Chen Yu glanced at the few people present.
He wasn’t one to run his mouth, but on this particular matter, Chen Yu wanted to leak a little information.
The main reason was to make his future work easier.
In the previous league season, their club had benefited greatly from the sports school system. They were deeply intertwined, and with the schools’ support, everything was much easier.
"I can’t disclose the specifics. I can only say that regarding commercialization and profitability, I personally believe that if we implement it according to our plan, we should achieve maximum success."
’With a market that large, if it’s truly opened up, it would be hard not to succeed.’
Lou Shifang and Li Yaoming exchanged a glance, a hint of excitement in their eyes.
"Dr. Chen, now that you’ve said that, I feel much more confident. I’d like to propose a toast to you." Li Yaoming immediately raised his glass.
Everyone at the table raised their glasses.
Out of the corner of his eye, Chen Yu glanced at Mao Jianqing.
The young man had also raised his glass.
’He’s only 18, right? Even though he’s legally an adult and can drink, as a professional athlete, shouldn’t you show a little more restraint?’
The next morning, Chen Yu drove to the Modu Sports Academy.
In the car, Chen Yu was flipping through some files when he asked, "Rupert, if you had to pick one person from this group, who would you choose?"
The files in his hand were on the more outstanding basketball prospects from the middle schools, high schools, and sports schools in the Modu Region.
"If I had to choose, I’d still pick this Xu Yong."
"Why? Based on stats, for example, this Cai Xiao should be better." Chen Yu took out two of the files.
From Wuai Middle School.
They have three good prospects: Xu Yong, Cai Xiao, and Liu Dapeng.
Statistically speaking, Cai Xiao’s numbers were the most impressive.
Rupert chuckled. "Chen, are you testing me?"
He turned sideways and pointed to the physical measurement data. "Let’s just talk about one thing: Xu Yong’s wingspan alone means his ceiling is the highest of them all."
Born in ’89, the 15-year-old Xu Yong was already 198 cm tall, but his wingspan was 208 cm.
A wingspan like that isn’t uncommon in the NBA.
The NBA is full of long-armed freaks; Xu Yong’s is nothing special in that context.
He’s 198 cm now, almost two meters, and will most likely only grow to be just over two meters tall.
By comparison, Marion, at 201 cm tall, has a staggering 221 cm wingspan.
But in China, that wingspan is actually very good.
If Yao Ming’s wingspan were 10 cm longer, his high-post game would make him virtually unstoppable.
This just goes to show how important hard physical traits like wingspan and body proportions are.
Therefore, based on wingspan alone, Xu Yong’s future ceiling among the three is definitely higher.
"You can’t just look at that. Unquantifiable traits like coordination and reflexes are also very important," Chen Yu added.
Unlike soccer, the nature of basketball makes it relatively easier to discern a person’s talent and ceiling during scouting.
Someone with great height and wingspan definitely has talent.
But talent isn’t just about those things.
Take Curry, for example. Not only is he undersized, but his wingspan is also terrible. However, his top-tier coordination and reaction speed still allowed him to make a name for himself. In the show, he became team captain and averaged 21 points per game.
As they spoke, the two arrived at the Modu Sports Academy.
Here, Chen Yu had Yao Songping help arrange to gather the players on the list for a tryout.
It was Summer, and with preparations for the Olympics underway, there weren’t many people at the sports academy.
When they followed Yao Songping and the others to the basketball gymnasium, all the kids had already arrived.
He had seen their photos, so he could put names to faces.
Xu Yong was tall and lanky, standing with a couple who were also exceptionally tall.
His parents were also basketball players.
His mother was a basketball coach at the district’s youth sports school. Yao Ming’s good friend, Liu Wei, was her star pupil.
His father was once a member of the Navy basketball team, a tall power forward.
Apparently, the couple hadn’t originally planned for their son to pursue basketball. But since he often followed his mother to the sports school as a child and watched the girls practice, he picked up the game and started to show some skill. As his height shot up, his talent gradually became apparent.
"Dr. Chen, shall we begin?" Yao Songping asked with a smile.
Chen Yu nodded.
This time, they had gathered a total of 10 players from teams that had performed well in the High School Basketball League, like Wuai and Nanmo, as well as from the City Youth Team—just enough for a 5v5 scrimmage.
Even players who were teammates were deliberately split onto the two opposing teams.
They didn’t know each other, so it’s safe to say there was absolutely no teamwork.
"Dr. Chen, what do you think?" At the end of the first quarter, Xu Yong’s Team A was in the lead.
Xu Yong had scored 7 points.
"It’s pretty good," Chen Yu said with a small smile.
Since he was in China, Chen Yu naturally wouldn’t judge players like Xu Yong by the standards of the American high school leagues, or by the level of players like Durant and Oden.
After all, even if he took over and helped build up the China Team in the future, no one expected them to win a championship or crush the Dream Team.
To challenge the Dream Team in just a few short years... Chen Yu wasn’t a god.
So, after lowering his expectations, the sloppy performance in front of him became acceptable.
And Chen Yu wasn’t just looking at technique. What kind of technique could a fifteen or sixteen-year-old have?
He was looking at their bodies, their dynamic and static physical gifts.
It was obvious that Xu Yong, with his outstanding wingspan, was a cut above the rest in terms of raw talent.
His explosiveness was also excellent, as he often pulled off one-step drives past his defender.
Being able to get past someone in one step meant his speed and explosiveness were far superior to his opponents’.
In the end, Team A won.
Xu Yong scored 16 points in the game and also had the only dunk.
He had a good vertical and could dunk effortlessly in a game situation.
That was quite rare.
After all, there were several players there who were taller than him.
Chen Yu said a few simple words of thanks, praised everyone’s effort and performance, and then left with Yao Songping.
’No need to say too much. This is just a preliminary look. What happens next isn’t set in stone.’
"That’s it?" On the sidelines, Xu Yong’s mother watched Chen Yu’s group leave, her brow furrowed.
She had, of course, heard of the famous Chen Yu and thought he might give some on-the-spot coaching.
She didn’t expect him to just take a quick look, say a few pleasantries, and then leave.
It felt anticlimactic.
Xu Yong’s father retorted, "What did you expect? That he’d take one look at your son, declare him a once-in-a-century genius, and say he’s taking him to the United States to get into the NBA? Do you really think that’s possible?"
Xu Yong’s mother pouted and said, "I wasn’t thinking that... But what, is my son not a genius?"
"Yes, yes, our son is a genius, but you don’t have to talk about it all day. Like I always say, stay level-headed. It’s best if he makes it, but if he doesn’t, that’s fine too." He had a more philosophical view on his son’s development.
Because he knew deep down how difficult the path of professional sports was.
Meanwhile, Chen Yu was also preparing to leave. He had an afternoon flight, a direct one to Tianjin.
After a brief farewell, Chen Yu headed to the airport by car.
In the car, Rupert asked, "Chen, are you still going to Yuehai?"
"We’ll see. I’ll go if there’s time, but most likely there won’t be," Chen Yu said with a small smile.
This trip to the Capital would inevitably involve another meeting with Yuan Weimin and his people.
Having studied tactical periodization for so long, Chen Yu had developed many insights and wanted to exchange ideas with them.
As for Yuehai, the reason to go was another prodigy there.
A young man named Chen Jianghua, who was said to be very fast. Last year, as a member of the Chinese Men’s Basketball Team’s Olympic Hopefuls squad, he visited the United States Team for an exhibition game and was even praised by the New York Times, which claimed he had the potential to become China’s first world-class guard.
’Reporters just open their mouths to stir up some excitement.’
This year, he also reportedly performed well at a basketball camp in Asia.
Born in ’89, he was also only 15 years old.
However, like many fast players, his body was too fragile. He hadn’t even reached the professional leagues yet but had already suffered foot injuries and even a fracture this year.
But he was still worth scouting.
Later that day, Chen Yu arrived in the Capital.
The next day, Chen Yu met with Yuan Weimin. The meeting lasted nearly three hours before Chen Yu set off again, traveling by car to Tianjin.
The National Track and Field Championships were starting tomorrow, set to last for three days and end on August 1st.
Liu Xiang’s 110-meter hurdles event was on the afternoon of the 1st.
It was basically the main event.
The competition would be held at Hedong Stadium, while daily training and preparations were taking place at the Tianjin Sports Team’s track and field facility.
By the time he arrived, dusk had fallen, but Liu Xiang’s training session hadn’t ended.
This year’s Athens Olympic Games would be held during a period of high temperatures, so the Olympic Committee had long since decided to hold the track and field events at night.
Therefore, starting from the middle of this month, the track and field team, at Feng Shuyong’s request, had begun night training sessions.
When Chen Yu reached the track, massive floodlights illuminated the entire field, where dozens of athletes were training diligently under the guidance of their coaches in their respective areas.
Before Chen Yu could even spot Liu Xiang, he heard someone call his name.
It was Feng Shuyong.
They were old acquaintances. He seemed quite excited to see Chen Yu and pointed to Liu Xiang in the distance, saying he had been in fiery form recently.
Chen Yu saw Liu Xiang, who was practicing his starts.
Chen Yu walked over with Feng Shuyong. After greeting Sun Haiping, he asked them for Liu Xiang’s training logs from the period since he had returned to the country.
As he flipped through the training logs, Chen Yu’s brow slowly furrowed.
Liu Xiang had returned to the country on July 12th, over half a month ago.
But Chen Yu keenly noticed that before July 26th, his training times were normal, fluctuating between 12.90 and 12.95 seconds.
In the last few days, however, his training logs showed that his times had slipped. He hadn’t run under 12.90 once.
Before the 26th, he was occasionally able to break 12.9 seconds.
Chen Yu put down the log and looked towards Liu Xiang in the distance.
’It feels like something happened around the 26th.’
Liu Xiang exploded from the blocks, his speed extremely fast.
Just watching him train, you couldn’t see any problems. Everything looked normal.
But intuition told Chen Yu that there was definitely something wrong.
Chen Yu called Liu Xiang over and asked him if he’d been sick recently, with a cold or anything like that.
Liu Xiang shook his head.
But Chen Yu’s gaze had already swept over Liu Xiang’s entire body, finally resting on his right ankle.
’Looks a little inflamed.’
"What’s wrong with your right ankle?" Chen Yu interrupted Liu Xiang to ask.
Liu Xiang froze.
Beside them, Feng Shuyong and Sun Haiping were also stunned.
Then, Sun Haiping abruptly slapped his thigh and said urgently, "Liu Xiang, on the night of the 25th, you slipped. You told me you were fine then, but are you really okay?"
The 25th. A simulated night training session. Sun Haiping remembered it clearly. There had been a light rain that evening, and by the time they started training, it had stopped, but the rubber track was still a bit damp.
And during that day’s session, Liu Xiang’s right foot had slipped while going over a hurdle.
But at the time, Liu Xiang had said he was completely fine and had even completed the rest of the training plan.
But for Chen Yu to bring it up now clearly meant there was a problem.
Sun Haiping panicked instantly. The start of the Olympic Games was only two weeks away.

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