Chapter 64: Memphis Three Stick Guests
Ever since that crushing matchup on the first day of training camp, Xu Ling completely replaced Rudy Gay, becoming the Grizzlies’ de facto new core.
Gay was not only isolated by most of his teammates, but he also chose to shut himself off, actively cutting off communication with the team. In the entire locker room, aside from veteran Eddie Jones and Mike Miller occasionally speaking a few words to him, everyone else had become practically strangers to him.
And Kyle Lowry, who had previously been like brothers with him, quickly and publicly distanced himself from him, frequently showing favor to Xu Ling during training, with his attentiveness almost reaching the point of flattery.
Just as the team’s power structure underwent a dramatic shift, head coach Mark Iavaroni officially introduced to the whole team his “Seven Seconds or Less”（ sometimes abbreviated as SSOL） offensive system, which originated from the Suns and had dominated the regular season in recent years.
Thus, the first fatal problem surfaced: Where was the Grizzlies’ Steve Nash?
Without a historical-level offensive brain like Nash, yet trying to run a flashy run and gun style, was just like the Warriors running motion offense without Curry, or Zen Master’s assistants trying to run the triangle offense without Jordan, Kobe, or Shaquille O’Neal—doomed to be a clumsy imitation, futile and ineffective.
And reality quickly delivered a heavy blow. Julius Jackson and Kyle Lowry were extremely out of sync in this system that heavily relied on point guard vision and control.
Julius Jackson was essentially a shooting guard scorer trapped in a point guard’s physique. Deep down, he craved finishing over organizing, and was used to attacking the rim rather than orchestrating the offense. Under the immense pressure of the SSOL system demanding quick decisions and precise passing, he appeared hesitant and lost, repeatedly missing optimal passing opportunities, like a charging captain forcibly pushed into the command seat, completely unable to find the rhythm.
Kyle Lowry’s problem was even more fundamental. At this stage, neither his technique nor his basketball IQ had reached the level to control this complex system. The SSOL system required the point guard to read the defense in a flash, command off-ball movement, and deliver surgical passes to feed the ball precisely, but Lowry’s passing and control were still rough, and his decisions often lagged by half a beat. His strengths lay in hustle and defense, not in creating artistic offense amid high-speed operation. Forcing him into the “Nash” role resulted only in total disarray and chaos.
On the training court, the offense repeatedly stalled. Quick passing turned into frequent turnovers, and fluid fast breaks became chaotic isolation plays. Without that true engine, the flashy SSOL system turned into a rusty, constantly jamming machine in Memphis.
Five days passed, and Mark Iavaroni completely abandoned the fantasy that Julius Jackson and Kyle Lowry could master the SSOL system.
He went straight to Jerry West and urgently demanded: “Jerry, we must make a trade to bring in a real point guard who can drive this system. Otherwise, run and gun is out of the question!”
The problem was that, across the entire league, point guards who could truly drive a run and gun system were rare as phoenix feathers and unicorn horns.
Steve Nash? Naturally not for sale, don’t even think about it. Jason Kidd? Theoretically possible, but the New Jersey Nets had no intention of breaking up the team at the moment. Chris Paul and Deron Williams? Of course ideal candidates, but equally unattainable.
Among all the star point guards in their prime, the only one who seemed possibly obtainable through a trade was Andre Miller of the Philadelphia 76ers.
However, reason told West that now was absolutely not the right time to make a trade. They needed to first produce some samples with the current lineup, and more importantly, use this opportunity to test Xu Ling’s true potential.
“Mark,” West’s voice was steady, yet carried an unquestionable tone, “The trade window never closes, but the opportunity to see a person’s true measure is fleeting.”
The LOGO Man’s gaze deeply scanned the training court as he continued: “Why don’t we change our approach? Since there’s no ready-made Steve Nash, why not try having Eli play more point guard and see what he can bring? I need to know how much he can handle under real pressure.”
“Eli?” Iavaroni’s tone was full of surprise, “Have him play point guard?”
West’s response was somewhat vague: “He played that position in college.”
In fact, no one doubted whether Xu Ling’s ball-handling and dribbling technique met point guard standards. The real question was: For a player whose draft prospect template was set as Kobe and renowned for his powerful scoring, if he truly transitioned to point guard, would he find the joy in organization and passing like Sakuragi Hanamichi in《 Slam Dunk》, or would he become obsessed with crazily stacking triple-doubles like Jordan in his single-core leading days?
Whichever the outcome, it seemed worth a try.
What the Grizzlies needed to worry about least right now was making mistakes.
For a team at the bottom in every aspect, whatever they did was upward—what was there to lose? At worst, the path upward was wrong, but it was still upward.
This bold suggestion made Iavaroni uneasy, but he ultimately accepted it—after all, the regular season hadn’t started yet, so who could say their Sixty Million Dollar Man wouldn’t become a one-in-a-million dual-threat guard wizard like the LOGO Man West back in the day, excelling in both scoring and passing?
Just as all teams were intensely preparing for the new season, the seemingly rebuilt Portland Trail Blazers suddenly received devastating news: Number 1 Draft Pick Greg Oden was injured in training and needed minimally invasive surgery, ruling him out for his entire rookie season.
The draft is sometimes like a high-stakes gamble. Very few teams have their dreams come true, while the vast majority are just optimistic terminal patients—some know the ending from the start and quietly await the shattering of hope; but the most despairing are those who firmly believe they’ve selected the Chosen One who can rewrite the team’s destiny, only to discover it was all God’s malicious joke: just teasing you, don’t take it too seriously.
“So now, there’s only one question left: Between KD and Eli, who will win Rookie of the Year?”
In the ESPN poll that followed, their support rates were completely even at fifty-fifty—Xu Ling and Kevin Durant’s popularity was neck and neck.
When Iavaroni announced during team training that Xu Ling would become the team’s point guard, the reactions on site were varied.
Jackson and Lowry secretly rejoiced; they could finally temporarily escape that suffocating SSOL system and no longer bear the organizational burden they fundamentally couldn’t handle. Pau Gasol gave a cold laugh; in his view, this further confirmed the team’s determination to push run and gun, and a traditional inside player like him was clearly not in the long-term plans. The most intense reaction naturally came from Rudy Gay; upon hearing the arrangement, his first thought was: Will I even touch the ball anymore? Do I have a future on this team?
In the subsequent days of training, whenever Xu Ling controlled the possession, Gay would actively call for the ball. Xu Ling wasn’t deliberately not passing to him—he was just reading the defense and executing the plays, not passing to whoever called for it. Thus, Gay, already predisposed to believe he was being sidelined, became completely convinced of one thing: This Sixty Million Dollar Man was targeting him, and the coaching staff was tacitly approving it.
So, Gay took the issue to his agent Arn Tellem. Tellem immediately called Jerry West, demanding in a tough tone that management “handle it properly” and warning that his client was “extremely emotionally unstable,” and if not addressed, the Gay camp would have to take “drastic measures.”
After hanging up, West’s expression fluctuated between dark and stormy in the office.
The team’s overall plan would absolutely not change due to such incidents, and he was prepared to take aggressive trades if necessary to maintain locker room stability, but not now.
As a Nike player who wasn’t highly valued by the brand, Gay’s unrest also caught the brand’s attention.
Ever since Xu Ling rejected Nike and provocatively quoted a sky-high contract in negotiations, he had been seen as an enemy by Nike, especially since he ultimately joined Adidas’ camp.
For Nike, they could easily leverage their vast media resources to give it a push and make the Grizzlies’ internals even livelier.
As soon as the rumors spread, Nike quickly acted, leaking to ESPN senior NBA reporter Chris Sheridan that infighting had erupted during the Grizzlies’ training camp, with Xu Ling and Gay even possibly having a physical altercation.
In an instant, the Memphis Grizzlies, who hadn’t attracted much attention even after bringing in Adidas’ Sixty Million Dollar Man, suddenly became the focus of public opinion.
Xu Ling retweeted the news on Twitter and wrote: “Since everyone is so interested in our locker room, let me tell you what really happened.”
“You know, Rudy is someone who can’t tolerate others being stupid. During a break in team scrimmage, Rudy was frustrated with the play, went back to the locker room, smashed a water bottle, and yelled at Kyle. And guess what? At least three teammates immediately surrounded him! Darko was even clapping on the side shouting: ‘Hit him! Beat him to death!'”
“After that, Rudy’s locker gained an iron bar—supposedly for self-defense. Then after the next training, Kyle sarcastically said to him ‘Brainless guys only know isolation plays,’ and Rudy grabbed the iron bar and beat him senseless, leaving Kyle rolling on the floor begging for mercy.”
“At that point our big man Pau（ Gasol） got fired up too, pulled out a stun gun and said ‘How can hitting people happen without me,’ and with one zap Kyle passed out. Rudy roared in anger: ‘Don’t fucking start!’ And Pau shot back: ‘Say that again, try it?'”
“If Pau hadn’t been holding the stun gun, those two probably would’ve fought right there. I remember our head coach Mr. Mark Iavaroni was stunned, muttering nonstop ‘Crazy, crazy, they’re all crazy.'”
“That’s my version; any similarities are purely coincidental.”
Xu Ling might have just casually made a joke, but in an unexpected way, he cleverly defused Nike’s vicious public opinion attack. This tweet not only went viral instantly but also sparked heated discussions among media, fans, and even television programs: Was Eli serious, or joking? What was Rudy Gay’s response? What did Pau Gasol say?
They all chose silence.
Instead, the “victim” Kyle Lowry from the story specially registered a Twitter account to assure the netizens “concerned”—really concerned?—about his safety: “Thanks for the well-wishes, I’m still alive.”
PS: Going on shelves tomorrow, I expect to update the first VIP chapter around 8 AM. It’s the last day of the month, begging for monthly votes, thank you all for your support!
