basketball king lunatic

Chapter 58 The All Stars Are Here

Wang Shipeng and Yan Qingwu stood side by side not far from the gate of Los Angeles International Airport.

"Brother Yao Ming and sister-in-law Ye Li will be here soon?" Yan Qingwu looked bored at the bustling crowd.

It is now February 2004, 2, and the Los Angeles All-Stars will officially start in three days.The Bulls have been officially on vacation because they have not played for these three days.

After all, the coaching staff led by Cartwright is happy.At the beginning of the season, no one thought that the Bulls would be firmly in the top eight in the Eastern Conference when the All-Stars came.

In particular, both Curry and Wang Shipeng were selected for the All-Star Game, which surprised the Chicagoans.

In a total of 49 games, Curry participated in 43 games, averaging 34.5 minutes per game, scoring 17.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.2 blocks. His performance in the Eastern Conference center is second only to Ben Wallace and Jermaine O'Neill, and O'Neill reported as a power forward.

So Curry was selected by the coaches as an All-Star substitute.

And Wang Shipeng played 47 times, averaged 38.2 minutes per game, scored 24.7 points, 4.2 rebounds and 5.6 assists, and was selected as the All-Star starter as the vote king.

No one doubts Wang Shipeng's All-Star qualifications, even being a starter is normal.But being the king of votes is a bit too much.But there is no way, the Bulls' excellent record gave him a lot of extra points, especially aroused the strong desire of Chinese fans to vote.

It is not uncommon to suggest that Stern limit the number of overseas votes, especially the Chinese.But Stern never took this silly proposition to heart.The Chinese market has finally seen a breakthrough, and Stern is still looking forward to further developing the Chinese market. How could he do such an offending thing.

As Stern said to his assistant Stu Jackson, voting in the Chinese market is not unlimited, but it cannot be restricted now, even if Wang Niannian is the top voter.

Yao Ming naturally called to congratulate Wang Shipeng. To be honest, Yao Ming also hoped that a Chinese player could stand up to share the pressure for him, so Wang Shipeng's appearance made him very happy.

At the same time, Yao Ming invited Wang Shipeng to go to Los Angeles in advance, and he had something to talk to Wang Shipeng.

Wang Shipeng then changed his plan and took Yan Qingwu to Los Angeles ahead of schedule.It was only when I arrived in Los Angeles that I realized that I was ahead of Yao Ming.Yao Ming's plane will land in Los Angeles an hour later.

Wang Shipeng also left in no hurry, he stayed at the airport with Yan Qingwu.Waiting for Yao Ming and Ye Li to arrive.

"What did Brother Yao Ming plan to talk to you about?" Yan Qingwu asked Wang Shipeng curiously.

Wang Shipeng touched Yan Qingwu's hair casually, and said, "I don't know the details, but I guess it has something to do with it."

"Olympics." Yan Qingwu also figured it out all at once.The Olympic Games will start in half a year, and the Chinese national team is already preparing to end the league games in early April and start joint training.

"Yes, the Olympics. The men's basketball team wants to make a breakthrough in Athens, so it urgently needs me and Yao Ming to return to the team, but we both need to play in the playoffs this year. I heard that the Basketball Association is very dissatisfied."

"Hi, Peng." Yao Ming's tall figure appeared at the exit of the airport.Ye Li, who was not much shorter than Wang Shipeng, stood beside Yao Ming like a child.

"Brother Yao, you are finally here."

"No way, the plane was late, but I ran behind you. Let's go, treat you to dinner, as compensation for waiting for me at the airport gate for so long."

Yao Ming and Wang Shipeng chose a very famous Chinese restaurant in Los Angeles and ordered a table of dishes.After a great meal, I ordered another pot of tea.

"Brother Yao, do you have anything to tell me?" Wang Shipeng wiped his mouth and asked after taking a sip of tea.

"Yes, Ah Peng, has the Basketball Association contacted you?" Yao Ming was not in a hurry to talk about business.

"Well, I did. I asked about our thoughts on the Athens Olympics. I asked how many months I would be able to return to China to report. I told them that I would return to China as soon as the playoffs were over. It should be the same with Brother Yao." Wang Shipeng could tell Yao Ming's focus is definitely not here, so his answer is very direct.

"Well, almost. I'll just say it straight, A Peng. Today I asked you to meet in Los Angeles, except to talk about the Basketball Association, just for one person."

"Alone?" Wang Shipeng looked at Ye Li who was quiet beside Yao Ming: "Sister-in-law is still here, brother Yao, you can't mess around." Wang Shipeng habitually said nonsense.

Ye Li rolled her delicate white eyes: "A Peng, you can't provoke this, your brother Yao is an honest man, not as thoughtful as you, if you ask me, Qing Wu, it's true that you have to be careful."

Yan Qingwu also pinched Wang Shipeng: "I know it's nonsense."

Yao Ming smiled and watched the two female generals suppress Wang Shipeng. They have known each other for several years, and they will get along very well in the future. In ancient Chinese terms, this is called good family.

"It's comfortable, let you talk nonsense. The person I'm talking about is not someone else, but roughly." Yao Ming's face gradually became serious, and he finally expressed his purpose.

Wang Shipeng, who had a hippie smile on his face, also became serious, and he didn't answer the question immediately.The general question is simply too complicated.

Wang Shipeng's thoughts went back to Indiana, USA in 2002. Before the 2002 World Championships, the team leader suddenly announced that Wang Zhizhi refused to return to China and the report was blocked.

Wang Shipeng comes from later generations, and he has a better understanding of the whole story of the Wang Zhizhi incident. Even in 2018, he personally heard Wang Zhizhi talk about the whole incident.

So Wang Shipeng spoke for Wang Zhizhi at that time, but Wang Shipeng's status at that time was far lower than it is now.Therefore, Cheng Lanxin, director of the Basketball Association, who was completely enraged by Wang Zhizhi's refusal to report, issued the most severe banning order. Even though Wang Zhizhi rushed to Indiana to plead for mercy, the matter did not change.

Later, because of the sluggish performance of the Chinese team in Indiana, Cheng Lanxin was dismissed, and Wei Yuanli became the director of the Chinese Basketball Association.Only then did Wang Shipeng and Yi Jianlian go abroad smoothly.

Wang Shipeng knew very well that when Wei Yuanli took office, the door for Wang Zhizhi to return to China has been opened, but the current Wang Zhizhi is not willing to open the door.

After all, no matter who it is, they are blocked just because of a little reasonable request.It is always disheartening to beg for hours in the heavy rain without getting any reply.Wang Shipeng felt that his temper was good enough, and if it was him, he would not be able to return to China.

"Brother Yao, when Director Wei came to power, it is actually not difficult for Director Wei to return to China. Director Wei did not agree to ban him back then. However, the problem now is probably about himself." Wang Shipeng thought over and over again, and still expressed his opinion.

"Yes, the Basketball Association told me the same thing. You took Ah Lian to study abroad, and his status as a professional player was revoked. The national team urgently needs an excellent power forward to join. But I contacted him several times and he refused to reply to me. Therefore, I took the opportunity of the All-Stars to invite you here in advance, and we will have a face-to-face talk with him.”

Wang Shipeng nodded.

Most of the old fans know the real situation of the Wang Zhizhi incident. I have made some changes here for the needs of the plot. Please don’t complain if you don’t like it.

(End of this chapter)