International players wanting to move up to the NBA may need to re-evaluate those possibilities. While there will always be a place for those athletes, the political climate just changed with respect to the hoops necessary to sign Yi Jianlian to the Bucks from the draft.
I can see future draft candidates needing to prove that they can enter the draft without any strings attached.
No buyout clauses from European leagues. No promises of play time to be used as a training ground for competitive Olympic teams. No guarantees that you will get to play in the location of your choice. If you refuse to sign to those wavers, you should forfeit your eligibility to play in the NBA for at least three years.
Teams shouldn’t be blindsided to the risk of drafting someone because their dictatorship government refuses to play in a democracy. The trick China just pulled on the NBA is nothing short of the Communistic behavior and culture of that nation. If you want to play with the best, you have to earn it.
Personally I’m a little disgusted that Stern would let this happen. I understand he wants into the China market REALLY bad. But he shouldn’t be playing puppet to the demands of a country with ‘Peter Pan’ syndrome-like behavior. But I can imagine that this was the least of his worries when he has to deal with the internal corruption from his vaunted and protected referee situation. But that’s another story.
I think in the future you will see teams much more reluctant to draft players where the risk is too great that a holdout by a high draft pick can hold the team ransom.
So Yi, you better be ready, because you allowed the target to be placed on your jersey. You had no place making those demands. So when Shaq lowers his shoulder into your chest (and we know he will) and you end up three rows deep into the stands, you’ll finally have been welcomed into the NBA. This league humbles prima donnas pretty fast.
