The Way of Basketball: Never Talk Shit to Him!

"The 'Dream Six Team' relied on Allen Iverson's 'Kill' to win the warm-up match, which was the headline of most media the next day.

Reporters and experts did not have a high opinion of this hero-style Hollywood ending.

Before this 'Kill,' they had lost a warm-up match against the same opponent by 16 points.

Now in the 'revenge battle,' they had only won by 3 points...

The previous 'Dream Teams' had never been so embarrassed, not even in the main matches of the Olympics, let alone warm-up games.

Some media dubbed this 'Dream Six Team' the 'Nightmare Team.'

Barkley thought it was possible for them to lose to any opponent at the Olympics.

In other news, Su Wan's layup finishing move, courtesy of JR Smith, attracted quite a bit of media attention. Afterward, Su Wan's remarks over the past two days were dug up, and more and more United States fans became aware of this outspoken Huaxia rookie.

He mocked the Magic Team's 'Twin Stars' and declared to avoid boredom, he would only play in the second half of the match. This made the upcoming summer league game in Las Vegas even more anticipated.

According to the latest ESPN report, this game — which had only sold a few hundred tickets yesterday — sold two-thirds of its seats in half a day. The arena chosen for the Las Vegas Summer League has approximately 3,000 seats, which means about 2,000 fans will be present in the stands.

Since the start of the summer league, there hasn't been another game that sold so many tickets. Even last year, when LeBron James brought half of the Cavaliers' main force to play in the summer league, there was plenty of media coverage. But the number of fans willing to spend money to watch the game live was far from this scale.

It seems that top-tier talent is no match for someone who knows how to stir things up.

Warren Legary was ecstatic.

He is the founder of the Las Vegas Summer League.

In '99, the NBA already had a summer league, but it wasn't systematic and wasn't as professional as the NBA regular season.

He then conceived the idea of bringing NBA summer league teams to 'Gambling City' every year to play.

However, this plan was rejected by Rod Thorn, then Vice President of NBA Basketball Operations, on the grounds that: the summer league should not be associated with Gambling City.

Last year, Warren met Adam Silver, then Vice President, in Europe, who had the opposite view of Thorn and thought 'combining Gambling City with basketball' was a good idea, helping him actively present it to David Stern.

This February, David Stern approved the idea, and the first Las Vegas Summer League was underway.

In order not to affect other summer leagues, this year's event wasn't large, with only 6 teams participating and a budget of just $30,000. Fortunately, he secured Reebok as a sponsor.

Looking at it now, his good fortune hadn't stopped.

The first league saw the emergence of a rookie capable of causing a stir.

Just look at the attention from the outside world; sponsorship for the next Las Vegas Summer League should be worry-free.

Some people were laughing so hard they were about to split, while others were so angry they could explode.

Dwight Howard and Little Nelson emerged from their rooms early in the morning, chuckling as they went to the restaurant for breakfast. They were slowly getting used to their NBA player status. But their smiles vanished instantly when they saw the interviews about Su Wan.

Who the hell is this guy?

Is he sick?

Why mock us for no reason?

"Jamal, I have never felt so strongly about taking someone down as I do right now!"

Dwight Howard slammed the newspaper onto the table. Initially, he had planned to rescue 'damsels in distress' tonight, but now he decided to rest and gather strength to give the arrogant Huaxia kid a taste of his own medicine in tomorrow's game.

Little Nelson closed the newspaper without a word, seemingly calmer than Howard, but the tight grip on his fork revealed his pent-up frustration.

Is he your uncle?

Just wait and see!

I'll show him why I made the cover of 'Sports Illustrated!'

At the same time, in the restaurant of another more luxurious five-star hotel in Las Vegas, Wade forked a large piece of bacon into his mouth and pushed a newspaper across to his opposite side: "LeBron, check this out!"

"What's there to look at!" scoffed LeBron with a blend of naivety and savvy on his face, "It's just saying how poorly we performed. Let them talk, it doesn't impact me enjoying the breakfast they envy."

He thought Wade was showing him another piece of news criticizing him.

Since losing the first warm-up game, such news had been increasing day by day. Not just him, but all members of the 'Dream Six Team' couldn't escape this mockery. He'd learned that what you don't see can't hurt you. What else could he say? Blame his supreme talent for all the jealousy it attracted.

"Not me, it's that rookie your team picked this year, quite interesting. You should take a look."

"Our rookie?"

That Huaxia player...

Uncle?

LeBron James struggled to recall Su Wan's surname. He picked up the newspaper, and after reading the report, a few more surprised expressions appeared in his eyes:

This rookie is really restless, isn't he?

That was the first thought that popped into his mind.

"So, what do you say, want to go check it out? We don't have to train tomorrow anyway," Wade asked, glancing towards the other side, where LeBron James was sitting next to a "baby-faced" guy, none other than one of "The Unrivaled Duos," Carmelo Anthony.

Anthony nodded, saying it'd be nice to try their hands at something after the game ended.

James nodded along.

Originally, he didn't care much about this rookie, but now he felt it was necessary to get to know him up close so that he could smoothly become "good brothers" with this Huaxia newcomer.

"See, these two are still too introverted!" Su Wan sighed with disappointment early on the day of the game after flipping through several mainstream media reports.

His antics had reached such a level.

Howard and Little Nelson simply had no response in front of the media.

Su Wan knew they must be holding back, eager to respond to him emphatically with their performance in the game.

But...

What's the point of holding back?

Let it out, for heaven's sake!

Fortunately, he had thoughtfully prepared some provocative taunts for these two, just in case they were still holding back on the court, ensuring they'd get heated.

"Uncle, are you really not playing in the first half today?" Close to the game, Brandon Malone asked, and upon receiving an affirmative answer from Su Wan, he didn't say anything further, simply pointing at a substitute, "Then it's you, you'll replace Uncle in the starting lineup for the first half."

He wasn't concerned with Su Wan's antics.

Based on the sensational performance Su Wan had demonstrated, he had enough clout to do whatever he wanted in the summer league.

The player he pointed to showed Su Wan a grateful smile.

This was what the summer league was about; opportunities tossed aside by high-pick rookies could be opportunities that other players dreamed of, turning points for their careers.

At that smile, Su Wan suddenly felt this player looked familiar. Reviewing the team's information, he discovered this person was actually:

Jose Calderon!

He wasn't familiar with the point guard who would become a mainstay for the Raptors for many years, nor well-acquainted with Calderon as a member of Spain's "Golden Generation." Only after reading Calderon's résumé did Su Wan learn that Calderon also entered the NBA Draft in 2003 but ultimately went undrafted.

He then returned to the Spanish league.

This summer, the Cavaliers and a few other teams invited him to play in the summer league, and he chose to join the Cavaliers.

Don't ask why Su Wan only just noticed him.

To him, what difference was there between these summer league teammates and NPCs in Newbie Village?

After these six games, maybe one in ten would stay; most he'd likely never see again. Rather than building a good relationship with them, it was better to think about how to "farm" more zone points on the court!

So, he hadn't even looked at the profiles of these teammates, nor did he know their names.

Could there be any other "big fish that got away"?

The Cavaliers' draft work and reinforcement had always been pretty decent, especially when treasure hunting from the lower picks.

In '96, they picked Big Z with the 20th pick in the first round; in '02, they got Carlos Boozer with the overall 34th pick in the second round; in the future '06, they'd pick Shannon Brown with the 25th pick in the first round, and Daniel Gibson with the overall 42nd pick in the second round; in '08, they picked J.J. Hickson with the 19th pick in the first round; in '09, they got Danny Green with the overall 46th pick in the second round...

Just that for some reason, most played better after leaving the Cavaliers. Those who stayed had their moments of brilliance but soon became ordinary again.

However, after looking around, Su Wan didn't find any other familiar names.