Chapter 12: Questioning

David Geffen Hospital is one of the nation's premier hospitals. Dr. Witti is also a well-known man, and under his treatment, Bryant's knee has been able to do some basic recovery training after a month of recuperation. Pen Fun Pavilion www.biquge.info coupled with Shang Yun massaging Kobe Bryant almost every day with Dark Strength Jiugong, Kobe Bryant recovered extremely quickly, and he believed that he would be able to fully recover even after the summer league.

However, this crazy idea was stopped by Shang Yun, Shang Yun maintained the demeanor of the older generation of boxing masters, or not to shoot, once he shot, he must let Kobe really fully recover, not only can he play, Shang Yun wants to restore Kobe's knee to the point where he was not injured at all!

How scary was Kobe Bryant in his heyday? Looking at his stats from the last few seasons, it's not hard to speculate that he is definitely a superstar who can be compared to Jordan!

Seeing Kobe's recovery, Li Du became more confident in his brother's injury recovery. At this point, Li Du can be regarded as really calming down, practicing the bear and eagle combo while practicing basketball. Kobe Bryant saw Li Du working so hard, and he liked this young man even more. Because he himself is synonymous with hard work to the point of madness.

An interview that has been widely circulated among Kobe Bryant fans has said so. The reporter asked Kobe: "How did you achieve such great success?" ”

Bryant didn't answer directly, but asked, "Have you ever seen the sun at four o'clock in the morning in Los Angeles?" ”

The reporter honestly replied: "No." ”

Kobe took a deep breath and said, "I've seen it." ”

The four a.m. sun in Los Angeles is a testament to powerhouses such as Kobe. And now, Kobe Bryant feels like he's witnessing the birth of another future superstar! Not for anything else, just because Li Du works as hard as Kobe, and even some places are more fascinating than Kobe!

Since childhood, Li Du has developed a very good habit of learning national arts, that is, no matter what he learns, he will be fascinated! Only by entering the gods and devoting yourself to it can you learn the national arts, and similarly, only by entering the gods, can you play basketball well! And compared to the national arts that need to control the body's hair, spine, breathing and power, etc., basketball is a relatively simple and safe sport.

Time flies, because Li Du has a low draft pick, and he didn't have any fame before the draft, and there is no report on him even in China, which has been extremely focused on the NBA. Ordinary fans don't even know that there is such a Chinese who has entered the NBA.

In the second month after the draft, Bryant's knee injury was almost healed with the help of Dr. Gray and Shang Yun. However, Bryant's mood did not improve because of the improvement of the injury. The reason is simple, in the World Championships in August, the United States team lost!

Since the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, the U.S. men's basketball team has been an insurmountable peak in world basketball since the "dream team" formed by Jordan, "Magic" Johnson and other superstars.

But starting with the 2002 World Championships in Indiana, the U.S. team lost at the 2004 Athens Olympics, and when they lost for the first time, everyone thought it was a great shame, and everyone was making excuses at the Athens Olympics. Some people say that it was because the American team was weak that year, and many superstars in the NBA did not participate; It was also thought that it was the magic that Ginobili defeated the American team. But whatever the reason, a loss is a loss.

This time at the World Championships held in Sapporo, Japan, Kobe Bryant originally wanted to participate, but a knee injury made him miss the World Championships. Odom had sworn to Kobe Bryant before setting off that he would definitely come back with the first one!

Unfortunately, there are always so many things in the world that backfire, and this time the U.S. team played all the way, stumbling and finally reaching the semifinals, but lost to Greece 95-101 in the semifinals. In the end, he only finished third.

The news came back to the United States, and the whole of America boiled. At this time, people were surprised to find that the world basketball world has kept up with the pace of the United States, and even in terms of group tactics, Europe has more advantages!

Kobe Bryant looked at the newspaper in his hand and sighed long, I don't know when, the most dominant sport in the United States has been overtaken by other countries!

Li Du looked at Kobe Bryant and comforted: "Boss, don't think about it. With the development of the league and basketball, it is only a matter of time before other countries will always come closer, or even surpass the United States in some respects. This failure just makes people sober up and stop being arrogant. ”

Kobe Bryant didn't speak, stared at the newspaper for a long time, and said firmly: "I must participate in the 2008 Olympic Games!" ”

Then Kobe Bryant looked at Li Du again and asked: "Li, you are Chinese, will you participate when the time comes?" ”

Li Du smiled helplessly, "No." Although I am Chinese, my current nationality is American. This is a kind of sorrow for us in China, when my parents died to get me American citizenship, and I can't ruin their efforts. And even if I want to change back to Chinese nationality, I'm afraid my master won't be able to spare me in the first place! ”

Regarding the issue of returning to China, Li Du did not dare to think about it. His parents and Master's generation have experienced ****, almost died at the hands of their own people, and they came to the United States after a lot of hardships and dangers, and they will not go back. Not only them, but many boxers of the older generation are like this. This is a problem left over from history, and it is not something that Li Du can solve.

While they were discussing the issue, Pelinka walked into the training room, and he also had a newspaper in his hand, and said to the two with a wry smile: "It is said that there is an old Chinese proverb that no blessing is equal, but no misfortune is a single line. Looks like we're in trouble this time. ”

As he spoke, Pelinka handed the two newspapers in his hand to Kobe and Li Du respectively. Li Du opened it and saw that it was an article published by the sports section of the Los Angeles Times, which made predictions and analysis of the results of this year's drafts of various teams and the heights that players could reach in the future.

The famous journalist Leddy wrote this analysis? Grange. He spoke highly of Aldridge and Brandon, who were traded to the Trail Blazers? Roy. It is believed that the Trail Blazers will have a re-emergence with them, and the league will have a strong combination.

Li Du directly skipped the others and went straight to the evaluation about himself. As expected, the famous reporter did not have a good evaluation of himself, and he was not even optimistic about the Lakers' operation this time.

In the comments, he wrote: "I really don't know what to say about the young man Li Du, and my colleagues and I have checked all the matches and found no sign of him. Such a penniless person doesn't know how he got into the sights of the Lakers. The Lakers may have made a mistake this time, and Mr. Kupchak may have made a mistake. Think about it, how can a person who doesn't have any game experience, who is not even a player, adapt to the high intensity and fast pace of the NBA? The Lakers were held out in the first round of the playoffs by the Suns last season, and I think it's hard to change the result this time. Unless they trade the rookie to bolster the small forward position. ”

After reading it, Li Du did not have any expression on his face. He knows that, for a player who has never played in a competitive game, such an assessment is not too much. Even, this reporter has already shown mercy. But no matter who you are, you are always very unhappy when you are looked down upon by others!

After Kobe Bryant read it, he laughed, "Lee, don't worry about these reporters. What they need are gimmicks and eyeballs, and whoever scolds you to the point today may be declared your die-hard fan tomorrow! I believe that you proved to everyone that they were all wrong! In fact, you are the best rookie of the year! ”

Li Du nodded fiercely, spread his hands out, and roared in a low voice like a beast with its fangs exposed: "All my opponents, I will let you know what despair is!" ”

Three weeks later, the Lakers began to fit together as Odom and others returned. On October 5, the Lakers and Li Du officially signed a contract, Li Du joined the Lakers for 3 years and 4 million US dollars, and the jersey number is No. 19, he is 19 years old this year, and it was also at the age of 19 that his life underwent major changes. Li Du commemorates it with this.

At the signing press conference, Kobe, who has no major knee injury, also attended, and even the main players of the team such as Odom and Fisher were present. This time, Li Du has become the focus of attention of Los Angeles media and fans!

At the signing conference of a rookie, the team boss actually brought the main players of the team to participate in it and cheer him on, what does this mean? At least it shows that Li Du's strength has been recognized by Kobe Bryant and the main forces, and he has great expectations for him!

When asked what kind of player Li Du is and what he can bring to the Lakers, Kobe said: "He has a talent that even I envy, and what is even more commendable is that he is very diligent and hardworking." I love this kid! I believe that he can be a huge help to the Lakers! ”

Odom said almost the same thing in an interview: "I think he's even better than me, and Li Du will be a nightmare for all the players who play against him!" Rest assured, I'm not exaggerating. You'll find out as the season progresses. ”

Compared to Odom, Fisher was more specific, saying: "I knew when Li Du participated in the team training that this guy is very strong! I knew from that training session that he was even better than we thought! ”

Fisher's words undoubtedly dropped a bombshell among journalists, and it is not difficult to speculate from his words that Li Du won Fisher in training! But what Li Du is strong at, everyone on the Lakers team never mentioned.

Is this Zen Master Phil? Jackson means. He hopes to maintain the mystery of Li Du, and then make Li Du a blockbuster when the season officially starts!

Now Li Du enjoys the same rights as Kobe Bryant and other important players, in the preseason, the Zen master strictly controlled his playing time, and even his running position and shooting speed were strictly controlled, so Li Du had to slow down the pace of his shooting in the preseason.

Li Du guessed the coach's intentions very thoroughly, anyway, the preseason was just for fun, Li Du occasionally deducted two, or shot a few shots, and the shooting rate remained at about 40%. Even when defending, Li Du deliberately let people break through or shoot.

Throughout the preseason, the Lakers ended with a 2-7 record.

For a time, comments about Li Du's low ability flooded Los Angeles. Some people even said that Li Du is the worst rookie in the Lakers in 10 years!

In the face of people's doubts, neither the Lakers nor Li Du gave any explanation. All of this is pressed into the season opener!

On October 31, the NBA's 2006-2007 season began. The Lakers' first game against the old rival who blocked them in the first round of the playoffs last season, the Phoenix Suns!