Barkley's kneeling was another of his appearances, and that episode of TNT reached a season-high rating.

Some professionals estimate that Barkley's kneeling will bring him nearly 10 million US dollars.

But that still won't change the status quo in the NBA.

Although Xiao Hua continued to play hard in the All-Star Game, this year's All-Star Game will still be the lowest-rated one ever.

Even Charlotte, who hosted the All-Star event, has voices that want to give up the right to host this event.

And then, they got their wish.

Because just before the All-Star Game, Charlotte's North Carolina state will pass a gay exclusion law in March 2017: allowing gay exclusion from business activities.

The controversial HB2 bill refuses to protect LGBT rights and imposes mandatory use of "biological sex" toilets when using toilets.

After pressuring the North Carolina government to no avail, the coalition eventually canceled Charlotte's hosting rights and moved to New Orleans, where the venue was the most suitable for temporary.

This has also attracted a wave of attention from the outside world.

Media people kneel, the All-Star arena changes, and you'll find that the most interesting thing about the NBA this year is not the things on the court, but the off-court news.

This also made fans miss Xu Yong even more.

And Xu Yong has already returned to China at this time.

He was invited by Yao Ming to promote the school basketball league in China.

Yao Ming's reform of domestic basketball is different from that of his predecessors, he started from the bottom, that is, the grassroots.

This is a very bold approach, and its effects will take at least 10 or even 20 years to see.

Because you have to wait at least until the first or second batch of children you train grows up, and it depends on whether they can realize their talents.

But this is why Yao Ming has the courage and ability.

So Xu Yong came back this time, not only to fulfill his previous promise with Yao Ming at the wedding, but also to recognize this practice.

In his previous life, he was reborn before he had time to see the results of Yao Ming's reforms, and in this life he was looking forward to the results.

Xu Yong's appearance naturally caused a violent response, and it can be said that Xu Yong's appearance helped Yao Ming make a better start than in history.

Because of Barkley's kneeling, someone at the event also asked about Xu Yong's return to the NBA.

Xu Yong's answer is very straightforward, he is enjoying his retirement life now and will not consider returning to the NBA.

This also triggered the continued shock of the NBA.

Originally, when Xu Yong played in the NBA, the NBA was in the same global and North American attention as it was two and the best, and even surpassed the NFL in North America last year, but now, they are about to fall to fourth or even fifth.

After participating in domestic activities, Xu Yong stayed in China for a while and opened several training camps.

Since he really wants to help Yao Ming and the development of domestic basketball, he can't just take a formality.

But that's when he received a very important piece of news, related to the Bulls.

Jokic, who was sent away after the All-Star break.

As Jokic continues to grow, the conflict between him and Thibodeau grows.

Because Thibodeau won't let Jokic play the starting five and has a high value on Adams, it makes management have to make a choice.

The end result was naturally that Jokic was sent away, as management couldn't possibly give up a coach who had brought five championships to the team for the sake of a promising new star.

Moreover, this coach is also Xu Yong's mentor.

Specifically, the Bulls sent Jokic and Joe Johnson to the Mavericks for LaMarcus Aldridge and Tony Allen.

Jokic's trade value is on full display, as the Mavericks are even willing to pay him for the season's star of the season, who averaged a double-double of 25.4 points and 11.2 rebounds per game while Leonard is reimbursed for the season due to injury.

However, in terms of reality, because Leonard is still recovering from an injury, Aldridge can't make any achievements, rather than not going up or down, it is better to break and stand up, and Chandler is completely out of action at this time, and Jokic's arrival is just right to take over.

For the Bulls, sending Jokic away is a foregone conclusion, and trading him for an All-Star power forward who is still playing (32 years old) is not a loss.

Xu Yong called Jokic after reading the news and said some words of blessing to him.

This result is not bad for Jokic, and it can even be said to be the best.

Because although Leonard's injury is as bad as in history, the Mavericks management, or Cuban, showed plenty of patience with him, which did not make the farce that Xu Yong knew about them.

This also means that Leonard will still be with the Mavericks after his return, and the combination of Jokic + Leonard will be competitive enough at that time.

And Jokic, although he is an overseas player, is a white man, and in places like Dallas, white people are far more popular than black players.

In March, Xu Yong returned to the United States.

It was at this time that he felt a little uncomfortable.

Playing all year round can be tiring, so in the first few months after retiring, he indulged himself and enjoyed it.

But as time went on, not only did the originally fixed rhythm of life become a mess, but a sense of emptiness also began to invade his life.

These are all things that Xu Yong has never considered, but he can't avoid.

When he woke up from bed in the early hours of the morning, Xu Yong somewhat understood why Jordan was going to play baseball after retiring.

Perhaps the more important reason is to make life fulfilling than liking.

Because when you lose something in your life, it's best to fill it with something else.

But unlike Jordan, he doesn't have a second career that he loves.

His hobby is collecting star cards, which is clearly not enough to fill his life.

It was at this time that he remembered a man.

He went on a trip to Los Angeles to meet Kobe, who was also retired.

Bryant took him straight to a stadium in the suburbs where a lot of kids were training.

Xu Yong also saw the familiar sign on the wall of the stadium: Black Mamba.

After Kobe Bryant retired, Kobe registered the trademark.

And his main business now is Mamba College.

Or to put it another way, to cultivate rising stars for American basketball.

Last summer, Mamba Academy opened, and many stars like the United States came to cheer, not only hot stars like George, but also famous people like Irving, and of course, more new stars like Devin Booker and Jayson Tatum.

Xu Yong was inspired after reading it.

Before leaving, Bryant chatted with him for a while about the current league.

"They need a hero, and only you can be that hero." Kobe Bryant said seriously.

Xu Yong smiled and didn't answer, but he looked at Kobe Bryant and remembered another thing.

"Do you still use helicopters?"

"It's convenient." Kobe nodded, thinking that Xu Yong was diverting the topic.

"I've seen a news story about a helicopter crash in which a father and his children survived, leaving his wife alone."

Xu Yong's words were very inappropriate, and Kobe Bryant frowned when he heard it.

However, Xu Yong just continued to tell as if he didn't see it: "I don't like to put the steering wheel in the hands of others, especially in the air, when the accident comes, all I can do is wait for death." ”

"It's as safe as an airplane." Kobe Bryant shook his head.

Hearing this, Xu Yong remembered Kobe's character and knew that he couldn't persuade him.

At this moment, Vanessa sent Gigi over, she is the most Kobe-like of all Kobe's daughters, both in terms of personality and ball skills.

Bryant saw his daughter come over and stretched out his hand to hug her and say hello, and then motioned for his daughter to go inside and wait for him first.

Xu Yong was leaving, and before leaving, he said the last sentence: "In the future, you should pay more attention to safety, don't take risks in a hurry, after all, ......"

Xu Yong said and looked inside: "Many times you don't fly in a helicopter alone. ”

Kobe Bryant glanced back, knowing that Xu Yong was out of kindness, he stretched his brows and gave Xu Yong a hug with a smile: "I will." ”

Xu Yong did not return to Chicago after leaving Los Angeles, but went directly to Tempe.

Just a few days later, Arizonada State University announced that Xu Yong will become the team's assistant coach in the next season, the 2018~2019 season.

That's right, Xu Yong also chose to pursue a career related to basketball, but coaching.

The reason why he chose this is not only to fill the gap in his life, but also to improve his technical and tactical level.

In fact, in terms of tactical level alone, the NCAA is much better than the NBA.

Those tactics that have been carried forward in the NBA, Princeton, triangle tactics, etc., are just like those songs that are popular in China, such as "The First Love", "Sad Pacific", "Song of a Thousand Thousand Que", "Later" and other songs, all of which are from remakes.

Those songs are from Japan and South Korea, and these tactics are from the NCAA.

Even Cole's favorite [Whirlwind Tactic] is actually from Iowa State University.

So going through the NCAA season from a coach's point of view would be a pretty good experience for Xu Yong.

It's just that after the news broke out, it instantly caused a huge response.

The NBA has collapsed in popularity, and Xu Yong not only has no timetable for returning now, but is enjoying his retirement life more and more?

You must know that Xu Yong's appointment as a coach means that Xu Yong's disappearance from the NBA has been extended from one season to two seasons, or even longer.

Originally, just like Kobe Bryant said, Xu Yong was the only one who could save the NBA, but now it's okay, the NBA is over directly.

Fans are increasingly pessimistic about the NBA's prospects, and the NBA's viewership and market capitalization continue to decline.

Now the bosses are really suffering.

This market value is like the stock market, for ordinary people who are not involved, the ups and downs are some digital changes, but for shareholders who hold stocks, it is real money in their pockets, and what evaporates out of thin air is personal assets.

There have been rumors that there are owners who want to sell the team.

After all, not every owner is the kind that has held the team for decades, and many of them are teams that only started after the Jordan era and even after Xu Yong appeared.

Just like not everyone bought a house before the house price went up, many people's thoughts in this situation will be to make a move and stop the loss in time.

After all, it's the same, just like no one knows if housing prices will rise back, and no one knows whether Xu Yong, who is playing more and more now, will play in the NBA again.

When the time came to April, Xu Yong had begun to live in Tempe and start training with the team's new players, the NBA statistics in all aspects finally stopped the downward trend, and there was a slight recovery.

The playoffs are coming.

After returning to a basketball-related career, Xu Yong subconsciously paid more attention to the NBA, and naturally also paid attention to the prospects of this year's playoffs.

The hottest team at the start of the season was undoubtedly the Thunder, but with the return of the vertical jump rule, the Warriors came out on top as the best team in the league, and they ended up breaking the NBA's all-time record with 73 wins.

This made Xu Yongdu a little unexpected, but after he carefully read the comments, he found that the Warriors have many classic famous scenes this season, such as "Brave Out of Bounds", "Brave No Foul" (especially referring to a covering foul on the move) and so on.

This is the same idea as pushing Westbrook to join the Thunder before the season, to set a new record and create a new gimmick.

The theme of the West is still the Thunder and the Warriors, Xu Yong paid attention to the Mavericks, Jokic's season data is 18+10+6, but after arriving at the Mavericks, the data is 20+10+7, and Cuban estimates that everyone is laughing silly.

On the Eastern side, the Raptors directly won the first place, and Antetokounmpo has replaced DeRoy as the core of the team, or it can be said that he replaced James as the villain in the East.

The Cavaliers continued to be strong and sat in second place.

The Celtics were third.

And the Bulls, the old club that Xu Yong is most concerned about, finally won one less game than the digital people who believed in [process] and ranked fifth.

At the beginning of the season, the Xu Yong Bulls suddenly struggled a little, and then the [vertical jump rule] returned, and their offensive firepower was obviously insufficient, and they fell out of the playoffs for a while.

Aldridge's results have picked up since his arrival, but the hole they dug up ahead is a bit too big.

This position is a bit awkward, because from the first round, it is a downward play, and in the second round, it will face the strongest Raptors in the East, and there is a high probability of stopping in the semifinals.

This was quickly demonstrated in the first round, when Joel touched him and fouled Embiid to make the Bulls very passive on the defensive end, and they fell behind 1-2 at one point.

However, just when fans thought that the Bulls were going to stop, and the outside world was also lamenting that "Butler is not the next Pippen", Butler began to play explosively.

He first scored 43 points in G4 to lead the team to reverse and equalize the score, and then cut 30+ in a row, leading the team to complete the following gram 4-2.

Then in the second round, the Bulls met the Raptors, from the first game between the two sides, Butler grabbed DeRozan to play, and DeRozan had no way to play on the defensive end, even with the offense was sluggish, and the Bulls also took the initiative at the beginning.

As for Antetokounmpo, his projection hasn't improved, and the Bulls have been defending against him.

Because DeRozan is not in good offensive form, the Raptors' offensive problems are very obvious.

4 to 1, an unexpected start, an ending that no one ever thought of, Butler just led the Bulls over the Raptors.

He closed the loop on the trash talk of the year with practical actions: you can't play in the east before Xu Yong retires, and you still can't play in the east after Xu Yong retires (because I'm still there).

This is also since Xu Yong's retirement, the NBA has finally begun to have some topics worthy of fans' attention.

Eastern Conference Bulls vs. Cavaliers, just when the outside world, even Xu Yong felt that Butler was going to lead the team to the Finals, the Bulls lost.

With a score of 2 to 4, the Bulls played very tenacious, but they couldn't stand the overall strength of the Cavaliers, especially the huge advantage on the inside, Davis has fully grown this season.

The Cavaliers' opponent in the Finals is the Thunder, the opponent of the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals.

That's right, the 73-win Warriors ended up finishing second in the West!

This was also unexpected by Xu Yong.

If it is the version without the [vertical jump rule], he thinks the Thunder have a good chance of winning, but if it is that version, the Warriors will not be able to win 73 wins.

But now in this small-ball version, the Warriors have a big chance of winning, not to mention that they have league support behind them.

As a result, the Thunder won, and winning was entirely a bloody script.

0-1 at the beginning, 1-2 in one city, 2-3 in another city, Durant averaged 41 points per game in 5 games, which belonged to completely burning himself.

Then in the last two games, Westbrook went crazy.

Not only did he play his best breakthrough, but he was also extremely accurate in his zombie jump shot and three-point shot, which completely explained what it means to play by emotion, and no one can hold it down if he goes crazy.

Xu Yong also felt incredible when he watched it, after all, in the history he knew, Westbrook was the man who [prevented] Durant.

But if you look closely, many things are different.

Westbrook went out to be a big brother, although the data is watery, but he has a completely different perspective on the game, and it is too normal to break out in one or two games when he is in good shape.

There is also Harden, Harden's ability to feed cakes has really evolved a lot over the years, and the play of Durant and Westbrook can be said to be completely inseparable from his super support.

It can be said that although these three brothers are still the three brothers, they are much more mature than many years ago, and they are no longer hot-blooded teenagers, but they really want to do a great career and become famous.

But this one is interesting, the Cavaliers finally played in the East in the second year after James' departure, and James failed to break out of the West in his second year with the Warriors.

Sure enough, the most feared thing about all things in the world is comparison.

Both sides of the divisional finals were fiercely fought, but when it came to the finals, the situation was clearer.

From Game 1, the Thunder showed a clear level of strength over the Cavaliers.

After the last five games, the Thunder defeated the Cavaliers 4-1 and successfully won the second NBA championship in team history.

Will the Bulls play better than the Cavaliers in the Finals? Maybe.

Can the Bulls beat the Thunder to win the championship? Apparently not.

Fans also found out at this time that there seem to be many strong teams in the east, but without Xu Yong, these eastern teams are not enough for the western team to play in the finals.

At the awards ceremony, Durant faced the camera with tears in his eyes, choked up several times, and couldn't speak with the microphone.

He has also been in the league for 11 years, since he joined the league in 2007.

His 11 years with the Thunder eventually earned him the player's highest honor.

Harden and Westbrook, including Ibaka, also have red eyes on the side.

The things they couldn't accomplish back then, and the regrets they once had, all made up for this year.

It's a fairytale-like ending.

(End of chapter)