Hooped Up

You know the NBA season is starting to careen out of control when a team wonders how it can get by without Yi Jianlian.

But the winless Nets were hit by yet another thunderbolt Tuesday when an MRI revealed a grade 1 sprain in the right knee of their starting power forward, which significantly shortens an already weak power rotation.

The team is not discussing any timetable for the third-year player, but a typical recovery period for such an injury is two to four weeks, and it has been known to last as long as six.

NJ.com

Another van glorious season of NBA basketball is about to begin and Hooped Up does a quick and dirty preview of all 30 clubs — so lets go!

This year the New Jersey Nets have 99 problems and staying out of the draft lottery will not be one.

Last season, the Nets stumbled to a 34-48 record in the Atlantic and after trading away Vince Carter for maybe too little in return. That record will be continuing south in ’09-10 like the mercury in Newark on a cold winters day. BRRR!

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I’m not crazy about the NASA math-lottery project that is the NBA All-Star roster selection process and I really think the NBA should just pick the entire All-Star squad themselves and spare us the confusing leftover numbers of the “vote”. In most cases, the typical fan needs to be saved from themselves and in the end the NBA picks the team anyway.

I have no problem with the starters selected because an idiot couldn’t have messed that up, but here are some of the leftover numbers that really bug me! Read More »

The first sign of trouble with the age of Yi Jianlian, should have been when he requested the Bucks to but “McLovin” on his jersey instead of Yi and his over use of the word “tight!” when talking to Bucks GM Larry Harris. I wonder if he’s an organ donor…

“Recent evidence found on a Chinese blog suggests that Yi Jianlian, the 7-0 forward from He Shan, China, is much older than 21 years old, as all his official NBA profiles report. A document showing a young Yi Jianlian in 1997 clearly displays his birth date as October 27, 1984, and not October 27,1987.”

Via Interbasket

Yi Jianlian believes that children are the future…if they wear his jersey. Recently the newest Brooklyn member of the Nets Yi Jianlian, celebrated his 21st birthday with a bunch of kids at the YMCA in New York’s Chinatown and judging by the video, Yi is right up there with candy and snow days. Everybody has a Yi jersey!

I’m sure Yi told the children before he made his way to Scores that the best gift they could give him is to  take their vitamins, do well in school and buy more Yi jerseys.

The New Jersey Nets decided to part ways with the second-leading scorer in franchise history, dealing Richard Jefferson to Milwaukee hours before last night’s draft for forwards Yi Jianlian and Bobby Simmons.

“We certainly gave up a good player, but to get a good player you have to give up a good player. With Yi, we feel his upside is very up,” Nets president Rod Thorn said. “We feel strongly he’s going to be a real good player for us.”

No draft picks were swapped in the trade.

Boston Herald

The Bucks have decided they have to much young talent and they might win games in the future.  To remedy this they are looking to rebuild a loser to please the people of Milwaukee.  Already, looking to get rid of Michael Redd the Bucks might part with Yi Jianlian for the right offer and the Warriors are looking to cash in.

The team was shocked that the Bucks, for whom Yi refused to work out, took him at No. 6. The Bobcats took Brandan Wright and traded him to Golden State. While Wright played well for the Warriors toward the end of the season, they still covet Yi, according to sources. If the Warriors were to offer Wright and the No. 14 pick for Yi, that might be too much for the Bucks to pass on. The team is in rebuilding mode and might be ready to accept a two-for-one deal. 

ESPN.com 

More than 20 credentials have been issued by the Bucks to 16 Chinese media outlets, and four stations will televise the game, including the government-run network CCTV, Shanghai TV-China, ESPN Hong Kong and Videoland – Taiwan. All will televise the game live except Shanghai TV. The television audience in China is estimated to be at least 200 million and possibly even higher, with many people at home to celebrate the Chinese New Year. “It’s really unique,” said Bucks owner Herb Kohl, who attended the team’s shootaround. “It’s a manifestation of how sports does transcend international barriers and boundaries. When I bought the team it was a small business, comparatively. Now it’s a huge business and a worldwide business.”

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

A group of NBA executives and scouts has descended on southern China to watch top Chinese players Yi Jianlian and Wang Zhizhi battle it out in the China Basketball Association finals.

Top officials from the Chicago Bulls , Philadelphia 76ers , Golden State Warriors , Phoenix Suns and New Jersey Nets watched Wang’s Bayi Rockets dispatch Yi’s Guangdong Tigers 94-89 in Sunday night’s opening game.

Their presence dominated Chinese press reports.

Yahoo