That time the Warriors might have wanted Yi Jianlian

Nearly a decade ago, the Warriors might have been interested in Chinese journeyman Yi Jianlian. Let’s revisit that peculiar scenario.

The Golden State Warriors have been at the top of the NBA over the last couple of years, but once upon a time, they weren’t very good. Actually, they’ve generally been bad. But every now and then, the Warriors would do something right and find some magic that would soon fade away.

The 2006-07 season had a lot of magic. Baron Davis, Jason Richardson, and a rookie Monta Ellis were all in the Bay Area. Al Harrington and Stephen Jackson were sent to Golden State in a trade that they easily won. Andris Biedrins was a pretty good NBA player. The Warriors went on an incredible run that saw them become the first 8 seed to beat the 1 seed in a seven game series when they defeated the defending Western Conference champion Dallas Mavericks and MVP Dirk Nowitzki.

Then the Utah Jazz beat up Don Nelson’s run-and-gun team with their size. But there was optimism building within the Oracle Arena walls. The Warriors were just a piece away from truly becoming a contender.

The Warriors had a star in Davis and plenty of young, dynamic talent around him. They felt as if they were on piece away. Ideally, it would have been Minnesota’s Kevin Garnett. They needed size, but Don Nelson was ahead of his time. He wanted someone who could block shots, rebound, run the floor, and shoot.

Yi Jianlian exploded onto the Warriors fans’ radars. He seemed to possess a lot of skills that would instantly make him a really good NBA player. Desperate for that final piece, he seemed perfect to Golden State fans.

The Warriors had the eighteenth pick in that draft. They were hoping that the Chinese big man would fall to them, but most likely would have to acquire him in a trade. Neither happened and the Milwaukee Bucks took him seventh. The Warriors sent Jason Richardson to the Charlotte Bobcats for Brandan Wright, the eighth overall pick.

Yi is in the news again. After some good showings for in his fourth Olympic games and great seasons in China, the Los Angeles Lakers are interested in bringing him back to the NBA. Because it’s the middle of August and not much of anything else is going on, what if the Warriors had been able to land him almost a decade ago?

To be clear, this looked more like an optimistic fan’s rumor more than anything. As Tim Kawakami of the Mercury News noted, it never seemed like a real possibility; partly because Golden State lacked assets, partly because Golden State lacked interest. He suggests his agent floated the rumors.

Regardless, nothing much would have changed if it actually happened. Except perhaps the heartache of trading a fan-favorite away might have been lessened. Personally, I had low expectations for Wright. From the get go, I felt that it was a bad trade. But acquiring Yi would have set the bar high.

The Warriors would have gotten the guy the fans wanted. The guy that was so romanticized that he was almost most definitely the savior everyone was waiting for. He was the next best thing behind Garnett. He was it.

Traditional stats favor Yi during that rookie season, but that’s mostly because of role and opportunity. Most advanced metrics favor Wright. But there’s no doubt his failures and shortcomings would have been apparent right away. And trading Richardson for a false god would have made everything 10x worse.

The Warriors would have missed the playoffs and, most likely, followed a similar course as the one they actually did. Except perhaps they would have sold a few more jerseys (Yinsanity?). The difference would have been minimal.

Golden State was talented, but it was a less-than-ideal situation for rookies and young players to develop. There were massive egos and a coach who didn’t like to play first year players. As fun as it was for fans during the good times, there were issues there.

Yi Jianlian as a Warrior might have been fun in an Anthony Randolph type of way. But there wouldn’t have been much to that career. At least not much different than what happened as a Buck.

He’s still just 28 years old and coming off some great professional season overseas. The Lakers are going to be awful once again, but opportunities will be abundant as Luke Walton tries to make some sense of the mess. Perhaps he can still put it together and do some good things in the league.