Where the noise did not reach

Chapter 57 begins in Las Vegas

July marks the peak season for NBA management operations.

This summer is destined to be anything but peaceful.

First came the aftermath of the draft night. After another failure in this year's lottery and the failure to select Xu Ling in the draft, these setbacks made Danny Ainge realize that the Celtics' dream of turning things around through the draft might be just that—a dream. They had to take the initiative and do something.

So he gave up Mike Conley's signing rights in exchange for Ray Allen from the SuperSonics.

This deal kicked off the summer.

Similarly, the Knicks, having failed to acquire Xu Ling, had to settle for strengthening the team's immediate competitiveness. Isaiah Thomas set his sights on the Trail Blazers, who were looking to trade Zach Randolph, and the two sides quickly reached an agreement.

Bill Simmons quipped, "After thinking about it, the reason New York was able to get Zach Randolph so easily is simply because Portland thought it was better to prevent Oden from meeting Z-BO than to let him lead Oden forward. That might be the best thing Portland could do for Oden."

Regardless, Thomas succeeded. Randolph is about to head to New York to form the league's largest frontcourt duo with Eddie Curry.

Then came a series of baffling team-breaking actions.

We believe the Warriors' decision to trade their starting shooting guard, Jason Richardson.

Not long ago, they pulled off a stunning upset against the Mavericks in the playoffs. Now, they've deliberately dismantled their starting lineup. Aside from saving money, there's hard to come up with any other reasonable explanation.

When it comes to saving money, the Warriors are second only to the Suns.

If you really want to find a logic behind the Warriors' breakup, you can. After all, they've been bad for decades. Can you really conclude that this team has a high ceiling just because of a few months of chemistry?
The Suns are completely different. Since Nash joined, they have been a formidable rival to the Spurs. Although they have suffered repeated defeats, their competitiveness is undeniable. However, this team has encountered a stingy owner.

In an effort to create what they perceive as healthy financial expenditures, they traded veteran Kurt Thomas along with two future first-round picks to Seattle. This would have saved them $800 million in salary and $800 million in luxury tax. Normally, this wouldn't be a problem; dealing with bad contracts is something strong teams do. But with the Suns, it's hard to expect them to do anything with the extra cap space after dealing with those contracts.

Just look back to the summer of 2005. Nash had just finished his first season with the Suns, and the "seven seconds or less" Suns were at their peak. However, the team's promising young star, Joe Johnson, had his rookie contract expire. Suns owner Sal led the charge to lower the price, until Johnson had a mental breakdown and publicly stated that he did not want to play for the Suns and asked the Suns not to match outside offers. As a result, they did not match the offers and sent him to Atlanta in exchange for Boris Diaw and two future first-round picks.

In 2006, for financial reasons, they traded their 21st overall pick (Raja Rondo) along with Brian Grant's contract to Boston (cutting $190 million from their 2007 payroll) in exchange for Cleveland's 2007 first-round pick. To understand how infuriating this move was, you have to go back to 2004, when, for yet another financial reason, the Suns didn't want to use their seventh overall pick (Luol Deng) and traded him.

So, if you really want to calculate it, the Suns actually went from "Luol Deng or Andre Iguodala in 2004" to "Rondo in 2006," and then downgraded to "trading the 27th overall pick for cash in 2007." Hmm, what happened with trading the 27th overall pick for cash in 2007? The Suns first used that pick to select Spanish prodigy Rudy Fernandez, and then inexplicably gave Fernandez's draft rights to the Trail Blazers for cash.

They didn't play the "financial issues" card when they did this, because that would be an insult to the intelligence of the fans—Rudy Fernandez wouldn't be in the NBA until 2008 at the earliest.

Yes, this is the Suns. You can foresee that this is the lowest point a trash owner can reach, but this will definitely not be the last time he disgusts his fans.

Finally, there's Kobe's trade request, which captivated NBA fans. It was quite a spectacle in itself. Kobe initially stated publicly that if the Lakers didn't bring Jerry West back to lead the team, he would request a trade. A few days later, Kobe retracted his statement, and then, a few days after that, through his own mouthpiece, officially declared: "I want to be traded."

Phil Jackson went to talk to him. Kobe had mixed feelings and began to hesitate, but the Lakers did nothing in the free market. Kobe's desire to be traded became even stronger, and he reiterated his position.

As Kobe Bryant increasingly voiced his requests for a trade, the likelihood of him being traded plummeted.

So, what did Xu Ling's Grizzlies do during this period?
There were only four things: first, they reached a veteran's minimum contract with Eddie Jones; second, they signed Darko Milicic to a three-year, $21 million mid-level exception contract; third, they officially announced Marc Iavaroni as the team's new head coach; and finally, Jerry West asked Xu Ling for his opinion on Jarius Jackson, the captain of the Texas Tech Red Raiders.

Xu Ling reacted calmly to the other three things, but gave his captain a positive review, which was natural. He knew that Jackson wanted to find opportunities in the NBA, but for an older player who was not highly regarded by the NBA to get an NBA opportunity, unless he had connections, he had to be prepared to play in the Development League for several years. Compared to earning hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars a year overseas, the economic losses and uncertain future were enough to make anyone feel like they had no choice.

Regardless of the effect of Xu Ling's opinion, the Grizzlies soon announced a short-term contract with Jarius Jackson, who would represent the Grizzlies in the Summer League.

Xu Ling then had Roderick Craig send a welcome text message to everyone before heading off to prepare for the Las Vegas Summer League. This year's Las Vegas Summer League welcomed a special team: the Chinese men's basketball team. In preparation for next year's Olympics in the capital, the men's basketball team has been training hard for the past few years, even skipping boring competitions like the Asian Championships and sending their second team instead, while the first team travels the world to find strong opponents to practice against.

The Grizzlies' first opponent is the Chinese team.

Xu Ling led the team, taking 17 shots and scoring 28 points and 6 rebounds, leading his team to an easy victory over the national team.

"I've always heard you say that China's goal is to finish in the top eight and strive for the top six, but if Eli can join this team, the Chinese team can compete for a medal."

After the game, Chinese national basketball team head coach Jonas complained bitterly to domestic reporters.

But the reporters simply couldn't answer that question.

The main obstacle preventing Xu Ling from playing for the men's national basketball team is the issue of association affiliation. FIBA ​​determines player affiliation based on the regional basketball association, not nationality. A country can have multiple basketball associations. Xu Ling was born in mainland China but moved to Hong Kong with his family as a child, where he began to distinguish himself in Hong Kong's school basketball scene. This raises a complex question: does he belong to the Chinese mainland basketball association or the Hong Kong basketball association?

While Xu Ling himself is willing to represent mainland China, FIBA ​​holds the authority to adjudicate this matter. Therefore, the Chinese Basketball Association still needs to do a lot of work.

In order to maintain ambiguity in his identity, Xu Ling decisively refused the Hong Kong team's call-up to the Asian Championships before the start of the Summer League.

Moreover, to be fair, there is indeed an insurmountable gap between Xu Ling's ability and the overall level of the Hong Kong team.

Frankly speaking, the Hong Kong team's strength is probably difficult to match even by the top universities in CUBA. What's the point of playing for a team like that? Is it just to experience the "joy" of being relentlessly double-teamed every minute?

Therefore, Xu Ling not only explicitly refused, but also stated directly that he would only represent mainland China in international competitions. If FIBA ​​deemed it unacceptable, he would always prioritize his personal development throughout his basketball career. He understood better than anyone that if the overall strength lagged too far behind the world's best, one person alone could not ultimately change anything.

Subsequently, Xu Ling led the Grizzlies on a winning streak, advancing to the finals of the Las Vegas Summer League, where they faced the New York Knicks, who boasted several NBA rotation players.

In the finals, the Knicks employed a "double-team" defensive strategy against Xu Ling. However, they underestimated Xu Ling's passing vision and the Grizzlies' outside shooting prowess. Completely left open, Xu Ling's teammates didn't hesitate, raining down three-pointers.

The Knicks' overly clever defensive strategy ultimately backfired.

When they were forced to widen their defense and reduce their pressure on Xu Ling, he immediately switched modes and unleashed an unstoppable one-on-one attack. He drove inside and shot outside, changing his rhythm, scoring 25 points on his own, leading his team to lift the Las Vegas Summer League championship trophy and unsurprisingly being named the Las Vegas Summer League MVP.

The Grizzlies' new head coach, Marc Jafaroni, was also present.

Jaffaroni was extremely satisfied with Xu Ling's performance: "Eli is the kind of person you can tell at a glance that he can play and knows how to lead the team forward."

Then, he also pointed out the shortcomings.

"The only thing Eli needs to improve is his habit of playing at a slow pace."

At this moment, no one knew what Mark Jaffaroni meant by "slow pace," and everyone in Las Vegas was captivated by Xu Ling's performance.

The only complaint from fans is that after tonight, the next time they see Xu Ling play might be during the NBA preseason in October.

That evening, a die-hard Texas Tech fan left a message on Xu Ling's Twitter: "Eli, please! Represent Hong Kong in the Asian Championships! This summer is too hard without you!"

Xu Ling replied, "Thank you for your support! But this summer, my task is to become stronger in the training facility and be 100% ready for Memphis. The Asian Championships are a great stage, but my next battlefield is the NBA. See you in October, and I promise you'll make your wait worthwhile."

(End of this chapter)