On December 29, after the CBA regular season Guangdong team hosted Zhejiang Guangsha team, the Guangdong team held a No. 9 jersey retirement ceremony for the team's meritorious player Yi Jianlian.
Time turned back 21 years, on December 29, 2002, Yi Jianlian wore the No. 9 jersey of Guangdong Hongyuan men's basketball team and ushered in the debut of his basketball career. Last night, Yi Jianlian appeared in the center of the basketball court in a suit, telling the story of his 21 years......
Yi Jianlian's jersey retirement ceremony was held at the Dongguan Bank Basketball Center Photo according to Visual China
A short comeback!
יהוה "יהוה"
That night, with the performance of "Sea and Sky", in the "MVP" shouts of the fans, Yi Jianlian watched his No. 9 jersey slowly rise, and said emotionally: "In the past 20 years, I have been really lucky. Thank you fans, thank you for supporting me for so many years. ”
Yi Jianlian also specially thanked Dongguan for the basketball city: "At the end of 2002, I came to Dongguan for the first time, entered the big family of Hongyuan, personally felt the atmosphere of Dongguan basketball city, and personally experienced the development of Dongguan for more than 20 years. ”
Fans wearing Yi Jianlian's No. 9 jersey Photo according to Visual China
Yao Ming, chairman of the Chinese Basketball Association, delivered a speech on stage, in addition to expressing his respect and blessings to Yi Jianlian, Yao Ming also told a small story, he said that on the way by plane, some fans asked him to bring a message to Yi Jianlian, "Big brother is very handsome, I hope to be handsome all the time!" Yao Ming's words caused a joyful laughter from the fans at the scene, and he also sent blessings to his former teammates, "I hope to hear your story in the Chinese Basketball Hall of Fame in the future." ”
The biggest surprise of this night was Yi Jianlian's "comeback". The Hongyuan Five Tigers, composed of Yi Jianlian, Zhu Fangyu, Du Feng, Wang Shipeng and Chen Jianghua, teamed up again, and under the coaching of former coach Li Chunjiang, they played a friendly match with the current young generation of Hongyuan players Xu Jie and Hu Mingxuan, and finally the "legendary team" led by Yi Jianlian defeated the "inheritance team". Although this comeback battle was a bit short, it only lasted 5 minutes. But even so, the fans at the scene were still hooked.
21 years, the legend of the number 9 jersey
On this night, the No. 9 jersey belonging to Yi Jianlian will be hung in the home stadium from now on, becoming an irreproducible legend.
Yi Jianlian recalled his career debut 21 years ago, and he still remembered that he only met with the team on the morning of December 29 because of the game of the national youth team, and played in the evening, "Coach Li Chunjiang asked me to put on my jersey at that time, I thought it was to make up the number, but I didn't expect to play directly." It was the Guangdong team against the Jilin team, and Li Chunjiang sent 16-year-old Yi Jianlian at the end of the fourth quarter of the game. In 2002, Yi Jianlian, who wore the No. 9 jersey of Guangdong Hongyuan men's basketball team, started his legendary basketball career with a mid-range shot.
The fledgling Yi Jianlian grew rapidly, winning the regular season championship and the playoff runner-up with the team that season, while also becoming the youngest All-Star player in CBA history.
易建联 图据IC photo
In the 2003-2004 season, Yi Jianlian wore the No. 9 jersey to win the first championship in team history, and then started a brilliant record of three consecutive championships. During this period, Yi Jianlian became the youngest MVP of the finals in the history of the league. also because of his outstanding performance in the CBA, Yi Jianlian was then selected by the NBA scouts, and an olive branch followed.
In the 2007 NBA draft, Yi Jianlian was selected by the Milwaukee Bucks in the sixth place in the first round. It is worth mentioning that in the Bucks, Yi Jianlian's jersey number is also No. 9. Yi Jianlian, who wore the No. 9 jersey, played the best game of his career against the Bobcats. He shot 14-of-17 from the field, including the first 12, and finished with 29 points and 10 rebounds.
After ending his NBA journey, he returned to play in Guangdong in 2011, and Yi Jianlian still wore the No. 9 jersey and led the team to win 4 CBA championships. In his 16 seasons in the CBA, Yi Jianlian won a total of 7 championships, and became the youngest regular season MVP in history, winning the title of all-time scoring champion.
As Yi Jianlian wrote in the retirement declaration, "Thank you to the No. 9 rookie, 21 years of perseverance, the original intention has not been forgotten, and the dream has always been there." It is precisely with the 21-year persistence of the No. 9 rookie that the fans have left many glorious moments of the Chinese men's basketball team.
What does the retirement of the jersey mean?
The retirement of the jersey is a great honour for an athlete, not only as an affirmation of his career, but also as a recognition of the player's contribution to the club. At the same time, no one on the team will wear the jersey number worn by the player as a sign of the team's respect for the player who has made a significant contribution.
姚明在NBA征战 图据IC photo
Before the Yi Jianlian jersey retirement ceremony on the evening of December 29, according to the official statistics of the CBA league, 11 teams held a jersey retirement ceremony for 19 players, and their jersey numbers were permanently sealed. As one of the most successful and popular players in Chinese basketball history, Yao Ming is also the only player to have retired both CBA and NBA jerseys. In 2003, the CBA Shanghai team announced the retirement of Yao Ming's No. 15 jersey. In 2017, the NBA Rockets announced the retirement of Yao Ming's No. 11 jersey.
In the NBA, Lakers legend Kobe Bryant is the only player in history to retire 2 jerseys from the same team. Kobe Bryant spent all 20 seasons of his career with the Lakers, helping the team win five NBA championships. In the summer of 2016, Bryant chose to retire. On December 19, 2017, the Lakers retired Bryant's No. 8 and No. 24 jerseys.
(Red Star News)