Before the Suns face the Lakers again, Ben is back.

Although he has not officially signed a new contract with the Suns, he can't wait.

After spending a week on a short vacation with his family, he returned to Phoenix without stopping.

Like Stoudemire before, adding Butler gave him hope of winning this season.

Of course, since he has not signed a contract, he will definitely not be able to play.

However, he can train with the team!

Maintaining form is one thing, but more importantly, helping Lopez improve his defense.

When he was here before, Lopez was the 11th or 12th man in the rotation.

The Suns' normal rotation is 9 to 10 players, so it is generally difficult for Lopez to get much playing time.

But now, since Big Ben hasn't signed the contract yet, he will definitely replace Big Ben in the round.

Lopez is also a typical example of strong offense and weak defense. Although he is a little less talented than his brother, he is completely useful as a substitute center.

It's just that details such as his blocking position, defensive positioning, and pick-and-roll defense need to be improved.

Fortunately, the Suns still have time.

One day later, the Lakers arrived in Phoenix.

In the evening, Lin Ying took Butler and drove to the hotel door to pick up Kobe.

Kobe went straight to the back seat and chatted with Butler, and they had a heated conversation.

Lin Ying couldn't get a word in front.

Well, it feels like being a light bulb.

Finally we arrived at Yao Restaurant, and when we discussed the dining environment, we started to enter his home court.

Kobe has obviously tried Chinese food. If he is interested in something, he will first ask Lin Ying what he is.

And maybe because he grew up in Italy, he particularly loves pasta.

Following Lin Ying's recommendation, he planned to try knife-shaped noodles.

Moreover, he also chatted with Lin Ying about an interesting story between him and Butler.

Because he was usually busy training, especially when O'Neal just left the team, he basically declined all leisure activities.

So the impression he gives to others is that of a training freak who has no other social interactions except training.

It was against this background that Butler held a party and invited Kobe and Odom.

There were dozens of people attending that party, and they all had shocked faces when they saw Kobe.

And as soon as Kobe sat down, he took the pork ribs that were passed to him, and then chatted and laughed with Odom Butler while eating.

This time everyone else was stunned:

"Oh my God, Kobe actually ate ribs!"

There is a background here, because clenbuterol is an illegal drug in the NBA, and pork contains a lot of it but has not been detected, so NBA players generally do not eat pork.

Then Kobe's response was very interesting. He smiled and replied:

"Yeah, Kobe even drives to the gas station to refuel!"

Butler imitated Kobe's tone and said.

This immediately caused Kobe to burst into laughter.

Lin Ying looked at the two of them. He had been in contact with Kobe for a long time, but this was the first time he had seen Kobe like this.

It can be seen that the relationship between Butler and Kobe is extraordinary, completely beyond the scope of ordinary friends.

"Lin, don't you want to know Caron's story?"

Because it takes time to serve the food, Kobe took advantage of this moment to speak.

Lin Ying also sat upright and listened attentively.

Everyone knows the story of Iverson, because Iverson stood on the stage of the NBA Finals.

In that story, Iverson was in a difficult situation as a child, dealing with drugs and violence every day, but he was clean and hobbies and did not get involved.

That allowed him to eventually become the No. 1 draft pick in the NBA and play against his natural enemies.

Butler is also in a difficult situation, but he has taken the completely opposite path to Iverson.

He was born in a small town near Lake Michigan, only 22 miles away from Milwaukee.

His father also abandoned him and his mother early, and his mother had to work two jobs to support him.

Unlike Iverson, he does not have a stepfather.

So he is more like Iverson's stepfather. In order to keep himself and his mother alive, he started selling drugs at the age of twelve.

In the United States, this is a high-risk, high-reward job.

But it is obviously difficult for a teenage child to do this well.

He continued doing it until he was 15, and then got busted 15 times.

For the last time, the local police finally realized that the boy would die on the streets sooner or later if he continued like this, so they threw him into a juvenile detention center.

He needs to serve a year there.

This sounds like a wonderful story.

But like so many packaged American stories, its interior is shady.

That juvenile detention center, according to Butler, may be more dangerous than drug trafficking, and every day there is "a matter of life and death."

Some people are raped, some are murdered, but no one cares.

A teenage child is surrounded by the darkness of the world. You can imagine what a desperate environment it is.

It was at this time that he grabbed a life-saving straw, basketball.

Just like what is described in American movies, because the investment is not large and the basketball court does not occupy a large space, most juvenile detention centers and prisons will be equipped with one.

That's when he discovered his love for basketball.

In fact, in a sense, Butler and Laue are the same kind of people.

Laue was disabled physically, but Butler was disabled mentally.

But the same thing is that they all saved themselves through basketball.

After being imprisoned for two weeks for a fight with others, he finally figured out that he wanted to play basketball!

So after he came out of the juvenile detention center, he began to devote all his love to basketball.

"They still looked for me."

At this moment, Butler interrupted Kobe.

"Shortly after I came out of there, they found the thing near my house and suspected that I did it because of my criminal record."

Kobe looked at Butler in surprise at this time. Apparently he had never heard Butler say this.

"They are going to take me to jail for ten years."

When Butler said this, his expression was obviously a little scared.

If he really has to sit out for ten years, let alone his basketball career, he will be completely ruined if he finally returns to a normal life.

Of course, now that Butler is sitting here, as an NBA player, that obviously didn't happen in the end.

"But Officer Rick Geller communicated with me at the time and confirmed that I had nothing to do with it, and he saved me."

Butler then spoke with emotion.

Wrongful arrests are very common in the American police industry, and something similar happened when Iverson caused a stir.

So the policeman named Geller can be regarded as Butler's benefactor.

Before Kobe could recover, Butler told the rest of the story himself.

Although he embarked on the road of basketball, he only started playing basketball at the age of 15, and with those bad records, his basketball road was destined to be bumpy.

From the beginning, he and his mother were forced to move out of their original neighborhood.

Because of his bad record, local schools refused to admit him.

He was then forced to enter a technical school, and then began to level up and fight monsters along the way.

He first worked his way into Maine Preparatory School.

During that time, apart from training and competing, he spent the rest of his time working at Burger King to make money.

After that, he worked hard to enter Washington Park Middle School and began to realize his basketball talent.

He helped the team improve from 3 wins and 19 losses last season to 19 wins and 3 losses, and contributed 30+10+5 in 98 consecutive games.

It was this kind of game that allowed him to finally enter the AUU league. Two years later, he completed the junior college upgrade and finally entered the University of Connecticut.
To be continued...