Most of the local media cheered up on Thursday after Chinese
center/forward Yi Jialian signed a multi-year contract with the
Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA) even
the future of the star was uncertain.
"The Bucks' sincerity wins back Yi Jialian", said the China
Youth Daily on Thursday, one day after Yi and the Bucks signed
the rookie contract in Hong Kong, China.
Yi was picked on the No. 6 by the Bucks on the NBA Draft on June
29. Yi's agent Dan Fegan and his former club, Guangdong Hongyuan,
hint Yi might be traded because Milwaukee has less Chinese
residents, which raised fury among Bucks' fans and local media in
the United States.
"His fame was damped in the US because he refused to sign with
the Bucks right after the pick," said a local newspaper in Liaoning Province.
Most Chinese media indicated that Yi's future in the NBA will
not be easy, and some suggested that Yi's a victim of greed of the
agent Fegan and the Hongyuan club.
The Changjiang Times said "the Guangdong club and Yi's
agent were playing a game with the Bucks for more profit out of the
contract."
The Huasha Morning Post decribed that the two-month
bargain has a "Hollywoodish ending".
"The Bucks is the eventual winner of the game. The profit of the
contract was not the major concern of the Hongyuan club, but the
club had hoped Yi could have gone to a city with large Chinese
population."
"Yi gets cheese after cat and mouse game" was headlined by the
China Daily, which cited an online poll by sina.com as
saying 76 percent of Chinese fans believe Yi will be able to make
the team's starting lineup.
"It's the second time Yi was wearing a Bucks' cap after he was
picked on the Draft, which settled down the row," the China
Sports Daily said.
"Nothing is more happier than fulfilling one's childhood dream.
Finally Alian (nickname of Yi Jianlian) joined the NBA, though it's
the Bucks which initially he intended not to go to," the Yangtze
Evening News said.
(Xinhua News Agency August 31, 2007)