‘Yi JianLian Juice Box’
courtesy of ‘Wootang01’
The Wizards have another new face to welcome to Chinatown.
Days after the Wizards drafted John Wall, the Wizards continue their rebuilding by acquiring Nets forward Yi Jianlian from the New Jersey Nets for Quinton Ross and cash- lots of cash.
By dealing the sixth pick of the 2007 NBA draft, the Nets clear up cap room as they work to make room for two max contracts. Sounds like somebody wants to be a big suitor for LeBron and company. Jianlian is due to make $4 million this year but the Wizards should only have to pay about $1 million since the Nets are also giving Washington $3 million to complete the deal.
Quinton Ross is a journeyman who played with both Dallas and Washington last year. He was due to make $1.1 million this year which makes the deal simply a way for New Jersey to clear room to land one of the big free agents. However Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld views Yi as another young piece for his young core.
In an ESPN report he is quoted, “We made a decision that we’re going to save some of our powder for the future and try to right now put a core of young players together that can grow and we can build with, and that is the reason that we do have those opportunities right now…Otherwise, they probably wouldn’t be there for us.”
Yi should be comfortable in his new home. DC has a vibrant Asian-American population in the area, a quality he was looking for when he was drafted in 2007.
Yi is expected to compete with Andray Blatche for a starting position on the team. Blatche is recovering from a broken foot and will be out of action for the next three months. However it should be noted that Yi himself has had his share of injuries in his young career in the NBA. Yi has averaged 9.6 points and 5.8 rebounds in his career, will he be a factor for the Wizards next year? Sound off in the comments!
Patrick has been blogging since before it was called blogging. At We Love DC Patrick covers local Theatre, and whatever catches his eye. Patrick’s blog stories, rants, and opinions have been featured in The Washington City Paper, Washington Post Express, CNN, Newschannel 8 Washington, and NBC Washington. See why Patrick loves DC.
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How tall is he? I think I remember him fitting the typical mold of foreign soft big man who can step out and shoot. A possible complement for Blatche?
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