After beating the Pacers, the Bulls were on track.

By the end of January, they were back in fourth place in the East and had narrowed the gap to third-place Raptors to two games.

It was also at this time that the results of the All-Star vote and the bench lineup came out one after another.

Eastern starters: Paul, Wade, Xu Yong, Anthony, James

Subs: John Wall, Irving, George, DeRozan, Millsap, Bosh, Anthony Davis

Western starters: Curry, Kobe*, Durant, Griffin, Love

Subs: Parker, Lillard, Harden, Aldridge, Nowitzki, Noah, Howard, (Leonard)

There are many noteworthy points in this year's voting results, such as Curry's performance of averaging 24 points, 4.3 rebounds, 8.5 assists and 1.6 steals per game, and he was selected as an All-Star for the first time in his career, and he was a starter as soon as he was selected.

Curry has shot 44 percent from three-point range in his five seasons in the league, and he's averaged nearly eight three-point attempts per game in the last two seasons.

After increasing his production and continuing to maintain a consistent shooting percentage, Curry showed a rare three-point talent in history.

The Warriors are undoubtedly the biggest winners, because after Curry suffered a serious injury in the 2011~2012 season, they offered a 4-year 44 million contract at the end of the season and Curry completed an early extension, which is already a visible child labor contract with the naked eye as the salary cap rises.

Another example is Kobe Bryant, although he has only played 6 games this season and is still injured, he is still selected as an All-Star starter.

However, Kobe Bryant has already stated that he will not be able to play in the All-Star Game, and his starting spot will be replaced by Harden, while Leonard is an alternate All-Star, which is also the first time that the latter has been selected as an All-Star in his career.

In addition to the list of the main competition, the list of individual competitions was also announced this time, and the list of the three-point contest attracted attention.

Because in addition to Curry, who has the highest voice, Xu Yong's name also appeared.

This instantly made the fans pay more attention to the individual competitions.

Compared with James, who finally participated in the slam dunk contest after six years of shouting, Xu Yong's direct participation without any hype was a complete surprise to fans.

With Yi Jianlian leaving, Yao Ming retiring, the Bulls' aura of the Chinese national team has receded, and the whistle has gradually returned to normal.

And this season, he was selected for the main game by the Bulls alone, and he focused on participating in the main game, but he had some ideas about the three-point shootout.

His three-point level is not low, he also had seven three-pointers on the spot when he was at Arizona State University, and he was also very effective in his first two years as a rookie.

It's just that with Rose's injury, after he began to hold the ball more, the number of three-point shots decreased significantly, and he shot less, and the production and ability naturally went down.

However, this season, as Butler diluted the ball, his off-ball offensive percentage has rebounded, and his three-point ability has returned a lot.

This time the All-Star Game was in New Orleans, and Xu Yong took Adams with him, who was selected for the Rookie Game with his outstanding performance in the past period.

Of course, this time it was not only the two of them, but also the agent Schwartz.

In the All-Star Game every year, Xu Yong is the busiest batch.

And this time, in addition to promoting his STX series sneakers, Schwartz also negotiated a big signing for him.

He will replace Robert Pattinson (who played Edward the vampire in "The Twilight Zone") as the face of the Diocologne men's fragrance.

The endorsements of Pattinson and Dior were signed in 2011 on a three-year, 12 million contract that expires this summer.

And Xu Yong signed a 3-year endorsement contract of 25 million with them this time, and he will become the spokesperson with the highest endorsement fee in the history of Gulong Perfume.

As for the reason why Dior was in such a hurry, and even finalized it in advance, it was also because he was afraid that Xu Yong would be poached by competitors.

After all, Xu Yong's popularity is here, and there is a huge Chinese market behind him, and of course, the most important thing is that his appearance is online.

After all, you'd be hard-pressed to imagine James endorsing cologne.

They went to Dior's branch in New Orleans.

When he first entered, Xu Yong saw a familiar poster in the glass window of the corridor.

Charlize Theron.

Theron has been the face of Dior's fragrances since 2004.

Xu Yong has a special affection for Theron when he was a teenager, after all, when he first entered puberty, it happened to be when Theron was popular.

Sexy and mature, but very dignified, it is really rare to combine these two temperaments.

Especially the Dior commercial, which was the most amazing ad .avi he had ever seen.

And Saihuang is also very committed to his career, and the movie "Mad Max: Fury Road" completely subverted Xu Yong's perception of her.

And he remembered the last time he saw Theron at the Staples Center, [South African Diamonds] really don't get old.

The contract was signed smoothly, although it was in the branch, but the senior management of Gulong Perfume was basically dispatched, which obviously showed their attention to Xu Yong.

After signing the contract, Xu Yong went to AJ's event site.

When Xu Yong went, Butler was already there.

Thanks to his outstanding performance this season, Butler was also acquired by AJ, and he, like Xu Yong back then, was promoted as a rookie.

But because he doesn't have to play in the main event this year, he can basically go back tomorrow and, as he said before, go on vacation with Brown.

On the second day of the All-Star Game, Xu Yong appeared on the sidelines early.

He hadn't been sitting down for a while when Harden took Curry next to him.

A very interesting thing is that Curry was selected as an All-Star starter for the first time in his career, which made many people ignore that he was actually in the same class as Xu Yong and Harden.

When they first tried out in Chicago, they were still talking and laughing.

But now Curry is a rookie in the All-Star game, and Xu Yong's words already feel a bit like Uncle Curry.

Xu Yong also met Jordan in the back row.

The two have occasional contact in text messages, but they met last summer when they talked about the brand, and it has been more than half a year.

However, this did not prevent their current friendship, and Jordan even got up and came to the front row.

After hugging Xu Yong, he let Harden take the initiative to give up his position with a look.

"Chicago is now the East East?" Jordan asked as soon as he sat down.

"Fourth." Xu Yong replied that Jordan should have been busy with other things recently, and he hadn't paid much attention to league games.

"Charlotte sixth." Jordan continued.

Xu Yong was stunned for a moment, and then laughed.

It's been too long since I've talked to Jordan, and he didn't react at once.

"The Bobcats have a good chance of getting back to the playoffs this season." He nodded, and the last time the Bobcats made the playoffs was four years ago.

"I knew Kemba (Walker) was going to be an All-Star." Jordan had a proud look on his face, and if he wasn't there, he couldn't help but smoke a cigar to prove that he was also a unique basketball god in terms of draft vision.

Xu Yong just smiled.

Kemba Walker is indeed one of the most successful drafts in Jordan's career, but it's also the only one.

You must know that the Hornets have been in the top ten lottery in a row over the years, Michael Gilchrist in 2012, and Cody Zeller, the No. 4 pick in 2013, both of which are sorry for their own ranks, and the only one who played was the No. 9 show Walker in 11, which is easy to conclude that Jordan is likely to choose Walker.

"But the atmosphere in the league is too bad right now." Jordan then frowned.

"You mean Al (Jefferson)?"

"Do you think Kyrie Irving and Anthony Davis deserve All-Stars?" Jordan didn't answer, but looked at Xu Yong and asked rhetorically.

Xu Yong shook his head: "If I were the coach, I would give Al a vote." ”

He didn't agree with what Jordan said earlier, but he agreed with Jefferson.

In addition to Curry and Leonard, there is also a big controversy about the selection of the Cavaliers twin stars in this year's All-Stars.

The Cavaliers are currently 10th in the East, but they have two players on the bench.

Irving averaged 20.8 points, 3.6 boards, 6.1 assists and 1.5 steals per game, and Davis averaged 20.8 points, 10 boards, 1.6 assists, 1.3 steals and 2.8 blocks per game.

The Hornets are sixth in the East, and Al Jefferson is averaging 21.8 points, 10.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.1 blocks per game, with a 50.9% shooting rate.

Irving aside, Jefferson and Davis belong to the same competitive position, and with the stats not much different, he is obviously more worthy of an All-Star spot this year.

You must know that this is a substitute selection, not a vote from the fans, but a vote from the coach.

Fans can say that they play better, but Coach Ling can't say that Davis was chosen because he is a local interior player who meets once in 50 years in the eyes of the media, right?

"On the bright side, Al can play in the playoffs this year, and they're likely to go fishing." Xu Yong continued.

Jordan was still a little unhappy, but after listening to Xu Yong's words, he couldn't help laughing.

Chatting with Xu Yong is always a pleasure to be physically and mentally at the last moment.

Xu Yong also smiled, and Jordan played a great role in promoting the STX independent brand before.

But after a while, he suddenly put away his smile and his face became very serious.

He suddenly remembered something.

Won't the Cavaliers really fail to make the playoffs this year?

He remembered that there was a very unlikely chance that the Cavaliers would win the lottery one year, and although he couldn't remember exactly what year it was, it hadn't happened yet.

With the Pelicans still able to make the playoffs this season (Stern has been waiting for the opportunity to fill the New Orleans No. 1 pick), this means that this year's No. 1 pick is likely to be the Cavaliers.

And this year's No. 1 favorite is Wiggins, who is known to have been traded for Love by the Cavaliers.

That's right, this season's Western All-Star starter, LeFou, who is likely to be in the second team at the end of the season.

This means that the Cavaliers are likely to form a lineup of Irving, James, Love, and Davis?

If the Big Three can't, then ...... The Big Four?

It's a true four-star, and it's all All-Star teammates who have proven to be a good fit for James.

And with the salary cap set to skyrocket in 2016 (Davis' rookie contract ended in the summer of 2016), the roster is perfectly manageable.

I thought that this season's Pacers would be the best team James has ever stayed in, but I didn't expect that a better team was about to emerge with the naked eye.

This team may even be more competitive than the previous Bulls.

Tsk, why do you think this Irving and Davis are so good, they can't even make the playoffs in the East.

I can only hope that Gilbert can be a little tougher, and James treated you like that back then, don't let him go back this time.

They chatted, and the individual games on the court continued to be played, and soon it was the three-point competition.

"Can you make it to the finals?" Jordan asked, looking at the field.

"It won't be less than 6 points." After Xu Yong finished speaking, he got up and prepared to play.

Jordan was stunned for a moment, a little bit didn't understand why Xu Yong, who was still talking so nicely in front of him, suddenly made people not love.

There is a very important change in this year's three-point contest, adding [advantage points], that is, you can choose a point to place 5 flower balls, which increases the full score from the original 30 points to 34 points.

And this year, like last year, it is also divided into east and west, first there will be internal confrontation, and then the person with the highest score in the preliminary round on both sides will play a 1-on-1 final.

This format is more serendipitous than before, and of course more exciting.

This year's highlight is Curry and Xu Yong, and it depends on whether the two can make it out of the preliminaries.

However, after the preliminaries, although Xu Yong did throw a score higher than 6 points, and it was 16 points, he still lost to Bill's 18 points; Curry also scored 16 points, losing to Belinelli's 19 points, and both of them returned home.

After the preliminaries, the reporter also interviewed the two in a very entertaining manner.

"My goal next year is to reach the final."

Xu Yong's answer directly made the scene boil, because it meant that Xu Yong would continue to participate in the three-point contest next year.

"Me too." Curry on the side also nodded in agreement.

"I'll be there next year." At this moment, Harden also came to the camera.

Stern was laughing happily in the stands at this time, and he couldn't help but want to add chicken legs to the three.

The finals haven't been played yet, and they have already hyped up the heat of next year's game in advance.

In the final final, Beal and Belinellida were very intense, the two shot 19 points to tie, and then in the final, Belinelli won the first three-point contest after the restructuring with 24 points.

The last day was the All-Star Game, and there was an episode before the game, because it was just in time for Bill Russell's birthday, and the audience sang a birthday song for "The Lord of the Rings" driven by DJ, and this scene was still quite warm.

Then during the main game, Xu Yong noticed a very detailed place, that is, James was traveling at a staggered peak.

This year, the head coach of the East team is Vogel, so James can play whenever he wants.

Of course, this is not what surprised Xu Yong, after all, he had known James for so long, and it was what surprised him that James was good at traveling.

What surprised him was that James was taking the initiative to play for Irving and Davis.

And in the end, the East team defeated the West team 160-159, and Irving was fed 31 points to get the All-Star Game MVP.

It's hard not to think about it.

Xu Yong even had the feeling that James had already hooked up with Gilbert.

But it was only after this realization that he felt that things became interesting.

If you can kill such a Cavaliers and win the championship, not to mention the championship, this Eastern Conference championship is definitely the most gold in history.

And if the Big Four can't break out of the East, James is afraid that he will really be abandoned by Nike.

After all, 2015 also happened to be the year James' contract with Nike ended.

It's motivating to think about.

……

After the All-Star break, Xu Yong returned to Chicago.

There are a few days off after the All-Star break, and then the annual trade deadline is right on the heel.

When Xu Yong came back, he saw Butler training there, and it was naturally impossible for him to go on vacation with Brown or something.

However, just a few days later, while Xu Yong and Butler were eating breakfast, Brown returned.

He was still recovering from surgery and was recuperating at his home in Washington, but he didn't expect to come back at this time.

"I'm going to Philadelphia." Brown came in and reported to Xu Yong.

Hearing this, Xu Yong did not seem very surprised, because it is a high probability that Brown will be traded, and it may not go to Philadelphia as he said, and it is likely that he will be cut if he goes, after all, he will not be able to play this season.

"Go over there and recuperate." Xu Yong got up and took the initiative to give Brown a hug.

Brown was a bit unlucky to say, the highlights were all dedicated to the Bulls, but he was not there during the Bulls' championship-winning season.

This is the same as Dampier back then, somewhat of a [champion insulator] attribute.

However, he has been up to the top in the Bulls' most difficult two years, and this contribution is indelible.

Brown packed up his things and left Bewilder.

Xu Yong and the others then took out their mobile phones to look at the specific content of the transaction.

The Bulls sent Kwame Brown, Morris Jr. and two future second-round picks to Ssabin Hawes in a trade from the Digital People.

Xu Yong was surprised when he saw Hawes's name.

It doesn't seem like a very equal deal, as Hawes is the starting center for the Digital Guys, averaging 13 points, eight rebounds and three assists per game this season while shooting 39.9 percent from three-point range.

The Bulls' chips, Morris Jr. was traded in the first round last season, and the Bulls traded him in one first round plus two second rounds.

This bit of bargaining chips is theoretically not enough.

But when he figured out the details, everything made sense.

First of all, Hawes's contract expires this summer, so his trade value is not as high as the data suggests, because he is a full free agent at the end of his contract, and other teams are likely to get only six months of use rights in the trade.

Second, there was another trade that was preceded by the Digi-Mans trading Holiday to the Kings for Lawrence Knoll, the No. 6 pick they drafted last year (who still hasn't played), and a first-round pick protected by the top five picks next year.

Because of the fact that the record of the digital man this season is not advancing but retreating, the Philadelphia supermarket officially opened, and the new general manager of the digital man this season, Sam Singey, began the [process].

Then everything makes sense, the digital people have even sold the current number one Holiday brand, and they still need to train Noel next season, so they naturally have no reason to keep Hawes.

Foreman had the best chance of getting it and then took Hawes at the limit.

Why say limit, because that's basically the biggest chip the Bulls can offer.

After reading this deal, this is already a very considerable reinforcement for the Bulls, because Hawes is another space interior after Yi Jianlian, which can bring real tactical reinforcement to the Bulls.

After all, although Adams is doing well, as a rookie, there is a lot of uncertainty about what he will be able to do in the playoffs.

And after reading this deal, Xu Yong found that the Bulls also have a small big deal and signing.

Foreman made a trade with the Nets with Teague in exchange for a player named Tornaik Shengria.

Xu Yong has no impression of him at all, looking at the introduction that he is a 2.06 meter power forward, the No. 54 show in 2011, from Georgia.

If you look at the type, you know that this is a standard European projection power forward.

But if he is not impressed at all, this person is most likely not famous in the NBA.

This is also normal, after all, Teague has played so badly this season that the trade value is very limited.

And then because Anderson is more suitable to play the No. 4 position, the exchange for this Singria is also used as a third striker.

And the signatories who followed also confirmed this.

The Bulls signed Roger Mason, who was cut by the Kings.

Mason is a 1.96m shooting guard with the Spurs, and the highlight of his career was with the Spurs, carrying the Spurs' outside banner when Ginobili and Parker were injured one after another.

His characteristic is that he can shoot three-point shots, and the disadvantage is that only three-point shots are reliable.

But from the fact that he was cut, it can be seen that he does not have much fuel in the tank, and this signing, like Shengria, is also supplemental.

In other words, in this series of operations, only Hawes can enter the rotation, and the rest will be seen.

"Steven recently said he wanted to find a house in the city, closer to the arena." Butler then spoke.

"Let him come." Xu Yong put down his phone and knew what Butler meant.

Speaking of which, this other field, from O'Neal, to Butler/Yi Jianlian, to Butler/Brown, and then to the current Butler/Adams, can be regarded as witnessing the changes of the Bulls over the years.

……

Two days after the deal was completed, Xu Yong met three new signings in the team's dressing room.

Then he was immediately attracted to Hawes.

One is that Hawes is very tall, 2.16 meters taller than Adams.

The second is his hairstyle.

Behind his head there is a very chic tower .jpg.

If it weren't for the fact that he was an American, it would have made people think it was an Eiffel Tower.

Hawes was very talkative and chatted with the rest of the group not long after entering the locker room.

That's a good thing, because at this point in the season, there's not much time left for newcomers to get used to it.

A month has passed in the blink of an eye, and the season is coming to an end.

It's been a bit of an up-and-down month for the Bulls.

Mainly, it was the problem of Hawes.

Although his personality looks good, Hawes is not willing to play as a substitute in his contract year, so he has a strong desire to play on the court.

But he only likes to float on the outside to shoot, and if he can't shoot, he will be grabbed by the opponent to fight back.

His performance focuses on a difference between theory and reality.

After all, players are not machines, they have their own considerations.

Kobe Bryant's original invention of [package contract year player] is not unreasonable.

Then in a training session, Xu Yong rarely broke out during team training.

He grabbed Hoyce at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends during the full-court confrontation and directly blew him up.

Because the only advantage Hawes has over Xu Yong is his height, but this guy doesn't like to enter the interior when he enters the league, so there is no option to play in the low post.

Seeing that Hoyce was a little unconvinced, Xu Yong took the bench group to blow up the substitute group that Hoyce was in, and then let Hawes go to the starting group, and then continued to blow up the starting group.

After these three quarters of the game, the rest of the Bulls were beaten a little depressed, and Hawes was directly beaten and collapsed.

Especially when he tried to play an inside single in the last quarter, Xu Yong was directly covered by Xu Yong.

And after completing this, Xu Yong sprayed trash talk at him: "I'll clarify it now, people in the outside world say that you are soft, and they are too right." ”

Hawes's face turned red, he was actually the same as Noah back then, a little prickly, and he was not cowardly on the court, but he didn't dare to refute it at this time, because he offended Xu Yong in the Bulls, and he designated that there was no good fruit to eat.

And then after that training session, Hoyston was a lot more honest.

But one thing that is interesting is that Thibodeau watched the whole process from the sidelines, witnessing Hawes's embarrassing process.

Theoretically, after Xu Yong treats Hawes like this, he should DNP, or at least reduce Hawes's playing time.

However, he did not do that, and instead increased Hawes's playing time in the following games.

This touched Hawes very much, and he was ashamed and brave, and he played obviously a lot more reasonably than before, and it also greatly increased the inside depth of the Bulls.

Finally, in the final game of the season, he played the best game of his career against the Heat.

Because this game has not affected the rankings, there are many main players on both sides who are suspended, Xu Yong, Butler and Adams on the Bulls' side do not play, and Wade, Granger and Bosh on the Heat side also choose to take a truce.

As a result, this game became Hawes's career masterpiece.

He eventually recorded a quasi-quadruple-double of 18 points, 16 rebounds, 8 assists and 7 blocks, becoming the league's first player in 23 years since Olajuwon to complete this statistic.

And it is worth mentioning that he is the famous Roy Hibbert.

This feeling is like CBA's Yang Hansen beating Wang Zhelin, although Hibbert also scored 25 points, 10 rebounds and 2 blocks, but only 9 of 26 shots were obviously suppressed.

However, there was an interesting scene on the sidelines, where Xu Yong wore a suit and applauded Hawes's performance several times during the game.

After the game, Hawes hugged head coach Thibodeau in the players' tunnel.

If it weren't for Thibodeau's constant trust, he wouldn't have had a chance to perform like this.

You have to know that such a game will be very helpful for him to get a big contract in the summer.

However, Thibodeau behaved calmly, and said after that: "The person you should be most grateful for is not me, but Xu." ”

Hawes looked puzzled, and it was at this moment that Thibodeau explained why.

It turned out that after beating Hawes before, Xu Yong found Thibodeau, hoping that Thibodeau would not abandon Hawes because of what he did.

The reason is actually very simple, because Xu Yong knows that Hoyce is not actually the kind of soft egg that the outside world says.

The softball isn't going to average closer to 1.5 blocks per game for several seasons in a row.

Hawes's advantages and disadvantages are obvious, in terms of advantages, three-point accuracy, not to mention the space inside, because he was born as a point guard, and his control and passing are rare among big men.

On the downside, there is no inside attack, and then it is slow.

So to sum up, if he is a starting center, Hawes is easy to target, but as a backup center, he is the top version that the Bulls can find.

Because although there is no interior offense, the Bulls only value his spatial ability, and they don't need to go to the low post to attack, which is like Rodman, the Bulls signed him to ask for his defense and rebounding.

As for being slow and easy to target, this is a common problem for most big men on the inside, at least he has a protective frame.

Therefore, the fundamental problem of Hoyce is still mentality, and Xu Yong and Thibodeau's operation is aimed at his mentality.

After learning the truth, Hoyce was surprised and turned around to apologize to Xu Yong in the locker room.

Xu Yong didn't say anything, and took the initiative to get up and give him a big hug.

Many contract year players are like cows, and when they see the data, they can't pull it.

The fact that Hoyce can pull it back means that he can still be saved.

In fact, if you want a big contract in a contract year, typing data is the easiest, and it is also human nature.

But because of this hurt the team, it definitely won't work.

Besides, NBA managers are not stupid, especially after data analysis is becoming more and more developed, they can distinguish the difference between brush and real data.

That's why a player who averages double digits per game suddenly disappears from the league, while an interior player who contributes 5 points and 3 boards stays in the league.

Hawes plays hard, and the contract he can get will not be worse than his statistics.

(End of chapter)