Chapter 2022: Chapter 5: Dual Team Leaders (3)
Apparently, in Jordan’s view, the level of the Chinese Men’s Basketball Team is still pretty average.
In the summer league confrontation, even when facing a team composed of NBA leftovers, they did not show absolute superiority.
"This is the difference between you and me, Michael. When the season starts, you’ll feel it even more deeply."
"Oh really? I can’t wait. Look at you bragging. You lost to me in one-on-one yesterday."
"That’s nonsense. I let you win to boost your confidence, and you cheated by saying you wouldn’t shoot threes."
"Oh God, do I really need you to give me confidence? That wasn’t a three-pointer, just a long two. Can’t I shoot long twos from beyond the three-point line?"
"But I thought you wouldn’t shoot from beyond the three-point line!"
"That’s your problem; your understanding ability isn’t good enough."
The two of them somewhat don’t see eye to eye, perhaps because they’ve been opponents for life. Becoming teammates made it hard to adjust, and they kept arguing.
But in their arguments, their state is improving.
They’re both holding onto a drive, aiming to teach the whole league a lesson, while also not losing to each other in the team competition.
They agreed that after the new season starts, whoever scores more will be the team leader, and the other must follow instructions.
Two leaders—it’s considered a form of healthy competition.
For other players on the Glory Team, the double leader model starting is an unknown blessing or curse.
Whether it’s double the pressure or mutual cancellation might depend on the head coach Tomjanovich’s mediation skills.
The China Team stayed in Las Vegas for two weeks. By the end of August, Yao Ming followed the men’s basketball team to Indianapolis to participate in the 2002 World Championship.
The World Championship is divided into three stages: group stage, second round, knockout stage.
China Team is in the same group with Team USA, Germany Team, and Algeria.
Team USA lost the gold medal in the 2000 Olympics, but still doesn’t take this World Championship seriously.
The more important reason is big stars are unwilling to join the National Team; they prefer to vacation and prepare for the new season.
The security concerns brought by the 9/11 incident also caused big stars to refuse to play for their country.
So this year’s Team USA core consists of Jermaine O’Neal on the inside, with Mike Finley and Baron Davis on the outside, clearly lacking in quality.
Of course, in terms of player personal ability, Team USA is still the strongest.
The issue is they lack integration and an excellent coach to lead them, with insufficient training time and players lacking rapport.
This year’s Team USA head coach is the crazy George Karl. What kind of results can this bring?
In the group stage, without Gan Guoyang, the China Team wasn’t Team USA’s opponent.
But after the match, Yao Ming called Gan Guoyang saying, "Team USA definitely won’t win the championship this year; they could barely compete evenly with us, how can they win?"
Gan Guoyang told Yao Ming not to underestimate themselves, as the China Team is actually very strong now.
Indeed, with Wang Zhizhi, Yao Ming, and Hu Weidong, the China Team really isn’t weak.
They smoothly advanced from the group stage to the second round, once again grouped with Team USA.
In the second round, Yao Ming was dominant in the game against New Zealand, scoring 44 points to help China Team defeat New Zealand and advance to the quarterfinals.
Unfortunately, in the quarter-final match, they lost to Germany Team led by Nowitzki by 2 points, regretfully stopping at the quarterfinals. This was already the best performance of the men’s basketball team without Gan Guoyang.
Yao Ming’s performance in the World Championship was particularly outstanding. As the 2002 NBA number one pick, he received a lot of attention and was under significant pressure.
Fortunately, two months of training put him in the best shape, and he didn’t disappoint.
Eventually, in Indianapolis, Yugoslavia clinched the World Championship gold medal, while Team USA was similarly eliminated by Yugoslavia in the quarter-final.
This soon-to-disappear country, bombed apart by Americans, finally on the Sava, with one gold medal, completed a small revenge against the Americans.
Although it didn’t have much practical significance, it did vent some frustration.
After the World Championship, Yao Ming left the National Team and returned to Las Vegas.
He won’t go with the National Team to Korea for the Asian Games, choosing instead to recuperate in Vegas and prepare for the upcoming 2002-2003 pre-season.
Fans on both sides of the ocean are exceptionally excited about the new season, and the pressure on the Glory Team is also very high, making it a season with no room for failure.
Having settled into life in America, Yao Ming decided to have his parents join him.
His mother requested a year-long leave from her job to accompany her son in Las Vegas to handle logistics for him.
Upon arriving in Vegas and seeing her son in good condition, with life well managed, Mrs. Yao was quite relieved, saying, "It seems like whether I come or not isn’t that critical."
Yao Ming said, "You still need to come; the food here isn’t quite up to par. Eating mom’s cooking is the best."
After arriving, Mrs. Yao inquired about Ah Gan’s situation, learned that Yao Ming hadn’t invited Gan Guoyang over for a meal, and expressed that her son was too unwise, unaware of such social etiquette.
Yao Ming said the home was too shabby to invite someone over, but Mrs. Yao insisted she would prepare food and that they should find an opportunity to invite Ah Gan as a guest.
Before the pre-season training camp began, Gan Guoyang accepted Yao Ming’s invitation and brought his family over for a meal at his apartment, having a joyful time together.
However, when discussing the new season, Gan Guoyang became serious in tone and expression, telling Yao Ming: "First step, find a way to secure your spot in the starting lineup, outperform those two old guys, Kevin Willis and Ewing."
Yao Ming then showed his confidence, saying, "I’ll lock in the starting position after the first day of training camp."
For Yao Ming’s confidence, Gan Guoyang was very appreciative. By progressing one step at a time, Yao Ming’s career is sure to be steadier.
