Yi purported to demand a trade from Bucks

[Reality]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/chris_mannix/06/29/draft.rehash/1.html

"Yi's handlers did everything they could to keep him away from Milwaukee. The Bucks were not permitted to attend any of Yi's workouts and GM Larry Harris did not travel to China to see Yi play in person. According to league sources, Yi's representatives will ask the Bucks to trade Yi on Friday."

[rickortreat]

Yi's handlers can go suck some eggs!  Milwaukee has the rights to Yi and there's nothing they can do about it.

Seems to me Milwaukee is a good place for a center to make a name for himself.  I remember one year a rookie Center won a championship for the Bucks.

[ziggy]

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/writers/chris_mannix/06/29/draft.rehash/1.html

"Yi's handlers did everything they could to keep him away from Milwaukee. The Bucks were not permitted to attend any of Yi's workouts and GM Larry Harris did not travel to China to see Yi play in person. According to league sources, Yi's representatives will ask the Bucks to trade Yi on Friday."

Send him to Dallas so Cuban has a another cry baby to pal around with.

[Lurker]

Yi's handlers can go suck some eggs!  Milwaukee has the rights to Yi and there's nothing they can do about it.

Yes they can...they can do the same thing Vasquez did to Orlando last year - refuse to come to the NBA.  Then Milwaukee wasted the #6 pick.

IMO the Bucks shouldn't have made this pick if they didn't have a deal in place.  Brewer or Wright would have made more sense for them.

[rickortreat]

So Yi won't play in the NBA at all?  Yeah, that'll make his handlers happy!

[Lurker]

So Yi won't play in the NBA at all?  Yeah, that'll make his handlers happy!

Happier than being stuck in Milwaukee.

[jn]

Part of me actually likes the concept fo Yi not being in the NBA.  Who the *%$# is this guy to make any demands on where to play?  Lots of more accomplished foreign players have made the transition wherever they have gone.  I've never liked draftees pulling this kind of stunt and it's especially galling coming from a player who has accomplished absolutely nothing. 

I feel for Bucks fans though. 

[rickortreat]

Wrong.  If he wants to have an NBA career, he has no choice.  The NBA does not look kindly on anyone who messes with the draft.  Eventually he can become a free agent and leave, but for now he's stuck there.

The whole point of the draft is to give every team a fair chance.  When a player refuses to go to a team he defeats the whole purpose. 

I saw him being interviewed last night. Not very telegenic. It isn't clear he can really play either.

[Lurker]

Wrong.  If he wants to have an NBA career, he has no choice.  The NBA does not look kindly on anyone who messes with the draft.  Eventually he can become a free agent and leave, but for now he's stuck there.

The whole point of the draft is to give every team a fair chance.  When a player refuses to go to a team he defeats the whole purpose. 

I saw him being interviewed last night. Not very telegenic. It isn't clear he can really play either.

He does have a choice...to refuse to come to the NBA until Milwaukee trades his rights.  It happened back in 1989 with some guy named Ferry drafted by the Clippers.

[WayOutWest]

He does have a choice...to refuse to come to the NBA until Milwaukee trades his rights.  It happened back in 1989 with some guy named Ferry drafted by the Clippers.

Exactly.  You can't force a guy to play, work, where he doesn't want.  I've seen very few clips of the guy but from what I've seen WOW!!!  The guy is really good, much better than Dirk or Darko at this point of their careers.  The kid can dribble drive, post up and has a sweet fade away from 10 ft.  The Bucks failed to do their home work on this guy, everyone and their "handler" knew there were going to be issues, not sure why the Bucks didn't secure this kid the way Houston did with Yao.  Staying out of the NBA until he doesn't have to goto the Bucks could work out ok for this kid, everyone has their hand in his pocket so he's not going to cash in on his rookie contract.  Golden State, much like in the Yao drama, was hot and heavy trying to work something out to get this kid. 

[westkoast]

Yi's handlers can go suck some eggs!  Milwaukee has the rights to Yi and there's nothing they can do about it.

Seems to me Milwaukee is a good place for a center to make a name for himself.  I remember one year a rookie Center won a championship for the Bucks.

Exactly Rick!

Shouldn't the guy be happy he is going to make money hand over fist in America?  I'd be happy to be on the Atlanta Hawks or the Grizz.  Demanding trades when you haven't played a lick in the league is really annoying and just screams EGO.

[Lurker]

Seems to me Milwaukee is a good place for a center to make a name for himself.  I remember one year a rookie Center won a championship for the Bucks.

Then that center immediately demanded a trade and made a bigger name for himself in LA-LA Land.

[Reality]

Different points of view.  Larry Bird and others thought the draft was b.s. and players should be allowed to negotiate with whomever they want, just like other capitolistic ventures.

I don't neccessarily agree with that but I'm not down on Yi and others either.  The current system is set up to make some of the owners rich and that's it.

A happy medium would be the Bucks finding a willing trading partner with equal value to Yi, but that's hard to predict so can't see that happening.

[JoMal]

Both sides would love to see Yi with Golden State, as WOW stated. If a trade happens, and with some of the maneuvering going on in the East Bay, it mostly likely will be with the Warriors.

But I also totally agree that this is a bad precedent to happen. The Warriors should not give the Bucks much for a completely unknown commodity. Screw them and Yi for doing this in the first place, as neither side was all that honest with what they were thinking. Yi is so totally unknown that I would not give a second round pick for him at this point.

[rickortreat]

I know that Philly tried to make a deal to get Yi, but the Bucks wouldn't budge.

People should understand that sports leagues are exempt from anti-trust regulations.  A draft is a form of collusion by the teams, but it is the only way to have a league- otherwise teams would destroy themselves bidding up for the Odens and Durants.

So if there's one thing you can be sure of, the other teams won't cross that line and make it easy for Yi to leave Milwaukee- they all respect that code. If a player gets to choose who he wants to play for the league would be destroyed.

So like I said before: Yi's handlers can go suck eggs!