Start coaching the Thunder, starting with Westbrook

Chapter 53 I think

Li Sheng actually received an invitation from TNT at the end of the Summer League. Of course, he would not refuse this kind of exposure opportunity. This is also a kind of hidden capital.

Including the Thunder also support him to be able to appear on more shows, which can be regarded as a contribution to the team. After all, he is famous and the Thunder will give him a corresponding increase in attention.

These programs of TNT and ESPN are very good at catching hot spots, which is good for them, and also good for the individuals who become hot spots, so it is often easy to reach cooperation.

Just like in the first round of the playoffs in 22, in the game between the Suns and Daigo, Alvarado, who became popular because of his famous scene against Paul, was invited after the game.

The NBA is not only a competition league, but also a show. Exposure and high popularity will bring more benefits.

Not only the work contract, but also the signing of some advertising endorsements, this is to make money.

Although the coach is not as easy to monetize traffic as a player, but Li Sheng is a Chinese after all, and there is support from the country. Being on such a program will also help to expand his popularity and improve domestic fans' awareness of him.

In fact, after winning the summer league championship, the domestic media have already been touting him.

Just like what he was worried about at the beginning, this kind of praise brought him more attention in China, and at the same time, it also brought a lot of black fans.

There is no love without reason, and there is no hate without reason, but this sentence may not be so appropriate in reality or on the Internet.

Some people are so weird. When they see someone being praised by the media, they will be disgusted, and then stand on the opposite side and start to hate this person. They don't know how to make objective comments at all.

Others go to extremes, always feeling that the media has exaggerated too much, and when it is actually not achieved, it will immediately start to be black.

In fact, this is the rhythm brought up by the media, and the media is often only responsible for bringing up the rhythm and not calming it down, because only in this way can they benefit.

Even the domestic media who have had contact with Li Sheng are the same. They can also say that what they said is just the expectation of Li Sheng, and the fans can't help it if they take it seriously.

After all, playing word games is a unique skill of the media.

As for whether Li Sheng can do it in the future, let's talk about it now. Anyway, for Li Sheng, there is actually no harm in general, or at least the advantages are much greater than the disadvantages.

In terms of sports, it has always been the case that as many people hate you, there are as many people who love you, and as much as some people love you, there may be as many people who hate you.

In the future, James will continue to win the number of All-Star votes. Of course, there are many diehard fans, but he also occupies the list of the most hated basketball players at the same time.

In fact, sometimes "black fans are also fans" is really not an empty phrase. For a celebrity, attention is more important than the so-called good reputation.

Li Sheng's attention is so high, it can be predicted how enthusiastic it will be when he returns to China this offseason.

Of course, he is a coach after all, not a player. Without the blessing of "collections", even many fake fans would not value him much. However, as long as the momentum is built, there will definitely be many people who follow suit.

And TNT has a lot of official cooperation with the NBA. Behind this, there may be the alliance behind it, even including the previous enthusiasm for Li Sheng's related topics.

There is no need to doubt the NBA's attitude towards the domestic market. To put it bluntly, it is the attitude of capitalists towards money. Which capitalist can refuse money?

It's just that in the background of the opposite, people who just want to do business are also forced to get involved in the circle of right and wrong-it's one thing to think in their hearts, but at least they won't say it outright.

However, in China, it can be regarded as a vivid interpretation of what is called "speaking is better than singing", so I won't mention it here.

In short, because the NBA lacks topics directly related to Chinese people, Linsanity is the American dream, not the Chinese basketball dream, so even if Li Sheng is just a coach, a rookie coach who has not achieved any results, the NBA wants to try to harvest a wave of traffic from him first.

Even if it's just a short period of one or even half a season, if he can squeeze out his residual value, I believe he can get great benefits.

So Li Sheng is here now, sitting with the commentary group composed of retired stars such as Barkley, O'Neal, Kenny Smith, and Reggie Miller, and chatting about the topics related to him.

"Lee, nice to meet you..."

Fortunately, Smith and Miller said that Li Sheng was like a chicken in front of Barkley, but when he stood in front of O'Neal, the contrast gap became more obvious.

This picture is so beautiful that I dare not look at it. For a moment, Li Sheng couldn't imagine how Xiaosi felt when he stood in front of Dayao. He died right away?
In the end, they arranged for Li Sheng to sit between Miller and Smith, so that at least it would look more harmonious.

"Come say hello to our audience, Li, I believe everyone has been looking forward to you for a long time."

"Hahaha..." Hearing Smith's words, Barkley and O'Neill suddenly laughed unkindly.

Of course they know why everyone has been waiting for him for a long time. To put it bluntly, most of them are watching jokes. There are some hidden reasons, such as discrimination or something.

Of course, they wouldn't feel ashamed about this, but would only feel proud.

"Hello everyone, I'm Li Sheng, I'm Chinese, and I'm the head coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Of course, I'm also a fan of Charles, Shaq, Reggie, and Kenny."

"Oh no!" Barkley immediately shook his head and said, "I don't believe what you said, no matter how old you are, you don't look like a fan of mine."

O'Neal laughed and said: "I believe you are my fan, but buddy, I want to say that this trick is useless to us. We are people who believe in strength and pursue strength. Don't think that flattering can make us speak good things for you."

Of course, Smith is also very good at things, and immediately began to explain to Li Sheng: "I heard that Chinese people are more polite. He may not have thought so in his heart when he said this, but he said these words out of politeness."

"OKOK, we must respect folk customs from different places..."

After chatting for a while, we finally got into a formal topic. Naturally, we continued the topic just now and asked Li Sheng to explain why he said such a thing.

"Many people think that I need to think about where I stand to say this, but I just want to say, why can't I really feel this way? You look at KD, he is only 25 years old, he is already one of the best players in this league, and he still has potential.

"He is already a three-time scoring champion. His personal ability is beyond doubt. He just needs to integrate himself into the team better, serve the team better, and increase his defensive distribution-yes, I am talking about his shortcomings now.

"But if he can do that, I'm sure he can do what I said, be the best player in the league, or at least enter this discussion. And then when we get some honor together as a team, he can also be in the top [-] discussion in the future..."

"OMG!" O'Neal said in surprise, "I have to say, I'm a little convinced by you."

Li Sheng immediately stood up and clapped palms with him. The others were stunned when they saw it, and then they all laughed.

"Hahaha..." Barkley laughed and said, "Lee, can I understand that, you don't really think that KD is the strongest now, but that he has the potential to become the strongest?"

Li Yong shook his head again, and said, "Of course not. I think he is the strongest. That's my opinion. But obviously everyone doesn't think so, so I think if you want everyone to think so, KD needs to improve himself so that everyone no longer doubts him or me."

(End of this chapter)