Chapter Fourteen: The Lin Family Storm Strikes

Saying goodbye to that girl essentially meant the vacation was coming to an end. Relatively speaking, this vacation was much more comfortable than the previous one. At least, the Warriors had broken into the playoffs and only started their offseason after a grueling seven-game series against the Mavericks. At least he made the national team this season, whereas he hadn't the previous one. Although he didn't get to hang out with those long-seen buddies this season, at least last season he hadn't met Avril or Shanshan, both of whom he had encountered this time. All things considered, Lin Fei's vacation this season might have had a few regrets, but it was wonderful.

A wonderful time is merely a beginning, much like just finishing a Saturday only to have to face work on Sunday with a cheerful spirit—seemingly in Western countries, work starts on Sunday.

Returning to the United States, Lin Fei caught a connecting flight in Los Angeles, where he also had a Chinese community event to attend. When Lin Fei arrived in Los Angeles, the terminals were packed with people waiting for him, overwhelmingly young people. The airport police had to be deployed to maintain order. It was quite unexpected; although Lin Fei played for the Warriors, he wielded such massive influence even in the City of Angels. This was no small feat, given that Los Angeles possessed two teams—the Lakers and the Clippers—both of which boasted league darlings like Kobe Bryant and Blake Griffin. For Lin Fei to enjoy such treatment was truly extraordinary.

While in Los Angeles, Lin Fei contacted Kobe and invited him out for Chinese food.

Kobe said to Lin Fei excitedly, "Hey, bro! When can you teach me your crossover and changes of pace? You really have my admiration! You know what? Kids everywhere are studying your shooting and ball-handling now. People used to study Jordan and me, but now they study you, and everyone loves shooting from deep. You've genuinely sparked a true Lin-storm in the league. Even a lot of players have started imitating you. Owners are scouring the draft with wide-open eyes, hoping to find another you."

"Haha, you flatter me, big brother. When I get the chance, I must learn your footwork in the post," Lin Fei replied.

......

A Lin-storm? That sounded like a pretty good name.

There were also plenty of restless superstars on social media mentioning a shared name. Shaquille O'Neal—who held nicknames like "The Diesel," "The Big Aristotle," and "Superman," and stood as one of the most dominant centers in league history—directly joked about Lin Fei, claiming he wanted to try dribbling right between Lin Fei's legs just because Lin Fei was so small. He even gave Lin Fei a nickname: "The Time Machine." Do you know why? Because O'Neal's nickname for Dwyane Wade was "The Flash," and Lin Fei appeared even faster than Wade, which naturally meant he was faster than lightning. Yet, nothing in the world seemed faster than lightning, leaving one to imagine the fourth dimension—time. Naturally, the nickname "The Time Machine" was born. As one of the most vocal players in league history, O'Neal felt this nickname wasn't quite hitting the mark, but he promised to keep watching and surely come up with an even better one.

Upon returning to Golden State, fans braved the scorching heat to welcome their hero. They knew their dream was about to become reality. What they were welcoming was perhaps one of the greatest players in Warriors history, or perhaps one of the strongest teams in Warriors history.

As soon as he returned to Golden State, Lin Fei began grueling training. A famous saying goes: If you don't study for three days, you fall behind the times. On the basketball court, it could be said that if you don't practice for three days, you fall behind everyone.

Though it had only been three days, Lin Fei clearly felt his shooting touch was slightly rusty. After shooting around for a little while, he failed to string together even a single sequence of ten consecutive three-pointers made. Lin Fei knew he might genuinely have regressed; those few days in Qingdao were certainly comfortable for him personally, but they had made his game comfortable too.

In a surge of competitive spirit, Lin Fei called over two assistant coaches to try defending him. Two against one. Lin Fei had the ball, facing both of them head-on, and both were bigger than him. Lin Fei gave a head fake and immediately accelerated, but the coaches were professionals after all and extremely familiar with his game. His plan to blow past them on the first step clearly fell flat. Lin Fei then executed a drop-step spin. At this point, the coaches simply couldn't keep up—neither of them could. Without pausing, Lin Fei went straight up into a jumper. It appeared that although his shooting was slightly rusty, his footwork remained razor-sharp. Lin Fei asked the two coaches, "Can I try doing some one-on-one post-ups using interior footwork?"

The two coaches exchanged a glance. "Your shooting percentage is higher than even average interior players; why bother learning post footwork?"

"My speed is going to slow down sooner or later. Kobe told me that."

"No. Whether it's Kobe or Jordan, they both relied on close-range scoring early in their careers and only developed their jumper in their later years. You already have an elite jumpshot right now; why bother learning their early-career interior offense?"

"Oh! What I mean is, my speed is extraordinary right now, but a few years from now, I won't be able to run this fast. By then, I will definitely need to master some scoring techniques close to the basket."

The two men smiled at each other, apparently finding the idea rather unlikely. Facing towering giants in the paint, no matter how agile Lin Fei's footwork or how fast his speed, he would likely meet a grim fate.

Facing their attitude, Lin Fei just smiled and said, "I'm just thinking about it, it doesn't mean I'll definitely pull it off. Why don't you guys help me try it out?"

With that, Lin Fei picked up the ball, looking eager to try.

This time, Lin Fei attempted a back-to-the-basket post-up, deliberately slowing his pace. After establishing his position and leaning back against the defender, he immediately executed a spin-around fadeaway jumper. However, the shot was decisively blocked by the coach, drawing hearty laughter from the other.

Lin Fei smiled sheepishly as well. "It seems my post-up game is truly hopeless. I guess I'd better stick to running and shooting on the outside!" While such an experiment might not have yielded practical results for Lin Fei, it made him all the more acutely aware that he might never master that style of interior scoring. The only thing he could do was further enhance his perimeter offense, making himself truly unguardable.

When media outlets ranked the most anticipated teams and players of the new season, the Warriors claimed the title of the most anticipated team, while Lin Fei won the honor of the most anticipated player by an overwhelming margin. The media evaluated Lin Fei as the mid-season leader of the Warriors from the previous year—one who had nevertheless forged a formidable Warriors squad and a scoring champion—and he was still constantly improving. People looked forward to even more astonishing records from the Warriors and even more breathtaking scoring performances from Lin Fei. Over the past decade or so, Kobe Bryant had put up jaw-dropping stat lines in a single season, yet Lin Fei had already averaged nearly thirty points per game in just his sophomore season. When he fully matured into the franchise cornerstone, could he break the thirty-five-point threshold? Moreover, Lin Fei had dropped sixty-four points in a playoff game where the defensive intensity vastly exceeded the regular season—a divine performance whose sheer value was arguably no lower than Kobe's eighty-one-point regular-season game or Wilt Chamberlain's one-hundred-point game. Could Lin Fei ultimately create an even higher scoring record? One had to remember that last season, Lin Fei had notched two sixty-point games and three games of over fifty points; it was entirely possible he would continue producing staggering statistics this season.

In the league's championship odds rankings, the Warriors also sat at fourth place, directly surpassing heavyweights like the Spurs, Mavericks, Celtics, and Magic, trailing only the Heat, Bulls, and Lakers. The landscape of the league could truly be described as each generation producing its own heroes. The Miami Heat's Big Three were dead set on capturing the title, while the Chicago Bulls, anchored by the newly crowned MVP Derrick Rose and supported by complementary pieces, also possessed championship-winning caliber. Meanwhile, though the Lakers showed signs of aging, they still featured Kobe, Gasol, Bynum, Odom, and Artest. As the saying goes, a lean camel is still bigger than a horse; they retained considerable strength. Other teams capable of erupting in the league included the Spurs, Celtics, and Mavericks, but they were already in the twilight of their eras. The building blocks for all three squads—power forwards Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, and Dirk Nowitzki—were showing visible signs of age. It would likely prove difficult for them to continue competing against rising powerhouses like the Heat, Bulls, and Warriors.

Subsequently, the league schedule was released. The Warriors' most grueling stretch appeared in January, featuring sixteen games, eleven of them on the road, including six back-to-backs—an absolute gauntlet of a schedule. However, none of this deterred experts from bullishly predicting stellar results for the Warriors. Many declared that the Warriors had become so exciting to watch that people were practically drooling in anticipation.