Yi Jianlian Will Only Work Out Against Furniture

It seems that more and more players who are looking to improve their position in the NBA Draft are putting some sort of restrictions on the types of pre-draft workouts that they will conduct. Agents for these players are trying to improve their clients' positions in the draft, and see little upside in having one of their players embarrassed on the court in any type of meaningful basketball exhibition.

This type of control over the workout process resulted in Danny Ainge and Doc Rivers getting on a plane and flying to Los Angeles to watch Yi Jianlian run through drills ... against a chair. From the Boston Globe:

Ainge and Rivers traveled to Los Angeles Wednesday to watch a workout featuring Yi. According to Ainge, the Celtics have seen Yi play more than a dozen times for either his Chinese pro team or the Chinese national team. Watching Yi run through predetermined drills was far from ideal, prompting Ainge to joke about the workout.

"It was a good workout, Yi against a chair or a coach," said Ainge. "That's how some of those workouts are beautiful. The chair played good defense a couple times . . ."

If I'm Yi's agent, I may have to reconsider the whole "chair" thing. The chair played good defense? Maybe they should get a smaller chair, or one without wheels so it couldn't guard as well. Personally, I would go with an ottoman. Sure it's a little wider, but it's lower to the ground, can't move as quickly, and would have a really tough time blocking the seven-footer's shot.