The 2009 All-Star Weekend was held on Feb. 14 in Phoenix, home of the Suns.

The Phoenix Suns are Wang Chao's old club, and if you count him before he crossed over, he has been here for 3 years.

Especially in the 06-07 season, Wang Chao and the Suns went all the way, setting the best record in team history in the regular season, the best winning streak, and winning the championship, which is an extremely unforgettable memory for any Phoenix fan.

Phoenix City has not had a satisfactory past two seasons, and the team's huge investment in the introduction of the big shark O'Neal did not have the desired effect, but also seriously dragged down the Suns' original run-and-gun tactics.

So far in the regular season, the Suns have won nearly 28-22, a 56% winning rate, which is a serious substandard for a team aiming to win a championship, and they can only hover on the edge of the playoffs with this record.

As a time-traveler, Wang Chaonaturally knows that in the 08-09 season, the Suns finally achieved a 46-36 record, ranking ninth in the West, which is the first time since Nash returned to the Suns that he missed the playoffs.

Although the current Suns team is slightly different from the Suns lineup in his impression, the main players of the team have not changed much, so the outcome will probably not change much.

Even though a year and a half has passed, looking at the current Magic team, which has a record that is the best in the league, and Wang Chao, who averages 34 points per game and dominates the scoring list, Suns fans are angry at the poor decision-making of the team management.

They obviously have a chance to keep Wang Chao, if the Suns continue to hold the triumvirate combination of Nash, Stoudemire and Wang Chao, maybe they have two championships in hand now and are attacking the three-in-a-row crown dynasty!

And now, the Suns management will play a good hand of cards, Wang Chao refused to give a one-year contract of $15 million, but let O'Neal, who has an annual salary of $20 million, come to the team to drag down the team's run-and-bomb tactics.

This season, the Suns have four players with an annual salary of 10 million, O'Neal 21 million, Stoudemire 15 million, Nash 14 million, Jason. Richardson's 12 million, plus Barbossa and other role players on a 6.1 million mid-level contract, the Suns' total salary has reached $76.12 million, and the league's luxury tax threshold for the 08-09 season is $71.15 million, which means that the Suns team owner will pay an additional luxury tax of nearly $5 million.

There is really no one to calculate this account, if you want to save money, you can't save it, the team won't want to defend the championship, and it was out early in the first round last season, and whether you can qualify for the playoffs this season is still two words, and it is not at all competitive,

Angry and disappointed Suns fans naturally have nostalgia for Wang Chao, who has left the team, and such thoughts are fully displayed through this Phoenix All-Star Weekend.

……

"Wang, I didn't expect you to have so many supporters in Phoenix?"

On the way to Phoenix by plane and to the All-Star host by car, Howard couldn't help but say this to Wang Chao.

When they were at the airport, they met a large number of welcoming fans, including many supporters of Wang Chao, who held high the words "Wang Chao, welcome home!" and other billboards, shouting Wang Chao's name loudly.

When Wang Chao waved at these fans, it also caused a scream and cheer, and the popularity was so high that Howard, the king of this year's All-Star ticket, was dumbfounded.

In fact, the Suns have not done public relations remedies, and they have said more than once openly and secretly that Wang Chao himself has no idea of staying in the Suns, and he also took the initiative to join the Magic team, the purpose is to have more balls and shots.

But such an explanation, Suns fans obviously do not believe.

Besides, regardless of whether Wang Chao wanted to stay at that time, the Suns management also had to show enough attitude, but at that time, the Suns were obviously unwilling to give Wang Chao a maximum salary, which was the direct reason why Wang Chao joined the Magic team.

"I really want more Suns management, Phoenix fans are so supportive of you, if the management is determined to keep you, the Magic may not have much chance of getting it." Howard said with some rejoicing.

What would happen if this magic team didn't have Wang Chao? Howard is well aware.

He himself supported the Magic's defense, while Wang Chao supported the team's offense, and no matter who the two lacked, the Magic would not be able to achieve the current regular season record and competitiveness.

And looking at the league, there are very few players who can replace Wang Chao's role in the Magic team, and the supersonic shooter Rashad who the Magic team was more interested in when they were recruited. Lewis now apparently falls far short of that requirement.

Therefore, Howard thanked the Suns management for refusing to give Wang Chao a super maximum salary, which gave them a chance.

Regarding Howard's words, Wang Chao only smiled slightly.

The Suns' official response to the fans was correct, he really didn't see a contract extension with the Suns as the best option at that time, after all, with the existence of Nash and Stoudemire, he can only be the third person in the Suns, and both the ball and the shot will be greatly limited.

Coming to the Magic, Howard will not take the right shot, but can also guard the basket and strengthen the defense, and he will not feel jealous because Wang Chao played an excellent performance...... At least not yet, isn't that fragrant?

……

On Feb. 14, the first day of the NBA All-Star Weekend kicked off, starting with the Appetizer Rookie Challenge.

The 09 All-Star Rookie Challenge was completely Durant's one-man show, he led the sophomore to defeat the first-year rookie led by Oden, Rose, Mayo, Westbrook and others 122-116, and personally scored 46 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists in a single game, becoming the most dazzling boy in the rookie challenge.

This year's Rookie Challenge, in general, has attracted more attention than previous editions, because the champion of '08 Oden finally appeared on the All-Star stage after a reimbursement season, and because he failed to participate in the Rookie Challenge last year, Oden represented the first grade in this competition, which also formed the highlight of Oden vs Durant.

Averaging 25.5 points per game so far this season, Durant has managed to rank among the league's top scorers and is destined to become a top star in the future due to his age and the scoring talent he has shown on the court.

On the other hand, in the draft, he steadily overtook Durant's top pick, Greg. Oden's path to the NBA has not been smooth, his rookie season has not been reimbursed, and his performance in his second season is far from satisfying the fans who expect him to dominate the league.

The difference in the performance of the two on the court has made more and more people believe that Durant is more worthy of the name of the champion in '07 than Oden.

Of course, more people still think that Oden is more worthy of the top position, even if he did not play well in the first two seasons due to injuries, he is destined to become a top interior player like O'Neal and Duncan in the future.

There are many scorers like Durant in the league, but how many interior players can be good in history with both offense and defense? Not to mention the current era of scarcity of quality center forwards?

But this time in the rookie challenge, the two had the opportunity to face each other directly, but the result was that Durant scored 46 points in the game, while Oden only had 10 points and 7 rebounds.

The performance of the two is very different, and Oden has to thank Wang Chao for the butterfly effect brought by the crossing, because according to the original history, the day before the start of the All-Star Weekend, Oden will miss the All-Star Weekend in the game between the Trail Blazers and the Warriors, because of the kneecap damage caused by the collision with Magetti, and he will not even have a chance to play.

Forehead...... However, considering the humiliation caused by Durant's 46 points in front of him, it seems that Oden will feel a little better if he does not attend the rookie challenge.

Duran, who won the MVP of the Rookie Challenge, was deliberately high-spirited and said in the post-game award interview that he would try to participate in the All-Star Game as soon as possible.

Durant certainly has this confidence, with the strength he has shown in the regular season so far, if he goes one step further next season, he can officially step into the ranks of first-line scorers like Wang Chao, and most basketball critics are also optimistic about Durant's future prospects.

As a traverser, Wang Chao also knows that from next year, except for the number of games that he cannot attend due to injury, Durant will not miss any future All-Star Game, until Wang Chao's 23 years of crossing, Durant is still the top of the All-Star voting and has the ability to compete for the vote king.

……

After the Rookie Challenge on February 14, it will be followed by individual events on February 15, the Skills Challenge, the Three-Point Contest and the Slam Dunk Contest.

In the 09 Skills Challenge, the stars were much dimmer compared to the previous two years, and the four players participating in the competition were the new champion Derek. Rose, who mixed up with the Cavaliers for Mo. Williams, the Nets' Devin. Harris and Tony of the Spurs' GDP combination. Parker.

Rose will become the youngest regular season MVP in the future, and Parker also has FMVP honors early, but compared to previous players such as Nash, Wade, James, Paul, and Delon, it is obviously still a little worse.

The end result of the competition was that Rose made it all the way and beat Harris in the final to win the Skills Challenge.

Rose's skillful skill and speed during the game immediately made people realize the strength and future prospects of the NBA '08 No. 1 pick.

After the Skills Challenge, it's the Three-Point Contest.

Compared with the former, there is no highlight and suspense in the three-point contest, before the game, basically everyone knows that the champion of the three-point contest will most likely be Wang Chao, after all, this time except for him, there is no star player to participate.

The same is true of the facts.

In the first round, Wang Chao overwhelmed the crowd with a high score of 25 points, and entered the final stage, Wang Chao once again scored 26 points lightly, continuing to show desperate dominance.

"It turns out that Wang Chao's dominance in the field of three-point shooting is absolute, and no one in the current league can challenge his authority. Aaron announced that he would participate in the three-point contest, and there was a little bit of suspense in that case. ”

Wang Chao, who won the three-point contest for the fourth consecutive year, has reached 4/5 in the progress bar of the system task, and only needs to win another championship next year to complete the upgrade task and upgrade the marksman's talent.

Wang Chao gained a lot, but when it was the turn of the last slam dunk contest in the single event, Howard still failed to successfully defend his title like Wang Chao.

In the slam dunk contest, Howard's performance was actually stronger than the original '09 dunk contest, because Wang Chao provided him with several creative dunks, including Griffin's leap car dunk action in the future, etc.

But these wonderful moves still failed to win over Nate, who wore the symbol of kryptonite. Robinson leaps over "Superman" with a button.

There is no way, after all, Howard is a big center with a height of 2.11 meters, no matter how good his bounce and explosion are, the dunk movements he can make on the court are still limited by his huge size.

Wang Chao did not give Howard the creative dunk moves of LaVine and Gordon, the benchmark of the future slam dunk contest, but the latter could not perfectly reproduce the action after some practice and attempts, so he had to give up.

This is a problem that big men have never been able to solve in the dunk contest, so Howard can only retreat to some downgraded dunk moves, although these moves are also very good, but when the opponent in the finals is Nate. Robinson's time, apparently, did not have any advantage.

Nate is only 1.75 meters tall. Robinson, in the slam dunk contest naturally has a score bonus advantage, after all, a player whose height is only an ordinary person's level, but can participate in the dunk contest, no matter who will feel very remarkable, especially when he leaps 2.11 meters Howard to complete the dunk, the shock is particularly strong.

The scene of Howard flying over the car looks very strong, but the height of the hood of the car is obviously far from being compared with Howard in a standing position, even if Howard actively bends down and lowers part of the height when Robinson dunks, Robinson also has a movement to support with his hands, which is much more difficult than flying over the car.

Eventually, "Kryptonite" Nate. Robinson defeated "Superman" Howard in the finals to win the dunk crown.

It was a dramatic and entertaining scene that became the most classic scene on the '09 All-Star stage, at least in terms of viewing and entertainment, far more than the Skills Challenge and the Three-Point Contest.

The Rookie Challenge on the 14th, the Skills Challenge on the 15th, the three-point contest and the dunk contest have ended one after another, and the All-Star Weekend has come to an end, February 16, which is the last day of the All-Star Weekend and the climax of the entire All-Star Session-The All-Star Game is finally coming!

(End of chapter)