"Who is Xu Yong?" In the car on the way to Tempe, Harden, who was sitting in the passenger seat, turned around and asked, holding the Devils' team roster for the new season in his hand.

Compared with others, the pinyin abbreviation of the name was too special. Fortunately, there was an English notation "she.yew" next to it so that he knew how to pronounce it.

The person driving at the 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 correct 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 among high school students in the class of 2007. In order to recruit him, Sandek promised him a starting position."

He hadn't had lunch yet because he wanted to pick up Harden, so he could only eat while driving.

Harden's eyes widened as he listened to Pera's explanation.

Every year, the NCAA committee ranks high school students entering college. 1 to 25 are five-stars, 25 to 100 are four-stars, 100 to 200 are three-stars, and so on.

Although the 31st place is a four-star player, it can also 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's also on the 3A first team in Washington state. Believe me, you're going to like him," Pera said with a smile.

"Have you met him?" Harden asked puzzledly.

"Yes, he came a week earlier than you. He's very mature, confident, and hardworking." When talking about hard work, Pera emphasized her tone.

Hearing this, Harden turned around, 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 dormitory, and when he pushed the door open, he saw that there was already someone inside.

He was a little over two meters tall, with a sturdy build, good shoulder breadth and arm span, and a sunny and handsome face, but the look in his eyes when he looked at him was a little strange.

It was as if he knew him, but it seemed that the person he knew might not be his type.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you, he is still your roommate." Pera said.

"Hello, I'm Xu Yong, you look like a singer I know." After Xu Yong came to his senses, he took the initiative to extend his hand 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 greeting, 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 met before.

During their conversation, he learned more 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 his 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 offers from many universities, and he ultimately chose Arizona State University because he could get more opportunities there.

Harden can be sure of this because the Devils only had a record of 2 wins and 16 losses last season, ranking last in the Pac10 League. Even including the invitational tournament, they still had a record of 8 wins and 22 losses, a standard bottom-ranked team.

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

To use a very appropriate 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 many opportunities, who would give up the Lakers and choose to go to the Clippers?

As they were chatting, Pera went out to answer a phone call.

"Hey guys, your training camp has started." He greeted them when he came in again.

Harden was the last to arrive at school because the decision he made was not an easy one.

As a five-star high school student ranked 17th in the class of 2007, he received offers from more than 20 NCAA schools, including top teams like UCLA and the University of Arizona.

The two followed Pera to the training hall and met head coach Herb Sandek and their teammates.

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

That look, if it were fifty years ago, white players would have looked at black players in the same way.

Yellow players belong to the lowest level of the American basketball circle. If they want to make a living from basketball here, it is not enough to be as good as others, they have to be much better.

However, Xu Yong's performance surprised him again.

During training, he actually relied on his eloquence and charm to get along well with his teammates.

Just as Pera said, Xu Yong is very mature and confident, making people feel like spring breeze.

If Xu Yong didn’t have yellow skin, he would definitely be the team’s “darling”.

That’s what he thought at the time.

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

When the training camp ended that day, Jalen Shipp, the team's main forward last season, prepared to give Xu Yong a meeting gift.

It was a very common bullfight, although it was mixed with 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 make a fool of himself, and even many teammates were cheering.

After all, Xu Yong is just a rookie, while Ship is already a sophomore and was the team's starting player last season. There is an obvious gap in strength between the two.

Not to mention others, Ship also thought so. He gentlemanly gave Xu Yongxian the opportunity to tee off.

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 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 passed the basket, it was so terrifying.

He only found out afterwards that Xu Yong's running reach was 370cm, which is the top level in the NBA!

The entire stadium, where the teammates who had been cheering a second ago, suddenly fell silent.

The scene that followed could only be described as bloody. Ship had no ability to resist Xu Yong's attack and ended up with a miserable defeat of 1 to 5.

He even realized afterwards that Xu Yong's "1" was meant to save face for Ship.

After the bullfight that day, Xu Yong treated everyone to a meal, including Ship, because he had wasted everyone's time.

Then, Xu Yong won the trust of all the team members in one fell swoop, and Ship was completely convinced by him.

Yellow skin, black skin, white skin, these do make people instinctively have a first impression, but when a person's strength reaches a certain level, even if others still have prejudices, they will choose to keep them to themselves.

Not to mention that Xu Yong was very knowledgeable about how to deal with people, and these students were completely unable to resist him.

…

"Guys, get ready for the second half of the game." Pera came to the locker room to remind them.

Harden was also pulled back to reality from his memories.

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

"Brothers, keep kicking their butts hard!" Xu Yong said, looking around at everyone.

"Devil Team, 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.