He looked at social media and discovered that there were many comments, but their attitudes were quite different from what he had anticipated.
In summary, their view was that even with Hansen joining, they couldn’t break history since Yao Ming couldn’t play; and without Hansen, East University could still advance from the group stage.
It was really something... not even Hansen could refute it.
East University Men’s Basketball Team’s best performance in the World Championship was in 1994 when they were grouped in a so-called "Group of Death" with the United States, Brazil, and Spain.
However, the "Golden Generation of ’94" first won against Brazil, then pulled off a comeback win against Spain, advancing to the quarterfinals as the second team in the group.
So "breaking history" naturally referred to reaching the semifinals.
With the World Championship expanded now, the difficulty had doubled. To reach the semifinals, they would first have to advance to the top 16 from the group stage, then move on from 16 to 8, and from 8 to 4.
A poor group stage record might lead to an early encounter with world powerhouses like the United States or Spain. Thɪs chapter is updated by 𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹•𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖•𝗇𝗲𝘁
His ability had indeed improved a lot since he first joined the League, but achieving this was highly unlikely.
As for advancing from the group.
In this year’s World Championship group stage, East University’s group included Greece, Puerto Rico, Cote d’Ivoire, Russia, and Turkey.
The tournament rules were that the top six out of the group moved on. Theoretically, East University only needed to beat the less powerful Puerto Rico and Cote d’Ivoire to advance to the top 16.
Hansen had quite memorable impressions of this year’s championship, especially Yi Jianlian’s outstanding performance and his notable moment of powering through Big Gasol;
Another was the "miraculous" manner in which East University Men’s Basketball Team advanced—they had lost to Puerto Rico and seemed out of contention, but due to Cote d’Ivoire’s surprising victory over Puerto Rico, when the teams were assessed by smaller points, East University "made" it through.
He vividly remembered fans comparing that result to Wang Shipeng’s buzzer-beater victory over Slovenia in the 2006 World Championship.
So, this really was something irrefutable.
This was the first time Hansen had encountered a situation where "results fell short of expectations," but fortunately, it wasn’t all without gains.
Because of this distraction, he could temporarily put aside the affairs of East University Men’s Basketball Team and fully immerse himself in training.
Then, on the day after this came about, the 2010 free agency market finally officially opened.
On the first day, the Grizzlies reached a 5-year, over $80 million extension with Guy.
As a player developed by the Grizzlies himself, though Guy hadn’t reached All-Star levels, he was an essential core player on the perimeter for a smaller market like Memphis, making the max contract almost a certainty.
However, the Grizzlies had tried to lowball previously, leading to quite an unpleasant negotiation.
But in the end, this summer, he secured a maximum salary contract.
Next summer, Little Gasol would also be facing contract renewal.
Tois had previously mentioned that the Grizzlies were a young team, but in reality, they had passed the phase of profiting from rookies’ bonuses, and if they didn’t achieve results in the next year or two, they might face another round of rebuilding.
Besides Guy, Hansen also noticed another seemingly unremarkable signing.
The Raptors had secured a 5-year, $34 million contract with Amir Johnson.
Johnson was the Raptors’ backup power forward from the last season, and the era’s max contracts were around fourteen million.
This signing implied Johnson would become the starting power forward for the Raptors next season.
Or to put it another way, Bosh would be leaving the Raptors.
Indeed, on the second day of the free agency market, the previously "missing" James finally appeared. He announced on his personal social media that he would reveal his decision on July 13, in a named segment "The Decision" on ESPN.