Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Yi Jianlian, Milwaukee Bucks number 6 pick, a flop, or a star?

About 2 weeks ago, I had the opportunity to go watch the Dallas Mavericks summer league team play the Chinese National Team. I went to the game in hopes that I might see some of this talent I had heard so much about, before and during the NBA Draft. I definitely got to see a display of offensive output, but it was NOT by Yi Jianlian, but rather by Wang Zhi Zhi, who had 27 points!! (This is where I contemplated switching this post to focus on Wang and ask my readers, "WHERE THE HECK WAS THAT OFFENSE WHEN HE WAS IN THE NBA?"..) While I am NOT saying Yi Jianlian will not turn out to be a very good player, I CAN say that he was not impressive at all, against the Dallas Mavericks summer league team!

We arrived a couple hours early to the game, so we could get some good court side seats, which was well worth it, as we had a great view of all the action. There were Chinese flags everywhere, and they clearly wanted to see this amazing player, YI, as that they had all been hearing about. Well, they all got to see him play, but it was not all it was cracked up to be. My initial impressions of Yi Jianlian are that he is that he did not appear to be nearly as quick as some scouts have led on, and that he is going to have to get much tougher, to play in the NBA.

First impression: HE NEEDS TO GET QUICKER! All of the scouting reports I have read are that he is quick, but he really struggled to get any sort of open shot off the dribble, against the Mavs summer league team. Mind you, he was guarded by Pops Mensah-Bonsu, who is very quick, but I just expected more.

Below, I have added 2 clips, just so you can see exactly what I mean. In the first one you can see Yi Jianlian face Pops up and try to fake him out and do a little fade away... What happens? POPS SWATS THE CRAP OUT OF HIM! In the second video you can see Yi Jianlian try and take it at Pops again, and again can not get around him so he settles for a baseline jumper, only to clang it on the side of the backboard. I know these are only two plays out the entire game, but these were NOT the only plays that Yi Jianlian had like this. In fact, most of his possessions ended up similar to these. I thought this might have just been a "bad game," but it turns out he played much like this during his first summer league camp, with Milwaukee Bucks, as well. One NBA expert pointed out, "he's going to have an adjustment period figuring out how he'll get his shots; he made just 25 percent of them in Vegas."


POPS SWATTING THE CRAP OUT OF YI JIANLIAN IN SUMMER LEAGUE!


YI JIANLIAN TRIES TO USE SOME NIFTY FOOTWORK AND SPIN MOVE, AND EVENTUALLY SETTLES FOR AN UGLY FADE AWAY SHOT THAT HITS NOTHING BUT... THE SIDE OF THE BACKBOARD!


So, you want to know why I think Yi Jianlian is soft? There were many plays where Yi got pushed around... Not only under the hoop, but even on the perimeter. I am not going to spend much time on this topic, as it is not that surprising that he is going to need to bulk up and most of all, toughen up. I have added 1 play in particular that REALLY shows his softness. If you watch closely, you can see Mo Ager's left hand come around Yi's stomach area, but for him to have gotten hurt on this play really shows he needs to toughen up!


YI JIANLIAN BARELY GETS TOUCHED AND HAS THE WIND KNOCKED OUT OF HIM!

I was honestly hoping that we would all be treated to a show by Yi, but that didn't happen. He will need to get much tougher, gain quickness, and learn the NBA game. I am not one that likes to see guys get drafted and then flop, so I truly hope to see him improve and prove that all of these initial impressions wrong!

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