"I almost got traded to Detroit?"

Barkley also knew the news, and it choked his heart, as if he had lost his most precious thing, and sighed for a long time.

was originally traded to the Suns, and he was very happy to be able to join forces with the Lightning, especially to play the first record in the league in the regular season, aiming for the championship, before the first-round series, how high-spirited he was, but unfortunately, the first-round series was like a stick, and the Lakers made his head dizzy.

That's the Lakers, it's the Lakers, when the number team negotiated a trade with the Lakers, it made him happy or something, he really hated Billikin, if he was in the Lakers now, how strong would the Lakers be?

And the Pistons, God, can join forces with that guy with Iron Fist, without him, they can sweep the Hornets, and if they add him, I'm afraid they can sweep the Bulls!

He, he actually missed two chances to win the championship in one offseason? Damn Billy King! Damn David Stern!

"Alas!"

But now, he can only lament, he can't do anything, he can only play the G5 battle with the Lakers, if he is blackened by the Lakers, he will be finished.

The thought of missing the opportunity to win two championships, the thought of being blacked out of eight, these two emotions from the peak to the lowest point made him have the urge to vomit blood.

"Jerry, I'm going to see Tekken's name on our roster for next season." At this time, Lakers owner Buss Sr. made a phone call to general manager Jerry West.

"I understand."

West is very sober and has not been affected by the situation that the Lakers are now tied 2-2 with the Suns, who are the first in the league, the Lakers' lineup must be strengthened, or even rebuilt, and Iron Fist, there is no doubt that it has the strength and potential to become the core of the Lakers' reconstruction.

Before the '91 draft, Iron Fist came to the Lakers for a tryout, and he missed that opportunity, at that time he couldn't forget the greatness of the magic, and he couldn't look down on the ordinary Iron Fist, but he knew it was wrong, and now he wants to seize this opportunity and bring Iron Fist back to Los Angeles.

It's a pity that he contacted Zhou Quan's agent Philip and didn't get through.

Like the Lakers, at this time, many team general managers were trying to contact Philip, even the Warriors who originally drafted Zhou Quan, but no one could get through to him.

There is no one happier than David Stern.

He vetoed the trade, but he vetoed it because he was worried that Barkley's addition to the Pistons would make the Pistons too strong.

After vetoing the deal, he didn't let the league announce the rejected deal, so as not to irritate the Pistons and the number team even more, but now that he has been poked out after so long, it is time to use this opportunity to operate Zhou Quan to the Western team.

Because Barkley and Zhou Quan's revelations attracted the attention of the media, even the G5 battle between Mosaic and the Clippers was affected.

In the end, Mosaic still defeated the Clippers, eliminated the opponent with a score of 3-2, and made it to the second round with difficulty.

On the 8th, the media began to officially hype the news of the transaction between Barkley and Zhou Quan.

At 9 o'clock, the NBA announced the MVP winner through ABC TV, and Barkley defeated Jordan and Olajuwon to receive the honor.

It was also the biggest and hardest accolade of Barkley's career, which made him cry immediately, and the damage caused to him by the news last night was instantly remedied.

He feels that there is still a chance this time, as long as they beat the Lakers in tonight's G5 game and reach the second round, the Suns should go more smoothly.

Before going to work in the morning, a lot of fans came to the Pistons headquarters one after another, and by 9 o'clock, hundreds of people had already come, and they had only one purpose, to scold the management.

Before eight o'clock, Troy Weaver rushed to the headquarters, not daring to go through the main gate, only daring to go through the small door, fortunately there was a small door, otherwise he really wouldn't have been able to enter.

The first thing he did after going to work was to hold a temporary press conference at the headquarters, invite some media outlets, and deny the trade rumors.

The league wouldn't make the rejected deal public anyway, and as long as Billikin didn't leak it, he wasn't afraid of the lie being exposed.

The fans who blocked the door were naïve and fooled away by him.

But his words could not fool the media, and few reporters believed him.

At 9 o'clock, Zhou Quan and Christina came to the headquarters.

"Iron Fist, would you choose to leave the Pistons?"

"Iron Fist, if you get traded, which team would you like to go to?"

Seeing his car coming, the media reporters waiting outside the headquarters immediately rushed up.

"I'm sorry, but all my energy right now is in the second-round series, so I can't comment on any issues related to that."

He replied with the window down, then closed the window and waited for security to come and help clear the crowd.

After a while, entering the parking lot, they saw that the Assassins had arrived, along with some family members.

Seeing that Zhou Quan was no different, the assassin and Jo Dumas and the others were all relieved, and Chuck Daly was also relieved.

This sudden news made the old coach feel a little tired, he encouraged Zhou Quan and the others a few words, and got on the bus alone.

"Zhou, listen to me, this is definitely a fake ......"

A staff member notified Weaver, who immediately rushed to the parking lot, and when he saw Zhou Quan, he was about to explain, but Zhou Quan waved his hand and signaled:

"Troy, I understand your position, so needless to say, let's prepare for the second-round series and not let the news affect us."

Understanding, but not support, Weaver sighed secretly, and had already scolded the person who broke the news as a dog in his heart, but he understood that there was already an irreparable rift between him and Zhou Quan.

At 10 o'clock, the plane takes off and arrives at the airport at 12 noon.

"Iron Fist, do you have any regrets about this rejected deal?"

"Iron Fist, do you want to leave Detroit?"

A large number of reporters waited at the airport, and when they saw the pistons come out, they rushed up.

"Sorry, this is fake news, and I have nothing to say about your question." All questions related to the transaction, Zhou Quan responded with this sentence.

At one o'clock, after settling into the hotel, the piston held a press conference.

At the press conference, Zhou Quan still had the same attitude, and Weaver always insisted that it was fake news, and finally the media had to change direction.

"Iron Fist, the Pistons have been in the Eastern Conference finals for six consecutive years, so will this record be broken in your hands this year?" A Chicago Daily reporter asked.

Zhou Quan smiled and said, "Six years in a row to enter the East Final? Our pistons are really strong enough, thank you for the compliment. ”

"I praise you for being a ghost." The reporter twitched in the face and cursed.

Zhou Quan added: "We have made the best preparations for this meeting with the Bulls in the second round, and we will treat every game as if it were the last game of our career, and we will do whatever it takes to achieve this. ”

He didn't answer the reporter's question, but what he said made all the local reporters tense their nerves.

Before last season's Eastern Conference final, he was worried about the morale of his teammates, and in order to boost morale, he arranged a party early in the morning to communicate and so on.

But this time, until now, he has not communicated with his teammates about the East Finals.

In addition to Sekari and a few substitutes, the main lineup, teammates are still those teammates, only one less John Sely, Joe Dumas and Rodman are a year older, and the morale should not be as good as last season, but he is not as worried about morale as last season.

Of course, there is only one reason, last season he couldn't stand up on his own and relied a lot on his teammates, but now he is different, his dependence on his teammates has greatly diminished.

At critical moments, he can stand up on his own and use scoring again and again to motivate the morale of his teammates, so the act of using words to motivate morale before the series is not so important.

On this day, Troy Weaver received a call from these management.

At this point, facing the situation that Zhou Quan is likely to apply for a trade after the end of the season, he has to prepare for both.

Poor Philadelphia Numbers, Barkley's deal for a one-week swap was vetoed, and they traded Barkley to the Suns, who succeeded, but they themselves hit rock bottom and the rebuild failed.

So this time, Billy King personally contacted Weaver and showed sincerity, and the whole team was at the mercy of the Pistons to pick and pick up future draft picks.

The Lakers, Jerry West's chip is the entire guard line, plus a future first-round pick.

The Warriors are willing to take out Tim Hardaway to trade the weekly right.

The Magic, who also wants to trade Zhou Quan, is even ready to take out the first-round pick that will be drawn this year, saying that even if they win the top pick, they are willing to trade, and then take the entire guard line.

Weaver's main concern is the western team, and he certainly won't keep Zhou Quan in the east.

That afternoon, Roger Phillip rushed to Chicago to cheer Zhou Quan on.

He was contacted by several team management, who kept detailed notes of the calls and wanted to pick out the best team for Zhou Quan.

Philadelphia is not bad, the big ball market, but the lineup is a little worse, and it is difficult to get up immediately after the trade, and it is also an Eastern team, which is not easy to trade, and can only be used as a spare tire, which is not the first choice.

Needless to say, the Lakers and Warriors are both big cities, the economy is very good, and there are a lot of Chinese.

Even if it is the Warriors, as long as there is a record, the ball market will definitely be able to rise, and the team's lineup is okay, which can be considered as the first choice.

As for the Magic, like Philadelphia, the Pistons shouldn't let Zhou Quan stay in the East, but if they can join forces with O'Neal, presumably Zhou Quan will also be happy.

In the afternoon, Zhang Lili and Sun Zhenping, as well as a three-person camera team, arrived in Chicago.

With the arrangement of the alliance, this time Zhang Li and they stayed in a luxury hotel, and they didn't have to look for any motels.

Zhou Quan invited them to dinner and then returned to the hotel for an interview.

"Xiao Zhou, the news of the deal?" During the interview, Zhang asked tentatively.

"Fake, there are no official sources at the moment." Even if it is his own person, Zhou Quan said cautiously.

Zhang Lili didn't ask this question again in the interview, but after the interview, he turned off the camera and microphone, and he asked again: "Xiao Zhou, this news shouldn't be fake, right, the Pistons should really want to trade you?" ”

Zhou Quan shook his head and said, "I don't know, maybe it is, I don't want to distract myself from this matter now, Brother Zhang, let's talk about something else." ”

Zhang Li nodded hurriedly, and Sun Zhenping also quickly changed the topic, and asked with a smile: "Xiao Zhou, it would be good if you could win the Bulls this time, there is a high probability of meeting the Knicks in the East Finals, you eliminated them in the first round last year, and it shouldn't be a problem this year." ”

Zhou Quan smiled: "Don't think so far, all my energy now is in the second round." ”

Zhang Li said with a smile: "You are successful in the NBA, whether it is strength or influence and popularity, you are already a first-line star."

Now that the domestic sports world has not yet become professional, you can be regarded as a pioneer of domestic athletes, and you are so successful, you should be a role model for them. ”

"It's not a success, where am I here?" He hurriedly said modestly.

"You're welcome, that's the truth."

Zhang Li smiled: "You are a pioneer, there must be someone who wants to follow your path." By the way, won't that Ma Jian just come out? ”

Sun Zhenping shook his head and said: "Ma Jian came out by force, and it was very stiff. Xiao Zhou was trained by his own family, he and the domestic athletes were trained by the country, eating, drinking, wearing and salary, and training for so many years, you can't just leave, right? Xiao Zhou, what do you say? ”

Zhou Quan smiled: "I can't say this, I should take it all into account, but I really can't just leave." The NBA allows transactions, and you can use them to make up for the losses of your team, and see what you do in the future. If basketball is to be professionalized, it will definitely face the exodus of players. ”

"Forget it, this matter is very complicated, and it's none of our business, let's change the topic." Zhang Li said hurriedly.

……

That night, the Suns played the Lakers, the SuperSonics and the Jazz in the final game of the first-round series.

In the end, the SuperSonics defeated the Jazz, and the Suns defeated the Lakers, also with a score of 3-2, and struggled to reach the second round.

In this way, the second round of the East and West matchups are out.

In the East, the Bulls vs. the Pistons (No. 9) and the Knicks vs. the Cavaliers (No. 10), with the front team having home-court advantage.

These four teams, which are also the top four in the regular season in the East, have not had any upsets.

In the West, the Suns vs. Spurs (No. 10) and the SuperSonics vs. Mosaics (No. 11), the front team has home-court advantage.

In the regular season, the SuperSonics are third in the West, but the record is the same as Mosaic, both are 55 wins, and in terms of mutual records, the SuperSonics are three to one against Mosaic, so in the playoff rankings, the SuperSonics are second in the West, occupying the home advantage.

Of these four teams, the Spurs are fifth in the West, eliminated the fourth Trail Blazers, and reached the second round, which is not a real upset.

But except for the Spurs, who eliminated the Trail Blazers with a score of 3-1, the other three teams in the West in the regular season were only 3-2 to advance, so the media's evaluation of these three teams is far inferior to the Spurs.

On May 9, 1993, the second round of the series began.

The Pistons were also not scheduled to train at the United Center, and contacted the University of Chicago, where Zhang used to work, where he trained all afternoon, and at five o'clock he took a bus to the United Center.

I went to the locker room to drop off my luggage, and then I went to the stadium to see the situation, and at this time I had changed to the floor for the game, so I could observe the smoothness of the floor and so on.

After seeing the scene, they went to the restaurant for dinner.

At half past six, Zhang Li and Sun Zhenping were already sitting in the narrow commentary room, on the east side of the stands, the position was arranged quite well, the opposite side of the stadium was the bench, the screen in front of them was facing the bench, and the picture was still being debugged.

He collected a lot of materials, all translated into Chinese, a large stack, and arranged for a member of the camera team to help as assistants, responsible for sorting out and passing the materials to them.

The remaining two cameramen, Fang Lin and Wu Qifeng, had already come to the stadium at this time, set up cameras in the media booth behind the bottom line, and then began to debug the equipment.

Next to them, there happened to be two reporters and videographers from TV Tokyo, Japan, which also broadcast the series live.

On the other side, there is Liu Fangping, a reporter from Xiangcheng ATV TV.

ATV mainly broadcasts the Bulls' games, the regular season is recorded, and now the playoffs are of course broadcast live in real time, but no commentators were sent over, just purchased satellite signals, and the live broadcast room was in the rear.

"Chinese?"

He glanced at the CCTV logo on the camera that Fang Lin was fiddling with, with some disdain in his eyes, and asked coldly in English.

Fang Lin ignored Liu Fangping, he was busy, Wu Qifeng asked, "Yes, you are from Xiangcheng?" ”

"This time the Pistons are lost, and Michael Jordan will beat the Pistons to slag." Liu Fangping sneered.

Wu Qifeng and Fang Lin glanced at each other and shook their heads, they knew that the people of Xiangcheng looked down on the mainlanders, so they no longer paid attention to Liu Fangping.

Liu Fangping also laughed proudly and ignored the two of them anymore.

(End of chapter)