No.1 in basketball scoring-Chapter 192 - 110. Pre-All-Star Weekend Part 3

Zhang Yang felt that the evil capitalist boss Joe wasn’t letting him work with peace of mind, but rather to concentrate on his work.

A while later, before lunch arrived, Felton returned first. Hearing that Zhang Yang had ordered lunch, he immediately called the front desk to add a few more dishes.

After lunch, Felton left the hotel first. He had to head to Houston at 3 pm. He wasn’t a player under the AJ brand, so Jordan didn’t cover his flight and hotel, but Under Armour would take care of those expenses. However, Under Armour wouldn’t cover the travel expenses for his parents.

After finishing lunch, Zhang Yang did not leave the hotel; he asked the front desk to extend his room for another day and ordered a pile of snacks, all charged to the team’s account. ƒгeeweɓn૦vel.com

It’s not easy to get some rest during the season, so a little indulgence was warranted.

During his leisure time, Zhang Yang browsed the news online.

With the first half of the season over, various media outlets were busy compiling their ’summaries’.

Some media headlines were particularly eye-catching, making audiences think, ’Wow, look, this is written so well,’ leaving onlookers puzzled and curious about the extent of their outlandishness.

Zhang Yang belonged to the latter group; he didn’t want to switch away from the ESPN homepage, curious to see the extent of exaggeration.

Other media outlets’ midseason best team picks were mostly the Pistons, with a 43-9 record, first in the league, or otherwise the Spurs, with a 40-12 record, first in the Western Conference and second in the league.

ESPN was different; they didn’t select the best team but instead picked the midseason’s biggest surprise team, the Cavaliers, with a 31-21 record.

Indeed, other media also chose their ’most surprising’ or ’most unexpected’ teams, but they were either the unexpectedly rising Clippers, the Suns who remained strong after the little overlord was injured, or the Magic, Hornets, and Bobcats.

The best player of the midseason, as chosen by other outlets, was Kobe. This choice wasn’t based on team records but purely on individual performance; otherwise, they would’ve simply given it to a player from the Pistons or the Spurs. Kobe scored 62 points in three quarters against the Mavericks in December and 81 points in a single game against the Toronto Raptors in January, with an average of over 40 points in January alone. With such extraordinary performances right in front of them, it would be unreasonable not to pick him.

ESPN also picked Kobe, but not just Kobe; they introduced a ’midseason best player of each conference’ selection, Kobe as the best in the Western Conference and James as the best in the Eastern Conference.

The reason was that James also reached an average of over 30 points in February, one of only three players in the league to do so, even though his scoring was lower than Iverson’s, his record was much better.

Zhang Yang looked up and down, back and forth, for a long time and really didn’t find any issues.

However, seeing the two names side by side in the news title... just felt odd.

In the evening, Zhang Yang set off for Houston, and upon arriving at the hotel there, he started trying on clothes.

He was supposed to start working in the afternoon on the 14th, but the interviews began in the morning.

During the interview segment, Zhang Yang was low-key and perfunctory, expressing his honor regarding the All-Star Weekend topics.

This was not the time to offend the big-shots; he didn’t want to end up like his boss, unable to even catch the ball in his first All-Star game. He wasn’t an American eagle, so he couldn’t seek revenge at the Olympics by keeping someone off the Dream Team.

However, he took the afternoon’s fan event very seriously, actively participating in every activity and making sure the older brothers, younger brothers, older sisters, and younger sisters had a good time.

"Many fans only have one chance in their lifetime to see me, and I don’t want to disappoint them," he said.

This statement was one of the driving forces for Zhang Yang as he continued on his basketball journey.

He wasn’t sure about the scale of his shoe fan event, but seeing Tellem so happy, it had to be at least the largest within the AJ endorsers, or this money-eyed agent wouldn’t rest easy.

It hadn’t been two months since signing, and Tellem was already urging AJ to quickly get the draft of the signature shoe design out.

Having a signature shoe from a major brand gives a player more leverage when signing other endorsement deals.

After being busy for two days, by Thursday, Zhang Yang finally got... half a day to rest, but he still had to attend the Rookie Challenge activities in the afternoon.

Waking up in the morning, Zhang Yang immediately got out of bed, freshened up, and went straight to where his parents were staying.

Knock! Was boss Joe that generous? He arranged a suburban villa for his parents!

Zhang Yang thought his parents would feel lonely touring alone without him, but it seemed the couple was having a great time, entrusting their child to the nanny they brought with them, and even planning to spend the night at a themed hotel on the 14th!

Speaking of which, Zhang Yang was quite surprised that as their home business was flourishing and his mother had more free time, she actually slimmed down. When she was busy managing their family store every day, she got heavier year by year.

But he felt his mom was very confident even when she was heavier — she was once beautiful, and now, having slimmed down, she was still beautiful.

It pained Zhang Yang’s heart. Which years had he been holding them back? He remembered that in the five years after arriving in America, his parents had never taken a trip... As soon as he left, his parents started enjoying life, learning to play the trumpet and becoming so romantic.

At least, Little Wukong, holding onto the Jingu Bang all day and refusing to sleep without wearing the four-star hat, offered Zhang Yang some comfort.

...

After having lunch at home, Zhang Yang headed to the Toyota Center in the afternoon to participate in the Rookie Challenge.

The rookie team consisted of Zhang Yang, Paul, Felton, Nate Robinson, Granger, Villanueva, Channing Frye, Marvin Williams, and Bogut, among the nine players.

Deron did not make the rookie team. Although his average of 8 points and 4 assists at the time of the selection was modest, it was still better than Granger’s average of 7 points and 4 rebounds, and Williams’ average of 8 points and 5 rebounds. The reason for Deron’s omission might have been the abundance of point guards, as there was only one shooting guard and one small forward, and he was the point guard with the worst stats among the best performing rookies at the time.

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