Update: After all the drama about selecting a foreign player who didn't want to play in their city, the Bucks traded Yi to the Nets after his rookie year. Thats pretty quick to give up on a number six pick. They did get Richard Jefferson back in that trade, but they traded him to the Spurs this offseason. So two years later the 6th pick has helped Milwaukee do very little on the court. I would lower this rating if not for the great job done by Ramon Sessions. He improved in his second season, and looks like a legit NBA player. He averaged over 12 a game last year with a great assist to turnvoer ratio. If I were judging picks individually I would give the Bucks a 1.5 for how they handled Yi, and a 5 for choosing Sessions at the end of the second round.

6/26/2008 - Yi had decent numbers of 8 and 5, but did so while shooting poorly. However, for a 20 year old in a new country, those numbers aren't all bad. Ramon Sessions averaged 8.1 PPG and 7.5 APG in just 17 games, so there might be something with him. I wouldn't be surprised to see this rating grow, but I'll keep it where it was last year for now.

7/1/2007 - Yi Jianlian doesn't appear to be another Yao. His game is supposed to be more similar to the style of a European big guy. Athletic and happy to shoot the jumper over top of smaller opponents. I understand why Milwaukee would want Yi in order to increase their international appeal, but he made it clear he doesn't want to be there. Its usually not a good thing to have a guy on your team who doesn't want to be there. Hopefully Yi doesn't mind heading to Milwaukee as much as the media is reporting. I think Milwaukee could have made a smarter pick than this, and other than Yi they only picked Ramon Sessions, who likely won't make the team. 

Apparently, this mysterious guy will be traded, as he doesn't want to play in Milwaukee as there isn't a large Chinese community there. Who knows how good he really is, or where he'll wind up, or how old he truly is. Bill Simmons of ESPN wrote something about the post selection mini interview he did with Stuart Scott: that actually made me laugh out loud for real and I just have to repeat it here, he said something to the effect that Yi should win an ESPY for "Best impression of Andre the Giant by a Chinese guy."