"Who is Xu Yong?" In the car to Tempe, Harden, who was sitting in the co-pilot, turned his head and asked, holding the Devils' roster for the new season.

Compared to others, the name of the pinyin abbreviation is so special that it is thanks to the English notation of "she.yew" on the side that he knows how to pronounce it.

Driving at this time was Scott Pera, now an assistant coach with the Devils at Arizona State University 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, and in order to recruit him, Sandike promised a starting position. ”

He hadn't eaten lunch before picking up Harden, so he had to eat while driving.

Listening to Pera's explanation, Harden's eyes widened.

Every year, the NCAA committee conducts a ranking of high school students entering college, with 1~25 being five-star, 25~100 being four-star, 100~200 being three-star, and so on.

No. 31 is a four-star, but it's also a five-star, and he's never heard of a yellow player playing to that level in the NCAA.

"He's also a triple-A first-team in Washington State, and trust me, you're going to love him." Pera said with a smile.

"You've already seen him?" Harden wondered.

"Yes, he came a week before you, and that guy is mature and confident, and he works hard." Speaking of hard work, Pera accentuated her tone.

Harden turned his head when he heard this, looked at Xu Yong's name and touched his smooth chin, he was really curious about this Xu Yong.

About half an hour later, Harden appeared at the door of his dorm room, and when he pushed the door in, he saw that there was already someone inside.

He is more than two meters tall, with a strong body, his shoulder width and arm span look good, and his face is also sunny and handsome, but the eyes that look at him are a little strange.

It's as if you know him, but the person you seem to know may not be his kind of look.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you, he's still your roommate." Pera spoke.

"Hello, I'm Xu Yong, and you look a lot like a singer I know." After Xu Yong came back to his senses, he took the initiative to stretch out his hand to him, smiling all over his face.

"Really? I'm James Harden and I'm honored. Harden looked happy because besides playing, his favorite thing is singing.

After a brief greeting, Harden and Xu Yong have already chatted.

He didn't feel what Pera said, but what he could feel was that Xu Yong was very outgoing, not at all like the yellow people he had seen before.

During the chat, he knew more about Xu Yong than what Pera said.

Xu Yong has lived in the United States for two years, and in his final year of Bush high school, he led the team to a 26-5 record, averaging 17.6 points, 7.2 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 3 blocks per game.

That helped him get a lot of college offers, and the reason he finally chose Arizona State University was because of the more opportunities available here.

Harden is sure of that, because the Devils only had a 2-16 record last season, ranking at the bottom of the Pac10 league, and even counting the invitational tournament, it is 8-22, a standard fish belly team.

And in the list that Pera showed him, there were only three people who were more than two meters tall, including Xu Yong.

To use a fitting analogy, 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 have given up on the Lakers in favor of the Clippers?

They were chatting when Pera went out to answer the phone.

"Hey guys, your bootcamp has begun." When he came in again, he beckoned.

Harden was the last to come to school because the decision he made wasn't easy.

As a No. 17 five-star high school student in the Class of 2007, he received offers from more than two dozen NCAA schools, including the likes of UCLA and the University of Arizona.

The pair followed Pera to the training gym and met head coach Herb Sandek and their team-mates.

Harden could clearly feel that many of his teammates looked at Xu Yong with strange eyes.

That gaze, if it had been fifty years earlier, white players would have looked at black players like that.

Yellow players belong to the lowest level of the American basketball circle, and if you want to make a living from basketball here, you can't be as good as others, you have to be a lot better.

However, Xu Yong's performance surprised him again.

During training, he was stunned to rely on his conversation and charm to fight with his teammates.

As Pera said, Xu Yong is very mature and confident, which makes people feel like a spring breeze.

If Xu Yong is not yellow-skinned, he will definitely be the team's "team pet".

He thought so at the time.

But what really changed his mind was what happened at the end of that day.

At the end of the training camp that day, the team's main striker last season, Jalen Shippe, was ready to give Xu Yong a welcome gift.

A very common bullfight, although it brought a lot of personal grudges, because Xu Yong also played as a striker.

At that time, everyone in the team was waiting to see Xu Yong make trouble, and even many teammates were coaxing.

After all, Xu Yong is just a newcomer, while Shipp is already a sophomore and the team's starter last season, and the difference in strength between the two is obvious.

Not to mention other people, Shipp thought the same way, he gentlemanly gave Xu Yong the opportunity to tee off first.

Then, that day became the darkest moment of Shipp's basketball career.

On the first ball, Xu Yong used an explosive first step past Jalen 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 crossed the basket, and he was terrified.

It was only after the fact that he learned that Xu Yong's running height was 370cm, the top level of the NBA!

The teammates who were still coaxing in the entire stadium a second ago were directly silent.

The picture after that can be described as completely bloody, Shipp was powerless in the face of Xu Yong's attack, and ended in a 1-5 defeat.

Even after he came back to the afterthought, Xu Yong's "1" meant to save face for Shipp.

Also after the bullfight that day, Xu Yong invited everyone to a meal, including Shipp, on the grounds that he had delayed 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, and white skin do make people instinctively have a first impression, but when a person's strength reaches a certain level, even if others are still prejudiced, they will choose to rot them in the stomach.

Not to mention that Xu Yong still knows how to behave in the world, and these students have no "power to parry" at all.

……

"Guys, it's ready for the second half." Pera then came to the locker room to remind.

Harden also pulls back from the memories to reality.

Xu Yong got up and raised his hand, and the team members folded their hands one after another.

"Brothers, keep kicking their ass hard!" Xu Yong looked around at everyone 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 the leader of their locker room.