Chapter 744 - 669: Is the Development Alliance That Strong?

Chapter 744: Chapter 669: Is the Development Alliance That Strong?

Oh, and Ansu Sasse was the MVP of the Development Alliance’s first season. He was a top-tier talent in the league.

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have had the chance to return to the NBA.

The remaining players were center Andrew Bates, a 216 cm giant who was the 50th pick in the ’98 draft. He was selected by the Hornets but was cut without playing a single game, ending up in the Development Alliance.

Power forward Andre Patterson was also a second-round pick in ’98. He was drafted by the Wolves but never played a single NBA game. After languishing in the Development Alliance for a few years, he was waived by the Wolves once his rookie contract expired and was now just getting by in the league.

Shooting guard Jackie Walls, the 56th pick in the 2000 draft, was selected by the Pacers. His story was much the same; he was let go as soon as his rookie contract was up.

This just went to show how fierce the competition in the NBA was.

To go from being a star at your university to even getting a chance to participate in the draft—at that point, you were already the best of the best.

Then, with a stroke of incredible luck, you get drafted, thinking you’re about to make it big, only to get cut anyway.

And even if you weren’t cut right away, the vast majority would languish in the NBA for a couple of years before being swiftly eliminated.

Now, with Chen Yu’s arrival, some players in the league were having longer careers. With a fixed number of spots, future competition would only grow more intense.

Every year, so many talented players emerged only to find no place to play. This was actually a major concern for Stern and the league office, which was why they were considering expanding the Development Alliance.

Stern had even discussed with Chen Yu the idea of taking the three-on-three league from his show and turning it into a separate secondary league.

It was simply because there were too many players and not enough spots to accommodate them all.

Finally, there was the point guard.

His name was Eddie Levant. He had entered the ’99 draft but went unselected, after which he went to the Development Alliance to wait for an opportunity.

He never got that opportunity. Last year, he was the starting point guard for the Huntsville Flying Team.

When Chen Yu offered him a salary of 100,000 US dollars, he came to China without a moment’s hesitation.

The game took place at the end of July.

Originally, Chen Yu had planned for it to be like a friendly match—a private, internal scrimmage would have been enough.

Chen Yu was also afraid of losing face if they lost. ℯ

It wasn’t that he was worried about the opponent.

Of course, there was some concern, as they were facing the Hongyuan team, the reigning CBA champions.

However, several of Hongyuan’s key players were absent.

Their foreign player, starting center Jichen, had gone back to the United States for vacation. In addition, their four main players—Yi Jianlian, Zhu Fangyu, Du Feng, and Wang Shipeng—had all been called up to the National Team for training camp.

This year, Hongyuan had become the main contributor to the National Team, making up half its roster.

In other words, the Pioneer team was facing Hongyuan’s B-team.

Chen Yu was worried because his starting lineup had just been assembled. He had basically just plucked five guys from the Development Alliance, one for each position, and they had never played together before. He was afraid their teamwork would be poor.

After all, this was the CBA, arguably the top professional basketball league in Asia.

Chen Yu personally felt that players from the Development Alliance weren’t so skilled that they could beat the CBA champions without any teamwork, just by playing casually.

But Chen Tao proposed, ’Why play behind closed doors? Let’s make it public.’

’We can even sell tickets and invite the media.’

Using the Tianhe Stadium, with its capacity of over eight thousand, wasn’t cheap. The money shouldn’t come out of Chen Yu’s pocket, and every little bit they could earn would help.

Since he wanted to make it public, Chen Yu didn’t mind and agreed.

But during the pre-game warm-ups, Chen Yu was surprised to see Yi Jianlian in Hongyuan’s lineup.

Chen Haitao, who was beside him, explained, "Aren’t they in training camp at QHD? They don’t have much going on anyway. He happened to have something to take care of back here, so I had him come over. It’s good for him to get some experience."

The men’s national team had only one goal this year: the Asian Championship.

In June, they had played an exhibition game against the US All-Star Team. In July, they played in a four-nation tournament. It had just ended not long ago, and they were now resting at the QHD training base.

They still had their final exhibition games to play in August.

At a time like this, Chen Yu didn’t believe for a second that Yonas would let a player leave.

With Bartel kicked off the National Team, Yi Jianlian was now the starting power forward.

He hadn’t played very well in last year’s Olympics, but he was still young and had room to grow.

Chen Haitao just chuckled, his true intentions unreadable.

Chen Yu didn’t press the issue, so he didn’t ask any further.

After Chen Yu walked away and the players had finished their warm-ups, Chen Haitao deliberately went over to Yi Jianlian’s side and said in a low voice, "Ah Lian, take this seriously. Play your best."

Yi Jianlian hadn’t come back on personal business; Chen Haitao had arranged for his leave of absence.

Yonas hadn’t agreed at first, but when he heard it was an exhibition game against Chen Yu’s team, whose players were all from the Development Alliance, he gave his approval.

Playing a high-level game is also a way to gain experience, isn’t it?

Yi Jianlian nodded blankly, not quite understanding.

Chen Haitao noticed and said, "You blockhead. I know you’ve always wanted to go to the NBA. Doctor Chen is an owner of the Suns. Think about Mo Ke. What was his skill level? Why do you think the Suns drafted him back then?"

"So if you play well and catch Doctor Chen’s attention, it’ll be a huge boost for you when you enter the draft."

If Mo Ke, who barely played a few games the entire season, could be drafted by the Suns, then the much more talented Yi Jianlian had a real shot at being picked by them too.

Yi Jianlian nodded blankly again. "Brother Tao, I understand."

"Go on."

Chen Haitao patted Yi Jianlian on the back, signaling for him to get ready.

Then he went to head coach Li Chunjiang and asked if he was confident.

"Hard to say," Li Chunjiang said, glancing at the opposing players. His eyes lingered on the 2.16-meter-tall center, Andrew Bates.

He had cornrows, and he was huge—his arms were as thick as thighs, and he was dark and powerfully built.

"It’d be an easier matchup if Jichen were here."

In the current CBA, the game was still ruled by the frontcourt.

On the Hongyuan team, when Jichen was the starting center, Yi Jianlian would play alongside him at the four.

If Jichen didn’t play, Yi Jianlian would move to the center position.

But besides them, Hongyuan had no other big men.

Their backup center, Zhang Boyu, and power forward, Ji Le, weren’t tall enough.

Their weight wasn’t enough either; they were just over one hundred kilograms.

Meanwhile, this Bates on the other team was at least 120 kilograms.

Most importantly, Yi Jianlian’s physicality wasn’t his strong suit. If he really had to go up against Bates, it would be a tough fight.

Chen Haitao, however, was quite optimistic. "It’s fine. Let’s just see how it goes."

Li Chunjiang nodded and said no more. It was a friendly match, after all; the result didn’t matter.

To the applause of the more than two thousand spectators in the arena, Hongyuan put out a starting lineup of Yi Jianlian, Ji Le, Zhou Junhua, Qu Shaobin, and Li Qun.

As for the Pioneer team, their starters were, naturally, the five foreign players.

The Pioneer’s head coach was named Brad Stevens.

Now that he had the players, he naturally needed a head coach.

Chen Yu wasn’t keen on using a domestic coach. The current crop of Chinese coaches were all still studying in Phoenix.

He couldn’t afford an NBA-level head coach, or even an assistant coach.

And they wouldn’t come to the CBA anyway.

That left the NCAA as his only option.

But even in the NCAA, it wasn’t easy to hire a head coach from a well-known university. People weren’t willing to travel halfway across the world to coach in the CBA. Why would they bother?

Chen Yu used his connections, sent out some invitations, and asked many people for recommendations.

In the end, only seven people, tempted by Chen Yu’s annual salary of 200,000 US dollars, were willing to come to China.

After a selection process, he chose Stevens.

He was currently an assistant coach at Butler University.

To secure the job, he was even willing to accept a pay cut.

Chen Yu specifically asked him why, and his exact words were that he just wanted to work alongside Chen Yu, or rather, for Chen Yu.

Chen Yu understood immediately. ’This young man’s intentions lie elsewhere.’ He wanted to use Chen Yu’s connections to break into the NBA.

However, Chen Yu liked people like this, who had ambition and drive, so he chose him.

Right now, he was huddling with Bates and the other four to go over their strategy.

"Shoot threes!"

He set the tone without any hesitation.

The CBA’s three-point line was the same as FIBA’s—shorter than the NBA’s. This was an advantage.

After arriving in China, Stevens had specifically reviewed tapes of CBA games. He discovered that the CBA’s style of play was frontcourt-dominant, with teams stacking their big men inside. However, their perimeter players were generally undersized and less skilled.

With no defensive three-second rule, the paint was crowded, making penetration a poor offensive choice.

Meanwhile, both of Pioneer’s guards were over 1.9 meters tall, giving them a clear height advantage over Hongyuan’s backcourt.

Chen Yu didn’t interfere with how Stevens set up his strategy.

He just sat on the sidelines, watching the game with Su Jun, who had also come.

He had expected a closely contested game, but to his surprise, Hongyuan was completely blown out in just the first quarter.

to 13.

At the end of the first quarter, Pioneer was already leading by a full 13 points.

Su Jun was stunned. He stared blankly and said, "Are players from the Development Alliance really this good?"

He didn’t pay much attention to the weaker teams in the NBA, let alone something like the Development Alliance.

Chen Yu was a bit dazed himself. ’They’re the champions, aren’t they? It shouldn’t be like this.’