Yi Jianlian (Chinese: simplified 易建联, traditional 易建聯 Cantonese: Yi Ginlyùn Pinyin: Yì Jiànlián) born on October 27, 1984 or 1987, in Shenzhen, Guangdong is a Chinese basketball player. He plays for the Guangdong Southern Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association.

 

He is right-handed and is listed as being 2.13 meters, or 7’0” tall and weighs 104 kilograms (230 pounds). He is under contract with Nike to advertise their products within China. 

 

Teams
2001-: Guangdong

BIOGRAPHY
Yi Jianlian has long been considered the next big prospect from China. He revealed himself in 2003, at the early age of 16, at the FIBA U19 World Championship in Greece, leading his team with 18.9 points and 11.5 rebounds per game. He has been under the radar of the NBA since that competition and has to live with the pressure. He debuted in the CBA in 2002-03 with the Guangdong Tigers and won the Rookie of the Year award. His excellent combination of size and athleticism as a 7-footer, and his decent strength, permitted him to dominate the CBA this season, averaging 20.5 points and 9.6 rebounds and being named MVP. With the Tigers, he won the last three CBA titles. He made his debut with the National Team at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, playing alongside Yao Ming.

 

Career in China

Yi’s father was 1.99 meters (6’6”), and both his parents were retired handball players. Yi was 1.93 meters (6’3”) by the time he was 13. He could already touch 3.51 meters (11’6”) by the time he joined the Guangdong Tigers in 2002. In the same year, Yi Jianlian attended the Adidas ABCD camp in New Jersey.

Yi was featured in TIME Magazine's August 24, 2003 article entitled, "The Next Yao Ming." It was this article that first gained Yi worldwide recognition.

The highlight of his CBA career was in January of 2005, when Yi shot 16 of 16 from the field, scoring 34 points. He has won three CBA championships with Guangdong, although they lost to the Bayi Rockets in what was probably Yi’s last year. In international play, he averaged 13.5 points and 8 rebounds a game against the USA in two games, playing against Dwight Howard, Elton Brand, and Chris Bosh. He has played at both the 2004 Olympic Games and at the 2006 FIBA World Championship with the Chinese national basketball team, and impressing coaches on both the Chinese national team as well as the coaches from other countries.

Yi was not expected to enter the NBA Draft until 2009 because the Chinese Basketball Association does not release allows players to leave until they turn 22. In early 2006, he announced he would enter the 2006 NBA Draft, although he eventually decided to withdraw. However, on November 1st, 2006, Yi's club, the Guangdong Tigers, announced that Yi would enter the 2007 NBA Draft. He is generally expected to be a lottery pick, as several draft sites list him in the top 10 of their mock drafts.


Age discrepancy

Questions surround his real birthdate, as his official passport and hukou in China have him listed as being born on October 27, 1987, but it has been rumored that his date of birth may have been intentionally falsified so to be eligible in junior competitions. The estimates of his age is between 1984 to 1987.

In 2004, he was listed as being born in 1984 in China's Four Nation Tournament, although authorities said it was only a “typo”.

The Houston Chronicle reported that Yi told Shane Battier he was 24 in an exhibition game before the 2006 FIBA World Championship.However, Yi later denied the allegations.