In the history of Chinese basketball, Yao Ming is the undisputed first person to be a hero. Yi Jianlian, who has performed well in domestic, NBA and international arenas after Yao Ming, is widely regarded as the second person in Chinese basketball and is also one of the few Chinese basketball players who are also well known internationally.
Any star has its own anecdotes or anecdotes, and Yi Jianlian is no exception. In this article, the author will take stock of ten anecdotes about Yi Jianlian that are not necessarily widely known, so that fans who are interested in him can get to know him more fully. Of course, due to space limitations, if there is any discussion or supplement, you are welcome to leave a message in the comment area to share.
First, about Yi Jianlian's family background
Yi Jianlian was born in Heshan, Jiangmen, from a family with sports genes, his father Yi Jingliu, who is 190cm+ tall, and Mai Meiling, who is 180cm+, are both athletes of the Guangdong handball team. When Yi Jianlian was less than 3 years old, he went to Shenzhen with his parents' work transfer and grew up in Shenzhen.
Second, about the earliest basketball road of Yi Jianlian
In the earliest days, Yi Jianlian's parents did not deliberately train their children to professional athletes, but Yi Jianlian's height talent is obvious, his height is very fast, and he is already 190CM+ when he is 13 years old, and he also likes basketball in the process of growing up.
Back in 1999, Yi Jianlian and friends teamed up to participate in the Shenzhen Youth Street Basketball 3V3 competition, into the standout of the UAE League to kill four parties, it happened that the spectators included Dai Yixin, the coach of Shenzhen Sports School, who discovered Yi Jianlian in the street and persuaded his parents to let their children practice basketball in professional sports schools to try, so Hu Jianlian opened the road to Chinese basketball superstars. Incidentally, many years later, Coach Dai Yixin discovered another big junior player, Shen Zijie, in Shenzhen.
Third, Yi Jianlian forgot to bring a pen when taking the college entrance examination
When he took the college entrance examination that year, Yi Jianlian was already a well-known newcomer player, and his college entrance examination goal at that time was to take the professional special recruitment route to enter Guangdong University of Technology to get a diploma, and the requirements for cultural classes would not be too high. The interesting thing is that perhaps the usual examination experience is not much, Yi Jianlian forgot to bring a pen when he took the college entrance examination at that time, and the invigilator borrowed him a pen to complete the examination.
Fourth, Yi Jianlian's NBA broker of that year is no longer alive
As a newcomer player at the lottery level that year, Yi Jianlian signed with the well-known NBA agent Dan Feigen before the draft, who arranged and followed up Yi Jianlian's draft and trading affairs.
Dan Fagan is a well-known agent with praise and bad reviews, good at using new means and new techniques on terms to help players fight for the greatest benefit, but unfortunately, after trying to mediate that year, he failed to help Yi Jianlian start his NBA career in metropolitan cities.
In addition to The Easy Jianlian under Dan Fagan, there were Also Arenas, Marion, Richardson, Special Case, Murphy, and Inner Dan Fagan, and the UAE Haden had a good friendship with Dan Fagan.
Unfortunately, this former partner of the UAE is no longer alive. On February 25, 2018, Dan Fagan died in a car accident along Route 82 in Colorado at the age of 56.
Fifth, Yi Jianlian has scored in the playoffs
In the 11-12 NBA playoffs, Yi Jianlian, who was already an NBA marginal man, became a marginal bench player in Dallas Mavericks. However, in the bitter years of playing for the Mavericks, Yi Jianlian was given the only opportunity to perform in the playoffs.
In the playoffs against the Thunder that year, the game has entered garbage time, the Mavericks have undoubtedly lost at home, and the team is very sensible to send Yi Jianlian to make him the NBA playoff debut. In 4 minutes and 52 seconds of playing time, Yi Jianlian left the NBA playoff total of 1-of-3 shooting, 2 rebounds and 1 steal, and that goal was a very exciting point to open defender Cole Aldridge's gliding one-handed split.
Sixth, Yi Jianlian was once a chip for the team to trade with Richard Jefferson
After playing a rookie for the Bucks as a lottery show, the Bucks gave up the plan to cultivate Yi Jianlian for a long time, and took Yi Jianlian + Bobby Simmons in the offseason to exchange for richard Jefferson, the original Nets three who had peaked a little, which was also the first time in Yi Jianlian's career that it was used as a trading chip by an NBA team. Relatively speaking, in the two years of the Nets, Yi Jianlian played better than the Bucks, and it was also the most exciting journey of Yi Jianlian in the NBA.
Seventh, Yi Jianlian won the Olympic rebounding king
At the 2012 London Olympic Games, Yi Jianlian left an average of 14.8 points, 10.2 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game, and won the rebounding king of the current event. In the game against Spain, Yi Jianlian faced the opponents sitting on the Gasol brothers and Ibaka, and played 30 points and 12 rebounds, which was also the peak of his career.
8. About Yi Jianlian's age
Yi Jianlian's official date of birth is October 27, 1987, and there have always been many opinions about whether this date is accurate, and the author will not delve into it here.
However, I can add a case reference for everyone. In the 2013 "Strongest Brain" program, a contestant named Yang Wanli said that he and Yi Jianlian had been classmates, and the two often rode home together after school. Yang Wanli was born in 1984, and the age written when he signed up for the show was 29 years old. Incidentally, unfortunately, Yang Wanli, who showed super memory ability in the show, died of lymphoma on August 7, 2015 at the age of 31.
IX. About the nickname of Yi Jianlian
Nickname culture is part of basketball culture, many basketball star athletes have their own exclusive nicknames, Yi Jianlian is no exception, and the popular nicknames are very many, of which fans black name fans love to call, such as "Space Easy", "Green Arrow Union", "Yi Di", "Litchi Guy", "Big Brother" and so on, each of the back stories are quite impressive to fans.
10. About the jersey number of Yi Jianlian
In the course of his career, the UAE has used a total of 4 numbers as its shirt numbers, namely No. 9, No. 11, No. 31 and No. 50.
Relatively familiar to fans is the No. 9 & No. 11, No. 9 is the number he used in Guangdong Hongyuan, Milwaukee Bucks, New Jersey Nets and Dallas Mavericks, and the number used is also the number used by the UAE League in the era of the National Team and the Lakers, and the original number change to the Lakers was because Marcelo Huertas was already wearing the No. 9 jersey, so the UAE League changed to the National Team Jersey No. 11.
Regarding the number 31, it is the number used by Yi Jianlian in the wizarding era. At the time, the team's boss Arenas chose to wear the No. 9 instead, and the Wizards' No. 11 jersey was the retirement number of the famous Elvin Hayes. Under such circumstances, Yi Jianlian's father, Yi Jingliu, suggested that he choose the No. 31, on the grounds that the game he faced in the past to cut a career record of 31 points was very classic, so the No. 31 jersey appeared. As for the no. 50 jersey? That's the number Yi Jianlian wore during his short stay in the NBA Development League.