BeltwayBoy Sports We cover sports in the Washington D.C. region.

Yi Lighting It Up in International Play

After scoring 26 points and grabbing 14 rebounds against Greece and 26 points and nine rebounds in an 83-73 victory against Ivory Coast., Yi is showing his potential in international play.  Before we go overboard with praise, the truth is in the middle somewhere.  But, this news is a lot better than Yi struggles at the FIBA World Championship games against teams with no inside presence.

For now, he is doing his part for the Chinese National Team.  He was expected to lead them and he has done so in two games as China has gone 1-1.  Greece was missing two of its key big men and Ivory Coast does not have much of an inside presence so really Yi did what he was supposed to do. We will learn more about Yi when the competition gets tougher for Yi as he suits up to play Puerto Rico, Russia, and Turkey.

If Yi can develop his game, the 7-footer with an outside touch will be a valuable piece in putting together a winning team.  The Wizards are essentially trying him out on the last year of his contract and it seems like a low risk move for a team searching for good young players.  He couldn’t find his place on two different teams during his first three years, in which he showed no particular positive trend, but maybe a new coaching staff and playing with the likes of Wall, Hinrich and Arenas will have a positive effect on Yi.

Yi is only under contract for one year so there is virtually no risk to the team.  If he doesn’t work out with the Wizards over the course of next season, the team is not locked into a long term deal.  For now, optimism is in the air as Yi lights it up in international play.