Reuters Canada (and the fact that it’s Canada is important here) reported early Friday that “China’s Li” was “surprised to be picked by Milwaukee.” There are many many people with the name Li in China. The player who was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks in Thursday night’s NBA draft is not one of them. His name is Yi, pronounced “t;Eeee.” Yi Jianlian, the 7-foot forward who has drawn comparisons to Kevin Garnett, was selected with the sixth overall pick in the draft, making him the fourth player from China to join the NBA. Reuters has since corrected the headline, but I have an image of the original story below. Why would Yi be surprised to be drafted by Milwaukee? Well, maybe because Milwaukee is like the lowest profile team in the league and people in China couldn’t give a rat’s ass about the Bucks. Yi told the media, “Myself, I’m not really familiar with the city but I’m happy to play with the team and I’m happy to play in the NBA. I didn’t see a lot of Milwaukee’s games in China and I’ve never been there, so it’s kind of a new city to me.” That’s a nice way of saying that Milwaukee is a dump and no one has ever heard of it in China. Reportedly, Yi really didn’t want to go to the Bucks.
So much so that when Yi came to the U.S. to train, he declined to work out for the team so they wouldn’t pick him. Whether he likes it or not, Yi is going to Milwaukee and undoubtedly, the Bucks will be China’s second favorite team. Whether Yi will be a favorite in Milwaukee is still a question mark. Many are saying that the power forward is a “workout wonder” and will be in way over his head once he gets some game action. The word around the Shanghai water cooler, well I should say, my Shanghai water cooler is that this guy’s not as good as everyone thinks he is. Chinese fans say this guy’s weak, kind of slow and plays no D. Comparisons to Yao Ming seem very premature. I’ve also heard from Chinese friends that there is no way this guy’s 19 years old. Thursday night, Yi became the first of the Chinese NBA players to actually show up to New York for the NBA draft.
•Reuters: CORRECTED: China’s Yi Surprised to Be Picked By Milwaukee
•China Daily: Yi: Stop Comparing Me With Yao