vertical and horizontal point guard

Chapter 102 All-Star Controversy

Chapter 1 Twenty-Eight All-Star Controversy

"Mr. Kevin Durant, recently you have suffered a two-game losing streak. You have lost to the Spurs and the Mavericks in a row. Your condition is not very good. Your eighth ranking in the Western Conference is already in jeopardy. The Timberwolves behind you are only one game away from you." If you lose the battle tonight, the situation between you will be reversed in an instant, so, do you have anything to say about tonight's game?"

As soon as these words came out, the originally noisy crowd fell silent instantly. All the media reporters present turned their attention to this "colleague".

Durant's face turned ashen. He recognized the middle-aged man with the hooked nose in front of him. They used to have a very good relationship, but now they have become a pair of enemies who regard each other as a thorn in the side.

The middle-aged man with a hooked nose smiled, and looked at the serious Durant with relaxed eyes, even with a hint of sarcasm and a smile in his middle.

A bit of bitterness appeared in Durant's heart. The man with the hooked nose was Adam Smith, a well-known reporter from the local sports media in Seattle. He used to be a team reporter for the Seattle Supersonics. The team's migration has become a disaster.

It is precisely because of the relocation of the Seattle Supersonics to Oklahoma City that Adam Smith has gone from a diehard fan of the Supersonics to the opposite of the team, and has become one of the biggest black fans of the Oklahoma City Thunder. .

Westbrook on the side saw Durant, his teammate and brother, who was silent, and couldn't stand it anymore. Seeing Adam Smith still smiling, he suddenly became angry, "This reporter friend, We will go all out for tonight's game, no matter how difficult it is, we will win, and as a reporter, please maintain the impartiality of the media!"

Adam Smith smiled slightly, shrugged his shoulders with an indifferent smile on his face, turned around and walked away, and the scene suddenly became a little dead silent.

On the other side, in the Timberwolves team training hall, Li Shihao and Love, who were practicing, were also entangled by these hard-to-mess uncrowned kings.

"Bruce Lee, your team has won 5 consecutive victories recently, and your ranking is gradually rising. Now you are only one game away from the Thunder, which is the eighth place in the Western Conference. Tonight's game will determine who can compete for the playoffs. Take advantage, are you confident?"

Li Shihao wiped his sweat with a towel, without showing any emotion on his face, and smiled lightly, "We are in a good state at the moment, the team has regained the feeling of winning, the Oklahoma City Thunder is a strong team , Their talent and vitality surprised us, especially Durant, he will be our biggest opponent this season, his outside partner with Westbrook will be a big test for us tonight, we need to pay more Let's work hard to defend this victory!"

The reporters would smile heartily. The Chinese boy has always been impeccable in his speech, and his playing style is mature and rational. Even the post-match interviews always make people unable to find too many leaks. This topic is quickly skipped, and they are more concerned about Another more important thing.

"Bruce, you will be one of the starting guards in this year's Western All-Star Game. As another Chinese All-Star after Houston YAO, do you have anything to say?"

Recently, the schedule is tight, and before you know it, it’s the day when the All-Star voting results are finally released. Li Shihao’s votes are only second to Kobe Bryant’s. After the results of the first round of voting came out, the number of votes has been increasing. In-depth, the growth trend has not decreased, but has increased. As of the voting deadline, the number of votes has broken through 230W, and it is firmly ranked as the starting guard in the Western Conference, second only to Kobe.

The battle for the All-Star votes was fierce. First, Kobe and LeBron James fought for the top vote. In the end, Li Shihao joined the battle. The number of votes rose rapidly in the second and third rounds, approaching the number of votes for Kobe Bryant. , Once became the All-Star Western Conference ticket king.

Although LeBron James topped the ticket in the end, Kobe also kept his position as the top ticket in the Western Conference and was not overtaken by the Chinese kid.

But this vote data still makes many North American experts feel incredible, once again they have a sense of fear of the Chinese's superiority in numbers, and even shouted to limit the right of the Chinese to vote.

There are also applications for this proposal within the NBA. When this tricky proposal was placed on the desk of NBA vice president Adam Silver, the second-in-command in the league, who is busy with everything, felt a little headache. League president David Stern He is about to retire, and he will be the successor of the president, but facing the problems in the Chinese market, this gentle and somewhat scholarly vice president is really worried.

The battle between Yi Jianlian and Garnett for the Eastern All-Star starting two years ago, and Yao Ming’s reimbursement this season, the Chinese market is in a blank stage. The NBA, which is expanding its influence globally, continues to look for a new spokesperson for the Chinese market. After all, a rising star of Chinese descent like Li Shihao finally appeared, but the North American media started to be noisy again, as if they would not stop without restricting the number of votes of Chinese fans.

This undoubtedly gave Adam Silver a headache. The number of votes for the Chinese boy Li Shihao has actually been reduced. After the Yi Jianlian incident, the league has noticed the problem of the Chinese fan market and has maintained a stable control. However, this year's All-star votes, the Chinese boy not only got the support of the Chinese market, but he is also very popular in the North American market, accounting for about 39% of the votes. According to the background data of the alliance, New York, a big city in the world, has a lot of people Fans of the Chinese kid.

The embarrassing Xiao Hua threw the question to David Stern, the president of the league who was gradually retiring to the second line. After all, it was the Jewish old man's idea to open up the Chinese market. Asking his opinion is the best way.

"Adam, don't care about the power of public opinion. You have to know that in the United States, public opinion is manipulated by capital. Behind so many public opinions, most of the league teams are envious of the good luck of the Minnesota people. , selected a new Chinese star with unlimited potential."

"Everything is done according to the rules. Does the Chinese boy have the strength of an All-Star? Obviously, his leading data this season is excellent. It is not an exaggeration to be selected as an All-Star. Control his votes so that this young man will not be overly proud. Continue to be aggressive, there are many superstar seedlings worth cultivating in the rookies of the 09 class, and the league needs more stars to build more influence!"

"The Chinese kid would be one of the great choices!"

David Stern can see clearly that he has been in charge of the league for many years and he has developed a pair of sharp eyes. When the North American media is constantly building momentum, it is often the time when the behind-the-scenes people reveal their intentions.

In the case of Yi Jianlian in the past two years, David Stern chose the opinion of North American public opinion, because he did not see the potential of a superstar in the tall and thin Eastern big man, but this year's Chinese boy is different, the league has long been paying attention to him For a long time.

Since the emergence of the NCAA, the NBA, as one of the four major leagues in the United States, how can the strength behind it be underestimated?

(End of this chapter)