Opening night still seems so far away (too far away), but there are already questions as to whether Yi Jianlian will be available for New Jersey. Reports surfaced this week placing Yi in China playing for his native Guangdong in the National Games at the end of October. The Nets kick off the season October 28 ... which also happens to be the final day of the China Games.But Nets boss Rod Thorn told the Newark Star-Ledger's Dave D'Alessandro that Yi will not be missing any Nets games. Which implies that Yi will not be participating in the China Games. Which is not going to make the Chinese Basketball Association very happy.
Tensions between the CBA and the NBA have been around the entire decade, since Wang Zhizhi refused to report to his Chinese team Bayi at the conclusion of his second season with the Mavericks. Wang was essentially treated as a defector, and it took several years to get Wang back into the nation's basketball system's good graces. The CBA also clashed with NBA interests in 2001, when a top official from Shanghai's CBA club prevented Yao Ming from entering the NBA draft. The club had pushed for a massive share of Yao's NBA earnings in exchange for his release from an unwritten lifetime contract. (In an odd turn of events, Yao now owns the Shanghai Sharks.)
Guangdong famously figured in Yi's initial NBA drama, when the club insisted it may not allow the forward to join the Bucks (who drafted Yi in 2007) because Milwaukee was not one of its approved destinations. Yi eventually made his way to Wisconsin, though the Bucks traded him to New Jersey after one mediocre season.
Yi figures to be the starting power forward for NJ on opening night ... provided he's not in China wearing a Guangdong jersey. The CBA could fix this issue in the future, of course, by moving its National Games up. Or by not requesting the few NBA players from China to come back and play for their regions, considering the NBA players are already asked to represent China in FIBA play.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-20-2009 @ 9:14PM
Giles said...
The Chinese minority owners in CleveLand are probably not going to be able to sign free agent, Yao, Ming, but might be able to trade for Yi, Jianlian, perhaps Williams for Jianlian Yi. Especially if the new rumor potential majority owner for the Nets, a Russian billionaire, decides to turn the Nets into a Russian all star team, as some posters have suggested they might like. The Russians (and the Chineses) are coming, the Chinese (and the Russians), are coming?
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