Chen Haitao couldn’t sit still any longer. He got up, walked over to stand behind Li Chunjiang, and asked what was going on.
"Old Li, I know the level of basketball in the United States is high and that they have geniuses everywhere. But for Dr. Chen to just grab five random players and have them crush us like this... it just doesn’t make any sense."
Hongyuan had been developing for so many years. Two seasons ago, they even turned a profit for the first time. Then they won two championships in two years. Across the entire CBA, they were a force to be reckoned with.
Because of this, Chen Haitao had always been very proud.
But in this moment, that confidence and pride was beginning to waver.
"Well, I don’t think he just grabbed five random players," Li Chunjiang said, his voice lacking conviction.
Chen Yu picked these guys from the Development Alliance, so he must have chosen the better ones. Their skill level probably isn’t bad.
"General Manager Chen, don’t get anxious just yet. Our players might just not be used to it. Let’s see how they do after playing a bit more," Li Chunjiang said.
He had already noticed one thing: the five players from Pioneer played at a very fast pace.
Their dribbling, their movements, their shooting—the speed of it all was clearly a level above his own players.
This was making his players very uncomfortable. They couldn’t execute their plays and were in a state of disarray.
It reminded him of Jichen.
When he first saw Jichen, his physical conditioning and fundamentals were also clearly a cut above the domestic players.
At the time, Li Chunjiang thought it was just pure talent—something you couldn’t compete with.
And it was true. In his first season back in ’98, Jichen, whose skills were incredibly raw, still averaged 19 points and 10 rebounds.
Some guys can get by on talent alone.
And as for these five, Li Chunjiang felt their talent might even surpass Jichen’s.
After all, Jichen hadn’t even been eligible for the draft back in the day. These five, on the other hand, were all at least second-round picks.
It was like playing against five Jichens at once. It seemed understandable that they couldn’t adapt right away and were losing.
"Ah Lian, you need to be more aggressive," Li Chunjiang instructed. "Their number 1 is raw, and he’s a bit clumsy. You can’t just keep getting tangled up with him under the basket. Play to your strengths."
He was talking about Bates.
Yi Jianlian nodded slightly, but inside, he couldn’t help but give a wry smile.
’Sure, the guy’s a little slow, but look at his height and weight.’
’He’s 216 cm and over 120 kg, built like a bull. When we’re fighting for rebounds under the basket, I can’t move him at all.’
’Just like Coach Li said, I can draw him out a bit on offense, but what about on defense? If I can’t hold my ground against him, how am I supposed to guard him?’
’I can’t just not defend him.’
"And you, Li Qun, be more aggressive," Li Chunjiang added.
The only starters on the court right now were Yi Jianlian and Li Qun, so naturally, he was counting on them.
Li Qun also looked exasperated. "Coach," he said, "their point guard is half a head taller than me. He can run, he can jump, and he’s built. What am I supposed to do?"
He was only 180 cm tall, while the opposing point guard, Eddie Levant, looked to be about 193 cm.
He weighed 72 kg; his opponent was at least 90 kg.
Levant’s only slight weakness was his wingspan, but his muscles were well-defined, and he was athletic. In front of an opponent like that, Li Qun’s normally accurate outside shot was completely neutralized. Levant stuck to him so tightly he had no opportunity to shoot.
Li Chunjiang bit his lip. "Find a way to overcome it. Run some plays. You can see it yourself—they don’t have any tactics. It’s all isolation plays."
Li Qun could only manage another wry smile.
’They might not have any tactics, but when you can score just by mindlessly going one-on-one, who needs them?’
The game resumed.
Pioneer didn’t make any substitutions; it was still the same five foreign players on the court.
Mainly because they had no one on the bench.
The team was still in its formation stage, and Chen Yu was in the process of recruiting players.
However, it was proving to be a challenge.
First, almost any player who had received high-level basketball training in China came from the provincial and municipal sports schools.
And these players had direct pipelines to the various CBA teams.
The CBA scouted players from these schools, and the schools, in turn, would recommend their talent to the CBA teams.
The selected players would first join the development squad before trying to make it to the main roster.
This meant that nearly all the talented players were already snatched up. Those without enough talent either gave up on basketball or went to university as specially recruited student-athletes.
Consequently, when Chen Yu went scouting for talent, the pickings were slim.
Even though the CBA didn’t have many teams and the overall skill level wasn’t high, the players who made it into the league were already the best in all of China.
The teams wouldn’t let go of their good prospects, and the talent pool of those who were left over was far from adequate.
This was different from soccer, where you could build around a star player, and a slightly lower overall skill level didn’t matter as much.
For basketball, Chen Yu needed players with actual skill.
That made it very difficult to find suitable players.
It was different from when he had recruited Song Jun and his group. They were all young and, for the most part, hadn’t appeared on the CBA teams’ radar yet.
Besides, back then, Chen Yu was representing the Sports Bureau. When he specifically requested players by name, who would have dared to refuse?
That’s why this game was scheduled for only three quarters.
Because of this, the tickets were sold very cheaply—only 10 yuan apiece.
By this point in the game, Chen Yu had already gotten a clear picture.
’These five players are actually just so-so.’
’The reason they were cut from the NBA wasn’t bad luck; they just weren’t good enough.’
’There’s still a sizable gap between them and even a benchwarmer.’
’Their technical and tactical skills aside, their talent just isn’t up to par.’
’But compared to the players in China, their relative weakness in talent becomes an overwhelming advantage.’
’Of course, this isn’t Hongyuan’s true strength. Their starters aren’t playing, and they have their own foreign players too.’
’If both teams were at full strength, the outcome would be hard to predict.’
’Still, Hongyuan represents the pinnacle of the CBA. They’re the champions.’
’This means that a team of five foreign players from the Development Alliance should be strong enough to contend for a CBA title.’
’With a bit of practice to develop chemistry and tactics, and paired with a few capable domestic players, winning a championship should be a cakewalk.’
’But that’s based on the old CBA.’
’In the future CBA, Pioneer can sign foreign players, but so can their opponents.’
’Therefore, the introduction of this wave of foreign talent should significantly raise the CBA’s level of competition and entertainment value.’
Just look at the first quarter—the crowd’s reaction was great.
Pioneer’s five foreign players played at a surprisingly fast pace, throwing down dunks at every opportunity. The game was far more exciting to watch than a typical CBA match.
’Then the path I’ve envisioned might actually work.’
’Provide more entertaining games, and I won’t have to worry about selling tickets.’
In the second quarter, Yi Jianlian started to heat up. Stevens immediately made an adjustment, extending his team’s defensive perimeter and reinforcing the help defense on the power forward.
That single adjustment was enough to shut Yi Jianlian down.
And aside from him, no one else on the current Hongyuan roster could provide consistent scoring.
Crucially, they also couldn’t stop Pioneer on defense.
The first quarter ended 26-13.
By the end of the second quarter, the lead had widened again to 22 points.
Shooting guard Jackie Walls found his rhythm for a stretch, hitting consecutive shots over Qu Shaobin and racking up 11 points.
The score for that quarter was 29-19.
But Stevens still wasn’t satisfied.
They had held Hongyuan to only 13 points in the first quarter, but had given up 19 in the second.
To him, that meant the defense had gotten lazy.
Even though it was just an exhibition game and the outcome didn’t matter, Stevens cared a great deal.
Chen Yu would be returning to the United States soon, and there was no telling when he’d be back. This was a rare opportunity, and Stevens had to show Chen Yu what he was capable of. His future depended on it.
So during halftime, Stevens pulled the five players aside and gave them a serious talking-to.
He told them to pass the ball more, work together, and stop taking bad shots.
"You’re not in the Development Alliance anymore. You’re not trying to audition for the NBA by mindlessly playing iso-ball to pad your stats."
"You need to run plays. Before you take a shot, use your head and see if a teammate has a better look."
As a former NCAA assistant coach, Stevens’s specialty was molding individual players into a cohesive unit that played team basketball.
He even started dangling a carrot, telling them they weren’t even 30 yet and still had several years left in their careers.
"Play well, and maybe you’ll catch Chen Yu’s eye."
"And who’s Chen Yu? He’s the owner of the Phoenix Suns. If he takes a liking to you, you might just be able to knock on the door of the NBA."
Fired up by the pep talk and with their energy restored from halftime, the five players came out in the third quarter and exploded for an astonishing 34 points.
Hongyuan, meanwhile, only managed to score 18 points in the entire quarter.
89-50.
After three quarters, Pioneer’s five-man squad was up by a whopping 39 points!
The result of the game had Chen Haitao sitting on pins and needles and left the fans and media in attendance completely stunned.

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