The Official Yi Jianlian Shrine

[JWizmentality]

Blah,this shrine blows!

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

JWiz, time to kick this thread up with some news from a website devoted to Yi Jianlin.



http://t.love.com/353503765

Yi Jianlian injured, China loses

Without injured Houston Rockets center Yao Ming, Washington Wizards' forward Yihad taken over the role as team leader and scored 11 points in the first quarter.

But he hurt his right arm in the second half and stayed on the bench for the remainder of the game.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Oh, for any journalists who read this site and then later post rumors and such.....Yi's arm is okay.

After sitting out the rest of the game injured against Slovenia, Yi Jianlian played and China took third today.

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001 ... 88662.html

Early, NBA star Yi Jianlian scored 18 points and 11 rebounds to lead China over Iran, clinching the third place.

I assume Yi will continue to play with his team on their future games before training camp begins. I assume he'll play against the US Team that McGee was cut from.

China planned to travel abroad a few days later. playing warm-up games against Canada, the United States, Brazil and Serbia before the Turkey World Championships.

[Halcyon]

Too many haters ITT.

Wassists I say!

[fishercob]

Interesting piece on David Thorpe and Yi by Kyle Weidie. (btw, if you're a hardcore Wiz fan you shoudl be checking out Kyle's blog truthaboutit.net regularly. He does some great features and a really nice job breaking down X's and O's).

Full article here:

http://www.truthaboutit.net/2010/08/dis ... #more-9093

“I think he was looking for more help in understanding the game,” Thorpe told me when I spoke with him during the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas. “He’s almost been like a stray dog … no one’s really hugged him to say ‘you’re mine’,” he said, indicating that the instability of coaching and team changes has caused a lot of strife in Jianlian’s basketball career. He was drafted, relatively unwillingly on Yi’s part, by the Milwaukee Bucks with the sixth overall pick in 2007 and traded to the New Jersey Nets, along with Bobby Simmons, in exchange for Richard Jefferson after one season. After two uninspiring seasons in the New Jersey, Jianlian was traded to the Wizards in late June for essentially nothing (apologies to Quinton Ross).

Thorpe said he felt that Lian simply has not been embraced as a basketball player during his time in America.

See, this is why Ted sees Yi as a worthwhile flier for a year. Ted is all about making people feel good about themselves and their place within an organization. I think Ted wants to give Yi a big figurative hug, let him feel at home playing in Chinatown and see if he can play up to any of that unrealized potential.

Back to Kyle...

I asked Thorpe, him having limited previous interaction with Yi, about his impressions of Yi’s game before they started working out together. “I thought that he really had no idea how to play,” Thorpe said. “I thought that he was a guy who thought he could really shoot the ball, and that became kind of the center of his universe. And he really had no understanding of a way to impact the game other than 19-foot jumpers.”

But then...

“In our gym he blew us away,” the coach said. “We were told by his agent, Fegan, that we would be shocked by how athletic he was and we were. All my players in the gym were shocked. All the coaches were shocked. And I think he shocked himself.”

“He was dunking everything, and beating guards down the floor, and stripping guards, and making plays full-court in transition with the ball in his hands. His strength coach, who is with him full-time, said he’s never seen him do that kind of stuff before.”

There's more a lot more great stuff in there and I don't want to quote the whole blog entry, so go read it. But one more thing.

But not all is roses. It’s doesn’t take a basketball insider to see that the defensive combo of JaVale McGee at the five spot and Yi Jianlian at the four spot, where he could potentially begin the season as the starter while Andray Blatche recovers from a broken foot, is far from ideal. Just check Jianlian’s stats, courtesy of John Townsend.

“I don’t think it’s an ideal combo in the short term because Lian has not proved to be a great rebounder yet, and I think the team needs help on the boards,” said Thorpe regarding a McGee/Jianlian front line. “I think he can rebound, but he hasn’t done it long-term. He’s only done it for stretches.”

This. I actually doubt that guys can go from becoming poor rebounders to very good ones, but I'm guessing there's some readily accessible research on the subject. But this gets back to my tempered expectations on our record this year. Unless Seraphin or Booker explodes on to the scene in all-rookie proportions, our bigs are going to get pushed around most nights by the grown ass men in the NBA. Our interior D and defensive rebounding are going to suck overall. 32-35 wins. But that's...ohhhh.....kaaaay.

[Pollinator]

Thanks for the link fisher, that's a great read that starts to answer one of the big questions about Yi- has he had trouble fitting in and communicating with his teammates and coaches, and has this kept him from getting better? I know from personal experience that going to a foreign country/culture is a huge obstacle to overcome. People explain stuff to you in a foreign language and it's a lot easier to nod and pretend you understand than it is to admit your weaknesses and have them break it down for you 5 times until you get it. Even for a dominant extroverted personality like Manute Bol this is really difficult and takes years, and Yi is probably a guy that needs to be coaxed out of his shell more than Manute did.

I think if he overcomes the cultural barriers and feels at home on the Wizards, that would bring him to about a 15 pt/8 rebound per game player like he is averaging for Team China. Not going to be easy to do with him having just 1 year left on his contract but if he ends up just sleepwalking through another year it won't be because Leonsis didn't try to break the ice and embrace him as a part of the team.

[NOODLESTYLE]

Too many haters ITT.

Wassists I say!

[doclinkin]

My sense on Lian is that he's finding about the ideal situation to rehabilitate his game, or habilitate it in the first place, whatever.

Flip's offense requires a face-up Big who can work the midrange, pass, and set a pick. He'll be playing in an uptempo team which ought to allow him to get ahead of the defense and attack before their Bigs get set to push him around, knock him out of his comfort zone. He'll be playing next to a pass-first PG who looks to set up his players and get them the ball where they feel most comfortable. He won't be a primary focus and will see open shots since his man likely will often collapse in the lane to prevent the dribble attack of the Wiz' outside-in attack. He won't have to battle for minutes early since Blatche will be rehabbing his foot. And with low expectations anything he delivers will be appreciated by a team who gave up little to get him. The pressure's off. We're coming in off two losing seasons, many fans are merely happy for a fresh start.

Damning with faint praise, but when healthy Yi was apparently the best player on his team when considering adjusted plus/minus regressions. (+/- isolated and corrected against which teammates he played with at a given moment). Yes, this is like being the most intact peanut in an elephant turd, but still.

Basically he's got a shot to realize his talents and best potential. It's entirely up to him to make the best of it. I suspect he might start actually having fun out there. Same way I'd bet he'll prove to be fairly fan accessible, with familiar food right outside the building, or a close drive away in Wheaton, NoVa, etc. All things set up to allow him a comfort zone to simply concentrate on his job. Should be a relief for him. We'll see.

[doclinkin]

Hopefully we get a consistent and steady diet of games like this:



Kid does look like a pro baller every now and then. Nice moves, good footwork.

[BruceO]

I will say this, there's been several players over the years I've noticed potential out of and Yi is one of them so I'm glad we have him under our team for me to watch him more directly. My pet conception over the last few years has been about prototype players. The type of players for each position that if you team together are able to do everything a team requires to win.

Relevant to Yi is the PF position.
1. My Ideal player is a 7 footer able to play the PF and C position ( to prevent any switches to create mismatches).
2.He has to be able to rebound well. I set my current threshhold using Hollingers player stats numbers as a rebounding rate of 15.
3. He has to be able to defend
4. He has to be a good passer and have about a 1.5 pass to turnover ratio.
5. Has to have a TS% of about .560
6. has to be able to block shots

Players like Gasol, Tim Duncan, KG and Rasheed have been able to do this and have won championships. Players who seemed equal talents, were all stars and produced big numbers like Dirk, Bosh, Boozer, Amare, Brand and our very own jamison have not.

Having experienced Jamison and his inability to defend mostly due to size I looked around to see which young players were there at 7 foot who could play PF and had the potential. It came down to Blatche, Yi, Bargagni, Aldrich and possibly Al jefferson. It's an exciting year because Blatche and Yi are now our players and Al jefferson I get to watch him on a proper team and see if he generates more wins than done in the past. Also I get to watch Bosh and see if he can win a championship on a stacked team without being able to block shots, or pass at the rate I expect or be a good defender. I want to see if his numbers adjust, if they don't I want to see how far they go, if they can win it all.

These players have flaws though. Al jefferson cannot pass and doesn't seem like he will ever be mobile enough to defend. Aldrich seems like he will never be able to defend. That left me with the trio of Yi, Blatche and Bargagni.

I always thought Blatche would be good. He had the most potential to fulfill the prototype and I have been insistent that you don't trade blatche when people wanted the team to put him on the market. Blatche can has that size that can't be coached, the ability to block shots and pass also cannot be coached. The thing Blatche is lacking is he doesn't rebound at the rate I set as a threshold and his Ts% doesn't reach that threshhold as well. These things stay fairly consistent for players but because he is young I am hoping that they can be changed in several ways. Get him to the free throw line more and also have him specialize in his offense. His rebounding he needs to be physically stronger.

Yi has shown in his game logs that he does have the ability to Block shots. He is legit 7 footer without shoes. His Ts% is low but he has been on crappy teams as the focus on offense and as a starter. The positive is he is skilled so it is possible for the numbers to get better. HE has in the past exploded for silly nice numbers same way Blatche did before last year. I call it bubbling. It's like a volcano doing minor eruptions before the major one. The bigger the bubbling the more chance it can be a major eruption. His rebounding has projected at better numbers than Blatche and Bargagni. His defense ahas been atrocious but I hope for him to become stronger, more aware and more fundamentally smart about how he plays that side of the game.

If he is 22 or 25 whatever age he is now, he is still gone a long way for a young player. He and Blatche need to work on the same thing. Strength for rebounding and raising the TS%. BLatche is ahead of him as far as defensive instinct and passing ability. They both have shown the ability to block shots and have the height to make it so.

SO I don't expect a complete explosion from Yi. My expectations are tempered by the reality that he has to get stronger to be a better rebounder. He has to get to the hoop more to become more efficient. He has to be coached along with McGee on understanding the game and having more on court awareness. The thing that's working for him in this case is he is not the focus on offense. At best he is fourth option currently. There will be good point guard play for him, there will be good coaching from a vet coach for a change. HE will be in a vibrant City for a change.

MY goal for the bigs is to have a solid three big man rotation for the playoffs. I'm hoping Blatche can show he can be the number one, and Yi can prove to be a solid 2nd one. Hopefully Javale and Seraphin can prove to be a good 3rd one. Yi was a steal. Expect him to be a wizard for a very long time. This guy is no one year flyer. I also say this like I said for Blatche. You don't trade Yi even if he doesn't show everything this year he has a chance to be special if he puts it together. There's a few things that stand in his way for sure.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Single white female is not a hater.

[/quote]

swf: "He's going to teach me how to Dougie"
Yi Jianlian: "All the [women] love me." Make that Yi: "All my bitches love me".

Question: What is the Mandarin word for pimp?
Answer: 易建联 (Translation=Yi Jianlian)

Haters wanna be Yi.

Ernie Grunfeld knows which international players have swagger. Yi Jianlian is smooth.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

My sense on Lian is that he's finding about the ideal situation to rehabilitate his game, or habilitate it in the first place, whatever.

Flip's offense requires a face-up Big who can work the midrange, pass, and set a pick. He'll be playing in an uptempo team which ought to allow him to get ahead of the defense and attack before their Bigs get set to push him around, knock him out of his comfort zone. He'll be playing next to a pass-first PG who looks to set up his players and get them the ball where they feel most comfortable. He won't be a primary focus and will see open shots since his man likely will often collapse in the lane to prevent the dribble attack of the Wiz' outside-in attack. He won't have to battle for minutes early since Blatche will be rehabbing his foot. And with low expectations anything he delivers will be appreciated by a team who gave up little to get him. The pressure's off. We're coming in off two losing seasons, many fans are merely happy for a fresh start.

Damning with faint praise, but when healthy Yi was apparently the best player on his team when considering adjusted plus/minus regressions. (+/- isolated and corrected against which teammates he played with at a given moment). Yes, this is like being the most intact peanut in an elephant turd, but still.

Basically he's got a shot to realize his talents and best potential. It's entirely up to him to make the best of it. I suspect he might start actually having fun out there. Same way I'd bet he'll prove to be fairly fan accessible, with familiar food right outside the building, or a close drive away in Wheaton, NoVa, etc. All things set up to allow him a comfort zone to simply concentrate on his job. Should be a relief for him. We'll see.

From the video, that player will drop 40 in a game for the Wizards this season. Blatche being injured to start the season is a huge blessing in disguise.

If he plays like he did in that video, who cares about his defense over an 82 game season? Washington's going to have speed at every position. Yi is freakishly athletic, just lacks a willingness to bang. But he does love to back guys down. Likes to use a spin move. What he does really well is move laterally relative to guys his size. The two steps he took to finish nearly flushing the ball after being about 12 feet from the basket are pretty incredible, doc. In that video you posted about Javale where he's 2 feet about the rim we saw a freak. Yi looks like Stretch Armstrong when he dibble drives. That man's a freak.

I sure wish the Wizards had EJ for offense with this bunch. He once put Pecherov, Blatche, and Haywood on the court together. The Wizards could run a frontcourt of Booker, Yi Jianlian, and Javale McGee. Play them like the Showtime Lakers. Run and dunk all game long. Don't worry about being terrific defensively. Just get Wall and Gil and those guys out on the break.

My fear is Flip is a closed-minded, system-driven coach. I don't know if he's got a creative mind to see the possibilities with a guy like Yi. Flip's all about defense but I think with this young Wizard group a frontcourt of Booker (sf), Yi (pf) and McGee (c) and have them try to out run opponents and out dunk them might work with Wall running the break and Gil being relatively open for three all game long. Flip might not see that, because he's a grinder IMO.

Yi's not accurate with the jumper as he thinks he is, but he's a really good offensive player when confident. I see where he's had a career high of 31 points. Career high of 12 offensive rebounds (that's OUTSTANDING). He can block shots, can grab steals, and stats show him to be a good passer. He's also got a good to great handle for a big man.

http://www.nba.com/playerfile/yi_jianli ... stats.html

I think EG's really done a good job getting Yi. Yi's career high rebound game (19) came in a game where he took it to Jamison. I know Ernie saw a confident Yi just dominating out there. I think the whole deal with Yi is he's not into contact. Just like Javale. Yi doesn't have the explosive vertical finish at the rim over traffic, and is thus not as nasty as Javale is on offense. Javale doesn't care who's around the rim because he's going way over their head. But what Yi can do is get up and down the court and he can really move laterally. When he beats his man he loves to attack the rim. He needs space, though.

IMO the keys to how effectve Yi can be are spacing and transition game. If the Wizards can be a lightening fast team Yi is going to be a dunking machine who I predict drops 40 in a game for the Wizards.

He's not a grinder, however. If Flip can let the horse out of the gate and let them run free Yi will have a lot of fun here, doc.

[CarMalone]

I watched the Australia and Slovenia games. Yi was clearly the best player in the tournament when he played. He was aggressive and attacked the basket. However, the problem was that he didn't play enough minutes and China blew a 14 point second half lead against Australia while Yi sat on the bench.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

CarMalone, I hope the Wizards coach will not have the same issues getting Yi minutes if he turns out to be very good.

Blatche will be the starting PF when he gets healthy. Yi cannot take all or most of McGee's minutes at C. Armstrong is a veteran, the kind of player Flip caters to. Seraphin will be a bruiser.

It is a good problem to have for the Wizards.

[CarMalone]

CarMalone, I hope the Wizards coach will not have the same issues getting Yi minutes if he turns out to be very good.

Blatche will be the starting PF when he gets healthy. Yi cannot take all or most of McGee's minutes at C. Armstrong is a veteran, the kind of player Flip caters to. Seraphin will be a bruiser.

It is a good problem to have for the Wizards.

Yes agreed. I believe that players should earn their minutes and Yi has to do so as a Wizard. I think part of the reason why Yi played so little during the Stankovic Cup was that it was a friendly exhibition tournament which is also why Sun Yue and Wang Zhi Zhi did not play "starters" minutes and minutes were distributed much more equally like in an All-Star game.