Thirty-Seven: The Best Team for You Right Now

Rachel opened her eyes, and the genius just dawned. It's almost Christmas, but she's not in the holiday mood at all.

To be precise, since she said goodbye to basketball, her life has suddenly lost its purpose. For others, college life is the freest release of youth, but for her, it is a boring life.

Unlike most girls, she has a heart that loves basketball very much. Rachel has been obsessed with basketball since she was introduced to it in middle school. Basketball is not a simple hobby for her. Once in the newspapers, people could often see a female player with a ponytail and a No. 32 jersey.

Member of the 2005 AAU Junior National Championship team, 2007 Medina County three-point champion, four-time Ohio State top 64 player... In general, a female player who can do this in high school , most of them will be favored by college teams.

Rachel is no exception. In her senior year of high school, she has already received olive branches from many universities. Fighting in the NCAA and entering the professional basketball world seems to be the trajectory of her life.

However, at the peak of her basketball career, everything changed.

Due to an accidental injury during the senior year of high school, the team's record suffered from Waterloo. That year, Rachel felt very depressed, and at the same time thought she was suffering from a stomach ulcer due to the stress.

Rachel's weight plummeted amid a severe stomach ailment. For ordinary girls, losing weight may be a beautiful thing. But for an athlete aiming for professional basketball, losing weight is nothing to be thankful for.

After a bad year in high school, Rachel's stock price plummeted. In the end, she failed to enter the elite women's basketball school, but came to the University of Oklahoma.

Because of the hard hit in high school, Rachel hardly played or watched football after entering college. Because every time she sees others speeding on the basketball court and thinks of the life she should have, she can't help but feel uncomfortable.

For her, basketball was like a first love. Although beautiful, but destined to say goodbye.

Rachel shook her head, not recalling those sad things. She took out her mobile phone and looked at it, as always, a few more stunned young men sent her a text message of confession.

But in addition to these boring text messages, Rachel also received a news feed. After seeing the headline of the news, the lazy college girl sat up immediately.

"Link signed a ten-day short contract with the Memphis Grizzlies, and the Chinese forward continues to move toward the NBA!"

The simple title and unpretentious content made Rachel feel full of power.

She didn't want to touch basketball anymore, but since she met the Chinese player, since she learned about the guy's story of insisting on his dream, and since she saw Link being abandoned by the NBA, she still refused to give up. Until now, he got another chance to realize his dream, and Rachel's heart has also changed.

As long as you don't give up easily, opportunities will always come, right?

Rachel smiled, maybe she didn't have to give up, she didn't have to live so mourning every day. Basketball is a game of survival for the strong.

"Link has already succeeded, you have to be strong too!" Rachel muttered to herself, cheering herself up, then she picked up her phone and sent Link a text message.

"Congratulations."

※※※

Today, Link was originally going to play away with the team in Texas. But as soon as he woke up early in the morning, he received a notice from Jeff Austin - "You're going to the NBA."

The second time I heard the news, Link was obviously not as excited as when he first entered the NBA.

"Where to?" Link's tone was calm,

Because he knows very well that a ten-day short contract is far from a success. He also got a 10-day short contract in the Rockets, the result?

It won't be too late to get excited when he signs a guaranteed contract and has a real foothold in the NBA.

"Go to Memphis, the Grizzlies need you."

"Memphis Grizzlies?" Link was a little surprised. He really didn't expect Jeff Austin to get himself to the Grizzlies.

As an ordinary Chinese fan in his previous life, Link's understanding of the Grizzlies was actually very limited. After all, the Grizzlies have always been a tepid team in China.

First of all, the Grizzlies are a defensive-oriented team, which is destined to not be too watchable for the Grizzlies. Second, the Grizzlies have been short of superstars. Mike Conley and Marc Gasol have no way to bring much popularity to the Grizzlies.

Lastly, and most importantly, none of the Grizzlies have ever won anything substantial. Not to mention the championship, in the 10 years that Link watched, the Grizzlies never even won the Western Conference championship.

The Grizzlies' hottest period in China was the year they drafted Wang Zhelin. But this heat only lasted for a short while, because the Grizzlies never signed Wang Zhelin from beginning to end.

Although the general manager of the Grizzlies would say from time to time that they were watching Wang Zhelin's situation, they never took any real action.

This is what Link knew about the Memphis Grizzlies, a team that couldn't have been less popular in China.

"Why Memphis?" Link continued to ask after thinking. Although as an undrafted, he is temporarily not eligible to select the team.

But there must be a reason for Jeff Austin to throw himself out of Memphis.

"First of all, if you want to get a foothold in the NBA, you need minutes. If it's just a few minutes of garbage time per game like you did with the Rockets, you're never going to get a guaranteed contract. With the Grizzlies, You have a better chance of getting minutes! Because the Grizzlies have few options at the 3 other than Rudy Gay."

Jeff Austin paused, waited for Link to "digest" his words, and then continued: "Tony Allen is more suitable to play at the second position, Sam Young can play small forward, but his performance has been very poor. Stable. First-year rookie forward Xavier Henry from Kentucky was originally expected by the Grizzlies, but unfortunately he has been out of season due to injury. Therefore, the Grizzlies need a solid 3 backup. This is a Better place for you to grow wild than Houston, Link!"

"Savage growth?" Link nodded, he liked Jeff Austin's words.

Indeed, no matter how strong you are, if you can't show it, it's meaningless.

In the Rockets, Link has not been in the team plan, Adelman is merciful, and never let Link play more than 5 minutes.

Although a team like the Memphis Grizzlies is a bit unpopular, Lincoln can get a chance to show his face. As an undrafted and G League player, Link does not expect to play the main force once he goes. If you can work hard from the bench and get a firm foothold step by step, you will be considered a success.

"Also, the Grizzlies' system and style of play suits you well. They like to play a regular position, they like to win on defense, and they also lack a solid 3-point shooting point. Most importantly, and other fish belly balls Teams are different, the Grizzlies still have a chance to play in the playoffs this season. So, in my opinion, there is no better team for you than the Memphis Grizzlies.”

"What do you think, Link?" Jeff Austin asked one last time after giving Link some time to think.

This time, Link nodded, "When are we going to report from Memphis?"

Jeff Austin breathed a sigh of relief, at first he was worried that Link didn't trust him. But it turns out that when the job is done well, trust can be earned.

"I'll buy you a plane ticket to Memphis right away, no surprise, you should join your new team tomorrow."

Hanging up the phone, Link started packing his luggage. I don't know why, but he is full of confidence in this trip to the NBA.

Maybe it's because, this time, he's no longer alone.

Thinking of this, Link put away his basketball shoes. A few simple letters on the side of the basketball sole have not been erased - rest in peace, Zeke.