About 20 Chinese reporters were craning their necks to get a glimpse of a TV interview being conducted in the back hallways at the WaMu Theater at Madison Square Garden. Some of them scrambled up on escalators for a better view, while an NBA security guard tried to clear the area and calm the frenzy, telling them, "This is all being broadcast on CCTV," a station in China.
The subject of the attention was the most intriguing and controversial pick in the entire 2007 draft, Chinese 7-footer Yi Jianlian, who had already conducted one press conference but had many more questions to answer. A half hour earlier he had been taken at No. 6 by Milwaukee, a market in which Yi's representatives had made it clear they did not want him to play due to its small Chinese population. The Bucks were intentionally not invited by Dan Fegan, Yi's agent, to watch Yi work out in Los Angeles, nor had they recently traveled to China to scout him (although the team said it had seen at least 20 of Yi's games since 2004).
And thus the Chinese contingent was stunned by the draft destination of its home country's next great basketball product after Yao Ming.
"He looked unhappy," one reporter from Guangdong said, referring to his lack of a smile as he met NBA commissioner David Stern on stage after the pick.
"We're all shocked. The Bucks were never in China," a reporter from Shanghai said.
"Yi said he didn't know anything about the team, the coach, the GM or the city," the reporter from Guangdong added.
Soon after the pick, rumors were flying about Yi's future in Milwaukee. A source in an opposing team's war room, who knew of Fegan's desire to avoid having his client land in the Minnesota or Milwaukee markets, speculated that "this could get messy." Would Yi -- who's been described as a Dirk Nowitzki-like big man and not a Yao clone -- demand a trade? Would he threaten to remain in China for another season? Or would he eventually come around to the Bucks, who disregarded Fegan's warnings because they had Yi ranked as the third-highest player on their draft board?
Yi can understand and speak basic English -- he had been taking language classes six days a week in L.A. -- and when I asked him before his press conference whether he liked Milwaukee, he gave a look that was less than glowing and then shrugged.
At his media session a few minutes later, Yi tempered some of the controversy by saying through an interpreter, "I'm not familiar with [Milwaukee], as well, but I'm happy to play with the team and I'm happy to play in the NBA."
A reporter pressed Yi further, wondering if he was "for sure" going to Milwaukee to play. "Yes, I think so," he replied.
It was positive, but it also wasn't a guarantee. Fegan was standing in a hallway nearby, and like Yi, did not appear overjoyed. He declined comment on whether Yi would accept the Milwaukee situation, saying only, "I need to talk to my client first."
Yi left MSG and boarded a chauffeured mini-bus slightly before 10:30 p.m.. His interpreter said he did not expect Yi to fly to Milwaukee for the traditional day-after-the-draft press conference, and indicated that at some point Yi would be traveling to meet the Chinese national team, which has a scrimmage scheduled against the United States on July 1 in Dallas.
Will things actually get messy for Milwaukee, or was this just a rocky start to a prosperous long-term frontcourt pairing of Yi and Andrew Bogut? The latter scenario is far more likely, but still, after making a bold move, the Bucks could not rest entirely easy on draft night.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writ...9/draft.scenes/
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