Yi Jianlian hopes to make a new start in the National Basketball Association with the rebuilding New Jersey Nets in the season that opens this week.
The 7-foot Chinese power forward was a sensation in his homeland, joining Houston center Yao Ming in the NBA and on a Chinese Olympic team that reached the quarterfinals and displayed the greatest skills of any Chinese hoops team.
The challenge now for Yi, who was traded from the Milwaukee Bucks to the Nets in the off-season along with forward Bobby Simmons, is to help the Nets, powered by playmaker Vince Carter, form foundations for future success.
"I have a lot of hopes for the new season," Yi said. "It's a new team. It's a young team, but I think it's the right fit for me."
Yi averaged 8.6 points and 5.2 rebounds a game for the Bucks but hit only 42.1 percent of his shots in his rookie NBA season.
"Yi is one of the top young and up-and-coming players in this league and he plays a position that is very, very hard to find in terms of a skilled, mobile player," Nets coach Lawrence Frank said.
"The thing that Yi does as well as any of those guys is he runs the floor. It gives us a great deal of flexibility."
Simmons was impressed with Yi but knows how much work will be ahead of the Asian star if he is to reach his potential the way Yao has done.
"He's going to have to have that work ethic to get better. He's going to have to put in the time even when he's exhausted," Simmons said.
"We spent numerous hours after practice doing extra shooting, ballhandling, even working on some post moves. I like him as a player."
Expect huge crowds in China to be watching when Yi's Nets and Yao's Houston Rockets meet in the NBA season on December 22 at New Jersey and February 17 at Houston.
The Nets hastened the rebuilding, and cleared salary cap room for a run at free agents in the new few years, in the deal with Milwaukee and by sending star guard Jason Kidd to Dallas last season.
The Mavericks never clicked with Kidd in the lineup but a new season and some player changes have German star Dirk Nowitzki confident that Dallas can turn to the form of two seasons ago when they had the NBA's best season record.
"I'm very excited," Nowitzki said. "Our goal is not to make the playoffs. Our goal has to be a championship team. We can't be satisfied just making the playoffs."
Nowitzki wants the Mavericks, known as a half-court offensive structure side, to be a faster-paced team with defense and rebounding as key aspects.
"We got a little stagnant and there wasn't that much moving going on," said Nowitzki. "So now you've got to reprogram yourself a little bit - push yourself to move, remind yourself constantly to be running."
Other top international players aiming for an NBA title include Spanish center Pau Gasol of the Los Angeles Lakers, France's Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobili and Fabricio Oberto of Argentina for the San Antonio Spurs.
Spain, which lost to the US team of NBA stars in this summer's Olympic final, also offer Memphis center Marc Gasol, Jose Calderon of Toronto and Rudy Fernandez, a potent passer who joins the Portland Trail Blazers this season.
The Trail Blazers have not made the playoffs since 2003 and went 41-41 last season but welcome the European playmaker as well as US center Greg Oden, a talented rookie who missed all of last season with a knee injury.
Australian Andrew Bogut will carry the inside load for Miwaukee while Turkey's Hedo Turkoglu and Frenchman Mickael Pietrus, obtained in a deal with Golden State, join center Dwight Howard and Rashard Lewis in sparking Orlando.
Joakim Noah, the son of French tennis legend Yannick Noah, and Sudan-born British forward Luol Deng will be part of a rebuilding scene at Chicago.
(AFP via China Daily October 28, 2008)