Volume 1 Western Cowboy Chapter 034 The person who took the initiative to scam me has arrived
The news that Wayne announced his participation in the draft on the night of his championship became the headline of the sports sections of most Chinese newspapers the next day.
Over the past few months, with more coverage by Chinese media, Wayne has become somewhat famous in the country.
But this time, when Wayne won the regular season MVP trophy, won the Big 12 Conference championship and announced that he would participate in the NBA draft, his popularity exploded.
This was Yao Ming's second season in the NBA, and it was also the year when the NBA's influence in China gradually grew.
Due to Yao Ming's great success, Chinese fans naturally hope that more Chinese players can gain a foothold in the highest level of basketball league.
Moreover, at this time, domestic media and various sports associations are more open to the NBA than before.
In the past, when a player wanted to play in the NBA, the first reaction of various associations was to stop him.
If you can't stop it, take the opportunity to take it.
But now, they are eager for Chinese players to develop in the NBA, because everyone has seen the benefits that allowing players to play in the NBA will bring to the entire Chinese basketball.
In the 2002 Busan Asian Games, the Chinese men's basketball team encountered the black thirty seconds in the final and eventually lost to South Korea 100-102 and missed the gold medal.
Let’s take a look at the 2003 Asian Championships. After experiencing the baptism of the NBA, Yao Ming made the Korean inside players question their lives and helped the Chinese team get revenge. You will know how much influence the NBA has on a player.
Just think about it, if Yao Ming was missing, the men's basketball team would probably be defeated twice by South Korea in the Asian Championships this year.
Otherwise, how can we say that Chairman Yao is a pioneer in Chinese basketball? With him paving the way, the road for Chinese players who want to go to the NBA is getting smoother and smoother.
Of course, as for Wayne personally, even without Chairman Yao, his NBA career would not be restricted in China.
After all, Wayne's father took this into consideration and pulled him out of the youth team and sent him to study in a foreign university.
At this time, any Chinese player who announces his participation in the draft will attract much attention.
Not only the fans, but even CCTV-5 suddenly became interested in Wayne.
In the previous six months, although Zhang Weiping often applied to interview Wayne on site, and although news of Wayne's outstanding performance occasionally came in, that was only the NCAA after all.
No matter how good the results are there, it doesn't mean anything.
After all, it is just an amateur competition, and only a very small number of people can eventually become professional.
But now that Wayne is officially involved with the NBA, it’s a completely different matter.
"A talent show interview team?" When Zhang Weiping received a notice from his leader asking him to set up a talent show interview team to go to the United States, he was a little surprised.
The level of attention paid to Wayne in China has increased quite quickly.
"Yes, we need to follow up and report on Wayne's process from registration to participation in the draft. After all, he is likely to be the first Chinese player to participate in the draft at the draft site. You also know how much attention domestic fans pay to the NBA now."
"Uh..." Zhang Weiping really wanted to say that Wayne might not be able to enter the draft.
Because those who can enter the "green room" are all rookies who are predicted to be selected in the lottery.
But Wayne is still a long way from the lottery.
In the latest Associated Press mock draft rankings, Wayne has entered the top three in the second round.
His teammate Tony Allen made it all the way to the first round!
Although Wayne's progress has been great, it has to be said that this pick is still some distance away from the lottery.
But after learning that there was an opportunity to go to the scene and observe Wayne's performance in March Madness, Coach Zhang gladly accepted the job.
"I 'll put together a team and go over there with some news on Wayne's March Madness tournament."
Zhang Weiping walked out of the office happily. As the first reporter in the country to start reporting on Wayne, he now felt vaguely proud.
He has been very optimistic about Wayne from the beginning, and now that Wayne has announced his participation in the draft and is ranked so high in the mock draft, all of this confirms his vision.
Of course, Zhang Weiping could never have imagined that Wayne’s sudden popularity in China would inexplicably cause excitement among the Koreans next door.
I don’t know if it’s because they are unwilling to accept the loss in the Asian Championships, but the Korean media is now very hostile to Chinese basketball.
Not long after Wayne announced that he would participate in the draft, many Korean media jumped out and claimed: "Ha Seung-jin is most noteworthy Asian athlete in this year's draft."
"He has professional basketball experience, he's more mature than Wayne. Most importantly, he's only 19 years old."
"Ha Seung-jin is likely to be selected in the first round, while Wayne can only be a second-round pick. As we all know, second-round picks can hardly survive in the NBA, and Ha Seung-jin is likely to become a star player in the NBA."
Embarrassed? Speechless? Headache?
Don't be surprised, many Korean media are really praising Ha Seung-jin in this way at this time.
After all, the whole world belongs to Korea.
Their players must also be the best players in the world.
Zhang Weiping was stunned when he learned about these reports from the Korean media.
This is unreasonable!
At last year's Asian Championships, Ha Seung-jin was praised for his ability to compete with Chairman Yao, but he ended up being taught a lesson.
How long has it been since this happened? Have you already forgotten your scars and started bragging again?
Perhaps in the eyes of the Korean media, although Ha Seung-jin cannot beat Yao Ming at present, he will reach Yao Ming's level sooner or later.
In that case, how could he lose to an unknown student player?
David Stern probably never dreamed that the 2004 draft would become a big hit in Asia because of the Korean media's inexplicable upsurge...
In South Korea, this "draft war" is being hyped up every day, and experts from all walks of life are analyzing how good Ha Seung-jin's prospects are.
In short, they seem to have made "surpassing Wayne in the draft pick" Ha Seung-jin's primary goal.
It doesn’t matter which team selects me, as long as my ranking is higher than Wayne’s!
Of course, Ha Seung-jin has not personally made any comments on this.
I guess he's almost pissed off now.
This is complete flattery. Can those media please stop praising me all the time? I was already badly betrayed in last year's Asian Championships.
But the Korean media, who are good at talking nonsense, don’t care about you. They want to grab the Dragon Boat Festival, Confucius, and the title of the best Asian player!
Although the Korean media is making a lot of noise, they are basically in a state of self-entertainment.
Because Wayne, who was far away on the other side of the ocean, had no idea that he was being compared to Ha Seung-jin.
He didn't even know that Ha Seung Jin was participating in the draft this year.
As a veteran football fan in his previous life, Wayne naturally knew about Ha Seung-jin and his "legendary" stories.
But if you ask Wayne Heshengzhen which year he participated in the draft, he really can't answer.
After all... who would be impressed by a water dispenser manager?
If it weren't for the Yao Ming scam, probably few people in China would have known that there was such a Korean who played in the NBA.
Old Sutton did happen to see the report about Wayne and Ha Seung-jin, but he didn't take it seriously.
Because judging from their current honors, there is simply no comparison between the two.
After all the Big 12 conference games were over, Wayne received various honors.
Not to mention the regular season MVP, which is announced on the day the tournament ends.
After that, Wayne was selected to the Big 12 All-Defensive First Team and the All-Defensive Team, defeating his teammate Tony to win the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year Award.
Finally, the Associated Press also raised the Cowboys' final ranking to sixth in the country!
It is really not easy to lead a team to the sixth place in the country in the NCAA.
These awards and honors are of great value to college players.
And what about the Korean center? He compared his head with Wayne? Isn't this just a one-sided fight?
In terms of head size, Ha Seung-jin is indeed bigger than Wayne.
Old Sutton has always chosen to skip over such boring reports.
Wayne himself really doesn't have the energy to care about these gossips right now.
Ever since he decided to participate in the NBA draft, he felt the pressure on him suddenly increased.
Although Wayne is currently ranked in the top three of the second round in mock drafts, this does not mean that Wayne is 100% safe.
The pick at the draft was a complete surprise.
Previously, DeAndre Jordan was predicted to be selected in the lottery, but he had to wait in the green room until the second round before hearing his name called, which was extremely embarrassing.
Later, Bennett was predicted to be the 13th pick, but he inexplicably became the No. 1 pick.
Unexpected situations are the least unexpected at the draft.
By then, no one will translate what the fucking surprise is to Wayne.
Therefore, in order to ensure safety and to achieve the goal of reaching the first round, the upcoming March Madness tournament is very important to Wayne.
Although there are not many tournaments, the level is high enough and the attention is huge.
This is Wayne's last hope to make the first round.
Why did Wayne declare his participation in the draft before March Madness? He wanted to attract the attention of NBA teams first, and then use the March Madness games to rush for a higher ranking.
Wayne must seize the few games in March Madness to make it to the first round, otherwise, God knows if he will have another chance to get the perverted badge of "Man of Steel" in the future.
So before the start of the March Madness tournament, Wayne digested all the growth points he had accumulated over the past few months and the remaining 10 extra-point opportunities to improve his strength.
He first increased his low-post defensive ability to 55, which is considered average in the NCAA.
The main reason is that there are too many strong opponents in March Madness. If Wayne is unlucky and gets caught and beaten by some low-post god, his ranking will definitely drop instead of rise.
For example, Emeka Okafor, who commented on Wayne a long time ago!
As a quasi-No. 1 pick with extremely superb low-post offensive skills, Wayne cannot defend him by blocking shots alone.
While the chances of the Cowboys and Connecticut meeting are slim, who can say when it comes to March Madness?
If he is really abused at that time, the tragedy of P.J. Tucker will be repeated on Wayne.
So adding a little low-post defense is like a safety net.
There were still three extra-point opportunities left, and Wayne gave them all three-pointers!
Now Wayne's three-point ability is close to 75. Combined with the effect of the shooting package, his offense should be more confident.
Coupled with the improved ball control and physical fitness due to training over this period of time, Wayne believes that he should have no problem coping with March Madness.
After this addition of points, Wayne will have to wait for a long time before he has the opportunity to increase his attributes again.
Before that, he can focus on the game without any distractions!
Everything is ready, now we just have to wait for the March Madness matchups to be announced.
