Chapter 50: Mountains And Rivers
Mid-June 2007, Portland was still shrouded in drizzle. The damp air was filled with the scent of pine trees and sea breeze, which felt particularly cold to Xu Ling, who was accustomed to the scorching Texas sun. This “Rose City” seemed especially chilly. He was wearing simple athletic wear, standing at the door of the Trail Blazers’ training hall—the Life Center Practice Facility at Rose Garden, taking a deep breath.
The Trail Blazers were Xu Ling’s first tryout stop, and the only one accompanying him was Roderick Craig.
Leon Rose believed that as long as Oden performed normally in the tryout, the Trail Blazers’ number 1 draft pick basically wouldn’t go to anyone else. First, Oden had been hyped for a full two years and was hailed as an unmissable player. Meanwhile, the Trail Blazers also had Brandon Roy, a potential player at the same position as Xu Ling. Second, LaMarcus Aldridge needed a dominant center to help him protect the paint.
No matter how you looked at it, Oden perfectly fit the Trail Blazers’ needs.
However, the more this was the case, the more necessary the tryout was.
As a heavy favorite for a top-three draft pick, not coming to the Trail Blazers’ tryout would be indirectly admitting he was inferior to Oden.
Welcoming him was the Trail Blazers’ general manager Kevin Pritchard, a tall, sharp-eyed middle-aged man. Accompanying him was head coach Nate McMillan, known for his strict discipline, whose expression was equally serious at the moment.
“Welcome to Portland, Eli.” Pritchard extended his hand, his palm broad and strong. “Are you ready?”
Xu Ling replied concisely: “I’m ready anytime, sir.”
The tryout began with physical testing, all conducted strictly according to NBA draft combine standards.
First was height and wingspan. Xu Ling stepped onto the measuring platform, took off his shoes, and the official measurement was barefoot height 6 feet 5.75 inches. This was a very ideal number; for a player mainly playing shooting guard and small forward, this height was perfect for shooting guard and reached the NBA average level for small forward.
Next was wingspan. When the measurer announced 7 feet, there was a murmur of discussion from the sidelines. Xu Ling’s wingspan was nearly 14 centimeters longer than his 198 cm height, a elite-level figure in the NBA for a long-armed freak. For outside players, wingspan represents length, and length represents a player’s lateral defense and vertical defense influence.
Xu Ling’s basic offense and defense data in NCAA suppressed every shooting guard and small forward he faced, thanks to his elite-level static talent.
“If this were last year, Eli might have been the undisputed number 1 draft pick.”
Kevin Pritchard said to those around him.
Afterward, Xu Ling measured a standing reach of 266 cm, then body fat percentage, vertical jump, sprint, and other events. Xu Ling’s body fat was maintained around 8.9%; some fitness enthusiasts would surely be furious seeing NBA players’ testing data, but everyone at the NBA physicals actually had low body fat—no one knew why. Then in the standing vertical jump test, Xu Ling showed astonishing explosiveness, easily jumping 37 inches, with running vertical reach an astonishing 41 inches.
Finally, the 3/4 court sprint and baseline shuffle run. Xu Ling completed the 3/4 court in 3.03 seconds, and in the agility test, he also showed point guard-level speed.
Xu Ling’s dynamic data left the Trail Blazers’ executives stunned.
Because Xu Ling in NCAA wasn’t actually the classic Jordan-type dunker; at first he was like Ron Harper, then Ray Allen, but after NCAA ended, scouts unanimously decided he was the yellow-skinned Kobe Bryant.
Just yesterday, Oden had put on a perfect tryout on this court, with astonishing strength, world-class explosiveness, and guard-like speed; the only concern was his constant injuries over the years.
But this didn’t affect the Trail Blazers’ determination to draft him at all.
They thought Xu Ling was just going through the motions, but after he completed the static and dynamic tests, the atmosphere in the Life Center gymnasium clearly changed.
Because technique was the foundation of Xu Ling’s dominance in NCAA, and these eye-catching data made people realize this guy’s talent was even better than imagined.
Amid everyone’s shock, Xu Ling moved to the technical testing segment, with the first event being spot-up shooting.
The Trail Blazers’ trainer Jeff Clark briefly explained the event rules to Xu Ling, and then it began.
Xu Ling shot after catching the ball at five spots: baseline corner, wing, and top of the arc. His shooting form was textbook standard, release crisp and clean, arc soft. The gymnasium echoed with “swish swish” of pure net sounds. In the three-point line spot-up shooting, he went 22 for 25.
This really wasn’t surprising at all.
Shooting was the foundation of Xu Ling’s college dominance.
In the next dribble pull-up jump shot, Xu Ling showed mature dribbling and rhythm sense; whether crossover step dribbling or behind-the-back dribble, he could quickly adjust his body mid-movement, repeatedly jumping over obstacles for jump shot points—it looked like his jump shot percentage off the dribble was even higher than catch-and-shoot.
The final event was dribble driving layup, with Jeff Clark simulating defense, and Xu Ling needing to score using different moves against different defenses.
Xu Ling used various practical dribbling moves combined with explosiveness to easily blow by Clark, repeatedly putting on layup shows.
His center of gravity stayed steady under contact, his mentality unchanged under disruption; March Madness had passed nearly two months ago, and the world had gradually forgotten the spectacular performance he once brought.
But today, he shook the Trail Blazers’ originally firm belief with a tryout that could be called legendary.
Pritchard had played in the NBA in the 90s; after retiring, he was a scout for the Spurs for a few years, then poached by the Trail Blazers for his outstanding ability to serve as general manager of this rebuilding team.
After watching Xu Ling’s tryout, he said from the heart: “This is the best tryout I’ve ever seen.”
He was at least 50% sure.
“And he looks like a future All-Star player.” Pritchard said like a fanatic fan, “He’s more likely to become Kobe than Kobe!”
Head coach Nate McMillan said: “But we can’t select him; we have Brandon Roy, and Oden is an unmissable player.”
This sentence pulled Pritchard out of irrational fanaticism.
He suddenly sobered up.
Yeah, even if Xu Ling really was the next Kobe, so what?
No one could bear the consequences of not picking Oden first on draft night.
Oden was the consensus pick, and with the Trail Blazers having Roy, they urgently needed to climb out of their past quagmire—they couldn’t mess up this draft.
They had spent years clearing out the jailblazers’ criminals, and would spend more time in the future restoring reputation, but the rebuild framework was set: Roy and Aldridge were future All-Stars, plus Oden. Just like Magic Johnson once said the Jordan Bulls were the team of the 90s, the Trail Blazers were the team of the 2010s, with enough potential to dominate the Western Conference in the 2010s.
This didn’t even require Oden to fully realize his potential; he didn’t need to become Bill Russell 2.0—he just needed to reach the lowest standard among centers called “Bill Russell reincarnate”—Patrick Ewing’s level—to conquer the West.
Tryout over, Xu Ling was panting heavily, sweat soaking his jersey. Pritchard walked up to him, a rare smile on his face.
“You showed me the best tryout.”
“Better than Oden?”
Xu Ling took the towel from the trainer, casually wiping the sweat from his face, his eyes fixed straight on Pritchard.
“Oden,” Pritchard said slowly, as if telling an ancient and heavy story, “is a mountain—solid, majestic, immovable. And you, Eli, you’re a raging river—flexible, ever-changing, full of endless possibilities.”
This was the Trail Blazers’ reality; they only needed that mountain to hold everything up. And they had no choice—they had to pick that mountain, or the whole castle would be questioned.
“I understand, sir.”
Xu Ling fully heard the implication in Pritchard’s words; this was something he had long anticipated.
“In any case, Eli, your performance was impeccable,” Pritchard said finally, trying to end the conversation with official words. “You have a bright future.”
Xu Ling didn’t respond again, just waved lightly and walked into Portland’s rain curtain with Craig.
Pritchard stood in place, watching that gradually blurring figure. Rain beat against the glass windows, distorting Xu Ling’s silhouette into a hazy outline that finally vanished completely. He suddenly recalled that summer 23 years ago—1984, when the Trail Blazers chased a great center and passed on Michael Jordan to pick Sam Bowie.
23 years later, would the world talk about this year’s draft in the same tone?
“Oden, Oden! These guys only know Oden! That guy was clearly our defeated opponent!” Craig said indignantly. “They’ll definitely regret it.”
“Look forward, Rock.” Xu Ling smiled faintly. “Maybe in ten years, people will say ‘The Trail Blazers had a chance to pick Eli back then’—that doesn’t sound bad, does it?”
