Where the noise did not reach

Chapter 64 The Memphis Three Musketeers
Since that crushing defeat on the first day of training camp, Xu Ling has completely replaced Rudy Gay and become the Grizzlies' de facto new core.

Gay was not only isolated by most of his teammates, but he also chose to isolate himself, actively cutting off communication with the team. In the entire locker room, apart from veterans Eddie Jones and Mike Miller occasionally exchanging a few words with him, everyone else had become almost a stranger to him.

Kyle Lowry, who had previously been on friendly terms with Xu Ling, quickly and openly distanced himself from him, frequently trying to curry favor with Xu Ling during training, to the point of being almost obsequious.

Just as the power structure of the team was undergoing a dramatic change, head coach Marc Jaffaroni officially introduced his "seven seconds or less" (sometimes abbreviated as SSOL) offensive system to the whole team, which originated from the Suns and had dominated the regular season in the past few years.

Thus, the first critical question arose: Where is Steve Nash of the Grizzlies?
Without a historically great offensive strategist like Nash, trying to play a flashy run-and-gun offense is like the Warriors trying to force a passing and cutting offense without Curry, or Phil Jackson's assistants trying to master the triangle offense without Jordan, Kobe, or Shaq—it's destined to be a poor imitation and a futile effort.

Reality quickly delivered a heavy blow. Jarius Jackson and Kyle Lowry proved extremely ill-suited to this system that heavily relied on the point guard's insight and dominance.

Jarius Jackson is essentially a shooting guard trapped in the body of a point guard. He craves finishing rather than playmaking, preferring to attack the basket rather than orchestrate the offense. Under the immense pressure of the SSOL system's demands for quick decision-making and precise passing, he appears hesitant and confused, repeatedly missing optimal passing opportunities, like a forward captain forced onto the bench, completely unable to find his rhythm.

Kyle Lowry's problem is more fundamental. At this stage, neither his skills nor his basketball IQ are far from being at the level to master this complex system. The SSOL system requires a point guard to read the defense in the blink of an eye, direct runs, and deliver pinpoint passes with surgical precision, but Lowry's passing and ball-handling abilities are still somewhat rough, and his decision-making is often a beat slow. His strengths lie in hustle and defense, not in creating artistic offensive plays at high speed. Putting him in the role of "Nash" will only result in a complete loss of form and chaos.

On the training field, the offense repeatedly stalled. Rapid passing turned into frequent errors, and fluid runs became chaotic one-on-one plays. Without a true engine, SSOL's dazzling system became a machine with rusted parts, constantly malfunctioning, in Memphis.

Five days later, Mark Jaffaroni completely gave up on the idea that Jarius Jackson and Kyle Lowry could master the SSOL system.

He went directly to Jerry West and urgently demanded, "Jerry, we have to make a trade to bring in a point guard who can truly drive this system. Otherwise, the so-called run-and-gun offense is simply meaningless!"

The problem is that, looking at the entire league, there are very few point guards who can truly drive a run-and-gun offense.

Steve Nash? He's definitely not for sale, forget about it. Jason Kidd? Theoretically possible, but the New Jersey Nets have absolutely no intention of breaking up the team. Chris Paul and Deron Williams? Of course, they're ideal candidates, but equally out of reach.

Of all the star point guards in their prime, the only one who seems potentially attainable through a trade is Andre Miller of the Philadelphia 76ers.

However, reason told West that now was not the right time to make a trade. They needed to get some samples out of the current roster first, and more importantly, they needed to use this opportunity to test Xu Ling's true potential.

“Mark,” West’s voice was steady, yet carried an undeniable air, “the trading window never closes, but the opportunity to see a person clearly is fleeting.”

The man with the logo gazed intently at the training field and continued, "Why don't we try a different approach? Since we don't have a ready-made Steve Nash, why not try having Eli play point guard more often and see what he can bring? I need to know how much he can handle under real pressure."

“Eli?” Jafaroni’s tone was full of surprise. “Let him play point guard?”

West's answer was somewhat vague: "He played that position in college."

In fact, no one doubts whether Xu Ling's ball-handling and dribbling skills meet the standards of a point guard. The real question is: if a player whose draft comparison is Kobe Bryant and who is known for his powerful offense really transitions to point guard, will he find joy in organizing and passing like Akira Sendoh in "Slam Dunk," or will he become obsessed with racking up triple-doubles like Michael Jordan during his solo-carrying era?
Either way, it seems worth a try.

The Grizzlies' biggest concern right now is making mistakes.

A team that is in a slump in all aspects can still improve no matter what it does, so what's wrong with that? At most, the path to improvement might be wrong, but it is still moving upwards.

This bold suggestion made Jaffaroni uneasy, but he eventually accepted it—after all, the regular season had not yet started, and who could say for sure that their $60 million man wouldn't become a one-in-a-million, versatile guard like West in the past, capable of both offense and passing?

Just as all teams were busy preparing for the new season, the Portland Trail Blazers, who seemed to have completed their rebuild, suddenly received bad news: their number one draft pick, Greg Oden, was injured in training and needed to undergo minimally invasive surgery, ending his entire rookie season.

The draft is sometimes like a high-stakes gamble. A very few teams can realize their dreams, while the vast majority are simply optimistic but ultimately unsuccessful—some know the outcome from the start, calmly awaiting their hopes to be dashed; but the most desperate are those who firmly believe they've drafted a chosen one who can rewrite the team's destiny, only to discover in the end that it was all just a malicious joke from God: a joke to tease you, don't take it too seriously. "So, now only one question remains: KD or Eli, who will be chosen as Rookie of the Year?"

In an ESPN poll that followed, the two were neck and neck in terms of support – Xu Ling and Durant were equally popular.

When Jaffaroni announced during team training that Xu Ling would become the team's point guard, the reactions at the scene were varied.

Jackson and Lowry were secretly delighted, finally able to temporarily escape the suffocating SSOL system and no longer bear the burden of playmaking duties they were simply incapable of handling. Pau Gasol responded with a cold laugh, in his view, this further confirmed the team's determination to implement a run-and-gun offense, and that a traditional center like himself was clearly not in the long-term plan. The most vehement reaction came from Rudy Gay, whose first thought upon hearing the arrangement was: Will I still be able to touch the ball? Do I have a future with this team?
In the following days of training, whenever Xu Ling had possession of the ball, Gay would proactively reach out for it. Xu Ling wasn't deliberately avoiding passing to him—he was simply reading the defense and executing the tactics, not just passing to whoever asked for the ball. Thus, Gay, already convinced he was being ostracized, became absolutely certain of one thing: this $60 million man was targeting him, and all of this was tacitly approved by the coaching staff.

Guy then brought the issue to his agent, Arne Treme. Treme immediately called Jerry West, demanding in a strong tone that management "handle it properly," and warned that his client was "extremely emotional" and that if the matter was not taken seriously, Guy's camp would have to take "drastic measures."

After hanging up the phone, West's expression in the office was unpredictable.

The team's overall plan will not be altered by such incidents, and he is prepared to take aggressive trades to maintain locker room stability if necessary, but not now.

As a player who is not highly regarded by Nike, Gay's unusual move has also attracted the brand's attention.

From the moment Xu Ling rejected Nike and provocatively offered an exorbitant contract during negotiations, he was regarded as an enemy by Nike, not to mention that he eventually switched sides to Adidas.

For Nike, they could easily use their vast media resources to give the Grizzlies a boost and make things even more exciting.

As soon as the news broke, Nike acted quickly, leaking information to ESPN senior NBA reporter Chris Sheridan, claiming that internal strife broke out during the Grizzlies' training camp, and that Xu Ling and Gay may have even had a physical altercation.

Suddenly, the Memphis Grizzlies, who hadn't attracted much attention even after bringing in Adidas's 60 million dollar man, became the focus of public opinion.

Xu Ling retweeted the news on Twitter and wrote: "Since everyone is so interested in our locker room, I'll tell you what the real situation is like."

“You know, Rudy can’t stand people making stupid mistakes. During a break in an intra-squad scrimmage, Rudy was frustrated and went back to the locker room to throw a water bottle at Kyle. And guess what? At least three teammates immediately surrounded him! Darko was even clapping and shouting, ‘Hit him! Hit him to death!’”

"Ever since then, Rudy has had an iron rod in his closet—ostensibly for self-defense. After the next training session, Kyle mocked him, saying, 'A brainless person like you only knows how to fight one-on-one.' Rudy immediately grabbed the iron rod and beat Kyle until he was rolling on the ground begging for mercy."

"At this point, our leader Paul (Gasol) got excited, pulled out his stun gun and said, 'How can I miss out on hitting people?' One hit and Kyle was knocked unconscious. Rudy yelled angrily, 'Don't you fucking mess with me!' Paul retorted, 'Say that again and see what happens!'"

"If Paul hadn't been holding a stun gun, they probably would have started fighting on the spot. I remember our head coach, Mr. Marcjafaroni, was stunned and kept muttering, 'They're crazy, crazy, they've all gone crazy.'"

"This is my version. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental."

Xu Ling may have just casually made a joke, but in an unexpected way, he cleverly defused Nike's malicious public opinion offensive. This tweet not only quickly went viral but also sparked heated discussions among media, fans, and even television programs: Was Eli serious or joking? What did Rudy Gay respond? And what did Pau Gasol say?
They all chose to remain silent.

On the contrary, Kyle Lowry, the "victim" in the story, specifically registered a Twitter account to reassure those netizens who "cared"—or did they really care?—about his safety: "Thank you for your well wishes, I am still alive."

P.S.: It will be available for purchase tomorrow, and I estimate I can update the first VIP chapter around 8 AM. Today is the last day of the month, so please vote with your monthly tickets! Thank you all for your support!

(End of this chapter)