Shanghai Scrap

[Today will be - inadvertently - the first "Your Friday All-China NBA Update at Shanghai Scrap"]

I haven’t had anything to say about Yi in over a month. A month during which Yi managed to sign with the Bucks on the basis of an informal agreement guaranteeing him minutes. Good for him, bad for the Bucks (in my opinion). And with that, I would have put an end to this ongoing series of posts — except that, at Thursday’s Milwaukee Bucks media day and practice, Yi refused to answer questions about his age.

This is not a new controversy. Yi, his Chinese professional team, and the Chinese national team, have been avoiding questions about the lanky player’s age ever since he emerged as a legitimate NBA prospect a few years ago. Is he – as he claims – 19? I have no idea, but DraftExpress – the most respected independent evaluator of NBA talent in the universe – lists his age as 22 (implicitly suggesting that Yi’s birth certificate is a forgery).

Two very important reasons to care about this:

1. As part of his US visa application, Yi is required to answer truthfully about his age. If he lies – and is caught – he will be subject to sanction, will have to stop working, and could even be deported (Sports Law Blog has an excellent discussion of Yi and the visa issue).

2. If he is 22 (or 25) instead of 19, he is much less valuable as an NBA player than if he is 19. First, he is less teach-able – that is, NBA coaches assume that his habits are pretty much ingrained at this point (which is why you see so few talented 25-year-old players for from overseas leagues to the NBA – they are uncoachable). Second, Yi is lanky and underweight for his position – by NBA standards. If he is only 19, there is reasonable hope that he will fill-out (and learn to use his new NBA body). If he is older, well, there is less hope.