NBA's King of Talking

Sharapova reached up and tucked her blonde hair behind her ear, smiling sweetly, "It's been a pleasure working with you!" In the hazy night, her beauty was even more striking, and this relaxed demeanor was something Jia Fei had never seen before.

"Me too!" Jia Fei can be quite straightforward when he wants to be, and he can also play dumb quite well when he wants to. But when it comes to Sharapova, he instinctively doesn't want to lie to her.

"I'm leaving tomorrow to go to London for the Olympics!" Sharapova said, looking into the distance.

"I hope you perform well at the Olympics and win the gold medal!" Jia Fei offered his best wishes.

"Yes, thank you!" Sharapova had a feeling that Jia Fei looked very young, but he gave off a very mature vibe, a feeling she had never even felt from her boyfriend, Vujacic. This contrast made her curious, but she restrained herself. She had a boyfriend, and she didn't know if he had a girlfriend too.

"Jia, to be honest, I don't have many friends. Can we be friends?" Sharapova stopped and looked at Jia Fei sincerely.

Jia Fei nodded without hesitation: "Of course, I'd be happy to." He had no reason to refuse the opportunity to become friends with such a beautiful and top-notch athlete.

The two walked on the beach for a while longer, and before returning to the hotel, Sharapova and Jia Fei exchanged email addresses.

“We’ll get in touch if we have the chance!” Sharapova said.

"Okay!" Jia Fei readily agreed.

The next day, Sharapova boarded a plane and left Miami to travel to London for the quadrennial Olympic Games.

Jia Fei didn't linger in Miami either. He had been to the city last month and came again this month, but for different reasons each time. His collaboration with Sharapova was like a movie; once filming wrapped, everyone dispersed.

While Jia Fei was filming an advertisement with Sharapova in Miami, the NBA's annual free agent market had already begun, and the general managers of various NBA teams were extremely busy.

There are still quite a few big names in this year's free agency market, such as Dwight Howard.

The Thunder's main focus this offseason isn't chasing big names in free agency, but rather re-signing Harden and Ibaka. If they can secure these extensions, they can retain the core of last season's Finals-caliber roster.

Jia Fei did not stay in Miami for long; he returned to New York after being repeatedly summoned by Kemba Walker.

During this offseason, Jia Fei decided to train hard. His goal is to break into the team's rotation next season, and right now, the most important thing for him is to improve his shooting ability.

Jia Fei rented an apartment near Kemba Walker's house as temporary accommodation for the foreseeable future. He couldn't stay at someone else's house forever.

On his third day in New York, he received an email from Sharapova informing him that she had arrived in London and was staying in the Olympic Village with her country's delegation.

Jia Fei replied with a message, basically wishing her good luck. He didn't say anything mushy or show excessive concern; she had a boyfriend, and even if he liked someone a lot, he wouldn't do such a thing.

Kemba Walker's training camp still attracted many players, including NBA players, NCAA players, and free agents.

Lamb, who was just selected by the Rockets with the 12th overall pick in the first round, also came. His contract has not yet been finalized, but he said that he has entrusted his agent to handle everything.

“I’m a client of Mr. Schwarz now, just like you!” Lamb looked at Jia Fei and Reggie very seriously.

"Congratulations on joining our family! Congratulations on joining the NBA!" Kemba Walker said, patting Lamb on the back.

Jia Fei was also very happy to see his former teammates in the NBA; it was truly a heartwarming experience. It's like graduating, entering the workforce, and seeing your former classmates become your colleagues—it's a wonderful feeling.

The intensity of the training camp isn't necessarily higher than the Summer League, but here, Jia Fei can receive specialized training. The Summer League still involves matches, and the players are eager to prove themselves, which sometimes makes the matches quite unpredictable.

Jia Fei felt that he no longer needed to prove himself in the Summer League to survive in the league. He was confident in his abilities and believed that as long as he was given playing time, he could provide value.

Moreover, even if he puts on a stellar performance in the Summer League, the Thunder are a championship contender, having finished as runners-up in the league last season. The main rotation players of such a team won't take their Summer League performance into account.

To put it bluntly, the Summer League is a bit too low-level. In fact, performances in a team's training camp are more meaningful than those in the Summer League.

Jia Fei's training focus during this offseason has been shooting, mainly stationary shots, as well as catch-and-shoot after running into position, with less practice on shooting with the ball on the dribble.

His primary shooting positions are the two baseline corners, followed by the two 45-degree angles, while he practices the arc top the least.

Besides shooting, another key area he practiced was defense, from on-ball defense to off-ball defense, to help defense, rotation, switching, squeezing through/around screens, switching, fronting/semi-fronting, double-teaming, and getting back on defense.

Kemba Walker was somewhat puzzled by Jia Fei's training methods. Once, he couldn't help but ask, "Jia, why don't you practice your ball-handling offense more? I think your shooting is already quite good, but your ball-handling offense is still very average. This makes it difficult for you to get more possession of the ball on the court. Also, your defense is very good, and I don't think you need to spend so much time on that. The improvement will be minimal. You should focus on the offensive end."

Kemba Walker's advice was well-intentioned, so Jia Fei explained earnestly: "Kemba, I know you mean well and genuinely want what's best for me, and I appreciate that. But please listen to my own thoughts. First, my current situation is on a team with a Big Three on the perimeter. This team doesn't have many opportunities to distribute the ball among others, not just me, but even the other starters aren't getting much. In this situation, if I want to get playing time, I have to provide what the team needs: the ability to stretch the floor, the ability to attack off the ball, and the ability to defend on the perimeter. To be on the court, I have to be able to coexist with the Thunder's Big Three. And to solve the ball-handling problem, even a player like Harden has been relegated to the sixth man role. Do you think practicing ball-handling will get me more opportunities next season?"

Kemba Walker was stumped. Indeed, given Jia Fei's current situation, his choice was perfectly reasonable.