China vs Milwaukee
Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2007 9:49 am
Man, am I glad I don't have a rooting interest in an NBA team. What a mess. You know if the kid really wanted to play in the NBA he wouldn't allow this to happen. How great is the propaganda machine over there where they believe even some US cities aren't better than the best place in all of China.The Milwaukee Bucks' campaign to secure the services of reluctant power forward Yi Jianlian has suffered a blow after the player's Chinese club said it would block his move to the United States.
Yi, taken by Milwaukee with the sixth selection in the NBA draft last month, would "definitely not" play for Milwaukee, Tuesday's Beijing News quoted Guangdong Tigers chief, Chen Haitao, as saying.
"This is not -- as media reports have said -- because Milwaukee, as a city with very few Chinese people, is not good for Yi's commercial development," Chen said.
"Rather we want to find a team suitable for Yi's growth. That's the root of the problem," he added.
Earlier in July, Yi's Chinese agent said the unsigned player was looking to be traded to another club, despite pledges by Milwaukee officials to do whatever they could to make him feel at home.
Chen expressed concern that Yi would have trouble getting playing time with the Bucks, whose squad boasts Australian 7-footer Andrew Bogut and a number of other tall young players.
"The national team and the Olympic Games are now our key considerations ... If [Yi] goes to a team where he can't compete, that would be being irresponsible to the national team," Chen said.
I swear ESPN Conversation plants dumbasses in the "comments" section to try to convince people to sign up and tell the dumb fuckers that post how retarded they sound. Case in point:
There's no way this is real. I refuse to believe that even the people posting regularly to ESPN's articles can be this stupid. Ha ha ha, "hopefully these guys will be free agents from the get-go." What a fucking moron. I like how adx4 got up at seven in the morning and started off his day by proving to the entire world that he doesn't even have a second grader's understanding of sports. "Guys, I figured out a way to get Oden and Durant on the Knicks and we wouldn't even have to give up that much!! Let's just ABOLISH THE DRAFT!" If I were capable of that much stupidity at 7:13am I would chain myself to the bed with the time release locks set for noon.adx4 (7/17/2007 at 7:13 AM)
While this is bad for the NBA and their draft system, I think its great. The players are the ones with the commodity (their talent) that is being bought by the owners. They should be able to determine who they sell their talents too and whats the best situation for them. Years ago, we didnt even have free agency, and when players clamored for that people said it would be the end of the league. But everyoen knows free agency is a good thing. Hopefully this will spur changes in the draft system that makes these guys free agents from the get-go. And playing in the NBA IS a privilege....but you have to have the talent to do so, and with that talent, you hold the cards.