Stop Yi
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by user C.Bothe
Yesterday it was reported that the agents and representatives for Yi (You say E i say YEE) Jianlian have been talking to other teams about possible trades to "rescue" Yi from Milwaukee. Now isn't this tampering; how can you possibly talk to a player whose rights are owned by another team. Isn't this like the Sonics starting to talk to Kevin Garnett because he could be a free agent next year, and they may have cap room? The fact is that Yi should be forced to play for Milwaukee for the duration of his rookie contract and after that who cares what he does? What Yi is doing is a first for the NBA, however its not a first in pro sports. In the MLB you constantly see players refuse to sign because they don't get the right amount of money, that their agents tell them they are worth. Of course I'd probably feel like I was worth $ 5 mil, if I was drafted in the first round, even if it's doubtful I'll ever make the bigs. In the NFL we've had examples of this from John Elway to Eli Manning and some in between. Eli refused to go to the Chargers and got a trade to the Giants for Phillip Rivers, what turned out to be Shawne Merriman, Roman Oben, and Nate Kaeding. 3 Pro Bowlers for Eli, tell me does that look like a good trade to you?
As far as I can remember something like this has never happened in the NBA; and the NBA should take steps to stop it. If Yi doesn't want to play for the Bucks, the NBA should simply ban him; if he decides to go back to China that's fine Yi banned for 6 years won't hurt anyone; then when the ban ends he will still be the Bucks property. What if this had happened a year early and the NBA allowed Yi to basically pick where he went? Would Kevin Durant or Greg Oden said no to Portland and Seattle respectively; would KD have said no I want to win championships in 3 years so I'm going to play with Oden in Portland and refuse to show up to Seattle. You may be thinking well this can never really happen, but are you so sure; historically NBA players have been viewed as more selfish than any other league.
Hypothetically look at next years draft class, one of the top guys OJ Mayo is going to USC because of the marketability and Hollywood lifestyle that can bring him. What is there to say that he won't go anywhere but LA or New York? What about Derrick Rose, he grew up in Chicago, what would stop him from refusing to play for anyone but his home town team? Now hopefully none of this will ever happen, but if Yi sets the precedent and gets to pick which team he goes to; there is no telling which rookie will decide what team he plays for next.
