Volume 5: Unrivaled

Whenever the Warriors played on the road, Chinese Americans and international students from all across the USA would come to the arena to catch a glimpse of Zhou Qi in action. "A lot of people say the Warriors have flaws in the paint, but that isn't a problem at all. It won't stop us from winning game after game, nor will it prevent us from successfully defending our title. Our small-ball lineup will sweep aside everything!" The Lakers, however, did not care about winning or losing. Losing a couple more games would be even better, helping their chances at the top pick. The Warriors were also happy to take it easy and conserve energy, creating a world where Lopez was the only one getting hurt. No one blamed Looney or Zhou Qi. They had always been blue-collar big men, low draft picks on minimum contracts. No matter how poorly they played, they should not have been criticized—let alone when their performances had actually exceeded outside expectations. That summer, he had only spent a week back home reuniting with his family before flying back to the USA to keep training until camp began. If they could spend another two years developing and make major progress, they would certainly be able to help the Warriors. But now was not the time. The loss to the Pelicans once again thrust the Warriors into the spotlight, yet even under those circumstances, Zhang Yu still reiterated his confidence in the Warriors' interior and showed no intention of changing the current situation. As a second-year second-round pick, Zhou Qi's performance was more than satisfactory. In July, Ding Yanyuhang signed a training camp deal with the Mavericks, but he failed to show enough to impress them and was waived in October, shattering his NBA dream. He received