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Chapter 86: The Summer League
🕑 Added 2025-04-27 11:10:18 +0000 UTC“Damn, your speed’s really good for your height”
That’s what the Knicks’ strength coach, Mark Duber, kept saying every time Lin Yi went through a workout.
Lin Yi’s body was straight-up crazy.
Barefoot height? 221 cm.
In shoes? 224 cm.
Wingspan? 235 cm.
Standing reach? 296 cm.
The dude was built in a lab.
Mark shook his head, still half in disbelief.
It wasn’t like the league didn’t have fast bigs.
But someone with Lin Yi’s size and coordination? Nah, that just didn’t usually exist.
Lin Yi was putting up monster numbers in the drills:
Sprint from restricted area and back: 10.47 seconds.
3/4 court sprint without the ball: 3.15 seconds.
3/4 court sprint with the ball: 3.40 seconds.
Very good.
To give some context?
Some agile big men could move fast without the ball.
But with the ball? Most of the seven-footers would lumber through in like 4.5 seconds or more.
LeBron’s 3/4 court sprint? 3.22 seconds.
Jordan’s back in the day? 3.06.
Chris Paul’s? 3.22.
And now you’ve got this giant moving like that.
Guy had massive hands too — built to be a dominant center.
Not to mention his air time was stupid good.
Mark couldn’t even imagine what Lin Yi’s dunks were gonna look like once his core strength leveled up.
"If teams throw those slow, old-school bigs at him? They’re getting cooked," Mark thought.
He was practically drooling just imagining Lin Yi’s future.
“God bless New York. We’re finally about to rise!”
He grinned at Lin Yi after another drill session.
“Kid, just take it easy in the Summer League, alright? After seeing your latest training videos, Coach’s already talking about cutting his vacation short just to watch you.”
Lin Yi just nodded, low-key pumped but keeping it cool.
Summer League wasn’t about going all out — just getting used to the NBA flow.
...
July 9, 2009.
Lin Yi arrived at the Knicks' Summer League camp in Vegas.
Assistant coach Dan D'Antoni, older brother of the Head Coach, was leading the squad.
And when he first laid eyes on Lin Yi, he was pleasantly surprised.
“Holy crap, New York struck gold,” Dan muttered.
The Clippers must've lost their minds handing over a monster like this, or Blake was really good.
22 teams had signed up for the Vegas Summer League that year.
Stephen Curry, Blake Griffin — all the new rookies were there.
Dan asked Lin Yi casually, “So, how many games are you planning to play?”
Yeah, total first-pick treatment.
Lin Yi noticed real quick: the looks from his new teammates weren’t envy anymore — it was straight-up hate.
For them, Summer League was life or death — their shot at a real NBA contract.
For Lin Yi?
Kinda felt like a mini-vacation.
He thought about it, then decided:
“I’ll play against the Warriors and the Cavs.”
Facing the Warriors would be fun — it’d be his first time going against Steph Curry.
Maybe Steph would even accidentally pass him the ball, mistaking him for a teammate.
Who knows?
And the Cavs?
They were kinda weak, so it’d be a good chill game to get used to the pace.
No need to overdo it.
...
July 10, 2009.
The Summer League tipped off.
Lin Yi showed up courtside in a suit, chilling while watching the Knicks get smacked by the Sixers, 57-88.
Jrue Holiday went off — dropped 25 points and wrecked the Knicks’ guards.
After the game, Jrue came over to chat.
Lin Yi started talking about the with him: "Bro, you gotta work on your three. Your drives are nasty, but if you can knock down threes consistently? You’ll be starting for Philly in no time."
Jrue nodded seriously.
Lin Yi chuckled to himself.
Hitting threes became a staple in basketball in the future. Better to start now and get comfy.
...
Of course, Lin Yi still practiced with the squad.
Even if it was just about adapting, he wasn’t about to slack off.
The problem was… the Knicks’ Summer League roster was rough.
Lin Yi barely recognized any names.
During scrimmages, Earl Barron — the Knicks' “main” Summer League center — was tasked with guarding Lin Yi.
Poor dude.
Barron was already seeing stars after two drills.
Earl was a solid 213 cm big, a decent player — even had a short run with the Heat where he put up like 7 points and 4 boards a game.
Not bad.
But against Lin Yi?
Nah.
Barron was too slow.
Lin Yi kept dragging him out to the perimeter, then just cooked him off the dribble.
Another ankle-breaker, another easy layup.
Barron looked like he wanted to retire right there on the court.
“I can't feel my legs,” he muttered under his breath.
And then it happened.
During one scrimmage, as Lin Yi blew past Barron again and headed for an easy bucket, a small blur came flying out of nowhere —
BAM!
Crashing straight into Lin Yi.
The entire coaching staff freaked.
Was Lin Yi hurt?
The team doc sprinted over.
Lin Yi shook his head, stood up, and laughed.
He was fine.
Looking down, he saw the dude who crashed into him — a short, super energetic guy, grinning up at him awkwardly.
Man, he looked weirdly familiar.
Dan stormed over, furious.
He snapped at the little dude:
"Pat! You want to take the man OUT!"
Lin Yi waved it off.
It wasn’t like Dodge had done it on purpose.
He even cushioned Lin Yi on the way down to protect him.
No harm done.
Still, the other Knicks players were staring daggers at Lin Yi.
Like he was some pampered princess.
Pat went for a handshake and amicably apologized.
"Sorry, man. I wasn’t trying to hurt you. Just got too into it."
Lin Yi smiled.
It wasn’t a big deal.
Honestly, he liked that intensity — real games weren’t some no-contact dance party.
You had to be ready for body blows.
Still, he couldn’t shake the feeling:
Where had he seen this Pat guy before?
Later, he pulled Barron aside.
"Yo, what’s Pat' full name?"
Barron said, "Pat Ewing Jr . And don’t blame him, bro. He’s always going hard. Trying to live up to his father's legacy"
Lin Yi nodded, then asked, "So that's were the familiarity was coming from."
Barron smiled and nodded.
No wonder Pat looked so familiar.
...
Lin Yi decided he needed to have a little talk with Dan.
If the coaches kept overprotecting him like this, not only would it piss off his teammates, it’d stunt his development.
He didn’t come to the Summer League to play princess ball.
He came to grind.
The NBA wasn’t some friendly pickup game.
It was war.
And deep down, Lin Yi loved it.
The crashes, the muscle battles, the sweat — that’s what real basketball was about.
