During an interview, the Hawks’ general manager stated publicly that every team in the league is obliged to promote the NBA in China...
With Yao Ming already in the West, the East also needs a superstar from China.
"Atlanta has a superior geographical advantage and excellent infrastructure. Moreover, there are numerous Chinese enterprises in Atlanta..."
However, after Knight’s interview was published...
Those who didn’t know might think he was representing the mayor of Atlanta, showcasing the city’s investment environment to Chinese investors.
In contrast to Atlanta, which can play the card of regional advantage, Milwaukee chose to play the victim.
"Milwaukee has been in decline for years... we need a savior to rescue us here."
Even though the Bucks’ general manager Larry Harris didn’t mention Qin Yue by name during the interview, anyone with half a brain...
Knows how much the Bucks want to draft Qin Yue next year.
"I know the team’s current situation isn’t great... but I still hope the fans can be patient with us, after all, Rome wasn’t built in a day."
Unlike two months ago, when fans would unfurl banners cursing daily.
As Qin Yue gradually won over all the scouts and fans, Blazers general manager John Nash not only hinted to the fans...
The team would tank in the new season with more confidence, and at this moment, he could even garner some support from Blazers fans.
On this day, after returning to Angel City Los Angeles from Winston-Salem, Kupchek discovered that those faces he had seen the other night had all started to take action.
At this moment, the entire NBA felt to him...
As if it had descended into some kind of madness.
But Kupchek was not surprised by this madness.
Because anyone who witnessed what Qin Yue accomplished on the college basketball court would fall into the same kind of madness, Kupchek believed.
He is the son of China being meticulously crafted by Nike.
His past experiences have endowed him with a resilience far beyond his peers.
On the court, his already tempting static talent underwent an all-around evolution this past summer.
He can dribble with an unbelievably low center of gravity and then smoothly rise up for a jump shot in the next second.
He is a heavy tank that can hit F1 supercar speeds on the court.
He is also a raptor fighter jet that can take off at any time to help the team control the air.
Kupchek knows very well that right now, the Lakers have welcomed a solution to all their problems.
"He’s not like other rookies who need polishing before they can be put on the battlefield... As long as he enters the NBA, he’ll immediately become a reliable star player."
An athlete with both immediate battle capability and immense commercial value.
In Kupchek’s view, as long as the Lakers could go to any lengths to acquire Qin Yue... The Lakers’ revival would no longer be a false proposition but imminent.
But after half an hour of internal excitement, Kupchek became deflated like a balloon, growing depressed.
In December 2004, with the media constantly applying pressure, Kobe, who had completely closed himself off, was currently hoping for one victory after another to change people’s perceptions of him.
In fact, even Kupchek was unable to have normal conversations with Kobe during this period.
Saying it might sound slightly despairing....
Currently, the only bridge within the Lakers that can facilitate communication with Kobe...
And typically, the greater the pressure from the media, the more unapproachable Kobe becomes.
Not long ago, Kobe had already conveyed through Odom to the Lakers’ upper management that he would no longer accept interviews from Shelley Smith.
The reason was that during an interview, Shelley Smith asked Kobe two questions.
The first question was whether Kobe still believed he could earn his teammates’ trust.
To this, Kobe casually responded, "Yeah, what’s the matter?"
Then Shelley asked Kobe her second question, "Because the police report mentioned you betrayed Shaquille O’Neal during the investigation, many in the league are displeased, feeling you’ve broken the rules..."
At that moment, even before Shelley could continue, Kobe abruptly ended the interview.
Because he knew exactly what Shelley Smith was about to ask him.
Yes, ever since Kobe’s "Shaq did it too" statement was exposed by the media, he became the loneliest person within the Lakers as well.
When he boarded the team bus or entered the locker room, his teammates would typically go silent immediately.
After all, no one wanted to become the "did it too" person Kobe might reference in the future.
Self-imposed isolation, refusal to communicate, being ostracized by teammates, attacked by the media...
Facing Kobe at this moment, Kupchek knew he absolutely couldn’t persuade him to abandon the regular season and tank with the team for the savior’s arrival.
Moreover, regarding whether tanking would land the Lakers the first draft pick, Kupchek was equally uncertain.
"However, if we could secure a higher draft position and were willing to trade Lamar Odom and Caron Butler... and the team’s future draft picks, and take on the other party’s bad contracts..."
On this day, a sudden thought flashed in his mind...
Kupchek believed it was very necessary to have a meeting with Jerry Buss.
Meanwhile, in December, Qin Yue, dissatisfied with the fire he started burning in the NBA not being intense enough, once again poured a bucket of hot oil in the North Carolina Tar Heels’ home court.
This year, the Tar Heels, who gathered the four juniors, ranked second in the nation before this game.
As a high-stakes match, the game was filled with tension from the start.
Even in the first half, due to fans at the venue constantly taunting Paul with his deceased grandfather, Paul lost control of his emotions...
A conflict subsequently erupted at the Tar Heels’ home court.
In the subsequent scramble for a rebound, Paul, who had completely lost his cool, punched North Carolina player Julius Hodge in the groin...
Then, the entire stadium immediately descended into chaos.
Even though the referees quickly restrained the agitated players from both teams, and Paul’s blow to Hodge’s groin had its reasons, after reviewing the footage, Paul was unanimously ejected by the three referees.
In Qin Yue’s previous life, Paul’s infamous "Cannon Fist" should have landed on Hodge two months later.
If Qin Yue remembered correctly, this "Cannon Fist" not only resulted in Paul being suspended for one game, causing him to miss an important ACC tournament playoff game...
But also led to Paul being criticized for a long time.
This life, since the new season began, with the Tar Heels, who were also aiming to win the NCAA Championship, constantly being suppressed by Wake Forest...
This prompted North Carolina supporters to do whatever it took to affect the core players of the Devil’s Deacon Team during the December encounter.
North Carolina fans knew very well that compared to the always-unmoved Qin Yue...
Paul was undoubtedly the one they could provoke and infuriate through taunts.
As it turned out, the North Carolina fans succeeded.
Because regardless of the justification, Paul’s "Cannon Fist" led to his ejection from the court.
However, when Paul was ejected, the North Carolina fans clearly didn’t notice the change in Qin Yue’s expression.
Unlike those often teased as "superstar standards," having either absent fathers or a lack of familial affection in childhood...
Qin Yue was well aware that Paul’s grandfather had played a very significant role in his upbringing.
So, even though Qin Yue also thought Paul shouldn’t have punched the North Carolina player in extreme anger...
Since Paul did throw that "Cannon Fist"...
"Give me the ball, I want to turn this place into the quietest library in all of North Carolina!" On the bench, before the game resumed and after glancing around at his teammates, Qin Yue declared with a murderous intent.
PS: A total of 10,000 words updated today... to all the anchor fathers, during the public release and before the launch, Ah Qiao is truly writing and releasing as much as possible under the editor’s pressure, so please, I beg for your favorites, monthly tickets, and recommendation votes!