Chapter 653: Chapter 202: The Benefits of Being a Scapegoat, Big Fatty’s Fury (Part 2)
Retired players have the advantage of accumulated stats and honors, so David Stern emphasized the weight of comparing stats and honors divided by career length, among other aspects.
In the context where retired players have already brought substantial changes to the NBA, he strengthened the outlook for current players...
Indeed, comparing a player with four years of experience to those who played for over a decade and were superstars at the time is too challenging.
Unless, like the Magician, you win FMVP in your rookie season or like Unseld win MVP, you have to rely on accumulating honors. O’Neal spent his first four years in the era of dominant centers, which was extremely difficult.
Without affecting the selection of most stars who deserved to be among the top 50, David Stern ultimately succeeded in getting O’Neal’s total score to rank at 50th place, which wasn’t easy.
Unlike the Orlando Media and the Magic, from O’Neal’s rookie season, David Stern viewed O’Neal as the future first among centers, but he didn’t anticipate Anfernee Hardaway would steal the spotlight in the past two years, and O’Neal couldn’t keep up with the Magic. But since O’Neal went to Los Angeles... he had to continue supporting him.
As for Zhang Hao... David Stern knew from the time he planned to promote O’Neal that if scored in this way, Zhang Hao’s overall score wouldn’t be low.
Supporting Zhang Hao was fine, just not as necessary as pushing O’Neal into the top 50.
However, it could be used to let Chinese fans understand Zhang Hao’s excellence in the NBA.
Just like most people don’t even know how impressive China’s economic development is, the understanding of the United States there is minimal, and David Stern knows this well.
With the matters finally settled, David Stern now has one thought: "Zhang, O’Neal, you need to work hard..."
He did the right thing, but for these two to really rise up, they need to be able to deliver themselves.
Otherwise, this 50th and 51st rank will become a joke.
This is a gamble, but David Stern has chosen to bet heavily!
...
...
At noon on October 30th, Zhang Hao followed the team to New York. After reaching the hotel, he first accepted an interview with the Imperial Channel, where they expressed regret, talking as if guessing wrong about his exclusion from the top 50. Zhang Hao agreed, remembering how in the original timeline, the Rockets couldn’t get past the first round yet were said by domestic media to be a championship contender every year... just agree.
In the American Cable TV Station interview, when asked about being left out of the top 50 stars, Zhang Hao replied: "Would you not accept if I was selected this time? If I really was selected, I wouldn’t accept it either, as I don’t think I’m worthy.
But if it was done for a ’20th Century’ top 50 stars by 2000, then I think I definitely would be selected."
After this interview aired on the American Cable TV Station, Zhang Hao faced another wave of media bombardment.
These remarks were very arrogant, naturally leading to attacks from some media, experts, and some stars who had the chance to be in the top 50 but were excluded.
However, Zhang Hao took advantage of this wave to gain fans.
Because it’s possible; O’Neal played for four years without many honors yet already got selected, while Zhang Hao has at least made one All-NBA Team. Who knows what could happen in four years? Plus, the Lakers are championship contenders, likely to win a title in the next four years.
As a Lakers star, huge attention is always accompanied by black fans, especially with the comprehensive top 50 voting score ranking at 51, Zhang Hao kind of got caught by accident, but also gained some attention.
Anyway, the sponsors are happy; Zhang Hao is one of the top stars of this era in the NBA...
...
On the afternoon of the 30th, the Lakers arrived at Madison Square Garden to start preparing for the opening game against the Knicks on November 1st.
Besides O’Neal, the other 14 Lakers players came to the road game, including Lumir Robinson and Ben Wallace, who are not on the active roster. Veteran Jerome Kersey replaced O’Neal on the active roster.
Although Lumir Robinson and Ben Wallace are not on the active roster, team training requires their presence.
For players with patience, positive efforts yet lacking NBA-level skills, training with the team itself is already great. They can receive guidance from NBA coaches and trainers and train alongside key NBA players.
Ben Wallace worked hard as a sparring partner, and just in terms of defensive awareness and willingness to confront, he already made his teammates see him in a new light during preseason training. But beyond these two points, he knows nothing, not even basic roll-and-move offensively, only thinking about scrambling while his body isn’t strong enough yet.
After finishing his sparring duties, Ben Wallace earnestly did strength training, aiming to build muscles.
Zhang Hao also did extra training today. Although he no longer thinks about matters related to the top 50, he still needs to vent a bit; training is the best way.
After the extra training, Zhang Hao took a shower and saw a sweaty Ben Wallace.
Initially, he wanted to encourage him, but then Zhang Hao had a question when he saw Ben Wallace.
Feeling Zhang Hao’s gaze, Ben Wallace looked at Zhang Hao’s cold face and asked, "Boss, are you thinking about asking me to beat up O’Neal? Don’t worry, I can handle it! On our block, no one is my match in a fight."
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