Chapter 1155: Chapter 367: King of Kings, God of Gods, Star of the Stars
What the heck is this common sense?
He stopped wasting words, tightly clutching his pants with both hands, as if making a tough decision.
"Next season, I want to stay here (New York)."
And just like that, it happened.
Yao Ming felt double the joy on the night he won the Olympic gold medal.
Last season, even though he and Wade were just sophomores and freshmen, they already made it to the conference semi-finals.
Even if the first round was narrowly passed thanks to Wade’s buzzer-beater, it still counted as a pass.
Adding Kevin Garnett to this foundation, one could say without modesty, the New York Knicks will be a championship-contending team next season.
At the evening’s celebration banquet, the extremely joyful Yao drank quite a bit.
For a professional player, Yao Ming’s career is smooth sailing.
He dominated the CBA at home, became the first Asian NBA draft pick in history, won the Olympic gold medal, and now has an excellent teammate to help him shine in the NBA.
When Roger and Zhu Fangyu escorted a drunk Yao Ming back to his room, he clutched the Olympic gold medal to his chest, mumbling repeatedly: "No regrets, no regrets."
For all Chinese players, even if they retired immediately, they would have a unique place in the history of Chinese basketball.
Just as special as the 2019 class.
But as Roger and Zhu Fangyu were preparing to leave, the dazed Yao still said: "It would be better with an NBA championship."
Human desire is limitless, even Roger felt that way.
Perhaps before participating in the Olympics, Yao Ming thought beating the Dream Team would be the pinnacle of his career, and he could retire without regret.
But when he truly defeated the Dream Team, he said his career’s most glorious moment hadn’t arrived yet; he wanted another Olympic gold medal.
Now, he’s set his sights on the O’Brien Trophy.
Roger could understand these feelings; humans never learn from lessons and are never satisfied.
Zhu Fangyu laughed: "If one day the NBA Finals features two Chinese players, it would truly be upside down chaos."
"Nothing is impossible. I’d remind you that in the past 8 years, Chinese players have won the NBA MVP 6 times."
"Indeed, indeed, the world is different now. The Dream Team only emerged from group play at the Olympics, and Team China won gold. But you know what? Group play used to be our ultimate goal." Zhu Fangyu looked at his medal and felt it was all like a glamorous dream.
"No longer the case," for some reason, Roger unseasonably thought of the worthless national team that would come later and immediately corrected himself, "At least until I retire, it’s no longer the case."
"Yao truly is, terrible with alcohol. You’re still the better one, Brother Luo, I don’t see a problem with you. Let’s find a place for drinks, some skewers, and foot massage."
Hearing this from Zhu Fangyu’s mouth, Roger wasn’t surprised at all.
A lian’s brothel visit shocked everyone, but if Zhu Fangyu were exposed for similar matters one day, Roger would think it’s normal.
Because he looks like that kind of person.
Fighting, smoking, tattoos, drinking, adultery, beach ball control, controlling someone else’s wife... aren’t these things done less by national players?
Roger waved his hand: "No more drinks, the skewers here aren’t tasty. Plus, I brought my girlfriend, so skipping the foot massage. By the way, your elbows on defense were fantastic, keep it up, you might still use them in four years."
Zhu Fangyu then remembered a Brazilian supermodel was quietly waiting for Roger’s royal arrival in his room.
Honestly, he didn’t know how Roger’s life differed from that of a deity.
No wonder foreigners love using "god" to refer to him.
The 2004 Olympics ended like this, and this summer, two Chinese individuals rode the Olympic wave to become legends.
One was Roger, who personally crafted a myth in Greece and destroyed the immortal basketball empire.
The other was Liu Xiang, whose yellow lightning streaked across the Greek night sky.
These two became iconic figures in Chinese sports.
Becoming gods naturally leads to many things centered on gods.
In the world of competitive sports, people delight in creating gods and also in toppling them.
There’s still four years before Liu Xiang is toppled, while the campaign to topple Roger is fervently underway in the NBA.
New York Knicks acquiring Kevin Garnett was just the beginning; multiple NBA teams began actively recruiting to try to push Roger, reigning at the peak of the basketball world, off the cliff.
The Dallas Mavericks signed the 188 cm combo guard Jason Terry, despite already having Dirk and Shaq. They seemed to think their firepower wasn’t enough, so they signed this explosive scoring guard.
Jason Terry was personally named for signing by Mark Cuban, who said he made the decision after careful consideration.
Roger guessed that Cuban’s careful consideration likely involved simulating Terry’s joining the Mavericks in NBA2K or NBA LIVE overnight, and during one of those simulations, they won the championship, so he firmly believed this team-building strategy was correct.
Only this way could you explain Mark Cuban’s thought process, otherwise, it was hard to imagine why he’d buy an offensive player when the team lacked defense.
Steve Nash renewed with the Los Angeles Lakers, continuing to team up with Kobe. Meanwhile, the Lakers used Grant Hill, who was out last season, and a first-round pick from the Hawks to trade for Shawn Marion, ending his five-year stint with the Hawks and filling the gap left at power forward after Karl Malone retired.