Who Is Yang Shuai?

After hitting the game-winning three, Curry turned to look at Coach K on the Duke bench. Veterans Memorial Coliseum erupted. “What did he just do?!” Jay Williams clutched his head at the commentary table. Even a player like him, who had played in the NBA, was stunned by Curry’s shot. If it had merely been a three, it would not have astonished him so much; after all, there is some luck involved in any three-pointer. But a deep three like that—to even attempt it, you first had to have that kind of ability! He had thought Curry couldn’t do it. In truth, he did not understand Curry at all. He had been completely wrong. “Stephen Curry—he’s the Demon Deacon tonight!” Ian Eagle said, delivering an even sharper line. It was a game-winner worthy of NAA history. If the Demon Deacons could hold on and win. There were 2.4 seconds left, but the Blue Devils had no timeouts remaining. They could only try to launch a long pass from the backcourt. Prosser was shouting continuously from the sideline. The Demon Deacons’ defense was set and gave the Blue Devils no opening. McRoberts was finally forced to give the ball to Nelson in the backcourt. Nelson took two dribbles and heaved it from deep in the backcourt; it did not touch the rim. The Demon Deacons had won! They had beaten the Blue Devils! When the final buzzer sounded, the Demon Deacons on the court and on the bench rushed to Curry’s side, shouting and celebrating. Veterans Memorial Coliseum was in an absolute frenzy. The win not only gave them a winning start in conference play; they had also beaten their archrival, Duke University! It was also the first time they had done so since Paul left the team. It was too early to call the rebuilding complete, but this victory was a shot in the arm for both Wake Forest fans and the Demon Deacons players. Ian Eagle soon came down to the floor. “Stephen, what a spectacular game-winner—congratulations!” He deftly pulled Curry out of the celebrating crowd. “Thank you.” Curry had followed his father in and out of NBA arenas since childhood and had met plenty of stars and celebrities, but when it was finally his turn, he still seemed a little stiff. Ian, however, was experienced. He asked Curry some questions about the game, and Curry gradually eased into it. It was then that Ian asked a question Williams had raised at the commentary table earlier, one that was also highly topical: “Do you think joining Wake Forest was the best choice for you?” It was a sharp question, but Curry nodded without hesitation. “Yes.” Curry’s decisiveness caught Ian off guard. He explained, “What I mean is, the level of play in the A League is higher than in most conferences. If you had gone to another conference, you could be putting up better numbers than you are now.” Yet Curry nodded again, still without hesitation. That stirred Ian’s curiosity. “Why did you choose Wake Forest in the first place? I remember Davidson College made you an offer as well.” It was a question that had always existed but that no one had cared about before. Now, after Curry had hit a game-winner worthy of a headline from The Associated Press, it became a matter of interest. After asking it, Ian also considered what Curry’s answer might be: high-intensity games could improve a player’s ability; he wanted to prove Coach K wrong; the Demon Deacons had promised him a starting spot, and so on. But Curry’s answer once again caught him off guard. “It was Hanson. He brought me here. I’m grateful for everything he’s done for me.” “Hanson? Who’s that?” Ian was a little confused. “He’s a scout at our school. His Chinese name is Yang Shuai.” When Curry said this, his eyes were full of happiness. Though the process had been bumpy, the result was that he had scored 32 points to lead his team to victory over Virginia Tech and had delivered the game-winner against Duke. Yang Shuai had once said Curry would “personally beat the teams that looked down on him.” He had done it—twice. But after hearing that answer, Ian was stunned for quite a while. It was the first time he had ever heard of a player placing such importance on a scout. But regardless, that was Curry’s answer. After interviewing Curry, Ian immediately went to find Westbrook. As spectacular as Curry’s game-winner was, the biggest contributor to Wake Forest’s win tonight was Westbrook, who had scored a career-high 28 points. Compared with Curry, Westbrook was also giving his first interview, but he was clearly much more at ease. “I heard ULA made you an offer. Why did you ultimately choose to come to Wake Forest?” Ian asked a question similar to the one before, but it was clearly a little different from the one he had asked Curry. After all, Westbrook had turned down a powerhouse program. Ian likewise had possible answers in mind, such as more opportunities, a better tactical fit, and so on. But Westbrook’s answer left him stunned again—and he could hardly believe it. “Because of Hanson. He made me understand what it is I really want to do.” Frankly speaking, Yang Shuai had not done as much for Westbrook as he had for Curry, but it made no difference—Westbrook was a man who wore his heart on his sleeve. Yang Shuai again! And to think that Wake Forest’s backcourt duo this season had both been recruited by this man named Yang Shuai! But now was not the time to satisfy his curiosity, because he saw Ibaka, another surprise contributor to Wake Forest’s win tonight, about to head back into the player tunnel. Ian quickly wrapped up the interview there and went over to him. Curry had been a little reserved in his interview, but Ibaka was visibly nervous. Even though Ian deliberately tried to guide him, Ibaka still stumbled noticeably when he answered. For a kid raised in Congo, every day in America was a day of discovering the world. It was then that Ian suddenly had an utterly absurd thought: “Do you know Hanson?” “Yes. He brought me here from Africa. I’m very grateful for everything he’s done for me.” Ibaka smiled and nodded. After hearing the familiar name, his nervousness eased considerably, and he spoke much more fluently. By now, Ian was questioning reality. Not one, not two, but three! The key players in Wake Forest’s upset win over Duke tonight had all been recruited by the same scout! He had been a commentator for so many years, yet this was the first time he had ever heard of such a thing. His curiosity about Yang Shuai was now at its peak. Because the game had been broadcast nationwide, a press conference was arranged afterward. The press conference was held in a second-floor meeting room, and the place was bustling. Beating Duke was already something local media would make a big fuss about; never mind an upset capped by a deep three at the buzzer. Media from across the state, and even national outlets, would take a special interest in something like that. NAA press conferences worked differently from NBA ones. Here, the players were usually interviewed first and the coach afterward, and most of the time there was only the coach. But on a night like this, Curry, Westbrook, and Ibaka—the three men who had done the most to win the game—naturally got their chance to appear. The questions at the press conference were no different from those Ian had asked earlier, except that no one asked why the players had come to Wake Forest. Only after their interviews did Prosser take the stage at the end. When it was Prosser’s turn, the reporters’ questions became far more varied: player performances, the officiating, the game-winner called for on the final possession, and so on. But what drew the most attention was the shift in the team’s tactics. Anyone could see that without the tactical change, Wake Forest most likely would have lost by a wide margin, just as they had against the University of North Carolina. “More than sixty percent of the team’s offense tonight came in transition. Did the team’s earlier losses prompt a tactical adjustment?” Ian was also at the press conference, and his question was as sharp as ever. “The team went through a major overhaul this summer. Since the beginning of the season, we’ve been looking for a system that suits the new players,” Prosser said. He was an old hand, and his answer was clearly more seasoned than Jay Williams’s earlier remarks. “During that time, one of the scouts in our scouting department gave me an idea for how we should play, based on film analysis. After discussion, the coaching staff thought it was a very good plan.” But his next words immediately set off a round of whispers among the reporters. Normally, it was impossible for an NAA head coach to bring up a scout unprompted. Prosser had clearly done it on purpose. He wanted to bring Yang Shuai into the coaching staff next season, which meant he needed to build up some reputation for Yang Shuai in advance. After all, this time next year, Yang Shuai would still be just a college graduate fresh out of school. After hearing this—especially the word “scout”—Ian had an immediate, knee-jerk reaction and blurted out, “Hanson? No, I mean, Yang Shuai?” Now it was Prosser’s turn to be stunned by what Ian had done. Had Yang Shuai’s fame already grown so great that even a famous B Sports commentator knew him? If that were really the case, then the little show he had put on today seemed unnecessary. Still, he nodded, then asked curiously, “You know him?” “No.” Ian shook his head, but then spoke again. “But I’ve heard about him from a lot of players.” As soon as Ian finished speaking, the press conference room was already buzzing. A famous coach had brought him up unprompted, and a famous commentator had heard about him from many people. At that moment, everyone there had only one thought: Just who was this Yang Shuai?" },