Coming Soon:

A profile of Bucks general manager Larry Harris, including a short biography and personal history, review and analysis of personnel decisions during his tenure, and a look at his continuing efforts to build the franchise into a legitimate championship contender.

Until then, courtesy of Xinhua, a picture of Yi Jianlian's reputed girlfriend, Li Yahong:



'Yahong, champion of the first 'prettiest girl" China Model Competition and pictured on left wearing the green dress, poses for a photo at the opening ceremony of "prettiest girl" China model competition 2006 in Beijing.'

Other pictures, courtesy of chinadaily.com, and a look at Guangdong, home province of Yi Jianlian.

Guangdong, located in southeast China and shaded red.

First Post/Bucks draft Yi

Resisting the shortsighted 'win-now' philosophy of drafting some bum who is 'nba ready' but probably won't average more than 10pts & 10rebs a game, the bucks' front office went with Yi Jianlian of China, one of the more intriguing prospects in the draft.

Yi, outside of Kevin Durant and Greg Oden, is probably the player with the most potential to radically improve the fortunes of his franchise.

There was some concern over the fact that Yi' reportedly does not want to play in Milwaukee, but from a purely basketball standpoint, and ignoring the immediate boost in fans and revenue that will come into the organization through Chinese interest, who were the other options at six anyway?

Brandan Wright? A young Joe Smith, minus the effort and toughness.

Corey Brewer? 6'8", 185lb shooting guard who can't shoot that well, and doesn't have the bulk to defend the bigger G/SFs in the Central Division (245lb LeBron, 220lb Luol Deng, even Tayshaun Prince is listed at 215lb.) This isn't going to be a problem for a guy whose selling point is defense?

Joakim Noah? The poor man's Gadzuric, only because poor men can't afford to pay $50+million for hustle, a few rebounds, and the ability to miss 12 footers. I like Gadzuric but can the Bucks afford two of him?

Julian Wright? Doesn't seem to offer anything we aren't already hoping to get out of Villanueva and/or Simmons next season and reportedly had a knack for not playing hard at Kansas.

That's it, those were the other legitimate choices at 6, none of them really fit a need (Brewer maybe, but he was probably over-hyped,) and they all project inferior to Yi anyway.

Yi is 7'0", 245lbs, can shoot, is explosive to the basket, rebounds and blocks, and by all accounts has the potential to be something special. Which you cannot really say about the possibilities mentioned above.

The Bucks need the next Nowitzki, KG or Duncan to compete at the highest level. A solid, 30 minute a night guy will help the team, but that is not what is going get them to the next level.

Yi brings the Bucks hype, an international star who can help market the team worldwide, and most importantly the opportunity to be a dominate team in the East for the next 10-15 years. Best. Pick. Ever.