"Meng, congratulations!"

On September 4, 2006, the 15th Men's World Men's Basketball Championship had just ended, and he returned to China from Japan non-stop.

"Haha, Larry, isn't it just a World Championship champion, what is there to congratulate." Hearing Larry Bird's congratulations on the other end of the phone, Meng Xu felt a little embarrassed, although the World Championships is an international honor second only to the Olympic Games and also has the title of world champion, but the American men's basketball team has always been less interested in this world championship, most of the American men's basketball teams participating in this World Championship are second-tier stars in the NBA, and there is not even a veteran who can hold the line, so in this World Championships, the American men's basketball team stopped in the semifinals again, And for this World Championship champion who did not have the strongest dream team to participate, Meng Xu always felt that something was missing.

"That's not what I'm talking about, haven't you heard about the selection of the top 50 stars?" Larry Bird on the other end of the phone obviously didn't care about Meng Xu winning the World Championship, maybe from Larry Bird's attitude, you can see the attitude of the entire American basketball world towards the World Championships.

"Is the result out?" 10 years ago, that is, in 1996, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the birth of the NBA, led by the NBA official, retired NBA players, team management, and major media in the United States voted for the 50 greatest players in NBA history, called the NBA 50 stars, and this season, that is, the 60th anniversary of the birth of the NBA, the NBA officially decided to select 10 stars again and enter the top 50 stars.

After Meng Xu won the championship this season, his historical status has reached the point of sitting on three looks, five championship trophies, four finals MVP, three regular season MVP, four best defensive players, three scoring champions, seven steal kings, one assist king, seven times the best defensive team for a while, six times for the best team for a while, whether it is a team easy or a personal honor, Meng Xu is selected for the top 50 is appropriate, but the selection of the top 50 is not enough to have hard honors, The selection of the top 50 also involves the cooperation of various teams in the league, and even those shady transactions behind the scenes, otherwise there will be no embarrassing situation where old superstars like Dominic Wilkins and Bob McAdoo are replaced by rookie O'Neal.

Although with Meng Xu's current honor, he doesn't have to worry about being hacked like Dominic Wilkins and Bob McAdoo, after all, Meng Xu is now recognized as one of the top three players in history, and it is not news that a player of this level is selected for the top 50, and it is big news that he is not selected for the top 50, but Meng Xu has been itching in his heart after hearing about this selection, and there is no player who does not want such an honor.

"The voting results came out yesterday, and you and Reggie were both selected for this selection." As a veteran qualification with connections throughout the league, Larry Bird naturally has his own special channels and connections, and Larry Bird already knew the results in advance before the league announced the selection results, and perhaps Reggie Miller can be selected for the top 50 this time, which is also the result that Larry Bird has been promoting behind the scenes.

"By the way, one more thing, we've got some new faces in the squad this summer, so if you don't have anything to do, come over early and train with the team, and it's not long before the start of pre-season." After saying a lot of things, Larry Bird began urging Meng Xu to return to Indiana this morning.

"Well, Larry, I'll get over as soon as possible."

。。。。。。

Although the Dream Team did not send the strongest lineup to the World Championships, although the Chinese men's basketball team also perfectly avoided Argentina and the United States, these two super teams, in the process of winning the championship, but the champion is the champion, not to mention the champion of the World Championships.

After winning the World Championships, the Chinese men's basketball team became the fourth team to win both the Olympic Games and the World Championships after the United States, the Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia, so after winning the World Championships, the celebration party prepared for the basketball players in China, and the celebration ceremony is not inferior to the 04 Olympic Games championship, and even the two national leaders met and condoled all the members of the Chinese men's basketball team at the RMDHT, as for the other various awards are countless, As the leading player of the Chinese men's basketball team, Meng Xu has received millions of RMB rewards.

After one celebration after another, Meng Xu finally returned to Indianapolis when there were 10 days left before the start of the preseason, and now it has been almost a month since the Pacers gathered the whole team, so the Pacers were "quite complaining" about Meng Xu's tardiness, and finally on the day Meng Xu returned to the team, Meng Xu was bleeding profusely, and he paid out of his pocket to invite them to eat, drink and have fun, which barely offset their grievances.

"Darko, PJ, Ronnie, welcome to the Pacers family." After the all-night party, Meng Xu and these newcomers are basically familiar, although after they were traded by the Pacers, or after they were selected by the Pacers in the draft, Larry Bird and Rick Carlisle said similar things to them, but as the boss of this team, Meng Xu still needs to repeat this sentence again, the NBA is not just a professional basketball league, it is also a hierarchical place, and it cannot be recognized by Meng Xu. Their future days with the Pacers certainly won't be easy.

Darko Milicic was traded by the Pacers for Sarunas Jascovisius from the Kings, while Ronny Brewer was selected by Larry Bird with the Pacers' own No. 30 pick and the second-round pick No. 7 from the Kings and the Jazz swap pick, as for PJ Tucker, who was traded by the Pacers from the Raptors with his own second-round pick plus some cash, after Sarunas Jascovisius was traded and Anfernee Hardaway chose to retire, the Pacers were in this year's draft. Two shooting guards were selected to make up for the gaps left by the departures of Sarunas Jascovy Hughes and Anfernee Hardaway.

Among the three new players, the Pacers' management undoubtedly values Darko Milicic, the star of the same class as LeBron James, and Darko Milicic's talent and strength are undoubted. In this World Championships, Darko Milicic has averaged 16.1 points, 9.3 rebounds, and 2.8 blocks per game.

And Darko Milicic is undoubtedly very excited to return to Rick Carlisle, after Darko Milicic participated in the NBA draft, Rick Carlisle, who was still the head coach of the Pistons at the time, personally contacted Darko Milicic and tailored a series of development plans for him, but providence made people, after Darko Milicic was selected by the Pistons, Rick Carlisle was fired, and after Rick Carlisle was fired, Darko Milicic, who joined the Pistons, was also on the cold bench. He was sent to the Kings last season, and it is because of this that Rick Carlisle has always felt worthy of Darko Milicic.