We took a chance and gave Yi a decent opportunity to shine in the pre-season. He just couldn't cut it as a stretch 4-5, with only one 3 I can remember him sinking. I wanted to be optimistic before he played but it was pretty clear he is not NBA standard. One less obstacle for Robinson gaining a spot. I think this is the best for Yi, who in this important year would have received harsher criticism than Sacre as the year progressed. Maybe somebody got a swab from his water bottle and used DNA testing to find out that Yi was so old that when he was born the Great Wall was just pretty good, and forced his hand.
This makes the final decision pretty easy for the Lakers I think. They have already hinted at Metta being an assistant to the team if he doesn't make the squad, which leaves Thomas Robinson with the final spot on the team.
I'm glad, best scenario is metta is waived and becomes assistant, and t Rob is kept. I like his energy and bull dog mentality.
Great. Robinson deserved to make the team. Redundant with Julius? Yes. However, we were a 17-win team last year and we to accumulate the best players on our roster. Good luck, Yi.
I thought we would retain Yi because of the flexibility of his contract, especially in a trade scenario where we were trying to match salaries. I really think that was the reason he was here on Mitch's part. But clearly Robinson is the better fit/player here. This opens things up for Zubac to get some minutes which I like. Robinson gives us some protection in case Randle is moved this year (unlikely but possible).
Yi can't play. He's soft, for all the talk about his shot can't shoot, huge liability defensively, not a good ball handler, not a good rebounder, he just doesn't contribute in anyway. Good riddance.
i need to look at cap stuff--does his deal just go away now? if so, the lakers still have trade flexibility, just not as much as they did when it was actual waive-able salary (because of the % matching rules). but i think it's a good sign that the team isn't making decisions like that. we'll see if it bites us (a trade possibility goes away because we didn't have this one arrow in the quiver), but i doubt it.
Fantastic! Yi was terrible, but I'm more excited that this makes some floor time or Zublaca a sure thing, at a minimum to close blowout games.