In Los Angeles, Lakers boss Buss Sr. stayed up all night, and by the morning of the 24th, he was not sleepy at all.
Last night, he invited Jerry West to his villa to watch the tiebreaker between the Pistons and Bulls. After the game, they repeatedly discussed how to trade weekly rights, and the discussion did not end until the early morning.
Unfortunately, the information returned from Magic Johnson on the scene showed that Zhou Quan seemed to be a little dissatisfied with the Lakers, which made him very disappointed.
But he didn't intend to give up, he wanted to bring Zhou Quan back to Los Angeles so much.
Like him, the Kings' general manager stayed up all night.
Even Pat Riley is among them.
He has two super giants in Magic and Skyhooker in the Lakers, creating a dreamlike Show time era. He is experienced in how to use point guards.
Although the current Knicks are strong, Doc Rivers is far inferior to Zhou Quan at the No. 1 position. Together with John Starks, the entire defense line is not as good as the Pistons in terms of offense and defense, or even worse. A lot. Judging from Zhou Quan's performance in the second round series, it was even more than one level.
He is under great pressure for the upcoming Eastern Conference Finals. He even believes that the Knicks have a lower chance of advancing to the Finals than the Pistons.
The only thing he is looking forward to now is the performance inside. His most trusted super center Ewing, defensive champion Oakley, plus the power forward Charles Smith he traded in, the performance of these three people will determine the outcome of the Eastern Conference Finals series. Win or lose.
And if he is given a chance, if Zhou Quan can be traded, he will do it without hesitation.
In fact, in the first round of the series last season, he wanted to trade Zhou Quan, but Zhou Quan was not so strong at the time, and his preferred trading position was inside. Now he regrets it.
It's too late to regret it. Even if the Pistons are willing to trade Zhou Quan, they won't give it to the Knicks. They will definitely trade him to the West.
He has some understanding of the future operations of the Pistons. The Pistons are not the Lakers, nor are they a team like the Knicks or the Heat that are not short of money. The Pistons are just the smallest ball market and are severely short of money. It is possible to retain Zhou Quan. Not very sexual.
In the past, the Pistons were able to retain the assassin because there was no billion-dollar contract at that time. Otherwise, the assassin would have left anyway. How would he have the chance to stay in Detroit?
And after Larry Johnson got a 100 million yuan contract, which first-line and top star now doesn't want a 100 million yuan contract?
No one has trouble with money, including him, and Iron Fist is no exception.
…
On the morning of the 24th, Zhou Quan opened his eyes in bed.
"It feels good."
He felt very happy when he thought that he had eliminated the Bulls and reached the Eastern Conference Finals.
He reached for his watch from the bedside table. It was already a quarter past ten, and he quickly got up.
Joe Dumas, who was on the bed next to him, heard the movement and opened his eyes. He yawned and asked, "Tekken, what time is it?"
"A quarter past ten."
He replied while getting dressed.
After washing, he went to Christina's room first.
"Zhou, I'm very sorry. I have a job and a new movie is about to start shooting. I have to rush back to Los Angeles now." Christina said after opening the door.
"Nothing, I'll give it to you." He said.
"OK."
"Goodbye, Krina."
"Zhou, remember to visit me. I'll wait for you in Los Angeles."
"certainly."
He asked the hotel to prepare a car, and then sent his girlfriend to the airport. After saying goodbye, he rushed back to the hotel, just in time for lunch.
"Iron Fist, you know, haha, poor ESPN has finally adjusted its championship prediction data." The assassin said while handing over a stack of newspapers.
"Really? I thought they would stick to it and still keep the Bulls' championship probability at 51%." Zhou Quan joked after taking the newspaper and taking food from the plate.
"Haha..." Everyone laughed.
"How many are we?" Zhou Quan asked casually.
Joe Dumars said: "The prediction data of the Eastern Conference Finals, we have a 45% chance of reaching the Finals, and the Knicks are 55%."
Zhou Quan smiled and said: "It seems that they continue to dislike us, so should we continue to slap them in the face?"
"certainly."
Everyone said happily.
Joe Dumars smiled: "In the Western Conference Finals, the Suns are 60% and the SuperSonics are 40%. The Suns are also first in the prediction of winning the championship, with 34%, and the Knicks are second with 32%. We are 18%, and the Sonics are last at 16%.”
Zhou Quan smiled and said: "What about other media?"
Rodman shouted: "Anyway, except for the Detroit media, no other city media is most optimistic about us winning the championship."
"Okay, don't pay attention to this. As for the media, if what they say can come true, then why are we still playing? Just treat them as talkers."
Zhou Quan nodded, made a summary, and then browsed the newspaper while eating.
"Iron Fist, the tiebreaker with Michael Jordan, has established the status of a generation of superstars." Los Angeles Daily News.
"Superstar?"
After reading it vaguely, he laughed.
He couldn't wait to flip through the newspaper below, and some media positioned him as a superstar. In other words, his superstar strength has been recognized by some media.
"Huh?"
When he turned to the Chicago Daily News, he happened to see a small piece of tofu. An investigative reporter named Sam Smith was going to publish a book about Michael Jordan. The publication date was set before the Finals. The title of the book had already been decided, called "Jordan Rules," to be released soon.
"Actually, I was preparing to publish this book last year, but it was delayed due to certain things. My book will present a real Michael Jordan to the public, not the Jordan you see in front of the camera. " Sam Smith said in the article.
He was a little interested and planned to buy a copy.
Scroll down again, and he saw the Detroit Sports News, with a huge headline on the front page: "Jordan: Believe me, this is not an accident, this is the beginning of an era."
He couldn't help but laugh. He also remembered this sentence. Jordan said it during an on-site interview after his first championship in 1991.
However, it is not entirely right for the Detroit media to ridicule Jordan with this sentence, because Jordan has won two consecutive championships. Although he has not completed three consecutive championships, two consecutive championships are very good, and the Magic Birds have not completed three consecutive championships.
However, no matter how strong Jordan is, he also believes that this era will never be dominated by Jordan. He must get a share of the pie and become one of the symbols of this era.
Looking through other newspapers, he saw the pressure on Jordan from these media reports, because they were all articles mocking him, and the overwhelming description was absolutely correct.
However, since last night's game, no media has been able to find Jordan, and he must have been hiding.
At 2 p.m., the Pistons returned to Detroit.
A large number of fans drove to the airport to greet the team. There were long queues on the road, and the motorcade stretched for several kilometers.
That night, Zhou Quan watched the tiebreaker between the Western Mosaic and the SuperSonics at home alone. The result was 100:103, and the SuperSonics won the tiebreaker at home.
In terms of rebounds, Mosaic, who has the dream of being a super center, only got 38, while the Sonics grabbed 51, a full 13 more.
This is the only reason why Mosaic, whose overall shooting percentage is four percentage points higher than the Sonics, lost.
The big dream Olajuwon scored 23 points with a 46.6% shooting rate. The offensive efficiency was not very high, but he grabbed 17 rebounds, while Shawn Kemp, who had the most rebounds in the SuperSonics, only grabbed 11. It's a pity that his teammates' rebounding ability is too weak. Even if they grab three more rebounds, one in and one out, Mosaic will not lose this tiebreaker.
In this way, all the final lists for the Eastern and Western Conferences are out.
In the East, the Pistons face the Knicks, in the West, the SuperSonics face the Suns, and the latter team has home court advantage.
A best-of-seven game system with a 22111 home and away system, the Eastern Conference Finals will begin on May 29th, and the Western Conference Finals will begin on the 30th.
At 8:30 a.m. on the 25th, Zhou Quan had just finished breakfast when he received a call from his agent.
Roger Philip said happily: "Zhou, your sneaker sales this season have exceeded 20 million US dollars, and you have sold nearly 800,000 pairs of sneakers. Skechers has confirmed that it will execute the contract for the next three years. "
He was happy, but joked: "Roger, I hope they don't do it again."
"Ha ha……"
Philip laughed, and then said: "Yes, I think so too."
Then he added: "Zhou, starting from the All-Stars, I have negotiated some suitable sponsorship contracts for you. There are six contracts in total, which are pretty good. Two of them include first-tier brands."
"That's great!"
Zhou Quan was very happy and had a large income again.
His previous commercial contracts were not of high quality, that is, the contract signed by Ford last year was not bad. As a Chinese, it is difficult to receive significant endorsements in the United States.
"By the way, I will come to Detroit tomorrow." Philip said.
"Sign those contracts?" he asked.
"We are also negotiating with Cadillac. They are going to give you a contract. Haha, are you happy? This is a top luxury car brand." Philip said excitedly.
“Last time I played golf with Mr. Lowes Edwards, the CEO of Cadillac, and he suggested that I play professional golf in the offseason. If I perform well, he would give me a contract. Do we want to talk now? " he asked.
"Obviously, after the series with Jordan, they couldn't wait. Of course, it was just the first negotiation and the two sides were getting to know each other." Philip smiled.
Then he said: "Zhou, although you are Chinese, your commercial value cannot be fully reflected in the United States, but as long as you show superstar-level strength and are highly entertaining, you can also have greater commercial value. .
My advice to you is to continue to cross borders during the offseason, expand your influence outside the circle, further enhance your popularity and influence, and thus further enhance your commercial value.
I believe that with your potential and talent in basketball, ice hockey, boxing, golf, and even baseball, you will definitely achieve a lot. As long as you achieve certain success in other fields, you have every hope of becoming an international sports superstar. By then, your Being Chinese will no longer place such a big restriction on your commercial value.
In fact, even though the NBA has developed very well in recent years and has climbed into the top four commercial sports leagues in North America, and may even surpass ice hockey, its influence is still just that, and it is still a long way from baseball. , it is too far away from football. Even if the ratings of the NBA Finals increase several times, they will not be able to catch up with the influence of the Super Bowl.
Zhou, if you can achieve good results in the two professional sports of boxing and golf, with the influence of these two sports in the world, you will definitely succeed.
You must know that on a global scale, the influence of boxing and golf is far greater than that of the NFL. They are truly popular sports worldwide. No matter how popular American football is, it is only in the United States. "
Phillip's words had a strong motivating effect on Zhou Quan. He thought of Lin Changhua's words. If he was a business card, then why didn't he make this business card a golden business card?
He hopes to become a world-class athlete, but he also hopes that every Chinese will know his name.
Philip added: "The WBC officials have contacted me several times. They hope to maintain further cooperation with you and confirm your boxing arrangements in the offseason. I have agreed for you. Zhou, you will welcome him in the offseason." Let’s have a real professional boxing match.”
"Okay. Who is the opponent? What is the specific time?" Zhou Quan asked.
Philip said: "The time has been initially determined to be September or October, allowing you to have a period of professional training. The opponent has not yet been determined. The WBC is very cautious and will arrange a boxer with equal strength to you. What the WBC means is that in terms of weight, They will choose you to be ranked 20 or 30 in the world, and they think your strength should be at this stage."
"Twenty or thirty? OK."
Zhou Quan did not refuse. He was not that stupid. He said that he would arrange for a world boxing champion to fight for me. He had too little training time and almost no boxing experience. He could only take his time and fight the lower-ranked boxers first. , climb up step by step.
"In addition, Zhou, the league will announce the best lineup tonight. I wish you can be selected for the double first team."
"Thanks!"
…
In the afternoon, Zhou Quan made an appointment with Joe Dumas, Assassin and others to play golf and relax.
In the evening, at 8 o'clock, the league announced the best defensive team and best team list through ESPN TV's national live broadcast.
In the defensive lineup, there are quite few defenders competing with him. Apart from Jordan, the biggest one is probably Joe Dumars, his teammate.
The first to be announced is the defensive second team, which is Grant, Joe Dumars, Larry Nance, David Robinson, and John Starks.
Seeing Joe Dumars' name, Zhou Quan's expectations are almost certain. He should be selected for the All-Defensive Team.
Sure enough, in the next defensive team, his name was among them, the other four were Jordan, Olaju, Pippen, and Rodman.
"Ha ha……"
Two players on his team were selected to the defensive first team at the same time, which immediately made him laugh heartily.
However, this immediately reminded him of the Knicks. The strongest defensive team this season, no one was selected to the defensive first team, and only one John Starks was selected to the second defensive team. For him and the Pistons, this is actually It was not good news, and he stopped laughing immediately.
This situation means that the reason why the Knicks' defense is strong is not caused by personal strength, but caused by the defensive system and defensive style.
It is certainly more difficult to deal with five sub-level defensive players than one or two first-level defensive players. This means that the Pistons are likely to face a stronger defense than the Bulls when facing the Knicks.
Although the Pistons currently have three people selected for the defensive first team, the Bulls also have two first teams and one second team, but the Pistons and Bulls are similar in that they both have serious loopholes in the defensive system. The Bulls are at the 1st and 5th positions, and the Pistons are at the 5th position. and number three.
Moreover, the Pistons' defensive system is not as good as the Bulls, so their defensive performance during the season is not as good as the Bulls, and then it is even worse than the Knicks.
At this time, the best lineup began to be announced, and he put aside his consideration of the Knicks.
(End of chapter)
