How Old is Yi Jianlian?

There have been questions about Chinese prospect Yi Jianlian's age since Yi became a prospect. Chinese officials insist he's now 19, while there have been rumors he's actually three years older. And of course, three years is a long time in terms of basketball development. A raw 19-year-old is Andrew Bynum. A raw 22-year-old is... Kendrick Perkins.

DraftExpress -- the most respected independent draft resource out there -- is convinced Yi is 22. Via CelticsBlog, we see that DraftExpress lists Yi's birth year as 1984 and experts from the site have been saying in media interviews recently they strongly believe Yi is older than his handlers are admitting.

Needless to say, an age discrepancy like that is HUGE in terms of Yi's draft stock. Chad Ford's love letter -- which my man Mutoni scoffed at -- calls Yi the third-best talent in the draft. But if he's 22, is he even better than slip-sliding Tiago Splitter? Who cares about falling from #3 -- could Yi slide all the way out of the lottery if he can't prove beyond a shadow of a doubt he's really 19?

The next question: What level of proof would be necessary to convince us Yi's 19? Are you going to believe a birth certificate? Do we need the birth video? Can we saw a finger in half and count the rings? Carbon-date his umbilical cord?

(By the way: this photo is Yi... at the Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End premiere in Disneyland this past weekend. Wonder if Joakim Noah will get the call for the Ratatouille red carpet event.)

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