NBA: I'm really the Chosen One

Chapter 42 Nightmare
"Papa Lucas, I think of Kobe, he is the Kobe of Europe, he seems to be omnipotent, the situation of the US team is very dangerous, really dangerous, now the US team needs someone who can stand up and score, The teamwork of the Greek team made the US team very uncomfortable." The ESPN commentator said in a low tone.

What is being broadcast live is the semi-final match between Greece and the United States in the 06 Men's Basketball World Championships. The American Basketball Association started to form the dream team two and a half years in advance. After experiencing the farce of Larry Brown in 04, the American Basketball Association learned the lesson. Emphasis was placed on the selection and training of the national team, and the Dream Seven team came into being.

LeBron James, Wade as the core, Anthony, Bosh, Howard and other first-line superstars, as well as powerful stars such as Arenas, Battier, and Billups, except for Stoudemire who was kicked out of Dream Seven for some special reasons. In addition, this team is very suitable for Popovich's mind.

Capable inside and out, with James and Wade as the core team, James has always been one of the representatives of the highest talent in the NBA, winning the All-Star Game MVP, and Wade just won the FMVP, the momentum is even stronger, and he is firmly on the 03 gold In addition, Howard, Anthony and other players are all excellent in strength and popularity. Assistant coach Steve Kerr is a direct disciple of Popovich. Tomjanovich has rich experience in player management. Meng Liu is so short of troops as a major general.

While their strength on paper is good, the benefits of their establishment two years in advance are also fully reflected. They organized the national team training in Las Vegas in the summer of 05 and 06, and then the selection from the training team was finally confirmed this summer. The final roster of the Dream Team Seven, but when the journey started, Popovich’s face gradually became bitter. He finally understood the feeling of slowly suffocating that Larry Brown described, and the team was slowly sliding into the abyss.
The bumpy road to winning the Dream Six in 04 seems to have not fully awakened every conceited American. The core of the American Basketball Association, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, took the lead in missing the shooting training organized by Popovich, and said that they Not liking to do these useless things, Popovich announced his withdrawal from the national team due to illness after struggling with Colangelo Jr., and handed over the head coach seat to Steve Kerr, who has a closer relationship with the players.

Then the U.S. team in the 06 World Championships group stage encountered a strong resistance from the Greek team. In the semi-finals, Greece even stubbornly bit the score and opened up the gap in the fourth quarter. Papalukas was like a god descending from the earth. In general, the little emperor and the Flash were defeated in a humiliating situation.

The darkest day in American basketball has arrived.

The American Dream Team can only compete for No.3.

The fans held their heads in disbelief. They were afraid and unwilling to accept such a result. A team that had been preparing for two years in advance, a team that spent a lot of money every year on publicity and marketing, a team with strength on paper The world's number one team can only compete for the bronze medal.

The omnipotent Little Emperor and The Flash in the NBA are immature as rookies in the international arena, or they are rookies, but the so-called Chosen One should not win the bronze medal, the fans are almost crazy, and the Dream Seven complained after the game It also aroused the anger of most people.

"The rules of international basketball are against us."

"We didn't have a good shot, they were better as a team."

"We've had some pretty outrageous travel violations and it's affecting our form."

The fans obviously find it difficult to accept such remarks. Losing a game is like an excuse, not to mention that these excuses are already fragile, especially after watching other countries' performances full of passion and vitality in the World Championships, people have a lot of respect for this team. More disgust, and more nostalgia for Li Zheng.

"As I said before, call him a miracle, call him Messiah, call him God, now people know how great Li's performance is, time will tell everything, Dream Six is ​​much weaker than this Dream Seven, history Steve Kerr also believed in young players more than Larry Brown, only Lee did the rescue, only Lee, the son of heaven for the bronze medal, I have never seen." Matt Davis on ESPN's show James and Wade fired wildly, and took the lead in remembering Li Zheng's crazy performance that year, and this episode also caused a huge response among fans. Only then did people realize how difficult it is for Li Zheng's Meng Liu to win the gold medal. Davies gained more fans and got special guest commentary seats on both TNT and ESPN.

"The NBA is destroying American basketball, look at who they're promoting, Dwyane Wade, hahaha, the guy who just dominated the finals, how many free throws did he take? Twenty? Or ten, I don't remember anyway ,he just kept rushing in and then the whistle blew,I don't know what the point of such a game,of course the NBA makes money,they get the name,just USA Basketball and the fans,watching this shit in the international arena Lost the glory of the Dream Team."

"Continue to miss Lee, miss the player who represents victory on the court, we don't want to watch walks and free throws."

"LeBron's team has been promoting his shooting evolution for two seasons. Why are they still making breakthroughs that seem to be walking?"

"Papa Lucas is like Kobe! European Kobe!"

"Why didn't Kobe play for the national team? And Tracy McGrady? These people also need to be criticized. Players who play for the country shouldn't get so much criticism."

"I suggest abdicating the position and giving way to Xian. Maybe Kobe can really win if he comes."

"Please bring Li back, if you don't want to continue to be ashamed."

"Lee has announced his permanent withdrawal from the national team. He has blown the world away since his freshman year. Now he needs to conquer the NBA."

James and Wade have been criticized like never before. The main reason is that the American Basketball Association wants to show off too much. Since the end of the 04 Olympics, the American Basketball Association has always used the media to vigorously publicize their achievements in the past two off-seasons. In addition, the Nike team The operation of James wants to firmly establish the No.1 image of the new generation of James.

James represents the basics of the American market. From the first day he entered the league in 03, whether it is the whistle, the team, the training space or the promotion, James always gets the best treatment, which is closely related to his hard work and self-discipline , but the team behind him also contributed
Nike really can't wait for the next Jordan to appear. MJ not only represents basketball culture, but also contains a higher spiritual meaning, trend, hip-hop, victory and even religion. Michael Jordan made Nike from unknown to behemoth, and Nike has already I can't wait to reproduce Jordan's legend, but James' performance in the World Championships disappointed everyone again.

Many fans think of Li Zheng as a lucky guy standing on the shoulders of giants. The loss of the Pokémon Seven made people face up to how great Li Zheng’s performance was in 04, just like Matt Davis said , time will tell.

Li Zheng announced that he would stay at the University of Washington to finish the final season, and this behavior raised the value of the 07 draft picks to an unbelievable level. Some players who had never been on the shelf began to appear on the list of trade discussions.

Next year will be Li Zheng's last dance in the NCAA. ESPN announced an exclusive buyout to track and report Li Zheng's last college season. Some wake up, and then to real light and hope.

(End of this chapter)