and the progress he had already made in his daily workouts, it appeared that he was well on his way to filling out. At 246 pounds, Yi is nearing his prime playing weight.
Whether in the post, on the wing, or in the open floor, Yi looked as impressive in workout conditions as any elite NBA draft prospect I've come across in the last five years.
Purely in terms of talent and tools, I have no doubt he's the third-best prospect in the draft.
http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/draft2007/insider/columns/story?columnist=ford_chad&page=Yi
http://sports.espn.go.com/broadband/ivp/index?id=2873957&catname=NBA
Here's an excerpt from Chad Ford's Insider article:
Several top draft prospects are working out in Los Angeles, including Joakim Noah and Corey Brewer of Florida and homegrown star Nick Young of USC.
But for the past four days in L.A., as I traveled from gym to gym, the chatter wasn't about two Gators or a Trojan.
Yi, who has been living in L.A. for the past month, has been making the rounds and earning awe and respect everywhere he goes.
"Have you seen the Yi kid yet?" Young's trainer Don MacLean said after I watched him work out Young and Jason Smith on Saturday. "That kid was amazing."
"The dude can play," Young chimed in. Then, with a wide grin, he proudly declared he had dunked on Yi in a workout. "When you see him play, you'll know how impressive that is."
Different gym, same buzz.
At the Home Depot Center, trainer Joe Abunassar interrupted a discussion of the players he's training to say, "Wait until you see Yi. There isn't a drill I could come up with that Yi couldn't excel at."
Noah was giving love, too.
"Where did that guy come from?" Noah asked when I asked him about his workouts with Yi. "That's something to behold."
That "something to behold" walked into the Velodrome at the Home Depot Center at around 11 o'clock on Tuesday to unveil the mystery.
It was worth the wait.
After a brief warm-up, Yi began his shooting drills. He rarely missed. He got great elevation on his picture-perfect jump shot -- high release, elbow in, nothing but net from both inside and outside the 3-point line.
Nevada's Nick Fazekas, a draft prospect known for his shooting stroke, followed suit on the set shots, but started to lose ground to Yi once the players moved to shooting off the dribble. For Fazekas, the accuracy started to waver a bit. The needle didn't move for Yi.
...
So what's he got? One way to find out was to see him next to Noah, a very athletic big man. Could Yi keep up?
It didn't take long to get the answer. After the shooting drills were over, Yi, Fazekas and Noah went through a drill in which they took the ball at the top of the key, cut right or left, were given one dribble and then had to finish around the basket.
While Fazekas labored to get to the rim from that distance, Noah had no problem, as expected. He finished every time with either a finger roll at the rim or a dunk.
Yi's performance was more surprising. I had to change angles to make sure it wasn't an optical illusion.
As Yi finished at the rim, his elbow was often at or just below the rim.
His elbow.
Whether he kissed the ball high off the glass or finished with a dunk, his explosion off the floor was impressive. Not impressive like Tyrus Thomas, mind you. But for a 7-footer, he could really explode.
Yi continued to impress in full-court sprints, flying up and down the court. His pull-up shots around the basket looked nearly impossible to block, thanks to his impressive 7-foot, 4½-inch wingspan.
He also possesses great lower body strength, which should help him hold his position on the post. His upper body appeared to need work, but given his good frame and the progress he had already made in his daily workouts, it appeared that he was well on his way to filling out. At 246 pounds, Yi is nearing his prime playing weight.
Whether in the post, on the wing, or in the open floor, Yi looked as impressive in workout conditions as any elite NBA draft prospect I've come across in the last five years.
Purely in terms of talent and tools, I have no doubt he's the third-best prospect in the draft.
http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/draft2007/insider/columns/story?columnist=ford_chad&page=Yi
