Chapter 25 [Both low-key and high-profile]
The 1995 NBA Summer League had a simple format, with no knockout rounds and finals, and the championship was determined based on the overall score. The SuperSonics have won five games and are naturally the championship team this year.
In order to commend the players, the organizers will also select the MVP of the summer league. Yang Jian was elected MVP without any suspense, with the best record and luxurious statistics.
Now not only the management of other teams regret it, but also the president of the SuperSonics, Wally Walker, because the period of Yang Jian's contract was too short, only one year.
Previously, everyone in the management believed that Yang Jian lacked competition experience and that good training performance did not mean that he could play well in actual combat. The evidence is that Yang Jian performed poorly at Harvard University and there is no data.
As a result, Yang Jian defeated all his opponents in actual combat.
If they had known that Yang Jian was so good, the Sonics would have signed him to a three-year contract.
There are no rules for signing undrafted rookies, and the Sonics have no problem offering a contract to a first-round pick as long as they think the player is worthy of the contract.
Now as long as Yang Jian performs well in the regular season, after the one-year contract expires, the Sonics must pay a high salary if they want to keep him. They have to renew Yang Jian's contract first, and then Payton's contract. Otherwise, the salary cap may be exceeded, resulting in the inability to offer Yang Jian a high salary. Payton can renew his contract beyond the cap.
Yang Jian's outstanding performance also changed the careers of several players, but they were not stars and had no points to earn.
In a parallel world, center Rich King assumed many offensive tasks in the summer league and played a lot of low-post games. He only played two games before being injured and was unable to play in the NBA.
After Yang Jian joined the team, coach Bob Weiss arranged for Rich King to often pull out to cover Yang Jian and then make air cuts. Under this tactic, although Richkin took few shots, he fought very easily. His starting statistics are not bad either, averaging 11 points, 10 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game, with a shooting percentage of over 50%.
With Rich King's outstanding performance in the summer league, even if he cannot get a contract with the SuperSonics, he may still find a job with other teams. Data is an important basis for measuring a player's strength. He was a lottery pick back then. As long as he stays healthy, there will definitely be teams willing to take a gamble on him.
In a parallel world, the SuperSonics only achieved a poor record of 2 wins and 3 losses.
Without Yang Jian, the Sonics have become a team without stable shooting points, and outside players mainly rely on breakthroughs to score. Scherer is the team's leading scorer and has a terrible shooting percentage.
After the game, several Sonics players held a press conference at the Jazz training facility.
Yang Jian is the protagonist, and Eric Snow and Sherrel Ford also participated. The Sonics showed that three of them are rookies with team contracts.
Snow signed with the same basic salary as Yang Jian, and Scherer's specific amount was not announced to the public. Scherer signed a contract with an annual salary of US$500,000, which made him feel particularly happy. He thought the management treated him better than Yang Jian and wanted to focus on cultivating him.
This is certainly not the case. The Sonics signed Scherer for two years for 1 million, partly because he is a first-round pick, and partly to facilitate the trade, sign first and then trade.
If Scherer's contract is too small, he can only exchange for players with minimum salary, which will not help the team. If the SuperSonics want to sign players with a minimum salary, they can just look for them directly in the summer league team. It is easier to sign freely.
Bob Weiss arranged tactics to help Scherer brush up data for the purpose of trading.
Scherer relies on his high number of shots and offensive power with the ball to become the team's second scorer, averaging 16 points per game. However, his shooting rate is only 43%, and Yang Jian's overall shooting rate is close to 60%, averaging 25+ per game. The two are simply not comparable.
The summer league is not difficult for Yang Jian. If he throws freely, he can average 30 points per game.
In a parallel world, Kobe, who just graduated from high school, averaged 24.5 points and 5.3 rebounds in the summer league. In this day and age, people with good physical fitness can really fight however they want. Kobe's physical fitness is not as good as Yang Jian's, and he is at a disadvantage in speed, jumping, and confrontation.
Ten years later, the summer league will not be so easy. The overall strength of the players has greatly improved and the gap in physical fitness has become smaller.
This was a small press conference, with only about 20 reporters present. Even so, Yang Jian is very excited. Attracting media interviews is the first step to becoming famous. These people were all here for him, and he felt a little like a star.
Yang Jian saw the Chinese compatriots at a glance, and the yellow reporter was very conspicuous in the crowd.
"Hello, I am Guo Zhen, a reporter from CCTV. Can I conduct an exclusive interview with you after the press conference?" Guo Zhen's tone was a little excited.
He watched the SuperSonics' game against the Jazz and witnessed Yang Jian's two wonderful dunks. He felt that Yang Jian had brought glory to the country. Who said that the physical fitness of Chinese people must be worse than that of Europeans and Americans?
"Of course, I have been waiting for domestic reporters for a long time. I will have to answer questions in English later, and then I can speak Mandarin during the interview." Yang Jian said with a smile.
Guo Zhen didn't think there was anything wrong. If Yang Jian was interviewed in Chinese, other reporters would not have an interpreter and it would be difficult to report the news.
The two only chatted for a few words before the press conference began. Yang Jian sat at a table and answered reporters' questions.
The reporter asked Yang Jian to express his feelings and evaluate his performance.
"Out of 100, I would give myself 80 points. Because the intensity of the summer league games is certainly not comparable to the NBA regular season, let alone the playoffs." Yang Jian did not let the victory get to his head and chose to keep a low profile.
A female reporter asked: "What height do you think you can reach in the future in the NBA?"
Yang Jian smiled and said: "You have to wait until you play to know. When I first came to Salt Lake City, I never thought that I could become an MVP. I just tried my best and enjoyed the process of playing basketball, because I really like it. A sport."
Agent Steve Oldman would talk to Yang Jian on the phone every night to learn about his situation in Salt Lake City and tell him what he could and could not say during interviews.
Don't talk about anything related to future goals. If you talk about it, you will feel pressure. If you fail to achieve the goals, you will be accused by the media of overestimating your capabilities. He has no goals, he just likes basketball. This is the best answer, and no one can find anything wrong with him.
The team's goals for the new season, record, etc... reporters won't ask. It's not the rookie's turn to predict the team's record.
CCTV reporter Guo Zhen asked: "You are the first Chinese player in NBA history. How do you feel about this?"
"I will work hard to play basketball and never waste my talent. The NBA is the highest level basketball league in the world, and I will definitely improve my strength here. In the future, I hope to help the Chinese national team achieve a historic breakthrough in the Olympics." Yang Jian There are no goals in the NBA, there are in the national team.
He made a high-profile statement about his willingness to join the national team and was not afraid to speak big words. Because he firmly believes that no one in the country is stronger than him. Even Hu Weidong, who is known as the "Chinese Jordan", is not at the same level of physical fitness as him.
He went to the national team just to be the core, and he couldn't be the younger brother to the veterans. If someone is dissatisfied, he will defeat him in a one-on-one fight and must gain unlimited rights to take action.
If he plays in the NBA for one season and is not strong enough to become the leader of the Chinese men's basketball team, he might as well find a place to hang himself. Because he is so useless that he can't even defeat the Chinese Jordan. Can he beat the real Jordan in the finals?
When a reporter asked about physical fitness, Yang Jian said it had something to do with consistent exercise, and then his talent.
The reporter asked: "You were not favored by the team when you were in college. Do you think Harvard's coaches behaved racially?"
Yang Jian shook his head. "I don't think I have been discriminated against in college. I don't want to talk about the past anymore. People have to look forward. I want to play well in the Sonics. This is the most important thing to me."
Reporters all believed that there was something wrong with the Harvard coach, and that Yang Jian was saving face. Who would have thought that the real situation is that he doesn't even know what Harvard's coach looks like? !
Yang Jian also praised the two teammates who came to the press conference. "Eric is a very hard-working player and a selfless point guard. We are good friends and are preparing to practice together in the summer. Ford is also very good. During team training, we often practice one-on-one."
Snow also criticized Yang Jian in an interview, admitting that he envied Yang Jian's talent and felt very happy to be able to play with him.
Snow also said that his idol is Gary Payton. He is very smart and recognized the boss before the official report.
Scherer mainly talked about himself, saying that he wanted to practice breakthroughs and shooting in the summer, and wanted to go all out to help the team win. He didn't realize that he would be traded and that the Sonics simply didn't have a place for him.