Yang Yi Kanqiu: After being a grandfather in the CBA, will he be willing to be a grandson again?

From one end of the Pacific Ocean to the other, how big can the gap in status be for the same athlete?

A few years ago, Josh Acknon, who only played a total of 8 minutes of regular season in the NBA, once joked to the American media that in the CBA, he could experience the "feeling of LeBron and Kobe". In China, the ball is always in the hands of foreign helpers, teammates are pointing at you, and fans are waiting for you to cut a 30+, 40+ or even 50+ game to lead the team to victory, which is an experience they never get in the NBA. However, if you look at this year's NBA Summer League, you will also realize a very simple truth: Not every player wants to be James and Kobe.

Q.J. Peterson spent his entire career as a Kobe. The 183cm small guard played for the CBA's Jiangsu Tongxi last season, averaging 28.7 points per game, second only to Blackney in the league scoring table. Because of his excellent control and strong shooting ability, some fans of the Tongxi team will jokingly call him "CBA Lillard". However, when Peterson's agent found him a minicamp invitation for the New York Knicks, he immediately packed up and returned to the United States — unlike the real Lillard who has only played for one team so far, Peterson's career has been so upside down that he hasn't even played on any team for two years, and for him, the process of playing basketball is a wandering process, only this time, his next stop is Knicks training camp.

The Knicks' head coach is Thibodeau, who emphasizes defense. Thibodeau knew he was a scorer, but also told him that with his previous style of play, it was impossible to find a place on the Knicks. So he started biting his opponents on the defensive end, flying for every floorball, and even became almost the best player in training camp in this regard. After training camp, his agent relayed the Knicks' opinion to Peterson: "They want you to play summer league for them, but they don't guarantee you'll play every game. The rest of the team plays most of the time, they are younger and the team has an obligation to scout them in the summer league. They know you can get six- to seven-figure contracts overseas, so if you don't want to fight, they totally understand it. But if you decide to play Summer League, they want to explain the situation to you first, so that you don't complain that you can't play at that time. ”

Peterson only thought for 10 minutes before deciding: "I've come this far, I've got to stay the course." I will do whatever they need me to do in the team. Whether playing 0 minutes or 40 minutes, whatever my role, Thibodeau gets one of the hardest working players and the best leader on and off the field. ”

Peterson is a man of his word. In his first game in Las Vegas, he didn't play a minute, but his shouts echoed throughout the stadium. He cheered on his teammates on the sidelines, gave each player a high five, and actively discussed the details of the game with the rookies on the bench. On the one hand, he's so experienced that it's hard to believe that this is a player who hasn't played a real NBA game. But on the other hand, he was as sincere as a child, and every day of the training camp, Peterson was the first to come and the last to go. In front of Thibodeau, the 29-year-old carefully practiced his defensive sliding moves again and again like a fledgling high school student. In every training session, he threw himself into playing against opponents and coaches. But even so, he only got 3 minutes in the second game.

We understand the thoughts of Knicks summer coach Yasuke Yoshimoto. Peterson may really be able to score, but there are too many people who can score in the NBA. The New York Knicks already have Bronson and Quickley and don't need more smaller scorers. The Knicks summer league team he brought with him has neither a high-post pick nor a talent who has returned after scrapping, and the main task is to see if there are potential suitable role players - who can steadily shoot into the bottom corner three-pointer? Who can bring energy to the team? Who can switch three or four positions on the defensive end? Under this guiding ideology, the Knicks were beaten to the teeth by opponents in the first two games, and they often did not have real point guards on the court, making the game full of low-level mistakes and tough top shots.

Finally, by the end of the second game, Thibodeau couldn't sit still. This fragmented game didn't serve as a scrutinizing of the players, so he discussed it with Yasuke Yoshimoto, and in the third game, Peterson entered the regular rotation. He scored the second-highest 16 points on the team, as well as nine rebounds and five assists, helping the team reverse the Orlando Magic and win their first summer league victory. Peterson smiled after the game: "Everyone was happy for the win, but more happy for me. They knew how hard I worked every day, I could have gambled that I didn't play, but I was always ready to contribute to the team, just focused on the game and kept encouraging everyone. Now it's my turn to play, and they will also trust my leadership and unite behind the energy and hard work I bring. ”

From an outsider's perspective, it may seem like a 29-year-old player who hasn't played a day in the NBA here to talk about "leadership," but we know he really does. Czech Republic, South Korea, Cyprus, Ukraine, Denmark, Turkey. The world is so big, Peterson has seen a lot in his turbulent playing career, and has won some honors from time to time such as the Danish league MVP and the Ukrainian league scoring title. Wherever he went, he was the team's leading scorer and core guard, which shaped his temperament and style of play, and now he can rally young players around him, even if he is just a passerby who no one knows in the NBA world.

But he's still far from getting an NBA contract. It's hard, but it's done. Christian Wood, who was abandoned by Fujian, has received three years of annual salary in the NBA. Cameron Payne, who doesn't understand in Shanxi, earned 19 million in the NBA for 3 years. Shanghai Sharks star Noah Vonley played 23 games with the Celtics last season, overshadowing LaVine, overtaking Embiid and dunking Adebayo — and although he was later traded to the Spurs and cut, he did get a contract. That's enough to make him a dream for these players.

Like him, there are three other CBA foreign recruits who have worked hard in the NBA summer league, the most famous of which is Tucker Farr, who played for Xinjiang last season. Farr played in the NBA for 3 years, playing a total of 37 games. Because of his outrageous physique (229 cm tall, 254 cm arm span), he is very popular with NBA 2K players. Boston fans loved him too, and when he was still with the Celtics, whenever the game went into garbage time, they would chant "We want Farr" — not because he ranked first with the Celtics for two consecutive years, of course, but because he came to the zoo without looking at the elephants — and he had 914,000 followers on Instagram, far more than most active NBA players and even stars. For comparison, two-time All-Star Siakam has 686,000 followers, Laurie Markkanen has 438,000 for the most improved player, and Jalen Jackson Jr. for best defensive player is 483,000.

In fact, as early as 3 years ago, the whole world knew why Farr couldn't play in the NBA: he was too slow. In the modern NBA world, slow is a more deadly terminal illness than shortness. Even if he has such a huge body, as long as he can't prevent it, his CBA one-step league block can only be a dragon slaying skill, and in the NBA - even if it is only summer league - can only become a small guard and a space-type interior ATM. He lost 17 points in 16 minutes against the Nuggets and 11 points in 6 minutes against the Nets. Against the Heat, he played 16 minutes and lost by eight points. Even the Bucks, who are the most superstitious about physical superiority in the NBA, may have a hard time giving him a contract.

Dupp Reese, who played for Qingdao last season, did well in the Portland Trail Blazers' summer league. As the main rotation on the bench, Reese scored double-digit points in each of his four appearances. On the radio show that gave the Lakers an idea last October, an old artist surnamed Yang pushed this person to the Lakers management, but it was a pity that Pelinka did not listen to Chinese radio and missed the opportunity to sign this fierce player.

Reese, who just turned 27 last month, attributes his consistent level of play at the Summer League to years of experience, including the CBA: "I've played in a few summer leagues and I know the most important thing to play in this kind of game is hard work. I have gained a lot of experience in Australia, in Europe and including in China. Playing in China last season was a very special experience for me and I felt like I was playing a completely different role in the team than I was before. In China, foreign players have to find ways to have more impact on the game. It's a different culture and it took me some time to get used to it, but overall I feel the experience has been very helpful for my career. Now that I'm here, I know that in this level of play, my strength is to be able to defend, so I'm always trying to communicate, try to stay positive, bring energy to the team, keep punching offensive rebounds, do little things to help the team win. ”

Even with his suitors around the world, the NBA is still Reese's first choice. With NBA teams expanding their two-way contracts from two to three this season, the Trail Blazers do have an open roster spot that Reese looks very, very close to. And even if the Blazers didn't keep him, other NBA teams saw his performance. Of all the CBA names this summer, he is now the closest person to succeeding in his dreams.

His Qingdao teammate Eugene Germaine was not so lucky. He tried out for the Raptors and Suns this summer, and played Summer League games for the Suns, but Germaine has only made 2 appearances in five Summer League games in the Suns' Summer League team, and he and Peterson have similar problems: they are both score-type small guards, they have many competitors, and because of their age, they are not the team's priority.

WHEN GERMAINE RAN FOR THE 2020 DRAFT, FANSIDED'S WEBSITE WROTE THAT HE COULD BE A DARK HORSE IN THE DRAFT. The reason is that as the all-time scoring leader of the Northern Illinois school, he stands alone in a minor league called the Mid-American Conference, and has an "impeccable work ethic" in "difficult living conditions." But then we learned that the compliments didn't bring him any NBA team favor, and the president and vice president read 60 names on stage, none of them "Eugene Jerman." He's been to Greece, he's been to Turkey and last season to Qingdao, and Qingdao fans love and hate him — both his amazing explosiveness that comes and goes, and his erratic projection and poor level of play.

He played 16 minutes in the final game of Summer League, showing the Las Vegas crowd the best of himself — including three three-pointers, 18 points on 12 shots, and a dashing breakaway that got all his teammates standing up to this year's second-round pick Tariq Biberrovich. He proved that the accolades he talked about when he ran were not unfounded, and like most players who never played in the NBA in their entire lives and were forced to come to the CBA to make a living, he was not hard enough, not disciplined enough, not without dreams, he was just not talented enough and not strong enough.

Peterson was also given the opportunity to start in the final game. He didn't waste the opportunity, scoring 25 points and six rebounds in 28 minutes of playing time. Trailing 1-18 in the opening game, he used his CBA-style style of play to lead his team to a comeback in the fourth quarter. In the final 4.4 seconds of the game, Peterson even had a chance to equalize, receiving the ball from the back court all the way to the front court, shaking two defenders with a hard shot, and the basketball bounced twice on the basket before deflecting wide.

After the game, Peterson summed up his summer league: "The whole summer league was an amazing experience. Thank God for giving me this opportunity. Thank you all for your love and support throughout the Summer League. Thank you to the New York Knicks for giving me this opportunity to showcase my talent on the highest stage and in front of millions of people. I've played against different NBA teams, and with my energy, struggle, and good attitude, I've become a great teammate and leader who has impacted the game in a positive way. I hope you will be inspired by this experience of mine, no matter where you're from, no matter your height, whether you're a five-star athlete or a non-star athlete, you have to believe in yourself. ”

I don't need to emphasize too much, everyone must know how difficult it is for a basketball player to enter the NBA, as the highest hall of basketball in the world. There are countless players who once thought they were very talented and gave their entire lives for it, but still failed to make it to it. To this day, the future of these dreamers is still up in the air. Reese has a good chance of staying in the NBA, while others are likely to return to the CBA or go back to the European or Puerto Rican leagues. They have never been the pride of heaven, but they still have struggled to write their own stories with their careers, and the value of these stories is not only those they show on the Summer Union Stadium.

The journey they've taken to sustain their basketball careers, the work they've done to support their families, the experiences they've learned from wandering around the world. They work hard, learn to be better teammates, value every opportunity as they get older, and do everything they can to make themselves better, even though maybe 99% of basketball fans in the world don't see it.

The world of competitive sports is so cruel, after such a long journey, so much sweat, may not be successful in the end, but at this stage, success is not so important, but the process of doing everything to get close to success will be more important. Because only after such a hard work, can you calmly face failure, reconcile with that imperfect self, and say those four words without regret-

I tried my best.