Volume 2 Talent Show Controversy Chapter 74: Chicago's Ball Domination
As time was running out, Sun Hao dragged his suitcase and rushed to the United Center.
Before the tryout, Sun Hao arrived at this sacred place for basketball fans.
This is where Michael Jordan became a legend and he won two three-peat championships here.
Some fans even think that if Jordan had not retired, he would have had a chance to win eight consecutive championships.
In front of the stadium, the bronze statue erected in 1994 says it all.
Sun Hao lived in the United States in his previous life, but most of the time he spent in Connecticut, which is in the eastern United States.
Chicago is in Illinois, in the central United States, and he has only been there a few times for tourism.
But he was still impressed by the sculpture.
Although he was in a hurry, he still walked to the sculpture and stopped for a long time.
The bronze statue shows Jordan's classic one-handed dunk over a defender, and the following sentence is written under the sculpture.
“The best there ever was, The best there ever will be”
Translated into Chinese, it means: There is no one before and no one after.
This sentence summarizes Jordan's achievements in basketball succinctly and clearly.
Although there were people like Bill Russell and Chamberlain in ancient times, Jordan's influence has long surpassed any of them.
Being called the God of Basketball by fans is already a supreme honor.
As for no one to come after him, who can surpass the God of Basketball?
Sun Hao let out a long breath, then turned and walked towards the United Center.
He has already climbed to the top in Europe by stepping on his predecessor, and he can do the same in the NBA.
Jordan in history is unwilling to be lonely and will make a comeback next year. For Sun Hao, that is an opportunity.
Don’t think that the 38-year-old Jordan is an old man who can’t run anymore. Your uncle will always be your uncle.
In his first season with the Wizards, he averaged 23 points, 5.7 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game.
At that time, Sun Hao had just finished his rookie season. For a sophomore like him, there was no better match for him.
Think about the scene where Iverson dribbled past Wizards' Michael Jordan, which was talked about by fans. If he had held down Jordan and shot randomly, the scene could be imagined.
The God of Basketball is shining in golden light, isn’t that the most luxurious background?
When he thought of that scene, Sun Hao couldn't help but feel a sense of heroism.
With light steps, he walked into the United Center.
However, when he arrived outside the training hall for the tryout, he found a group of people gathered outside.
There were tall and short guys, most of them were wearing jerseys, and it was obvious that they were here for the tryout like him.
And he soon found several familiar figures among these people .
Michael Reid.
Speaking of Reid, fans' deepest impression of him is probably from the self-media.
Zunyi Conference, Reed, Bogu...
Because they were teammates with Yi Jianlian, these players were driven by the rhythm of the self-media at the time and their pace was very fast.
However, during his peak period, Reed was a hot scorer in the league. He was a left-handed player who was good at breaking through and shooting, and his shooting skills were superb.
Even relying on his three-point shooting, he was selected into the star-studded Dream Team 8 and won the Olympic championship with the team.
The reason why Sun Hao noticed him at first sight was because of his animal instinctive alertness.
He is also good at three-point shooting, but Reed is 1.98 meters tall, which is a big threat to him.
In his first year at college, Reed averaged 21.9 points per game, becoming the first freshman scoring champion in the Big Ten.
But after that his college statistics continued to decline, to 19.5 points in his sophomore year and 17.3 points in his junior year.
Others in college take one step forward every year, and so does he, except that his progress is downward.
In addition, he is already 21 years old this year, and his draft stock is getting worse every year. This year, the highest predicted ranking in the draft is only the end of the first round.
DeShawn Stevenson.
This Stevenson is not the same as his “junior brother” Stephenson. Old fans are most familiar with him from his time with the Mavericks.
As a standard 3D player, he made Wade suffer in the finals, and as an important role player, he helped the Mavericks win the 2011 championship.
Moreover, he did not go to college and ran for election directly as a high school student.
Not every high school student can become a superstar like Howard, James, Kobe, and McGrady.
Because he never showed himself on the NCAA stage, even though he averaged 23.9 points, 10.6 rebounds and 6.7 assists per game in his last year at Fresno Washington Union High School, and also won the "Slam Dunk King" in the McDonald's National High School Championship.
But he still needs to rely on tryouts to earn himself a draft pick.
Eddie House.
House is a standard role player in the NBA, scoring in double digits only once in his 11-year career.
But many people are familiar with him because he is the kind of player with microwave properties, who can be used immediately after heating.
Sun Hao also looked familiar, but he was more familiar to me because of the game.
When there is not enough salary space in 2K, he is the kind of backup guard that the team must have.
Even in some web manager games he had played, almost everyone had a $500,000 House.
But in fact, House may be the most famous among this group of people.
He is the leading scorer in Arizona State University history, and also the leading scorer in field goals and steals.
Arizona State University is not an unknown school. Not to mention that it is one of the top ten universities in the United States.
It is the Arizona Wildcats, which is also a top team in the NCAA. The number of basketball talents it has sent to the NBA is also among the top ten in the United States.
Not to mention the future, just talk about the present, Steve Kerr, Mike Bibby, and Jason Terry all come from here.
A comparison will give you an idea of what House has achieved.
And House was a true scoring maniac in college.
He is the first player in the Pacific 10 Conference to score 40+ points four times in a single season, and he even scored 61 points against the University of California, Berkeley!
61 points is a number that can challenge the college scoring record of the ancient mythical beast "Skyhook" Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
However, because he is only 1.85 meters tall, his defense is average, and he is already 22 years old, his draft stock is not very good.
If we really have to make an analogy, perhaps in the eyes of most American scouts, Sun Hao and House are similar types of players.
In terms of strength, they think Sun Hao is weaker than House.
After all, the European league is not as good as the NCAA, and Sun Hao has never scored 61 points in Europe.
Marko Jaric.
This Jaric is not the Jaric who attracted his attention because of his wife, but the one who participated in the European joint trial with him before.
…
The Bulls have three first-round picks and three second-round picks this year. Except for the fourth and seventh whose tryouts have ended, the rest are at the end of the first round and before the second round.
There are really a lot of people coming for tryouts at this position.
The challenge Sun Hao faced in the first stop of his tryout was extremely difficult.
However, what makes Sun Hao uncomfortable at the moment is not these competitors, but his current situation.
A bunch of people were huddled outside the stadium, and there were even some staff members next to the players, but no one went in.
I don’t know what happened.
Sun Hao took out his cell phone and checked the time. The tryout time had already arrived.
After waiting for a while and still no movement, Sun Hao walked to the front and greeted Yarich.
They had tried out together, and were in the same open position and also in the same matchup. This was like meeting old friends in a foreign land, and the two of them quickly started chatting.
Yarich arrived much earlier than him, and during the conversation, Sun Hao also got to know the situation of this group of people gathering here.
Because... there are people training in the training hall!
This sounds incredible.
Hello, today we have a tryout for rookies!
Just because someone is training inside, a bunch of people have to wait outside? !
Who is this king of the world, with such a high ranking?
The king... could that be Jordan?
That should be it.
This is Chicago. Although Jordan has retired, he still comes here occasionally to train and play basketball.
The Bulls arranged a tryout, but it was impossible for Jordan to be informed of such things.
Jordan was training and no one dared to disturb him.
This is his territory.
The door inside was not open, so the group of people could only wait outside.
This wait lasted more than half an hour.
When the door opened, everyone looked towards it.
It's not just Sun Hao, everyone else has the same idea as Sun Hao.
Who else but Jordan could have enjoyed this kind of treatment in Chicago, at the United Center?
And...it’s really something!
The person who came out was not the Jordan they imagined.
Although he is very close to Jordan in height, his iconic Zappa beard...
The person who came out was actually Kobe!
Sun Hao also didn't expect this at all.
He knows the connection between Kobe and Chicago.
Although he didn't say it, he was actually a die-hard Jordan fan. When he watched the finals before the 1996 draft, he had already thought about playing for the Bulls.
Even when his contract expired in 2007, rumors were rife between him and the Bulls, just short of an official announcement.
If the Lakers management hadn't made a robbery trade to get Gasol, what fans might have seen was the legacy of the No. 1 and No. 2 shooting guards in history in Chicago.
But it’s only the year 2000!
How did Kobe come to Chicago?
Kobe's clothes were sticking to his skin and he was sweating profusely. It seemed that he had been training for a long time.
When he came out, he didn't seem to expect that there would be so many people waiting at the door.
But he remained calm and walked out.
Although it was Kobe and not Jordan, the OK combination just reached the top.
Especially the Game 7 against the Trail Blazers that Sun Hao watched, which made Kobe appear to be on track to become the league's best shooting guard.
As he walked forward, the group of rookies unconsciously made way for him.
Kobe Bryant walked past Sun Hao, and it was the first time that Sun Hao had close contact with Kobe Bryant.
I have to say, Kobe's current look is... a bit non-mainstream.
Perhaps noticing Sun Hao's strange gaze, Kobe turned his head to look at Sun Hao, frowned slightly, then turned around and continued to leave.
Kobe left and the staff invited the players to enter the training hall.
Sun Hao also turned his attention away from Kobe.
His tryout is finally about to begin!
