Doug Colllins is the NBC Sports analyst for Olympic Basketball. On Sunday, he called the Team USA-China game with Mike Breen. Here is a selection of his comment on the play of Nets' forward, Yi Jianlian.
"I think he’s not in great shape right now. He’s 0-of-7 from the floor and I think there’s a little bit of a disconnect right now between he and Yao Ming. Yao Ming is such a committed player. I think he’s a little disappointed in Yi right now. They need him to play well to get in the round of eight…
(Yi slams a put-back over Carmelo Anthony)
"You’ve seen flashes of that as you and I have talked about, Mike, but a big part of it is you’ve got to be consistent.
"He’s a terrific athlete, a very good player but still trying to find his game."
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"You know he was drafted by Milwaukee…a lot of speculation he wanted to go to a bigger market. Eventually, he got his wish. He’s been traded to New Jersey. Now he’s in the metropolitan New York area there. We’ll see how he responds. Just watching him out here he’s going to have to make a commitment. He’s got to figure out what his game is. Is he going to be an ouside player? Is he going to go inside and get on the post? But he has all the skills.
(Yi scores on two straight possessions: a dunk over Dwight Howard and a post-up move on Tayshaun Prince.)
"You see the flashes of brilliance in this young guy. You saw him run the floor. That time, he posted up on Tayshaun Prince, one of the better defenders in the NBA. So all the talent is there. You get back to the intensity, the passion, the level of commitment."