NBA's King of Talking

Compared to New York, housing prices in Oklahoma City are incredibly cheap. Rent is directly related to housing prices; the higher the housing prices in a city, the more likely the rent will be.

Renting is common and convenient in the United States. Young, single renters like Jia Fei are very popular with landlords, so he rented a place on his second day in Oklahoma City.

The apartment is a one-bedroom unit located in a complex between the Thunder's home arena, Ford Center, and training facility. Despite its small size, it's fully equipped with all the necessary appliances, allowing renters to move in immediately.

The apartment's monthly rent is $900, which suits Jia Fei perfectly in terms of both price and conditions.

Jia Fei readily signed a one-year rental contract, and now he has his own place in Oklahoma City.

After settling in, Jia Fei began preparing for the new season, starting training at the Thunder's training facility. The facility reopened to players when the NBA announced the end of the lockout, and he was the first Thunder player to train there.

On November 30th, Jia Fei saw another Thunder player come to practice; this person was Reggie Jackson, a fellow rookie from the same draft class.

As soon as they met, Reggie gave Jia Fei a big hug. More than four months had passed since they parted ways.

"Jia, I wonder if you've gotten any stronger lately?" Reggie wanted to challenge Jia Fei to a one-on-one duel as soon as they met.

Jia Fei has certainly become stronger, but not by much. The opponents he faced in the matches he played in New York weren't very strong, and the overall level of competition wasn't high, so his improvement was limited. Fortunately, he's been consistently playing and training, so he's maintained a good physique.

Reggie has been training a lot, which is evident from his physique.

"I want to be in the team's rotation next season!" Reggie is quite ambitious; he wants to compete, and his direct competitor is James Harden, who also plays combo guard.

Strictly speaking, Jia Fei and Reggie are not competitors. Reggie's position on the team should be point guard/shooting guard, while Jia Fei is small forward/shooting guard.

After their basic training, the two played a one-on-one match, and Jia Fei lost to Reggie again.

“Jay, I feel like your ball handling has improved a bit, and your defense is better than before!” Reggie said.

Jia Fei agreed with Reggie's assessment; he had indeed worked hard to improve his defense over the past four months. He watched countless videos of perimeter defensive masters, from "The Glove" Payton to Jordan, from Tony Allen to Kobe, which greatly benefited him.

In his view, this team doesn't lack perimeter offense at all. With the Thunder's Big Three, are you worried about not having perimeter scoring? This team also doesn't lack interior defense; the interior defensive combination of Perkins and Ibaka is so formidable that even James and Wade have to struggle to penetrate. The team currently lacks perimeter defense and interior offense. If he wants to get playing time, he needs to improve his perimeter defense.

Training with Reggie went by quickly. December arrived fast, and the start of the new season was drawing ever closer.

北京时间12月7日，NBA官方正式宣布了因为停摆而导致缩水的2011-12赛季的完整赛程表。各队仍然都将进行66场常规赛，所有的常规赛比赛从美国时间12月25日下午3点正式开战，直至美国时间4月26日全部结束。

December 10th is the NBA's annual Media Day. Because this season is a shortened season, Media Day is later than usual.

The NBA's Media Day was established by current Commissioner David Stern. Its initial purpose was to foster a harmonious relationship between teams and the media, using media coverage to increase awareness and influence of NBA teams and players. In the 90s, David Stern's success in transforming the NBA into the most successful professional league was largely attributed to his "Star Player Program." After successfully developing stars like Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, and Magic Johnson, the NBA's popularity grew significantly. The media was a crucial channel for this program, making Media Day a vital component of the NBA's commitment to a strong relationship with the media.

From the current perspective, the NBA's star-making program is very mature and successful, producing a continuous stream of star players and making it the most successful commercial basketball league in the world.

The Thunder held a media day, attended by head coach Brooks and the team's three biggest stars – the "Thunder Trio" of Durant, Westbrook, and Harden.

The Thunder's "Big Three" naturally became the most sought-after figures by the media that day, and this was also the first time Jia Fei had seen these three people in person.

Up close, Durant is seriously tall! This guy has a small head, a slightly hunched back, and narrow shoulders, which makes his arms and legs look even longer. Is he really only 206cm? Who would believe that! It's like you wouldn't believe Huang Xiaoming is 180cm…

Although Durant is the team's biggest star, considered second only to LeBron James at the forward position in the league, he doesn't seem to have any star quality whatsoever. He's hunched over, has a shy expression, and his eyes lack sharpness. If he weren't so good at basketball, he'd just look like a complete loser!

As for Westbrook, he seems rather "turtle-like," a bit like the foolish son of a wealthy landowner...

Harden wasn't like a Middle Eastern tycoon as he did later with the Rockets; his beard wasn't that long, and his butt wasn't that big...

These three people certainly don't have the look of idols, but the NBA is a basketball league. First and foremost, you have to play well. Otherwise, being handsome won't help! Wasn't Darko Milicic, the second overall pick back then, handsome? But what happened? He was still a bust. People who let their values ​​follow their looks are part of the fandom, not the NBA.

"Hello, what's your name?" Wei Shao asked Jia Fei with a grin.

"Hello Russ, my Chinese name is Jia Fei, and my English name is Ja, which sounds the same as my surname!" Jia Fei quite liked this man who looked like a turtle.

"I can call you JJ from now on, haha, isn't JJ a nice name?" Westbrook grinned, revealing the gap between his front teeth. He looked like a boy without any guile!

“Sure!” Jia Fei readily agreed. JJ would be fine too. James Jones is called JJ, and there’s also a Singaporean singer who looks like a “Guo Donglin with bangs” and seems to be called JJ as well.

As long as it's not a chirp, anything else is fine!