According to league and team sources, the Celtics are very interested in selecting Yi with the fifth pick in Thursday's draft, if Danny Ainge does not trade it. Ainge and coach Doc Rivers watched Yi work out at the Home Depot Center 18 days ago and talked at length with the prospect.

While Ainge asserts, "There are 30 teams that know exactly who Yi is," geography, cultural differences, and the strictures of Chinese basketball have conspired to keep Yi a largely unknown player outside international and NBA scouting circles.

"I'm ready for the NBA," says Yi, in Mandarin, through a translator. "If I was not ready for it, I wouldn't be in the draft.

"When I finished my last game in China, I felt I was ready for the NBA and I flew here to prepare. The target has been set and the plan has been made. A lot of people made the plan. I was one of them."