Is this really our Cleveland Cavaliers?

"Su's debut explodes for 30 points—NBA welcomes a new generation of superstar!"

"Historic debut! Su's performance evokes memories of LeBron's rookie season!"

"No wonder Su is so outstanding—his role model is LeBron James!"

When Xu Rui read these sports headlines out loud to Su Yi, Su Yi thought they were fine at first.

A new generation of superstar!

Huh, not bad!

But then, why did they have to bring up LeBron?

How good was LeBron James's debut anyway?

Su Yi remembered clearly—LeBron James's debut was 25 points, 6 rebounds, 9 assists, and 4 steals, and he ended up losing the game!

What's the point of a losing stat line?

Of course, the media still hyped it up like crazy, calling 25+5+5 a historic first of its kind.

Su Yi: (ˉ▽￣~) Pfft~~

With stats like that, they might as well say he hogged the team.

Look at that game—Ricky Davis, the original team leader, only took 15 shots, fewer than the rookie LeBron James. You can imagine how much of a ball hog LeBron was on the court.

Fine, be a ball hog, but at least lead the team to a win.

But no, the team lost, and he didn't lose personally, right?

And then they hyped him up afterward.

Probably that's where it started—the whole "the team lost, but the player didn't" nonsense.

"A Rui, stop reading. Just hearing that guy's name gives me a headache. I had a 30-point debut, and the media still has to drag his name into it. I can't with them."

Su Yi couldn't help but press his hand to his forehead.

Xu Rui stopped reading when he heard Su Yi's words.

Then he quickly changed the subject. "Yi, Plants vs. Zombies broke 10 million copies yesterday!"

"That's pretty good."

Su Yi nodded at that.

"Yi, why aren't you even a little happy? That's 10 million copies—sales over 100 million dollars!"

Xu Rui hadn't expected Su Yi's reaction to be so flat.

Su Yi forced a smile. "I'm happy, I'm really happy. What do you want to eat tonight? My treat!"

"Yi, that smile is way too fake."

The moment Xu Rui finished speaking, Su Yi dropped the fake smile.

That evening, the two of them joined the coaching staff for a hearty meal at a local Michelin-starred restaurant.

"Come on, let's toast to Su's NBA journey getting smoother and smoother!"

Kai Lei Menluo raised his glass first.

Everyone raised their glasses in unison, toasting Su Yi.

Though they hadn't worked with Su Yi for very long, they'd already fallen in love with the job—good pay, great employer!

Of course, they hoped this job would last a while.

So naturally, they wanted Su Yi's NBA journey to go smoothly, for him to play better and better, and go further and further.

"Thanks, I'll work hard, play for 20 years, and make sure I support you all until you retire!"

As soon as Su Yi finished speaking, everyone laughed.

Su Yi's personal coaching staff averaged 41 years old. If he really played for 20 years like he said, he could indeed support them until retirement.

After eating and drinking their fill, Su Yi went home, rested a bit, then trained for another two and a half hours before wrapping up for the day.

Then he washed up and went to bed.

The next morning, Su Yi arrived at the team's training facility bright and early.

After about an hour of training, his teammates trickled in one by one.

Su Yi greeted each of them.

Now, Su Yi was a different man—people had to look at him with new eyes.

His teammates all responded warmly.

In the NBA, if you want respect, the stronger your skills, the better.

After the team's daily practice ended, everyone filed into the meeting room to watch game footage.

The footage, of course, was of tonight's opponent—the San Antonio Spurs.

How could they possibly watch Cleveland Cavaliers game footage?

GM LeBron would probably be the first to object.

Su Yi watched the San Antonio Spurs replay while glancing at LeBron James ahead of him, the corners of his mouth involuntarily lifting.

The San Antonio Spurs were arguably the biggest thorn in LeBron James's entire career.

After all, Tim Duncan was on the San Antonio Spurs.

Su Yi still clearly remembered a picture he'd seen in his past life.

There was a dividing line in the middle of the image. On the left side was Tim Duncan, on the right was LeBron James.

What was 23-year-old Tim Duncan doing? Winning a championship + Finals MVP!

What was 30-year-old Tim Duncan doing? Sending 23-year-old LeBron James home!

What was 38-year-old Tim Duncan doing? Sending 30-year-old LeBron James home!

Pfft!

Su Yi couldn't help but laugh out loud, which naturally drew a puzzled look from Damon Jones sitting in front of him.

He turned back to glance at Su Yi, who waved his hand.

Su Yi quickly suppressed his smile and refocused on the game footage.

Time flew by in the blink of an eye, arriving at 7 PM at Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena, where the Cleveland Cavaliers were about to face the San Antonio Spurs!

After his perfect debut, noticeably more Cavaliers fans recognized Su Yi.

When the player introductions reached Su Yi walking out of the tunnel, the cheers and applause were far more enthusiastic than in his first game.

Su Yi greeted the fans as he walked toward center court.

After the grand introduction ceremony ended, both teams' players began warming up.

Once warm-ups finished, the starting lineups took the court.

Su Yi was still coming off the bench for this game.

Before the game, LeBron James had mentioned to Mike Brown about starting Su Yi, but Mike Brown didn't agree.

Mike Brown thought it was too early and planned to observe a few more games first.

"BEEP! BEEP!"

With the sound of the whistle, the game officially began.

Right from the tip-off, LeBron James went all out—driving inside, shooting outside—scoring 15 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, and 1 steal in a single quarter, leading the team to a 23-18 lead, only up by 5.

"LeBron!" "LeBron!" "LeBron!"... The entire arena roared with excitement.

On the bench, Su Yi frowned slightly. This guy's playing this well and still can't pull away.

Let me handle this!

In the second quarter, Su Yi checked in. Right away, through his off-ball movement, he kept finding opportunities.

Damon Jones delivered the ammunition in time!

"Swish!" "Swish!" "Swish!"...

In less than two minutes, Su Yi went three for three, scoring 9 points in a burst, leading the team on a 9-4 run that stretched the lead to double digits.

Su Yi silently glanced at LeBron James on the bench and murmured to himself: This is the difference between us.

I pull away easily, while you fight tooth and nail just to get a small lead.

More importantly, Su Yi's playing style was completely different from LeBron James's.

LeBron James had the entire team revolve around him, having teammates create space for him; Su Yi, on the other hand, created space for his teammates.

"Time-out!"

Popovich couldn't help but call a timeout. Even when LeBron James was hitting shot after shot earlier, Popovich hadn't considered him a real threat.

But if this rookie kept shooting like this, they were going to collapse!

After the timeout, Popovich naturally assigned heavy defensive attention to Su Yi.

Seeing this, Su Yi turned himself into a decoy, creating opportunities for his teammates.

His teammates didn't let him down, knocking down shot after shot.

From there, the Cavaliers' bench unit found their rhythm, dropping 20 points in just half a quarter.

The lead stretched to 15 points.

The San Antonio Spurs were left dazed.

Not to mention the Spurs—even the home fans were bewildered.

Is this really our Cleveland Cavaliers?

When did we ever play offense this fluid?

In the fans' minds, Cavaliers offense meant LeBron James!

LeBron James pick-and-roll, LeBron James driving to the basket, LeBron James passing...

And now, without LeBron James, their team was playing offense this smoothly.

One word: satisfying!

The crowd in the arena erupted.