Yi Jianlian hopes to impress scouts² and coaches at a pre-draft training camp in Los Angeles and become the fourth Chinese NBA player after Wang Zhizhi, Menk Bateer and current Houston Rockets center Yao Ming.

"Of course, I'm really happy to be going," Yi told Thursday's Beijing News. "To be finally able to leave the country is too exciting."

The 2.11-metre (6 ft 11 in) teenager was touted³ for the 2006 draft but blocked by his club Guangdong after the China Basketball Association (CBA) voiced concerns about players missing national games while warming benches for NBA teams.

After China failed to make the quarter-finals at the 2006 world championship in Japan, Yao Ming slammed China's league administrators⁴ and said more players should be sent overseas in preparation for the Beijing Olympics in 2008.

In November, Yi's club cleared the hip-hop music loving teenager to enter the 2007 NBA draft on June 28. Yi, reportedly sought by several clubs, is likely to be one of the top picks.

"It is very hard to take, seeing Yi leave to take part in the draft," Guangdong coach Chen Haitao told the Beijing News.

"After all, I watched Yi grow up. Of course, I hope he can learn some things to make him stronger. I don't want him to come back and play CBA."

CBA Vice⁵ Director Hu Jiashi said he supported Yi's move and the exposure to top coaches and sophisticated training programmes would help improve Chinese basketball.

"This will help improve our skills and as far as the national team is concerned, it will be very beneficial to our preparations," Hu said.

Yi, dubbed⁶ the "next Yao Ming", told the China Daily he wanted to step out of the shadows of his "Great Wall" predecessors⁷, Wang, Bateer and Yao.

"The NBA is my dream place, so this is obviously the biggest challenge of my life," Yi said. "But I am not going to be the next Yao Ming or Wang Zhizhi. I want to do it my way