Bucks Gutsy Move Pays Off As They Sign Yi Jianlian

The Milwaukee Bucks decided to roll the dice on the night of the NBA Draft. Even though they had been told by Chinese officials that they did not want their prospective NBA star Yi Jianlian to play in Milwaukee, the Bucks went ahead and selected him with the sixth pick in the NBA Draft. soon rumors started to surface that Yi would remain playing in China rather than play for Milwaukee. It looked like the Bucks were stuck between a rock and a hard place; stand pat and risk coming up empty handed, or try to negotiate a deal with another team. If they had to take that option they most assuredly would not get as much value in return as Yi is worth, because other teams would know that the Bucks were in desperation mode.

However on Wednesday it turned out that the dice had not landed on snake eyes after all. Their gutsy move paid off as Yi Jianlian signed a multi year contract with the team. The deal came about after extensive negotiations between Milwaukee Owner Senator Herbert Kohl, Bucks General Manager Larry Harris, and Guangdong Tigers Owner Chen Haitao. Yi is expected in at the start of training camp on October 1. Senator Kohl was looking forward to having Yi on the team and for years to come.