Start coaching the Thunder, starting with Westbrook

Chapter 43 The Interview at the Dinner Table
In Texas Xiaoqiang, Jeremy Lin's current situation is not so optimistic. After Harden arrived last season, he rose strongly and secured his core position on the outside in just one season.

The so-called Harlem combination is probably only taken seriously by domestic fans, and they don't put it on the same level here.

Jeremy Lin is now at most an ordinary starter, or in other words, except for the period of Linsanity, his career has basically been considered as a starter to the sixth man. After that, the best game was during the Hornets period. He was once considered a super-sixth level.

It's a pity that the team's role is not high, and I don't know if it's the coach's problem or the contract's problem, or maybe it can go further in the playoffs.

And when he finally got to the Nets who were willing to use him as the core, he was injured and reimbursed within a short time.

In contrast, Li Sheng, as the head coach of an NBA team, even if the position of the coach in the basketball game is not so dazzling, his status is not inferior to him at all, and he has a stronger sense of intimacy for domestic fans.

Leaving aside the fans, they already felt very cordial when they heard Li Sheng speak Mandarin with some accents.

What's more, Li Sheng is in charge of a Western powerhouse and championship-level team like the Thunder.

If they can lead the team to win the championship in the future, the Thunder will most likely become the domestic home team closely following Texas Xiaoqiang in one or two seasons. Although Li Sheng has already won the championship with the Spurs before, everyone still doesn't know his weight in it, so they are automatically classified as the first-class Sun Yue.

In fact, except for the teaching assistants who have a good resume and have played well, or the special case of Qiaopu, everyone generally doesn't pay much attention to them.

And there is no need to doubt this point at all. Thinking about the fact that in the NBA that did not even have Chinese players, there were fans who regarded the Brooklyn Nets owned by Chinese owners as the home team. You can imagine how much everyone looks forward to seeing Chinese faces in the NBA.

"Hi Li Sheng, I'm a CCTV reporter, my name is..."

But there is no rush for an interview. Anyway, now that Li Shengren is here, he will not run away. Instead, everyone will introduce themselves and get to know each other first.

Li Sheng shook hands with everyone and said hello, and he couldn't help but sigh in his heart.

I didn't feel that much before, even if I received a call from my parents and said something, I still didn't feel deeply.

But now, when he got in touch with these sports media professionals in China, he suddenly realized that he had become a "big man" without knowing it.

In fact, he is not considered a small person in the United States now, not to mention that he can become a millionaire in an instant with an annual salary of 200 million. Through the media such as TNT, his face is almost becoming a Chinese business card in the United States.

Of course, whether it represents good or bad depends on his subsequent development, but there is no doubt that he is already a celebrity in the Holy City, Oklahoma City and some areas.

But there is one thing, Li Sheng used to think that it was nonsense to say that foreign people were face-blind to them, but now he found out that it was not true, because they were of different races, and most of the people they usually came into contact with were their own people who were used to recognizing them, so changing the race would inevitably lead to cognitive differences.

In fact, if you think about it carefully, it might not be the case when you put it on yourself. Sometimes he sees those foreigners as blind?
Even except for those celebrities who are relatively highly recognizable and who are often recognizable when he sees them, he forgets about others when he turns his head, and he may not be able to recognize them even if he is asked to recognize them.

But, even if they are the same kind of people, if they have a common face and mix in the crowd, they will still feel difficult to recognize, and those with more prominent looks, no matter whether they are particularly good-looking or particularly ugly, can be recognized after all, regardless of race.

So insisting that foreign aesthetics are completely different from domestic ones, even if they like Chinese people with small eyes and flat noses, that would be nonsense.

At least in Li Sheng, they can still recognize this clearly and treat him as a handsome guy.

Before Li Sheng saw a tabloid on the Internet that directly ranked himself among the "handsome sports guys", and to be honest, he felt a little dark.

"Let's order first, and we'll chat while we eat. Xiao Li, you're welcome to eat whatever you like. With so many of us, it's impossible for you to eat and go bankrupt."

The boss at the side was also clever, and said immediately when he heard it: "Oh, you distinguished guests come and make the shop flourish, which may bankrupt you. I'll give you a 7% discount directly, eat as much as you want, if you don't have enough, it will be mine!"

Judging from his age, he doesn't seem to be very old, and it seems that he also pays attention to sports news and domestic news, so he can recognize Li Sheng and the others.

And this is a star effect, so it is not expected that he will ask them to take a group photo later.

It's just that if Li Sheng wants to be polite to them, he has to consider his own stomach. Besides, some words can be said politely, and the evaluation from others will plummet.

"Then let's start first..."

After ordering, several reporters looked at each other and hurriedly prepared to start asking questions.

The cameras next to him were also ready, and they were all aimed at Li Sheng's forehead.

The big brother from CCTV was the first to ask, "Xiao Li, let's ask a simple question first. How does it feel to be the head coach of an NBA team?"

"Feeling?" Li Sheng thought about it deliberately, and then smiled: "It's so cool!"

"Hahaha……"

Although this answer was a bit unexpected, it did hit everyone.

Thinking about it, if it was me, I was afraid that I would be similar to him, so I immediately laughed.

The CCTV reporter also smiled, and said: "Then can you understand how you became the head coach? I heard that Brooks, the former head coach of the Thunder, was fired before his contract was fulfilled."

In other words, the Thunder deliberately fired Brooks, who seemed to have made no major mistakes, for him. This is a point that they found incredible after understanding.

To be honest, these reporters who are traveling abroad have long been accustomed to the arrogance of the Americans, as if the boss is their own second child.

Of course, given America's current status and level in all aspects, their arrogance seems to be justified. If one day the motherland surpasses and becomes the number one in the world, they will be proud of it. It's just that the straightforward attitude of those foreigners makes people uncomfortable.

However, Li Sheng, a rookie who hadn't proven himself at all, was entrusted with a heavy responsibility by the Thunder just after he got on the Spurs' express train and won a championship. It seemed that the team owner also trusted him. After all, even the draft draft was heard to be his idea.

How on earth did he do it?
This is not only a question from the domestic media, but also a question from many American media.

Some people even irresponsibly speculated whether Li Sheng had put a Chinese "gu" on Thunder boss Bennett to control him. This kind of remarks also received a lot of support. Before Xia Lian interviewed Li Sheng, reporters asked this question on the spot.

However, Li Sheng knew the malice of these media, so no matter what kind of remarks he made, he laughed them off.

But facing these domestic reporters at this time, Li Sheng also knows that most of them are still on his side, at least for now, unless there will be conflicts of interest in the future, then let's talk about it.

So he thought for a while, then smiled and said, "For this question, some details are inconvenient to say, but I can say that I first received an invitation from Mr. Bennett—the boss of the Thunder—to go to Oklahoma City to meet with him and Presti, and then we made a decision.

"They asked me a lot of questions at that time. I should have passed the interview and convinced them. If I have to use a description, it can be regarded as 'Longzhong Dui'. Wouldn't it be easier for everyone to understand?"

(End of this chapter)