Vampire

The next day, as soon as Su Yi arrived at the practice facility, Mike Brown called him into the coach's office.

Su Yi walked into the coach's office, greeted Mike Brown, then casually picked up a drink from the assortment on the table and said, "Coach, can I have one?"

"Of course!"

The moment Mike Brown finished speaking, Su Yi grabbed a random bottle, plopped down on the sofa, and started drinking, exuding a full sense of ease.

Mike Brown had no issue with this at all.

In Mike Brown's coaching philosophy, his relationship with his players was: off the court, friends who could talk about anything; on the court, comrades supporting each other.

He liked this relaxed attitude Su Yi had toward him.

"Su, you've been playing quite well in the last few games. I'm thinking of moving you into the starting lineup for the next game. What do you think?"

Mike Brown got straight to the point.

Huh?

Su Yi hadn't expected to start so soon, but he felt an inexplicable reluctance.

First, if he started, he'd have to go up against the opponent's starters.

Second, he didn't have enough chemistry with the starters, especially LeBron James, whose passes were always a beat slow.

He was much better off with his good buddy on the team, Damon Jones, and his passes.

Finally, he didn't like LeBron James's style of shouldering everything himself, nor his habit of acting like he'd gotten a bargain after the game while still complaining.

That style of play meant his stats would definitely look great.

But once they lost, he never took the blame himself—it was always his teammates' fault.

Wasn't that just getting the benefit and still acting smug?

Annoying.

"Not willing?"

Mike Brown noticed Su Yi's expression.

Su Yi waved his hand and said, "Coach, I appreciate the trust you've given me, but I don't think the time is right yet.

First, if I get promoted to the starting lineup, the starters and bench will become two extremes.

Second, I haven't adapted to matching up against opposing starters yet.

Finally, my chemistry with the bench is much better than with the starters."

After hearing Su Yi's explanation, Mike Brown couldn't help but fall into thought.

He realized he had indeed overlooked things, and it was pretty much as Su Yi had described.

Mike Brown was also a very open-minded coach; otherwise, he wouldn't have discussed it with Su Yi beforehand.

Mike Brown looked at Su Yi and said, "Su, then we'll do it your way. But the starting spot will always be waiting for you. When you feel ready, just let me know."

"Thank you so much, Coach."

After saying that, Su Yi said goodbye to Mike Brown and casually grabbed another drink on his way out.

Seeing this, Mike Brown couldn't help but smile.

As soon as Su Yi returned to the practice facility, Damon Jones walked over curiously and asked, "Su, what did the coach say?"

"Want a drink? I grabbed one for you."

Su Yi didn't answer; instead, he handed Damon Jones the drink he'd taken on his way out.

"Thanks!"

Damon Jones thanked him, then immediately twisted off the cap and took a sip.

After one gulp, he was about to ask the same question again.

But Su Yi was already gone.

Where's Su?

Damon Jones looked around left and right, only to see Su Yi heading toward the empty basketball court to train.

Damon Jones quickly chased after him, continuing to ask.

But Su Yi kept his mouth shut.

Time flew by, and it was November 18th. The Cleveland Cavaliers returned home to face the Western Conference weaklings, the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The once-dominant Minnesota Timberwolves, as Kevin Garnett grew older, combined with a poor team atmosphere and management's questionable moves, had missed the playoffs for two straight seasons.

Remember the 03-04 season? The Minnesota Timberwolves went 58-24 in the regular season, finishing first in the West.

But just one season later, in 04-05, they only managed 44-38, landing in 9th place in the West and missing the playoffs.

Last season, 05-06, the Minnesota Timberwolves were even worse, finishing with just 33 wins, second-to-last in the West.

This season, up to now, the Minnesota Timberwolves were only 3-5, and it didn't look like they had much hope.

Even so, Coach Mike Brown reminded his players before the game not to let their guard down.

"BEEP. BEEP."

With the sound of the whistle, the game officially tipped off.

"CLANG!" "CLANG!" "CLANG!"...

Right from the start, Kevin Garnett was clanking iron like crazy.

But even so, the Cleveland Cavaliers couldn't seize the opportunity to pull away.

Half a quarter in, the score was tied 14 to 12!

The Cleveland Cavaliers were leading by just 2 points.

Mike Brown couldn't take it anymore. With a wave of his hand, he subbed in Su Yi and Damon Jones, and at the same time, he had Damon Jones take over playmaking.

But LeBron James wasn't too willing to accept that.

Once on the court, LeBron James didn't hand the ball over to Damon Jones. Instead, he hogged the rock, directing traffic from the top of the arc.

The newly subbed-in Damon Jones became a point guard without the ball.

Damon Jones: 😭😭😭

With that, subbing in Su Yi and Damon Jones was completely pointless.

Because the two of them couldn't even touch the ball.

The game remained as tight as before.

You score one, I score one—the score seesawed back and forth.

"BEEP. BEEP."

The first quarter ended with the score tied at 22.

Damon Jones trudged back to the bench with a dejected look on his face. He was honestly fed up.

As a point guard, how was he supposed to play without any ball possession?

Eric Snow: Same boat!

As the starting point guard for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Eric Snow understood Damon Jones's feelings all too well.

If the timing weren't so off, the two ball-less point guards might have hugged and cried together.

Damon Jones couldn't help but glance at his good buddy Su Yi and asked, "Su, you doing okay?"

After all, Damon Jones had noticed that Su Yi had created several open looks off the ball.

But the pass just never came in time.

If the ball had been in his hands, he would have delivered it to Su Yi right away.

That was why, during the four-game winning streak, Damon Jones averaged as many as 8.5 assists per game.

"Of course I'm fine. The question is, are you okay, Mr. Ball-Less Point Guard?"

Su Yi couldn't help but tease.

Damon Jones: ￣□￣｜｜

Seeing Damon Jones's expression, Su Yi couldn't help but laugh.

Then Su Yi glanced over at LeBron James.

LeBron James was looking at a stat sheet, studying the numbers.

Su Yi was curious what kind of stats that guy had put up.

So Su Yi asked an analyst for the first-quarter stat sheet and took a look:

LeBron James: 7-for-4 from the field, 0-for-1 from three, 6-for-7 from the free-throw line, with a monstrous 14 points, 3 rebounds, 1 steal, and 3 turnovers.

And on the other side, Kevin Garnett: 1-for-8 from the field, 1-for-1 from the line, with 3 points, 3 rebounds, 1 steal, and 2 blocks.

Kevin Garnett might have been cold tonight on offense, but he was outstanding on the defensive end.

In contrast, LeBron James's stats looked great, but his style of play was hurting the team, bleeding his teammates dry.

Not to mention anything else, just look at Su Yi and Damon Jones after they subbed in. In the half-quarter they played, Damon Jones took only one shot.

And Su Yi, a sharpshooter from outside, didn't get a single shot attempt.

Was he not moving off the ball on the court?

No, he was running plenty, even creating several three-point opportunities.

But if the ball never came, what was the point?

Meanwhile, LeBron James was using Su Yi's off-ball movement to create space, constantly driving inside for layups and scoring.

Fine, whatever. But at least lead the team to a lead, right? And what was the result?

22-all!

He filled up his own stat sheet and didn't care whether the team won or lost.

A vampire!

Su Yi flipped the table in frustration.