Is Yi JianLian The Next Yao Ming
China’s new basketball king could be NBA star
Yao Ming has developed into a great NBA player, but many experts, including Yao, say that Yi JianLian is China's best basketball player.
Yao Ming versus Yi JianLian. Sounds like one of those eastern martial arts movies – you know the ones dubbed in English, in which the actors’ words never quite match the movements of their mouths.
By now, NBA basketball fans are well-acquainted with Yao Ming, once heralded as the biggest personality in all of China. Yao has finally turned his success in China into NBA stardom, as well.
As far as the Chinese are concerned, they still love Yao, as evidenced by his millions of NBA All-Star Game votes. China, though, has a new sheriff patrolling its basketball courts, and his name is Yi JianLian.
The second an American scout saw Yi a few years ago, the comparisons to Yao were even more popular than people comparing LeBron James to Michael Jordan.
Not only is Yi JianLian from China, but like Yao Ming, he is big (7-0, 230), agile, smart and has a nice outside shot.
In fairness to both players, though, the comparison ends here.
Yao is a true center – a giant at 7-6, 310, and although Yao has a nice touch for a man this size, he stays much closer to the basket. Yao can move very well, but Yi can fly.
Although it’s difficult to judge how good a player from another country will be when facing NBA talent, watching Yi against other Chinese teams is a truly jaw-dropping experience.
Yi JianLian, who plays for China’s Guangdong Tigers, is a forward, with a shooting guard’s game. Better comparisons than the one to Yao are those that liken Yi to Pau Gasol and even Kevin Garnett.
Yi is a nice 3-point shooter, a slasher, and a tremendous shot-maker, who scores going to both his right and left. Yi is also a crowd-pleasing, monstrous finisher, who gets up and down the floor like a gazelle fleeing an attacking predator.
Although his age has never been verified, Yi is rumored to be 19. He’s already made at least one commercial, demonstrating the kind of charisma that will help him adapt quickly to the NBA and to America.
Projected by some experts to be a lottery pick in the 2007 NBA draft, if Yi continues to develop his all-around game and adds some muscle, he could jump into the top five NBA draft picks.
We may never see the great Yi JianLian versus Yao Ming battle – at least not a one-on-one version.
One day very soon, though, Yi and Yao, China’s biggest stars, may face each other on an NBA basketball court.
It may not make a great B-movie, but it promises to be beautiful NBA theater.
