One Year Left to Play-Chapter 109 - 34: Da Zhi, Go to the United States!

Generally speaking, as long as a player has the potential to be picked by an NBA team, agents flock to them. A three to five percent salary commission is a huge temptation for agents.

Being an agent is not as easy as it seems, just like 99.9%... of athletes can’t make it to the NBA. Most agents lead quite a poor life without having NBA players under their belt or without players who’ve successfully earned in foreign countries. Sometimes they have to invest money out of their own pocket into a player, supporting them even when the player hasn’t found a job yet, and there’s no guaranteed return.

Right now, he doesn’t have much commercial appeal because there hasn’t been a precedent showcasing his commercial value. So currently, the only attraction for capable agents is the commission from the ninth pick rookie contract.

But he signed the rookie contract himself! Now, hiring an agent means no commission for the agent unless he voluntarily gives it. Otherwise, if the agent signs him with no other income, it would mean working for free for three years.

He guesses no one expected that the Brooklyn Nets, in their urgency to sign, would inadvertently create a hassle for hiring an agent.

Because all other drafted players, without exception, have agents, including Garnett, who hired an agent once he decided to enter the draft.

Would Zhang Hao voluntarily give away three to five percent of his salary? If it was before signing, he would gladly do it, but now that the contract is signed, he really doesn’t want to—it’s thousands of US dollars a year...

"Let’s leave it as is for now, anyway, given the current situation, it seems I haven’t shown much commercial value. I’ll talk about it once I’m in the NBA..."

Zhang Hao plans to temporarily put this matter aside and wait until maybe some top agent spots his potential, then consider signing up.

Anyway, he knows that once he proves himself, that Jewish old man in New York will definitely support him, his commercial value will be revealed, and those capable agents will immediately flock to him.

At the end of the day, athletes rely on competitions to show their value, something Zhang Hao has seen plenty in the coming information age.

Didn’t Charles Barkley say that if Jordan wasn’t good at basketball, given Jordan’s looks, education, and character, he’d end up being a plumber...

Zhang Hao reckons that Jewish old man must be trying to use him to make a splash in the Chinese market, but the NBA has already started the lockout, and the NBA cannot use any player’s name or image...

Just a few days ago, the NBA officially announced the lockout, after the Las Vegas Summer League was canceled on July 3rd, it started working on the lockout for the Orlando Summer League starting July 9th.

This summer, even without the lockout, he only needed to play in the summer league. Now without the summer league, he really had nothing to do.

Hence, he is ready to devote himself wholeheartedly to training.

Watching his life digits decrease day by day, only the feeling of progress brought by training can suppress the helpless anxiety within him.

...

On July 8, 1995, in the Asian Championship finals in Seoul, South Korea, the Chinese Men’s Basketball Team defeated the South Korean Team 87 to 78. Hu Weidong, the strongest player of the Chinese Men’s Basketball Team, exploded with 33 points in the finals, single-handedly crushing South Korea’s backcourt.

In a post-match interview, when asked about Zhang Hao, Hu Weidong humbly replied, "Although Zhang Hao is young, he dares to venture into the United States, which I truly envy. My dream is also to play in the NBA; he achieved something I haven’t. I hope he can carve out a place for himself in the NBA, letting kids back home know that Chinese players can also enter the world’s top league..."

Zhang Hao, on the other hand, due to the slow information spread these days, didn’t know the commotion he caused back home, and neither did he realize the fame bonus brought by his selection during the Asian Championship.

But he indeed provided a massive confidence boost to basketball folks across various industries back home.

After winning the championship, the Chinese Men’s Basketball Team returned home. It is currently the period for organizing the Chinese Jia-A League, and the representatives of top players and young talents in the country are busy.

The Basketball Association initially plans to have 12 teams participate in the first season of the league, but players come from all over the place, and the strength gap among players in different provinces is rather large. It requires investors, namely team owners, players, officials from the Basketball Association of various provinces, Basketball Association officials... to negotiate and discuss together, bringing along players and owners, mainly because those officials have no clue about this stuff. Organizing a league is about selling tickets, and sale proceeds entail a bonus for the Basketball Association, regardless of whether teams profit or not, ticket sales have to be commissioned.

But recently, the Basketball Association is quite frustrated because a military player has withdrawn from signing for the first season of the league, and is striving hard to apply to the military, hoping the country can recommend him to study in the United States.

This news hasn’t spread outside, but the top basketball players in the country are aware of it.

Because this player was recently named as the most promising center in the just-ended World Youth Championship!

Hu Sanpao and War God, upon hearing this news, were extremely excited and visited this young talent’s home to find out more.

"Brother Hu, Brother Liu, are you here to persuade me?"

"No no no, we hope you can persevere, we will help you!"

Wang Zhizhi initially thought the two strongest players inside and outside the national team were here to persuade him to re-register for the Jia-A League starting at the end of the year, thus his attitude wasn’t great. After all, he’s only 18 and has been worn out by the Basketball Association folks lately.

Meanwhile, the Nanjing Military Industry Team Men’s Basketball Team had differing opinions at the top. Some were worried about losing Wang Zhizhi would affect Bayi Team’s newly established prowess, while others believed it’s good for Wang Zhizhi to be adventurous, venturing into stronger leagues for potential greater growth, at least show him the world instead of being stuck inside the domestic, immature basketball circuit.

The general public doesn’t realize that in terms of team projects, the national team has long been quite weak worldwide, especially in men’s team events. Though table tennis and badminton also have team competitions, those team competitions are essentially singles or doubles matches rather than genuine team-based events, which the top echelons in the management of various sports know well.

Hence, there’s another concern holding Nanjing Military Industry Team Men’s Basketball Team back—what if Wang Zhizhi’s stint in an American university doesn’t turn out well?

Then the basketball future pillar they had high hopes for would become a joke, wouldn’t it? What if he doesn’t perform well at the American university, returns to play in the domestic Jia-A league, and trashes everyone else, how would the others cope then?

Players aren’t a monolithic block, as there are some like Hu Weidong and Liu Yudong supporting Wang Zhizhi, while others hold concerns similar to those high-ups, fearing losing face down the line...

And some who wish to support Wang Zhizhi didn’t dare voice out fearing it may impact their prospects.

The human heart is always complex.

Hu Weidong and Liu Yudong are the first players participating in the Jia-A League’s first season to support Wang Zhizhi, and they even directly came to his home.

This moved Wang Zhizhi greatly, and he expressed an apology for his earlier unfriendly attitude.

Liu Yudong patted Wang Zhizhi’s shoulder: "No worries, Da Zhi, we just hope you can persevere. You have more talent than us; at your age, you should go to America to play. If you end up like us, then we’ll be just spinning in circles in Asia, but we all hope you can lead us to the world in the future, not just dominate Asia! I want to see the national team win more matches in world championships, not just scrape through one or two games and be barely in the top eight only to be eliminated..."