Re: OT: Li big fat liar The problem here is between the player and his team(s), not the NBA in general. Li arguably defrauded Milwaukee when they drafted him, and NJ when they traded for him. Milwaukee can only sue him at this point, I'd think, since they no longer have any other power over him. However, their case for damages is not great, since they both bought and sold him before the truth was known. One could argue they weren't really harmed. New Jersey has a case against him, but is bound by the CBA in terms of what they can do. Interesting situation. Ellis vs. Moped might be an interesting precedent. barfo
Re: OT: Li big fat liar If this is true Yi and I share the same birthday, Oct 27th, 1984. Also, way is this thread called Li not Yi, I was really confused.
do Oden next!!!!! dude at least 30 (Bad Boys II ref) <object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/x4pIJtt48g4&hl=en&fs=1"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/x4pIJtt48g4&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object> then Mt Mutumbo
Re: OT: Li big fat liar Nothing. Why are people making a big deal out of this? 1. That came from a BLOG. 2. It can be easily photo shopped. In fact, someone on the Nets forum photo shopped that picture to make it look like Yi was born in 1980. 3. Who cares? I doubt the Bucks cared when they drafted him. I doubt the Nets care right now. Most of the fans could care less if he was 24 or 21. 4. Nothing will come out of this. This "info" has been out long before this incident. Fact is, people don't give a shit.
If true, he should be banned from further international competition for a period of time similar to a doping offense.
Yeah... it's up to the team for punishing the guy but I don't see why they would do it. Mutombo could be 50 years old, no one knows. Major League Baseball players, or at least some of the Latino ones from Cuba or the Caribbean, lie about their age to sign. It's not too big of a deal to me
Re: OT: Li big fat liar There's absolutely no way that that's true. There's a huge difference in his value if he's actually 24 instead of 21. Player ability, on average, increases non-linearly until the start of a player's prime around age 26/27. The further away from that prime a player is, the more he can be expected to improve. Jianlian was a far more interesting prospect at 21 than he is at 24 (or at 19, when the Bucks drafted him, rather than 22). If he's 21, he still has a fair amount of likely upside. If he's 24, the bulk of his development is finished and he just has incremental improvement left before he reaches his prime. Most fans may not care because they don't realize this. The teams surely care/cared.
Re: OT: Li big fat liar Upside is so overrated. Most players never ever fill their potential, and this one looks no different. Yi is what he is right now, a decent player. Whether he improves or not depends solely on him, as most of his problems seem mental.
Re: OT: Li big fat liar If by "potential," you mean "hype" that's probably true. People claimed Jianlian could be a Chinese KG. That was almost surely never going to happen. However, studies have shown a pretty clear development path that the vast majority of athletes take, and most players are quite a bit worse at 21 than they are at 27. They're not too different at 24 than they are at 27. So those three years matter. If Jianlian were 21 right now, one could expect a lot of gains before he reached 27. If he's 24, one can't expect it (though individual players can, of course, be exceptions).
Re: OT: Li big fat liar Yes, they matter, but not as much as you make it out to be. In fact, questions about his age came long before he was drafted. The Bucks must have felt it was either worth the risk to draft him despite the age concerns, or they didn't care that much about them. The same goes for the Nets when they traded for him.
It isn't so much his current value that is affected, as his value once his rookie contract is up. Don't kid yourself, when he hits free agency, those 3 years are going to knock the bottom out of his market value.
Re: OT: Li big fat liar They took the risk, because there was no evidence, at that time, for the claims that he was older than advertised. If it had been known he were 22 at the time, I'm certain he would have been a much, much lower draft pick. Quite likely not even a first rounder.
Re: OT: Li big fat liar And this is evidence how? Like I said, this came from a blog, and could be easily photo-shopped.
Re: OT: Li big fat liar I didn't say this was evidence. I said that the teams would care if he's 24 rather than 21. None of my comments have been about whether he is 24 or not.
