Yi Jianlian

Yi Jianlian
易建联

Position	Power forward
Height	7 ft 0 in (2.13 m)
Weight	250 lb (113.4 kg)
League	NBA
Team	New Jersey Nets
Jersey	#9
Born	October 27, 1987 (1987-10-27) (age 22) (disputed) Heshan, Guangdong
Nationality	Chinese
College	Guangdong University of Technology 2003-2007
Draft	1st round, 6th overall, 2007 Milwaukee Bucks
Pro career	2002–present
Former teams	Guangdong Southern Tigers (2002–2007) Milwaukee Bucks (2007–2008)
Official profile	Info Page

This is a Chinese name; the family name is Yi.

Yi Jianlian (simplified Chinese: 易建联; traditional Chinese: 易建聯; Pinyin: Yì Jiànlián; Yale: Yik6 Gin3 Lyun4, born on October 27, 1987 (disputed) in Heshan, Guangdong, China) is a Chinese professional basketball player for the New Jersey Nets.

Yi played power forward for the Guangdong Southern Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA) in 2002 and subsequently won the Rookie of the Year Award. In his five-year career with the Tigers, he won three CBA titles, as well as playing with the Chinese national basketball team in the 2004 Summer Olympics and the 2006 FIBA World Championships. In the 2007 NBA Draft, he was selected by the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association as the 6th overall pick. Yi refused to sign with the Bucks for several months before agreeing to a contract with them on August 29, 2007.

There has been controversy over Yi's age. Although his official birthday is October 27, 1987, several investigations have claimed that he was actually born in 1984.

Career in China

Yi was the only child of his father Yi Jingliu and mother Mai Meiling. Both of them were professional handball players, and they did not want him to join a sports school designed for children who are predicted to be future stars. However, Yi was noticed by a sports school basketball coach when he was playing streetball, and the coach persuaded Yi's family to allow Yi to train professionally.^[1]

Hoping to sign Yi to an endorsement deal, Adidas invited him to attend the company's ABCD camp in Teaneck, New Jersey in 2002, where he competed against All-American high school players.^[2][3] After returning to China later that year, he joined the senior team of the Guangdong Southern Tigers and averaged 3.5 points and 1.9 rebounds in his rookie season. He also averaged 7.3 points and 7.3 rebounds in four games in the CBA Finals and won the Rookie of the Year award. In 2003, Yi was featured in TIME magazine's August 24, 2003 article titled "The Next Yao Ming".^[2] In each of his next three seasons, Yi led Guangdong to the CBA championship, and he was awarded the Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP) honor in 2006.^[3][4] In Yi's last season in the CBA, he averaged a career best 24.9 points and 11.5 rebounds per game, but the Tigers lost to the Bayi Rockets in the 2007 CBA finals.^[3]

Yi's first major international experience came at the FIBA Under-19 World Championships, where he averaged 18.9 points and 11.5 rebounds per game.^[4] He debuted with the senior national team in the 2004 Olympic Games and averaged 6 points and 6 rebounds a game at the 2006 FIBA World Championships.^[4] His performance impressed coaches on the Chinese national team as well as the coaches from other countries.^[5]

Milwaukee Bucks

Entering the NBA

Yi was not expected to enter the NBA Draft until 2009 because the Chinese Basketball Association ruled that players would not be allowed to leave until they turned 22.^[6] In early 2006, however, Yi announced that he would enter the 2006 NBA Draft, although he eventually decided to withdraw, saying he was "not good enough to compete in the NBA and needed more experience".^[7] A year later, on November 1, 2006, the Tigers announced that Yi would enter the 2007 NBA Draft.^[8]

Yi

Yi chose NBA agent Dan Fegan to represent him in the NBA Draft and flew to Los Angeles to participate in pre-NBA Draft camps.^[9] Before the draft, Yi was predicted to be picked anywhere from third to twelfth.^[10] On June 28, 2007, Yi was selected by the Milwaukee Bucks with the sixth overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft, despite Fegan warning the Bucks not to pick Yi and not allowing Milwaukee to be one of the teams invited to Yi's pre-draft private workouts in Los Angeles. He did not want Milwaukee to select Yi because they did not have a large Asian-American community.^[11] However, general manager Larry Harris said they had only drafted the best player available to them.^[11]

After the draft, the Bucks attempted to convince Yi to sign with the team. On July 2, the owner of the Bucks franchise, Senator Herb Kohl, wrote a letter to Yi and his representatives, hoping to persuade Yi to sign with the Bucks.^[12] Three days later, Harris and head coach Larry Krystkowiak met Yi in Las Vegas, desiring to influence Yi to play for Milwaukee;^[9] however, Yi's representatives requested that the team trade Yi to another city with a large Chinese presence. Chinese officials also required that any team Yi played with would have to give him sufficient playing time for him to improve before the 2008 Summer Olympics.^[11]

Kohl made a special trip to Hong Kong to appeal to Yi personally.^[13] He also assured Chinese officials that Yi would have sufficient playing time, and on August 29, 2007, the Milwaukee Bucks and Yi agreed to a standard, multi-year rookie contract.^[11]

Rookie season

After being named to the Bucks' starting lineup by Krystkowiak in place of Charlie Villanueva to begin the 2007-08 NBA season,^[14] Yi had two points and two rebounds in a loss to Charlotte in his NBA debut.^[15] He played his first home game in Milwaukee in the next game and scored 16 points while taking eight rebounds in a 78–72 win against the Chicago Bulls.^[16] The game was also Yi's first game to be televised nationally in China, where it was watched by 100 million viewers.^[17] Yao Ming praised Yi's play in his first games, saying, "If you compare us in our third NBA games, you will see that Yi's statistics are far better than mine".^[17]

Yi Jianlian being guarded by Shane Battier of the Houston Rockets

On November 9, Yi played against Yao for the first time when the Houston Rockets hosted Milwaukee in the Toyota Center. Yi had 9 rebounds 19 points, including two three-pointers, but the Rockets topped the Bucks 104–88, with Yao scoring 28 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.^[18] The game was also watched by over 200 million people in China, making it one of the most-watched games in NBA history.^[18] After the game, Yao called Yi's talent "unbelievable", and Tracy McGrady said that Yi had "A tremendous upside in this league".^[18] Del Harris, the coach of the China's 2004 Olympics basketball team, also described Yi as "the most athletic 7-footer in the NBA".^[19]

Yi was named the Rookie of the Month for December after averaging 12.1 points and 6.6 rebound per game in that month,^[20] and scoring a career-high 29 points on 14-of-17 shooting on December 22, 2007.^[21] On January 30, he was selected for the rookie team in the Rookie Challenge at the 2008 NBA All-Star Game.^[22] On February 2, 2008, Yi faced Yao for the second time when the Bucks played the Rockets in Milwaukee, which Krystkowiak dubbed it the "Chinese Super Bowl".^[23] However, both players struggled during the Rockets' 91–83 victory. Yao had 12 points, and Yi injured his shoulder during the game, finishing the game with 6 points and scoring on one of his ten field goal attempts.^[23]

On April 2, it was announced that Yi would miss the rest of the season with a knee injury.^[24] Having already missed eight games with other injuries, Yi played in only 66 (out of a possible 82) games in his rookie season,^[24] averaging 8.6 points on 42% shooting and 5.2 rebounds per game.^[25]

New Jersey Nets

Yi Jianlian was traded with Bobby Simmons to the New Jersey Nets for Richard Jefferson on June 26, 2008.^[26] When he received the news that he was traded, he thanked Nets President Rod Thorn for acquiring him and boasted how proud he was to be a Net. Off the court he helps the team with advertising – since Yi was traded to New Jersey the team has sold over 250 season tickets. And the Nets launched Simplified Chinese and Traditional Chinese versions of the team website alongside the English version. He is expected to be a big piece of the team's effort to reinvent themselves and along with point guard Devin Harris, is expected to lead the Nets franchise in the future.

Off the court

Age discrepancy

Although Yi is officially listed as being born in 1987,^[25] there have been several allegations that his date of birth was intentionally falsified so that he would be able to play longer in junior competitions. However, Yi has refused to comment on his age.^[27][28]

Yi is not the first Chinese player to come under scrutiny, as former NBA player Wang Zhizhi has been listed as being born in both 1977 and 1979.^[29][30] In 2004, Yi was listed as being born in 1984 in China's Four Nation Tournament,^[31] although Chinese officials said that it was probably a typographical error.^[32] Two years later, Fran Blinebury of The Houston Chronicle reported that Yi told Shane Battier he was 24 in an exhibition game before the 2006 FIBA World Championship,^[33] although the story was refuted by both Yi and Battier.^[34][35] However, in November 2006, a senior CBA official admitted that past youth squads had indeed included players above the permitted age.^[36]

In 2007, a Chinese government registration site was made public by hackers, and Yi's date of birth was shown as being in 1984.^[37] American center Jason Dixon, who had been Yi's teammate during Yi's entire career in Guangdong, said to Chad Ford in June 2007 that Yi was "21 or 22...It's pretty common over [in China] to change ages".^[38] A report tracing Yi's earlier history noted that Yi had been a middle school student when he joined Shenzhen Youth Sports School in May of 1999.^[39]

Personal life

Yi is fluent in both Mandarin and his native tongue of Cantonese. His English has improved over the course of last season but Yi still conducts interviews with his interpreter, Walter Ho, by his side.^[40] He is currently under contract with Coca Cola and Yili (a Chinese dairy company) to endorse their products in China.^[41] After a bidding war between Adidas and Nike, Yi signed a six-figure endorsement deal with Nike.^[42] He was ranked fourth on Forbes' Chinese celebrities list in income and popularity in 2007.^[43] He also participated in the 2008 Summer Olympics torch relay, carrying the torch during the Hainan leg of the relay.^[44] Yi also donated 100,000 yuan to support the 2008 Sichuan earthquake victims.^[45]

Achievements

• Rookie of the month: December 2007

Career statistics

CBA

NBA

Regular season

Notes

External links

• Yi Jianlian Info Page at NBA.com

• Time magazine (August 24, 2003)
• Yi Jianlian Chinese fans site 建联网 | 易建联
• Yi's World on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel 易世界

China squad - 2006 FIBA World Championship - 15th place 4 Chen | 5 Liu | 6 Z.Q.Zhang | 7 W.S.Wang | 8 Zhu | 9 Sun | 10 Z.S.Zhang | 11 Yi | 12 Mo | 13 Yao | 14 W.Z.Wang | 15 Du | Coach: Kazlauskas

China squad - 2008 Summer Olympics - 8th place 4 Chen | 5 Liu | 6 Zhang | 7 S.P.Wang | 8 Zhu | 9 Sun | 10 Li | 11 Yi | 12 L.Wang | 13 Yao | 14 Z.Z.Wang | 15 Du | Coach: Kazlauskas