FanHouse YiJianlian

FanHouse previews a player to watch from each NBA team in advance of the 2009-10 season.

This is Yi Jianlian. He plays basketball for the New Jersey Nets. He was once a highly desired commodity in the NBA -- so desired that Yi's threat to abstain from joining the NBA when an undesirable team draft resulted in several Important Men, including a United States Senator, traveling to China to negotiate Yi's departure to Milwaukee.

After one year and a Bucks regime change, Yi was traded for a well-respected player, Richard Jefferson. Along with giving up the quite-good Jefferson, the Nets also agreed to take on the onerous contract of Bobby Simmons. (There was also some future cap relief for New Jersey, but suffice it to say Yi was a big deal in this trade.)

Given all the attention, you'd think Yi Jianlian is a great basketball player by NBA standards. But he is not. Yi is a pretty substandard NBA player. The Nets desperately need that to change.

FanHouse previews all 30 NBA teams in advance of the 2009-10 season.

The Nets finished last season with a 34-48 record, and then went ahead and traded their second-leading scorer, Vince Carter, to Orlando. Yet they head into the 2009-10 season with more optimism than a team in their position should rightfully have.

Hey, that's the wonder of cap space. Virtually all of what New Jersey had done over the past two or three seasons has been leading to the summer of free agency in 2010.

---

---

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.

Yi Jianlian has come into his own this season, and after a disappointing December, has responded with a great start to January. He's been averaging 15.8 points and 7.4 rebounds, and has been a key component to the resurgent Nets. Moreover, thanks largely to his countrymen, he's been pushing the legendary Kevin Garnett... for a starter's position at the All-Star game.

Well, KG might be able to breathe a little easier, thanks to a disappointing development.

Jianlian is out for three to four weeks with a broken pinkie, according to The Star-Ledger.

Via Sports by Brooks, Interbasket offers alleged proof to confirm long-held rumors that Nets forward Yi Jianlian is 24 years old -- not 21. Interbasket offers a photo of a document that was recently published in a Chinese sports magazine; the doc has a photo of a young Yi and the birthdate reads "October 27, 1984." The birthdate Yi has always offered (and the NBA has officially recognized) is October 27, 1987.

While I'm not sure it matters at this point, Yi's age will always be a big deal to fans, draftniks and the media. As the 2007 NBA draft approached, major publications openly discussed rumors that Yi had been born in '84. DraftExpress vehemently insisted he was actually 22. Needless to say, 22-year-old prospects must be considered much differently than 19-year-old prospects. A slight frame and poor ball-handling skills are the norm among teenaged ballers; at 22, your fundamentals and body should be pretty well developed.

Further, should this document be verified and Chinese or NBA officials forced to admit Yi is actually 24, it'll be a dark mark on international scouting. Other than Houston, Milwaukee might have been in the best position among all NBA teams to suss out the truth regarding Yi: Larry Harris, the Bucks' GM at the time, is the son of Del Harris, who has coached and consulted for the Chinese national team for a decade. Milwaukee should have known everything about Yi before spending the sixth overall pick in a good draft on him.

It also bears pondering what New Jersey knew upon trading for him this summer. No offense to Richard Jefferson, but I'd imagine the Nets expected they were getting a youngster with lots of room for potential, not someone older than 2003 draft product LeBron James.

With a strong slate of Friday night games, Dallas at New Jersey had some obvious storylines: Jason Kidd returns to the arena he revived, and Devin Harris gets a chance to show the team that traded him just what they're missing. Harris held his bargain, dropping an absurd 41 points and 13 assists in the huge N.J. win. Nets fans responded accordingly. (The fun starts about 33 seconds in.)



"THANK YOU CU-BAN!" indeed. Mark Cuban was at the game, of course, and in highlights didn't look particularly pleased by the Mavericks' fate. Harris wasn't alone in carving up the Mavs -- Vince Carter had 34 on only 18 shots, and Yi Jianlian broke out with 16/10. N.J. got its 121 points in only 94 possession, which means the Nets offense was immaculate while the Dallas defense was atrocious.

Dallas maintains the better record, but there's a sincere chance the Nets end up as the only team from this pair in the postseason. On top of that, New Jersey's future remains incredibly promising while Dallas has an aging core and few prospects of note.

The NBA released its first set of All-Star balloting results today, filled with the usual complete non-surprises. LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Yao Ming and Kobe Bryant lead at their positions. Dwight Howard is the overall vote leader, which has as much to do with the dearth of centers in the East -- Samuel Dalembert (!) is No. 2 in voting -- than Superman's extensive fan base.

The scenario everyone feared, though, is looking possible. For the second forward slot in the East, Kevin Garnett leads New Jersey's Yi Jianlian by about 130,000 votes. It's a big enough margin for now, but the fact that Yi leads Chris Bosh (by 80,000) and Paul Pierce (by 200,000) has to be giving David Stern a stomachache. I mean, it's great that China has helped make basketball the most popular sport in the world. But Yi starting the All-Star Game over KG, Bosh or Pierce? That'd be a domestic disaster. And incredibly hilarious.

In other somewhat discouraging news, it appears Allen Iverson will be an Eastern starter once again. Chris Paul's lead over Tracy McGrady for second among Western guards is a tenuous 60,000-vote spread. Rafer Alston has ridden Yao's gravy train to almost as many votes as Brandon Roy, while deserving Yi-mate Devin Harris is behind ... Luke Ridnour. Man, All-Star voting is weird.

Every night there are some stupendous, silly, stupid, or downright outlandish individual lines from around the lig. Doing Lines lets you know which one tops the list.

Same story, second verse: Kevin Durant is back at it, taking the lion's share of all the Thunder's shot attempts. The Un-Sonics rolled into Indiana for a cross-conference affair, and Durant proceeded to yoke up 27 FGAs and nine free throws. KD came down with a somewhat efficient 37 points, a big total that just wasn't enough to pull out a win. (Surprisingly story, that.)

Just as encouraging? Three blocks and eight rebounds for Durant. KD isn't going to be a perennial All-Star at the two. He'll be making his case for greatness at a forward position. So even if P.J. Carlesimo straps him to the backcourt, it's encouraging to see him branch out and maximize his physical potential.

The Chairman Speaks: The biggest draft-day trade -- Richard Jefferson for Yi Jianlian -- hasn't bestowed any new attention on China's No. 2 NBA star. In fact, Sun Yue (yet to play a second for the Lakers) has gotten more pub than Chairman Yi this year. No matter. In a loss in Miami tonight, Yi went off for 24 points, 10 rebounds and four assists. There's the Asian Dirk we'd all forgotten about!

Reverse Magic: Perhaps the most angering line of the night goes to Rashard Lewis, who was stifled by the visiting Blazers into six points in 39 minutes of play. On the back of Brandon Roy, Portland came from behind to steal a road win in Orlando ... despite a 35-point night from Hedo Turkoglu and a monstrous 29/19 effort from Dwight Howard. Waste lines like that and feel the wrath of a nation scorned, Mr. Lewis.

During the remainder of the Olympic men's basketball tournament, FanHouse will give you 5 Things to watch for in each game.

Will Yao play mad? On Monday, Chinese coach Jonas Kazlauskas held Yao Ming to seven minutes in the second half. Yao was furious. We assume he's gotten over things. If he hasn't? Yao rarely plays angry; he's an extremely mature fellow, typically calm and reserved, unless he's getting mauled on the court. But he's had a bit of an edge to him this week. He's barked at Yi Jianlian and Sun Yue more than he ever has in Chuck Hayes' presence. He looked like he wanted to punch Kazlauskas when he was removed. He didn't talk to reporters. I've only seen Yao under the spell of bloodlust once, in Sacramento last season as some combination of Mikki Moore and (surprise!) Ron Artest aggravated the snot out of the big guy. He was ineffective and eventually got ejected. I imagine things are fine on Team China now. If there are, however, raw nerves, Yao might either play with a fire we haven't seen ... or he might be distracted into malperformance.

Trade secrets. One more Kaslauskas note: this Coach K is Lithuanian, and coached the Lithuanian national team until 2001, and knows the games of many of Lithuania's top players well. That sort of trade secret thing won't work without talent ... with China has with Yao and sometimes Yi. As a longtime Oakland Raider fan (pity me), remember the Jon Gruden Super Bowl.

During the remainder of the Olympic men's basketball tournament, FanHouse will give you 5 Things to watch for in each game.

Will Yao play mad? On Monday, Chinese coach Jonas Kazlauskas held Yao Ming to seven minutes in the second half. Yao was furious. We assume he's gotten over things. If he hasn't? Yao rarely plays angry; he's an extremely mature fellow, typically calm and reserved, unless he's getting mauled on the court. But he's had a bit of an edge to him this week. He's barked at Yi Jianlian and Sun Yue more than he ever has in Chuck Hayes' presence. He looked like he wanted to punch Kazlauskas when he was removed. He didn't talk to reporters. I've only seen Yao under the spell of bloodlust once, in Sacramento last season as some combination of Mikki Moore and (surprise!) Ron Artest aggravated the snot out of the big guy. He was ineffective and eventually got ejected. I imagine things are fine on Team China now. If there are, however, raw nerves, Yao might either play with a fire we haven't seen ... or he might be distracted into malperformance.

Trade secrets. One more Kaslauskas note: this Coach K is Lithuanian, and coached the Lithuanian national team until 2001, and knows the games of many of Lithuania's top players well. That sort of trade secret thing won't work without talent ... with China has with Yao and sometimes Yi. As a longtime Oakland Raider fan (pity me), remember the Jon Gruden Super Bowl.