Even though Yi Jianlian was hard to deal with before they signed him he played well enough to calm the fans and media in Milwaukee down a bit. Yi Jianlian played in 66 games (49 starts) for the Bucks this season and he averaged 25.0 minutes, 8.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 0.8 assists per game. Yi Jianlian lost his starting job to Charlie Villanueva while he was injured and he will likely have to battle him for minutes next season too so he better improve his game a little bit.

The Bucks were pleasantly surprised with the play of 2nd round pick Ramon Sessions when he finally returned from injury late in the season. He played in 17 games (7 starts) for the Bucks this season and he averaged 26.5 minutes, 8.1 points, 3.4 rebounds, 7.5 assists and 1.0 steal per game. Sessions will likely push Maurice Williams for playing time as he had an amazing 24 assists in one game this season.

Rookie power forward Yi Jianlian is losing playing time since returning from an injury. He is losing minutes to Charlie Villanueva who really has played well with the additional minutes he got when Yi was hurt. Yi has now played in 57 games (49 starts) this season for the Bucks and he is averaging 25.6 minutes, 9.0 points, 5.4 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game. Yi is shooting 43.4% from the floor and 83.8% from the free throw line this season. Yi will have to improve to get more playing time as Villanueva has taken his starting job for now. The other Bucks rookie (Ramon Sessions) has yet to play in a game for the team.

Many experts didn’t like the Bucks pick of Jianlian Yi in the first round of the draft but he’s proving to be a solid player with a big upside. Yi has played in 27 games so far this season and he is averaging 27.9 minutes, 10.9 points, 5.9 rebounds, 1.0 assist and 1.0 block per game. He also has been a solid shooter so far this season as he’s hitting 46.7% from the floor and 82.7% from the free throw line. Expect him to improve as the season goes on.

I have mistakenly reported that Ersan Ilyasova was a rookie even though he was drafted in 2005. With that in mind, the Bucks rookie class was not that impressive. Forward David Noel played in 68 games this season and he averaged 11.6 minutes, 2.7 points, 1.8 rebounds and 1.0 assist per game. Point guard Lynn Greer played in 41 games this season and he averaged 10.5 minutes, 4.1 points, 0.7 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game. Forward Damir Markota played in 30 games this season and he averaged 5.7 minutes, 1.7 points, 1.0 rebound and 0.2 assists per game. Markota only shot 36.5% from the floor. Greer looks like he could be a decent backup point guard in the future for the Bucks and the other two guys will probably be players that are set up low on the Bucks depth chart.

With all of the injuries the Bucks have suffered they are giving Ersan Ilyasova some big minutes, now they need him to produce. In April, Ilyasova has played in 7 games and he’s averaged 8.6 points, 3.6 rebounds and 1.0 assist per game. He’s only shooting 37.7% from the floor and he’s 6 for 21 (28.6%) from three-point range.Â