Chapter 25 Sneaker Endorsement
“After I made that three-pointer, I was yelling and letting out my emotions.

As you can see, I get excited. I can be calm when I'm playing, but when I hit some big shots, I like to express my emotions.

Just like the ball just now!
It was a good game, I loved it.

I love that goal too, it was just perfect!"

When Zheng Yang said this, he suddenly felt his body getting wet.

It turned out that Fat Monk Nash was pouring mineral water on him, so the interview had to be temporarily interrupted. After they finished having fun, Zheng Yang continued the interview while wiping his head with a towel.

"The second thing is we noticed that you said something to Malone before he took those two free throws.

He missed two free throws later, and I want to know what you said to him, and whether this incident had anything to do with his missed free throws? "

“Well, I told him at the time that the postman would soon be out of a job.

Maybe it reminded him of the defeat in 97. To be honest, I don’t know what he was thinking at that time, but the fact is that he missed both free throws.

I think he was definitely affected by it.”

Zheng Yang said with his hands on his hips. Irene Angelus smiled after hearing this.

The postman will soon be out of work...

This guy is pretty good at blowjob!

"Last question, I want to know what goals you have set for your NBA career?

I mean winning MVP, scoring title, championship, etc.!"

Zheng Yang pursed his lips and thought for a moment before saying.

"Michael was a great player and I always admired him and my goal was to be like him.

Of course, I don’t want to be the so-called successor of Jordan. I respect him very much, but I just want to be myself.”

This was Zheng Yang’s goal, but in fact he didn’t say it completely.

He wants to win the MVP, the scoring title, and lead his team to establish a dynasty!
Note that he is leading his own team. Are the Mavericks his team currently?
Obviously not, that's Nowitzki's team!

He wants to have his own team!

But he is just a rookie now, and he certainly won't say anything that is detrimental to unity.

He will continue to grow, and when he is fully grown, he will carve out a world of his own.

God of basketball?

This name is good and he likes it very much!
……

After returning to the locker room, the Mavericks started a new party. Old Nelson was not a man who liked to spoil the fun. He waited until everyone's excitement had passed before he walked into the locker room and clapped his hands.

"I know everyone is excited, but don't forget, we have a road game tomorrow against the Warriors.

Pack your things, then follow me on the bus to the hotel to rest.

I'll give you a day off when we get back to Dallas."

Upon hearing this, everyone quickly packed up their things.

After returning to the hotel, Zheng Yang had just finished taking a shower when he heard someone knocking at the door. When he opened the door, he saw it was Fat Monk.

He came into the room with a wicked smile on his face and continued.

"Zheng, I'm going to make a phone call, you know...

Do you want me to call one for you? The girls in Los Angeles are really nice. If I wasn’t afraid of being discovered by old Nelson, I would take you out and play all night.

How about it? It’s my treat tonight! "

Fat Monk was not a good kid. Just as he said, not going out to play all night was already enough to give face to old Nelson.

It's impossible to ask him to do nothing.

As an experienced person, Zheng Yang understood what the other party said in seconds. After hesitating for a moment, he nodded. He was also an ordinary person with normal physiological needs. There was nothing to be embarrassed about.

After describing the type of person he wanted, Fat Monk patted his chest and assured that someone would be here in half an hour.

Then he went back to his room.

Half an hour later, a graceful figure appeared at the entrance of Zhengyang Hotel...

Zheng Yang slept soundly that night and woke up feeling refreshed.

After getting on the bus, Fat Monk pulled Zheng Yang aside and talked in private.

"Zheng, were you really that fierce yesterday? That girl asked me for compensation for lost wages, saying that she wouldn't be able to get any work for at least a week."

Zheng Yang smiled proudly, basic operation, no 6!

As we all know, all the readers who read this book every day are better than him in this regard!
"Zheng, take a look at today's newspapers. You appear in most of the sports dailies today."

Nash handed over the newspaper.

……

"The postman will soon be out of a job" - In yesterday's game between the Mavericks and the Lakers, at the last minute of the game, Mavericks young player Zheng Chao sprayed this trash talk at "The Postman" Malone, and then Malone missed two free throws. I think we should change our impression of this young man who looks easy to get along with, he may be a hidden trash talk king. - Washington Federal Daily

昨天是NBA03-04赛季常规赛的第一天，小牛队今年的六号新秀郑砍下24分9篮板，并投中了一颗压哨绝杀球。他也是NBA有史以来第一位能在第一场比赛里砍下20+并命中绝杀的新秀。——《阿克伦体育日报》

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I must emphasize again that the following photo will definitely become one of the classic moments in the NBA. When you look back five or ten years later, you will find that the young man who could still score 2+1 under the double team of the big shark and the mailman has become one of the league's superstars. --TNT commentator Barkley.

During the interview, Zheng said he hopes to become a famous player like Jordan, the God of Basketball, but he does not want anyone to see him as Jordan's successor. Jordan has not yet responded to the rookie's remarks. - ESPN Sports Daily

Just as Nash said, today's media are basically discussing Zheng Yang. After all, in yesterday's game, the Mavericks and the Lakers were the most interesting.

In this game, Zheng Yang was the one who performed the most prominently. Of course, O'Neal's performance yesterday was better than his, but the media has become aesthetically fatigued with him.

They prefer to discuss the newcomer Zheng Yang, especially since he was able to hit the buzzer-beater in his first game, which was really interesting.

So they wrote so much about him.

Zheng Yang was not very happy about the media's praise, because he knew that the media never wrote these things from the heart, but just for the sake of seeking popularity.

If he doesn't fight well, they will follow suit.

He didn't want to let them affect his mood.

Zheng Yang would not be affected by the media, but at this moment, in a mansion somewhere in Los Angeles, O'Neal, who had just woken up, angrily punched the dining table. Because today's Los Angeles media began to criticize him, they wrote a long article, picking on O'Neal like a bone in an egg.

What O'Neal couldn't stand the most was that the media said that without Kobe, he couldn't even beat a rookie.

Damn, there are four All-Stars on the other side. Besides, didn’t he perform well yesterday?
34 points and 13 rebounds. He almost broke the rim with his dunk. He made both free throws at the crucial moment. If Malone hadn't missed both free throws, would the game have been lost?
Instead of scolding Ma Long, you come to blame me?
"This bunch of Los Angeles media only care about the existence of No. 8. Whenever they lose, they blame me for everything."

O'Neal grumbled unhappily.

The breakup of the OK group was due to internal reasons on the one hand, and the media's frequent fanning of the flames on the other.

If O'Neal could be like Zheng Yang, the OK combination might have a different ending.

But if he had Zheng Yang's calmness, there wouldn't be the O'Neal who danced and danced with James at the All-Star Game!

This is his shortcoming, but also his advantage!

……

The Mavericks will face the Golden State Warriors tonight!
The Golden State Warriors during this period have been a complete bottom-ranked team with no hope of making the playoffs at all.

But they didn't play badly enough and always finished eleventh or twelfth, so they never got a good draft pick.

Currently, the only star player the team can bring out is Antawn Jamison. In the original history, he would also be traded to the Mavericks this season to form a five-star Mavericks.

But the appearance of Zheng Yang changed all this.

There is actually not much suspense about the outcome of tonight's game. Although the Mavericks' lineup has inherent flaws, that will become a fatal weakness when facing strong teams like the Lakers and Spurs.

When playing against a bottom-ranked team like the Warriors, the offensive firepower of the four All-Stars plus Zheng Yang is enough to cover up their shortcomings.

Although the final score was not very different, the Mavericks maintained the lead throughout the game and the initiative was always in their hands.

In the end, the Mavericks won the game with an 8-point advantage.

The best performer for the Mavericks today was Fat Toutuo, who made 7 of 5 shots, 6 of 5 three-pointers, and scored 19 points with high efficiency.

So, the same thing goes, who doesn’t eat dumplings during the Chinese New Year? Even Fat Monk, who has a 34% three-point shooting percentage this season, can make 6 of 5 three-pointers.

Although Zheng Yang scored 22 points, his efficiency was not as high as Fat Toutuo. However, for a rookie, it is already very good to score 20+ in the first two games of his career.

Look at the other rookies. Wade scored 5 points in his first game, Anthony scored 12 points, and Bosh scored 11 points...

They all need to adapt to the rhythm of the NBA!
James shook off his preseason slump and scored 60 points with a 25% shooting rate in the first game of the season, plus 9 assists. Although he lost to the Sacramento Kings by 14 points, the media were very tolerant of him and did not criticize him at all. Instead, they praised him.

The media generally has a high tolerance for rookies, like when Kobe made it to the playoffs with his team in his rookie season.

In the fifth game of the Western Conference semifinals, the Lakers were already trailing 1:3, but in the last attack of the fourth quarter, when they had a chance to kill their opponent, Kobe missed all three shots.

The team went into overtime, and Kobe missed two consecutive shots, which eventually led to the team losing the game and ending their playoff journey.

Logically speaking, Kobe's undercover performance should have been criticized by the media, but the opposite happened.

The media were very tolerant of him and praised his courage to take action.

Even O'Neal did not blame Kobe at the time. Instead, he hugged his neck and said, "Don't worry, one day, everyone will scream your name. Now you need to remember those who laughed at you, accept this failure, and learn these lessons."

Kobe was so moved at that time that he wished he could serve O'Neal for the rest of his life!
But in his later autobiography, O'Neal expressed his true thoughts at the time: "I was so sick that I wanted to vomit."

Anyway, the media will be more tolerant of rookies.

James' good performance in the first game made the media that supported him feel that he had done it, and they started writing short essays in the newspapers the next day.

Among them, there is a kind of flattery towards James, which is like "Lü Bu has been wandering for half his life, and he only regrets that he has not met a wise master. If you don't abandon me, Bu is willing to be your adoptive father."

I don’t know how much money the league and James gave them behind the scenes to allow them to say such shameless words.

Zheng Yang was in no mood to watch these. After the game with the Warriors, the team flew back to Dallas. Then old Nelson announced a day off and would resume training the next day.

After all, the players are exhausted from back-to-back away games and flying back and forth. It's time for them to have a good rest.

Zheng Yang rejected Fat Monk's invitation to the casino and stayed on the court to practice for a while.

This guy's two favorite things to do in life are buying luxury goods and gambling.

His obsession with these two things is no less than his love for three-pointers.

And it was precisely because of his lavish spending that he, whose total career salary exceeded 100 million yuan, ran out of money just a few years after his retirement.

He even owed eight million dollars in gambling debts and had no choice but to file for bankruptcy, and auction off all the championship rings he won when he was with the Heat.

After practicing on the court for an hour, Zheng Yang drove his Hummer back home and had a good sleep.

I slept until six in the afternoon. When I opened my eyes and looked outside, it was already dark.

"Xiaoyang, what would you like to eat tonight?"

Aunt Zhang Lin knocked on his door and asked.

"Aunt, I'm not going to eat at home tonight. I'm going out to discuss a cooperation."

"it is good."

Zhang Lin didn't ask too many questions. What Zheng Yang was going through was something she had never experienced before, so she couldn't give him any constructive advice.

She just wants to know that her nephew has a bright future!

At half past seven, his agent Eric Fleischer drove his car to the door of his house and Zheng Yang sat in the passenger seat.

"I have an appointment with the executives of Adidas at 8 o'clock. Now is just the right time to go there."

“How much is the endorsement fee?”

Zheng Yang asked. The cooperation he wanted to discuss today was sneaker endorsement. After two consecutive excellent performances, some brands started to come to him.

Zheng Yang chose to cooperate with Adidas, but first he had to see if they were sincere enough.

Endorsement fees are the greatest sincerity.

“They said they would give us a satisfactory price.”

"It better be."

　There is a change in the early morning

　　
　
(End of this chapter)