Who's pulling the strings in the Yi-Bucks mess?
July 10, 2007

Here's the problem when it comes to Yi Jianlian, the No. 6 pick in this year
's NBA draft: No one seems to know whom to be angry with. The Bucks drafted
him, despite not having seen him work out and despite assurances from Yi's
representatives that he would not play in Milwaukee. Now, there appears to
be a standoff between Yi and the Bucks, with neither side giving an inch. Yi
won't sign with the Bucks. The Bucks won't trade him.

So you could be angry with the Bucks for taking a player who obviously does
not want to play for your team. Or you could be angry with Yi for failing to
acknowledge the many benefits of playing in Brew City and for the privilege
of playing in the NBA at all. Or you could be angry with Yi's
representatives for being so stubborn. Or you could be angry with that vague
entity, the "Chinese government," cited by many media outlets as the source
of the trouble with Yi.

Here's the reality: Most of us in the media have no idea what we're talking
about in this Yi-Bucks situation, which means that most fans don't, either.
In fact, I am not sure the Bucks fully understand what (and who) they're
dealing with here. I laughed out loud when I read that Bucks owner Sen. Herb
Kohl wrote a letter to Yi, requesting to meet face-to-face. What Kohl has
to understand is that the situation with Yi has very little to do with Yi
himself.

After conducting a handful of interviews with folks who are in the know on
this situation, I can offer you five points to remember that should give a
clearer picture of what is going on:

1. Yi is not Yao. We're not talking playing ability. We're talking gumption.
When Yao Ming came into the NBA in 2002, he was more than the first Chinese
draft pick. He was a fighter, a guy who was willing to stare down his
government and his team in China, the Shanghai Sharks, to fight for his
rights as an individual.

For example, in May 2003, Yao filed suit against the Chinese Basketball
Association for selling his image for use in Coca-Cola advertising -- Yao
had a contract with Pepsi. This was something athletes in China just did not
do. The state controlled athletes. But Yao fought the state, demanded an
apology and got it. He later told the New Yorker, "I always put the nation's
benefit first and my own personal benefit second. But I won't simply forget
my own interests. In this instance, I think that the lawsuit is good for my
interests, and it's also good for other athletes. If this sort of situation
comes up in the future for another athlete, I don't want people to say, '
Well, Yao Ming didn't sue, so why should you?' "

As another example, when the Sharks wanted to pick Yao's agent, he fought
them on it and eventually won the right to choose his own representation.
That willingness to fight is part of Yao's character, and he hoped it would
create a legacy for the Chinese athletes who followed. But it appears Yi is
not comfortable with that fighting mantle, and you have to hope the progress
made by Yao's example will not be given back by Yi's example.

2. Yi is not in charge. That's why Kohl's request for a meeting, and the
Bucks' insistence that they can sell Milwaukee to Yi is laughable. It doesn'
t matter. Yi himself -- when he is allowed to speak -- seems open to the
notion of playing in Milwaukee. When the Bucks surprised everyone and
drafted Yi with the No. 6 pick, before Yi had any coaching on how to answer
questions about Milwaukee, he was a willing draftee. "I'm not really
familiar with the city," he said in the draft interview room. "When I was in
China, Milwaukee did not come to watch me play and work out. But I am happy
to play with the team and happy to play in the NBA."

The notion that Yi would not be comfortable in Milwaukee is laughable, too.
The fact that Milwaukee has few Chinese residents (1,200) is not necessarily
a big negative. Yi will spend little time in Milwaukee, with half of the
NBA season on the road and summers with the Chinese national team. The more
Chinese there are in his NBA home, the more off-day requests for appearances
and speeches there will be. Playing in Milwaukee would afford Yi more
anonymity. Imagine what life would be like in Los Angeles or San Francisco.

If Yi is as good as the Bucks think he is, it won't matter where he plays.
His Bucks games will still be shown in China. He will have a tremendous fan
base, no matter where he plays.

3. The Chinese government is not in charge. It's easy to focus on a big,
mysterious entity like a foreign Communist government, and make it the enemy
(hey, I watched a lot of, "Red Dawn" as a kid, so I know it's easy to be
fearful of the Communists). But, understand, there are distinct divisions
here. There is the government. There is the Chinese Basketball Association,
which is part of the government but does act independent of it. And there is
the team that currently has Yi under contract, the Guangdong Tigers.

The government isn't really involved. The CBA is more involved, but
officials of the CBA are not concerned about the market in which Yi plays.
Their concern is that Yi is successful, that he has a chance to play and
that he is allowed to return to play for the national team each summer (
especially the last point -- they want Yi on the Chinese team, and if the
NBA team he plays for is OK with that, then the CBA is happy). The Bucks, by
all indications, will allow Yi the time he needs for the national team and
Yi figures to have as good a shot at success in Milwaukee as anywhere else.
He only needs to beat out Charlie Villanueva, who is coming back from an
injury, to get himself into the Bucks' starting five, and playing in the
East will limit his exposure to the likes of Tim Duncan, Amare Stoudemire
and Kevin Garnett.

Thus, just about everyone appears to be happy with Yi being in Milwaukee.

4. Ask yourself: Who's not happy with Yi in Milwaukee? That's the question
that needs to be focused on. The answer is his agent, Dan Fegan, and the
team that has him under contract, the Tigers.

The bigger question is, "Why?" That requires some speculation. Sources tell
me that Yi did not pick his own agent -- instead, the Tigers did what the
Sharks tried to do to Yao Ming and pick his agent for him. Yao resisted. Yi
did not (or, at least, if he tried to resist, he was not successful). The
Tigers picked Fegan and he became Yi's agent, a source told me, without ever
having met Yi.

Just imagine the scenario, then. The Tigers interview agents, and one of
their first questions is sure to be, "So, how much of a buyout can you give
us?" The team is mostly owned privately, and they knew they could make some
real money off of Yi. Fegan is a very slick and accomplished agent. It would
only make sense that he would assume he could manipulate the league and
promise the Tigers to deliver Yi to a big market with a large Chinese
community, where he could make serious endorsement dollars. The Tigers, of
course, would get a big slice of those endorsements.

Milwaukee is the fly in the ointment for Fegan and the Tigers. That's why
Fegan did not allow Yi to work out for the Bucks -- if the Bucks actually
liked Yi and drafted him, how would Fegan explain that to the folks in
Guangdong? That also explains why Fegan has been vocal about trade
possibilities.

5. The Bucks will probably win. The situation is at loggerheads right now.
When the Rockets were dealing with signing Yao in 2002, there were a number
of slip-ups and tough negotiations, but there was always a sense that Yao
would surely wind up in Houston.

I'm less confident about Yi going to the Bucks, but still, Milwaukee holds
the upper hand. Fegan and Yi's Chinese representative can plant as many
trade rumors as they want, but the Bucks seem adamant about keeping Yi in
Milwaukee and as long as they keep their resolve, they will force Fegan and
the Tigers to make a very difficult choice -- to pass on allowing Yi into
the NBA this year and force him to go back to play for Guangdong again.

If he does that, though, the Bucks will retain his rights. As long as he has
an overseas contract, he is the Bucks' property. The only way for Yi to
escape Milwaukee would be for him to negate his contract with Guangdong and
sit out a whole year. He could enter the NBA draft again next year. That
would be a pretty big embarrassment to Yi and to the Tigers -- not to
mention the NBA, which would have had its draft process stomped on by a
handful of malcontents. No way commissioner David Stern is going to stand
for that.

For the record, I thought this was a bad pick for the Bucks on draft night,
and I still do, even though my money is on him going to Milwaukee. Bucks GM
Larry Harris deserves praise for being bold enough to draft Yi because
Harris felt he was the best player available -- he did not let agents or
foreign teams push him around. But at some point, the potential for off-
court problems must weigh down a player's on-court potential, and with Yi,
that point was reached before the draft. Now, even if he does sign with the
Bucks, it could be just a matter of a few years before he leaves in free
agency.

When you factor all of that in, I would have taken Corey Brewer.