# OT: Yi Jianlian (and other thoughts on the CBA)



## chn353 (Mar 12, 2006)

my dad who's a strong supporter of asian basketball believes that Yi Jianlian is way overrated. because we have asian cable tv, we get to watch all of the chinese basketball games and my dad reckons his just a normal CBA player who'll get destroyed in the nba. he also thinks Yi's skinny.. like a shaun livingston skinny... twig.. snap in half and that Yi jianlian wouldnt impact the nba in any sort of way and would prob just be like wang zhi zhi.

if anyone here follows the CBA post what you think. i will have to watch him play the next time his on asian cable.


----------



## Yao Mania (Aug 4, 2003)

I don't like the word overrated. Yi is more "over-hyped", because of his playing style and the whole controvesy over his age. Take out his name and looking at his basketball skills alone, you have yourself a fairly decent basketball player who's got the height and athleticism to be a role player in the NBA. That's about as unbias as I'm gonna get..


----------



## Gotham2krazy (Nov 22, 2005)

He does sound overhyped, especially when his offensive skills are so raw.


----------



## jiangsheng (Feb 11, 2006)

Yao: $#@&$#%^@
Yi: $^#&($
Yao screens and Yi flies to the basket
Shaq (block): Hey, Chinese is a hard language to learn, but is not impossible to learn.
Yi: ^&*#@^&#@ (In Cantonese)
Yao: ??...oh
Shaq: ??
Yao screens and Yi flies to the basket.
Update: The Sui Yue in ABA enters 2006 draft.


----------



## Demiloy (Nov 4, 2005)

Actually, I think your dad is wrong there. Yi is not just "a normal CBA player". All the other power forwards in the league are just your normal post-up, hook shot, block shot power forward. Yi is different. No power forward in the league can match his athleticism and ballhandling (although maybe Wang ZhiZhi will think differently). Even in the NBA, besides, obviously, Kevin Garnett, can you name a 7-footer with athleticism and ballhandling equal to or Yi (Swift has the athleticism, but not the ballhandling)? 

I agree with the skinny part, though. But I don't think that's it'll be a big problem. It's not whether he can get stronger and develop his post moves, it's if he _wants_ to. When Yao came in as a rookie, he was very weak, but he really worked on his game, and look where he is now. No one can push him around, and his postup game is almost unstoppable, double-teams notwithstanding. That was the reason Wang didn't succeed, and Yao did -- Wang was lazy, and Yao worked hard. Yi has those two examples in front of him. It's his choice. 

I watched Game 5 of the CBA Finals, which the Guandong Tigers won to win the championship. Yi had 26 points and 11 rebounds, and he impressed me a lot. In the previous games I had watched him, he relied on his athleticism to score, but in this game, he showed that he could score in the post as well. He didn't try to muscle in one anyone, and he mostly took fadeaway jumpers, but he did hit a high percentage. Right now, that game is becoming more and more common for him, but he still goes back to mediocrity sometimes. Once again, it's his choice -- work hard, and improve, or be lazy and waste all his talent.


----------



## kisstherim (Jul 15, 2004)

Demiloy said:


> Actually, I think your dad is wrong there. Yi is not just "a normal CBA player". All the other power forwards in the league are just your normal post-up, hook shot, block shot power forward. Yi is different. No power forward in the league can match his athleticism and ballhandling (although maybe Wang ZhiZhi will think differently). Even in the NBA, besides, obviously, Kevin Garnett, can you name a 7-footer with athleticism and ballhandling equal to or Yi (Swift has the athleticism, but not the ballhandling)?
> 
> I agree with the skinny part, though. But I don't think that's it'll be a big problem. It's not whether he can get stronger and develop his post moves, it's if he _wants_ to. *When Yao came in as a rookie, he was very weak, but he really worked on his game, and look where he is now. No one can push him around, and his postup game is almost unstoppable, double-teams notwithstanding.* That was the reason Wang didn't succeed, and Yao did -- Wang was lazy, and Yao worked hard. Yi has those two examples in front of him. It's his choice.
> 
> I watched Game 5 of the CBA Finals, which the Guandong Tigers won to win the championship. Yi had 26 points and 11 rebounds, and he impressed me a lot. In the previous games I had watched him, he relied on his athleticism to score, but in this game, he showed that he could score in the post as well. He didn't try to muscle in one anyone, and he mostly took fadeaway jumpers, but he did hit a high percentage. Right now, that game is becoming more and more common for him, but he still goes back to mediocrity sometimes. Once again, it's his choice -- work hard, and improve, or be lazy and waste all his talent.



well, Yao was actually not that "weak" as many people made him out to be when he just came to the NBA, especially his lower body strength which is just arguably the biggest problem of Yi. U can see Yao Ming had thighs twice as big as Yi's, that's why "No one can push him around", even Shaq. And Yao was already able to bench press like 240 lbs back in the CBA days, which is ok for a man with long arms.(It's said that long arms are a disadvantage for bench pressing)

And I gotta say that Game 5 of this year's CBA finals was the best game or even the only good game Yi had in the finals.

But I agree with the ballhandling part. This year Yi has really improved his handles. It is not unusual to see him penetrating like a guard for a monster dunk. And he has polished his post moves a lot since the 04 Olympics.


----------



## Gotham2krazy (Nov 22, 2005)

Demiloy said:


> Actually, I think your dad is wrong there. Yi is not just "a normal CBA player". All the other power forwards in the league are just your normal post-up, hook shot, block shot power forward. Yi is different. No power forward in the league can match his athleticism and ballhandling (although maybe Wang ZhiZhi will think differently). Even in the NBA, besides, obviously, Kevin Garnett, can you name a 7-footer with athleticism and ballhandling equal to or Yi (Swift has the athleticism, but not the ballhandling)?


Dirk.


----------



## Mr. Hobbes (Jul 1, 2005)

Dirk doesn't have Yi's athleticism. Yi is fast.


----------



## chn353 (Mar 12, 2006)

are u serious?.. dirk is fair fast for a 7 footer and he has awesome ball handling skills for a 7 footer


----------



## Gotham2krazy (Nov 22, 2005)

Dirk's athletic in a way which he can run up and down the court and contort his body to avoid contact and still hit a shot.


----------



## Demiloy (Nov 4, 2005)

Gotham2krazy said:


> Dirk's athletic in a way which he can run up and down the court and contort his body to avoid contact and still hit a shot.


 And he has very athletic flops, too.

Yi can run with most guards in the CBA (not that it means so much). He's fast all right.


----------



## chn353 (Mar 12, 2006)

Demiloy said:


> And he has very athletic flops, too.
> 
> Yi can run with most guards in the CBA (not that it means so much). He's fast all right.


ye but thats CBA.. didnt yao post like 30 pts 20 rebs on 70% shooting?.. Yi is only 50% shooting = destroyed in nba


----------



## Demiloy (Nov 4, 2005)

chn353 said:


> ye but thats CBA.. didnt yao post like 30 pts 20 rebs on 70% shooting?.. Yi is only 50% shooting = destroyed in nba


 Guandong is different from the Sharks Yao played on. With Du Feng and Zhu Fangyu as well as Yi, the Tigers are probably the most talented team in the CBA. Yao, on the other hand, was basically the team. 

However, I do think Yi isn't as good as Yao was when he left. But if he goes to the NBA, even if he gets knocked around for a few years, he'll still develop much, much faster than if he played in the CBA. Fan Bin once told Yao "When you first play Wang ZhiZhi and Mengke Bateer, they'll beat you up. The second, maybe they'll do it again, but it'll be harder for them. The third time, you will beat them." That can easily be applied to Yi in the NBA.


----------



## Gotham2krazy (Nov 22, 2005)

Demiloy said:


> Guandong is different from the Sharks Yao played on. With Du Feng and Zhu Fangyu as well as Yi, the Tigers are probably the most talented team in the CBA. Yao, on the other hand, was basically the team.
> 
> However, I do think Yi isn't as good as Yao was when he left. But if he goes to the NBA, even if he gets knocked around for a few years, he'll still develop much, much faster than if he played in the CBA. Fan Bin once told Yao *"When you first play Wang ZhiZhi and Mengke Bateer, they'll beat you up. The second, maybe they'll do it again, but it'll be harder for them. The third time, you will beat them." * That can easily be applied to Yi in the NBA.


LMAO, Mengke and Zhizhi didn't exactly have success in the NBA, though I think if they had playing time they could've.


----------



## Demiloy (Nov 4, 2005)

Gotham2krazy said:


> LMAO, Mengke and Zhizhi didn't exactly have success in the NBA, though I think if they had playing time they could've.


 He told this to Yao when he was just a rookie in the CBA who got pushed around a lot.


----------



## Gotham2krazy (Nov 22, 2005)

Demiloy said:


> He told this to Yao when he was just a rookie in the CBA who got pushed around a lot.


Wasn't Fan Bin also the guy that told Yao's parents that Yao wasn't worth the effort because Zhizhi was so great at the time? But there wasn't much to my argument anyways, actually I don't even know what my point was supposed to be. XD


----------



## kisstherim (Jul 15, 2004)

Gotham2krazy said:


> Wasn't Fan Bin also the guy that told Yao's parents that Yao wasn't worth the effort because Zhizhi was so great at the time? But there wasn't much to my argument anyways, actually I don't even know what my point was supposed to be. XD


no, it's not Fan Bin (C'Mon, Fan is only a few years older than Yao), it's an anonymous coach in China.


----------



## Demiloy (Nov 4, 2005)

Gotham2krazy said:


> Wasn't Fan Bin also the guy that told Yao's parents that Yao wasn't worth the effort because Zhizhi was so great at the time? But there wasn't much to my argument anyways, actually I don't even know what my point was supposed to be. XD


 Fan Bin is a point guard who either is still playing in the CBA, or has retired. I do remember he played in the Asian Games two years ago.


----------



## chn353 (Mar 12, 2006)

Gotham2krazy said:


> LMAO, Mengke and Zhizhi didn't exactly have success in the NBA, though I think if they had playing time they could've.


mengke is weird..ive watched him play about 4-5 times.. his got no athletism...does that dude run or jump? he doesnt even reach for a ball 2 meters in front of him


----------



## Gotham2krazy (Nov 22, 2005)

chn353 said:


> mengke is weird..ive watched him play about 4-5 times.. his got no athletism...does that dude run or jump? he doesnt even reach for a ball 2 meters in front of him


I don't know but him, Wang, and Yao were dubbed The Moving Wall of China


----------



## jiangsheng (Feb 11, 2006)

Draft Buzz - Yi Jianlian Officially Out of Draft


----------



## jworth (Feb 17, 2006)

jiangsheng said:


> Draft Buzz - Yi Jianlian Officially Out of Draft


That's probably the best move for him in the long run. He had a chance to be a first round pick this season, but from what I've seen and read, he didn't look like he was ready yet to produce much at all in the NBA. If he can add some weight and polish to his game then he might get himslef better prepared for the League in the future, but next year's draft will be a tough one for him to crack into the first round.


----------



## CbobbyB (Feb 16, 2006)

oh well, till next year..


----------



## Demiloy (Nov 4, 2005)

> That's probably the best move for him in the long run.


It's not actually. As I stated before, it would be better to go to a Euro team and develop there for at least a year or so, and then go to the NBA. He doesn't have to improve to be good in the CBA, so staying there won't help him.


----------

