That would be terribly short-sighted by the Chinese basketball authorities. I think a lot of people, including me, suspect that Yao was hurt all the time in large part because of his year-round basketball commitments, which never Yao’s legs a chance to rest. Now they are going to make the same mistake with Yi.

hopefully with the pressure of being china’s biggest star means he’s going to work harder to keep that rep

I think for Yi is a good thing. He needs to play more and build up his muscle and have a more consistant jumper. If he is truely 22 years old instead of 24. I don’t see the problem with him playing more. Overall I believe if he works hard, he can be 20 and 10 guy.

Um, has China seen Yi play in the NBA?

GGGrreeeeaat….Lets just get rid of him while we can. He’s never going to develop an NBA game the right way. If it weren’t for his off-season commitments, we might have already had the Yi that Kiki and RT always gush about.

UPSIDE:

Nets

It will bring more exposure for the organization as Yi is now THE player for China…at least for a year. $$$.

Yi

Yi being younger than Yao could probably handle the physical rigors a bit better and could actually get better playing more.

Downside:

Nets

Its more imperative to go out and pick up or develop a PF. You can forget about force-feeding Yi 40 min/game for an 82 NBA game season.

Yi

Now a greater injury risk and can he handle being China’s best player right now?

“Trenton Says:
July 1st, 2009 at 11:14 am

Um, has China seen Yi play in the NBA?"

LOL!!!!

When i heard about Yao’s career being in danger I thought about Yi. Even if Yi pans out to be a solid player this continuous year round play will eventually break down his body just like poor Yao. The Chinese Gov’t and their insane demands on their star athletes will come back to haunt them.

Does not say a lot about Chinese basketball if Yi is its biggest star.

This begs to ask the question, “Is Yi really a Nets player, or is he on loan from the Chinese?”The “cultural” control of Yi will continue to be a sticking point in his development.

@RD

Great point

What a way to start the off-season, isn’t it?

Based on what been posted I can’t blame the Nets for looking at Bass and Diogu, because Yi is always in flux.

Maybe we could send YI back to China? Here is my proposed trade: YI in exchange for (1) from column A, (1) from column B, and fried rice and an egg roll. What do you guys think?

I’m glad Yi has put on weight/muscle and is working out regularly with teammates. One feeling I got while watching Yi is that he seemed to be in his own world, separate from his teammates. If he develops a good rapport with them from these workouts it could help him gel better maybe. (shrug)

Dealing with the Chinese government has to be very stressful for Yi with enormous pressure to excel which has translated to low level fatigue from no significant recovery time which eventually leads to injury and an enforced breakdown…..see Yao

Ike D is available unrestricted.
Go get him or Bass to limit Yi’s minutes asap

i know its too much to ask, but i would love for yi to be more assertive with China in DEMANDING that he can train in the US and get proper rest.
i know people make it seem like these chinese athletes don’t have much leverage short of renouncing their citizenship… but if Yi makes some demands behind the scenes or even bring it public, what can China do? detain Yi at the Nets training facility, bring him back to China and make him train at gunpoint? trick him into coming to china, cut off his passport, and hold him prisoner till he’s past his prime?
seriously, China couldn’t do much but badmouth Yi to the press and to the chinese people. whoop-te-doo.. i bet most of the public there would understand after watching Yao fall apart under the unfair schedule the chinese government has been placing on these guys for years. i know it goes against his culture, but Yi needs to be me first, screw everyone else, and F the haters…. even if its a nice chunk of his home country. ur a millionare livin in America now… when in Rome, do as the Romans.

@dunbladekilla

Not sure if its as easy as you put it to say “the hell with China! Im making my minimum rookie salary here in the US for the NBA!”

Thats easy for anyone of us to say from the outside looking in.

@dunbladekilla

You’re looking at things from your perspective, not Yi’s. I’m pretty sure that Yi would much rather play for his nation and be a hero to over 3 billion people in China while being the number 1 option rather than being the third or fourth option for the New Jersey Nets to please a few thousand (if that many) fans. Although I, like many other Nets fans, are afraid of Yi’s committment to the Nets and the possibility of fatigue, Yi must be very happy at the opportunity to be perhaps the most renowned athlete in all of China now.

So much hype about Yi’s work ethic and music and such.

Reality Check: It’s been 2 1/2 months, maybe less, since the Nets season ended. How incredible could this guy have gotten in that time period? I’m willing to be not all that much. I’d like to be proven wrong but then again he hasn’t played well for 2 seasons, how is one summer going to make a difference?

i’m dumb, when i said music i meant to type muscle.

I’m sure he’s a horrible musician as well…

Come November, when Yi avg 7pg 5rb it’ll all be a moot point.

Id rather have hope in Yi having a breakout season this year rather than not because alot of the Nets’ future kind of depends on Yi.
If he does have a breakout season, perhaps it would be easier to persuade a free agent in 2010.

hey, as long as you’re “hoping” why not wish for Yi to become 20/10 player, RAT selling team to Russian billionaire who moves team to Newark, free season courtside season tix for all of us.

Its so sad but our the success of our franchise for the next yr/2 rests on the success of Yi:

1.) Our ability to attract FAs next summer.
2.) Our ability to S&T for a star or young prospect (since our only trade assets will be Harris or Yi, and we knows who wins that battle.) Sure we have draft picks/expirings, but a deal for a big name player will require a live prospect or 2 on our end.
3.) Our ability to win games.

We better hope he takes a big step forward in his game.

Thorn Should have sent him with VC in Orlando instead of RA who is 3 years YOUNGER than CLEE therefore has more upside than both yi n lee. sigh…

WOW! so many folks have no sense of perspective. How many of you complainers and haters have EVER had a job in a FOREIGN country? Do any of you realize how difficult it is adapting to new culture?

The impression of Chinese players I get is this, they (the Chinese Gov’t) were focused on having a semi competive team for when / if it got an Olympics to host. They drill their players alot so they tend to some skills but not a real sense of playing the game. For those of you who DON’T remember when Yao was developing

here is a link http://www.nba.com/playerfile/yao_ming/career_stats.html
copy and paste if you must and see it took him 4 -5 years before getting over 20 pts per game and HE WAS THE FOCUS of the offense (he got LOTS MORE TOUCHES).

Everything I’ve read and heard in interviews about Yi is he NEEDS to play more in game situations. Before he broke his finger he was showing signs of positive growth and had several double / doubles.
Whne he reurned he just didn’t seem have “it” anymore and I got the impression he was very likely “emotionally” spent from the year he just had (playing for your country while it hosts it’s 1st ever Olympics, being traded, having to adapt from Wisconsin to NYC area …ie more NEW customs to integrate…IT is a LOT to ask from any person let alone a 22 y/o young man striving to become an ELITE athlete playing at his sports highest level.

If anyone thought he was going to magically improve was only kidding themselves.
He is by ALL professional reports highly talented AND hard working. He needs to develop more consistancy and that is only going to come from getting more reps.(as do most if not all younger players)

I’ve heard a rumor that PATIENCE is a VIRTUE.

@ melchi

Being younger does not directly corrolate with potential or upside.

Perhaps if the new offense we run next season can be better for Yi. Last year Yi only had jump shots in that offense that was guard oriented. If he improves in then post then that will be great. Also the added muscle can help him out on defense. Yi just needs a better basketball IQ…BTW playing on the chinese team as the leader might help Yi out also

Pau Gasol plays for Spain, as does Jose Calderon, Sergio Rodriguez, Ricky Rubio, Rudy Fernandez.

Manu Ginobili plays for Argentina, as does Luis Scola, Andres Nocioni, Fabricio Oberto, Walter Herrmann.

It is rare that any of those guys take a year off, unless they’re injured.

You could also make the same case about Lebron James, Jason Kidd, Carmelo Anthony, Carlos Boozer, all of whom have participated in two Olympics.

No would say that those guys are on loan from Team USA, so why suggest that Yi is on loan from China. There is no indication he doesn’t want to do it. It may not be wise, but he apparently likes to play for his country.

@ NI

Not sure, but doesn’t China emphasize international basketball more than other countries? And do other countries make their players participate as much as the Chinease do?

Yi is the joke of the league and a marketing chip for Yormark.

He will never be anything..he is, to put it frankly, a pu-ssy without a bone of toughness in his body.

Give me Anderson ANY DAY OF THE WEEK.

I guarantee Yi will score an average of 12 ppg or more next season. As you all can see, he has been working extremely hard to get in NBA shape and improve his all around abilities.All of you haters should wait until all star weekend and the end of the nba season to talk about his overall performance.

ps: anderson doesn’t have the potential or even the drive to be and NBA all star. At best he can be a decent player who comes off the bench.