October 29, 2017 CT.

00:41 a.m.

On the Memphis-Arkansas Bridge.

The bridge that crosses the Mississippi River and connects Tennessee and Arkansas is also known locally as the "Old Bridge."

1/

"You're finally here."

"I'm sorry, I'm late."

"You're meeting me at midnight, 12 o'clock." Yu Xiaochun took out the mobile phone that showed the text message and shook it, which was regarded as a greeting.

"Hmm... There were seven games last night, and I lost track of time. Kalonsky II walked up to Yu Xiaochun and took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, "One?" ”

"Thanks, I won't." Yu Xiaochun waved his hand.

Kalonsky II himself pulled out one and put it to his mouth, but did not light the fire.

"Don't smoke?"

"Wait a minute. This way to stay up a little longer. ”

"Quit smoking?"

"I'm afraid I can't quit." "It's like this basketball, I look at it and I can't stop." It's like an addiction. ”

He lit the cigarette in his mouth anyway, and took a sharp puff, and the cigarette light up with a faint fire, which was reflected in the face of Kalonsky II. His eyeballs were bloodshot, but as if he had taken a potion, he glowed wildly and excitedly in the night.

"Now that you're here, tell me about basketball." Yu Xiaochun waited for him to take a few puffs before interrupting him to propose.

"Where do you start..."

"Let's start with Yiming." Yu Xiaochun went straight to the point.

"You're curious about his stats?"

"Yes, in Sacramento you told me you gave Yiming a 78." Although he got to the point, Yu Xiaochun still tried his best to make his tone calm, "78 points is still the top five value among this year's rookies. ”

"Hmm."

"78, how did you determine this number?"

"Okay, so let's talk about the numbers first."

2/

"Do you know why I live in Memphis?" Kalonsky II took out another cigarette, put it to his nose and sniffed it, then put it between his fingers.

"Because of the Grizzlies?" Yu Xiaochun thought of the team with a unique temperament that had just won against the Rockets the night before.

Kalonsky II shook his head and was noncommittal: "I lived here before they moved back from Canada. I was born here and grew up here in the 60s. My family lived in Memphis, my father, Scott Kalonsky, and my son III..."

"All three of you are scouts?"

"Data Strategist." Karonsky II corrected Koharu, "But, according to your words, sort of. But they both moved around the turn of the millennium, and now I'm the only one there. ”

"By the way, you haven't said why you still live in Memphis." Yu Xiaochun thought that he had interrupted the topic just now.

"Have you seen the maps that mark all the NBA teams?"

Yu Xiaochun shook his head, his face full of confusion.

"If you open a map of the United States and put all 30 NBA teams on it, you'll see that Memphis happens to be at the center of gravity. Attention is the center of gravity, not the center. Oklahoma City may be a little more central in terms of distance, but Memphis is better balanced – there are a lot of teams in the East, and Memphis is a good distance from them. ”

"So staying in Memphis makes it easier for you to get to the ballpark?" Yu Xiaochun seemed to understand.

Kalonsky II nodded, and continued, "Although Memphis didn't have an NBA team until 1995, it has always been easily accessible. Situated at the junction of Tennessee, Mississippi and Arkansas, there is a river...", he pointed to the dark and silent Mississippi River under the bridge, "and the airport, whether by car, plane, or even by boat." ”

"You're still on a boat?"

"That's a thing of the old days. When I was a child, the old man would take me on a boat, and we would go downstream, stay in one city for a few weeks and a month, watch the team play, and then go to the next city. ”

"Do you score players by game?"

"It's not just a game." Kalonsky II put the cigarette back in his pocket, turned to an object and held it in his hand, "We also watch training, observe the life of the players outside the club, talk to them, talk to the people around them – in short, we see basketball as much more than the 48 minutes on the court." ”

"So meeting me is part of your scoring?" Yu Xiaochun seemed to suddenly realize something.

"Yes and no."

"Why?"

'I've already said that there are so many things we need to consider when evaluating a player. Talking to you is only a small part of it and doesn't have a big impact on your score. ”

"So how many grading items are there?"

"A lot... But these are the details..."Karonsky II spread out the object he had just carried in the palm of his hand and showed it to Yu Xiaochun, "Do you remember this?" ”

It's that little pentagonal mirror. When he was in Sacramento, Yu Xiaochun noticed that he was also playing with it by Kalonsky II at that time, and it seemed that he was still using this mirror to reflect the light, which attracted his attention.

"Impressions."

"It's like this mirror, and we've simplified the rating down to five. The higher the score for each item, the farther the vertices of the mirror are from the center, and the larger the final area will be. Correspondingly, the player's stats will be stronger. ”

"Radar map!"

"That's right!"

3/

"So what are the five scoring items on the radar chart?"

"Physicals, techniques, mentals, intelligence, and talent." Karonsky II gestured to the mirror in his hand, pointed to each vertex and said, "Of course, each item will contain many sub-sub-categories, which are too complicated for you to understand." ”

Well. Yu Xiaochun thoughtfully recited the five items in his heart again and remembered them silently.

"So you say Yiming, he has 78 points? …”

"That's right," Karonsky II seemed to have seen through Yu Xiaochun's thoughts, and continued, "Yuris Young's physical fitness can surpass most of his peers - as a yellow race, this is rare. ”

Yu Xiaochun remembered the strong impact that the other party's broad shoulders and upper circumference brought to him when he saw Yang Yiming for the first time.

"His basketball awareness is also very good, but he still needs to go through more practical experience." Karonsky II's comments are obviously not over yet, "But the reason why I am looking for you is because your friend Yang's talent is one of the best in the past twenty years. ”

Twenty years?

One of the best?!

Yu Xiaochun was dumbfounded. You must know that the "newcomers" who have joined the league in the past 20 years have LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Tim Duncan, such dominating players.

And Yang Yiming's talent is comparable to them?

"Yang Yiming has this talent?"

Kalonsky II did not answer him directly, but lit the cigarette that he had taken out and withdrawn several times, and looked to the side, "Do you see the bridge next door?" ”

"The one with the lights on?"

"That's right. I called you to Ponte Vecchio just to give you a taste of my life. He took a puff and the cigarette sat in his mouth for a moment before being spit out again.

"When... The life of a data strategist? Yu Xiaochun originally wanted to talk about scouting, but suddenly changed his tune.

"Yes. The lighted bridge, called the Harakhan Bridge, was the first road bridge over the Mississippi River with dedicated bicycle and pedestrian paths. It's like those players we've rated, it's colorful and radiant. And we are in the shadows of no one for decades, waiting, investigating, and writing reports. ”

Yu Xiaochun vaguely understood this metaphor.

"Do you think we've been looking at it for so long, and we're going to pick one of them with a slightly different brightness?" Kalonsky II raised his jaw, and in the direction of his jaw was the sky above the Chaos River, "No. We were waiting for her. ”

"—the only one."

The bright moon hanging high!

"So..."Yu Xiaochun couldn't be sure if the old man under the moon was crazy.

"I feel like you two can represent us." As soon as Kalonsky II shook his hand, the pentagonal mirror in his hand flew out and spun in the direction of the moon. The mirror reflects the intermingling light source of the moonlight and the LED light of the Harakhan Bridge, drawing a dazzling and strange arc in the sky.

"It's also time for us to come out of the darkness." A craggy hand of Karonsky II.

Whatever!

Yu Xiaochun shook the hand that was handed over.

"Deal!"