| Yi practices with Bucks for the first time after arriving from China, dodges age question |
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| Written by Admin |
| Thursday, 04 October 2007 10:46 |
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MILWAUKEE (AP) -Yi Jianlian, Milwaukee's top draft pick, declined to answer whether he was actually 19 or 22 years old on Thursday, again dodging a question that's hounded him since announcing he was coming to the NBA. Yi's birth certificate lists him as being born Oct. 27, 1987, but he's long been rumored older. About 50 reporters - including a contingent of Chinese media - spoke with Yi (EE') for the first time since he joined the Milwaukee Bucks. Yi traveled on a 15-hour flight from Shanghai to Chicago on Wednesday and was swarmed by about 75 fans, including one girl who jumped into his arms. Bucks officials said Yi didn't sleep well on the plane, and he didn't go out to dinner after the two-hour bus ride to Milwaukee. He worked out with his new team for more than two hours in the Bucks' fourth practice of training camp, and looked sluggish at times. Yi, who has taken English lessons for several years, has a better grasp of the language than when Yao Ming was drafted No. 1 overall by the Houston Rockets in 2002. He used a translator for the majority of his first English interview as a member of the Bucks, but told the group himself what he did his first night in Milwaukee, one of the cities where his handlers initially didn't want him to go. ``Just relaxed,'' he said. |
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