Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Yi will not play for the Bucks

The Beijing News Service is reporting that Yi Jianlian's Chinese club will block his move to the United States. The News quoted Guangdong Tigers chief Chen Haitao as saying Yi would "definitely not" play for the Milwaukee Bucks, who took him with the sixth overall pick.

"This is not -- as media reports have said -- because Milwaukee, as a city with very few Chinese people, is not good for Yi's commercial development," Chen said. "Rather we want to find a team suitable for Yi's growth. That's the root of the problem."

Philadelphia would fit Chen's criteria and the Sixers desperately tried to trade up to acquire Yi, offering all three of its first round picks and a pair of players believed to be Steven Hunter and Willie Green.

1 comment:

saj said...

that trade won't work. once a rookie is signed, they can't be moved for 60 days. young and smith signed just over a week ago, so any trade for yi would have to wait 2 months. based on how he looked in the summer league games, i don't know if i'd want him anyway.