Hours before the 2008 NBA draft, the Milwaukee Bucks traded forwards Yi Jianlian (who was the sixth overall pick in the 2007 draft) and Bobby Simmons to the New Jersy Nets in exchange for small forward Richard Jefferson. (Chinese officials got what they fought so hard for last year: Yi Jianlian in a major city with a larger Chinese population.) The word is that New Jersey did the deal not for the potential of Yi Jianlian, but for the salary cap relief it provides in the year 2010, when franchise players like LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Dwyane Wade enter the free agent market. Yi made 49 starts and played in 66 games, averaging 8.6 points and 5.2 rebounds.

Despite these rumors, the New Jersey Nets marketing department wasted no time promoting Yi Jianlian. They plastered Yi’s image when you try to go to the Nets website. The offer “Buy a season ticket, Get a Free Yi jersey.” If you don’t want the season ticket, you can pre-order Yi’s #9 jersey. Yi Jianlian’s got more play than the Nets first round draft pick Brook Lopez. From looking at the Nets website, you wouldn’t even know he got picked.

We can see it now. Nets owner Jay-Z wearing a Yi jersey on the sidelines. If you can’t wait to see Yi play , you can catch him playing for China in the Olympics.

Yi Jianlian vs Yao Ming