Welcome to the crush, Yi…

For whatever reason, I really like NBA Draft Media Day, where all of the Green Room Guys and a bunch of media from around the world gather in a hotel ballroom to trade cookie-cutter questions, cookie-cutter answers, fake laughs and — every now and then — some decent material. Reporters and cameramen are elbowing each other for position like Camby and Duncan fighting under the glass, and everyone’s watching everyone else to make sure they’re not being scooped on anything. For the players it can’t be too fun; they’re stuck at a table for half an hour, either being asked questions they’ve answered 1,000 times already or questions that are just out of left field (like when someone asked Spencer Hawes “If you were a car, what kind of car would you be?”) … This year’s version was more packed due to the star power of Kevin Durant and Greg Oden, the Florida guys and the Yi Factor — responsible for bringing in more Chinese media than the Bargnani Factor drew Italian reporters last year … The first thing I always notice at these type of things is which players are drawing the biggest crowd. Last year the popular guys were Bargnani, Adam Morrison and Rudy Gay. This year it was Durant, Oden, Yi and Joakim Noah. Corey Brewer started off with a huge group around him, but even after it tapered off, Corey couldn’t un-glue the perma-smile from his face. He looks giddy just to be here this week. If I had to put money on who out of this class is most likely to either cry, wrap David Stern up in a bearhug, or take 10 minutes to get from his table to the stage ’cause he’s hugging a ton of people (and possibly all three scenarios), I’m betting on Brewer …

Two of Dem Gator Boyz and Rodney Stuckey

Trying to find a slice of space amongst the crowd to get a picture of Noah, a cameraman comes up behind me and says. “Hold on. Don’t move. Keep that picture up.” Confused, I keep my digitial cam (well, Cass’ digital cam) in place while he takes a picture of me taking a picture of Joakim. So I guess I’m a camera model now … The smallest crowds were gathered around Acie Law, Julian Wright, Rodney Stuckey and Hawes. I’m not cool with my two hometown guys (Spencer and Rodney) getting no love around here … As usual, Noah was putting in his bid for Life of the Party. “My life is like a movie, man,” he says at one point. “It’s like a movie! I could tell stories for DAYS about the stuff that happens to me.” The next time I come around Joakim’s table, he’s talking about how Thursday “is gonna be a great day for Dem Gator Boyz.” … Oden was a big hit with the media, wearing a light blue suit and cradling a basketball the entire time. I was wrong about him; he’s not the next Tim Duncan. The dude is actually funny. I’ve heard before that Duncan can be hilarious in private, he doesn’t care about showing it in public. Greg isn’t shy about cracking jokes and making fun of himself. He’s more marketable than you think … All the players were dressed nice, whether it was suits, sweaters, button-downs, slick Italian dress shoes, etc. Jeff Green rocked a cool purple dress shirt, Al Horford had a yellow sweater, and Yi looked like he was headed to a job interview with a Fortune 500 company. Oden and Brewer went with the suit/no-tie/lil’ bit of taco meat-showing look from the Beanie Sigel “That’s Not Cool to Be” Collection. And Noah? He wore a white tee and shorts … I would describe Acie Law’s general demeanor as “Just tell me what city I’m getting buckets in so I can get ready.” …

Yep, in his white tee

This is only my second Media Day, but I feel like I could go to 10 of these and I’ll hear the same questions and same answers all the time. Here’s a common exchange:

Reporter from Sacramento: “Who have you worked out for?”
Acie Law: “The Clippers, Sacramento, the Hawks, Miami and Philly.”
Reporter: “What do you think of Sac?”
Acie: “It’s a great city. Everyone over there was great.”
Reporter: “Do you have any preference on where you play?”
Acie: “No, it doesn’t matter. Whoever picks me.”

Now, you could switch the name of the player and the location of the reporter and it’s still the same thing. I wish I’d been here in ‘99 when someone asked Steve Francis about playing in Vancouver, or a decade before when they asked Danny Ferry about playing for the Clippers … Line from Kevin Durant: “I’m not a rock star. No way.” … Asked what kind of suit he’d be wearing at the draft, Stuckey would only say “It’s nice,” and refused to even give a color. Now I’m curious. You can’t tease that and come through with a plain black suit … Random celebrity sighting: Will Perdue. Although I think he does some media work somewhere … Just being in the city you can spot people who are obviously in town for the draft. On my way out of Media Day, I saw one guy rocking a Clyde Drexler Blazers jersey that looked like he’d been wearing it since ‘88, and another dude in a Larry Bird jersey that looked about as bootleg as it gets. After tomorrow, though, he might have to upgrade to a green “Yi” jersey …