Yi Jianlian

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Yi Jianlian bigraphy, stories - Chinese basketball player

Yi Jianlian : biography

October 27, 1987 –

Yi Jianlian () is a Chinese professional basketball player who plays for the Guangdong Southern Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). He has also played in the American National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Milwaukee Bucks, New Jersey Nets, Washington Wizards, and Dallas Mavericks.

Yi joined the Guangdong Southern Tigers in 2002 and subsequently won the Rookie of the Year Award. In five years with the Tigers, he won three CBA titles, and also played with the Chinese national basketball team in the 2004 Summer Olympics and the 2006 FIBA World Championships. In the 2007 NBA Draft, he was selected by the Milwaukee Bucks as the sixth overall pick. Initially, Yi declined to sign with the Bucks for several months before agreeing to a contract with them on August 29, 2007. He played in the NBA until 2012, when he returned to the Guangdong Southern Tigers. He won another CBA championship in 2013.

There has been controversy over Yi’s age, as several reports have testified that his officially listed birth date of October 27, 1987, was intentionally falsified by three years so he would be able to play longer in junior competitions. Yi has refused to comment on his age.

Career in China

Yi was born to father Yi Jingliu and mother Mai Meiling, who were both professional handball players. As a child, his parents initially did not want him to join a sports school, which is designed for children who are predicted to be future stars. However, after a sports school basketball coach noticed Yi playing streetball, he persuaded Yi’s family to allow Yi to train professionally.

Hoping to sign Yi to an endorsement deal, Adidas invited him to attend the company’s ABCD camp in Teaneck, New Jersey in 2002, where he competed against All-American high school players. After returning to China later that year, he joined the senior team of the Guangdong Southern Tigers and averaged 3.5 points and 1.9 rebounds in his rookie season. He also averaged 7.3 points and 7.3 rebounds in four games in the CBA Finals and won the Rookie of the Year award. In 2003, Yi was featured in TIME magazine’s August 24, 2003 article titled "The Next Yao Ming". In each of his next three seasons, Yi led Guangdong to the CBA championship, and he was awarded the Finals Most Valuable Player (MVP) honor in 2006. In Yi’s last season in the CBA before he entered the 2007 NBA Draft, he averaged a career best 24.9 points and 11.5 rebounds per game, but the Tigers lost to the Bayi Rockets in the 2007 CBA finals. He also studied at the School of Economics and Management at Guangdong University of Technology.

During the 2011 NBA lockout, Yi Jianlian signed a one-year contract to return to the Guangdong Southern Tigers. Unlike most NBA players who went to the CBA during that time, he received an option to return to the NBA once the lockout had been resolved.http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/sports/2011-10/08/content_13852028.htm After that happened, he signed with the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks for the remainder of the 2011-12 season.

Yi rejoined the Guangdong Southern Tigers for the 2012-13 season.

Notes

NBA career

Entering the NBA

Yi was not expected to enter the NBA Draft until 2009 because the Chinese Basketball Association ruled that players would not be allowed to leave until they turned 22. In early 2006, however, Yi announced that he would enter the 2006 NBA Draft, although he eventually decided to withdraw, saying he was "not good enough to compete in the NBA and needed more experience". A year later, on November 1, 2006, the Tigers announced that Yi would enter the 2007 NBA Draft.

Yi chose NBA agent Dan Fegan to represent him in the NBA Draft and flew to Los Angeles to participate in pre-NBA Draft camps. Before the draft, Yi was predicted to be picked anywhere from third to twelfth. On June 28, 2007, Yi was selected by the Milwaukee Bucks with the sixth overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft, despite Fegan warning the Bucks not to pick Yi and not allowing Milwaukee to be one of the teams invited to Yi’s pre-draft private workouts in Los Angeles. He did not want Milwaukee to select Yi because they did not have a large Asian-American community. However, general manager Larry Harris said they had only drafted the best player available to them.