The Yi debacle: A View from China
Reaction from the other side
By Alan Paul
The first thing to get out of the way is this: no one in China really knows what is going in with Yi either.
“I really don’t understand why he dislikes Milwaukee so much,” says Shen Zhiyu, a senior writer for the Chinese language version of Slam. “It doesn’t make sense for him to demand to be somewhere or not be somewhere. No matter what team he’s on, it’s a very good chance for him to improve his level of play significantly. It’s a very good chance for him and for the Chinese National Team.”
This last point is really the key to understanding how people here view this situation: it helps the Chinese National Team to have as many of their players as possible playing against as high level competition as possible. People are particularly pumped about this because of the ’08 Beijing Olympics, kicking off in a little more than a year.
The only way for Yi to really avoid playing for the Bucks is to sit the year out and that is not a reasonable option; there is no way he can have no competition in the year before the Beijing Games, probably the most anticipated sports event in Chinese history.
One thing to clarify: the reason the owners of Yi’s CBA team keep speaking for him is they are his Chinese agents. Even now that he is (theoretically) going to the NBA, he is still basically controlled by his Chinese team.
Yi has no support from the Chinese public. As detailed in this story in the government run China Daily, in a poll on sina.com, china’s most popular internet portal, 82 percent of the respondents want Yi to remain a Buck.
The story goes on to say:
And it’s not just the fans that are losing patience.
“I have heard about it, I hope he can solve his troubles as soon as possible and concentrate on the national team,” China’s head coach Jonas Kazlauskas told China Daily.
Several big names have urged Yi to end the turmoil and join the Bucks.
“I think Yi should know his agent works for him, it’s not him who works for his agent. He will have to make a decision for himself,” NBA legend Scottie Pippen told China Daily last week. “Just looking at the fact that he doesn’t want to play in that market, I think he should really try to reconsider and embrace the fact that not only are you a part of the NBA, but you have a chance to go out and make a name for yourself.”
I was there when Pip said this and it was a pretty funny scene. He was in Beijing for a press conference with the NBA and Motorola, where they announced their massive two-on-two tournament. Afterwards, he spoke to the press. I was there asking him about things like the 97 Finals and his relationship with MJ and the Chinese press was there asking him over and over about Yi. First, he said he didn’t know too much about it. Then he talked and talked about it, getting pretty hardline with Yi.
By the way, I can’t overstate how big of a star Pip is here. Most Chinese fans started watching the NBA during the Bulls’ run and the whole team retains a much larger than life aura here. A friend who was in shanghai basketball without Borders told me that Pip was a bigger draw than Yao.
23 Responses to “The Yi debacle: A View from China”
Jul.23 at 12:25 pm
white hot eboy says:
Alan, you know what, if the 90’s Bulls teams played in todays game, a decade later, they would still be crushing teams left and right. 90’s Bulls vs. the 2000 versions of the Spurs would be intriguing but there is no matchup favorable for the Spurs except at the center spot. But Rodman would have frustrated The Robot to no end. Oh, how I long to see a great team like that someday again. But we’ll never see anyone else who had straight fire like MJ either. Really insightful post about Yi, too. Nice work.
Jul.23 at 12:29 pm
alan p says:
Thanks and you are right. Those Bulls teams would destroy Spurs. and, yes, Rodman, would have been in Tim D’s head big time.
Jul.23 at 12:47 pm
Cheryl says:
Alan, what do you think are the cultural factors that maybe could give us here in the U.S. a different perspective on the Yi drama. Because here, the perception is that Yi wants to 1)play on a team in a location with a large Chinese population and 2) that he wants a team that is really so bad that he wouldn’t have to compete for minutes. Is this an accurate perception, or is there something we may be missing that could be answered from a cultural basis? School us, if you would. –ASPOV
Jul.23 at 12:49 pm
Ben Osborne says:
Great stuff, Alan. This Yi thing is so damn confusing. As for Pip, a former favorite of mine, we oughta, like, do an old-school on him.
Jul.23 at 12:49 pm
whooo! says:
well if pip is still needs $ (isn’t that why he wanted to play again?), sounds like he should just play in china and sign some big ass endorsements there!
Jul.23 at 1:11 pm
Rome says:
Pip, (may my spit be upon him), he’s forgetting one thing, if your from a communist country, the country controls you.
Jul.23 at 1:11 pm
BETCATS says:
i wonder what ping ping thinks on this
Jul.23 at 1:19 pm
white hot eboy says:
Would we all feel better if Ping Ping gave his blessing and promised that the NBA officiating problem would never be an issue again ih he served as a liason between the league and the Feds? “All we are saying, is give Ping Ping a chance”
Jul.23 at 1:34 pm
shawn kemp jr. says:
BET are you retarded?
Jul.23 at 2:04 pm
Ryan Jones says:
Alan, does this mean you’re not going to be in Montclair on Friday?
Jul.23 at 2:22 pm
Tariq says:
Mr. Ping Ping makes my heart glad.
Jul.23 at 3:30 pm
WeS says:
This may be a mad generalization but… VC, Yi, and KD? Some of tehse agents are grimy…
Jul.23 at 3:30 pm
albie1kenobi says:
so everyone’s confused on who’s to blame on Yi not being a buck, and everyone’s pointing fingers at everywhere else. ugh. this nba summer is drama filled. i guess these keep all the nba writers employed? good times.
Jul.23 at 8:21 pm
apaul says:
Ryan, I won’t be in the People’s Republic of Montclair because I will still be in the People’s Republic of China. Cheryl, what you have to understand is Yi is still basically controlled by his Chinese team. There are too many cooks in the kitchen here and it’s a problem. Yao and his family went through a lot of sh*t to get their freedom but they were smart, savvy and tough. Yi and his family are simpler, country folk and they are going with the flow and getting whipped around. that’s my take after talking to a bunch of peoplT anyhow.
Jul.23 at 10:22 pm
Will Lee says:
You can never understand a communist country when you are not there. Honestly, we didn’t get those words out of Yi Jianlian, I still believe they are just rumours. If he wants a big chinese population, just play in China, man. Don’t be fooled by your agent, the rookie contract ends in 4 years and you could still get a max somewhere else. Most important is to develop your game now!!!
Jul.23 at 10:34 pm
apaul says:
Will, there’s no way to know for sure but no one really thinks that Yi is making these decisions.
Jul.24 at 3:06 am
Russ Bengtson says:
I’d pretty much completely forgot about Yi due to the Donaghy stuff and the Tour de France. For the good of my sanity (which is tenuous at best anyway), I no longer care AT ALL what Yi does. Stay in China, sign with Milwaukee, quit basketball to take up competitve gardening—whatever. Good luck, dude. Power to the people.
Jul.24 at 4:28 am
alan p says:
Yeah, but what if you were a Bucks fan. There are few, you know. Personally, as a Pittsburgh native, I like Milwaukee. Reminds me of home. But Yi didn’t ask.
Jul.24 at 8:35 am
Cheryl says:
I feel for the kid. That’s a rock and hard place scenario. It’s difficult for us Yanks to comprehend. I just hope dude gets to play. –ASPOV
Jul.24 at 8:53 am
Ryan Jones says:
Yeah, all this insanit-yi will seem pretty silly when dude ends up averaging 6 and 3 during his three-year NBA career.
Jul.24 at 8:53 am
Ryan Jones says:
AP, we’ll miss you. Just please don’t do anything silly and get executed.
Jul.24 at 6:46 pm
Caputo says:
Alan Paul is that dude. SLAM’s purest voice.
Jul.25 at 1:53 am
alan p says:
Thanks all. This is creating a really bad situation for Yi. He will come in eventually and struggle and then everyone will say, “who does he think he is? He sucks.” And he’ll have to be strong to push through. He should have come in humble and head down.