Harris, poll don’t sway Yi

In a recent online poll conducted by the China Daily, the country's state-run newspaper, 68 percent of the 9,000 people questioned said they want to see Yi Jianlian play for the Milwaukee Bucks next season.

The thinking is if Yi plays in the NBA rather than another year in the Chinese Basketball Association, he will improve his skills and perhaps help his country make a credible showing at the 2008 Olympics.

Pretty savvy, those Chinese fans.

The Bucks agree wholeheartedly. But while they wouldn't mind seeing Yi help his country at the Olympics, the Bucks are looking for Yi to help them right away. After finishing 28-54 last season during an injury-ravaged, chaotic year that saw a coaching change, the Bucks are desperate to turn things around.

That's why general manager Larry Harris drafted Yi with the sixth pick in the draft despite protestations from Yi's agent, Dan Fegan, that Yi had no desire of playing in Milwaukee, which has a Chinese population of around 1,200. Harris believes Yi, who was coached by Harris' father, Del, in the 2004 Olympics, can be an impact player, and his philosophy during his four-year tenure as the Bucks' GM has been to take the best player available when it came time to select.

But Yi has yet to wear a Bucks uniform, and predicting if he ever will is difficult, given Fegan's hard-line stance and the federation's insistence on calling the shots when it comes to their players competing in the NBA.

Instead of performing for the Bucks, Yi played for the Chinese National Team during the NBA Summer League, which concluded Sunday, and he didn't light up Cox Pavilion.

In five games, the 6-foot-11-inch Yi averaged 12.4 points, shot 25 percent from the field, 80 percent from the line and averaged 4.4 rebounds for Team China, which went 1-4.

He did hit the game-winning shot in Team China's lone victory on July 8 as his turnaround bank shot in the key with four-tenths of a second left beat Cleveland, 85-84. His other highlight came when he scored 23 points in his debut against Memphis on July 6. But nine of those 23 came from the foul line, and he had seven turnovers that day.

Despite the numbers, the Bucks, who lost to Washington 79-67 on Sunday and went 2-3 in the summer league without Yi, are convinced they drafted the right guy.

"We were happy with the way he played," Dave Babcock, the Bucks' director of player personnel, said of Yi's Las Vegas showing. "His team struggled, but he had his moments. Remember, he's still young, and I don't worry about summer league.

"We think the world of him, and we're extremely excited about having him."

After the Bucks drafted Yi, Harris told the Wisconsin State Journal in Madison that whoever the Bucks took would be a gamble of sorts.

"For us, there's always a risk," Harris said. "From a talent standpoint, we really feel very strongly that this guy is going to be very, very good."

Second-year Bucks forward David Noel said the one time he saw Yi play in Las Vegas, he came away impressed.

"I think he can definitely help us," Noel said. "With his length, he can be an inside presence for us, blocking shots and scoring.

"It would have been nice to have him here and get to know him, but we understand that it's business and having him for the regular season is what's important. Hopefully, they'll get everything worked out and he'll be with us."

Yi was kept away from the media during his Las Vegas stay thanks to Fegan and the Chinese Basketball Federation. In the lone interview he granted, with NBA.com, which was done only after the Web site agreed not to ask Yi about the situation with the Bucks, Yi said, "I need to work harder. You can't be satisfied by only one game. You have to try your best to get the second win and the third.

"Through our effective training and hard work, I think we improved recently."

The Bucks, who met Yi for the first time at the start of the summer league when Harris and coach Larry Krystkowiak talked to him at Mandalay Bay, are trying to negotiate quietly with Yi and his management team rather than through the media. Reports indicated NBA commissioner David Stern was going to step in and intercede on the Bucks' behalf, but Babcock said Sunday that wasn't the case.

"Everything's moving along," he said. "We've talked to the commissioner, and he's supporting us, but I don't think it will get to the point where he has to get involved.

"These things take time, but I believe we'll get a deal done and (Yi) will be with us."

If he makes it to Milwaukee, that will make a lot of people in Wisconsin and China happy.