From sparring to superstar

Chapter 95 93. Constant Controversy

The eyes of basketball fans are once again focused on Li Ao!

If he just held a press conference and said that he would participate in the draft, it would not cause any sensation.

Now the draft is gradually becoming "younger". Although the juniors and seniors are still in the majority, among the players who publicly announced to participate in the draft this year, the high school students, freshmen and sophomores who are younger than or equal to 20 years old have already entered the draft. A record number of more than 50 people.

These include Cincinnati's DeMar Johnson projected in the lottery, Missouri's Kenyon Dooling, Austin's Chris Mihm, and even LSU's Swift...

The fact that he participated in the draft itself is not as topical as the fact that he is a flower planter participating in the draft.

However, Time Warner was very interested after learning about his ideas, and spent several days on the sports channel to make a preview, and finally he said "I want to bring my talent to the NBA"...

Buffs are superimposed layer upon layer, bursting out completely different effects!
This sentence became popular among fans!

On the second day, the new issue of Sports Illustrated, a subsidiary of Time Warner, featured Li Ao's draft report in an eye-catching position.

"18 years old, born on August 1981, 8.

With a height of 201 cm and a wingspan of 217 cm, he has outstanding static physical conditions, and there is still room for growth at the age of 18.

Possesses excellent mobility and flexibility at the same position and can play guard.

Possessing top support talent, he averaged 4 assists per game in his first season in the college arena, and even soared to 5.8 assists per game during the March Madness period.

He is good at playing off the ball, requires little possession of the ball, and his ball possession rate ranks 10th from the bottom among players with an average playing time of more than 46 minutes per game in the NCAA Division I. Players with a lower ball possession rate than him are blue-collar without exception. Insider.

Possesses great defensive talent and awareness...

Possesses great shooting talent and is exceptionally good at shot selection...

……

……

Advantages: Possesses unpredictable talent, can make immediate contributions on defense, especially good at defending outside shooters, has the potential to defend from the 1st position to the 4th position, can play a tactical transition role, has a tough personality, has a big heart and can shoot key shots ...

Disadvantages: not long enough to play basketball, no perennial playing experience, poor team defense, single technique, single scoring method, no ability to hold the ball...

Prediction Template: Lower Bound Detref-Schramf.

Predicted pick: 10-15 pick in the first round. "

After the Sports Illustrated draft report came out, it caused controversy again.

There are many things in the report that are very contradictory.

Sports Illustrated cited a lot of advantages, more than the advantages in their draft report to Kenyon Martin.

It can be predicted that only the 10-15 picks are given.

Many people think that this pick is too high. For example, Indiana fans think that Li Ao should lose.

But given the expectation of 10-15 picks, the template is extremely exaggerated.

Schramf was one of the best point forwards in the last decade. Last season was shortened. At the age of 36, he could still average 15+7+3 per game. In his peak year, he averaged 19.1 points per game. With 9.5 rebounds and 6 assists, the Sonics made it to the Finals in the 95-96 season. Schramf contributed a lot. In the Finals, he scored better than Pippen...

This is actually the lower limit?

In addition, many people's attention is on Li Ao's only 18 years old.

Although Li Ao looks young, in the perception of Americans, Chinese people are already tender. He is already a sophomore, so how young can he be?

I didn't expect it to be really tender!
才18岁，就已经在疯三场均20+6+5，并且带队33连胜横扫式夺冠！
When the media hyped his talent before, many people scoffed at it, because those media hypes looked like exaggeration, they compared Olajuwon and Duncan, and many people took it as a joke.

But if you are only 18 years old, it is terrible!

Some media found the video of Li Ao participating in Time Warner Cable Sports, and re-watched Li Ao's self-introduction...he practiced basketball for 8 months!

After they visited USC for investigation, they got confirmation from USC students.

Why didn't they suspect that it was a USC student bragging?

Because the testimonies of the students at USC are—"Leo didn't join the school team until he was a sophomore. I heard about him before. Before he joined the school team, he was fighting and playing with women every day. He was so famous."

Combining these factors, many people think that the prediction of the 10-15 pick is too low!

So, the fans headed by Los Angeles and the fans headed by Indiana scolded each other in the forum.

Now, the North American sports scene should belong to the NBA, and the most concerned thing for sports fans should be the NBA playoffs.

But Li Ao stole the limelight!
...

It caused controversy and was hacked by many people. Li Ao had expected it a long time ago.

Being hacked is not once or twice, it's a trivial matter.

At least it's on fire!
As for why not keep a low profile... How can a decision be made casually?

Of course everyone needs to know!
In this way, although he has a lot of trouble in terms of public opinion, but in a more realistic level, he has a lot less trouble.

For example, in the school forum, he saw that because he participated in the draft with such a high profile, most of the attention of alumni and classmates was not reluctance for him to leave, but excitement—the super genius of our Trojans team is dragging!

Participating in a draft can make such a big battle.

Who else?
There is such a strange brain circuit, because this is the entertainment capital, Los Angeles, the city of Angels.

In addition, it saved the coaching staff from some potential troubles. If he left the school team, if the coaching staff failed to keep him, he would be blamed more or less by his superiors.

But when he announced his decision on the live broadcast, it was a matter of certainty and irreparable. Naturally, the alumni and the school would not pay attention to the matter of retaining him.

He was also quite surprised that Sports Illustrated actually predicted him to be the 10-15 pick. He thought the first round would be good.

He saw a news report that the media contacted the NBA headquarters to ask for their views on this matter. The call was connected to the president's office, and David Stern responded in person.

"We welcome basketball talents from all over the world to join. This is very important for the diversification of NBA players and for the NBA to go global. We did receive Leo's draft application. On the 5th, we have already called Leo, Leo Confirmed to leave college early to enter the draft, I am very happy to see players from the florists appearing on the NBA court."

The old Jew is old, interests come first, and the words are nice to say.

After paying a little attention to the follow-up of the show, Li Ao didn't care about it anymore.

He did it just for fun.

The core purpose is to let the NBA team know that he is running, and to save the coaching staff some trouble, nothing else.

His life has not been affected. It is time to go to class and practice. Although he voluntarily withdrew from the school team roster competition and is not eligible to compete, his name is still in the USC basketball club, and Henry Bibby still provides training for free field for him to use.

Two days later, on May 5, the NBA draft lottery was completed, and Li Ao watched the live broadcast of the lottery.

As he remembered, the Nets won the No. [-] pick.

But he doesn't remember the later ones. The 2000 draft was too much, and he didn't pay attention to it at all in his previous life.

The Grizzlies got the No. 3 pick, the Clippers got the No. [-] pick... The Magic actually have [-] lottery picks!
5th, 10th, 13th.

He didn't take Sports Illustrated's 10-15 picks seriously.

Before that, the media had not given him a draft report, and no one thought that he would suddenly choose to participate in the draft.

In the past two days, other media have made predictions for his draft pick, usually at the end of the first round, some are given back to the second round, but there are also predictions for the top ten picks... Whether it is high or low, it depends. It looks like it's being heated.

However, when watching the draft lottery, he will still unconsciously focus on the ownership of the draft picks in the range of 10-15 picks.

If he is really selected during this prediction period, he finds out to the pain that he is most likely to go to the Magic!
Damn, the management over there is out of their minds!

For an irrelevant team rule, I lost the stone Buddha I got!

But if Stone Buddha did go to the Magic, it would be different...

He unconsciously had a little expectation.

On the second day, Friday, after class in the morning, Li Ao made an appointment to have lunch with the assistant aunt and Liam. When he was about to leave school, he was blocked by reporters who wanted to interview him.

He thought that it would be good to increase a little exposure at this time, so he accepted it and conducted an interview at the school gate.

The first topic is that he correctly predicted the No. [-] pick, which he babbled about.

The second topic is which team do you want to go to.

Li Ao replied: "I prefer a big city, preferably a team in California. I'm more used to the environment and climate here. Of course, I can't decide these. I can go wherever I can."

The reporter was from the Los Angeles Times, a local, so he didn't mention too embarrassing topics for Li Ao.

The last question has nothing to do with the draft - which team can win the NBA championship this season.

Li Ao replied: "The Lakers, the OK combination is number one in the world."

...

After the interview, it was time for Li Ao to have dinner. In the afternoon, he went to the newly opened video game city with his auntie assistant, Liam, and Liam's new girlfriend.

The next morning, Li Ao and the hospital assistant aunt opened the newspaper with great anticipation and found the NBA section.

Eye-catching headline - "New MOP flatters the Lakers"

The question mark in Li Ao's head, when did he flatter the Lakers?
After reading the content of the report, uh...

To put it simply, the content is to ridicule the Lakers. After being beaten by the Jazz and Spurs in the playoffs for three consecutive years, it is ridiculous that a rookie said that the Lakers will win the championship.

Said he wanted to go to the Lakers and flatter the Lakers.

Li Ao suddenly remembered that after the name of the Lakers was mentioned in an interview yesterday, the reporter's expression became very exciting.

He didn't pay attention at the time, but looking back now, that reporter seemed to be looking at a fool... 屮!

Vivienne suddenly exclaimed: "Leo, I remembered that the relationship between the Los Angeles Times and Old Buss is very bad. They have a better relationship with the Clippers. You shouldn't say that the Lakers are the championship!"

Li Ao rolled his eyes: "Aunt Vivian, you didn't say it earlier! What's the use of saying it now?"

"What should we do now?"

"Eat! Aren't you hungry?"

"Oh, that's right, how can you think of a way if you don't eat enough..."

After breakfast, the two ignored the matter. It was the weekend, Li Ao continued to go to the arena to practice with the old man, and Vivian went to the next door to exercise, and then watched TV dramas.

What a big deal, isn't it just being ridiculed by a media.

But Li Ao also talked about this matter when chatting with the old man.

After lunch at noon, they returned to the arena, and the two used the computer in the property office to browse the forum online.

Sure enough, this interview once again attracted people's attention. After all, he just made a "decision" a few days ago, but this time it was almost one-sided ridicule.

Although there are Lakers fans who speak for him, the Lakers have really been beaten by the championship or finals team in the playoffs for three consecutive years, and they can't be hardened at all.

And the Lakers are the most disgusted team in NBA history by fans of other teams, none of them. The more Lakers fans speak for him, the more he is ridiculed.

He is implicated.

Li Ao didn't expect that he just talked about his knowledge, and the other party asked a question casually at the end, and he just answered it casually, but was sprayed by netizens and expert media.

...

Time will dilute everything. Li Ao didn't stand up and respond. He only accepted two interviews with Xu Jicheng and Su Qun. After a few days, the enthusiasm gradually faded.

A big event in the NBA playoffs also diverted the attention of fans-the Jazz, the number one favorite team in the championship, fell behind the Trail Blazers 0-3 in the second round.

This basically declares that the Jazz is going to be out. As for things like a Jedi comeback, judging from the Jazz's average loss of 3 points per game in the first 18 games, the Jazz has no such ability at all.

The pattern of the NBA playoffs has changed dramatically. On the basis of stepping on the Lakers first, in terms of public opinion, it has become confusing which team will win the final championship.

On Li Ao's side, he didn't care much about the second round of the match, and he didn't watch the live broadcast very much. Occasionally, when he watched TV after dinner to digest his food, he switched to the live TV station and watched it for a while.

What he is worried about now-the choice of agent.

When he signed up for the draft, he had already filled in the landline and mobile phone numbers of his apartment, and he also spent $10 to register with the players union. Before he notified both parties that he had signed an agent, qualified brokerage companies could find out his contact details.

He has received invitations to meet with various agencies, but has not yet made a decision on which firm to meet with.

He didn't like the attitude of some brokerage companies, like the brokerage company of the famous North American sports agent Aoun Tailun, who just sent a random employee to invite him, speaking with a superior look.

Plus Aoun Tailun's main business is on football and baseball.

There are also positive agencies, such as Bill Duffy and Dan Fagan, both of whom are very interested in signing players from the florist.

But Li Ao didn't like these two people.

The latter is a well-known vampire who often engages in show operations for profit. Li Ao's deepest impression on him is that he helped Chandler Parsons get two maximum salaries, but his reputation is also bad.

The former is a real person, but too real, and he was not aggressive at all when negotiating the contract. As Yao Ming's American agent, after Yao Ming's rookie contract ended, he didn't help Yao Ming get a maximum salary, which was outrageous.

There are also some brokerage companies that are too small and have so few people that the brokers also take on legal affairs, finance...all the work.

Independent brokers didn't mean they had no strength, but those who didn't have strength definitely accounted for the majority, and he didn't want to try and make mistakes.

So, more than half a month after announcing his candidacy, the matter is still on hold.

But he is not in a hurry, he can go to the trial training and if the team contacts him, he can also handle the draft by himself, just sign an agent before being selected to negotiate a contract.

Rather lack rather than abuse.

The time came to May 5th, at 26:5 in the evening, Li Ao finished his training all afternoon, took a shower and came to the parking lot. The hospital assistant aunt said at noon that she would come to pick him up today.

After waiting for a while, a little after 6 o'clock, the car of the hospital assistant's aunt stopped in front of him.

After Li Ao got in the car, Vivienne did not start it immediately, but took out a business card and said excitedly: "Leo, another agency has found the school, this time it is David Falcao's company! Jordan , O'Neal, Malone, Duncan, Garnett, these people were or are still players of their company, and their top agent personally came to the school to find you..."

oh?This Li Ao was interested, he looked at the business card...

()
Throw the business card out the window casually.

Regarding Li Ao's unethical behavior, Vivienne asked in astonishment: "Why do you lose it after just looking at it? I met with Liam's family's legal counsel. His professional ability sounds very good. I heard that He is also Falcao's favorite successor. He personally has a designated accounting firm to cooperate with. Liam's family's legal counsel knows that firm, and its business ability is very good. I made a business development plan for you..."

"I'm sure he's good at business, but I don't like banks, banks are liars."

Vivian: (O_o)??
Where does this go... wait, bank.

Banksy?
"..."

Vivienne was speechless, she remembered that the manager who came today was named Banks.

"Forget it, let's just pretend that he hasn't been here. If I were you, I would still feel disgusted when I face a person whose last name I don't like every day."

Said Vivienne started the engine and drove home.

She didn't take this matter to heart, she was just excited because the other party was from David Falcao's agency.

Her family, Leo, didn't like that person, and she suddenly felt that that guy had mischievous eyebrows and didn't look like a good person.

But what Li Ao thought of at this time was those two poor No. 21s.

Over the past 21 years, the two No. 20s have been defrauded of more than [-] million US dollars by this guy in the name of investment by means of stealing, transferring, and concealing reports.

Are you really going to catch Pit No. 21?
Just as the car was about to leave the parking lot, a figure rushed out yelling. Thanks to Vivienne being an old driver with more than ten years of driving experience, she barely stopped the car and didn't hit anyone.

Li Ao was taken aback, and after realizing it, he got out of the car and shouted: "You don't want your life? You want to jump off the building! You still want to help your family earn some money before you die?"

"Sorry, no, I... I just want to talk to you, I'm a manager!"

(End of this chapter)