unfinished glory

Chapter 49 All-Star Candidacy

Li Chongxiao, who was somewhat disinterested in the Christmas battle, did not know that something related to him happened during this Christmas holiday.

According to NBA practice, Christmas Day will start the 2005 Denver All-Star voting.

Yao Ming won the All-Star vote for the first center in the Western Conference for two consecutive years, and squeezed O'Neal to the bench alive, allowing the entire league to see the power of Chinese fans.

Yao Ming is still the team's starter at any rate, while Li Chongxiao is just a substitute.If something like this happens again, let alone American fans, it may even cause dissatisfaction among other players in the league.

For this reason, Stern specifically called the Spurs owner Holt and reached a certain deal. It was agreed that the Spurs would not sign up for Li Chongxiao.

Each team can report four players to enter the All-Star fan voting list. The four lists reported by the Spurs are Duncan, Ginobili, Parker and Bowen.

These are the four most qualified people on the team. If it is anyone else, there will always be people who are not convinced.

Li Chongxiao had been mentally prepared for a long time, and it was not suitable for him to be declared by the team as a substitute.After all, not everyone is Kobe. As the team's substitute player, he started in the All-Star Game, and in turn let the team's main player Eddie Jones serve as a substitute for himself.

But he still had some hope in his heart. Bowen knew that he was not popular, so he gave up the idea of ​​playing an All-Star early on. He once joked that he would let the Spurs recommend Li Chongxiao, and he also tried the All-Star to send him as a substitute. taste.

From the fan's point of view, Li Chongxiao looks better at playing, and he even showed off a slam dunk in the last game.And compared to Bowen, he is younger and has a better image and a wider audience.

And what about the classic saying of the league?

"Business is business!"

From a commercial point of view, behind Li Chongxiao, there is the China market that the NBA is tirelessly pursuing.He played an All-Star, which is good for the entire league and the Spurs.

But these are all assumptions, the reality is in front of us, and the Spurs pay more attention to qualifications.

When Li Chongxiao got the news, he was just a little regretful, but he wasn't that disappointed. There was still talking and laughing on the training ground.

Especially when he learned that the league intends to invite him to participate in the All-Star three-point contest, he was even more happy.He triumphantly said that David Stern knew the ball quite well, and even more mysteriously, he approached Duncan next to him and asked him if he wanted to participate in the slam dunk contest.

Li Chongxiao said that he designed a stunning windmill dunk for Duncan, guaranteeing to win the championship.

Wouldn't it be great for the two to be a three-pointer and a slam dunk champion?
Before it was Duncan, he would have stepped forward and held down the opponent, and he would go up for a while. Today, after listening to Li Chongxiao's ramblings with great interest, he also said that he is not very good at windmills, so let Li Chongxiao demonstrate it. .

Li Chongxiao's mood was really high, and he made his teammates who were training on the field get out of the way. He wanted to play big.

At the position from the three-point line in the left corner to the basket, he slowly dribbled the ball back and forth, measuring his pace.Then he started to start, and after two dribbles, he started to sprint with great strides, stopped suddenly to collect the ball a little past the basket, bent his legs like a dry land plucking green onions, and his head was directly framed.

At the same time, the right hand grabbed the ball at the left thigh, swung a large arc in the air counterclockwise, and smashed the ball into the basket.

Although the dunking process was not that violent, it seemed extremely relaxed, chic and freehand.

The friends on the training ground were all stunned. They only knew that this kid's jumping was good, but they didn't expect it to be so good.

Duncan and Horry came over and touched their heads and rubbed their hair. Parker smiled and said to him, "Next time I'll pass you an alley-oop."

Barry stretched out both hands, and raised them big to the top of his head, indicating that I would give ten points to this dunk.

After a while of noise, today's training is over, at home in the evening, there is a game against the Celtics.

Before Li Chongxiao could relieve himself from the excitement, the reality was that a basin of cold water poured him a drowned chicken.

Before the start of the game, Li Chongxiao learned the real reason why he was not included in the All-Star candidate list by the Spurs.

The Spurs had considered the matter of being an All-Star candidate before, and it was in the interests of the team for Li Chongxiao to be selected as an All-Star. Privately, Bowen also readily agreed to give up the spot to the younger generation.

Now that things are not in harmony, Holt doesn't want to be a bad guy for no reason, so he instructs the staff to convey the meaning of the alliance to Li Chongxiao in private.

After knowing the truth of the matter, Li Chongxiao was silent for a while.It was noisy just now, but it will quiet down in the locker room.

Most of the teammates knew what happened and knew that he was not feeling well.For most NBA players, they have never had the chance to become an All-Star in their entire lives. Now they finally have the chance, but they are artificially intervened.

And there is no way to seek an explanation for this kind of grievance, it is something that cannot be put on the table.You can get this information from some sources, but it will never be officially recognized.

Li Chongxiao is indeed a little uncomfortable now. He didn't expect to be included in the list, and he doesn't care about being disappointed.But now someone told him that you were originally selected, but you were kicked out.In this way, there will be some gaps in gains and losses, which cannot be recovered all at once.

Moreover, the invitation to the three-point shooting contest, which he thought he had obtained based on his strength, which he was happy with at first, has become like a sweet date after a slap in the face.

He sat and thought for a while, patted his face, and forced himself to calm down.The games are going to start soon, now is not the time to worry about that.

Duncan saw that his face was better now, so he came over to comfort him a little.Although this rookie has only joined the team for about two months, he unexpectedly got along with him. Duncan usually takes good care of this little brother in the team.

For an old man like him, he has never seen the ups and downs in the league.But Li Chongxiao is still a child who has only joined the NBA for two months, and some hidden rules may make his mentality unbalanced.

Fortunately, Li Chongxiao adjusted himself. He smiled at Duncan who was concerned about him, signaling that he was fine.

There was no time to wait for Li Chongxiao to be sad, and the match would start soon.

The game was boring. The Celtics were much weaker than the Spurs. There was only one active All-Star on the team, Pierce.

But today Li Chongxiao was desperate in the game, he kept pestering the opposing players all the time.Although Pierce caused him two fouls, he also made two turnovers and made only 16 of 6 shots.

And Ricky Davis is only 11 of 4, and Pierce two people, can be regarded as having experienced the power of the Spurs' two swinging defenders.

The opponent's arrow figures were all strangled, and the Spurs also won easily with 107:86.

There was no scene of everyone playing for Li Chongxiao during the game. First, his ability to attack independently is not strong; second, he is not an important figure in the team; third, there is no way to blame other people for this kind of thing.

Except for Duncan and Bowen who have a good relationship with him, everyone else is a relationship between colleagues, and there is no such thing as trying to help him win this breath.

This game is insignificant to Li Chongxiao's career, but what happened before the game has deeply affected him.

Holt asked someone to explain to him that it seemed to be showing his favor, but Li Chongxiao deeply understood that it was because he had shown a certain value.

Of course, the boss of the Spurs can at most make such a free gesture. It is impossible for him to fight against the alliance. Li Chongxiao has value, but the value is not that great.

Besides, Li Chongxiao always remembered the few meetings with his boss. Under the seemingly modest expression of this American Texan, there was a condescending attitude towards him.

At first, Li Chongxiao thought it was because he was the last pick in the draft, but after a month passed, he had shown higher value and potential than Udrih, and Holt was still much colder towards him.

It's not the first time this kind of thing has happened, Li Chongxiao has already learned how to deal with this situation, as long as the other party doesn't show it publicly, he won't make a fuss, but will keep it in his heart.

In the past, he thought that as long as he kept getting stronger, he began to think about his status in the team.This kind of emotion will not ferment in a short time, but when he has the strength to enter the All-Star with dignity, he will definitely fight for it.

(End of this chapter)