The Celtics' Danny Ainge traveled to Los Angeles on Wednesday to take a look at Yi Jianlian in a private workout. Yi worked out for nearly two hours in a gym by himself and then spent several hours with Ainge.
The same drill was repeated on Thursday with the Atlanta Hawks GM Billy Knight. On Saturday the Bulls will get a look at Yi.
The feedback from the workouts has been positive. Yi looks great in that environment. The question is whether he has the toughness to play that way when you put nine other players on the floor.
Next, Yi's camp will sit back and gauge feedback. If none of those teams commit to drafting Yi, then Sacramento likely will be the next team to visit.
If Boston is passing on Yi, I think that means we might see a trade coming. There's talk that the Suns -- to slash payroll -- might be willing to take the No. 5 pick, Theo Ratliff's expiring contract and Delonte West for Shawn Marion. That would make Paul Pierce happy.
With the No. 5 pick, the Suns could replace Marion with Yi, Jeff Green or Al Thornton. In the Suns' system, all three of those guys could play the four.
Another dark horse in the Yi sweepstakes might be Portland, which is trying to get another top 10 draft pick. As I've mentioned before, the Bulls seem like a possible trading partner, with Zach Randolph involved
A Marion trade along these lines is unlikely, because it would kick the Celtics at least $10M into the luxury tax threshold next year, assuming Al Jefferson signs an extension for something on the order of ~$12M/year.
If such a trade were to go down it would fantastic news, both because Marion is an All Star talent and because it indicates the owners are willing to lose money, short term, in order to win more games.
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