While waiting for the person to appear, Chen Yu chatted a bit more with Tan Yi.
When Song Jun was mentioned, Tan Yi’s face was full of regret.
"He was such a promising kid. What a shame," Tan Yi sighed.
Song Jun was born in ’89. His father was a coal miner who died in an accident at the mine when he was three.
His mother raised him on her own.
Ever since he was little, Song Jun was unusually tall for his age.
"The first time I saw him was back in ’99. He was only ten years old, but he was already built like a grown-up, nearly five-foot-three."
"Our sports school regularly scouts for promising kids from all the schools in the city. He was recommended by Teacher Li from the No. 2 Elementary School. At the time, we were planning to train him for track and field. The kid could run and jump, could go for miles without breaking a sweat."
"I took a look and saw he was definitely raw talent, so I kept him. His mom agreed too. He wasn’t doing well academically, was always getting into fights at school, and his family was poor. Sending him to us meant he’d at least get fed."
"His mom sold tofu from a tricycle, working from dawn till dusk. She couldn’t control him at all."
"In his first year at the school, I discovered he had exceptional talent. And he could eat. His height just shot up. I thought to myself, with his build, he was bound to get even taller. Why not have him try basketball?"
"And what do you know, he was a natural-born basketball player. He picked up everything instantly. Our school’s basketball coach, Coach Sun, was always praising him to me, saying I’d recruited a great prospect for him."
"By ’01, he had already grown to nearly five-foot-eleven. There was literally no one who could beat him. So I thought about sending him to the provincial team, so his talent wouldn’t be wasted."
"But right then, something happened."
Tan Yi sighed and continued, "His mom was being bullied while she was out selling her tofu. When he got home and found out, he went and beat the guy up, even broke his leg. Because of that, he ended up in juvenile detention for a year. He didn’t get out until ’02."
"Once that happened, the provincial school didn’t want him anymore. His mom got really sick from the stress of it all. After he got out, he didn’t go back to school and just started running with the street crowd. He was big and tall, and he could fight, so he made a name for himself in this area. I hear he’s been doing alright for himself."
"But that’s not the right path. It’s such a shame. He could have become a great athlete."
Recalling the past, Tan Yi was filled with emotion.
Chen Yu, however, didn’t feel much sympathy.
Pick any random player from the NBA, and they probably had a similarly tragic childhood.
Chen Yu was no different.
’So, his past doesn’t matter,’ Chen Yu thought. ’The key is whether he has talent and meets my requirements.’
After waiting for another half hour or so, more trucks began to appear on the road.
The road was full of potholes, making for a bumpy ride. Lumps of coal kept falling from the fully loaded trucks.
But it was obvious that Song Jun wasn’t interested in these scraps on the ground.
Chen Yu’s gaze fell on the roadside restaurants.
Some drivers would pull over to eat and rest.
And that’s when a few teenagers would show up, climb onto the trucks, and start shoveling coal off them.
Stealing coal wasn’t enough; they also siphoned fuel and rummaged through the drivers’ cabs for belongings.
They were just a bunch of thieves.
But Chen Yu didn’t see Song Jun.
He didn’t have a photo, but according to Tan Yi, the kid was now about six-foot-three and should be easy to spot.
As he watched, a group of people suddenly ran over from the other side, carrying clubs, and immediately started a fight.
"What’s going on now?" Hunter asked in surprise.
Tan Yi’s eyes were wide as he shook his head, confused.
Chen Yu wasn’t bothered. He just kept waiting.
The first group was beaten and chased away. After a round of boasting among themselves, the newcomers furtively began the same illicit activities.
Chen Yu shook his head to himself, unconcerned.
However, about an hour later, another group appeared.
Among them were a few of the guys who had been beaten up earlier.
Chen Yu’s eyes quickly locked onto one person in particular.
He was towering over the rest, wearing a green military greatcoat with the hood up, and had a rugged face. He charged forward in just a few steps, then launched a flying kick that sent one person flying several feet.
After that, he was like a tiger among sheep, laying a savage beating on his opponents.
His strength was immense. He could lift people up one-handed and throw them a long way.
"That’s him!" Tan Yi shouted, pointing out the window in a hurry.
Chen Yu didn’t respond, silently observing this Song Jun.
Sitting behind Chen Yu, Tim Glover leaned forward and said, "Chen, his static physical attributes are impressive."
Chen Yu nodded in agreement.
’When you’ve seen enough people, you can tell if their static attributes are good or not with just one glance.’
First, Song Jun’s arms were very long.
He was about six-foot-three, but his wingspan looked to be around six-foot-seven, maybe even six-foot-nine.
A wingspan like that is extremely rare among people of Asian descent.
Second were his body proportions.
When you watch NBA games versus games from other leagues, you always feel the NBA is more entertaining to watch.
It actually has to do with the players themselves.
The players who make it to the NBA, whether they’re Black or white, all have excellent body proportions.
Long arms, long legs, short torso.
Proportions like these allow them to dribble without having to lower their center of gravity too much.
People of Asian descent, on the other hand, generally have longer torsos and shorter arms. This means that when dribbling, for example, doing a crossover between the legs, they have to lower their center of gravity excessively.
This results in dribbling that doesn’t look as good and isn’t as fluid.
It’s the same with shooting. If your arms are short, you can only lift the ball over your head. But with an outstanding wingspan, you can hold the ball higher, making your shot smoother and more elegant.
Therefore, wingspan and body proportions are truly crucial, which is one reason why basketball has such a high barrier to entry.
In a sport like soccer, "Little Bird" Garrincha could become one of the greatest dribblers in history despite having legs of different lengths. In the world of basketball, that’s simply unimaginable.
Of course, this is just the general rule.
And with such a large population, there are bound to be outliers.
Song Jun was one such outlier.
When it came to static physical attributes, he was really impressive.
"His reflexes are decent,"
Chen Yu commented.
Someone threw a punch at him, and he dodged it instantly with a quick tilt of his head.
It was a chaotic brawl, and the guy was right at the front, but he barely got hit because his reflexes were just that fast.
’Whether his skills were good or not wasn’t my main selection criterion.’
’He’s only fifteen or sixteen; he’s still young. Skills can be developed over time.’
’Many NBA players didn’t start playing basketball seriously until they were teenagers.’
’What matters most is physical talent.’
’That’s an innate, hard requirement that can’t be changed, no matter how much you train.’
As he was watching, Chen Yu noticed a swarm of people pouring out of two vans across the street, not far from their own car. They charged forward, yelling.
It was the police!
Chen Yu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. ’The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind.’
The police had clearly planned this meticulously. Not a single person from either of the two groups on the scene managed to escape. They were all subdued.
Tan Yi anxiously slapped his thigh, sighing repeatedly.
Now that he was caught, he would probably be locked up again.
"Mr. Chen," he said, suddenly turning his head to look at Chen Yu with a hopeful expression.
His superiors had arranged for him to be here, only telling him that someone from up top was coming to scout for promising basketball talent.
But Tan Yi had no idea what Chen Yu’s actual identity was.
Still, he figured Chen Yu wasn’t an ordinary person and should be able to get Song Jun out of this.
However, Chen Yu didn’t give him the chance to speak. He tapped the driver’s seat, signaling that it was time to go.

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