At the beginning of the death entanglement, Curry followed me to slam dunk

Chapter 44 A young man came to the team
Despite the uproar of media reports, Du Zhe didn't have time to care about other things at this time.

The day after the game against the Mavericks, that is, November 11, the entire Warriors team rushed to San Antonio to challenge their next opponent, the Spurs.

The exhaustion of the last game and the fatigue of the journey have cast a shadow on the Warriors' back-to-back trip this time.

However, there is not no good news coming from the team. CJ Watson and Corey Maggette are back on the line and rushed to San Antonio to help. At least the Warriors are no longer so tight in terms of rotation.

And they came with them, as well as the inside behemoth Chris Hunter, who the Warriors had just signed from the Development League, and he also entered the roster for this game.

For Hunter, most players in the Warriors don't know, or there is no need to know.

After all, although the NBA and the Development League are the upper and lower leagues, the gap between the two can be said to be worlds apart in terms of salary, environment, and strength.

Just like Chris Hunter, although he is an All-Star in the Development League and the boss of the Fort Wayne Ants, but when he came to the NBA, he was just a nobody at the end of the bench.

But unlike other players, Du Zhe and Hunter have known each other for a long time.

After losing last season, Du Zhe played for the Fort Wayne Wild Ants for more than half a season. At that time, as the main force of the Wild Ants, he fought side by side with Hunter for a long time.

It wasn't until he was signed by the Warriors who were short of major generals with a short contract of ten days that his contact with Hunter gradually decreased.

It's just that neither of them expected that they would meet again in the NBA half a year later.

The two who reunited after a long absence are naturally sighing, and Hunter, who is playing for an NBA team for the first time, is like a child who has just entered the city, and there is a trace of apprehension mixed with excitement.

When he just received the news that the Warriors wanted to sign him, Hunter was so excited that he couldn't believe that what he had been dreaming about day and night had actually become a reality.

After confirming the news of the signing, his heart suddenly ignited with great ambitions. How about the first round pick?What about all-stars?My fate is up to me, he Hunter must rely on his own hands to play in the NBA.

But when Chris Hunter calmed down from the excitement, the cold reality poured cold water directly on his head.

The gap between the Development League and the NBA was wider than he imagined. Especially when he saw that CJ Watson was just a dispensable substitute player in the Warriors, Hunter's confidence suddenly collapsed.

CJ Watson was a legend in the Development League back then. Hunter also played against him when he first entered the Development League, and he was well aware of the gap in strength between the two.

At that time, Watson reborn and entered the NBA, which was also a good story in the entire development league. Hunter once made a judgment. With Watson's strength, it must be easy to become a starter after entering the league!
And when he saw that familiar face carrying a bag for a player named Corey Maggette with a playful smile, Hunter couldn't believe his eyes.

He never dreamed that meeting Watson again after two or three seasons would be like this.

The NBA is really Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, even scarier than the rumors!
It can only be said that after the extreme expansion, there will often be extreme inferiority complex, and Chris Hunter, who has a broken heart, feels that he has fallen into the dust
Forget it, I'd better play as a substitute honestly, and being able to play in the NBA for one more year is a year... Even with him, he quietly lowered his psychological expectations a lot.

But what gave Hunter a little comfort was that Du Zhe, an old acquaintance, was still in the team.

Moreover, Du Zhe's strength must be weaker than his. As an old teammate, he is very sure of this.

When he thought that in the days to come, there would be at least another rookie, Du Zhe, hugging him for warmth, Hunter's inner tension suddenly eased a lot.

After landing in San Antonio, the three of Hunter and his team took a short rest, and immediately went to the AT&T Center Arena, home of the Spurs, to join the team for warm-up before the game.

Du Zhe, who learned about Hunter's signing, came to the gate of the arena early to wait. He still had a good impression of this old partner.

"Du!" Seeing Du Zhe waiting at the door, Hunter excitedly waved his hand to say hello.

Just as he yelled out the words, Hunter thought of the two veterans beside him. He was afraid of offending his teammates, so he quickly lowered his voice.

But Hunter had just swallowed the words on his lips, and before he took a few steps, he heard Maggette and Watson greet Du Zhe on his own initiative.

"Du! You played really well last game! The faces of those Mavericks fans at halftime must have been amazing, but it's a pity I wasn't there at the time."

Hearing the two's compliments, Du Zhe just smiled slightly, and said lightly: "What's the matter, it's just that the hand feels better for a while."

For Du Zhe, Watson is more convinced. After all, Du Zhe's strength and speed of progress are unconvincing.

Maggette, on the other hand, is more of a reciprocal. After all, this young man took the initiative to give up his starting position when he performed well, so he has to give some face.

However, in Hunter's view, Du Zhe's attitude was somewhat ignorant.

Needless to say, Watson is the top player in the Development League. In terms of strength in the Development League, he is far superior to him and Du Zhe.

And Maggette is even more amazing. He is a real NBA star. Even Watson can only carry his bag.

But even if Du Zhe doesn't take the initiative to say hello to these seniors, why does he still speak so casually? If this continues, there will be problems!
After all, Du Zhe is still too young... He is still a Chinese player, if he doesn't understand these rules, he will definitely suffer a lot in the future!
Thinking of this, Hunter couldn't help feeling anxious for Du Zhe. He felt that as his old partner, he had an obligation to remind this young man.

"Ahem!" Hunter coughed deliberately a few times, and then gave Du Zhe a hard look.

Seeing Hunter winking at the side, Du Zhe immediately understood.

He dragged the seven-foot-tall Hunter over, and introduced him enthusiastically: "Old horse! CJ, this is Hunter, you should have known each other on the plane, he was also my teammate in the Development League. .”

To be honest, it wasn't Du Zhe who introduced him. Maggette and Watson didn't even know the name of this stupid guy who followed them, but now they can only laugh and say haha, and say something like, "So it was you before." "My teammate" and "I knew each other when we first got on the plane" and other casual remarks.

However, Watson seemed to have some impression of Hunter. While patting his forehead, he said vaguely: "Hunter, right? We seem to have played together! Are you on that...that team?" Bar?"

Although Du Zhe completely misinterpreted what he meant, Hunter couldn't say anything in front of others and could only say hello to the two of them while laughing.

strangeness?Du Zhe only played [-] more games than himself, how could he be able to chat and laugh with these two people?Full of suspicion, Hunter decided to have a good talk with Du Zhe when no one was around for a while.

After walking into the locker room, as a newly signed temporary worker, Chris Hunter consciously found an unused closet in the corner and sat down.

Since it is an away game, the division of locker room wardrobes is not as rigid as at home, but the rules should not be broken.

So when Du Zhe sat down in front of one of the best-positioned wardrobes, Hunter's eyeballs popped out.

What is going on with this kid? How can he be so ignorant of the rules? If he does things like this, he will suffer a loss.

While Hunter was worried, he glanced cautiously in the direction of Maggette and Watson, but they didn't have any opinion on Du Zhe's ranking.

strangeness?This Warriors team is just too weird...

But soon he no longer had the time to worry about it.

After all, the Spurs' locker room environment is well-known in the entire league. Not only is the environment cramped, but various unexpected situations often occur.

Just like now, it is already the end of November, but the heating in the visiting team's locker room is still vague.

After taking off his coat, Hunter couldn't help shivering.

To make matters worse, he found that the ceiling above his head still seeped water from time to time.

No wonder no one uses this damn wardrobe…

In Hunter's entanglement and apprehension, the next game of the Warriors also began.

…………

As the opponent's Spurs, the start of the season can be said to be unsatisfactory, with only 12 wins and 6 losses in the first 6 games.

But this does not mean that this Spurs team can be underestimated, because in Du Zhe's previous life, in this season's playoffs, the Spurs successfully overturned the Mavericks, and after the Black Eight, they gave away Nowitzki made a black seven.

Although Manu Ginobili, the sixth man in the Spurs team today, was unable to play due to injury, but with "Stone Buddha" Duncan on the inside and Tony Parker on the outside, the Spurs' lineup Also enough to be called solid.

And Du Zhe couldn't go inside and fight Duncan like he did in the previous game.

After all, as a standard-sized insider, Duncan has a stronger physique and more solid offensive skills in the low post.

With Du Zhe's inside defensive ability, there is obviously no advantage in going against Duncan.

There was no suspense in the subsequent game. The Spurs first accompanied the Warriors in a half-court battle. The Warriors were able to withstand this half, and the two teams were evenly matched.

But after the Spurs stepped up their defensive intensity in the second half, the Warriors, who lacked physical strength, suddenly fell into trouble on the offensive end.

Although Du Zhe tried his best, he defended Richard Jefferson and Michael Finley in the matchup successively, allowing the two to add up to 6 points.

But the Spurs, who were waiting for work, still won the game at home with Duncan's 20+10 and Parker's 32+7.

In the end, the Warriors regrettably lost the game with a score of 104:110.

Although he lost the game, Hunter's jaw was shocked by Du Zhe's performance.

全场13投6中，外带罚球5罚4中，足足砍下了18分。

In addition, what surprised Hunter even more was that Du Zhe actually recorded 4 steals.

Looking at his poor statistics of 4 points and 2 rebounds, Hunter suddenly felt the unevenness of his life.

Could it be that this guy is a super genius, and he went to the Development League just to pretend to be a pig and eat a tiger?

Or has this kid been taken away by the ancient devil Chamberlain?
Hunter scratched his head and couldn't figure out what happened to Du Zhe.

…………

After the game against the Spurs, the Warriors finally ended this arduous back-to-back trip. The next morning, the whole team flew back to San Francisco collectively.

He was in San Francisco. As soon as he got off the plane, Du Zhe turned on his phone and found that there were several missed calls. The caller was Lao Wang, the manager who hadn't contacted him for a few days.

Without thinking, Du Zhe dialed Lao Wang's number.

beep... beep... beep...

After several rings, Lao Wang's cell phone was still not connected.

Just when Du Zhe was about to hang up, a tired and helpless voice finally rang out from the other end of the phone.

"I said Ah Zhe, it's more than twelve o'clock in the middle of the night. If you don't rest, I, an old man, still have to rest. You are really not afraid of my sudden death!" Old Wang, who was woken up just after falling asleep, was obviously not angry when he got up. Small.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I don't know the rules..." Du Zhe apologized, but his tone was very perfunctory.

Last season, he was often woken up by calls from Lao Wang in the middle of the night. It is hard to say that there was no intention of revenge in this operation just now.

After a while, Lao Wang, who had lost his temper, finally got down to business: "You've been doing well lately. Several well-known domestic sporting goods manufacturers are also interested in having in-depth cooperation with you. I've had a preliminary discussion. , the prices they offer are quite reasonable, why don’t you try and pick one that you like?”

"Are the sporting goods manufacturers you're talking about... serious manufacturers?" Du Zhe, who had been cheated by Lao Wang once, became more careful this time.

"Fuck you, stop pretending to me, I think you were very happy to sign the endorsement last time." Although Lao Wang didn't give Du Zhe a half point, he quickly explained the content of the negotiation Clear.

The people who came to Du Zhe to negotiate endorsement deals this time were really serious sporting goods manufacturers.

Among them, the highest bidders are nothing more than the two giants in Huaguo's sporting goods industry, Mou Ning and Mou Ta.

For Du Zhe, a rising star, the quotations given by these manufacturers are full of sincerity. At least the price is the same as that of Ah Lian. This can be regarded as a recognition of his strength and status.

What Lao Wang meant was that since these manufacturers are quite sincere, he can try to raise the price again, but there should not be too much room for raising the price, so Du Zhe should not expect too much.

As a professional agent, Lao Wang thinks that these contract offers are completely acceptable, and he advises Du Zhe to sign one of them, so as not to have many dreams at night.

After all, as a professional player, due to accidents such as injuries and transactions, there may be a decline in status and a sharp drop in value.

However, Du Zhe's rejection of Lao Wang's suggestion was very straightforward: "I will not accept any endorsements before March next year."

(End of this chapter)