"Hu Weidong's successor" Yi Li, on behalf of the Lakers to participate in the Summer League, Wang Shipeng once changed his jersey to him

He is the post-Hu Weidong era, the shoulder handle of the Jiangsu men's basketball team, he is also the most underrated small forward in China, he once surprised everyone with a tomahawk split at the Asian Championships, he is the rib trapeze - Yi Li!

Yi Li is a native of Nanjing, his father Yi Dehua is a famous resident of the Jiangsu men's basketball team, and Yi Li, who has regarded his father as an idol since childhood, chose to follow in his father's footsteps, so he began to contact basketball. When Yi Li became famous, his father had already served as the head coach of the Jiangsu men's basketball team.

His father is an idol for Yi Li and the goal he strives to follow; but at the same time, his father's excellence is also a kind of pressure for Yi Li, like an insurmountable mountain. When the 17-year-old Yi Li was selected for the Jiangsu men's basketball team, it happened that his father was the manager of the team, and such a coincidence also caused great doubts among fans.

Is Yi Li a talented player with outstanding talent? Or did he rely on his father's relationship to be selected for the first team? When the doubts from all sides poured into the underage Yi Li, he looked very helpless and distressed, but his father said this to him:

"If you want others not to talk nonsense, you have to practice your wings first."

His father's encouragement made Yi Li out of the confusion, he needed to face up to his own shortcomings, he needed to use strength to prove himself.

Inherited Hu Weidong's No. 8 jersey and won the CBA Best Rookie

In 2005, Jiangsu men's basketball team leader Hu Weidong officially announced his retirement, and his no. 8 jersey did not retire with him, he passed the no. 8 jersey to the 20-year-old Yi Li, for Hu Weidong, this is a kind of inheritance, he hopes that this young man can wear the no. 8 jersey to lead the team to a higher level.

For Yi Li, this is not only Hu Weidong's trust in him, but also the team's expectations of him. And this jersey has a deeper meaning, before Hu Weidong, wearing the Jiangsu men's basketball team No. 8 jersey is Yi Li is the father - Yi Dehua. Therefore, Yi Li must play a performance worthy of the number eight shirt.

It was also in this season that Yi Li was named the best rookie in the CBA, giving himself an excellent start to his career.

Represented the Lakers in the Summer League and gradually entered the peak of his career

In the 2005-06 season, Yi Li's performance became more and more outstanding, and his average per game also rose to 13.4 points + 5.1 rebounds, and the breakthrough speed and dunk became his label. As Yi Li's performance became better and better every day, there were far fewer voices who questioned his reliance on his father to enter the first team.

In 2008, Yi Li, who emerged in the CBA League, was invited to represent the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Summer League, and he was arranged by the coach to match Kevin Lefu in his first appearance, when the skinny Yi Li faced the inside beast Kevin Lefu, the ending can be imagined, Yi Li only scored 5 points in a single game, and LeFu took one rebound after another on his head.

Frustrated in the summer league, Yi Li felt the gap between himself and the top players, and also realized that he had many shortcomings, so he invested more time in training.

"Only by working hard where no one cares can you appear in the place where everyone is in the spotlight."

In the 08-09 season, Yi Zhan averaged 14.5 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.3 blocks and 1.1 steals, he was not only the core of the team's attack, he also became the team's defensive tip, 203cm height and excellent lateral speed allowed him to defend from the second position to the fourth position.

When he first stepped into the CBA, Yi Li used a dunk to let the fans know him; it took him seven years to let the fans know: Yi Li is not just a dunk, he is also one of the top small forwards in China.

The tomahawk split as fiercely as a tiger, and Yi Li became the captain of Jiangsu

Before the 2011 Asian Championship, due to the injury and absence of Zhou Peng and Ding Jinhui, Deng Huade, who was the coach of the men's basketball team at the time, waved a big hand and summoned Yi Li to the national team. Wang Shipeng's accidental injury during the warm-up game made the Chinese men's basketball team worse, and he changed his No. 7 jersey to Yi Li as soon as he was injured.

Although this is Yi Li's first time to fight for the country, Wang Shipeng is very fond of this seasoned young player. In the final moments against Jordan, Yi Li pretended to shoot from outside the three-point line, shook the defender, and then strode to the basket to complete a tomahawk split, and the whole field boiled over, and after that game, almost all Chinese men's basketball fans remembered the name Yi Li.

Yi Li shot 5 of 6 in the whole game, cut 14 points and 4 rebounds, and helped the Chinese men's basketball team win the game. Subsequently, in the match against Japan, Yi Li scored a team-high 19 points. In the end, the Chinese men's basketball team won the championship and returned to the top of Asia. And Yi Li's first national team trip also came to a perfect end.

When Yi Li first came to the Jiangsu men's basketball team, because his figure was too thin, he was nicknamed "Thin Dog" by the big brother of the team. Later, he became the pillar of the team, and his teammates began to call him "Dog Brother". Later, he served as the captain of the Jiangsu men's basketball team, and he also got a new nickname - "Dog Team".

At the end of his eighteen-year career, Yi chose to serve as an assistant coach

On September 21, 2020, the 34-year-old Yi Li officially announced his retirement!

Eighteen years of playing, always only played for the Jiangsu men's basketball team, he is the CBA's one-man one city;

Excellent breakthrough speed, stable scoring means, he became the team history scoring king of the Jiangsu men's basketball team;

Excellent psychological quality, decisive on-the-spot judgment, he showed the "rib trapeze" style in the international arena;

Yi Li's life has had many brilliant moments, at the age of 20 won the CBA Best Newcomer Award, 23 years old represented the Lakers in the summer league, 26 years old in the Asian Championship a buckle to fame, 33 years old became the team history scorer.

Today, two years after Yi Li's retirement, when fans are discussing the ceiling of domestic player dunks, when fans are complaining that jiangsu men's basketball team has no excellent players, when fans mention Yi Jianlian's tomahawk dunk in the men's basketball World Cup, there is always a name that will be mentioned, that player is called - Yi Li!

It is worth mentioning that after Yi Li retired, he chose to stay in the Jiangsu men's basketball team as an assistant coach.