On March 10th, Chen Yu arrived in San Diego.
This year’s McDonald’s High School All-Star Game was being held in San Diego.
Chen Yu didn’t travel with Curry. Instead, he brought along David Griffin.
He was still the Suns’ Director of Scouting.
They were both busy men, so they had only set aside half a day.
The two of them arrived in San Diego a little after three in the afternoon. Although they had said they didn’t need the organizing committee to pick them up, the committee sent someone specifically for Chen Yu anyway.
After all, Chen Yu wasn’t just any ordinary guest.
The game was to be held at Cox Arena downtown.
The Slam Dunk Contest and Skills Challenge were already over. Today’s events were the main games for the men’s and women’s teams.
After a short rest at their hotel, the two took a car to La Costa Canyon High School.
This was the training facility for the players from the East and West teams.
The game was at 8 p.m., so the players from both teams should be gathered here for practice.
As they arrived at the school and walked toward the gym, David Griffin asked, "Chen, do you think Stephen can win MVP tonight?"
"Him?"
Chen Yu raised an eyebrow slightly, then shook his head. "Impossible."
David Griffin was a bit surprised. Although he also felt Curry’s chances of winning MVP were slim, Chen Yu’s decisive declaration that it was "impossible" still caught him off guard.
Seeing David Griffin’s expression, Chen Yu smiled. "David, I know Stephen. But precisely because of that, I know his limits. He still needs to prove himself, and most importantly, he needs his teammates’ cooperation."
Right now, Curry is limited by his physique. At best, he’s a system player.
He needs teammates to coordinate with him and create opportunities for him to put up big numbers.
But in an All-Star game like this, the teammates don’t know each other well. No one is going to coordinate with him or set him up for plays.
The fact that he didn’t get a starting spot is the best proof of that.
"Then are you here for Kevin?" David Griffin pressed.
As the Director of Scouting, he was constantly gathering information on and monitoring top prospects. Players like Oden and Durant, whose performances were so dazzling, had always been high on their watch list.
And as far as Griffin knew, Chen Yu had specifically asked them to pay more attention to Durant.
Obviously, compared to Oden, Chen Yu placed more importance on Durant.
Chen Yu wasn’t embarrassed to admit it. He nodded and said, "That’s right. I want to meet him."
As they spoke, the two arrived at the gym.
The East and West teams were already warming up.
Scanning the court, Chen Yu didn’t recognize everyone, but he was close.
Never mind Oden and Durant; the most conspicuous were the Lopez brothers.
Then there were Thaddeus Young, Spencer Hawes, and others—all of whom had been on Chen Yu’s show.
Consequently, Chen Yu’s arrival caused quite a stir on the court.
A crowd of the kids swarmed over.
They were grateful for Chen Yu’s show, which had not only brought them fame but also helped them improve their skills.
The rest of the players, born in ’87, hadn’t participated in Chen Yu’s show because of their age. But they also crowded around, hoping to exchange a few words with him.
Never mind that Chen Yu was a minority owner of the Suns and deeply involved in management—in the NBA world, who wouldn’t want to be on good terms with him?
Chen Yu could put a name to just about every one of these players.
He had reviewed the files from David Griffin before coming here.
For instance, there was Oden’s teammate Mike Conley, Durant’s teammate from Oak Hill Ty Lawson, as well as Gerrard Henderson, Lance Thomas, Shelton Collins, and DJ Augustine—all nationally recognized players.
The change to the draft eligibility age had truly altered the fate of this generation of players.
Otherwise, they could have all entered the draft this year. Now, they had no choice but to go to college instead.
But once in college, their stats could potentially decline, and many of their weaknesses could be exposed.
In high school, they were the stars of their respective teams, the core players, all of them playing a ball-dominant style.
They were making all sorts of spectacular plays. Averaging 20 points a game was nothing; 30 points a game was what made you impressive.
But in college, the NCAA was all about team basketball. If you were a point guard, you were expected to pass. You had fewer opportunities to shine, and no one would cater to your style. Many players simply faded into obscurity that way.
Therefore, from a player’s perspective, it was far better to ride their explosive high school performances straight into the NBA and worry about the rest later.
Of course, for the NBA teams, this was a good thing.
True gold fears no fire. If a player was still unstoppable in college, then they were the real deal.
As he greeted them one by one, he found there was one player from the ’88 class whom he didn’t recognize.
"Chase Budinger?"
Chen Yu shook the tall young man’s hand, feeling a bit puzzled.
’Born in ’88, he should have been within the screening range for my show. And since he made it into the McDonald’s All-Star Game, he’s definitely not a nobody. So how come I have no memory of him?’
"Sir, the show’s staff actually contacted me back then," Budinger explained. "But I was more focused on volleyball at the time, so I decided not to go. I really regret it now, to be honest."
He never would have imagined back then that Chen Yu’s show would become such a hit. If he had known, he would have gone for sure.
’No wonder,’ Chen Yu thought.
After asking a few more questions, he learned that Budinger wasn’t exaggerating. His older brother and sister were both volleyball players.
In high school, he had been the national high school volleyball player of the year and was named the San Diego Volleyball Player of the Year three times.
"Then you should be playing volleyball. Why the switch to basketball?"
The kid was two meters tall with an excellent vertical leap, and he’d trained in volleyball since he was young. Chen Yu heard him say he was even preparing to try out for the United States National Volleyball Team this year.
’With that kind of talent, it would be a real waste not to play volleyball.’
Budinger scratched his head, looking a little embarrassed. "Sir, I think there’s a better future in basketball. It pays more."
Chen Yu paused for a moment, then chuckled.
’This kid is refreshingly honest.’
’It’s true. Even if you went pro in volleyball and made the National Team, how much money could you really make?’
’But in basketball, even a role player could easily walk away from the NBA with millions of US dollars.’
"And you."
Chen Yu turned to the last young man in the group.
"I remember you. You’re Russell Westbrook, right? And you’re especially good at math," Chen Yu said, pointing at him.
"How did you get so tall all of a sudden?"
Chen Yu sized him up.
Chen Yu remembered this kid from when he was producing the show two years ago.
He was a top student, good enough to get a scholarship to Stanford.
He recalled that Westbrook had been eliminated during the open tryouts.
There was no special reason; he was just too short and his skills weren’t good enough.
Chen Yu had a good memory. He recalled that Westbrook was only 1.77 meters tall back then, but now he was already close to 1.9 meters.
’He’s shot up quite a bit in the last two years.’
"I’m not sure myself. During my junior year, I suddenly shot up almost 10 centimeters," Westbrook said, clearly excited to see Chen Yu. "Sir, I’ve come to believe that the reason I grew so much was because of you."
"Me?"
Chen Yu was taken aback.
Westbrook nodded repeatedly. "Even though I was eliminated from your show, I received a set of DVDs. They didn’t just have training methods; they also taught scientific nutrition. I feel like my sudden growth spurt was connected to that diet."
Although he had been eliminated, Westbrook was grateful to Chen Yu from the bottom of his heart for that souvenir.
It was thanks to those training methods, combined with his growth spurt, that he went from a benchwarmer on his school’s team to a starting player.
In his senior year, he averaged 31 points per game and became one of the top high school players in California.

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