LeBron James, your house got robbed.

"Hey Chris, holding the basketball."

The voice was gentle and refined, yet it came from a bald, muscular man.

Standing at eight feet tall, wearing only a workout vest, his muscular physique was no less impressive than that of the players he was directing in their positions.

"Yes, Chris, stay still."

"Antoine and Tyson, you two, stand on either side, arms crossed."

The bald photographer picked up his camera, placed the subject in the viewfinder, then put the camera away again and shouted:

"You two big guys, show some spirit, be fierce, and treat me like your enemy."

"Imagine you're going to fuck me to death."

What awful lines!

Upon hearing this, Chen Shuo, who was standing behind, staggered and almost lost his balance, leaning against Amy's soft embrace.

A brief contact confirmed that it was made of genuine materials.

"Chen, you can get up now."

Chen Shuo silently stood up, calm and composed, and looked at the photo shoot.

The bald cameraman directed the three key players to strike various poses, make various movements, and display various expressions, which was the focus of the team's publicity.

After taking photos of the three core players, he then began to greet the other players.

Ariza and Batistuta are the core pieces of the puzzle, standing back to back in a triangular formation.

The bald man used hand gestures to guide their gazes to converge on a single point in front of them.

Chen Shuo looked at the bald man, and Amy beside him whispered:

"Kratos, Linda told me he joined the team in '98."

Upon hearing the name, Chen Shuo looked ahead and indeed saw that the person's name reflected his appearance.

Kratos is quite experienced; after filming the defensive duo of Ariza and Battier, he brought back the core trio.

First, send out the five tigers.

From Kratos' perspective, the team's starting lineup this year is quite competitive and very much to his liking.

Next up is the rookie group, with Leonard and Thompson joining first, followed by second-round picks Green and Parsons.

Although Green has already played in the league for two years, he was indeed a second-round pick by the Cavaliers.

Chen Shuo stood quietly behind, watching Kratos work with great interest.

Even something as small as the official team photos reveals the strict hierarchy within the NBA.

In fact, traces can be found at every level: the layout of the locker room, the order in which home players enter the game, and the seating arrangements on the team bus and charter plane.

Team cornerstones, stars, starters, rookies...

The survival of the fittest, a fundamental principle of American society, is also reflected in the NBA, a commercial league.

Kratos combined different promotional photos of the players according to his own logic.

The remaining five players, as fringe rotation players, only appeared in the shot at the very end.

Samuels is one of only two players left on the team last season. As an undrafted player in 10, he has been sitting on the bench.

When Chen Shuo was clearing out salary space, he found that Samuels only had a contract of $76, which had no value on the trading market, so he had no choice but to keep him for the time being.

Look to the side where he is.

The Turk, Kaspi, was merely an add-on in the king's deal.

Casspi, also from the 10 draft class, was a genuine first-round pick. Standing at 2.06 meters tall, he possessed decent shooting skills, but unfortunately, his slightly weak physical strength and defensive shortcomings limited his development.

Even Novak is struggling to find a job in the current climate.

Chen Shuo had seriously considered this former teammate of Yao Ming.

To be honest, Novak's three-pointers are still quite attractive, especially in Chen Shuo's vision for building the team.

But the fact that they can't find a job is enough to tell a story.

Ultimately, Novak's problem lies in his poor defense; his defensive skills are completely inversely proportional to his shooting ability.

Most coaches believe that if a player has poor defense, he might score six or seven goals out of ten, but Novak is the type who scores every time the opponent attacks him.

Even defensive skills vary in quality, and Casspi and Novak are essentially at similar levels.

His shooting skills are a little lacking, and his defense is a little better, but the advantages are limited, so he doesn't have much value on the field.

"OK, let's take some group photos together."

Chen Shuo looked up and saw that all fourteen players in the Cavaliers' lineup had already taken the court.

Although the team is facing a salary cap crisis, it shouldn't be a problem for him to find a few decent minimum-salary players.

On the far left of the first row stood a man with a buzz cut and yellow skin, who stood out among a group of black people. But his face showed no unease; he was calm, composed, and full of ambition.

Jeremy Lin, this is the season that the Harvard guard had his breakout season, and Chen Shuo snatched him away with a minimum salary contract.

It's just unknown whether changing the timeline will allow Linsanity to take hold in Cleveland.

As Paul's backup point guard, Jeremy Lin has plenty of time to showcase his abilities.

After all, Chen Shuo couldn't find a third suitable point guard. The 14-man roster was mostly made up of forwards, with only Paul and Jeremy Lin as point guards.

Behind him was an extremely strong player, with broad shoulders, a short neck, the height of a guard, the build of a center, and the face of a typical defensive workhorse.

PJ Tucker, a defensive stalwart with a 3-and-D (3-and-D) style leaning towards D, was a second-round pick in 2006 and spent many years playing in overseas leagues.

This version of Tucker hasn't developed a three-point shot yet, but his defensive skills are already more than sufficient.

Chen Shuo brought Tucker back from overseas, partly to annoy James, and partly to develop players for the team's future.

After all, developing a 3-point-scoring Tucker would make him an absolute top-tier piece in the puzzle for the next few years, so it's always good to be prepared.

Moreover, a player like Tucker, who is known for his fighting spirit, can provide great energy to the team both on the court and in the locker room.

The last one is Colt Thomas, a veteran who entered the league in 95 and is now 39 years old.

But his defensive rebounding is good, taking up some of the center's playing time, which is still decent. Thomas even has a reliable mid-range shot.

After the official photoshoot, the players boarded a bus and headed directly to the training ground they had been called to.

On the way back to the office, Amy suddenly spoke up:

"Chen, my sister asked me to tell you that you saved Cleveland."

Chen Shuo asked as he walked:

How old is your sister?

"Seven years old."

Chen Shuo continued on his way, surprised that Americans would offer such subtle praise.

In Chen Shuo's memory, they all played the straight game.

A casual question gets straight to the point.

"And what about your parents, uncles, and other guys their age?"

After a moment of silence, Amy spoke timidly:

"They felt at least motivated to go to the stadium to watch the game."

Chen Shuo immediately understood what Amy meant.

Those redneck old fogies didn't think highly of their radical actions.

……

Chen Shuo was walking home that evening.

In downtown Cleveland, workers are constructing structures high up, hanging up huge posters of Chris Paul.

Unfortunately, there aren't many tall buildings here, let alone a skyline like that of Los Angeles.

All that exists here is a curse that lingers over the city.

Despite the tight schedule, the league still put a lot of thought into scheduling the games.

Chen Shuo remembered that in the original timeline, the opening game was held in Miami, with the Big Three Heat facing off against the defending champion Mavericks.

However, during this offseason, Cuban did not retain the championship-winning roster and chose to dismantle and rebuild the team, which reduced the hype surrounding this game.

Therefore, it was only after Paul and Chandler joined that the league felt the Cavaliers were truly qualified to be on the table and become the Heat's arch-rival, thus changing the schedule.

The game was moved to Cleveland.

James and Paul, old and new favorites of Cleveland fans, defining two eras.

Even Chen Shuo himself felt it was very touching.

Back in his rented apartment, Chen Shuo habitually turned on his computer, scrolled through the pages casually with the mouse.

ESPN has released its power rankings for the new season.

The Dallas Mavericks remain in first place, which is basically ESPN's usual practice; the defending champions will always be in first place, no matter what.

The expert's rating stated that although Tyson Chandler was lost, Odom's addition still makes the team dangerous.

Chen Shuo remained silent.

The chain reaction triggered by the Paul trade was that Odom, who was used as a bargaining chip, felt betrayed by the team.

Even though the trade didn't go through, Odom still demanded to be traded.

The Mavericks took advantage of the situation and traded a 14 first-round pick for Lamar Odom.

Little did they know that the former left-handed magician would become addicted to alcohol and drugs in the following season, rapidly declining and even nearly losing his life.

Chen Shuo focused on the rankings of the Eastern Conference teams, with the current goal being to advance out of the East.

The Heat are ranked second, the Bulls are fourth, the Cavaliers are eighth, and the most surprising is the Celtics, who were ranked eleventh by ESPN experts.

Although this Celtic team is old, its fighting power is still stronger than most people imagine.

Chen Shuo recalled that in the playoffs, when the Celtics and the Heat met, it also went to seven games before a winner was decided.

As some memories were unearthed, Chen Shuo couldn't help but sigh.

This year is indeed a good window to win the championship. All the teams in the West have their weaknesses and shortcomings, and they have a good chance of winning the Eastern Conference title.

Let's start with the match the day after tomorrow.

Right there in Cleveland, the old era of the Cavaliers came to a complete end.