Yi -- an opening-night starter -- adjusts to life in NBA

Rookie Yi Jianlian averaged 10.5 points in 23.8 minutes in eight preseason games. AP

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MILWAUKEE -- Yi Jianlian got off to a rocky start in his introduction to Bucks fans. On his first offensive touch in the first quarter of Milwaukee's preseason home opener against the Utah Jazz, the celebrated rookie promptly slipped and traveled. On his second touch, he dribbled the ball off his foot, and followed up that miscue with an air ball on his first shot attempt.

Coach Larry Krystkowiak, however, stuck with Yi, and his patience was rewarded. Soon after the early shakiness, Yi had a sequence in which he feathered in an 18-foot jump shot, drew a foul when he powered his 6-foot-11, 238-pound frame into Utah center Mehmet Okur (he made both free throws) and snared a high pass underneath the basket and muscled it up and in.

In a way, the first quarter of his first game was a microcosm of the preseason for Yi: After a slow start, he came on strong. In fact, Krystkowiak has made him a starter at power forward in Wednesday's regular-season opener at Orlando.

"Really, he's better than I thought he would be," Krystkowiak said after the preseason game against the Jazz. "I'm pleasantly surprised."

Said Bucks guard Michael Redd: "That's my rook. So much potential."

"Potential" has been the buzzword around Milwaukee since Yi made his much-anticipated arrival in early October. While he's an immediate starter after averaging 10.5 points and 4.8 rebounds in the preseason, no one -- not Krystkowiak, not Bucks general manager Larry Harris, not even Yi himself -- expects Yi to step in and have the same impact his countryman Yao Ming had his first season with the Rockets. Not when Yi fouls out 16 minutes into his first preseason game. Not when the Bucks already have a capable power forward available in Charlie Villanueva. Not when they have a potential All-Star at center in Andrew Bogut. And not as long as the fledgling star -- all 19, 22 or 24 years of him -- still occasionally operates with the same deer-in-the-headlights look that plagues all rookies.

"I have a long way to go," Yi said. "I can play better. I know I can play better."

The speed of the game has been the biggest adjustment for Yi. Fast breaks are run faster in the NBA than they are in the Chinese Basketball Association. Plays are run quicker and require precision to be effective.

"Players are very fast," Yi said. "Really fast. And they are more physical."

Said Krystkowiak: "I respect the Chinese Basketball Association, but it is a different game here. It's a big adjustment for a kid like Yi to make."

Not that Yi's alone among fresh-faced rookies in having to get up to speed. In Chicago, for instance, a gangly newbie with two NCAA championships to his credit is struggling to make the same adjustments. In a recent game against Dallas, Bulls rookie forward Joakim Noah was frequently overwhelmed by Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki, another former imported beanpole, who in nine years playing Stateside has transformed from a spindly, 230-pound forward hybrid to a powerful, 245-pound power forward and the NBA's reigning MVP.

"As a rookie, you've just got to learn from your experiences and get better," Noah said. "I know I have a lot of learning to do."

For now, size doesn't matter. It will come when the 15 weight-room sessions Yi voluntarily puts in per month (the rest of the team is required to do only 10) begin to pay dividends. It will come, Krystkowiak said, when Yi commits to a rigorous offseason program designed to add bulk to his upper body and make him better equipped to battle physical power forwards.

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