First Yi Jianlian, second LeBron James, third Kevin Durant!

"Why can Hua Xia Yi be ranked in the first position, I admit that his strength is very good so far this season, and his performance at critical moments is even capable of beating LeBron James, but he has not led the team to the finals until now, nor has he won the regular season MVP, lack of hard conditions, and when he gets more honors, it is not too late to rank first again!"

"Carmelo Anthony didn't make the list? A starting All-Star small forward who has been on the All-Star team three times in the past seven years can't be ranked in the top three small forwards in the league? ESPN shit experts, are you guys crazy? ”

The controversy among fans is mainly focused on these two aspects.

The first is whether Yi Jianlian should put him in the position of the league's first small forward, it is true that he has played very well this season, almost a historic-level performance, but there is one thing to say, he has won a bit less honors, in addition to the best rookie and the fastest improving player award, other hard indicators may only be one 08~09 season league best team second team, in addition, no matter how you count your fingers, the only honor that can be regarded as an all-star starter may be!

Can such an honor be ranked in front of LeBron James?

LeBron James has won many more honors so far than Yi Jianlian: Best Rookie Award, two-time All-Star MVP, one-time regular season MVP, NBA Eastern Conference champion in '07, three-time selection to the NBA All-NBA First Team, two-time selection to the NBA All-NBA Second Team, and a one-time All-Defensive Team selection, and a scoring title in '08.

In short, LeBron has won all the awards except the championship and the MVP of the Finals.

From this point of view, it is somewhat unreasonable to want to rank ahead of LeBron based on Yi Jianlian's supernatural performance in the past half season.

"Before Yi Jianlian has won more hard honors, no matter how good he is, he has to be ranked behind LeBron for the time being, everyone knows that LeBron James's goal now is only to win the championship, so in order to exert his strength in the playoffs, the possibility of him saving his strength in the regular season exists! I believe that Hua Xia Yi's current strength is on an equal footing with LeBron, but you can't let him sit in the league's No. 1 small forward position with a rookie of the best and a most improved player award, right? ”

"It's not such a good place to sit!"

Most fans have praised this point of view, and they no longer question Yi Jianlian's strength, but before Yi Jianlian makes a bigger breakthrough, he will definitely not be ranked first.

Another controversial point is that Kevin Durant squeezed Carmelo Anthony down, which made many fans and some experts have a lot of dissent.

"Carmelo Anthony is a superstar who has been on the league's All-Star team and made an All-Star starter, and he shouldn't be on this list!"

"How can a guy who hasn't won any accolades be in the third place at the small forward position? Is this day and age crazy? ”

The reasons for opposing Kevin Durant in front of Carmelo Anthony and the reasons of experts are actually similar to the reasons for opposing Yi Jianlian in front of LeBron, all of which are refuted on the grounds of hard honor!

This situation has been in the past, for example, after the 05~06 season, Dwyane Wade once occupied the throne of the league's first scoring guard, and the criticism he caused at that time was not much smaller than that of Yi Jianlian.

But with Kobe Bryant getting a championship ring and a Finals MVP trophy, and Wade suffering an injury, the Heat gradually sinking to this day, this topic has not been discussed anymore!

In the final analysis, if you want to be ranked first in this league, even if it is just the first place in a simple position, data and honor cannot be missing!

The stats represent how well you played, and the accolades you have accumulated represent how well you played throughout your career.

Yi Jianlian has now proved himself with data, and what he has to do now is to prove himself with honor!

***

The turmoil caused by ESPN showed no signs of stopping in a short period of time, but became more and more noisy, especially the controversy over the small forward position, which gradually spread to various message boards about NBA coverage.

Renowned ESPN columnist Chris Haynes has published an article on these phenomena titled "The NBA's Small Forward Era Has Arrived."

"In the '07 draft, the Thunder team in Seattle at the time, sorry, they were called the SuperSonics at the time, and Ray Allen's mark on this team is still there, but they have ushered in a new future - Kevin Durant, the supersonic team officially entered the league with the second pick in the first round of the second pick, and shortly after he shook hands with David Stern, the Bucks used the fourth pick from the Grizzlies to sign Yi from Huaxia, Chris Wallace, the general manager of the Grizzlies, probably regrets not directly deducting Yi Jianlian, right? And the Bucks at that time, Michael Reid was still the boss of the word! ”

"It was a time when the shooting guard was in charge, and at least half of the teams in the league were shooting guards!"

"Probably no one thought that these two guys who are both 2.11 meters tall or higher would change the league, and they have grown up at an astonishing rate!"

"This is their third season, Kevin Durant, who averages 31.8 points per game and ranks first in the league's scoring list, Yi Jianlian averages 31.5 points, 10.1 assists and 7.9 rebounds per game, and his comprehensiveness even surpasses LeBron James!"

"Their rapid growth has given this league two more top small forwards, following tradition, maybe we can call them and LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony the big four, the history is always similar, these big four forwards, the same two in the East, two in the West!"

"If that's not all there is to it, Granger, who averaged 24.1 points and 5.5 rebounds per game, Paul Pierce, who averaged 18.3 points and 4.4 rebounds per game, Iguodala, who averaged 17.1 points, 6.5 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game, and Stephen Jackson, who averaged 21.1 points per game, Josh Smith, the leader of the Hawks, this series of names is enough to prove that there are too many excellent small forwards in this league, and even some of them are completely among the top small forwards in the league in the first two years. ”

"But even if they're not the best, they're the core players in their respective teams!"

"How similar is Arenas, Ray Allen and Michael Reed, who can't compare to the big four?"

"There is another point that has to be mentioned, at present, the top five points per game in the league, except for Dwyane Wade, who ranks fifth, the other four positions have been divided by these four top small forwards!"

"If you want me to continue, there is a lot of evidence that can be said, but what I have said above is enough to support my opinion!"

"The NBA, after going through the era of centers and scoring guards, has now officially entered the era of small forwards!"