Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver welcomed Yi Jianlian to the Chinatown YMCA Monday as hundreds of children from Chinatown came out to see the New Jersey Nets’ new 7-foot-tall basketball phenom. It was also Jianlian’s 21st birthday. “It is an honor to welcome NBA star Yi Jianlian to our Chinatown community,” Silver said. “Yi, who played on the Chinese Olympic squad in 2004 and 2008, is a role model for so many young people here in my Lower Manhattan community and around the world.” Chinatown Head Start Pre-K students also enjoyed the antics of Nets mascot Sly Fox.
