Falcao, standing beside them, anxiously asked why.
Chen Yu said, "First, there’s your age. You’re already 39 years old, in the final stage of your career."
Chen Yu had met Ewing as early as last year.
At the time, Chen Yu had felt it wasn’t worth wasting his treatment effects on Ewing. After all, he was nearing retirement age.
But saying the same thing now wasn’t because he was reluctant to use his treatment effects.
Chen Yu wasn’t short on treatment effects anymore; he had a stable method for acquiring them and wouldn’t begrudge using one or two.
"I imagine your goal right now is simple: to play healthily for your last one or two seasons." He wasn’t like Hill and Hardaway, who were still young. He was already 39. At most, he could play for another year or two, making one last push for a championship, just like Olajuwon.
Ewing frowned. Chen Yu wasn’t wrong about that.
Chen Yu continued, "Last season, your condition was decent. You had almost perfect attendance. In a situation like this, surgery might actually be counterproductive."
His ligaments, Achilles tendon, and wrists are fine right now. They’re still functional.
"I can’t just go in, sever everything, and then repair it all from scratch."
"If we did that, the recovery period would be too long—at least eight or nine months. Half the season would be over."
"Besides, the human body is a strange thing. You can play ball right now because all your parts have formed a delicate balance. Rushing into surgery would disrupt that balance and could actually cause new problems."
It would be better to opt for conservative treatment.
Maintaining and improving your current condition will actually allow you to play longer.
"Conservative treatment?" Ewing hesitated, then asked tentatively, "Can’t I just have surgery?"
To Ewing, conservative treatment meant the same thing it did with the Supersonics: taking medication, reducing his minutes, and getting more rest, all of which had a limited effect on improving his condition.
Ewing was more hopeful of regaining his health and returning to the age where he was a dominant force on the court.
"So you want surgery? Fine." Chen Yu pointed to the scans. "We’d have to repair the wrist ligaments, reconstruct the ACL in your right knee, perform a meniscus allograft, and do a microfracture procedure on the cartilage. Your Achilles tendon would also need to be surgically repaired."
"You can do the math on how many operations that is. You’d need at least eight to ten months for recovery, and even after all that, I can’t guarantee you’d return to your peak."
Ewing was taken aback, his face paling slightly.
In reality, Chen Yu was deliberately exaggerating the surgical procedures.
But in Chen Yu’s eyes, this was actually for Ewing’s own good.
To put it in perspective, Ewing was currently playing at maybe forty percent of his peak capacity.
With a ton of surgery, Chen Yu could perhaps get him back to seventy or eighty percent.
Even with Olajuwon’s surgery, Chen Yu wouldn’t dare claim he could restore him to one hundred percent. At their age, no matter how healthy, their athletic ability was in sharp decline.
And all that would come with immense pain and a long, grueling recovery.
Conservative treatment was a much better option.
By applying some of his recovery effects, combined with targeted training and body maintenance, he could probably get back to sixty percent. Playing out his final two seasons in good health was the better choice.
Ewing was torn. After a long pause, he looked at Chen Yu. "Chen, we’re friends, and I trust you. Tell me, what should I do?"
Chen Yu said, "I already told you. Conservative treatment. Patrick, trust me, it’s the best option for you."
Ewing sighed and gave a wry smile. "Alright. We’ll do it your way."
In truth, he also felt it wasn’t worth undergoing so many surgeries at the end of his career.
Chen Yu nodded. "Then I’ll get you admitted."
Ewing glanced back at Falcao.
Falcao gave a slight nod. He clearly agreed that conservative treatment was the better choice.
Undergoing a slew of surgeries at the twilight of his career was indeed risky.
Chen Yu filled out the admission form and was about to call someone to arrange for Ewing’s stay when Ewing suddenly asked, "Chen, if I choose conservative treatment, does that mean I have to constantly undergo your rehab?"
Chen Yu nodded.
Since the choice was conservative treatment, maintenance was key.
He’d need it not just in the offseason, but during the season as well.
After a moment’s thought, Chen Yu said, "I know what you’re worried about. Once the new season starts, I can help you create a training plan. When you have free time, you can also come to Phoenix for more maintenance treatments. That should be enough to maintain your condition."
’Ewing’s probably worried that if he’s on another team next season, he won’t be able to receive this kind of ongoing treatment.’
There wasn’t much to be done about that. The most Chen Yu could do was create a targeted training plan for him.
In fact, scientific training is very useful, especially for maintaining physical condition.
Ewing understood. He gritted his teeth and said, "Then what if I came to the Suns? Wouldn’t that be even better?"
Before he came, Ewing had just been thinking about getting the surgery and then playing the new season however it turned out.
Who would have thought Chen Yu would suggest conservative treatment instead?
And if he was going with conservative treatment, the best choice was naturally to come to the Suns, where he could receive Chen Yu’s care all season long.
"Huh?"
Chen Yu was stunned, too.
’Come to the Suns?’
’Why does every single one of them want to come to the Suns?’
US Airways Center.
Brian stared intently at Chen Yu. "So, you’re saying Patrick wants to come to the Suns?"
Chen Yu nodded. "His condition is better suited for conservative treatment. That was my recommendation. Then he himself suggested coming to the Suns. What, you don’t want him?"
Brian quickly shook his head.
’Ewing.’
’You can’t judge the current Ewing by his past glory, but he’s still *Ewing*.’
"Compared to our frontcourt, I’m actually more focused on strengthening our backcourt."
The Suns’ bench, especially the backcourt, is pretty terrible.
"Besides, I feel like one Olajuwon is enough. If we add Ewing, won’t our roster be too old?" Brian added, a little concerned.
’Two old guys approaching 40.’
’And in the physically demanding frontcourt, at that.’
An aging roster means a higher risk of injury.
Most importantly, Brian had no idea how much Ewing had left in the tank.
He played decently for the Supersonics last season, but he was another year older now.
Chen Yu shrugged. "It’s up to you. I’ve delivered the message. Besides, team signings don’t really have anything to do with me, do they?"
’Great. Now everyone’s coming to me for my opinion.’
Brian scratched his head in frustration and sighed. "Fine. We’ll discuss it further."
The main issues were how to sign him and whether Ewing would be willing to accept a low salary.
Brian didn’t agonize over it for long.
This was Ewing, after all—and a Ewing willing to accept the mid-level exception.
With Falcao working hard to broker the deal and both sides eager to make it happen, the signing was finalized at the end of July.
Ewing officially joined the Phoenix Suns.
On the basketball court at the clinic’s rehabilitation center, Hardaway dribbled around a series of obstacles, changed direction, and finished with a layup.
"Anfernee, take a break."
Nelson blew his whistle, calling a stop to Hardaway’s drill.
Astor, who had been standing on the sidelines clutching a sports drink, darted over and handed him the bottle.
With Old Haaland still recovering from his injury, Astor was left to his own devices. He’d been hanging around the court for days, becoming something of a little follower to Hardaway.
Nelson came over to the sideline where Chen Yu was sitting, looking through medical records and mulling over surgical strategies.
"Anfernee’s looking good," Nelson said, sitting down next to Chen Yu.
During the offseason, Nelson had taken his family on a ski trip to Europe and had only returned to the United States in August.
Hardaway, Ronaldo, and the others were all ready to begin the next phase of their rehab, and Chen Yu couldn’t manage it all alone, so he’d called Nelson in to help.
Chen Yu had great faith in his professional skills.
’Of course he is,’ Chen Yu thought. ’All those recovery effects I used on him weren’t for nothing.’
Nelson made some small talk. "By the way, did you see the TNT show yesterday? That big mouth Charles Barkley called us the ’Old, Weak, Sick, and Disabled’ team."
"Old, Weak, Sick, and Disabled?"
Chen Yu paused, confused. "What’s that supposed to mean?"
It was because of Ewing joining the team.
Even at the end of his career, Ewing was a former superstar. The attention he received this offseason wasn’t as high as current superstars like Weber, but it was by no means low.
Ewing had complained that the Supersonics’ roster was too weak to make the playoffs and was a waste of his time. Meanwhile, the Supersonics felt he was old, overpaid, and underperforming. They had already made it clear they would not be re-signing him.
So, many in the media were speculating about where Ewing would land next.
Or if he would simply retire.
After all, very few players from his draft class were still in the league.
So when Ewing chose to sign with the Phoenix Suns, it caused quite a stir.
No one was accusing stars like Ewing and Olajuwon of forming a superteam.
They were just a bunch of old guys on the verge of retirement. How could you call that forming a superteam?
Instead, it sparked a lot of ridicule.
Barkley, who had become an analyst for TNT Television, had joked on a show the day before yesterday that the current Suns were an "Old, Weak, Sick, and Disabled" team.
"He’s not wrong, though," Chen Yu said after a moment’s thought, a wry expression on his face as he realized Barkley kind of had a point.
Brian’s moves this season were to clear out the frontcourt to make room for Olajuwon and Ewing, while retaining as much of last season’s roster as possible.
He wanted to make more improvements, but the team’s salary cap was locked up, leaving him with no good options.
At the center position, Brian only kept the young and inexpensive Charalidis.
Dudley and Daniel Santiago were both let go.
At power forward, Robinson and Gugliotta remained. The second-round pick from this year’s draft, Elton Ford, was also likely to stay.
On the wings, both Marion and Rodney Rogers were kept.
Mario Elie, who had planned on retiring after last season, was brought back by Brian on another one-year contract.
It was the same story at shooting guard. Besides Hardaway, veteran Vinnie DeNegro, who was acquired from the Warriors last season, was also retained.
Adding the confirmed point guards, J Kidd and Tony Delk, the definite roster now stood at 13 players.
Among them, a full five players were over the age of 35.
Excluding the rookie, Elton Ford, the average age of the Suns players reached a staggering 31.4 years.
And apart from a few young players like Marion, almost everyone on the roster had suffered a major injury at some point.
If that wasn’t ’Old, Weak, Sick, and Disabled,’ then what was?
"Old or not, I actually think we have a good chance next season."
Chen Yu looked out at the court, where Hardaway was teaching Astor how to dribble. How far the Suns could go would depend on him.
A successor to Jordan, on the verge of being fully healthy and still in the prime of his career... Chen Yu was truly excited to see what kind of performance he could deliver.

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