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Year later we still don't know Yi's true age.

Posted: Tue Apr 15, 2008 11:56 pm
by BucksRuleAll22
I can't beleive its been a year and Yi's true age has not come out or even been questioned. How does nobody know his true age. Nobodys buying that he is 21 so that leads me to beleive he is 24 or 25 now. I just thought it was funny how nobody knows for sure still and I wanted to bring it up incase I missed something.

Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 12:00 am
by th87
Our Chinese friends said that they did some Bone Age thing, where it came out that he was the age he said he was. Maybe someone can confirm that?

But I don't know - the evidence seems stacked against him. But I would think the NBA would be more careful with these matters, since they have investments to protect.

Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 12:02 am
by skones
If you honestly believed that you would know Yi's true age by now, you're an idiot.

Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 12:08 am
by BucksRuleAll22
skones wrote:If you honestly believed that you would know Yi's true age by now, you're an idiot.


What?

Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 12:18 am
by jerrod
BucksRuleAll22 wrote:-= original quote snipped =-



What?



we're never going to know, there's no reason to make it known, and there are reasons not to

Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 12:41 am
by jeremyd236
I don't understand why his exact age is such a big deal. In fact, why is his age at all a concern? Age is just a number, it doesn't mean anything.

If the Bucks or any team knew what they were doing, they'd understand how fit their players were and how far they were in terms of athletic development. I mean, Dwight Howard and Lebron James each looked at least 20 when they came into the league.

It's kind of the Brett Favre thing too. Everyone was saying he has to retire because he's 38 and 38 is old. Doesn't really matter if he's playing like the typical 30 year old though does it?

Same goes for Yi....if he's got the athleticism and still 10-12 years left in the league, I don't really care if he's really 24.

Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 12:56 am
by drew881
Yeah, if we didn't know by now, we will never know. Thats why a lot of players have contested ages throughout their whole career. El Duce for example.

Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 1:03 am
by NeedsMoreCheese
Well according to GAD, in 2005 or whatever they made some changes (the NBA) where they now have to be pretty certain the info theyve obtained from these other countries is indeed accurate (according to government regulations or something). They cant just go based on an assumption. Im not sure the exact details so I'll let GAD clear those up. His age is what they say it is.

Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 1:29 am
by Cold Crush 24
Year later... still dont care.

Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 1:35 am
by skones
jeremyd236 wrote:I don't understand why his exact age is such a big deal. In fact, why is his age at all a concern? Age is just a number, it doesn't mean anything.

If the Bucks or any team knew what they were doing, they'd understand how fit their players were and how far they were in terms of athletic development. I mean, Dwight Howard and Lebron James each looked at least 20 when they came into the league.

It's kind of the Brett Favre thing too. Everyone was saying he has to retire because he's 38 and 38 is old. Doesn't really matter if he's playing like the typical 30 year old though does it?

Same goes for Yi....if he's got the athleticism and still 10-12 years left in the league, I don't really care if he's really 24.


What do you think fetches more in trade? A 20 year old Yi Jianlian putting up 9 points 5 rebounds and 1 block, or a 24 year old Yi Jianlian putting up 9 points 5 rebounds and 1 block? I rest my case.

Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 1:36 am
by fam3381
He's no younger than 20 (given age) and no older than 23...I think it's generally assumed he's one or the other given the evidence that has come out.

I doubt we'll ever get a definitive answer on this, so I'm not the least bit concerned there would ever be a legal issue even if he is 23. No one's going to bend over backwards to try to prove his age was falsified at this point, and I'm not sure deporting an NBA player is at the top of the INS' priorities anyway.

From all the evidence out there my guess is he's probably 23, which is significant in the sense that guys improve a lot less after 23 than they do between 20 and 23. If he was already a superstar then wouldn't be a big issue, but for a young player who still needs to develop a lot, I do think it makes a difference. But I very much doubt the Bucks were conditioning their selection of him on his age being correct.

Re: Year later we still don't know Yi's true age.

Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 2:05 pm
by carmelbrownqueen
BucksRuleAll22 wrote:I can't beleive its been a year and Yi's true age has not come out or even been questioned. How does nobody know his true age. Nobodys buying that he is 21 so that leads me to beleive he is 24 or 25 now. I just thought it was funny how nobody knows for sure still and I wanted to bring it up incase I missed something.
Honestly I don't understand why ths question even continues to come up.. it really doesn't matter anymore.

Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 2:08 pm
by LUKE23
The reality is, if Yi is good enough by the end of his rookie contract to warrant an extension, everyone will have forgotten about the age concerns completely, and it he ends up being a bust, no one will really care how old he is because he won't be on the team past that point.

What is a definite is that he will be in his athletic prime for the entire duration of his rookie deal, that's all that matters at this point anyway.

Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 4:19 pm
by Mags FTW
I'm so glad someone started a topic on this. With a brand new GM being hired, a pivotal coaching search in progress, and the draft lottery on the horizon, there's nothing I'd like to discuss more than Yi's true age (for the 8th time).

Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 10:47 pm
by howe070523
Just to confirm that Yi has done the Bonage test both in China and U.S.

Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 11:01 pm
by carmelbrownqueen
I guess it's good to hear that he did the tests but at the same time.. again, I just don't think it matters. If Yi is half the talent that I think he is capable of developing into he will have a long career regardless.

Posted: Wed Apr 16, 2008 11:14 pm
by BucksRuleAll22
Mags FTW wrote:I'm so glad someone started a topic on this. With a brand new GM being hired, a pivotal coaching search in progress, and the draft lottery on the horizon, there's nothing I'd like to discuss more than Yi's true age (for the 8th time).


If you don't like the topic or post then don't read it. Thiers only a handful of active topics a day on the forum so its not like its floading the board.

Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 8:34 pm
by drew881
A somewhat related story...

http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_ylt=A ... &type=lgns


Tejada tells team he

Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 8:46 pm
by LISTEN2JAZZ
howe070523 wrote:Just to confirm that Yi has done the Bonage test both in China and U.S.
link?

Posted: Thu Apr 17, 2008 10:17 pm
by paulpressey25
That Miguel Tejada story is great.....I think it just goes to show that a number of these guys do this....the incentive is too great.

The question is whether this affects his MLB contract which was presumably extended to him under the assumption he was two-years younger.

If a guy can't prove his age, for me it's a 99% lock he's older. We all have plenty of people and friends that we've inter-acted with during our childhood that could verify things. But interestingly enough, none of these friends ever step forward in the cases of these athletes to prove the younger age. i.e. "Of course Miguel is only 31, he and I are in my 1982 2nd grade class photo I've got right here"