Yi Jianlian, If we can't get Oden or Durant this kid looks solid Options

[truthandbasketba...]

Looking at our situation the best case scenario would be of course that the unthinkable happens and we land a big name like Oden or Durant in the draft. If not this Chinese kid Yi would be another option to consider. At 19 years old, 7 feet tall, 230 with three years experience at the international level I think that he has a huge upside as an NBA PF. Right now he just led his team to the finals of the Chinese league and is playing for a championship. This is also great experience playing under pressure that will benefit him once he takes his game to the next level. There is a lot of good buzz about him and here's an article I found in which Yao Ming compares Yi's game to that of Amare Stoudamire's -

March 19, 2007, 8:08PM

Yao says Chinese prospect plays like Stoudemire

By JONATHAN FEIGEN
Copyright 2007 Houston Chronicle

With several NBA scouts sending representatives to China to scout Yi Jianlian in the China Basketball Association finals, Rockets center Yao Ming offered his own, typically generous, scouting report.

"He is very close to a player who is in the NBA like I would say Amare Stoudemire," Yao said. "Yi is taller. He is almost seven-foot. He has a very nice touch, very athletic. He has everything (to be) a great player.

"From my experience, it is very important he plays in the summer league. The games played in the summer league I think will be good for him and for his team, whatever team drafts him. I was not in the summer league the year the Rockets drafted me so I had a very tough start in the beginning. For a player from China, I think you need time to adjust."

Yao never played against Yi, but they have been national team teammates for the past three years.

"When I left China, he just started to play," Yao said. We never matched up. I think he is a very good four. He can play a little bit of a five, sometimes. Good shot blocker. He just needs the right training, people who can tell him how to play on the NBA level."

jonathan.feigen@chron.com

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/4644466.html

Heres some more info about Yi from Draft Express

http://www.draftexpress.com/viewprofile.php?p=44

[MB33]

I would definitely take him if he is still up for grabs in draft nite!

[ZoomSlowik]

It's REALLY hard to get a conclusive feel for the foreign prospects, the fans haven't seen them outside of maybe some internet clips, and even a lot of executives haven't seen him yet.

From what I read he's more like Bargnani, a skilled perimeter-oriented power forward. He only weighs around 230 pounds, which is just woefully thin for a guy that tall. Sounds like he needs to bulk up and work on his post game, though it does sound like he is a solid prospect.

[DutheDoduhon21]

im unsure about international players because you dont know how they are goin to play, id like to have al horford of florida instead

[truthandbasketba...]

It's REALLY hard to get a conclusive feel for the foreign prospects, the fans haven't seen them outside of maybe some internet clips, and even a lot of executives haven't seen him yet.

From what I read he's more like Bargnani, a skilled perimeter-oriented power forward. He only weighs around 230 pounds, which is just woefully thin for a guy that tall. Sounds like he needs to bulk up and work on his post game, though it does sound like he is a solid prospect.

This phobia of foreign players really doesn't make sense anymore considering that half of the NBA's stars are foreign born. If we all thought with this prejudice then we wouldn't have players like Yao Ming, Manu Ginobli, Pau Gasol, Dirk Nowitzki, Andrea Bargnani and from the Bulls Noc, and Thabo. It's really time to get over that way of thinking and understand that there are great players from every country and just because we as fans havent seen them play does not mean they can't play every bit as good if not better than a home grown prospect. As for the execs not watching him yet I honestly doubt that considering the fact that the previous two year's number one picks were foreign born.
As for the comment that 230 pounds is woefully thin, thats what the weight room is for. At his age he has plenty of time to develop into a strong PF. If you dont think so heres a list of draft day weights of a few current and past NBA players -

Kevin Garnett - 6'11/220
Pau Gasol - 7'0/227
Rasheed Wallace - 6'10/225
Jermaine O Neal - 6'11/226
Kareem Abdul Jabbar - 7'2/225
Marcus Camby - 6'11/220
Chris Bosh - 6'10/210
Anderson Varejao - 6'10/230
Andrea Bargnani - 6'11/225
David Robinson - 7'1/235
Patrick Ewing - 7'0/240
Dwight Howard - 6'11/240
Dirk Nowitzki - 7'0/237
Charlie Villanueva - 6'11/240
LeMarcus Aldridge - 6'11/240
Andrew Bogut - 7'0/245
Amare Stoudamire - 6-10/245

[ZoomSlowik]

I never said I was AFRAID of foreign players, just hard for you to know who's really good and who's not as a fan, much like back when high schoolers were still eligible. That's for the GM's to decide for the most part, it's hard for your average fan to really have an educated opinion on them either way. If they think he's better than someone like Al Horford for instance they know better than I do. Also, while there are a fair number of good ones, they're nowhere near HALF of the NBA stars. Only 7 of the league's top 30 scorers were born outside of the US, and only 3 of those didn't go to college in the US (which is what is important to this particular discussion), though Yao has been hurt too much to qualify .

As for the execs, not everyone goes out there to scout them, especially if they don't have a high pick. Chad Ford mentioned in one of his Bargnani articles that around 50 percent of the GM's had seen Bargnani play live. Some teams scout the foreign ranks better than others, and not everyone makes it a priority. There's also a BIG difference between being foreign born and being drafted out of the foreign leagues, I'm talking about the latter.

For his height, he probably needs to add AT LEAST 10 pounds to be a real banger and post scorer, and not a perimeter big guy (unless he's really an athletic freak like most of the guys on that list, hard to say). That affects his development and career arc. The bottom 7 of those guys were bigger than he is already, and a good number of those other guys didn't thrive right away (especially in the rebounding department), and size is a factor in that (Varejao and Villanueva haven't been THAT good as it is).

[eddog2]

Just looking at video clips is enough to get me excited on the guys potential and what I think he'll be able to do in the NBA. I'm saying that if we have a mid first round pick and Oden/Durant/Wright are gone I take Yi. I don't want Noah. He's like a lame version of Ben Wallce. Horford maybe but I don't see him becoming an all-star. Yi seems to have more athleticism at least from what I've seen on the clips.

I could be totally wrong but I don't think Horford would make us a title contender. However, if Yi becomes the player he could be I think we would be title contenders. Only question is how long will that take.

[truthandbasketba...]

The point I was trying to make by listing their weights is that Yi's current weight shouldnt be seen as a factor for the simple reason that most bigs who come to the NBA go through a bulking up period and he'll be no different. With a decent work out plan and some hard work hell cross that bridge as it comes. All of those players listed were either less than or within 15 pounds of Yi's current weight on draft day. This is significant because it shows that he's got potential regardless of current size, I stress the fact that he is only 19. In the case of both Garnett and Gasol they have added 33 pounds since being drafted, O'Neal has added 34, Bosh has added 20, and according to NBA.com (but somehow I doubt this one) Bargnani has added 25 since draft day and he's still a rookie.

Whether Yi's a banger or an outside perimeter player doesn't really matter as long as he can score points and grab boards. Im guessing if the Bulls took him they would attempt to mold him into a post player based on their current needs but whatever his outcome the kid can score and thats a given looking at his numbers. He dropped 38 in a game already this year. NBA defenses might be tougher but its just something he'll learn with time.

Zoom, I wasn't saying that you personally hated all foreign players, its just that playing in a foreign country for a long period of my life I know that their fundamentals and work ethic were every bit as good as anything Ive seen over in the US. I'm talking about running, passing, shooting, crashing the boards, setting picks, cutting, blocking, boxing out, diving for loose balls, no blood no foul, six hours straight, playing hurt, no ego, team first, old school, physical, smash mouth basketball. People underestimate Europe and the rest of the world all the time and its just frustrating to think that this type of reasoning could cost us a solid draft pick. If you're right and only 50 percent of NBA GM's actually got to see Bargnani live that just reaffirms my point. Im all for home grown talent too, dont get me wrong if the kid can play he can play no matter where hes from, I just hate to hear that a foreign player shouldn't be picked because we in the US were to caught up in our own spiff to notice whats happening in other parts of the world.

[TeaLeafReaderII]

The point I was trying to make by listing their weights is that Yi's current weight shouldnt be seen as a factor for the simple reason that most bigs who come to the NBA go through a bulking up period and he'll be no different. With a decent work out plan and some hard work hell cross that bridge as it comes. All of those players listed were either less than or within 15 pounds of Yi's current weight on draft day. This is significant because it shows that he's got potential regardless of current size, I stress the fact that he is only 19. In the case of both Garnett and Gasol they have added 33 pounds since being drafted, O'Neal has added 34, Bosh has added 20, and according to NBA.com (but somehow I doubt this one) Bargnani has added 25 since draft day and he's still a rookie.

Yeah just wait till we get him on a crummy Western diet. A year or two eating big macs and he will be looking like Yao or Shaq. Unfortunately he will probably die of a heart attack before he turns 50.

[ZoomSlowik]

[color=#FF0000]I stress the fact that he is only 19.

You make some valid points, but there is some serious debate on this point. This is what was originally claimed, but for some time scouts have believed that he was really born 1984. He also supposedly told Shane Battier after a game that he's really 24 (though that's mostly a rumor). Obviously that would change things a bit.

If the team thinks he's the best fit, fine by me, I'm just not 100% sure. From what little I've seen from internet clips, he looks more like a SF type, doing a lot of his damage off the dribble, though he did show a solid turnaround jumper. It's hard to draw any conclusions from clips against far inferior competition though.

This team needs a banger inside in the worst way, someone that can score in the post and get some easy baskets instead of relying on jumpers. If the team thinks he can do that, then that's great.

[eddog2]

How about this article?

http://batanga.sportsya.com/english/news.p...p;id_estruc=283

At least it lets us know that Paxson is one of the GM's actually taking a look at Yi. Hopefully, he liked what he saw.

[madisonsmadhouse]

As scouting gets more and sophisticated, more of the guess work gets taken out of these kids as we move along. I would be more concerned if he were younger vs if he was from another country. Its seems harder to project the maturation process vs the adjustment process.

[soxfan3530]

i havent seen this kid in action and don't claim to be an expert on him in the least but from what i have heard is primarily a post player and pretty rail thin. He is a finesse player who doesn't like to bang. We don't need a giant standing on our three-point line. Rather have someone that is a little smaller and will actually play big (horford!!!). Just my opinion.