Xue Yuyang

Xue Yuyang - 57th pick, 2003
Is retired, and now an assistant coach at Chinese NBL team, Henan. Also runs camps.

Xue Yuyang - 57th pick, 2003
May be retired. Even if he isn’t, he is so very, very far from the NBA level.

Xue Yuyang (57th pick, 2003)

- Behind the Houston Rockets and Yi Jianlian, the third biggest benefactor from the Let's Totally All Draft Chinese Big Men phase was Xue, a 7 foot jumpshooter with nothing else to his game. Xue has stayed in his homeland since being drafted, and figures never to leave - he's having a hard enough time being a productive player in China. This season, Xue is averaging 4.7 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.3 fouls in 17.5 minutes per game for the Zhejiang Lions, scoring 142 points on 140 shots, and turning it over once a game despite rarely taking a dribble.

Those numbers aren't good in any league. But if you know anything about Chinese Basketball Association statistics, you'll see a bigger problem.

Chances of making the NBA expressed as an arbitrary percentage: -1,000,000%

- Xue Yuyang

Former Nuggets draft pick Xue was picked 57th overall seven years ago, and simply never worked out. He is a 7 foot jumpshooter who does nothing else, and who is the worst rebounding 7 footer you ever did see, as evidenced by his stats; 5.6 points, 1.5 rebounds and 1.7 fouls in 13 minutes per game. His season totals include 482 minutes, 51 two pointers, 120 three pointers, 19 foul shots, 53 rebounds, 9 assists, 62 fouls and 4 blocks, numbers about as one dimensional as there can be.

But the best part of Xue's season has been his inconsistency. On nights when he's shooting well, he plays the majority of the game; on nights when he isn't, he plays single figure minutes. It's a clearcut coaching strategy, if nothing else. Xue's points output from game to game reads 3, 28, 0, 32, 9, 16, 26, 0, 5, 0, 7, 6, 9, 0, 0, 3, 7, 4, 13, 0, 1, 3, 5, 2, 0, 0, 0, 3, 9, 3, 0, 6, 0, 0, 0 and 2, with three DNP-CD's in there. He scored 8 total points in Xinjiang's 11 playoff games, going scoreless four times and DNP-CDing 4 more times. It does not get more inconsistent than that. Nor much worse.

Denver retains Xue's draft rights, but only as a mere technicality. Maybe they should have traded these ones to Houston for James White, rather than Axel Hervelle's. Not that Houston would want them.

- Xue Yuyang: 16.8mpg, 7.2ppg, 1.4rpg, 0.4apg, 1.8fpg, 0.3spg, 0.1bpg, 45% FG, 43% 3PT FG, 67% FT

Former Nuggets draft pick Xue was picked 57th overall 7 years ago and simply never worked out. He is a 7 foot jumpshooter who does nothing else, and who is the worst rebounding 7 footer you ever did see, as evidenced by those stats. His season totals include 376 minutes, 37 two pointers, 96 three pointers, 15 foul shots, 32 rebounds, 8 assists, 43 fouls and three blocks, numbers about as one dimensional as there can be. But the best part of Xue's season has been his inconsistency. On nights when he's shooting well, he plays the majority of the game; on nights when he isn't, he plays single figure minutes. It's a clearcut coaching strategy, if nothing else. Xue's points output from game to game reads 3, 28, 0, 32, 9, 16, 26, 0, 5, 0, 7, 6, 9, 0, 0, 3, 7, 4, 13, 0, 1, 3, 5, 2 and 0, with three DNP-CD's in there. And yet somehow, despite three DNP-CD's and ten games featuring single digit minutes, Xue is 6th on the team in minutes played. It does not get more inconsistent than that.

(Denver retains Xue's draft rights, but only as a mere technicality.)