Recaps

After Wang Jialian acquired the Nets, Lin Qi planned a sweeping roster overhaul to build a team around first overall pick Yao Ming. He outlined trades for Elton Brand, Joe Johnson, Andre Miller, and future draft picks, then left the final Boston deal for later.

• Wang Jialian completed his purchase of the Nets, appointed Mark Roberts, and saw the team win the first overall pick in the 2002 draft.
• Lin Qi told Roberts that Stephon Marbury should be traded to the Clippers for Elton Brand to pair with Yao Ming.
• Lin Qi proposed sending Kenyon Martin to Phoenix for Joe Johnson and involving a third team to secure at least two or three future first-round picks.
• Lin Qi directed Roberts to pursue Andre Miller from Cleveland using assets from the Martin trade.
• Lin Qi told Roberts to trade Keith Van Horn, Johnny Newman, Aaron Williams, Lucious Harris, and Kendall Gill for draft picks while keeping Richard Jefferson.
• Lin Qi told Roberts to bring the resulting picks to Boston for one final deal.

Lin Qi and Mark Roberts arranged a series of trades to rebuild the New Jersey Nets, turning Keith Van Horn and other players into draft picks and assets while acquiring Andrei Kirilenko and Wang Zhizhi from Boston. On the eve of the draft, the deals were announced, leaving the Nets with a new core built around Yao Ming, Elton Brand, and Andre Miller.

• Mark Roberts told Lin Qi that the Knicks had offered Marcus Camby, Mark Jackson, and the seventh pick for Keith Van Horn, and Lin Qi proposed expanding the deal into a three-team trade with the Suns.
• Lin Qi planned to send Camby and Kenyon Martin to Phoenix and have the Nets receive Joe Johnson, the Suns’ first-round pick, Mark Jackson, and New York’s seventh pick.
• Lin Qi asked Roberts to trade the seventh pick and second-round picks to Boston for Andrei Kirilenko and Wang Zhizhi, who would join the Nets.
• The Nets traded Stephon Marbury and multiple picks to the Clippers for Elton Brand and the twelfth pick, while also acquiring Andre Miller from Cleveland.
• The Knicks, Suns, and Nets completed their three-team deal, sending Van Horn to New York and Camby and Martin to Phoenix in exchange for picks and players.
• On the eve of draft night, the Celtics sent Kirilenko and Wang Zhizhi to the Nets for the seventh pick and multiple second-round picks.

Yao Ming's public workout dazzled NBA executives and confirmed New Jersey's plan to select him first overall. Afterward, Lin Qi identified Dwyane Wade as an overlooked prospect and resolved to acquire him as the 2002 NBA Draft began.

• Lin Qi told Mark Roberts that Yao Ming was destined for New Jersey despite Jerry West's complaints about the workout arrangements.
• Yao Ming impressed the league with strong midrange shooting, five consecutive three-pointers, and twelve-for-twelve free throws.
• Roberts realized Yao Ming's shooting and offensive intelligence made New Jersey's first overall selection clear.
• Lin Qi reviewed Boston's scouting report, saw that Dwyane Wade's draft stock had fallen, and decided to acquire him at any cost.
• Two days later, the 2002 NBA Draft officially began at Madison Square Garden.

On the eve of draft night, Lin Qi traded Boston’s seventh pick for Milwaukee’s thirteenth pick and Glenn Robinson, then moved Hardaway, Vin Baker, and Robinson to the Clippers to clear Boston’s contracts. Boston entered draft night with a healthier salary structure and a large collection of future picks.

• Boston traded Kirilenko and Wang Zhizhi to New Jersey for the seventh overall pick.
• Lin Qi agreed to trade the seventh pick to Milwaukee for Glenn Robinson and the thirteenth pick, provided Milwaukee also took Anfernee Hardaway.
• Lin Qi offered Vin Baker, Glenn Robinson, and the sixteenth pick to the Clippers, who agreed to absorb the contracts with their cap space.
• Boston completed the trades and awaited draft night with the thirteenth, twenty-first, twenty-eighth, and twenty-ninth picks, along with numerous future picks.

At the 2002 NBA draft, Yao Ming went first overall to the New Jersey Nets, while Lin Qi’s Boston Celtics selected Dwyane Wade thirteenth. Lin Qi knew Wade was healthy in this timeline and planned to develop him along a different path.

• David Stern announced Yao Ming as the New Jersey Nets’ first overall pick, and Yao accepted the selection in person.
• The Chicago Bulls selected Jay Williams second, the Golden State Warriors took Mike Dunleavy third, the Memphis Grizzlies chose Drew Gooden fourth, and the Milwaukee Bucks picked Nene seventh.
• David Stern announced that the Boston Celtics had selected Dwyane Wade with the thirteenth pick.
• Broadcasters questioned Wade’s size, college performance, and suspected injury problems.
• Lin Qi knew Wade had kept his meniscus intact through careful minutes management and decided to develop him differently.

Lin Qi used Boston’s 2002 draft picks to select Dwyane Wade, Tayshaun Prince, Luis Scola, and Boris Diaw, while planning to develop Scola and Diaw through Olympia Milan. As Boston faced public criticism for dismantling its championship roster, Lin Qi’s European talent pipeline and indirect control of the New Jersey Nets and Phoenix Suns remained hidden.

• Lin Qi traded Boston’s twenty-first pick to the New Jersey Nets for their twenty-second pick and a future second-rounder, then selected Tayshaun Prince.
• Boston selected Luis Scola with the twenty-eighth pick and Boris Diaw with its twenty-ninth, after Lin Qi secured Diaw’s first-round guarantee through the Paris Celtics.
• Lin Qi planned to send Scola and Diaw to Olympia Milan and had the club pursue undrafted Greek guard Dimitris Diamantidis for development in Boston’s system.
• After the draft, American sports newspapers mocked Boston’s selections and its breakup of the four-time championship roster.
• Lin Qi’s hidden plans included indirect control of the New Jersey Nets and Phoenix Suns, alongside a European academy designed to produce talent for Boston.

After the NBA suspended Lin Qi from basketball-related affairs for a year, he arranged for Margaret to publicly oversee the Celtics while he prepared the team's decisions in advance. The chapter ended with Margaret accepting the role as his proxy.

• David Stern announced that the Celtics would lose their first-round picks for five years and pay a ten-million-dollar fine, while Lin Qi would be barred from NBA basketball affairs for one year starting August 1.
• Lin Qi called Auerbach to find a proxy and rejected Auerbach's suggestion of Danny Ainge, whom he feared would make changes of his own.
• Lin Qi decided Margaret would publicly take charge of the Celtics' basketball operations during his suspension.
• Lin Qi told Margaret to carry out his decisions as though she were repeating them, and Margaret agreed.

Lin Qi confirmed the limits of his suspension with David Stern and planned to use the year to scout amateur prospects. He then signed Mark Jackson and Rod Strickland as mentors for rookie Dwyane Wade, though he had only begun explaining Strickland’s role when the chapter ended.

• Lin Qi accepted his fine and suspension, then confirmed that he could attend college and high school games but could not contact amateur players or discuss basketball business with active players.
• Stern warned Lin Qi that any evidence of recruiting or running the Celtics during his suspension could turn it into a lifetime ban.
• Margaret told Lin Qi that the Nets had waived Mark Jackson, and Lin Qi instructed her to offer Jackson and Rod Strickland two-year veteran-minimum contracts.
• Lin Qi explained that he wanted Jackson to teach Wade to read half-court defenses and use post moves against smaller guards.
• Lin Qi began to explain what Strickland would teach Wade, but the chapter ended before he finished.

Lin Qi created a comprehensive development plan for Dwyane Wade, combining shooting instruction, guard-play coaching, and injury prevention. He secured the plan in his safe, confident Wade’s rookie development would continue even without his direct supervision.

• Lin Qi explained to Margaret that Rod Strickland would teach Wade to control drives and switch between scoring and playmaking, and Margaret promised to prepare the contracts.
• Lin Qi wrote a development plan for Wade and assigned Chip Engelland and Mark Price to improve his shooting mechanics.
• Lin Qi worried that Strickland’s physically demanding style could expose Wade to lower-body injuries, despite the meniscus protection he had received in college.
• Lin Qi ordered a dedicated sports biomechanics specialist and prescribed muscle strengthening, safer force generation, and landing techniques to protect Wade’s joints.
• Lin Qi locked the completed plan in his safe, with shooting, playmaking, post-up, and biomechanics coaching arranged for Wade’s rookie year.

Lin Qi finalized Ron Artest’s extension and approved Mehmet Okur’s return to Boston as the team completed its roster framework for the new season. Artest chose to stay with the Celtics, and Okur was set to join summer training camp.

• Lin Qi offered Ron Artest the choice of a Boston extension or a trade, while Artest’s agent explained that other teams would offer about four million dollars a year.
• Artest said he wanted to stay in Boston, valuing his teammates, the team’s support, and the fans’ affection, and signed a five-year, $21 million extension.
• Margaret told Lin Qi that Mehmet Okur had arrived in Boston and passed his physical.
• Lin Qi signed Okur to a standard rookie contract and arranged for him to join training camp the following week.
• Lin Qi completed the core of Boston’s new-season roster three days before David Stern’s ban took effect.

With his suspension set to begin, Lin Qi reviewed Boston’s 2002–2003 roster and arranged for Gary Payton to mentor rookie Dwyane Wade at the European training camp. The roster was faxed to the league office, and Lin Qi’s one-year suspension took effect at midnight on July 31.

• Lin Qi reviewed Boston’s fifteen-man roster, which remained deep despite the league-forced purge.
• Margaret brought Lin Qi the financial plan and final broadcast confirmations for the European training camp and exhibition games.
• Lin Qi asked Gary Payton to teach Dwyane Wade perimeter defense, trash talk, and low-post techniques during the camp, and Payton agreed.
• Lin Qi gave Margaret the roster and flight manifest and told her to fax the roster to the league office in New York.
• At midnight on July 31, the lights in Lin Qi’s office went out and David Stern’s one-year suspension officially took effect.

Lin Qi traveled secretly to Athens to keep his European basketball dealings hidden from the NBA and offered to buy Panathinaikos to protect Pavlos Giannakopoulos from Greece’s new wealth-disclosure law. Pavlos accepted the proposed arrangement, agreeing to review the contract while remaining the club’s honorary president.

• Lin Qi transferred his 10% stake in Panathinaikos to a European shell company under Maurizio Gherardini’s name.
• Gherardini told Lin Qi that Greece’s proposed Sports Transparency Act would require club shareholders with more than 1% ownership to disclose their family’s sources of wealth.
• Lin Qi learned that Pavlos Giannakopoulos was furious about the law and threatened to resign and sell Panathinaikos.
• Lin Qi offered to buy Panathinaikos’s sports-club license through overseas capital, leaving Pavlos and his family as honorary presidents.
• Pavlos accepted Lin Qi’s proposal and asked him to bring the contract.

In Zurich, Lin Qi planned to use EBA profits to build a European and Chinese youth basketball development network, channeling Chinese players to the EBA or NBA and returning others to the CBA. He then flew to Ohio to scout high school and college players, where LeBron James was attracting attention.

• Lin Qi told Maurizio Gherardini to use rising EBA broadcasting revenue and arena income to finance the development of 30 European arena complexes until they could operate debt-free.
• Lin Qi ordered the EBA to spend profits beyond operating needs on a worldwide youth development system, which Gherardini recognized could also help shield the league from political and antitrust opposition.
• Lin Qi said foreign investors could not own or control CBA teams, so he proposed opening youth camps and basketball schools across China's major cities instead.
• Lin Qi instructed Gherardini to send European coaches and Boston's data-driven scouting model to China, sending top prospects to the EBA or NBA and other skilled players back to CBA teams.
• Lin Qi flew to Ohio to scout high school and college players because Stern would not let him into NBA arenas, and LeBron James was the standout name in the summer of 2002.

Lin Qi watched LeBron James at a heavily publicized AAU invitational and assessed the commercial frenzy surrounding the seventeen-year-old prospect. He concluded that LeBron’s wrist had not fully healed as the pressured comeback showcase began.

• Lin Qi attended an AAU invitational in Akron while avoiding a reporter’s camera.
• Lin Qi observed Nike and Adidas representatives, Sonny Vaccaro, Eddie Jackson, Gloria, and LeBron’s entourage controlling the courtside scene.
• Lin Qi recalled the intense media coverage, business dealings, and LeBron’s unstable childhood, concluding that LeBron relied on his inner circle for security.
• LeBron entered the gym to a roaring introduction, and Lin Qi noticed him protecting his injured left wrist during warm-ups.
• Lin Qi judged that LeBron had not fully recovered and was appearing because of commercial pressure and the need for exposure.

Lin Qi watched seventeen-year-old LeBron dominate with his athleticism but struggle with his outside shot, then judged that LeBron needed a team built entirely around his control of the ball. He marked LeBron as a strategic pass for Boston and left the gym for the airport.

• LeBron drove the ball upcourt and set up a teammate for an easy basket with a precise pass.
• LeBron missed jumpers as scouts criticized his shooting and off-ball play.
• Lin Qi compared LeBron with Grant Hill and concluded that LeBron could not fit into Boston’s existing team system.
• Lin Qi wrote “Strategic pass” in his notepad, deciding that Boston should not rebuild its championship core around LeBron.
• Lin Qi left the gym before the crowds swarmed the court and told his driver to take him to the airport.

During his suspension, Lin Qi spent a vacation in East Hampton with Beth and proposed making a documentary about the Boston Dynasty and a feature film about his life and the Celtics’ rise. Beth approved of the story, and Lin Qi left them planning to develop the script together.

• Lin Qi and Beth enjoyed a private beach vacation while their five-month-old twins, Mingjie and Senna, were cared for by their childcare team.
• Lin Qi suggested that he and Beth make the most of his suspension by pursuing a Hollywood project.
• Lin Qi revealed that he had four years of behind-the-scenes footage and planned to make a documentary about the Boston Dynasty’s four consecutive championships.
• Lin Qi pitched a feature film about his life and the Boston Celtics, beginning with a wager he made in 1994 and culminating in the 1998-1999 championship season.
• Beth praised the film idea, and Lin Qi suggested they explore the script together that night.

After leading Boston to four consecutive championships and defeating Michael Jordan’s Lakers, Lin Qi reflected on how his changes had altered the NBA’s history. He worried that his influence had contributed to Eddie Griffin’s career-ending accident, but ultimately resolved to keep directing the future himself.

• Lin Qi stood alone at the Hamptons villa’s window and considered Boston’s four straight championships and its victory over Jordan’s Lakers.
• Lin Qi observed that Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal had become even more formidable after his changes to their careers.
• Lin Qi recalled that Eddie Griffin had suffered devastating injuries in a car accident after the Rockets’ unexpected playoff qualification led him to practice late.
• Lin Qi wondered whether his butterfly effects had caused Griffin’s accident and what other unforeseen changes might follow.
• Lin Qi looked at Beth sleeping, set aside his uncertainty, and vowed to keep steering history despite its consequences.

Lin Qi met Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Mark Wahlberg in Boston to recruit them for a movie that would shape the story of his fight for the Celtics. He then persuaded Aaron Sorkin to consider the project by presenting it as a tale of data-driven outsiders battling a closed power structure, and Sorkin began recording Lin Qi’s account.

• Lin Qi told Matt Damon, Ben Affleck, and Mark Wahlberg about his plan for a movie portraying their role in forcing Gaston out and saving the Celtics.
• Matt Damon recognized the film’s potential as a way to shape public memory, while Mark Wahlberg and Ben Affleck agreed to take part without charging a fee.
• Lin Qi envisioned a trilogy about his rise with the Celtics and took Matt Damon’s recommendation to approach screenwriter Aaron Sorkin.
• Aaron Sorkin initially rejected Lin Qi’s proposal because he had no interest in sports stories.
• Lin Qi reframed the movie as a political and corporate battle over data, power, and an outsider challenging established assumptions.
• Aaron Sorkin became interested and asked Lin Qi to recount how he had achieved his success, recording the conversation.

Lin Qi and Aaron Sorkin finished a film script about a ruthless, data-driven basketball executive clashing with a warm-hearted old-school scout, and David Fincher agreed to direct after reshaping the scout into a tragic hero. Brad Pitt joined the project as the scout, leaving the crucial role of Lin Qi’s protagonist uncast.

• Lin Qi and Aaron Sorkin completed the first draft, then split the protagonist’s cold reliance on data from basketball’s human warmth into two opposing characters who gradually learned to work together.
• Lin Qi rejected traditional sports-film directors and approached David Fincher, who agreed to consider directing after Lin Qi described the film as a story about an obsessive control freak imposing order on a rotten system.
• David Fincher argued that the old-school scout should become a tragic hero who could anchor the audience’s sympathy.
• David Fincher called Brad Pitt, who read the scout’s scenes and agreed to join the film.
• Lin Qi and David Fincher were left to find an actor to play the protagonist, Lin Qi.

Lin Qi rejected a proposal to change his film’s Asian male lead into a white or mixed-race character and found Keanu Reeves as a possible fit. Learning that Keanu had withdrawn from commercial films after personal tragedies, Lin Qi decided to approach him himself.

• Mary Gail and the co-producer told Lin Qi that they could not find an Asian actor who met his requirements and had enough box-office appeal.
• The co-producer suggested changing the protagonist’s race, but Lin Qi angrily refused.
• Lin Qi spotted Keanu Reeves on the Actors Guild roster and asked about him.
• Mary explained that Keanu was exhausted by personal losses and had turned down major film offers.
• Lin Qi decided Keanu was the ideal lead and said he would find him himself.

Lin Qi visited Keanu Reeves’s garage to offer him the lead role in David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin’s film about Lin’s rise through data-driven baseball. Keanu agreed to visit Boston, and three weeks later the film’s star-studded cast was announced.

• Lin Qi found Keanu Reeves working on a motorcycle in his garage and said Matt Damon had sent him.
• Lin Qi pitched Keanu a script by Aaron Sorkin, with David Fincher directing and Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, and Ben Affleck involved.
• Lin Qi left the script with Keanu and returned to his hotel without pressing him for an answer.
• The next evening, Keanu called Lin Qi and said he would come to Boston the following week.
• Three weeks later, The Hollywood Reporter and Variety announced Keanu Reeves and Brad Pitt as dual leads, with Matt Damon and Ben Affleck appearing in cameos.

Lin Qi agreed to make his basketball story as two films, using the production to reshape his public image. After funding the project and assigning preproduction work, he left Los Angeles to focus on the coming NBA and NCAA seasons.

• David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin argued that the story should be told in two films, charting Lin Qi’s rise and transformation.
• Sorkin outlined the first film’s championship victory and the second film’s focus on Pete, Grant Hill’s recovery, and the team’s four consecutive championships.
• Lin Qi approved the two-film structure and set an $80 million production budget for shooting both films back-to-back.
• Lin Qi proposed renovating an abandoned arena and installing the Celtics’ old parquet floor for authentic Boston Garden scenes.
• Lin Qi assigned location scouting and preproduction to his producer, then headed out as the NBA and NCAA seasons approached.

While suspended from the Celtics, Lin Qi reconsidered how players’ development depended on their teams and opportunities, using Al Harrington’s growth with Indiana as an example. He recognized how much his own expertise had advanced and resolved to build around the players who best fit his teams rather than simply chasing future stars.

• Lin Qi reviewed scouting reports and reflected on how four championships and his influence on the league had changed his approach to team building.
• Lin Qi studied Al Harrington’s preseason footage and saw how Indiana’s rebuild and expanded role had helped Harrington become a versatile scorer, playmaker, and defender.
• Lin Qi concluded that most players’ careers depended heavily on their development environment, including coaching, teammates, tactics, and opportunities.
• Lin Qi decided LeBron James would not suit Boston’s existing system, which depended on collective ball movement and multiple offensive engines.
• Lin Qi recognized that years of work with scouts, coaches, and medical experts had made him a skilled basketball professional, and resolved to trust his own judgment when choosing players.

Lin Qi reviewed an independent report on the Bulls’ offseason and concluded Kobe had forced Jerry Krause to abandon his plan to develop young big men in favor of veterans who could help immediately. The rebuilt Bulls had a clearer roster around Kobe, but his victory left him with no easy retreat.

• Lin Qi studied league-wide offseason reports from his independent analysis team while the league barred him from intervening in Boston’s management.
• Lin Qi recognized that Kobe’s public criticism of Kwame Brown and Eddy Curry was pressuring Jerry Krause to choose between his development plan and keeping the locker room stable.
• Jerry Krause traded Kwame Brown to the Spurs for Antonio Daniels, Malik Rose, and draft-pick compensation.
• Jerry Krause sent Eddy Curry to the Heat for Brian Grant and draft-pick compensation, while Miami gambled on Curry as Alonzo Mourning’s potential successor.
• Jerry Krause signed Donyell Marshall, whose shooting complemented the Bulls’ physical interior players and opened space for Kobe.
• Lin Qi judged that the rebuilt Bulls had become a tightly defined team around Kobe, who had won his fight with management but cut off his retreat.

While missing Boston’s season opener, Lin Qi scouted Carmelo Anthony at Syracuse and judged that the talented freshman’s scoring strengths did not fit the Celtics’ roster. After hearing Boston had won its opener, Lin Qi drove toward the airport to continue assessing prospects, with Chris Bosh in Atlanta as his next target.

• Lin Qi skipped the Celtics’ championship ceremony and traveled alone to Syracuse to scout Carmelo Anthony.
• Lin Qi observed Anthony score 24 points and grab 8 rebounds, then assessed his scoring ability, playmaking, and defensive weaknesses against Paul Pierce’s strengths.
• Lin Qi concluded that Boston did not need Anthony because Pierce and Artest already occupied the wings and Anthony’s isolation-heavy style could disrupt the team.
• Lin Qi heard that the Celtics had comfortably won their season opener, then drove to the Syracuse airport to head for Atlanta and scout Chris Bosh.