The Perpetual NBA Thread

[kimpOy]

steve blake is a nugget...di ba

[empy]

uups....sorry

i meant Jarrett Jack. brain fart :screwloose:

[mazdamazda]

speaking of the Nuggets, they are trying to acquire just-waived-PG Brevin Knight

===

hmmm... seems like we have a snob from China :snob:

Yi not talking about NBA, Bucks
July 2, 2007

DALLAS (AP) -- Bucks top draft pick Yi Jianlian won't talk about the draft or the prospect of playing for Milwaukee.

Yi is in Dallas with the China National Senior Team for two exhibition games. He said Monday that he was looking forward to playing against the Dallas Mavericks Summer Team on Tuesday. But he declined for the second straight day to talk about the NBA.

"I don't want to talk about that," he said and walked away from reporters.

Agent Dan Fegan pushed for the 19-year-old Yi to go to a city with a heavy Asian influence. According to Census data, Milwaukee has a little more than 1,200 Chinese residents.

[ssaloon]

pffft... yi should just shut up and play.

re: denver, i think that's expected because it's doubtful that they'll resign steve blake.

[theveed]

More China players news.

In 1979, the Los Angeles Lakers shocked no one when they selected Earvin "Magic" Johnson with the first pick in the NBA Draft. Twenty eight years later, the Lakers picked Magic again -- only this time they waited until the second round to acquire China's version, raising more than a few eyebrows in the process.

Sun Yue, affectionately known as the "Chinese Magic Johnson," does not come to the NBA with the same hype as Johnson -- at least not Stateside. There is no NCAA championship on Sun's résumé, and his personality will never be compared to the charismatic Johnson's. In fact, in many ways Sun is more Tony Parker than Johnson, as his girlfriend is one of China's top models. But whenever you have a point guard who looks like a power forward, the comparisons to Johnson are inevitable. Just ask Penny Hardaway.

"I have a different style [than Johnson],'' Sun said. "Yes, I'm like him because I pass more than score. Maybe I play kind of like him, but he was a superstar.''

What the 22-year-old Sun does bring is a pretty impressive skill set. Sun, along with countryman Yi Jianlian, is part of a new generation of Chinese basketball players, a flashy ball handler and aggressive dunker who at 6-9 towers over opponents at the point-guard position much the same way Johnson did two decades ago.

Sun averaged 10.5 assists last season for the Beijing Aoshen Olympians, a Chinese professional team that jumped to the American Basketball Association in midseason. He showcased a nice perimeter jump shot and a fluid left-handed stroke that had scouts intrigued at the possibility of a Chinese NBA player who didn't play one of the power positions. His overall performance -- he averaged 13.5 points and was named to the All-ABA first team -- coupled with a solid showing at the NBA predraft camp in Orlando put Sun on the radar as teams frantically searched for playmakers in a relatively weak draft for point guards.

"We looked hard at him," an Eastern Conference scout said of Sun, who is hoping to follow Yao Ming, Wang Zhizhi and Mengke Bateer as Chinese players to make the NBA. "It was split down the middle, but a lot of our guys were very high on him."

Certainly the Lakers were. In selecting Sun with the 10th pick in the second round (40th overall), Los Angeles passed on more accomplished college point guards like Marist's Jared Jordan and Florida's Taurean Green. The Lakers also selected Sun after using their first-round pick on Georgia Tech point guard Javaris Crittenton. While the Lakers like Sun's versatility -- he can defend four positions -- it's possible that he could be asked to remain with the Chinese team for another season.

"We feel [Sun] is a prospect," Lakers GM Mitch Kupchak said. "He could come with us early or perhaps play overseas."

Others feel Sun needs more seasoning before he makes the leap to the world's elite basketball league.

"If you ask me which skill Sun needs to improve in terms of playing in the NBA," Chinese national team coach Jonas Kazlauskas said recently, "I'd tell you he needs an all-around improvement, because he is not strong enough to join the games there."

The world won't have to wait long to find out. Sun was scheduled to participate with Yi and the rest of the national team in two exhibition games this week and will likely head to Las Vegas to play for the Lakers' summer-league team later this month. An impressive performance against a group of young prospects and NBA vagabonds would go a long way toward earning an invitation to Lakers' training camp in the fall.

"I used to dream about playing on the Lakers," Sun said. "They are very young and talented. I think the team fits me well."

============

[theveed]

Yi should meet his match
Milwaukee actually a good fit for Chinese draft pick

Yi Jianlian doesn't know much about the city of Milwaukee -- and that's the way his representatives would like to keep it.
Yi Jianlian doesn't know much about the city of Milwaukee -- and that's the way his representatives would like to keep it.

Milwaukee has a Chinese Kung Fu Center.

Milwaukee, according to Superpages.com, has 48 Chinese restaurants. The city's got a Chinese sports bar, a China Council and a new Academy of Chinese Language sitting right smack in a low-income, largely black neighborhood.

All that's missing is a 19-year-old, 6-foot-11 Chinese man.

"Milwaukee's a great city for Yi," said Paul Wong, proprietor of that aforementioned sports bar, Long Wongs. "He's got to know it's about quality, not quantity."

And, oh, there is a difference.

Yi Jianlian became the sixth overall pick in the NBA Draft last Thursday when the Milwaukee Bucks practically squealed his name to David Stern. General manager Larry Harris' dad, Del, coached Yi at the 2004 Olympics, the kid was a double-double-averaging stud for the Guangdong Tigers last year, and Greg Oden might not have had the city of Milwaukee so personally pumped. Because, see, it's not only the 10,000 people in Milwaukee originally from China, Taiwan or Hong Kong who are into China -- it's the whole city. Which makes all this Steve Francis-inspired posturing pretty ugly. And totally unfair.

"It does kind of make me mad," Wong said.

Compared to Dirk Nowitzki, likened to Toni Kukoc, Yi is supposed to be China's best prospect this side of Yao Ming. Only, before the draft, Yi's American agent, Dan Fegan, wouldn't bring Yi to Milwaukee. Fegan didn't let the Bucks come to any of Yi's workouts. Word was Milwaukee's Chinese population wasn't big enough. Now, Yi's Chinese agent, Zhao Gang, is confirming it, saying, "We feel that the Bucks are not the best fit for Yi," while promising he is lobbying other teams to trade for his client. Fegan is neither softening Zhao's words nor returning phone calls.

If only he were checking out Milwaukee.

"If he'd come here and get a sense of Milwaukee, I think he'd see this is one of the best fits for Yi," said Ulice Payne, who knows a bunch about basketball (he was a forward on Marquette's 1977 national title team) and maybe even more about China (he's co-chair of the city's China Counsel and, as a lawyer with a Chinese office, is a regular on American's 13-hour Chicago-to-Shanghai flight).

Truth is, as long as that rumored 1984 birthday is just a rumor, Milwaukee has been into China longer than Yi has been shaving.

In 2003, Marquette and UW-Milwaukee forged a partnership with the Shanghai Second Medical University. The next year, the chamber of commerce's China Council made its first group trip to China. In October 2005, Mayor Tom Barrett led a delegation to Ningbo, China, and signed a sister city agreement with his counterpart there. The next April, Milwaukee-based Harley Davidson opened a dealership on Fourth Ring Road in Beijing. And in May 2006, Ningbo officials came to Milwaukee for a visit with the city's business leaders.

In between all that, the Beijing Ducks decided Milwaukee was an amazing basketball city for Chinese players. It was the Ducks who made the first visit to the United States by a Chinese pro team -- and it was Milwaukee they picked. For two weeks in August 2005, they had clinics with Marquette coach Tom Crean and Wisconsin coach Bo Ryan, went sightseeing and played a couple exhibition games with Bob Lanier coaching them. The first of those two was at the Bradley Center, and though the Ducks took on a group of Midwestern college all-stars, the crowd that night was fully in the visitors' corner.

"I think our whole church showed up to see the slaughter," Pastor Andy Tso said, good-naturedly laughing as he remembered the 300-odd parishioners he brought from the Chinese Christian Church of Milwaukee -- and all the good-natured laughing they did that night.

The Ducks had such a good time that they're now in talks with Payne and his Council co-chair, Bob Kraft, to send their youth team back for six months of intensive training this fall.

"They didn't turn to L.A. or New York," Kraft said. "This is a city that has above-average ties to China and very sophisticated basketball fans. The Ducks turned to Milwaukee."

And so Payne is having the Ducks' chairman call the folks on Yi's Guangdong team. Sen. Herb Kohl, the Bucks' owner, has written Yi a letter asking for a meeting. Regular Milwaukeeans are doing what they always do. Five blocks from the Bradley Center, hammers are banging, turning the old Pabst Brewery into an international trade center and a home for as many as 80 Asian stores. Wong is cooking, promising, "I can feed Yi," and 130 grade-schoolers at the Milwaukee Academy of Chinese Language are drilling their Mandarin.

Yi seems like a nice enough fellow himself. He said all the right things on draft night and didn't sound all that hung up about his representatives' concerns when he insisted he wants to learn English. Of course, this isn't up to Yi.

The Chinese Basketball Association and the Guangdong Tigers have to jointly authorize his release. One of China's top sports sites, Sina.com, reported that the Tigers aren't into Milwaukee, that the team's vice deputy manager, Liu Hongjiang, flatly said the Tigers don't want Yi playing in Milwaukee. Maybe it's not really the culture thing and maybe it's just greed, that big-market thing.

But look, be good and you'll get on TV. LeBron James plays in Cleveland. Be good and you'll get some national endorsement deals. Kevin Garnett plays in Minneapolis. And honestly, Yi's got a lot more time to be good in Milwaukee, where he's singularly wanted, culturally needed, and where the people are, uh, nicer.

"If he plays for the Knicks and misses two free throws, he's getting booed," Payne said. "In Milwaukee, we're more forgiving. Being a bigger fish in a smaller pond is not bad."

And in the end, in the six months of the Bucks' regular season, if Yi really wants that big Chinese pond, if he's really jonesing for a full Chinatown, well, Amtrak needs just 80 minutes to get him from Milwaukee to Chicago. Get to Milwaukee, sign a contract and that $21 fare won't be a big deal.

Agent: Yi seeking trade from Bucks


Yi Jianlian this week has declined to discuss his future with the Bucks.

SHANGHAI, China (AP) -- Yi Jianlian's Chinese agent says he's talking to other teams about a possible trade away from Milwaukee.

Yi, the Bucks' top pick, has refused to talk about the prospect of playing for Milwaukee after he was picked sixth overall in last week's NBA draft.

However, Yi's agent Zhao Gang was quoted as telling the official China Daily newspaper that he was already in contact with other franchises that have expressed an interest in the 19-year-old power forward.

"His representatives and I won't sit here and do nothing just because he was picked by Milwaukee," Zhao was quoted as saying.

"We are considering Yi's future at the Bucks and are looking at trade possibilities," Zhao said.

Agent Dan Fegan pushed for Yi to go to a city with a heavy Asian influence. According to census data, Milwaukee has a little more than 1,200 Chinese residents.

Yi is in Dallas with the China National Senior Team for two exhibition games. He said Monday that he was looking forward to playing against the Dallas Mavericks Summer Team on Tuesday. But he declined for the second straight day to talk about the NBA.

"I don't want to talk about that," he said and walked away from reporters.

Yi courted controversy before the draft when access to his workouts was tightly restricted to just a few teams. There have even been questions about his true age, with some reports putting his birth year as early as 1984, partly because sports authorities are known to report their players as younger than they actually are to keep them eligible for junior competitions.

Yi's apparent disappointment with being picked by Milwaukee contrasted strikingly with fellow China national team member Sun Yue's delight at his selection by the Los Angeles Lakers. Sun was the 40th player selected.

[Eismann]

Maybe Yi's handlers want him to go to Golden State.

[mazdamazda]

Uy... Grant Hill signs with the Suns...

[kimpOy]

nice signing.. grant have still something gas in his tank.. plus a proven leader inside ang outside of the locker room...

[empy]

if Yi ultimately forces a trade...i can't wait to tune into his first road game against Milwaukee. :devil:

from my personal experience, Wisconsin-ites are some of the nicest, gentlest people in the world, pero palagay ko mababato ng piso itong ugok na to :evillaugh