"Who is Xu Yong?" In the car heading to Tempe, Harden, who was sitting in the passenger seat, turned to ask while holding the Devils' new season roster in his hand.
Compared with the others, the pinyin-abbreviated name was so special that he had to have an English mark of "she.yew" next to it so he knew how to pronounce it.
The person driving the car at this time was Scott Pera, now an assistant coach for the Arizona State University Devils and Harden's former high school coach.
"Xu Yong." Pera first said the exact pronunciation of Xu Yong's name, and after taking a bite of the egg pancake, he continued, "A Chinese player, a four-star high school student, ranked 31st in the class of 2007, in order to recruit him , Sandek promised a starting spot."
He hadn't eaten lunch yet to pick up Harden, so he had to eat while driving.
Listening to Pera's explanation, Harden's eyes widened.
The NCAA committee ranks high school students entering college every year. Rankings 1 to 25 are five stars, 25 to 100 are four stars, 100 to 200 are three stars, and so on.
Although No. 31 is a four-star player, he can still be considered a five-star player. He has never heard of a yellow player who can play to this level in the NCAA before.
"He is still the 3A first team in Washington State. Trust me, you will like him." Pera said with a smile.
"Have you already seen him?" Harden asked doubtfully.
"Yes, he came a week earlier than you. That guy is very mature, confident, and works hard." When talking about hard work, Pera emphasized her tone.
Harden turned around after hearing this, looked at Xu Yong's name and touched his bare chin. He was really curious about this Xu Yong.
About half an hour later, Harden appeared at the door of his dormitory, and when he pushed the door open and entered, he saw someone already inside.
He was over two meters tall, with a strong build, good shoulder width and wingspan, and a sunny and handsome face, but the way he looked at him was a little strange.
It was as if he knew him, but the person he knew might not be him.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you, he is still your roommate." Perla said.
"Hello, I'm Xu Yong. You look like a singer I know." After Xu Yong came back to his senses, he reached out to him with a smile on his face.
"Really? I'm James Harden, and I'm honored." Harden looked happy, because besides playing basketball, his favorite thing is singing.
After a brief exchange of greetings, Harden and Xu Yong were already chatting together.
He didn't feel what Pera said, but what he could feel was that Xu Yong was very outgoing, completely unlike the yellow people he had seen before.
During the chat between the two, he learned more information about Xu Yong besides what Pera said.
Xu Yong has lived in the United States for two years. In his last year at Bush High School, he led the team to a record of 26 wins and 5 losses. He averaged 17.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 3 blocks per game.
That helped him get offers from many colleges, and the reason he ultimately chose Arizona State University was because he could get more opportunities here.
Harden can be sure of this, because the Devils only achieved a record of 2 wins and 16 losses last season, ranking at the bottom of the Pac10 League. Even including the invitational tournament, they still had 8 wins and 22 losses, which is a standard team.
Moreover, in the list Pera showed him, there were only three people taller than two meters including Xu Yong.
To use a very appropriate metaphor, if Phoenix is Los Angeles, then the University of Arizona is the Lakers, and they are the Clippers.
If it weren't for the abundance of opportunities, who would give up the Lakers and choose to go to the Clippers?
While they were chatting, Perla went out to take a phone call.
"Hey guys, your training camp has begun." When he came in again, he greeted.
Harden was the last one to arrive at school because the decision was not an easy one for him.
As the 17th-ranked five-star high school student in the class of 2007, he received offers from more than 20 NCAA schools, including wealthy teams such as UCLA and the University of Arizona.
The two followed Pera to the training facility and met head coach Herb Sandeck and their teammates.
Harden could clearly feel that many teammates looked at Xu Yong with strange eyes.
That look, if it had been fifty years earlier, white players would have looked at black players like that.
Yellow players are at the bottom of the American basketball circle. If you want to make a living from basketball here, you don't have to be as good as others. You have to be much better.
But Xu Yong's performance surprised him again.
During training, he surprisingly relied on his conversation and charm to get into a heated relationship with his teammates.
Just like Pera said, Xu Yong is very mature and confident, which makes people feel like spring breeze.
If Xu Yongyong had yellow skin, he would definitely be the "team favorite" of the team.
He thought so at the time.
But what really changed his mind was what happened at the end of training that day.
At the end of the training camp that day, Jaylen Shipp, the team's main forward last season, was ready to give Xu Yong a greeting gift.
It was a very common bullfight, although it brought with it a lot of personal grudges, because Xu Yong was also playing as a forward.
At that time, everyone in the team was waiting to see Xu Yong embarrassed, and many teammates were even booing.
After all, Xu Yong is just a rookie, while Shipp is already in his second year and was the team's starting player last season. There is an obvious gap in strength between the two.
Not to mention others, Hipp thought the same way, and he gave Xu Yong the first chance to kick off the ball like a gentleman.
Then, that day became the darkest moment in Shipp's basketball career.
On the first ball, Xu Yong used an explosive first step to pass Jaylen Shipp, and then slammed the ball into the basket with both hands.
He clearly remembered that when Xu Yong dunked the ball, his head had already passed the basket, which was so terrifying.
He also learned afterward that Xu Yong's run-up height was 370cm, the top level in the NBA!
The teammates who were booing a second ago fell completely silent in the entire stadium.
The scene that followed could be described as bloody. Shipp was unable to parry Xu Yong's attack and ended in a 1-5 defeat.
Even when he thought about it afterwards, Xu Yong's "1" meant to save face for Xi Pu.
Also that day after the bullfight, Xu Yong treated everyone to a meal, including Hipp, on the grounds that he wasted everyone's time.
Then, Xu Yong won the trust of all the team members in one fell swoop, and Shipp was completely convinced by him.
Yellow skin, black skin, white skin, these will indeed make people's first impression instinctively, but when a person's strength reaches a certain level, others will choose to rot in their stomachs even if they still have prejudices.
Not to mention that Xu Yong knows how to behave, and students like them have no "power to resist" at all.
…
"Guys, get ready for the second half." Pera came to the locker room to remind.
Harden was also brought back to reality from his memories.
Xu Yong stood up and raised his hand, and the team members folded their hands one after another.
"Brothers, keep kicking their butts!" Xu Yong looked around at the crowd and said.
"Devils, come on!"
After shouting the team slogan, they rushed out of the locker room together.
Yes, even the yellow-skinned Xu Yong is now their locker room leader.
