Enter the Yi

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I applaud Chinese basketball for doing this. This is a step in the right direction for Yi and in particular, Chinese basketball. A year of NBA experience, at least training with NBA players, will help Yi's game and get him ready to help Yao at the 2008 Olympics.

Also for him individually, if he can get stronger and get his head in the game a bit more, he could be a monster. Maybe not All-Star type monster but it could be close... he's definitely what I call China's Kevin Garnett...

uh no..... i saw him play in the wbc and he is far away from being a ready contributor in the nba.... he has nice athleticism and game but with next years deep draft, i wouldn't be suprised to see him drop to the middle of the first round...

I never said he was going to contribute. Note that I said if he gewts experience, at least with training he will get better.

i reckon he'll be alright, maybe turn out to be a krstic type player in the early stages of his career then he may explode into a top player or not, im picking the latter. anyways heres some more links

2007 Mock draft http://www.nbadraft.net/

and his scout report http://nbadraft.net/admincp/profiles/yijianlian.html

He just needs to add strength and defence to his game... and maybe a low post game. He plays a lot on the wing for his current team in the the Chinese league. His athleticism is insane for an Asian dude and just as insane for any normal 7 foot player.

He may or may not explode... I say his maximum would be maybe as an All-Star but that's stretching it...

he prob will be an all star from a hell of alot of votes... like yao

That would be pretty funny actually and you have a point. Maybe the NBA will be smart and say that he is a C so they both can't be voted onto the starting lineup together if Yi is on a Western team.