The Curse of Cleveland.

A month passed in the blink of an eye.

The Cavaliers' season training camp had essentially ended.

During this month, Han Sen had a relatively peaceful time.

LeBron James and Varejão didn't bother him anymore, allowing him to fully focus on his training.

He successfully increased his weight to 100 kg and had completely adapted to his new muscle memory.

Moreover, after gaining muscle, his explosiveness had improved, and with the high-intensity training, his Euro step had shown some progress in a short time.

Although limited by his talent, there was still a significant gap between him and Dwyane Wade, but compared to his NCAA days, his threat to break through had greatly improved.

At least during the team's internal training, defenders couldn't completely ignore the threat of his drive.

Of course, to go further, besides maintaining high-intensity training, he would still have to rely on the [hater system] to find a way to exchange for more talent.

Aside from that, he also did an excellent job of integrating into the team.

This was partly thanks to his excellent learning ability, or in other words, his basketball IQ.

Another factor was the Cavaliers' tactical system.

The Cavaliers' primary focus was defense, or to be more precise, a defense-counterattack strategy.

This was exactly the same as the Summer League, matching perfectly with his style.

As a result of all this, Han Sen smoothly made it into the Cavaliers' rotation lineup as a rookie.

Whether he could go further depended on his performance in the upcoming pre-season games.

...

Before the start of the new season, the NBA officially released the team power rankings.

The defending champion Lakers were ranked first.

The Lakers easily won the Finals last season, and during the off-season, they not only kept their core lineup but upgraded their small forward from Trevor Ariza to Ron Artest, making the team even stronger.

The Cavaliers were ranked second on the list.

Among the Eastern Conference powerhouses, the Pistons had already disbanded their core five, and the Hawks were more of a regular-season team. The only real threats to the Cavaliers were the Magic and Celtics.

With Shaquille O'Neal brought in to counter Dwight Howard, along with shooters like Parker and Han Sen, the Cavaliers had an advantage over the Magic.

As for the Celtics, even though they had added Rasheed Wallace, their core players, except for Paul Pierce, were past their prime and couldn't stop the Cavaliers.

The official assessment was that the Cavaliers were invincible in the East this season, with their only real opponent being the Lakers.

The Cavaliers' first pre-season opponent was the Charlotte Bobcats.

The Bobcats had finished 10th in the East last season and didn't make the playoffs, so they seemed like a good match for the Cavaliers, who still needed to build chemistry.

However, upon arriving in Charlotte, Coach Brown announced that LeBron James wouldn't be playing in this game, nor would veteran Zydrunas Ilgauskas.

Wasting such an opportunity to build chemistry was perplexing, and Han Sen didn't quite understand it.

But for him, it was good news.

After a month of training, his biggest on-court realization was James' extreme control over the ball.

When James was on the floor, there was a 90% chance the ball would be in his hands.

With James not playing, the rest of the Cavaliers would have more opportunities.

On the night of the game, about 10,000 fans filled the Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte.

The Bobcats had joined the league in 2004 and had yet to make the playoffs. Their popularity in Charlotte was lukewarm, and with it being a pre-season game and LeBron James not playing, having such a turnout was unexpected.

Han Sen contributed to this attendance.

During pre-game warm-ups, the arena's cameras focused on him, and the moment he appeared on the screen, a wave of boos filled the air.

There was no helping it — the sight of him wearing the number 77 was simply too eye-catching.

Especially with the Bobcats now associated with Michael Jordan, there was no way he would be warmly welcomed here.

Listening to the boos, Han Sen felt as if it was music to his ears.

Every boo represented more points for his hater system!

And the louder the boos got, the more pleased he looked, which only made the crowd boo him harder.

But one person was an exception — Bobcats head coach Larry Brown.

Brown was notorious for not liking rookies, a reputation that came largely from his handling of Darko Miličić.

However, in reality, Brown had used rookies before, including Tayshaun Prince and Mehmet Okur, both of whom became starters in their second year under his coaching.

On a championship-contending team, the environment wasn't conducive to developing rookies. You couldn't focus on winning while also giving rookies playing time — a point the Warriors would later exemplify in reverse.

Brown looked at Han Sen now with the same impression he had during his initial tryout in Charlotte: a sharp and promising player.

In truth, Brown wasn't against using rookies; he just didn't like using players who couldn't defend.

There was no opening ceremony for this pre-season game. After the warm-ups, the starting players gradually took the floor.

Cavaliers: Mo Williams, Anthony Parker, Jamario Moon, Anderson Varejão, Shaquille O'Neal.

Bobcats: Raymond Felton, Gerald Henderson, Gerald Wallace, Boris Diaw, Tyson Chandler.

Henderson started, but Han Sen didn't. According to fan standards, "Bread" Brown was even less fond of using rookies than the older Brown.

As the game began, the Bobcats unexpectedly took the upper hand.

Coach Brown was also a defense-first coach, and this Bobcats team wasn't necessarily weaker than the Cavaliers in terms of defense.

Chandler was strong in the low post, and Wallace and Diaw, both swingman, were quick with help defense. Whenever O'Neal received the ball, he would immediately be double-teamed.

But it wasn't just defense that created this situation — offense played a role too.

The Cavaliers' offense was too cramped!

The main problem was Varejão.

Varejão's appearance easily reminded people of another big man in the league, Joakim Noah.

Similar height, both strong defenders and playmakers, even sporting the same long hair. The only difference was that Varejão couldn't shoot.

When Ilgauskas was the starting center, this wasn't an issue because Ilgauskas had a reliable mid-range jumper.

With Ilgauskas pulling defenders to the free-throw line and Varejão setting screens, James could easily drive to the basket.

But now, paired with O'Neal, Varejão just looked foolish because both Diaw and Wallace were ignoring him to double-team O'Neal.

Han Sen couldn't understand it. Why didn't Varejão develop any shooting ability, just like he didn't understand why LeBron hadn't improved his three-point shot.

Was Cleveland cursed?

It had to be!

Of course, the spacing issue wasn't all on Varejão. Moon's outside shooting was no better than James'.

After half a quarter, the Bobcats led the Cavaliers 18–10.

The gap wasn't huge, but the Bobcats fans were abnormally excited.

Yes, pre-season wins didn't really matter, and James wasn't playing, but the Cavaliers were officially ranked second in the league, while the Bobcats were ranked 20th.

For the 20th-ranked team to beat the 2nd-ranked team — even in pre-season — was quite the thrill!

At this point, Wallace stole a pass intended for O'Neal, leading to a fast break. Henderson took Wallace's pass and threw down a dunk, igniting the arena.

And then, instead of showing Henderson's dunk on the big screen, the camera zoomed in on LeBron James sitting on the sidelines, biting his nails.

Now that's cinematic language!

It was as if the screen was mocking the Cavaliers for leaving James out. This was no longer a question of whether they could win — it was about whether they'd get crushed.

Coach Brown's expression soured, and just then, assistant coach Malone whispered something in his ear.

Brown nodded and turned to call for Han Sen.

Han Sen took off his warm-up jersey and tossed it to Cunningham before walking briskly to the scorer's table.

Williams forced a foul while driving to the basket, and as the play stopped, a whistle sounded from the sideline.

Han tucked his jersey into his shorts and pointed at Moon on the court.

Moon jogged over, gave him a high-five, and left the court.

Number 77 appeared on the arena's big screen again, and another wave of boos rang out.

Han responded by waving his arms, encouraging the boos to get even louder.

Then, amidst the deafening boos, he glanced up at the scoreboard.

20 to 10.

During his draft night interview, Zhang Weiping had asked him how he felt about joining the Cavaliers.

Now his answer from back then felt more fitting than ever:

"You guys really need me!"