Yao impressed with latest Chinese star
By PHIL JASNER
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Associated Press
Yi Jianlian is a 7-footer who could be a top 10 draft pick.
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DETROIT - Yao Ming, all 7-6, 310 pounds of him, even seated on a folding chair in the cramped visitors' locker room in the Wachovia Center, is an imposing presence. That's where the Houston Rockets' center was before Sunday night's game against the 76ers. He was meeting, as he does regularly, with two journalists from his homeland of China who chronicle his every move, his every opinion. On this night, the conversation included a reporter from Houston and one from the
Daily News. From a Philadelphia perspective, the primary subject was the next big thing from China. That would be Yi Jianlian, the 7-footer from Shenzhen, China, who is trying to help his Guangdong Tigers win a fourth straight national championship.
With Yi projected as a top 10 pick in the upcoming NBA draft, the Sixers are among the teams that have sent a contingent to scout him in person. The Sixers' group includes president/general manager Billy King, senior vice president/assistant general manager Tony DiLeo and director of player personnel Courtney Witte.
"[Yi] is very close to a player like Amare Stoudemire [of the Phoenix Suns]," Yao suggested when asked for a comparison. "He's taller, almost 7 feet. He has very nice touch. He's very athletic. I think he has good . . . balance for a great player."
With that, Yao paused, turning to the Chinese journalists for assistance with a word he was searching for. With a few words exchanged among them, Yao turned back and said "fundamentals."
But is Yi ready for the NBA? Yao smiled, as if he had been asked that question many times during the season. Yao was the No. 1 overall pick by the Rockets in 2002, the first international player to be taken No. 1. Since then, he has been named to the All-Star Game five times in succession; he did not play in the most recent game, in Las Vegas, as he was recovering from a broken leg.
"Is he ready for the NBA?" he finally said, repeating the question. "From my experience, it's very important for him to play in summer league. I think that will be good for him and his team, which team drafts him. I was not in summer league the year the Rockets drafted me, and I had a very tough start. For a player from China, you need time to adjust.
"It's hard to say [whether he is ready]. When I left China, he just started, so we never matched up. I never played against him. I was his teammate on the national team the last 3 years. He's a very good 4-position [power forward] player, can play a little 5
. He's a good shot-blocker. He just needs the right training, people who can tell him how to play at this level."
Yao, who had 24 points and 10 rebounds in the Rockets' 124-74 crushing of the Sixers on Sunday, went into the game averaging a career-best 24.5 points, plus 9.3 rebounds and 2.03 blocks in 34 games. He missed 32 games with his injury, but he and Hakeem Olajuwon are the only Rockets ever to be named starters in at least five All-Star Games.
Yi, who has been reported to be anywhere from 19 to 24 years old and has represented his country in both the Olympics and World Championships, averaged 20.5 points and 9.6 rebounds last season. There had been speculation that he might enter the draft last year, but his team wanted a chance at a fourth title; the Tigers lost Game 1 of the finals on Sunday, 94-89, to the Bayi Rockets, led by former NBA player Wang Zhizhi.
"He's a good player, and from what I see, athletic," said journalist Wang Mang, of Titan Sports, who has been following Yao, sending reports back to China. "From that aspect, he is quicker [than Yao]. His explosive strength is much better than Yao. Yao has a much better [shooting] touch, but Yi can move quicker.
"When Yao first came to America, he was not an NBA type. He didn't work in the post, just shot from outside. Yi will fit in quicker because he can move quick, shoot from the perimeter. Yi is a little bit quiet. He thinks a lot, but doesn't want to share his thoughts. People in China think he won't be as successful as Yao. They think he doesn't seem to have [the same] desire, that he's not as hungry as Yao.
"But Yi is really hungry, especially this year. When we got confirmation that he will come to the NBA, he's worked so hard."
It is, to say the least, a difficult transition. That's what it was for Yao.
"There's no great leap," said Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy, referring to Yao's development, in part through constant workouts with assistant head coach Tom Thibodeau, a onetime Sixers assistant. "It was steady progress, day to day, because [Yao] is such a tremendous worker. He has a unique work ethic that allows him, good game or bad game, to come in the next day and put in his time to study and work on his game."
Various Web sites have listed Yi at about 230 pounds, with a need for upper-body strength. But he is also referred to as the best international prospect, even though the level of competition in China remains a question.
He has drawn comparisons to former NBA star Toni Kukoc, and to current players Pau Gasol, of Memphis, and Charlie Villanueva, of Milwaukee.
One thing we definitely know: He's a valuable commodity. He signed an endorsement deal with McDonald's in January. *
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