Chicago, a training hall just a dozen kilometers away from the United Center arena. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

This is the Chicago Bulls' basketball gym, which used to be rented out for a number of basketball camps at this time of year, but today it is vacated, leaving only a handful of staff members.

Li Yiming stood in the middle of the neat wooden floor court, wearing a simple training uniform, and made various technical movements according to the trainer's requirements.

Not far from the court, Chicago Bulls head coach Tom Brown. Xibodu looked at Li Yiming intently, but his ears were not idle, listening to the team doctor explain the results of Li Yiming's just-concluded physical examination.

Li Yiming's movements are as elegant as ever, the basketball seems to be an obedient pet in his hands, the coming and going is still fast and rhythmic, and the movements required by the trainer are also perfect, with a high degree of completion and a guaranteed hit rate, but he clearly sees the assistant coach next to the trainer shaking his head from time to time.

Of course, he knows what the problem is, and the knee injury, which is not progressing well, has a huge impact on the overall athletic state.

His shooting touch is still there, his dribbling skills are still there, his skills are still there, but he is not as fast as before, and he doesn't jump as high as before.

He can no longer rely on the first step to ride the dust, leaving his opponent far behind, he can no longer jump up in front of the defense and complete the split dunk with exaggerated bounces, and he can no longer show his perfect waist and abdomen strength as before, jumping first and dangling the block in mid-air for a layup.

Even because of the knee injury, his strong physique has become a burden, which will bring a huge burden to the knee, and if he is not careful, he will be injured for the second time and aggravate the injury.

He can even exercise in his daily life, and he can't see that he has been injured at all, but the professional physical test data is a significant decline compared to his previous records.

As a basketball player, he lost vital explosiveness and speed, which was equivalent to losing the physical qualities he once prided himself on.

What about being skilled? Others jump higher than you, run faster than you, and can fill in in time if they are shaken, and catch up with you again if they are out of position.

What about accurate shooting? Others can defend without the ball until you can't touch the ball at all, with the help of blocking and tactics, as long as it's not a big gap, people can still make it up, lose speed, for Li Yiming and a broken leg is no different: the finishing ability under the basket has declined significantly, the breakthrough is blocked and naturally cannot be combined with passing, no matter how many martial arts are on the offensive end, you can't show it without a first hand.

The defensive end can only be completely reduced to a colander, Li Yiming's current side movement speed has been slow to the extent that any speed-type defender can do whatever he wants, and he can't defend himself against slightly more flexible opponents with empty arm span.

Looking at Li Yiming's performance on the field, combined with the physical test data and diagnostic results, Xibodu frowned and said nothing, and Wang Xiaoming, who had been quietly watching these from the side, sighed helplessly.

"Alright." With Thibodeau's call, the stadium suddenly fell silent, Li Yiming wiped his sweat profusely, walked over with a towel on his head, and his face was hidden in the shadows and he couldn't see his expression.

"Lee." Really faced Li Yiming, Xibodu's old face squeezed out a smile, but the words that came out of his mouth were not too tactful, "You also know the results of the test, it's really not optimistic." ”

"Judging from your current physical condition, your ability to compete on the court will definitely drop significantly, and you know it." Thibodeau said bluntly: "Although the manager didn't come, I don't think he will give you a very satisfactory contract." ”

Seeing the appearance of the former superstar now, Thibodeau, who watched him grow up step by step, was also a little embarrassed, "Of course, your skills are still there, your experience is still there, and you are of course an absolute hero to the Bulls winning the championship again, all kinds of factors are included, I think you can probably get a contract of about 10 million or two years." ”

Thibodeau is a rigorous person, does not like hypocrisy and politeness, although he is not the team manager, but the team coach also has a lot of right to speak, in fact, Li Yiming may not actually be able to get this order of magnitude of contract, the managers are all about the interests of the team, and obviously Li Yiming is not showing the value of what they are trying to strive for.

Seeing Li Yiming's blank face, Xibodu's heart was slightly touched, and he couldn't help but say to him: "I will try my best to fight for you, I promise." ”

As a head coach, it was Thibodeau who took a fancy to Li Yiming's hard work at the beginning, so he signed a short-term contract in the hope that he could temporarily fill the team lineup full of injured players, and later valued his good physical fitness and confrontation ability, so he suggested to the management that Li Yiming be provided with a long-term base salary contract.

Who knew that a whim created a good story of Bole knowing Maxima on the NBA court.

And at this moment, this Maxima in his own hands, this Maxima that shocked the entire league, may be unsustainable and will no longer be able to gallop in the NBA.

Thibodeau saw it in his eyes, and his thoughts were turning a thousand times in his heart at this moment.

"No need, Coach." Li Yiming raised his head and a smile tugged at his face, "You've helped me enough." ”

"Then the trial is basically over, right?" Li Yiming asked.

Thibodeau nodded, "Go back...... They will fax the negotiated contract to your agent. ”

Li Yiming smiled, and then turned around to pack his belongings, but his back was a little gloomy.

Xibodu put himself in Li Yiming's shoes and thought about it, feeling a little bitter in his heart, and he didn't know what it would be like for him as a party.

Li Yiming and Wang Xiaoming walked to the parking lot together, got into the car, and were relatively silent, Li Yiming still had the door open, so the car didn't move.

After a while, Li Yiming spoke: "Brother Xiao Ming, do you have any cigarettes?" ”

Wang Xiaoming was stunned, and when he saw Li Yiming's face as usual, he was stunned for a while, and then he groped in his bag and took out a pack of brand-new cigarettes for a long time.

Li Yiming reached out to take it, only to find that the cigarette was unopened, and said while opening it: "Brother doesn't smoke." ”

"No, he used to smoke, so after I inherited my memory, I always habitually bought it without it." The "he" that Wang Xiaoming said is naturally the original Wang Xiaoming.

"Cigarettes are a good thing, when I was in junior high school, I was withdrawn, my grades were not good, not only white people didn't play with me, even Asians thought I wasn't a good student, they never communicated with me, I just dealt with black people." Li Yiming opened the cigarette and found that there was no lighter, but he saw Wang Xiaoming snap his fingers, and the cigarette in his hand lit.

"Cool!" Li Yiming put the cigarette to his mouth, smashed it a few puffs, and then continued: "So at that time, I only played with black people, everyone went to black nightclubs together, drank together, and when I ran out of money, they gave it to me, and when I ran out of money, everyone went to steal things from rich people's houses together, and did some petty theft." ”

Wang Xiaoming was a little surprised, obviously he didn't expect Li Yiming to have such a past, and said curiously: "Then you are ...... now"

"It's Jerry." Li Yiming spit out a name, took a deep breath of the cigarette in his hand, and the whole person became smoky. "Jerry was my best friend and the first black boy to open up to me."

"It was he who took the initiative to get close to me, saying that I was good at basketball, and that I should teach him to play basketball."

"We're invincible on the court, I'm Jordan and he's my Pippen."

"He handed me the first cigarette, and he handed me the first wine." Li Yiming paused, "The first person who stretched out his hand to me was also him." ”

"Oh my God, Jerry suddenly said to me, Lee, you can't go on like this. At that time, we were sitting on the roof of his house, and the people around us were arguing, going to bed, sucking, solitary... And he said to me, Lee, you can't go on like this, you can play in the NBA. ”

"I asked him, what are you kidding, I'm 15 years old, I'm 178 tall and weigh 60 kilograms, you say I can play in the NBA?"

"He said, I just know."

"And then?"

"And then?" Li Yiming turned his head, threw the cigarette butt in his hand out of the window, closed the co-pilot's door, and signaled that Wang Xiaoming should drive.

"Then Jerry died in a gang fight, and I, because I went to the best private high school in the area, survived, and we were separated forever." Li Yiming's tone was very relaxed.

"Brother Xiaoming."

"Huh?"

"Let's try on another team."