In Los Angeles, Lakers owner Buss Sr. couldn't sleep all night, and by the morning of the 24th, he didn't feel sleepy at all.

Last night, he invited Jerry West to his villa to watch the Pistons-Bulls tie-break together, and after the game, they repeatedly talked about how to trade Zhou Quan, and the discussion did not end until the early hours of the morning.

Unfortunately, from the information sent back by Magic Johnson on the scene, Zhou Quan seemed to be a little dissatisfied with the Lakers, which made him very disappointed.

But he wasn't going to give up, he wanted to bring Zhou Quan back to Los Angeles too much.

Like him, the king's general manager stayed up all night.

Even, Pat Riley is in the ranks.

He has created a fantastic show time era with the Lakers holding two supergiants, Magic and Skyhook, and he has experience in how to use point guards.

Although the current Knicks are strong, but in the No. 1 position, Doug Rivers' strength is far inferior to Zhou Quan, plus John Starks, the entire guard line, both offensive and defensive, is inferior to the Pistons, or even much worse, with Zhou Quan's performance in the second-round series, even more than one grade.

He is under a lot of pressure for the upcoming Eastern Conference finals, and he even thinks that the Knicks have less chance of advancing to the Finals than the Pistons.

The only thing he is looking forward to now is the play of the interior line, his most trusted super center Ewing, defensive titan Oakley, and his traded power forward Charles Smith, the performance of these three people will determine the victory or loss of the Eastern Conference finals series.

And if he is given a chance, if he can trade Zhou Quan, he will not hesitate to do so.

In fact, in the first round of the series last season, he wanted to trade Zhou Quan, but Zhou Quan was not so strong at the time, and his preferred trade position was the interior line, and now he regrets it.

It's too late to regret it, even if the Pistons are willing to trade Zhou Quan, they will not give it to the Knicks, it must be traded to the West.

He has some understanding of the future operation of the Pistons, the Pistons are not the Lakers, nor are they a team like the Knicks or the Heat that is not short of money, the Pistons are only the smallest ball market, and the lack of money is very bad, and it is unlikely that Zhou Quan will be retained.

In the past, the Pistons were able to keep the Assassins, but that was because there was no 100 million yuan contract at that time, otherwise the Assassins would have left, and how could they have a chance to stay in Detroit?

And after getting a 100 million yuan contract from Larry Johnson, which first-line and top star doesn't want a 100 million yuan contract now?

No one is going to have trouble with money, not even him, and Iron Fist is no exception.

……

On the morning of the 24th, Zhou Quan opened his eyes in bed.

"It feels good."

The thought of having eliminated the Bulls and reaching the Eastern Conference Finals made him feel very refreshed.

Reaching out to reach for his watch from the bedside table, it was already a quarter past ten, and he hurriedly got up.

Jo Dumas, who was on the bed next to him, heard the movement, also opened his eyes, yawned and asked, "Iron Fist, what time is it?" ”

"A quarter past ten."

He replied as he dressed.

After washing, he went to Christina's room first.

"Zhou, I'm very sorry, I have a job, a new drama is about to start filming, and now I have to rush back to Los Angeles." Christina said after opening the door.

"It's nothing, I'll give it to you." He said.

“OK。”

"Goodbye, Krina."

"Zhou, remember to visit the class, I'll be waiting for you in Los Angeles."

"Of course."

He asked the hotel to prepare a car, then dropped his girlfriend off at the airport, said goodbye and rushed back to the hotel, just in time for lunch.

"Iron Fist, you know, haha, poor ESPN has finally adjusted the prediction of the championship." The Assassin said as he handed over a stack of newspapers.

"Really? I thought they'd stick with it and still keep the Bulls' chances of winning the championship at 51 percent. Taking the newspaper, Zhou Quan teased while taking food from the plate.

"Haha......" everyone laughed.

"How many are we?" Zhou Quan asked casually.

Joe Dumas said: "With the Eastern Conference finals, we have a 45 percent chance of reaching the Finals, compared to the Knicks' 55 percent. ”

Zhou Quan smiled: "It seems that they continue to be not optimistic about us, so should we continue to slap our face?" ”

"Of course."

The crowd was elated.

Joe Dumas smiled: "Over there in the West, the Suns are 60%, and the supersonics are 40%. The Suns are also the first to win the championship, with a whopping 34%, the Knicks second, 32%, and we are 18%, and the SuperSonics are at the bottom, with 16%. ”

Zhou Quan smiled: "What about other media? ”

Rodman exclaimed, "Anyway, except for the Detroit media, none of the other city media is most optimistic about us winning the championship." ”

"Okay, don't pay attention to that, the media, if what they say comes true, then what are we going to play? When they're mouth cannons, it's fine. ”

Zhou Quan nodded, made a summary, and then read the newspaper while eating.

"Iron Fist, and Michael Jordan's tie-breaker, has established the status of a generation of superstars." Los Angeles Daily News.

"Superstar?"

Slurring for a moment, he laughed.

He couldn't wait to turn up the newspapers below, and some media positioned him as a superstar, that is, his superstar strength has been recognized by some media.

"Huh?"

When he flipped to the Chicago Daily News, he happened to see a small tofu block, an investigative reporter named Sam Smith was about to publish a book about Michael Jordan, the publication date was set before the finals, the title of the book had been set, called "Jordan's Law", and it was about to be released.

"Actually, I was ready to publish this book last year, but it was delayed because of something. My book will present to the public the real Michael Jordan, not the one you see in front of the camera. Sam Smith said in the article.

He was a little interested and was going to buy a copy to see.

Flipping down again, he saw the Detroit Sports Newspaper, with a huge headline on the front page: "Jordan: Trust me, it's not an accident, it's the beginning of an era." ”

He couldn't help laughing, he also remembered this sentence, Jordan said it in a live interview after his first championship in 91.

However, the media in Detroit used this sentence to ridicule Jordan, which is not entirely true, because Jordan has won two consecutive championships, although he has not completed three consecutive championships, but the two consecutive championships are also very good, and the two Magic Birds have not completed three consecutive championships.

However, no matter how strong Jordan is, he also believes that this era will definitely not be monopolized by Jordan, he must get a piece of the pie, and he will also become one of the symbols of this era.

Looking through other newspapers, he saw the pressure on Jordan from the reports of these media, because all the articles mocking him were completely correct in describing them overwhelmingly.

However, since last night's game, no media has been able to find Jordan, and he must have gone into hiding.

At two o'clock in the afternoon, the Pistons returned to Detroit.

Crowds of fans drove to the airport to greet the team, and there were long queues on the highway that stretched for several kilometers.

That night, Zhou Quan watched the seven-tie battle between Western Mosaic and Supersonic at home alone, and the result was 100:103, and SuperSonics successfully grabbed seven at home.

Rebounding, Mosaic, who has the dream of being a super center, only got 38, while SuperSonics grabbed 51, 13 more.

This is the only reason why Mosaic, whose overall shooting percentage is four percentage points higher than that of the supersonic, lost.

And Dameng Olajuwon scored 23 points with a 46.6% shooting rate, and the offensive efficiency was not very high, but he grabbed 17 rebounds, while Sean Kemp, who had the most supersonic rebounds, only grabbed 11, but unfortunately his teammates' rebounding ability was too weak, even if he grabbed three more rebounds, one in and one out, Mosaic would not lose this tie-break.

In this way, the final tables of the East and West are all out.

East, Pistons vs. Knicks, West, SuperSonics vs. Suns, and the rear team has home-court advantage.

The best-of-seven system, 22111 home and away system, the East Finals will start on May 29, and the West Finals will start on the 30th.

At half past eight in the morning on the 25th, Zhou Quan had just finished breakfast and received a call from his agent.

Roger Philip said happily: "Zhou, your sneaker sales have exceeded $20 million this season, and you have sold nearly 800,000 pairs of sneakers, and Skechers has confirmed that it will execute the next three years of the contract. ”

He was pleased, but teased, "Rogge, I wish they weren't doing it anymore." ”

"Haha......"

Philip laughed and said, "Yes, that's what I thought." ”

Then he said: "Zhou, starting from the All-Star, I have negotiated some suitable sponsorship contracts for you, a total of six, which is not bad, including two first-line brands." ”

"That's great!"

Zhou Quan is very happy that he has a large amount of income again.

His previous commercial contracts were not of any grade, that is, the contract signed by Ford last year was okay, and as a Chinese, it is difficult to receive a weighty endorsement in the United States.

"By the way, I'll be in Detroit tomorrow." Philip said.

"Do you sign those contracts?" He asked.

"And negotiate with Cadillac, they're going to give you a contract, haha, happy, right? This is a top luxury car brand. Philip said excitedly.

"The last time I played golf with Mr. Lowes Edward, the CEO of Cadillac, he suggested that I go to a professional golf tournament in the offseason and if I did well, he would give me a contract, is it going to be negotiated now?" He asked.

"Obviously, after the series with Jordan, they can't wait, of course, it's just the first negotiation, and the two sides are just getting to the bottom of it." Philip laughed.

Then he said: "Zhou, although you are a Chinese, and your commercial value cannot be maximized in the United States, as long as you show the strength of a superstar and have a strong ornamentality, you can also have greater commercial value."

My advice to you is to continue to cross the border in the offseason, expand your out-of-the-circle influence, further enhance your visibility and influence, and thus further enhance your business value.

I believe that with your potential and talent in basketball, ice hockey, boxing, golf, and even baseball, you will be able to make a difference, and as long as you achieve a certain level of success in other fields, you have every hope of becoming an international sports superstar, and at that time, your Chinese identity will no longer limit your commercial value.

In fact, even if the NBA has developed very well in recent years, climbing into the ranks of the four major commercial sports leagues in North America, and even surpassing ice hockey, its influence is still only so, there is still a big distance from baseball, and the distance from football is too far, and the ratings of the NBA Finals have exploded several times, and it cannot catch up with the influence of the Super Bowl.

Zhou, if you can do well in the two professional sports of boxing and golf, with the influence of these two sports around the world, you will definitely succeed.

You must know that in terms of the world, boxing and golf have far more influence than the NFL, they are truly popular sports in the world, and American football is only in the United States. ”

Philip's words had a strong motivating effect on Zhou Quan, he remembered Lin Changhua's words, if he was a business card, then why didn't he make this business card a golden business card?

He wants to be a world-class athlete, but he wants everyone in Malaysia to know his name.

Philip added: "WBC officials have contacted me several times, and they want to maintain further cooperation with you to confirm your off-season boxing arrangements, and I agreed for you, Zhou, you will have a real professional boxing match in the off-season." ”

"Yes. Who is the opponent? When is it? Zhou Quan asked.

"It's tentatively scheduled for September or October, so you can have some time to train professionally," Philip said. The opponent has not yet been decided, and WBC is very cautious and will arrange a fighter with the same strength as you. WBC means that you are picked in the heavyweight world rankings in the twenty or thirty places, and they think that your strength should be at this stage. ”

"Twenty or thirty? OK。 ”

Zhou Quan didn't refuse, he wasn't so stupid, he said that he wanted to arrange a world boxing champion for me to fight, his training time was too little, and his boxing experience was close to nothing, so he could only take his time, fight the low-ranking boxers first, and climb up step by step.

"Also, Zhou, tonight the league announced the best team, and I wish you a selection for the double team."

"Thank you!"

……

In the afternoon, Zhou Quan invited Jo Dumas and the Assassin to play golf and relax.

In the evening, at eight o'clock, the league announced the All-Defensive Team and All-NBA roster through ESPN's national livestream.

In the defensive lineup, there are quite few guards competing with him, except for Jordan, the biggest possibility is Joe Dumas, his teammate.

The first to be announced is the defensive second lineup, which is Grant, Joe Dumas, Larynand, David Robinson, and John Starks.

Seeing the name of Joe Dumas, the expectation in Zhou Quan's heart can almost be determined, he should be selected for the best defensive team.

Sure enough, in the next defensive battle, his big name was among them, and the other four were Jordan, Olaju, Pippen, and Rodman.

"Haha......"

Two of his team's players were named to the defensive team at the same time, which made him laugh out loud right away.

However, this immediately reminded him of the Knicks, the strongest defensive team this season, and no one was selected for the defensive team, and only one John Starks was selected for the defensive second team, which was actually not good news for him and the Pistons, and he couldn't laugh right away.

This situation means that the reason why the Knicks' defense is strong is not caused by individual strength, but by the defensive system and defensive style.

Dealing with five tier-1 defenders is certainly harder than dealing with one or two tier-1 defenders, which means the Pistons are likely to face a stronger defense than the Bulls against the Knicks.

Don't look at the Pistons now have three players selected for the defensive team, and the Bulls also have two first-team and one second-team, but the Pistons are similar to the Bulls and have serious holes in the defensive system, the Bulls are the No. 1 and No. 5 positions, and the Pistons are the No. 5 and No. 3 positions.

And the Pistons' defensive system is not as good as the Bulls, so their defensive performance during the season is not as good as the Bulls, and it is even worse than the Knicks.

At this time, the All-NBA team began to be announced, and he let go of his consideration of the Knicks.

(End of chapter)