Lakers sign China’s star Olympian Yi
LA team look to rebuild after Bryant retirement
LOS ANGELES: Yi Jianlian, who is fresh off an appearance with the Chinese national team at the Rio Olympics, has signed a contract with the Los Angeles Lakers, the NBA team announced on Monday.
Yi, of Guangdong Province, averaged 20.4 points and 6.6 rebounds in five games at the Summer Olympics, which wrapped up on Sunday.
“We’re excited to have a player of his worldwide accomplishments,” said general manager Mitch Kupchak. “We look forward to bringing him to training camp and hopefully having him make an impact on our team.”
Yi, 28, joins a team that has been at or near the bottom of the NBA the past several seasons. To compound their woes, the Lakers lost their top player when future Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant retired at the end of this past season.
The Lakers declined to release details of the contract.
Yi is a former first round draft pick of the Milwaukee Bucks in 2007. He has not played in the NBA since 2012 and has spent the past four seasons playing in the Chinese Basketball Association.
His international career includes winning three gold medals at the Fiba Asia Championships (2015, 2011, and 2005) and a gold at the 2006 Asian Games.
Meanwhile, retired NBA star Kobe Bryant is moving to Wall Street, announcing the formation of a US$100 million venture capital fund to invest in media, technology and data companies.
The fund, known as Bryant Stibel, is being co-managed by investor Jeff Stibel. The two met through mutual friends, Stibel said.
Stibel said the firm is focused on companies at all stages of growth.
“We are actively looking for great entrepreneurs, but we are in no hurry to deploy capital,’’ he said.
GOLDEN RUN SET TO CONTINUE
Geno Auriemma, coach of the US women’s Olympic gold medal-winning basketball team, says he is constantly reminded that, “It’s not whether you win or lose — until you lose”.
And that is easy to forget when losing is something you rarely experience.
The US women rubber-stamped their credentials as an Olympic dynasty when they claimed a sixth straight gold on Saturday with a 101-72 rout of Spain that ran their Games winning record to a staggering 49-0.
Only two other teams can claim such a run of domination at the Olympics.
The US men’s basketball team earned seven consecutive gold medals from 19361968 while India claimed six straight men’s field hockey titles from 1928-1956.
On Sunday, the American men’s squad delivered an equally ruthless performance in crushing Serbia 96-66 to collect their third straight gold, extending their unbeaten run on Olympic hardwood to 25-0.
Without many of their top players, including LeBron James and Stephen Curry, the United States was more “B Team” than “Dream Team” but still finished 8-0.
The United States gave fans glimpses of their dominant best in Rio but their play did not always live up to the high expectations that follow them to every Olympics.
A record 46 current NBA players featured on national team rosters in the men’s basketball tournament, and with the game growing globally there are signs that the gap is closing — even if it its just a little.
However, the United States’ status as the world’s undisputed basketball super power is likely to remain unchallenged for the foreseeable future with no country coming close to matching a talent pool which allowed close to a dozen of their top players to decline Olympic invitations but still win gold.