(Happy New Year everyone, the first watch will be served, and there will be another watch in the evening.) ）

Bill. Duffy has officially become Wang Chao's agent, but for the time being, he has no work that needs to be carried out.

After all, this season is not over yet, and Wang Chao's contract renewal will not start until the end of this season.

Bill. What Duffy can do now is to help Wang Chao contact and count how many teams are interested in him, and what are the bids of these teams.

Staying with the Suns is not the only option, if the Suns are willing to give a maximum salary extension, of course it is good, Nash and Stoudemire still have a few years of prime, continue to partner with the two, Wang Chao estimates that he can win at least a few NBA championships in the Suns.

But there are also disadvantages to staying with the Suns, after all, this is Nash's team, no matter how far he grows in the next few years, at most he will be the third oldest on the team, and even the second is not qualified, which is Stoudemire's.

With Wang Chao's current total rating of 67, it may be a bit ridiculous to talk about the team boss, too ambitious, but a soldier who doesn't want to be a general is not a good soldier, and there is a system, Wang Chao feels that it won't take a few years for him to really rise.

Of course, this is just a plan and a thought that has not yet been formed.

It's true that he can't even be the second child in the Suns, but it's enough to worry about it here.

Wang Chao has been able to reach an average of 20+ points per game in the regular season so far, but it is not just his own credit, if it is not for Nash's superb, ubiquitous passing, and without the offensive rhythm of the Suns, who is the league's champion, Wang Chao wants to rely on his ability to average 20+ points per game is simply a fool's dream.

Switching to any team in the league, Wang Chao will not get the same level of support as in the Suns.

There are pros and cons to this matter, and Wang Chao has no way to make a judgment at present, so he can only wait until the end of this season to conduct research.

……

The Suns' regular season journey has not been affected in any way because of Wang Chao's signing agent.

In the subsequent schedule in January, the Suns gradually increased the intensity of the opponents they faced, and the winning rate decreased significantly compared to November and December, but they could still maintain a 75% winning rate.

On January 29, the Suns played away to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Garnett exploded with 44 points and 11 rebounds to help the Timberwolves beat the Suns 121-112.

At this point, the Suns' January schedule is officially over.

From the start of the regular season at the end of October to the end of January, the Suns played a total of 45 games, winning 39 of them and losing only 6 games, a winning rate of 86.6%.

If they continue to play the remaining 37 regular season games at this winning rate, the Suns' record can reach an exaggerated 70 wins, which is the second regular season record after the Bulls' 72 wins!

It's just that it's not very likely.

The Suns' schedule, the more strong teams there are in the future, the density of the schedule, and the intensity of the opponents are not comparable to last year's winning streak.

But in any case, the Suns' record in the West and even in the league has been stabilized, and the only suspense is whether the team's record will be in the early 60 wins or 65 wins at the end of the regular season.

……

At the end of January, the league officially announced the final voting results for the 2007 All-Star Weekend.

James defeated Da Yao and was elected the All-Star vote king, while Da Yao was second, but he won the most votes among Western players, stabilizing Kobe, Iverson, Maddie and other top outside superstars.

The first start of the East and West has been determined at this point.

On the western side are Da Yao, Garnett, Duncan, Kobe Bryant and Maddy.

In the East, James, O'Neal, Bosh, Wade and Arenas are the next few words.

Among the Suns' stars, Stoudemire ranked second among Western center in terms of votes, second only to Da Yao, which seems to be quite ranked, but in fact, his votes are less than half of Da Yao's, and the gap is huge.

Nash, a two-time regular season MVP winner, can only rank fourth among Western Conference guards, and as a pass-assist player, his popularity is still much inferior to Kobe, Maddy, and Iverson, who are in the top three guards.

It is worth mentioning that in the voting of the Western Forwards, Wang Chao actually entered the top ten, although it was only ninth, but he was finally on the list.

This shows that his popularity is steadily improving, even if he does not have the blessing of Chinese fans like Da Yao, he still has a group of local fans in the United States, or the support of local fans in Phoenix.

As for Nash and Stoudemire, although they were not selected as All-Star starters, with their strength and status in the league, there is no problem in being selected as substitutes for the All-Star main game.

Sure enough, 2 days later, the bench list was released, and the Suns Nash and Stoudemire were both selected.

But what is very surprising is that there are three players selected by the Suns for the All-Star bench, and in addition to Nash and Stoudemire, the third person is not Marion, but Wang Chao!

This came as a surprise to many.

Wang Chao has averaged 20.7 points per game in the regular season so far, with a shooting rate of 52% and a three-point shooting rate of 49%, and the scoring and efficiency are indeed impeccable, but there are still many stars in the league who score 20+ points, why is it Wang Chao?

Especially when the Suns already have two All-Star players on the bench, the league should be more inclined to find a star from those teams that don't have All-Star players, rather than letting the Suns dominate.

But Wang Chao was selected, and he was selected as an All-Star in the third season of his career, which is not uncommon in the league, but as a Chinese player, Wang Chao became the second Chinese player in NBA history to be selected as an All-Star after Da Yao.

"This ...... I guess Stern was the handiwork. ”

Wang Chao was surprised at first, and then had a guess.

How much Stern wants to open up the Chinese market, anyone who knows the history of the NBA knows it.

In the early 90s, Stern personally went to the Huaguo TV building to promote NBA game tapes, and in the years of cooperation, he provided free game broadcasts for Huaguo TV.

Whether it was Dazhi, Daba, or later NBA champion Da Yao joining the NBA, it was all facilitated by Stern's strong support.

Wang Chao's ability to join the NBA is no exception.

Originally, the performance of Wang Chao's rookie season made Stern no longer look forward to it.

Who would have thought that from the middle of last season, Wang Chao suddenly rose and performed very brightly.

Although the league now has Da Yao and has cooperated with many Chinese companies, the products of Chinese enterprises have also appeared more and more on the billboards of the NBA arena.

But who would think that there are too many Chinese players who have performed well?

If Wang Chao can be lifted up and made a top star in the league, it will definitely be beneficial and harmless.

In this way, Wang Chao, who has performed very well this season, suddenly became the second Chinese All-Star player in the history of the league.

It's ridiculous to say, in the first two years, Wang Chao was not even eligible to participate in the rookie challenge, who would have thought that in the third year of his career, Wang Chao, who officially got rid of the rookie title, actually became the first batch of players selected as All-Stars in the 04 session, and there are only 2 people in this batch, Wang Chao and Howard.

For the all-stars in 07, Wang Chao is still quite impressed.

Before the start of the All-Star season, the West suffered a wave of injuries, and Nash and Da Yao were unexpectedly injured in front of the All-Star team, and in order not to lack people, two substitutes were temporarily selected to participate in the All-Star Game.

Wang Chao is in this time and space, Nash will be injured unexpectedly, he is not sure, but it should be unlikely, after all, his arrival has changed a lot of things, the Suns have played the second longest winning streak in history, with him, Nash needs to take on less responsibility on the offensive end, and it is very likely that he will avoid an injury.

……

On Feb. 1, the Suns defeated the Spurs 103-87 at home, beating the Spurs for the second time this season.

Stoudemire scored 24 points on 9-of-18 shooting and 6-of-7 free throws, but grabbed 23 rebounds in the course of the game, and a double-double of 24+23 overpowered Duncan, who had 20 points and 18 rebounds.

Wang Chao made 6 of 14 three-pointers and contributed 22 points in the game, while once again making Bowen doubt his life.

Defensive master Bowen has not been able to come up with a way to limit Wang Chao's scoring, the opponent runs, he can only follow, and after running for more than ten minutes, he begins to feel more than enough and his strength is insufficient.

The Spurs could only arrange players to help Bowen assist in defense, but as a result, the Spurs' originally self-contained defensive formation was completely disrupted by Wang Chao's off-ball running, giving Nash a chance to take advantage of.

After the victory over the Spurs, the Suns played against the Nuggets, Trail Blazers, Hawks, Jazz and other teams one after another, each with its own wins and losses.

And in the process, Nash stayed healthy and uninjured.

Sure enough, Wang Chao's arrival still flashed butterfly wings and changed many things.

On February 14, the Suns narrowly defeated the SuperSonics 114-112 on the road, and with the end of this game, the NBA players finally ushered in a short vacation - All-Star Weekend is coming!

From Feb. 16 to Feb. 19, these four days are all part of All-Star Weekend.

All the players who participated in the All-Star Game left for Las Vegas, the host of the All-Star Weekend, and of course, there were also some players who didn't have a project during the All-Star Weekend but wanted to rub off on the familiar faces.

On the Suns' side, there are a total of five people who left for Las Vegas, in addition to Nash, Stoudemire and Wang Chao, the three players who participated in the All-Star Game, there are also D'Antoni, the head coach who is responsible for coaching the Western All-Stars, and James, who signed up for the three-point contest like Wang Chao. Jones.

"Don't worry, don't be nervous, the All-Star Game is a stage for show, everyone is pretending, no one will defend seriously, just boldly show the most handsome and cool moves you think."

While sitting on the plane, Stoudemire was still teaching Wang Chao his experience of participating in the All-Star Game.

But in reality, Stoudemire has only played in an All-Star Game before.

It was the '04-05 season, and Stoudemire averaged a career-best 26 points and 8.9 rebounds per game to make the All-Star bench, and then he played 20 minutes in that All-Star Game, scoring six points and nine rebounds.

The following 05-06 season, the following season, Stoudemire failed to participate in the All-Star Games due to an injury season reimbursement.

Therefore, this season, this is only the second time in Stoudemire's career that he has participated in the All-Star Game, and he is definitely not experienced.

But this did not prevent him from passing on his experience to Wang Chao, who had zero experience.

Wang Chao naturally looked like he was listening attentively.

He knows that this All-Star, Stoudemire is also one of the best players on the court, and it is not surprising that he should be able to cut down 29 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists in the All-Star Game, second only to Kobe Bryant with 31 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists.

Of course, D'Antoni, the head coach of the Western Conference All-Star, also played a role, and Stoudemire played more minutes than any other starter except Kobe.

……

Sitting not far from James. Jones's brow furrowed, and he had an unhappy expression on his face.

"Hmph, what's the spirit? Didn't you just rely on luck to pick an All-Star bench? ”

Jones, of course, is not talking about Stoudemire, but Wang Chao.

Thanks to Wang Chao, Jones now has almost no room to survive in the Suns, and so far this season, he has averaged less than 5 minutes per game, and his statistics are even more pitiful 2.2 points and 1 rebound.

With such data, it is basically impossible to get a contract extension offer with the Suns this summer.

The game was not going well, and Jones naturally blamed Wang Chao for all this.

After all, Wang Chao is in the same position as him, and it is precisely because of Wang Chao's play that he squeezes his playing time step by step, especially after Wang Chao took the initiative to return to the bench, Jones has fewer opportunities.

"I must get the championship of the three-point contest this time!"

Jones clenched his fists and thought to himself.

As soon as his contract expires this summer, Jones will start struggling to find a home.

With his performances with the Suns this season, I'm afraid few teams will be interested in him.

Therefore, he will have to make a name for himself with his three-point championship results to stand a chance of getting a contract in the summer!

To this end, he has been practicing a lot of three-point shooting since the beginning of January, especially for the five fixed-point shooting positions in the three-point competition.

At this moment, Jones is full of confidence, even if the opponent is Wang Chao, he feels that he has a chance to win!

……

All-Star Weekend in '07, hosted by Las Vegas, was the first time the NBA played an All-Star Game in a city without an NBA team.

However, as the most intoxicating place in the country, Las Vegas has always been one of the top summer vacation destinations for NBA stars.

After arriving in Las Vegas and checking into the hotel, Stoudemire couldn't wait to go to Las Vegas' most famous property - casinos with Nash and others.

It's no secret that NBA players gamble, even the league's most well-known star, known as the god of basketball, Michael Brown. Jordan is also a gambler, and the vast majority of them are multimillionaires anyway, and they can splurge as much as they want.

Wang Chao was not interested in this, so he stayed in the hotel to rest.

However, he didn't stay in the hotel for long, because after a while, Da Yao took the initiative to call him to invite him.

On the Suns' side, Nash may have avoided an injury disaster because of Wang Chao, but Da Yao couldn't avoid it, and he was injured just before the All-Star weekend.

Da Yao's starting position was replaced by Nowitzki, and in the absence of an All-Star spot, the Western side chose to let Josh . Howard came in his place.

As for Da Yao, although he was unable to play in the All-Star due to injury, he still came to Las Vegas, on the one hand, to cooperate with the Rockets to do publicity to increase popularity and influence, on the other hand, he also wanted to take this opportunity to meet Wang Chao and talk about the previous promotion through Bill. Things that Duffy conveyed.

Wang Chao and Da Yao met in a restaurant, and Da Yao was sitting next to another Chinese.

"Hello Wang Chao, this is my partner, Zhang Mingji."

Hearing Da Yao's introduction, Wang Chao raised his eyebrows slightly.

Zhang Mingji's name, of course he had heard of it, the head of Yao's team, the man who single-handedly planned Da Yao's business empire and maximized Da Yao's commercial value.

More importantly, with Da Yao's success in the NBA in recent years, Zhang Mingji has gradually begun to contact the management of domestic CBA teams, and he is also an influential figure in the domestic basketball world.

After a brief introduction, Da Yao didn't ink, and said straight to the point.

"I specially called you here today, in fact, there is only one thing, and that is about your return to the national team."

"I've been using relationships to help you run before, but I've inevitably encountered some resistance in the process, and we can't solve this problem, and you have to deal with it yourself."

Wang Chao's eyebrows raised, and he didn't speak immediately, but looked at Da Yao.

"Let me say that, to put it simply, I hope you can play better in the NBA, or you can continue to be where you are."

Zhang Mingji took over and said: "Although you may not see many reports about you on the Internet, but in the past year, your performance in the NBA has indeed caused a lot of repercussions in China, and many people have been calling for you to be recalled to the national team. ”

"In the 08 Capital Olympics, the pressure on the Basketball Association is not small, they must let the men's national basketball team achieve at least eight results in the Olympic Games, and having a strong reinforcement like you will undoubtedly get twice the result with half the effort."

Zhang Mingji smiled.

"So, what you have to do is very simple, is to play as well as possible in the NBA, and if necessary, it's okay to deliberately brush up on the data, after all, to increase the chips of the return."

Wang Chao: "......"

He really wanted to tell Da Yao and Zhang Mingji, if this was the case, then there was no need to remind him at all.

As Wang Chao, who came here from the era of serious commercialization in 2022 and brushing data like eating and drinking, he knows how to brush data better than anyone else, and he can brush data with peace of mind than anyone else.

Team? Victory? What's that? Is it tasty? Can you get the highest salary renewal and countless advertising endorsement contracts because of this?

At least for Wang Chao at this stage, the team's winning the championship is far less important than his star-level performance, and there is no way to compare it with the system task.

He took the initiative to retire from the starting position to the bench, just to be able to abuse the opponent's substitute players, so as to lose the data more easily.

"Don't worry, I know what to do."

Thinking in his heart, Wang Chao said to Da Yao and Zhang Mingji with a solemn face.

(End of chapter)