Basketball miracles

Chapter 12 [Proposal, Showboating]

The following morning, there was a lot of sports news about Xiao Tu in the United States.

Xiao Tu's roommate, Chris Ford, was eating thick-cut toast with strawberry jam while reading the newspaper, looking completely bewildered. "You've become a star? Just one game? Is becoming famous in the NBA that easy?"

Xiao Tu's smug lips curled up: "Actually, it's not simple at all. This is my skill. I practiced for a long time to reach this level, and I even had the greatest point guard in NBA history passing me the ball."

Chris sighed, "I think I'm talented, so why do I always fail auditions for important roles? Could it be a problem with my accent?"

Xiao Tu nodded. "Yeah, you'd better not let people detect your Texas accent."

Two young people eager for fame rented an apartment together. They had known each other for less than six months, and Xiao Tu had already achieved success.

Chris is a 21-year-old out-of-town actor who has made his way in Hollywood. He is a tall white man, standing at 190cm, and looks a lot like Scott Eastwood, who played "Little Nobody" in Fast & Furious 8. He is suspected to be the illegitimate son of A Fistful of Dollars.

Unfortunately, he had never met "Dongmutou" and was not an illegitimate child, otherwise he wouldn't have been working as an extra in various TV series and movie productions.

Chris came back yesterday after playing a minor role in a terrible movie. He played a school bully, and filming for the role has wrapped.

He once complained that no matter what kind of film it is, you can always see the screenwriter's malice towards Texans. Texans are often portrayed in films and television as barbaric, rude, and stubborn.

In the United States, Texans are not only looked down upon for their unfashionable clothing, but also for their eating habits, particularly their love of high-fat, high-calorie foods like grilled meat and steak.

To out-of-state visitors, Texans seem to live a slow, even somewhat languid, lifestyle. Their distinctive southern accents, coupled with their slow speech, often give the impression that they are not highly educated.

Chris has all of these characteristics; he's a typical rough-and-tumble Texas guy. Xiao Tu can't change other people's accents, but his own California accent sounds great—a skill he acquired after transmigrating.

Xiao Tu did have a suggestion for his friend to make money. "Chris, I think you can find some jobs that don't require you to speak first. Don't always go to movie and TV series auditions. Wait until you've corrected your accent before going."

Xiao Tu's first friend after traveling back to the 80s was Chris, and he hoped Chris was doing well. He also made friends on the Lakers, but there was a generation gap, and they didn't get along very well outside of basketball.

In the locker room, everyone particularly enjoyed talking about nightclubs and big-butt Black women, which left Xiao Tu's head buzzing. Magician, Cooper, and the others didn't care about a woman's looks or personality; they just liked women with big butts.

Chris was different; he didn't have money to go clubbing. He liked blonde bombshells, enjoyed gossiping about the entertainment industry, and had a rather funny personality. Xiao Tu had more in common with people like that; he loved gossip.

Chris asked, "You mean becoming a model? I'm afraid my acting skills will deteriorate if I don't act for a long time."

“You don’t have to be a model, and you don’t necessarily have to speak when you’re acting. For example, you could appear in a singer’s music video, isn’t that very popular these days?” Xiao Tu, an observer with a clear mind, said.

Michael Jackson released his album Thriller in December 1982, which subsequently propelled the development of music videos to new heights.

Who could resist a dancing zombie? 40 years later, the music video for "Thriller" is still a classic.

Before Michael Jackson, music videos were simply singers performing in front of a camera, which was quite uninteresting. Jackson was the first to incorporate dance into his music videos. In 1983, his music video completely shocked the world; he became the first musician to incorporate a storyline and create a mini-movie!
Chris thought for a moment, then clapped his hands and said, "You're right, I can definitely do this. In a music video, the singer is the one singing, I don't get to speak, I just need to cooperate with the performance."

"And you can also get to know singers through this. If they are multi-talented stars, they might be able to help you with your acting career in the future." Xiao Tu remembered that Jackson had made music movies about outer space.

“Seb, you’re so smart. I never even thought of this path before. If it were a female singer, I’d sleep with her without a problem.” Chris’s eyes lit up.

"So... what exactly is making you excited?"

After breakfast, Xiao Tu drove his car to the gym to practice.

After traveling through time, he immediately took a liking to this old-fashioned muscle car from the American TV series "Supernatural." Apart from looking like it might be prone to encountering ghosts, it had no flaws.

The interior space of this car is particularly large, which is suitable for people like him who are over two meters tall. In ordinary models, you can't stretch your legs.

He always had short hair, and when he went out in jeans and a casual jacket, he looked like a larger version of Dean Winchester, which was quite trendy at the time. As soon as Xiao Tu entered the locker room, several teammates greeted him.

He could clearly feel the change in his status within the team. Superstars recognized him, role players envied him, and those in his position gave up competing with him for a starting position.

James Worthy's third-place position was in jeopardy, yet he showed no intention of targeting Xiao Tu. That's just his nature—always silent. He wouldn't know the enormous butterfly effect Xiao Tu's joining would have on him; he remained uncompetitive and unassuming.

In a parallel universe, Worthy, like his nickname "Cobra," lurked behind Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, waiting for his chance to strike. He was the one who later ran pick-and-rolls with Johnson, blurring the lines between the Lakers' power forward and small forward positions. Now that Xiao Tu has taken on that role, it's difficult for Worthy to significantly improve his stats.

Xiao Tu chatted with Johnson for a few minutes first, then went to thank Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

"Karim, thank you for your compliment. Saying I'm like a goat will definitely generate a lot of buzz, and I feel like I'll be a topic of discussion among fans for a long time."

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar paused for a moment, then asked, "What is traffic?"

“Uh…” Xiao Tu remembered that this was a term from the internet age, and quickly explained, “It means attention. The more people who pay attention to me, the easier it is for me to become famous.”

When his fame reaches a certain level, the Lakers will have to offer him a super high salary when they renew his contract, which is all money.

"You're welcome," Kareem Abdul-Jabbar said with a faint smile. "If you could dunk twice in one go in the dunk contest, that would be even more impressive."

Xiao Tu asked, "Have you seen this before?"

"I saw him do it once on a streetball court. He dunked the ball with one hand, then grabbed it from under the rim with the other and dunked it again," Kareem Abdul-Jabbar remarked, recalling that he had played streetball.

If he hadn't witnessed Goat's spectacular dunks, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar wouldn't have praised this guy just because they played against each other in high school.

Goat completely wasted his talent; his drug use caused his physical condition to decline rapidly, and after being released from prison, he couldn't even play streetball well anymore.

Xiao Tu thought for a moment and shook his head, saying, "I'm afraid I can't do that, because the slam dunk contest hoops have nets."

At that time, the goat had not yet been mythologized. It was only after a movie called "The Legend of the Goat" was released in the 90s that it was hyped up. No video of the legendary "double dunk" has survived; the videos found online later are clips from the movie.

Johnson interjected, "Do you have any new tricks up your sleeve that you haven't tried yet?"

“Yes, I’ll use it in the dunk contest. I need you to pass me the ball,” Xiao Tu said with a smile.

"Can other people participate in passing the ball in the dunk contest?" Johnson immediately became interested.

“Nobody said it was impossible, so it is. Doesn’t an alley-oop with a coordinated pass make it seem more realistic?” Xiao Tu knew that President David Stern would definitely allow it.

If it's a show, of course the bigger the show, the better, and the more celebrities involved, the better.

For his first competition, he planned to try out some simple tricks. Once he's more famous, he'll talk to the CEO and ask if he could get a car onto the track for a flying car performance.

The car brand will definitely have to pay him an endorsement fee, right? With such a huge gimmick, he's bound to become a sensation—a perfect win-win situation!

Stern made the NBA thrive through hype, and Xiao Tu happens to have a ton of hype techniques; they should be able to reach an agreement. Right now, Xiao Tu craves fame more than money.

Johnson and Xiao Tu were having a great time talking about dunks, which further convinced the others that Xiao Tu had risen to prominence. The Lakers have a history of players rising to prominence after just one game, like Magic Johnson.

当年约翰逊首秀出战41分钟，砍下26分8篮板4助攻1抢断4盖帽。肖途首秀的数据比魔术师更好，得分效率更高。

Xiao Tu's playing style is something others can only envy, not imitate. Pat Riley jokingly said that Xiao Tu has springs in his legs because his jumping ability is just too strong.

(End of this chapter)