Team Report: The Alien’s Miraculous Arrival Cannot Hide the Ugliness of Real Madrid’s Superstars!
French Football: This is a victory for Ronaldo alone; he deserves a Golden Ball Award!
Kicker: A Real Madrid in turmoil is destined to not go far.
Even Real Madrid’s mouthpiece, Marca, published a rare article criticizing the team’s two biggest midfield stars for being invisible the entire game and stating that a change was needed.
In the airport’s VIP lounge, Chen Yu set down the newspaper in his hands and sighed to himself.
’It’s only natural for the media to report it like this.’
Who would have thought that the star-studded Real Madrid would have such a difficult time?
Even Chen Yu, as he was about to leave after the match, had specifically sought out Ronaldo to remind him not to celebrate too early. They had only just made it to the semifinals.
If Real Madrid continued to perform like this, winning the Champions League would be nothing but a dream.
This year’s Champions League was just too bizarre.
On the other side of the bracket that same day, Chelsea had miraculously eliminated a peak-form Arsenal 3-2, thanks to a last-minute goal by their left-back, Bridge. They were now set to face Real Madrid in the semifinals.
Even more incredibly, the very next day—yesterday—Super Laco had staged a miraculous comeback, thrashing defending champions AC Milan 4-0 to advance to the semifinals.
Meanwhile, in the other matchup, Porto, the dark horse, had gone all the way, eliminating Lyon 4-2 over two legs.
It had gotten to the point where a slew of media outlets were exclaiming that they couldn’t make sense of this year’s Champions League.
Under these circumstances, with their own heap of problems, it would be truly difficult for Real Madrid to fight their way through and win the championship.
And this was with his help, which had allowed Ronaldo to recover from his injury ahead of schedule and had also involved him traveling with the team to adjust the condition of Real Madrid’s players.
If Ronaldo and Xiaobei had missed the game, Real Madrid would have likely been sent packing already.
In response to Chen Yu’s warning, Ronaldo just chuckled and said he had a way to win.
Chen Yu didn’t know where he got that courage. After Abramovich took over Chelsea, he had been spending money like crazy. The team had even topped the league table at one point; they were by no means weak.
Most importantly, Real Madrid’s defense was as porous as a sieve and truly unstable.
But Chen Yu couldn’t worry about Real Madrid anymore.
He had done everything he could. As for how far Real Madrid could go, that would depend on how hard Ronaldo was willing to work.
「Over in the NBA」
The regular season had officially ended, and the East and West standings were out.
In the West, the Spurs remained firmly in first place.
The Phoenix Suns had slacked off a bit midway through the season due to the whole mess with Ma Long, but they surged in the latter half to still finish second in the West.
Following them, however, were the Wolves. Due to a new league rule, they were seeded third despite having five fewer wins than the King, all because they were a division champion.
This year, with the addition of the Bobcats, the league had modified the regular-season ranking rules, guaranteeing a top-three seed for division champions.
The Wolves weren’t the only ones to benefit from this rule; so did the Celtics from the East’s Atlantic Division. They had a paltry 42 wins but were ranked third in the East because of this seeding rule.
The fourth-ranked Pacer had a full nine more wins than them.
What was even more unlucky was that, on top of not getting the seeding advantage, the Pacer might now run into the East’s top-seeded Pistons in the Eastern Conference Semifinals.
The King were similarly unlucky. Because of this rule, if they advanced to the second round, they would also have to face the Spurs early.
Compared to the Pacer, though, the King’s situation was slightly better.
Although the Spurs had the best record, when it came to the playoffs and the real battles began, the Phoenix Suns were clearly the stronger team. Landing in fourth and avoiding the Suns was actually a decent outcome.
The Lakers were fifth in the West.
Yao Ming had grown rapidly this season, now averaging 18.2 points and 9.4 rebounds per game.
And the addition of Odom was like the perfect puzzle piece, making the Lakers even more formidable.
Coupled with Kobe’s increasing maturity this season, the Lakers’ ranking might have been even higher if their bench wasn’t so pathetic.
The Mavericks were sixth in the West.
The Mavericks’ roster was still stacked, but Nowitzki’s ankle injury this season affected their performance, causing their record to slip just a little.
It couldn’t be helped. The West was a meat grinder; a difference of just a few wins could cause a team to drop several spots in the standings.
Looking at the win counts: the Spurs had 58, the Phoenix Suns 56, the Wolves 52, the King 54, the Lakers 51, and the Mavericks 50.
The Mavericks were only one win behind the Lakers and just four wins behind the fourth-place King.
Following close behind, the seventh-place Nuggets had 47 wins.
And the eighth-place Grizzlies had 45 wins.
Forty-five wins. In the East, that would be three more wins than the third-place Celtics.
No wonder the media said the West was a meat grinder and the most competitive it had been in recent years.
With the teams so evenly matched, it was highly possible that a dark horse upset could occur in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs.
Take the Phoenix Suns versus the Nuggets, for example.
The Nuggets weren’t weak. Camby and J Kidd anchored their interior and perimeter defense, while Anthony was given free rein on offense. They played at a fast pace and were quite good in transition.
Add in their high-altitude home court advantage, and while knocking off the Phoenix Suns was unrealistic, they could certainly cause them some trouble.
However, after the end of the regular season, there was another matter facing the Suns’ management.
In the conference room, the management team represented by Brian, the coaching staff led by Skiles, and Chen Yu, the team’s small-time owner, all gathered to discuss the Suns’ eight-player protected list.
After the regular season, the league had successively announced the team-building rules for the Bobcats.
First, the league would give them a top-four pick in the ’04 draft.
Then, they could select a total of 14 players from the other 29 teams in the league.
The other teams needed to submit an eight-player protected list, and the remaining players would be available for the Bobcats to choose from.
An eight-player list could cover the starters and three main rotation players, so the loss to a team’s strength wouldn’t be too significant.
But the Phoenix Suns were different. The Suns’ roster was too stacked.
"How about we leave Payton unprotected? I think if we make him available, they’ll definitely pick Payton," Skiles suggested, rubbing his temples.
The five starters were a given; they definitely had to be on the protected list.
But the Suns’ second unit was also plenty stacked.
There was no need to discuss Ma Long. The Suns had only signed him to a one-year contract. At the end of the season, he would effectively be off the team. Whether he retired or played another year was his own choice.
If the Bobcats wanted him, they could just sign him in the free-agent market.
The 36-year-old Payton, however, could still play. He was averaging 20 and 8 just last season. Most importantly, the Suns had signed him with the mid-level exception, leaving him with a one-year, $5 million contract. Getting a 20-point-per-game point guard for that price was an absolute steal.
Sabonis would most likely retire, so that was a moot point.
That left Rodney Rogers and James Posey. Poseidon, in particular, with his excellent defense and accurate three-point shooting, had always been an important rotation player for the Suns.
Miller’s form was still decent, but he was getting older. Sooner or later, Poseidon would have to step up.
Then there was the batch of rookies.
David West, Kovol who had a strong second half of the season, Marquis Daniels who also played well after returning in March, plus Perkins—the Suns were reluctant to let go of any of these rookies.
"Scott, are you kidding me? That’s Gary Payton, Gloves for five million a year. You want to let him go? You must be crazy," Brian shrieked as soon as Skiles finished speaking.
"Chen, what do you say?"
Brian turned his head to look at Chen Yu.
Skiles also looked at Chen Yu, sending him a pleading glance.
Chen Yu’s opinion carried considerable weight.
Most importantly, Skiles had run into Chen Yu before the meeting and they had chatted for a bit on the way. He knew Chen Yu’s stance: he wanted to prioritize protecting the rookies.
Chen Yu thought for a moment, then played the mediator. "It’s still early. There’s no rush to decide before the draft. However..."
After a pause, Chen Yu said, "Besides the starting lineup, two people must be kept: one is Poseidon, the other is West."
Payton was a bargain, but his age was catching up to him.
Among the bench players, Chen Yu valued Poseidon and West the most.
Poseidon was a two-way player, young, and still had room to grow. His contract wasn’t too expensive either. Even just for the sake of saving salary cap space, he was worth keeping.
Then there was David West.
Chen Yu truly felt he had huge potential. After Ma Long was suspended, he had filled in for Ma Long and performed quite well, averaging 6.4 points per game.
The most important thing was that he played smart.
The Suns had spent two first-round picks to trade for him last year; there was no reason not to develop him seriously.
As for the remaining players, whether they were kept or not wasn’t a big issue.
"Then it’s Poseidon, West, and Payton," Brian said without hesitation.
Skiles opened his mouth. He thought the rookie Kovol was pretty good too and wanted to keep him.
"Let’s think about it some more," Skiles said, neither agreeing nor disagreeing. He paused, then asked, "Chen, when does your potential training camp start?"
"Soon. Next Monday."
Chen Yu had already sent out invitations to this year’s rookies. He just didn’t know how many would show up yet.
But it probably wouldn’t be a problem.
Chen Yu’s judgment last year, especially his call on Wade, had been spot on. That alone was enough to prove the value of his training camp.
Plus, these rookies could also boost their own profiles by attending the camp, which might help them get a higher draft pick.
As the topic shifted to the draft, Brian couldn’t help but chime in. "Oh yeah, that Okafor from Kang University is pretty good. Chen, do you think we have a shot at the number one pick?"
In the recently concluded NCAA Finals, Okafor had led his team to the NCAA championship, and his performance had been nothing short of outstanding.
In the mock drafts published by ESPN, Okafor was this year’s biggest favorite for the number one pick.
"And that Dwight Howard, didn’t he already decide to skip college and enter the draft directly? I saw the scouting reports; they say his athletic talent is unbelievably outstanding."
Another hot prospect in this year’s draft was Mr. Basketball from Georgia, Dwight Howard.
Another high school prodigy, a true wunderkind.
As Brian spoke, his eyes began to gleam.
Chen Yu couldn’t resist pouring cold water on his enthusiasm. "A shot at the number one pick? Take my advice: go home tonight, get a good night’s sleep. You can have anything you want in your dreams."
However, Chen Yu was also quite interested in these two. Once his potential training camp started, he wanted to see for himself just how much potential they really had.

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