Sports Medicine Master System

On March 2nd, the Phoenix Suns hosted the Hawks at home.

It wasn’t until before the game that Chen Yu found out the Suns had actually slipped to fourth in the West.

"Is there something wrong with the team?"

Sitting courtside, Chen Yu made a point to ask Brian after he arrived.

They’d been first or second in the West this whole time.

Now they were fourth, with strong teams like the Lakers, Kings, Nuggets, and Grizzlies chasing them. One wrong move and they could slip into the bottom half of the playoff bracket.

Brian sighed. "It’s mainly that their form has taken a bit of a hit. Sabonis, in particular, feels like he’s really breaking down."

Sabonis was about to turn 40.

"It’s so weird. Last season, he seemed to be in great shape. I never thought he’d decline so sharply this season. No major injuries, but he’s been constantly dealing with minor ones."

Last season, Sabonis was like a man reborn, full of life and energy. Even in the playoffs, he was both tough and skilled.

But after this season started, especially after Ma Long’s indefinite team suspension, he’s been aching all over, unable to run or jump.

"Thomas is a good doctor, but he’s a far cry from you."

Brian shot Chen Yu a reproachful glance.

Part of the reason for Sabonis’s condition was Ma Long’s suspension, which left the team short-handed in the post.

Perkins is too young. He’s all hustle, but his skills are a mess, so Skiles doesn’t dare use him much. West is a good shooter, but his defense is truly awful.

When the backup frontcourt falters, the starters have to pick up the slack.

The extended playing time for O’Neal and McDyess, especially O’Neal, has started to cause all sorts of minor issues for them as well.

And the other reason is the medical team.

Thomas Carter is indeed a good doctor; Chen Yu’s recommendation was solid.

But compared to Chen Yu, he’s still a world away.

Especially when it comes to maintaining the players’ condition.

Chen Yu could keep two old-timers like Ewing and Olajuwon playing energetically for a full season. Carter can’t do that. At best, he can only prevent players from suffering major injuries.

"Chen, have you still been traveling so much lately?" Brian asked, looking at Chen Yu with pleading eyes.

Since the season began, Chen Yu has been running back and forth between Portland and Los Angeles. And right after the New Year, he went off to China for a long time.

Brian wanted to send players to Chen Yu’s clinic for maintenance, but he could never find the man.

"You know, it’s not just me. The whole league is waiting for you to come back. The other day, Popovich was even asking me when you’d be back in Phoenix."

Chen Yu’s absence from Phoenix was making other teams uncomfortable too.

Speaking of which, he still hadn’t gotten around to the twice-a-season medical check-ups he’d promised the various teams.

He was just too busy.

"That’s going to be tough."

Chen Yu gave a wry smile and started counting on his fingers. "Look, I’ve got the Lakers and the Pioneers, especially the Pioneers. I have to keep an eye on them. They’re my company’s two most important clients this season. I can’t just ignore them, can I?"

The Lakers are a bit better off. After all, they have Kobe holding down the fort, and Yao Ming is maturing, so he just needs to develop step by step.

But the Pioneers are a different story. They’re full of rookies, and I really have to watch them constantly and adjust their training plans.

"Soon, I have to prepare for this year’s potential training camp. During the summer, I’m planning to produce a show, and I’m also preparing to set up an agency."

"Then there’s FIFA. They’ve got a pile of things for me too. I’ve been getting constant calls from Europe. Unless it’s a major injury like a torn ligament, I’ve just been turning them down. Even so, there’s a line of players from the Bundesliga with ACL injuries waiting for me to treat them."

I don’t know if the Bundesliga is cursed this year or what. Flins, Evans, Demel, Metzelder, Amoruso, plus San Cruz from Bayern, Dawn from Bremen, and the Wolfsburg Team’s defender Bense—it’s a long list, all with ACL-related injuries.

There’s one in China, too, named Shao Jiayi. Same thing, tore his ACL in early February.

The reason Chen Yu was in such a hurry to get back to the United States was to treat this batch of players.

It was strange, but Chen Yu had noticed that Serie A players tended to injure their Achilles tendons, Premier League players pulled their thigh muscles, and Bundesliga players all got ACL tears. He felt it had something to do with the league environments.

When he was in Europe last year, Chen Yu had a long talk with Beckenbauer and even provided some injury management guidance for the Bundesliga teams. But he guessed there must have been some problems with implementation, because halfway through the season, a widespread wave of injuries broke out anyway.

"And then there’s China. I’ve accepted a task from them to improve the training levels for two major ball sports. I’ll have to coordinate with them on that, and it’s related to future business, so I can’t slack off."

"So you tell me, do I have any time to stay in Phoenix?"

Brian’s scalp tingled as he listened. He joked, "Chen, if you could split yourself in two, you might be able to handle it all."

Chen Yu smiled wryly to himself. ’Splitting myself in two wouldn’t be enough,’ he thought. ’I’d need to be in four pieces, maybe even eight.’

"But I’ll try to stay in Phoenix as much as possible this month. The end of the season is approaching, so we need to get the team’s bodies maintained first to make a good playoff push."

The Olympics were still a ways off, the Jia A League hadn’t ended, and the National Team hadn’t started to assemble yet. It wouldn’t be too late to go to China in April.

Brian nodded, his eyes darting around. "In that case, what about letting Ma Long come back? He’s been suspended for a long time. Last month, he even sent word through his agent that he wants to rejoin the team."

For Ma Long, getting a Championship Ring while sitting at home would be worse than not getting one at all.

And if Ma Long returned, he could shore up the backup frontcourt. Not only would that alleviate the problem of Sabonis’s poor condition, but it would also lighten the load on the starting lineup.

"Impossible."

Chen Yu said without a moment’s hesitation.

What Ma Long did wasn’t a minor mistake that would just blow over. He assaulted a teammate. Daniels is still at home recovering and won’t be able to return until the end of March.

And because of that injury, he’s basically missed most of his crucial rookie season. No training, no improvement. It’s very damaging to his career.

So under no circumstances can we let him rejoin the team.

The team has already adjusted to his absence. If he suddenly comes back now, who knows what kind of effect it would have on the locker room.

"If it really comes to it, just use a small-ball lineup for the bench. The defense will be weaker, and we won’t be able to stop them, but we have a bunch of shooters. We can take more shots, especially threes, and try to keep up in scoring. As long as the bench unit doesn’t let the point differential get too big, it’ll be fine."

Chen Yu had been keeping an eye on the Pioneers, so he’d learned quite a bit from D’Antoni.

His system of playing fast and shooting a lot of threes seemed to have some merit.

"Put Kovol in. He’s barely played this season. Just practicing threes on his own isn’t enough; he needs more game time."

Brian nodded and said, "You can tell Scott later."

After a pause, he asked about matters in China.

"Chen, do you really think investing in and operating a team in China can be profitable?" Old Kolangelo had already spoken to him about the team the day before yesterday.

Chen Yu nodded. "You have to consider how huge the market in China is. The league is desperate to develop the Chinese market. As long as their Basketball Association can completely let go and let us run things, it will definitely be profitable in the long run."

"Of course, the premise is that they let go completely. The situation over there is very complicated. If they don’t, it’s a bottomless pit."

To help achieve this goal, Chen Yu needed the two major ball sports programs to get some results at the upcoming Olympics first.

And it wasn’t just the major ball sports; there was also Liu Xiang.

Chen Yu had personally overseen his training. If he achieved good results, it would prove that Chen Yu’s methods were genuinely effective.

That’s why Chen Yu had made a special detour to Shanghai to see him, telling him to skip some competitions and focus on preparing for the Olympics.

If Liu Xiang actually managed to make history by breaking the world record, the significance would be immense.

Brian nodded. He had been to China because of the Yao Ming situation and had personally inspected the business environment there, so he had some understanding of how things were.

"But even if they do open things up, it’s still a long way off."

Even if they decided to go fully professional, it couldn’t happen immediately. It would be impossible even by next season.

While they were talking, the situation on the court changed.

When the starting lineup was on the floor, the Phoenix Suns were wiping the floor with the Hawks.

But as soon as the Suns started their rotation, the Hawks immediately began a frantic comeback.

Having seen Chen Yu before the game today, Hawks head coach Terry Stotts didn’t hesitate to run his starters into the ground.

The frontcourt duo of Sheriff Abdul-Rahim and Theo Ratliff couldn’t beat O’Neal and McDyess, but they had no problem schooling the 40-year-old Sabonis and the defensively challenged, inexperienced West.

Skiles stood on the sideline, his face turning green.

Those few punches from Ma Long had effectively taken out two of the Suns’ players.

And to make matters worse, there was no way to reinforce the roster.

He glanced at O’Neal on the bench, but his gaze ultimately landed on McDyess.

There was no weight loss show this year, and Chen Yu had been traveling all this time. While O’Neal hadn’t completely let himself go, some slacking off was inevitable.

Lately, O’Neal had been complaining to him about playing too many minutes. Whenever it was time to practice, it was just one excuse after another: "My leg hurts," "My foot hurts," and so on.

Skiles really couldn’t control him.

Neither could Hardaway.

His gaze shifted, landing on McDyess.

’No choice,’ he thought. ’I’ll just have to work this honest guy a little harder.’

Just as he was about to make a substitution, someone called his name from behind.

"Chen, what is it?" Skiles asked as he sat back down.

Chen Yu said, "Scott, put Kovol in. Move David to the five, pick up the pace, and shoot more threes. If you can’t stop them, you can’t stop them. Focus on outscoring them and give the starters a little more rest."

It was just the Hawks; running the starters into the ground was unjustifiable.

Skiles froze for a moment, then thought about it and said, "I’ll give it a try."

Although he was the head coach, Chen Yu’s status was anything but ordinary. Over time, he had shown he understood training, he was exposed to tactics, and most importantly, he was now a part-owner. So he really couldn’t just ignore Chen Yu’s suggestion.

He signaled for a timeout and adjusted the lineup.

"Kyle, you got this."

Chen Yu also made a point of walking over to Kovol to offer a word of encouragement.

He’d heard from Jon Hamm that the kid got almost no playing time, but he trained incredibly hard on his own, putting up a huge number of shots every day.

His self-discipline and perseverance were traits Chen Yu had valued and admired back at the potential training camp.

Kovol nodded forcefully, unable to hide the excitement in his eyes.

He had a feeling that Skiles putting him in the game had something to do with Chen Yu.

There was no time to think. The short timeout ended, and Kovol hurried onto the court.

Gary Payton, as instructed, immediately started to push the pace.

Once the lineup went small, it was impossible not to play fast.

Kovol got into position on the wing, and the ball was already in his hands.

The bright lights, the figures running in front of him, the roar of the crowd in his ears—there was no time to think. He relied purely on instinct, jumping and releasing the shot.

Muscle memory from countless shooting drills took over. The basketball traced a perfect arc and swished cleanly through the net.

And at that moment, all five players on the court, with the exception of West, had three-point shooting ability.

Since Skiles had ordered them to shoot threes, the other guys had no reason to be polite about it.

Gary Payton pulled up off the dribble and drilled a three right over Terry.

In!

On the next play, Old Miller, leading the bench unit, was just as decisive, knocking down a three of his own.

In the blink of an eye, the Suns not only stabilized their position but also showed signs of pulling away.