After being beaten by Stephon Marbury and the Beijing Ducks last year, the Guangdong Southern Tigers went wire-to-wire, finishing with the league’s best record before steamrolling through the playoff in brutally dominating fashion, sweeping aside Zhejiang, Xinjiang and finally Shandong in the championship round.
It’s not exactly a surprising result, not when Tigers management – bent on re-establishing their dynasty on the heels of last year’s failure – brought back their trump card, Yi, to become the centerpiece of a roster that in all honesty was probably good enough to win without him.
Weighed against the alternative, however – coming up short for a second year in a row – the decision to bring back Yi, who was without a market in the NBA for the first time in his career, was really never a question for the club’s nervous decision-makers.
But with the season now over and the championship trophy back in its case, a perhaps bigger question looms large.
Just what exactly is going to happen to Yi?
At present, the answer is not as clear as the preseason prognostications around the Tigers’ chances for a championship. One thing is for certain, however: After lifting a title trophy and racking up his trio of MVP awards, Yi very likely will not be coming back to China next season.
That’s not exactly surprising, either.
When the Tigers came calling, probably sometime around mid-season last year while Yi was sitting on the bench for the Dallas Mavericks, the benefits of a potential short-term reunion were easy to see. With their star 7-footer back in tow, the Tigers could ensure another championship.
Meanwhile, Yi, in the potential event that he had no options in the States, could enjoy a comfortable year back in his hometown city while retaining some positive momentum in what has been a largely disappointing pro career.
With the plan having worked perfectly, both sides will prepare for the future.
For Yi, who has nothing more to prove in China, that will mean moving on to another league.
If the rhetoric from Yi’s camp during the offseason last year has any carryover, that other league will be the NBA – if someone is willing to offer more than the veteran’s minimum.
Despite offers from several high-profile European clubs, including Barcelona and Real Madrid, Yi decided instead to test every available NBA avenue before eventually settling back in China. The logic: Failure in Europe would have essentially forever killed his chances for a return to the NBA, whereas a successful season in China would leave the door open.
Yet for him to actually walk through that door again, Yi will need to show to teams that he can play effectively when he’s not the top option on offense.
For the Tigers this season, and more importantly for Team China the past three summers, where he’s put up excellent numbers at the 2010 World Championship (20.2 points, 10.2 rebounds per game), 2011 Asia Championship (16.6-10.8) and 2012 Olympics (14.8-10.2), Yi is his team’s best player and can operate as the go-to-guy, where he gets lots of touches in his preferred looks in face-up isolation.
In the NBA, however, GMs are well aware of the elite players who mitigate Yi’s ability to play efficiently in isolation, and his other skills – passing, rebounding and defense – aren’t good enough to allow him to contribute in other roles. For him to not only come back to the NBA, but also stick, he will need to demonstrate that he can contribute in other more cerebral areas of the game.
The bad news in that respect: This season in China, he essentially was the same guy he has been for his entire career, which doesn’t bode well for his future NBA chances. However, his ability to dominate the CBA – an improving league that sees several American players sign back in the NBA every March – could be enough to convince an NBA team that he is worth the shot, perhaps one that has a weak bench unit and is in need of someone to play through for short minutes.
Again, take the Nuggets as an example.
Although Yi wouldn’t be able to mirror many of Gallinari’s essential skills, such as secondary ball-handling, individual shot creation and pick-and-roll mix-ins, he could act as an athletic stretch shooter capable of playing two positions within George Karl’s up-tempo small-ball lineups.
Asking Yi, who is not known as a ball mover, to come in and contribute on short notice to a Western Conference darkhorse contender that gets off on ball movement may be a stretch.
In all likelihood, Yi will rest up for a while in Guongdong, return to America to work out, then return to China to prepare to lead the national team in the FIBA Asia Championship this August, where a spot in the newly named 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup will be on the line.
If there’s no NBA offer on the table after that, then the same lucrative European opportunities will be there, as the same big clubs will be keen on attracting a player who has proven himself several times on the international stage.
Which means for the second year in a row, another unclear offseason looms for Yi.
Unless something changes in the next 10 days before NBA playoff rosters are set.
Jon Pastuszek is founder and editor-in-chief of Niubball.com, the best English-language basketball blog focused in basketball in China. He is an occasional contributor to SheridanHoops.com.
yi is good forward, but too much look under asian in Nba, so that way how good asian player is nothin fir supid nba coach. Do you know china is big market in the world now if one of the NBA eam sign Chinese player they will get huge sponsorship from chinese and asian powerfull company. soooo dont be silly yangkey…….
Yi is likely 3 years older than his “official” age according to reports.
That should have been a warning that he didn’t have much upside in the NBA.
He becomes soft under pressure from NBA bigs. That has always been his problem. And his outside shooting goes down when the rest of his game fails, even though he Does have great form.
And he has butter fingers. I know from watching him play for the Nets as a project for “coach” Kiki. Opposing players like to just grab the ball from him, taking advantage of his “softness”.
The NBA and Chinese league are much different.
You say he is, Yi Jianlian is a good pitcher while his style of play is very soft, but still a lot of potential.