NBA: A collection of super busts

"Hey LeBron, and everyone else, are you all ready? Tonight's our first game of the summer!" Ye Feng walked ahead, waving casually to everyone. "What were you guys talking about? Were you talking behind my back?"

"Otherwise, why did it become quiet as soon as I came in?"

Following behind Ye Feng was Haslem. Ye Feng had told Haslem to wait, and he actually did. After participating in the Nuggets' tryout, he didn't go anywhere else for tryouts.

Ye Feng also fulfilled his promise and asked West to bring Haslem into the Grizzlies' Summer League team.

Of course, this only applies to Summer League teams. The rest depends on West's vision and whether Haslem himself works hard enough.

James looked at Ye Feng and said, "They were indeed talking badly about you. Nobody likes nepotism. There should be more suitable people in this team, and more worthy people should be a part of the team to work hard for their dreams."

"Oh?" Ye Feng said, "You mean, Udonis is no good, he doesn't deserve to have dreams?"

"There are people who are more worthy than him!" James said without backing down. He knew that this was a power struggle, a battle for his position in the team with Ye Feng. If he couldn't get Ye Feng to submit to him, how could he, the "Little Emperor," lead the team?

"Come on, LeBron, you have no idea how good Udonis is. The honors he won in college are something you'll never even dream of," Ye Feng shrugged. "Just like a virgin will never understand how good an older sister is, you don't understand the wonders of college basketball."

"You'll see once the game starts; he's a perfect teammate, and everyone will want to be his partner."

"Let's take a gamble!" James gritted his teeth. "I bet he'll play terribly tonight, absolutely awful!"

"What a coincidence. Well then, I said Udonis would play very well tonight." Ye Feng shook off Haslem's hand, which was trying to calm him down. "However, considering that he might suddenly have a breakout performance tonight, and you might not be satisfied if he plays too well, I think we can raise the stakes."

"How about we use the Summer League and training camp contracts as a boundary? I bet Udonis will definitely make our training camp, and entirely on his own merit, and he'll also have a great performance in the Summer League! If he doesn't, then how about I just pat your head and run over to set a screen for you from now on?"

"Excellent!" James said. "It's a deal!"

"It's a deal, my ass." Ye Feng snorted. "Have you no shame?"

"What if you lose? You're not going to place a bet?"

After being rebuked by Ye Feng, James' face flushed red and then turned pale before he said fiercely, "If I lose, I'll give you the middle seat in the locker room!"

"Who wants that lousy seat you sat in? Who knows if you even farted there?" Ye Feng shrugged. "You lose. You're carrying my bag for the rest of the team's training camp!"

"good!"

The two men were locked in a fierce standoff, staring at each other across the distance. The tension was so palpable that no one else in the room dared to utter a sound.

Finally, the team's head coach, Tom, came over in time and stood in the middle of the locker room, telling Ye Feng and Haslem to quickly change their clothes.

He completely ignored what had just happened and started his pre-game speech: "Alright guys, I don't care who you are, whether you're veterans who have played in the NBA regular season and are eager for a chance, or rookies who just failed to be drafted and are eager to make the roster."

"Or perhaps a high-draft pick on whom the team has high hopes—to me, everyone is the same. I treat everyone equally, everyone has an equal opportunity, and everyone here will receive an opportunity commensurate with their training efforts!"

"We only have six games to showcase ourselves, everyone, give it your all! Cheer up, this could be the best opportunity of your lives for some of you!"

"So, tonight's starting lineup: LeBron, Dean, Chriss, Udonis, Ye! Get ready and head to the court to warm up! There are a lot of people coming to watch your game tonight!"

As Tom said, the Grizzlies are participating in the Southern California Summer League held in Long Beach, which has 10 teams. In order to cut costs and reduce the schedule, the 10 teams will not play against each other, nor will they play any knockout or group stage matches.

Each team plays 6 games, and then they are randomly ranked according to their number of wins and point differential, and that's the end of the game.

After all, for Americans, the summer league is not as attractive as the community league organized in their neighborhood. In the community league, you can see your neighbor, son or uncle playing, which makes it more relatable.

Apart from a few college players who had made a name for themselves in college basketball, the majority of the Summer League players are unknown, mediocre, and of average skill level.

Ticket prices and arena size are the best indicators of the importance of the Summer League.

In previous years, the average ticket price for the Southern California Summer League was around $10, and the venues they chose were small venues that could fill up with 2 to 3000 people.

Even so, this is already the highest level of competition in the Summer League.

Who can blame them when Californians are rich?

After all, other tournaments like those in Salt Lake City and Orlando only have tickets for $5-8, and the venues are smaller.

But this year, everything is clearly different!

First of all, 03 was already a super year, and the attention this year's rookies received was far greater than in other years. Now, with the arrival of Ye Feng, a guy with top-notch popularity, playing style, and ability, the attention this year's rookies received has been raised to an even higher level.

After all, there are millions of Chinese and Asian people living in California. Ye Feng, who has multiple identities and attributes, naturally attracted a large number of fans to the stadium to watch him play.

Not to mention LeBron James, who hasn't even played a single NBA game yet, but his popularity across the United States has already reached a terrifying level.

In addition, the NBA knows exactly what fans want to see when they come to the Summer League, so they arranged a highly anticipated matchup between top rookies in the opening game.

Denver Nuggets vs. Memphis Grizzlies!

The Nuggets have the mysterious Eastern European talent Darko Milicic, while the Grizzlies have two top rookies, Ye Feng and LeBron James.

The addition of two international players brought an unexpected surge in attention to what would otherwise have been an unremarkable California Summer League match.

Tickets for the game skyrocketed several times over, reaching $40 each, which is even more expensive than the regular season tickets for some bad NBA teams. In addition to the thousands of fans inside the stadium, there were thousands more fans wandering around outside the stadium who wanted to watch the game but didn't have tickets.

Even more outrageous, this match was selected for a nationally televised broadcast.

This is the first time in Summer League history that a game has been broadcast live across the United States.

The level of attention this match has already surpassed that of the Summer League itself.