I just play ball

Chapter 6

After the post-match interview, Li Yue returned to the locker room to wash up, and then went to the coffee shop to meet with his second uncle's family.

Along the way, he enthusiastically greeted and interacted with the fans, but politely refused to take photos and sign autographs.

While walking, the exclusive ringtone of the mobile phone suddenly rang.

"Once upon a time, in the past, there was a person who loved you for a long time, but unfortunately, the rain gradually..."

For the song "Sunny Day", Li Yue specially set it as a call reminder for the two girls, both of whom were former favorites.

He only kept it as a souvenir, and he hadn't rang it for more than half a year. When he heard it suddenly, he was very curious about who was calling.

He took out his mobile phone and saw a familiar name on the incoming call notification - Lena, and many memories flooded his mind instantly.

Lina is a three-generation Chinese, a typical ABC.

The two met for the first time at the welcome party for Chinese overseas students at the University of California, Irvine. Li Yue's height of 203 cm attracted the attention of the audience.

Lena is a member of the cheerleading team of the school basketball team and can tell the difference between Kobe and Iverson.

As a result, the two had many common topics, and they exchanged numbers that night.

Later, Li Yue joined the school basketball team through layers of screening according to the plan. The two met more and more. Lina cheered for him on the court, and asked him to learn Chinese off the court.

Friends and teammates acquiesced that the two were dating, but the two hadn't even held hands.

Over time, Li Yue couldn't bear the impulse in his heart, chose a night when the evening wind smelled like roses, boldly revealed his heart, and wanted to formally establish a boyfriend and girlfriend relationship with Lina.

Corina said that she wants to have a stable future, she does not consider love for the time being, and hopes to continue to be friends.

At that time, Li Yue was overwhelmed by desire, and he was completely stubborn. He thought it was a hint that he had to work harder, so he started to increase the training time the next day, and even paid a high price for a famous trainer to accompany him.

With that momentum, he performed better and better. He was promoted from the bench of the school team to the starting lineup. He beat the players at the same position in the Western Division. At one point, he scored 25+5+5 in five consecutive games, helping the school team to secure the top spot in the division. name.

But even so, ESPN and other media have repeatedly predicted that he has not been able to enter the 60-man draft list.
Because the strength of the Great Western League is too weak, there are no famous basketball schools, and there are very few four-star or five-star high school players to join. For many years, no players have entered the NBA. According to the media, it is an amateur league.

Li Yue was not frustrated by this, but worked harder. Except for necessary things such as eating and drinking, and occasionally chatting with Lina, most of the time was spent on training, even when crossing the road, he also thought about how to motivate his teammates.

He helped the team win No. 1 in the regular season of the Atlantic League, and the number of times Lena took the initiative to chat with him gradually increased.

But he wasn't satisfied, because that didn't guarantee the team an invite to March Madness.

He continued to maintain high-intensity training, and finally averaged 20+6+7 data per game, and used a buzzer lore to lead the team to the Atlantic League championship, and the team automatically won the Crazy Three.

Perhaps it was his sudden emergence that attracted the attention of the media. One week before the start of the Crazy Three, he finally entered the ESPN draft prediction list. Although he was only the 50th pick, it also represented great hope.

Helping the team score the Crazy Three for the first time in history, and making him a campus celebrity, a large number of female fans came into being. Some took the initiative to ask him to take a photo, some waited outside the dormitory to ask for an autograph, and some publicly expressed their admiration.

Those things made Li Yue very happy, and what made him even happier was that Lina took the initiative to ask him to meet to learn Chinese.

However, that good time was extremely short-lived.

After the start of the Crazy Three, the team was too weak and ranked 16th in the Western Division. In the first round, they faced the Blue Devils, the favorite champion of the year. Duke, he followed the coach's request to defend the No. Hit five goals in a row.

He scored 25 points and 7 assists, and the team lost 45 to 86.

At that time, the scout report evaluated him as having a high ball quotient and learning ability, a soft shooting touch, and a high level of ball-handling ability at the small forward position, but he held too much ball, his body was thin, and his lateral movement speed was slow. Plagued by injuries.

The battle with Duke exposed his shortcomings, and his most powerful ability to lead the team is worthless in the eyes of scouts. After all, there is no NBA team that needs him to lead, unless he is Arenas.

He also fell out of the ESPN draft prediction list, and was ridiculed by fans for scoring points in garbage time.

Since then, many interested big-name brokers lost contact, and Lina no longer asked him to learn Chinese.

Since then, he has had a difficult time, occasionally chatting with relatives and friends, constantly sending videos and self-introductions to the major teams, flying over to participate in the trial training alone, and living in the training hall without the trial training.

For more than two months in a row, tens of thousands of kilometers traveled across the United States, without any promises. Only the Rockets, Spurs, and Lakers were interested in selecting him with a second-round pick, but it would not be confirmed until the draft.

Some people persuaded him to play for another year to further show his organizational ability to the NBA, but some people said that physical fitness is the key to restricting his entry into the NBA. Racial differences make it difficult for him to lose weight, and Durant only has one.

Li Yue planned for three days, and finally signed up for the election. If he decided to lose the election, he reconsidered his career plan.

The day before the draft, Li Yue completed the heat trial training and flew back to Los Angeles with a tired body. With joy, he couldn't help but want to talk to Lina for a while, but Lina said that she was very busy and was discussing a cooperation project.

He didn't care at first, but in a blink of an eye, he saw a rich second-generation classmate sharing a chat record with Lina on Twitter. At the right time, Lina told him to talk about the project, but the content was to discuss where to go for vacation .

Heartbroken, he slept for a day and a night, and when he woke up the next day to turn on his computer, he happened to see Adam Silver, vice president of the NBA, start announcing the candidates for the second-round pick.

He was full of expectations, but the Rockets selected Chandler Parsons with the 38th pick, the Lakers selected Darius Morris with the 41st pick, Andrew Goodlock with the 46th pick, and Mar Aben with the 56th pick. Nuggets.

After missing four consecutive draws, he reluctantly turned on his phone, wanting to cancel the reserved hotel.

Then I thought, just a call came in, and it was Lakers general manager Kupchak, telling him that he would be selected with the 58th pick.

He thought it was a friend's prank, but a few minutes later, Adam Silver announced that he was selected by the Lakers.

His phone was quickly ringing, not only relatives, friends and classmates, but also Lina.

Just like that, Li Yue started dating Lina again with the idea of ​​showing it to her.

But as time went by, his summer league performance was mediocre, coupled with consecutive injuries and failed to play, and the relationship between the two became strangers. He completely saw through that he no longer had hope, and devoted himself to the recovery and development of the league game. It is learned that Lina has started dating the rich second generation, and it seems that she is about to marry into a wealthy family.

...

After thinking about it, Li Yue had already walked to the door of the coffee shop, and the ringtone of "Sunny Sky" was still playing.

He decisively pressed the reject button and was about to put his phone in his pocket when a text message came in. He opened it and saw that the sender, Lena, said, "Do you have time? I'm leaving Los Angeles for Irvine tomorrow morning. There are roses in the wind tonight." The smell of flowers, I want to chat with you, listen to our..."

He quickly typed a few letters to reply, then cleared and deleted the number.

(End of this chapter)