Where the noise did not reach

Chapter 58 Basketball Hell
Kobe's breakup with the Lakers has turned into a soap opera. In the short term, it seems unlikely to have any outcome, and in the long term, the emotional connection between the two has been completely exhausted. The more this is the case, the greater the chance that Kobe will leave LA on the 24th.

But while they were locked in a tug-of-war, another sports drama that had been going on for years, only to finally erupt this summer, finally came to an end.

Danny Ainge traded a complete roster to the Timberwolves for superstar Kevin Garnett while retaining Paul Pierce, Ray Allen, and Rajon Rondo, finally ending this protracted divorce.

Now it's the other teams' turn to hurl insults.

Weaker teams are alright, since they're not contending for the championship, and the Celtics' Big Three don't really affect them. But the stronger teams are suffering, especially in the East. Since Jordan retired in the last century, the East has basically been a bottomless pit, relying entirely on the Pistons to hold up the table. But no matter how hard the Pistons try, they can't withstand the abundance of talent in the West. As their rosters age and break up, the Pistons, as the guardians of the East, were defeated by LeBron James last year. This was certainly an unprecedented event, but it also indirectly proved that the East's competitiveness is extremely poor.

Now, although the overall competitiveness of the East is still weak, in this era where the talent of each team is evenly distributed and there are no multiple All-Stars forming a super team, a super team with a superstar and two All-Stars has suddenly emerged, and the balance of power has been broken all at once.

But what does this have to do with the Memphis Grizzlies?

Nobody thinks they have a chance to be competitors in the new season, the next season, or even the season after that.

Since signing Darko Milicic, the Grizzlies have made no further moves, as the management cannot afford any aggressive strategies due to the owner's demand for financial austerity.

With preseason training camp about to begin, Jerry West has returned to Memphis.

Four years ago, when rumors first surfaced linking this nearly 70-year-old legend to the Grizzlies' president position, the entire basketball world was stunned. On the surface, it seemed utterly illogical. Compared to taking over the team, his legendary game-tying halftime play in the 1970 NBA Finals seemed like an easy open shot.

The Grizzlies at that time were a complete laughingstock in the league. In their seven years in business, they had never won more than 23 games in a single season. Their management was infamous for a series of jaw-dropping mistakes: in 1997, they squandered their 2003 second overall pick to acquire the aging veteran Otis Thorpe; in the same year, they used the fourth pick to select Antonio Daniels—it's hard to find a high-draft-pick point guard in NBA history who failed so spectacularly. Does anyone remember Steve Francis? In 1999, when the Grizzlies selected him with the second overall pick, the future All-Star burst into tears and publicly refused to report for the team. Memphis at that time was a "basketball hell" that everyone avoided. Unlike the Toronto Raptors, who could revitalize the market by drafting Vince Carter when they were on the verge of collapse, they could only helplessly trade Francis, losing face in the process.

The Los Angeles Times commented: "Jerry West has retired and will enjoy a happy retirement. All the rumors about his comeback in Memphis are wishful thinking and a joke. Seriously, Memphis would be better off praying for Elvis to come back to life than for this."

A week later, West took over the job and officially became the resurrected Elvis.

Since he was Elvis Presley, he had to bear the expectations of an Elvis-like figure. Fans expected him to turn the Grizzlies into a team as great as the Lakers. West tried; he brought in Hubie Brown, established a defensive foundation, and hoped that Pau Gasol could dominate Memphis and bring the same European dominance he had in Memphis. However, all of this ultimately failed to reach the ideal boundaries. Despite three consecutive seasons with 48 wins, the team never managed a single victory in the playoffs. A sluggish market led to years of losses, and owner Mike Heisley constantly demanded cost-cutting. After enjoying his coaching career, Hubie Brown gracefully returned to the commentary booth, and his successor, Mike Fratello, completely botched everything. With Gasol suffering a fractured bone in the 2006 EuroBasket, the Grizzlies, who had won 50 consecutive games, finally collapsed in the 2006-07 season.

From that moment on, West wanted to resign. He saw no hope. If this had happened during his time with the Lakers, such despair would have been enough to drive him to suicide.

Then, he went to watch a Texas Tech game and spotted the Chinese player. Undoubtedly, he saw a glimmer of hope in him. The disastrous Grizzlies fell into the lottery, winning the third pick, which gave West a glimmer of hope. Everything that followed fell into place. Xu Ling's tryout in Memphis was near perfect, and West firmly placed this rising star in Memphis's future plans.

Whether this decision was correct remains to be seen, but this draft certainly kept West in Memphis.

He did not submit his resignation; he remains the team's president.

Unfortunately, only West could see a glimmer of light in the darkness.

The Grizzlies remain one of the worst teams in the NBA, with attendance ranking second-worst in the league, poor jersey and merchandise marketing, and the sixth-worst losing money in the league—all while consistently keeping their total payroll below the salary cap. As the only MLB team in Memphis, their local popularity is far less than that of the Memphis Tigers, and this situation seems unlikely to change anytime soon.

As they approached their destination, West slowed down, and the silhouette of the massive gray building gradually came into view—the FedExForum. This is not only the Grizzlies' home arena but also their training facility; their training center is an adjoining stadium to their home arena.

West drove into the private entrance, bypassed the glass wall with the team's blue and gold logo on it, and drove directly to the entrance of the training facilities on one side of the arena.

West had just sat down in his office when Vice President Dick Versace knocked on the door.

"Enter."

West didn't even look up, simply giving a curt reply.

Visach walked in, placed several documents on the table, and began his report in a formulaic tone: "Jerry, there are a few things I need you to know. The league office's preliminary proposal for next season's revenue sharing has been released, and it's worse than we expected. Also, the Memphis City Council's hearing on stadium subsidies has been postponed to next month."

West quickly glanced at the documents, simply grunting in acknowledgment to signal him to continue.

"Negotiations with the sponsors have also stalled. They believe our media exposure doesn't meet their minimum requirements." Visach paused, observing West's reaction, but the latter remained expressionless.

"Anything else?" West's tone was completely flat.

Arne Treme wondered if Rudy Guy's position would change because of Eli's arrival.

West finally looked up: "What did you say?"

“We hope Eli and Rudy can become the Jordan and Pippen of Memphis,” Vesach’s answer was watertight, “but who plays Jordan and who becomes Pippen is up to them.”

“Yes, you handled it very well,” West said calmly.

Visach nodded slightly, said nothing more, and turned to leave the office.

The door closed softly. West's gaze shifted from the documents to the doorway, as if he could see through the door to watch the vice president's departing figure. His face was expressionless. Despite working together for several years, his relationship with Visach was superficial; at best, it was just a normal colleague relationship. Did this so-called "normal" include normal competition, normal differences of opinion, and normal mutual dislike? Honestly, how many people can genuinely like every single one of their colleagues?
However, Vesacc's dislike for West had clear reasons. After West's predecessor stepped down, Vesacc believed he should become the team's president, but the owner directly appointed West from outside the club. So, well...
Before West could even process the news from Visach, his assistant, the beautiful Laura Glankler, burst through the door.

“Mr. West, you have to do something about your players!” Grankoller complained as he walked in. “They completely disregard team obligations!”

The so-called team obligation refers to the requirement that players arrive in the team's city a few days before the official start of training camp to participate in various community care activities and interact with local fans.

When Shane Battier was still on the team, the Grizzlies had a very close relationship with the community, but when West traded Battier for Rudy Gay, that spirit of mutual support disappeared from the team.

"Who is it this time?"

“Eli!” Glenkler said. “His agents refused to let Eli participate in preseason community events, saying that Memphis has a small Asian population, especially East Asians, and they think Eli’s attendance at these events would ‘not have any effect.’ And they also want us to handle something else.”

"what's up?"

“Eli always wore size 1 in college, and he hopes to continue wearing size 1 here.”

“If I remember correctly,” West paused for a moment, “the current number 1 is Kyle Lowry?”

“Yes,” Kohler nodded.

“He’s a sensible young man. Why don’t you call him and discuss it with him?” A subtle, enigmatic smile flickered across West’s face. “We should be glad he doesn’t want number 22.”

"So, who should we send as the community representative this year?"

Who was it last year?

"Mike Miller."

What about the year before last?

"Also Mike Miller."

“Then why can’t it still be Mike Miller this year?” West said matter-of-factly. “He’s a good man, and good men should be used for good things like this.”

Grankole sighed, tacitly agreeing to West's arrangement, but the worry on his face didn't disappear. "But Mr. West, I'm really worried about Eli. Look at Rudy, how humble he was when he first came, and now? The entire locker room can barely contain him. I'm afraid this Chinese guy will be the same; once he steps through the NBA door, he'll completely turn into another selfish bastard."

“Maybe, maybe choosing Rudy was a mistake,” West said. “Maybe choosing Eli was another mistake. But maybe many years from now, when everyone is talking about how Eli changed Memphis basketball, you’ll suddenly look back on today—and remember that you completely misjudged someone.”

It was the last day before the start of the 2007-08 preseason training camp. The Grizzlies were still one of the worst teams in the NBA. The team's executives were disheartened and desperate. Apart from West, no one believed that things would turn around in the next few years. But so what? Even if it's basketball hell, life goes on.

The next day
Training camp opening day
Xu Ling carried a small backpack, followed by Roderick Craig. Because of Xu Ling, he also had his own job within the Grizzlies, officially called the "team liaison."

Upon arriving at the training center, Xu Ling's first teammate was Mike Miller.

He had medium-length brown hair combed back and greeted Xu Ling in a very friendly manner: "Eli, it's nice to meet you. You know, for a while I watched your game-winning goal against Florida on YouTube every day. That was truly the greatest goal I've ever seen!"

Xu Ling also wanted to praise Miller in this way, but in his memory, Miller's greatest shot was the three-pointer he made after his shoe fell off in the 2013 Finals. How could he explain that?
"You flatter me. I've seen you make the same shot on TV."

Upon hearing this, Miller's eyes lit up: "Really? You watched my game against the Warriors earlier this year?"

"Hmm," Xu Ling said, keeping her tone steady.

"I sank nine three-pointers that night!" Miller gestured excitedly. "Two of them were from way beyond the arc—not as exaggerated as your half-court shot, of course, but still far enough!"

"Of course I remember, I watched the live broadcast at school," Xu Ling said calmly and confidently. "The basketball hoop is like the ocean to you."

Miller laughed heartily upon hearing this and patted Xu Ling hard on the back: "Rookie, I think we'll be a perfect match!"

"I feel the same way, but I still have a lot to learn from you."

Xu Ling also laughed. Miller had left a very good impression on him. It seemed that this team was not as bad as rumored.

Basketball hell?

It's all talk and no action.

(End of this chapter)