Yi Jianlian only wants to play on "the right teams"

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BMiller52

All-Star
• The Yi Jianlian games have begun. Yi is foregoing the physical-only portion of the camp -- the first time I remember seeing that move by a player.
Yi is not injured and he's not in China. He's pulling out to maintain control of the process.
Both his agent, Dan Fegan, and the Chinese government want to make sure Yi lands on the "right" team. So Yi will work out for only a few select teams.
Yi's Orlando maneuver means that the other teams in the league won't even have the results of a physical to look at, which might further discourage them from draft Yi.
Don't be shocked if Golden State or Chicago finds a way to move up and grab Yi. They seem to be the two "approved" teams most interested.
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http://insider.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=2890194&name=ford_chad

Sounds like he might not want to play for us if he did slip...
 
well I heard that the only reason Yi was allowed to leave China and play in the NBA was if he complied with the Chinese government on what they felt was the correct destination for him.
China has received enormous profits from Yao Ming believe it or not and they wont let one more opportunity slip with Yi. Yao is in Houston, which is considered a pretty big market.
 
No problem. It's not like they get him for free. The other team has to give up something of value. For example, Tyrus Thomas would a fair trade for Yi.
 
what happens if he remains available at #10 and we pick him (assuming he doesn't want to play for us)?
 
mdme said:
what happens if he remains available at #10 and we pick him (assuming he doesn't want to play for us)?
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Depends. Likely enough he and his agents would Kobe us into trading him to his prefered destination, but that would require the team really wnat him, have a player we want in return and it would apear some kind of clearance from China. Or he could jsut say in in China and the Kings would out a pick (they would hold his rights) and would have to pound sand after the draft.
 
mdme said:
what happens if he remains available at #10 and we pick him (assuming he doesn't want to play for us)?
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I rather doubt that scenario -- if he slips as far as #10 they will likely be HAPPY to have him come to Sacto rathe than have him slip even further. The Sacramento Kings, off of the Vlade/Webb/Adelman era, are actually one of the more famous NBA franchises worldwide, and even toured China a few years back with Yao if you remember. Its not a slam dunk that they would object to such a placement.

Probably means they are trying to discourage a place like Memphis, Charlotte, Minneosta, Milwaulkee maybe even Atlanta (which btw is B.S. -- I'd draft him anyway as one of those teams and call the bluff). But West Coast, near the Bay Area with its Chinese population, famous (internationally) franchise that has had several international stars in recent years is not a guaranteed = no.
 
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Whatever, don't bother with the Chinese government on this one.

They played hardball with the Rockets until the day before the draft. They wanted him to go to New York or LA, which was obviously impossible. In the end they caved and Yao came to Houston.

This time around, they have even less leverage. Their argument at the time was that they couldn't trust Yao since Wang ZhiZhi had just defected, so they needed to keep a tight leash. Well, Yao didn't run away and in fact probably cares more about the national team than anything else.

Besides, if Sacramento drafts him, they hold his draft rights forever, unless he decides not to play any professional basketball for 3 years. The team that drafts him holds all the leverage in this situation and the China loses out on the money generated from having another big name athlete in the NBA.
 
• The Yi Jianlian games have begun. Yi is foregoing the physical-only portion of the camp -- the first time I remember seeing that move by a player.
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Heh... he's got nothing to gain by letting the world see that he can't do bench presses! :rolleyes:
 
Bricklayer said:
Probably means they are trying to discourage a place like Memphis, Charlotte, Minneosta, Milwaulkee maybe even Atlanta (which btw is B.S. -- I'd draft him anyway as one of those teams and call the bluff). But West Coast, near the Bay Area with its Chinese population, famous (internationally) franchise that has had several international stars in recent years is not a guaranteed = no.
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I'll second that. The Kings' uni are among the most popular jerseys I saw when I toured China. The others are Rockets (naturally), Sixers (Iverson), Lakers, T-Wolves, and Bulls.

Put yourself in the Chinese government's shoes; would you rather Yi goes to Tennessee? Georgia? Wisconsin? North Carolina?

Or California!!

I think Boston or Chicago may be the top choices. But I don't think we should sell ourself short either.
 
It sucks that Chicago is interested. If he does slip, it would suck to see him snatched right in front of us by them. We'd have to hope they're interested in Randolph, or something from Portland, and that Conley slips. Unless we move up, Jianlian looks to be out of reach.
 
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