Monty was stunned. He stared at Chen Yu in disbelief. After a long moment, he asked, "How did you know?"
For the past two weeks, he had indeed been feeling some dull, intermittent pain on the inside of his left knee.
Because it wasn't frequent and didn't hurt too badly, he hadn't told Billings.
He figured it was probably because his playing time had increased after Hill's injury.
Last season, he was a backup for Bo Outlaw, occasionally getting a starting spot. But this season, Hill had arrived, and the small forward position undoubtedly belonged to him.
Even Outlaw had been relegated to the bench, so he had to move even further down the pecking order.
Not to mention, the team also had a promising rookie in Mike Miller, which meant even fewer opportunities for him.
Now that Hill was injured, Monty's playing time had naturally shot up.
Playing more minutes, it was only normal for physical problems to arise.
He never expected that Chen Yu would pinpoint his problem the moment they met.
Monty looked over at Hill. Just moments ago, Hill had called Chen Yu an excellent orthopedic doctor, and now Monty was a true believer.
Chen Yu pointed to Monty's left leg. "I could tell from your posture."
Monty was taken aback again. 'Is there a problem with my posture? It doesn't even hurt right now.'
Hill, on the other hand, was already used to Chen Yu's eagle eye. He said, "Monty, you don't know this, but at the beginning of the month in Miami, I ran into Chen in the player tunnel. He saw my posture and knew right away that my left ankle was sore. He's seriously amazing."
Monty was shocked again. He remembered that game against the Heat; Hill had sat out, saying his left ankle was sore. It turned out Chen Yu had been the first one to spot it.
In an instant, Monty started to panic.
As a professional athlete, he couldn't help but be sensitive about injuries.
"Chen, what's wrong with me? Is the injury serious?" Monty asked nervously.
He wasn't like Hill, a superstar who could make tens of millions of US dollars a year even while on the sidelines.
He was a role player, a fringe player in the league, with a salary of only a million a year. In a place as competitive as the NBA, if he got injured and couldn't play, his spot in the rotation would most likely be snatched up. He'd gradually be pushed to the margins, fail to get a new contract, and quietly leave the league.
Chen Yu said, "First, try this exercise."
Chen Yu instructed Monty to raise his hands and extend them forward, stand on his left leg, and then slowly bend his knee.
"Do you feel any pain?"
Monty slowly squatted, but when he bent his knee to a certain point, his expression changed slightly. He really did feel a pain on the inside of his left knee.
At that moment, he panicked even more.
"Don't worry. Do one more movement," Chen Yu said, then directed Monty into a pose resembling a breaststroke kick.
Monty's strange movements attracted the attention of the nearby players, as well as Gabriel and the others.
"Monty, what are you doing?" Rivers asked with a frown.
He had noticed Chen Yu a moment ago.
But he didn't like Chen Yu.
Because it was Chen Yu who had turned Hill's expected two-week recovery into an indefinite absence.
The other players also looked at Monty, completely bewildered.
Monty's expression changed again. He felt it—when he did the breaststroke motion and his knees spread outward, the inside of his knee joint really hurt.
"Chen, it really hurts right here."
Monty said, pointing to the painful spot on his knee.
That one sentence not only caused varied reactions among the spectating players, but it also made Gabriel's expression change dramatically.
'It's Chen Yu again!'
'Is this the Grim Reaper? How can my players have problems every time he shows up?'
"Chen, what's wrong with Monty?" Although Gabriel was frustrated, he had no choice but to ask.
If Monty went down too, the Magic would be seriously short on usable forwards.
Chen Yu said, "If I'm not mistaken, it should be a mild case of pes anserine tendinitis."
The moment he heard "tendon," Monty felt his vision go dark, as if the sky was falling.
Tendons, ligaments—these were forbidden zones for a professional athlete.
Hill quickly asked, "Chen, is it serious?"
Everyone looked toward Chen Yu.
"It's a minor issue." Chen Yu shook his head. "His condition isn't serious. It can be managed with some simple treatment. Of course, it would be best for him to rest for a week to give his body a recovery period."
After saying this, Chen Yu couldn't help but curse inwardly.
'This Billings is truly incompetent.'
'As a team doctor, providing immediate diagnosis and treatment is one thing, but shouldn't preventing injuries be another part of the job?'
'Participating in training plans, conducting regular physical check-ups, maintaining timely communication... if problems are found and dealt with early, they won't drag on and become major issues.'
'A case like Monty's is just a normal overuse injury.'
'If it had been caught earlier, they could have just reduced his training load, or even had him sit out a game or two, and he would have recovered easily.'
'If you just ignore it until the pain becomes obvious, it's already starting to get serious and requires medical intervention. At that point, it's not a matter of one or two games anymore; it might take a month to recover.'
Monty let out a visible sigh of relief.
Gabriel did the same; the team couldn't afford any more injuries.
Just then, De Brown, a wiry man in the crowd who was about the same height as Chen Yu, spoke up. "Chen, you found Monty's tendinitis with just a simple check. That's amazing. Could you check me out too?"
As a former Slam Dunk Champion, he was also nearing the end of his career and got almost no playing time with the Magic.
'But who would be willing to retire so quietly? Hill is 28 and in his prime, and I'm only 32!'
'It's all because of the severe decline in my physical condition.'
Many players present nodded in agreement.
Chen Yu had discovered Monty's hidden pain just by meeting him. His medical skills were just too brilliant.
Monty also hurriedly asked, "Chen, can I come to you for treatment?"
Logically, he should go to Billings, but he had been in pain for almost two weeks without Billings discovering anything. Chen Yu, on the other hand, found the problem right away. The difference in their skills was obvious.
"Of course." Chen Yu smoothly pulled out a stack of business cards. "I've temporarily opened a clinic in the city. If any of you need anything, you can come find me anytime."
'I'll definitely see them, but not right now.'
'Even if there's nothing wrong, we should still go through the process. They can pay the consultation fee first.'
'With the kind of money these guys make, charging them a thousand US dollars for a brief consultation isn't too expensive, right?'
The players glanced at each other, and without exception, every single one of them took a business card.
They were all professional athletes; who could guarantee they didn't have some underlying issue?
Even if there were no problems, getting a diagnosis from Chen Yu would buy them some peace of mind.
At that moment, school officials came over to inform everyone that it was time to start the event.
The group set off.
The event was held in the school's basketball gymnasium.
The agenda was to chat, share some stories, do some interactive activities, and finally, play a small game.
The NBA has a long tradition of community outreach events, so everyone was familiar with the routine. The atmosphere was great, and it was clear that the kids were genuinely happy.
Gabriel and Rivers were sitting in a corner, chatting.
"John, I feel like Grant is completely recovered. Does he really have to wait until mid-season to rejoin the team?" Seeing Hill moving around so freely, Rivers's brow furrowed. He said in a low voice, "You know our record isn't good right now."
Just yesterday, the Magic had regrettably lost to the Nicks by a single point.
Their record was now 4-8, ranking them twelfth in the East.
Especially in the Southeast Division. It was one thing to be worse than the Heat and the Wasp—they were playoff-caliber teams—but the key issue was that they were even behind the Wizards and the Hawk.
The Hawk were tanking, so that was that.
But being worse than the Wizards was just inexcusable.
Last season, the Wizards and the Hawk were both bottom-tier teams in the East.
Most importantly, the Magic had spent a fortune this season. They had ambitions and wanted to get results.
For things to be like this at the start of the season... Rivers was under a lot of pressure.