Fifteen years ago today
Time is like flowing water, inadvertently flowing through the river of years, people suddenly realized that Yi Jianlian was selected by the NBA, it was 15 years ago. Fifteen years ago today, Yi Jianlian was picked up by the Milwaukee Bucks with the sixth pick in the first round at the NBA draft. Only at that time, Chinese fans had been spoiled by Yao Ming, so they were a little indifferent to Yi Jianlian, and they were even more critical of Yi Jianlian's achievements in the NBA League.
But now, after experiencing Zhou Qi's comedy and Zeng Fanbo's defeat, people have begun to realize that it is really difficult for Chinese basketball to produce another Player of Yi Jianlian style. If you don't believe it, you can look at Yi Jianlian's achievements in the NBA league, although this achievement was not recognized by fans at the time, but now it is extremely nostalgic.
NBA career
Yi Jianlian in the rookie season has become the focus of the Bucks' training, playing in 66 games, including 49 starts, averaging 25 minutes per game, can get 8.6 points and 5.2 rebounds, and even won the honor of rookie of the month. You know, that year's rookies were Durant and Auden, Horford and Conley, and it can be seen from here that Yi Jianlian's talent is really outstanding. However, in the second season, Yi Jianlian was traded to the Nets, where he played for two years, the third season of his career, ushered in the peak.
That year, Yi Jianlian played in 52 games, including 51 starts, averaging 31.8 minutes per game, and could get 12.0 points and 7.2 rebounds, and was already a qualified starter. But then to the Wizards and The Lone Ranger, Yi Jianlian gradually dropped out of the starting lineup and became a substitute player. Yi Jianlian, who is introverted, cannot find a sense of belonging in the NBA league and finally chooses to return to the CBA league. Since then, the Lakers have thrown an olive branch to Yi Jianlian, but after playing a few summer league games, Yi Jianlian still chose to return to China.
At this point, Yi Jianlian's NBA career came to an end, and the data was frozen in 272 games, averaging 7.9 points, 4.9 rebounds, 0.7 assists, 0.5 steals and 0.7 blocks per game. It seems unremarkable, but Yi Jianlian is not short of highlight moments in the NBA league, if you don't believe it, you can look at Yi Jianlian's single-game data record.
Yi Jianlian single data
The first is scoring, Yi Jianlian has the highest bombardment of 31 points in a single game, in the Nets against the Pistons, Yi Jianlian played 37 minutes, 12 of 16, 2 of 2 three-pointers, 5 of 7 free throws, got 31 points and 5 rebounds, helped the Nets beat the Pistons. Then there is the rebound, Yi Jianlian played 40 minutes in the Nets game against the Wizards, got 20 points and 19 rebounds of the big double double, including 12 frontcourt rebounds, the whole team a total of 19 frontcourt rebounds, you know, at that time has not yet entered the small ball era.
In terms of assists, Yi Jianlian only has a maximum of 4 assists in a single game, but the block is up to 6 times, and the steals are also 4. It can be said that Yi Jianlian's strength is indeed the NBA level, and it is the NBA starting level, but for various reasons, he has not completely cashed in the talent in the NBA league, but such NBA data and performance is already the second person in Chinese basketball, second only to Yao Ming. Zhou Qi, who has been touted before, has only scored a total of 24 points in the NBA for two years, which is not as good as Yi Jianlian.