Yi Jianlian struggled in his debut with Milwaukee, fouling out after 16 minutes and scoring three points in the Bucks’ 93-88 victory over the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday night.
The sixth overall pick in the draft couldn’t handle the energetic Joakim Noah, who scored six points with four rebounds and four assists in 23 minutes.
“The rules of FIBA and the rules of NBA are different. It takes time for me to deal with this through more training,” Yi said.
There’s been a circus atmosphere around Yi since he arrived to a throng of fans in Chicago last week. General manager Larry Harris said he’s been astonished by the reaction so far.
“One of the things we talked about going into camp before Yi coming here was that the magnitude of this excitement and the intrigue of the player, you can’t really understand it until you go through it,” Harris said. “Our players are adjusting to it well, and they’ve been very supportive. I think even Yi’s amazed.”
