Chapter 382: Orchestrating the Rookie Challenge
After exchanging a few words with Luka Dončić, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and OG Anunoby, he returned to his seat.
Don’t be fooled by this chubby kid’s harmless appearance. Anyone who knows him even a little is well aware of his reputation—sharp-tongued, sly, and full of tricks. One moment of inattention, and he could sell you out while you helped him count the money.
Once the game began, Simmons—who hadn’t played in a year—looked extremely active. Right out of the gate, he attacked the rim and scored twice in the paint.
After all, this was the All-Star stage. Major sports media from around the world were all present, cameras and lenses trained tightly on the court. In that kind of spotlight, very few players were willing to fully commit to stopping a forceful drive to the basket.
After all, getting posterized by Simmons would be a humiliation that followed you for life.
As a result, Simmons’ early possessions were all handled with relative ease.
Dončić, meanwhile, had his mind on waiting for Alexander to check in, so he wasn’t in a rush to score right away.
In the first quarter, the ones truly competing with Simmons were the Magic’s Markkanen and the Suns’ Ayton. At this point, Ayton hadn’t yet picked up the bad habits of a “floating center,” and his physical battles in the paint were still solid and effective.
On the home side, the most eye-catching player wasn’t this year’s highly anticipated rookies Trae Young or Marvin Bagley, but the Lakers’ Kyle Kuzma. Mixing inside and outside scoring, Kuzma poured in 12 points in the first quarter alone, nearly a third of the home team’s total.
As the second quarter began, teams started rotating in their bench players.
“Coach, I barely played earlier. Let me get a bit more run, yeah?”
From the bench, Luka Dončić spoke up with a faintly coquettish tone.
Amused by the round-faced youngster’s behavior, the International Team’s head coach smiled and nodded.
“Alright, go play a little longer.”
Having gotten his way, Dončić shot Alexander a grin from the bench, then began getting ready to check in.
“Shai, you two are running the backcourt together!”
The International Team coach called out to Alexander.
“Got it!”
Alexander nodded and stood up, pulling off his warm-up pants.
“Don’t forget our deal!”
Dončić slipped over to Alexander’s side and reminded him in a lowered voice, playfully patting Alexander on the backside as he spoke.
“You little—”
Caught off guard by the sudden smack, Alexander’s eyes went wide as he stared at Dončić.
While this kind of thing wasn’t unusual in the basketball world, it was usually something only close teammates did. They’d barely started chatting, and he was already doing this?
Did this chubby European kid have some kind of weird fetish?
“I don’t!”
Sensing the odd look in Alexander’s eyes, Dončić immediately realized what he was thinking and waved his hands in a hurry.
“It was just instinct! Nothing weird about it!”
Once on the court, Dončić looked like he’d been switched on. He instantly became active, injecting energy into the game.
He danced his way into the lane with a flashy dribble, but instead of forcing a shot like everyone expected, he kicked the ball out to the trailing Alexander.
Alexander caught it and, without the slightest hesitation, took off and detonated a dunk at the rim.
“Great play!”
Up in the stands, a group of league executives who had been busy with their own matters all turned their attention back to the court at the same time.
“This Luka Dončić really surprises me.”
Sitting next to Chen Yilun, Mike Budenholzer covered his mouth to avoid the cameras and spoke in a low voice.
“When I picked him, I was a bit worried. Successful European guards are just too rare in this league.”
A smile crept onto Budenholzer’s face.
“Plenty of guys dominated in Europe but couldn’t adjust once they got here. But this kid’s adaptability is unreal. From what I’m seeing now, I’d even say he looks better than he did back in Europe.”
“I noticed it when he worked out with me.”
Chen Yilun’s gaze stayed locked on Dončić below.
“This kid is like a sponge, absorbing everything he can. Once he got to the league and started facing stronger competition, his growth just sped up.”
Pursing his lips, Chen Yilun added,
“If his development environment and main style didn’t clash with my Jokić, I’d never have handed him over to you. This kid really has the potential to become the future face of the league.”
“Alright, alright.”
Budenholzer laughed and patted Chen Yilun on the knee.
“I know exactly what you’re angling for with all this praise. I owe you this one—I’ll find a chance to pay you back.”
The arrival of Luka Dončić from Chen Yilun was nothing short of timely help for Budenholzer.
With the Hawks stuck in mediocrity over the past two seasons, the team had been forced into a rebuild. As the man in charge, Budenholzer had his own share of headaches.
As a leading figure from the Spurs coaching system, he looked glorious from the outside, but only he knew how much pressure he’d been under. Especially during the league’s crackdown on the Spurs coaching tree two years ago, Chen Yilun and the others felt relatively little heat precisely because Budenholzer stood out front and took on most of the pressure himself.
Dončić’s arrival helped Budenholzer reestablish his authority in Atlanta. Without that, he wouldn’t have spoken so candidly to Chen Yilun.
“We’re all from the same coaching background. No need to make a big deal out of it.”
Chen Yilun waved his hand magnanimously.
“By the way—have you heard? Ime Udoka seems like he’s about to step back into the spotlight.”
“Ime?”
Hearing that both unfamiliar and familiar name, Budenholzer paused, then looked at Chen Yilun with a knowing smile.
“What, you got another idea?”
“I know Ime’s tactical level inside and out. To put it bluntly—”
Chen Yilun picked up a beer and took a slow sip.
“Purely in terms of tactics, among everyone from our coaching circle who hasn’t been a head coach yet, Ime is on a level of his own.”
“He really does have his own system.”
Budenholzer nodded in agreement.
They were talking about one of the few Popovich protégés who hadn’t yet fully emerged: Ime Udoka.
He could be considered the last true swan song of the Spurs lineage. As Popovich grew older, his energy and capacity to mentor others declined year by year, and Udoka was the last one the old man personally guided from start to finish.
Strictly speaking, that description wasn’t entirely precise.
But there was no denying that, in the original timeline, after Udoka, the Spurs system never again produced a head coach who could truly stand on the big stage.
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