Aboard the plane, an announcement indicated that they were about to land.
Sitting to Chen Yu’s right in the window seat, Nelson immediately turned his head, pulled open the sunshade, and peered down.
Everything was shrouded in clouds; he couldn’t see a thing.
But as the plane began its descent and passed through the cloud layer, a massive city gradually came into view.
"Chen, where’s the Great Wall? How come I can’t see it?" Nelson said, his eyes wide as he searched for any sign of the world wonder.
Without looking up, Chen Yu said, "Aaron, I think I told you, you can’t see the Great Wall from a plane."
They don’t even fly through that airspace.
Nelson reluctantly pulled his gaze away. "I just thought since we’re flying so high, we should be able to see it. And it’s such a nice day today."
Chen Yu quickly typed the last letter, closed his laptop, and then said, "If you want to see the Great Wall, I’ll take you later. And it’s not just the Great Wall. China has a lot of fun places and amazing food. You’ll get to try it all."
Nelson nodded excitedly, then added, "But will we have time? Ueberroth and her group have such a tight schedule."
On the eve of the All-Star Game, Chen Yu traveled to China with a delegation from NBA Headquarters.
And this trip to China wasn’t just about Chen Yu’s consulting firm developing business partnerships; the NBA had its own plans.
They were there to inspect China’s facilities and infrastructure in preparation for this year’s China Games.
As the NBA’s second-largest overseas market, Stern planned to bring preseason games to China this year.
Without a doubt, one of the teams would be Yao Ming’s Lakers.
The idea was to use Yao Ming to expand the NBA’s influence in China.
Chen Yu was just tagging along for the ride.
Chen Yu glanced up at Heidi Ueberroth, who was sitting diagonally across from him. She had long brown hair and was leaning over to talk to a colleague on the other side of the aisle.
Including Chen Yu’s own small group, the delegation totaled over twenty people. The highest-ranking member among them was Heidi Ueberroth.
Within the NBA, she was responsible for global television and media distribution.
It was a position of real power.
Among the NBA’s numerous vice presidents, she ranked in the top five and was one of the most important.
And she was no ordinary person.
Her father was the man known as the "Father of the Commercial Olympics," who single-handedly reversed the history of Olympic Games losing money.
Heidi had inherited her father’s business acumen. Since joining the NBA in ’94, she had been responsible for expanding the league’s overseas business.
Yao Ming’s arrival in the NBA and the decision to hold the China Games this year were both largely due to her work.
The plane roared as it touched down on the runway.
The Chinese side had arranged a high-level reception.
"Dr. Chen, we finally meet again." Yuan Weimin beamed as he stepped forward to shake Chen Yu’s hand, his attitude warm and friendly.
The group departed by car and held a press conference at the Sports Bureau.
Heidi Ueberroth answered numerous questions on behalf of the NBA, and the atmosphere was enthusiastic throughout.
Chen Yu and his small group, however, stayed out of the spotlight the entire time.
Publicly, Heidi was there to inspect them; privately, Chen Yu was conducting his own inspection.
Therefore, compared to Heidi’s group, Chen Yu’s schedule was much more flexible.
The next day, Chen Yu also found time to meet with Liu Yudong.
The couple had heard Chen Yu was coming to China and had contacted him long ago, insisting on giving him a proper welcome.
On the 8th, the third day of his trip to China, Chen Yu also went to watch a game.
In the evening, Chen Yu set off by car with Nelson and his company’s assistant, Hunter, for the Shougang Sports Center.
Tonight at 7:30, the 22nd round of the Jia A men’s basketball league—also the final round of the regular season—was set to begin.
The Wanfeng Aote Team would face the Panpan Team at home.
They had a quick dinner before heading over, arriving just before seven.
A huge crowd of spectators was trickling into the venue. By the entrance near the parking lot, a group of people was already waiting.
Among them were some familiar faces, including Sun Kanglin, the director of the Capital Sports Bureau, whom he had met at the reception two days prior.
There were also Yuan Chao, the general manager of the Wanfeng Aote Team, and the team’s head coach, Min Lulei.
"Dr. Chen, I’ve heard so much about you. It’s an honor to finally meet you." Yuan Chao was extremely enthusiastic as he shook Chen Yu’s hand.
In the world of sports, Chen Yu, a doctor, had somehow built an incredible reputation for himself.
The group toured the arena and also met some of the players.
However, Chen Yu didn’t recognize any of them.
But as Yuan Chao introduced the starters, he mentioned current National Team player Jiao Jian, National Youth Team player Zhang Yunsong, and a small forward skilled at 3-pointers, Zhang Jingdong.
Finally, there were the two foreign players.
One was an undrafted player named Jemel Wolkine, who had never officially made it into the NBA.
The other, Olumide Odejuyi, was a bit better off. At least he had been selected by the Supersonics in the second round and played for them for two years.
But averaging only 1.5 points per game, it was no surprise he was cut from the NBA.
Both had just joined Wanfeng Aote, replacing the team’s two previous foreign players.
"Are you guys still fighting relegation?" After talking for a bit, Chen Yu learned that Wanfeng Aote had officially begun its battle to avoid relegation, and tonight’s game was crucial.
Yuan Chao nodded helplessly.
Beside him, Min Lulei sighed, his face etched with worry.
"Well, good luck."
Chen Yu thought for a moment but decided not to say anything more.
Because, from what Chen Yu knew, one of the key components of the "North Star Project" envisioned by Li Yuanwei was to abolish the current promotion and relegation system.
Chen Yu wasn’t sure if this change was for the better or worse.
Logically, a promotion and relegation system should motivate teams to strive for good results to avoid being sent down to a lower-division league.
In Europe, for example, the relegation battles in the Five Major Leagues were always the most thrilling contests.
But in Li Yuanwei’s words, the system also had a host of problems. For instance, in a less developed basketball market, a team might go bankrupt and disband if it got relegated.
Moreover, to avoid relegation, some teams might resort to ugly tactics like bribing referees or colluding with opponents to fix matches.
For this reason, he had made up his mind to abolish the promotion and relegation system and adopt a franchise model like the NBA.
There would be a fixed number of teams, and they would just play honestly within that one league.
In the short term, Chen Yu couldn’t tell if this adjustment would be good or bad.
However, for Wanfeng Aote, which was fighting to avoid relegation, this was clearly not good news.
If they failed to avoid relegation and dropped into Jia B, and the promotion/relegation system was then abolished, wouldn’t that mean they’d never have a chance to return to the top-tier league?
But since the plan hadn’t been announced or implemented, Chen Yu couldn’t just come out and warn them directly.
"Thank you, Dr. Chen," Min Lulei replied casually, clearly not thinking much of it.
So, with a serious expression, Chen Yu added, "Coach Min, I’m serious. You guys really need to give it your all."
The game was about to start, so Chen Yu didn’t linger and accompanied Sun Kanglin to the stands.
Min Lulei deliberately hung back a step and pulled Yuan Chao aside. "Old Yuan, I feel like there’s a hidden meaning in his words. What does he mean, he’s serious and we need to give it our all? What’s he getting at?"
Yuan Chao had noticed it too.
’Would Chen Yu, with nothing better to do, really make a point of emphasizing that we need to give it our all?’
It could only mean that Chen Yu was being deliberate, that there was some deeper implication.
But for the moment, Yuan Chao couldn’t figure out the reason behind Chen Yu’s words.
After some thought, Yuan Chao said in a low voice, "He must mean something by it. After all, he deals with the higher-ups a lot, so he probably can’t speak openly. We can’t just ignore it. In any case, we were already planning to go all out for this game. We just need to focus on winning."
Min Lulei nodded. Winning was never the wrong move.
"Also," Yuan Chao added, remembering something else, "don’t forget, he’s a minority owner of the Suns. Make sure the players put on a good show later. Someone like Chen Lei—he’s a good prospect we’ve developed. If he plays well and happens to get noticed by him, that would be huge."
Min Lulei gave a wry smile to himself.
’Chen Lei is considered a good prospect in China,’ he thought, ’but he’s still a long way from the NBA.’
Speaking of top prospects, Yi Jianlian and Tang Zhengdong, who were better than Chen Lei, went to the United States last summer for a big man training camp with Nike’s help, and in the end, they came right back, didn’t they?
They didn’t even pick up Yi Jianlian, let alone Chen Lei.
But it came back to the same thing: trapped in a relegation battle, Wanfeng Aote had to win today’s game.
The Shougang Sports Center was an auxiliary arena built for the ’08 Olympics. It was very new, but the main venue was a bit small, with a capacity of only six thousand people.
And it wasn’t even full.
’A relegation battle!’
Chen Yu looked around the stands, feeling a little baffled.
When he’d been to Europe to watch soccer matches, a relegation fight would be a massive event, capturing the hearts of every fan in town.
The game itself wasn’t much to watch; the skill level was still a bit lacking.
Chen Yu’s attention wasn’t on the game anyway. During halftime, he scanned the stands and found his target.
Su Jun!
After arriving in China, Chen Yu had contacted Su Jun.
They had known each other for a long time and had a good relationship.
Most importantly, he had been covering basketball for many years and knew the situation in China very well.
Chen Yu had specifically arranged to meet him today, planning to have a good talk.
At that moment, Su Jun was sitting with his colleagues, Yang Yi and Meng Xiaoqi, but his attention wasn’t on the game. Instead, he kept turning his head to look toward the middle section of the stands where the various leaders were seated.
Then he saw Chen Yu waving at him.
"I’m heading over."
Su Jun’s eyes lit up, and he quickly stood up.
"I’m so jealous," Meng Xiaoqi remarked with a sigh.
This NBA inspection tour was getting a lot of attention in the country.
And with his connection to Chen Yu, Su Jun would probably be able to get firsthand information.
Yang Yi saw this and couldn’t help but feel envious. After a moment’s thought, he suddenly said, "Old Meng, that thing Teacher Su mentioned to us before... I’m pretty interested. What about you?"
While they were chatting earlier, Su Jun had mentioned that he was thinking of striking out on his own to see if he could create a professional basketball newspaper. He had even invited them to join him.
’Just based on his relationship with Chen Yu,’ he thought, ’Su Jun will be able to get exclusive news that most other media outlets can’t.’
"Let’s talk about it after the Olympics are over," Meng Xiaoqi said after a moment.
Su Jun squeezed through the crowd and made his way to Chen Yu.
"Come on, let’s find a place to talk."
After greeting him, Chen Yu led Su Jun up toward the higher section of the stands.
The top section wasn’t full; there were plenty of empty seats.
The two found a quiet spot to sit. After a bit of small talk, Chen Yu smiled and asked, "Reporter Su, you understand the state of Chinese basketball, so I’d like to ask you a question. In your opinion, what does Chinese basketball need to do to reach the level of the NBA?"
Su Jun was taken aback, falling deep into thought.

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