Yi Jianlian inks rookie deal with Bucks
Last Updated: Wednesday, August 29, 2007 | 12:47 PM ET
The Associated Press
Yi Jianlian is finally going to play for the Milwaukee Bucks.
Yi, the sixth overall selection in the NBA draft in June, signed a standard rookie scale contract with the Bucks in Hong Kong on Wednesday.
Yi Jianlian averaged career highs of 24.9 points and 11.5 rebounds with the Guangdong Tigers last season.
(Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press)
A contingent of Bucks officials that included owner and Sen. Herb Kohl met with Yi's family and Chen Haitao, owner of Yi's Chinese professional team, over the last day to finalize the deal.
"We had a very successful trip here," Kohl said from Hong Kong. "We came with the hope, but not the certainty that we would, in fact, be able to sign a contract with Yi."
The Bucks could not say when the six-foot-11-inch power forward would be in the United States or meet with American media, but Kohl expects the 19-year-old to be in Milwaukee at the start of training camp on Oct. 1, or shortly afterward.
On draft night, Yi said he was surprised he was picked by the Bucks, but thought he'd play for them.
After the interview, he said nothing more while he was in the U.S., leading to speculation that he would never show up.
"Certainly Mr. Yi and his representatives want him in Milwaukee as soon as possible," general manager Larry Harris said.
His agent, Dan Fegan, had pushed for Yi to be drafted or traded to a city with a large Asian influence — or at least a larger city.
According to census data, there are only about 27,500 people of Asian descent living in the city more famous for beers and bratwurst than cultural diversity, but the Bucks continued to say that it had little to do with Yi's situation.
With the Olympics in Beijing next summer, Chinese officials wanted assurances that Yi, who played on China's 2004 Olympic team and 2006 world championship team, would get significant playing time against the NBA's best players in an effort to sharpen his skills for those games.
"Certainly from our standpoint, we're very committed to making him the best player that he's going to be, we made that very clear," Harris said. "You're talking about a young man that, obviously, has a lot on his shoulders, not only for himself, but for his country and with the Olympics being in Beijing, we understand those situations."
Contract bought out
Kohl said that they came to Hong Kong at the request of Chen and Yi's handlers, but the Bucks maintained the deal was not done when they got on a plane on Tuesday.
"I'll say they were very appreciative, all of them, of the effort that we made in coming here," Kohl said. "That to them was an indication of our commitment to Yi.
"When you get on a plane and go halfway around the world at the invitation of the team owner, Mr. Chen, you're not doing that for any other reason except your commitment to the individual. In this case, Yi and his career."
The team didn't discuss the terms of buying out Yi's contract with the Guangdong Tigers, but said it was routine.
Last season, Yi posted career-high averages with 24.9 points, 11.5 rebounds and 1.8 blocks in 30.7 minutes for the Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association.
