In the away team's locker room at this time, Michael Jordan, who lost, did not say a word, so the atmosphere was as cold as iron, and no one dared to speak.

Phil Jackson leaned against the wall by the door, his mind a little confused.

He single-handedly brought in Kevin Willis in the hope that he could play the low-post offense that the team needed.

But unfortunately, under Matt Geiger's defense, Willis didn't play the low-post offense he needed today, all of them were mid-range shots, and the efficiency was not as good as Geiger and Gilliam, and it didn't meet his requirements at all.

It was also he who let go of BJ and promoted Ron Harper to the starting line-up to defend Zhou Quan to free up Jordan's offense.

But the game just now proved that Ron Harper couldn't guard Zhou Quan, and at the same time, in terms of individual offense, Jordan was limited by supersonic pinch tactics, while the Bulls couldn't contain Zhou Quan.

"What should I do?"

Neither of these assumptions lived up to his expectations, which was the reason why his mind was a little messy.

"Are you really looking for a super center like Ewing and them?"

There is no way to toss on the outside, Jordan + Pippen + Ron Harper, such an outside combination is already the most powerful outside combination in the league, such a combination makes Zhou Quan play like that tonight.

Therefore, he believes that he can only toss the inner line, and he can only continue to strengthen the inner line in order to defeat the supersonic.

However, not to mention the difficulty of trading super centers, is the boss willing to invest heavily in bringing in super centers? I'm afraid it can't be.

An hour later, in the post-fight press conference, an ESPN reporter asked, "Michael, Iron Fist said that his individual offense has reached the height you are now, do you agree with his words?" ”

The green tendons on Jordan's forehead jumped, and a sentence came out from between his teeth: "I've forgotten how many scoring titles I've won, can anyone tell me?" ”

"Nine, Michael, you've been the scoring champion for nine seasons in a row, and Iron Fist hasn't had any. He didn't have any. ”

A Chicago reporter said aloud excitedly and angrily.

Jordan shrugged his shoulders and said, "Wait until he's done what I've done, and then I'll say that again." ”

"But Iron Fist is the point guard."

A local Seattle reporter said loudly unconvinced.

"Then don't talk to me about individual offense, talk about his assists." Jordan said dismissively.

"Michael, is it unfair that Iron Fist is saying that his individual offense is at the same level as you are now, but you are talking about past honors?" The local reporter shouted again.

"Mr. Reporter from the Seattle Post, please follow the rules of the interview."

The host of the press conference gave an unhappy reminder and then asked the staff to give the microphone to the New York Times reporter.

The New York Times reporter immediately asked, "Michael, did you really lose millions of dollars in the World Title defense between Iron Fist and McCall?" ”

The green tendons on Jordan's forehead jumped up continuously, and he snorted coldly and denied: "No, I only bet 100,000 dollars." ”

……

After winning against the Bulls, 12-2, the SuperSonics dominate the league, ranking first in the league, and have a win gap with the Bulls.

On the 28th, he defeated the Pacers at home and tied 1-1 with the Pacers, achieving a 13-2 record and ending the first month.

In November, Zhou Quan played an average of 39 minutes per game, averaging 16-of-29 shooting per game, shooting 55.2%, shooting 2.5 of 6 three-pointers, shooting 41.7%, 6.7 free throws, shooting 95.7%, averaging 41.2 points, 4.8 rebounds, 13.2 assists, 6.1 steals, 2 blocks, 2.1 turnovers and 2.6 fouls per game.

On the 1st, the league announced the MVP rankings for the first month, as well as the best of the first month.

Zhou Quan ranked first in MVP with undisputed statistics and team records, as well as the best player of the month in November.

The Big Three's mosaic also lived up to the media's expectations, playing a 12-3 record and finishing second in the West.

The Bulls are first in the East, losing only two games in their first month, to the Magic and the SuperSonics.

At noon on the 1st, the agent Roger Philip came to Zhou Quan's villa, and the two drank coffee at the pier and talked about things.

Zeng Li, on the other hand, was playing on the yacht, preparing to ask Zhou Quan to take some photos of her later, and then send them home.

"Zhou, Skechers contacted me and hope to renew my contract with you in advance." Philip said.

"What conditions did the company give me?" Zhou Quan asked.

"Actually, they're asking you what you want," Philip said. ”

"Huh!" Zhou Quan laughed.

He pondered for a while and said: "I'm not short of money now, and when I take the money, I also invest in other companies, rather than taking their endorsement fees, it is better to invest directly in their companies." ”

"Smack!"

Philip snapped his fingers and agreed with a smile: "I thought about it, and I also think that now you have the strength and qualifications to take the same contract as Jordan." ”

"What kind of contract does Jordan have at Nike?" Zhou Quan asked.

"It was 4.5 percent of Nike stock, but then Nike thought that Jordan interfered with the company's operations from time to time, so it persuaded Jordan to set up a separate company and exchange those Nike shares for shares in the MJ brand, and Jordan now owns 67 percent of the MJ brand," Philip said. ”

"Two-thirds, so high?" Zhou Quan said in surprise.

Philip smiled: "It is because of Jordan that Nike has been able to survive in North America and develop to its current scale, and the MJ brand also exists because of Jordan."

Although Nike only accounts for one-third of the MJ brand, the MJ brand and Jordan can drive the development of the entire Nike, which is the majority of Nike's operation, and the operation of the MJ brand is only a small head.

Zhou, the relationship between Skechers and the Iron Fist brand and you, that is, the relationship between Nike, the MJ brand and Jordan, is even more important. ”

"Skechers has also been around for four years, when are they going to go public?" Zhou Quan suddenly asked.

"Smack!"

Philip snapped his fingers again and said excitedly: "It's confirmed, July 1, 96, just after the finals."

Zhou, now the Iron Fist brand has not established its own company, and Skechers said that they will immediately separate the Iron Fist brand and establish a brand company after the listing. ”

"So how much do you think I should take? Like Jordan at 4.5%. Zhou Quan asked.

"With your current global influence, you must be higher than him. In fact, your Tekken series is now selling more than him worldwide. Philip laughed.

"Then you talk to Skechers, I hope to get a contract renewal before the company goes public." Zhou Quan said with a smile.

"Of course, the company also hopes to get it done before then, so that the stock price will be better when it goes public." Philip laughed.

……

Heading into December, the SuperSonics won four games in a row, 17-2.

On the 11th, the team arrived in Dallas, ready to challenge the Mavericks.

That night, many of the Mavericks' extreme fans ran to the hotel where the supersonic was staying and caused trouble, affecting the players' sleep.

Zhou Quan's sleeping pill gong didn't work, and when he got up in the morning, his spirit was not very good and he couldn't concentrate.

At noon, the team came to the gymnasium for training.

"Everyone, pay attention, don't be too strong, just move your body and find the feeling." Before training, George specifically admonished.

There is no match, just move the body first, and then each of them will shoot the basketball.

Zhou Quan threw dozens of balls, feeling average, and the most consecutive hits were 7 balls, and then stood on the left side of the arc to watch his teammates shoot.

Schramf and a trainer did catch-and-shoot jumpers, and after practicing for a while, he felt pretty good, hitting six shots in a row, including two three-pointers, and was very excited.

At this time, he ran to the front of Zhou Quan to catch the ball and jumper, but the moment he jumped, he slipped and flipped back.

Zhou Quan reacted quickly and held his hands forward, but at this moment, Schramf, who was flipping backwards, also made a self-saving action and came sideways in the air.

Now, Zhou Quan held his hands into the air, and Schramf hit his head on his chest and was knocked over.

He fell to the ground with his right hand on the floor, just as Schramf screamed in pain, and then the whole person fell on top of him, knocking him crooked again, his right hand slid outward, and then he only felt a pain in his index finger.

"Oh, it's over, my knees." Schramf, who had fallen on top of him, cried out in frustration while holding his left knee.

"Oops!"

"Both of them are injured, and now we're in trouble."

Everyone ran over, and George Carlton was so anxious that his head was covered in sweat.

After the examination of the team doctor, Zhou Quan suffered a ligament strain in his right index finger and had at least a month of recovery time, and Schramf's cruciate ligament strain in his left knee had to fight for at least two months, and the specific situation could only be determined after the hospital examination.

Then the two went to the hospital, and Schramf's test results were similar to the team doctor's judgment, and conservative treatment would take two months.

Zhou Quan is better, and it is better to have a truce for half a month.

The doctor used medical tape to tie Zhou Quan's right index and middle fingers together and fixed them to avoid further injury.

"Even if I can't shoot with my right hand, I still have my left hand to use, and I can play and pass, and I can defend."

After the index finger was fixed, he only felt a little uncomfortable, and the injury was not serious, Zhou Quan refused to stop the injury, feeling that it was completely unnecessary.

He thinks that a career is long, injuries are inevitable, he needs to learn and get used to playing with injuries, he doesn't believe Jordan hasn't had injuries, it's just that Jordan has persevered.

In 93, Jordan cut the tendon of his right index finger when he was playing with a cigar knife, and now his index finger can't bend.

At his insistence, George Carr had no choice but to agree to let him try first.

Schramf stayed in the hospital, and Zhou returned to the arena, at which point the team's morale was a little low.

In the evening, a member of the supersonic team was absent, and while the combat power was lacking, Zhou Quan's performance was not very good, only scoring 21 points, and the shooting rate was only 41%.

He threw a few with his left hand, and he didn't feel very good, so he simply shot with his right hand, and he wasn't very used to it, and his right index finger still hurt a little when he exerted his strength, so he reduced his shots.

A scoring guard named Tony Dumas stood up on the Mavericks bench, broke out wildly, and scored 35 points, plus George Crawford, who scored 30 points, 107:115, the SuperSonics lost to the Big Bad Mavericks, and reaped the third defeat of the season.

However, on the defensive end, Zhou Quan defended the rising star Jason Kidd in the No. 1 position, allowing Kidd to shoot only 1 of 14 shots and only get 3 points and 5 assists.

Kidd is Gary Payton's little brother, growing up together, and being influenced by Peyton, Kidd once made a statement against him.

With 17 wins and 3 losses, the SuperSonics are still number one in the league.

After the loss, the team rushed to San Antonio overnight.

At 11 a.m., Zhou Quan got up from bed, got a good night's sleep, and made up for the loss of drowsiness in Dallas.

He felt a lot better about San Antonio than he did about Dallas, at least the fans here didn't run into the hotel to harass them.

In the afternoon, when he was doing shooting training, he deliberately adjusted his shooting posture, and used his index finger to exert force, but to use his middle finger and other fingers and wrists to exert force.

After an hour of training, he feels better and better, although the feeling is not as good as usual, but it is better than yesterday, and the injured index finger does not hurt much.

In the evening, back-to-back battles against the Spurs.

The Spurs previously had 11 wins and 6 losses, which is not very bad in the West, with a 64.7% win rate, ranking third in the West, behind the SuperSonics and Mosaic.

At half past seven, the two sides announced their starting lists.

Spurs: David Robinson, Charles Smith, Sean Elliott, Vinid Nagro, Avery Johnson

Sonics: Elvin Johnson, Almon Gilliam, Rodman, Jose Hawkins, Zhou Quan

Zhang Reasonable said: "Zhou Quan is against the little general Johnson, and when he is injured, the result is not good, the little general is not bad." ”

Xu Jicheng said: "Director Zhang, do you think there will be a losing streak?" ”

"That can't be helped." Zhang Li said.

At this time, in the player tunnel, Zhou Quan was chatting with David Robinson, and the relationship between the two was okay, much better than the relationship between Zhou Quan and Da Meng and Ewing.

The admiral said with some envy and some complaints: "Iron Fist, you have only been in the third season in the West, and you have forced Barkley and the three of them to huddle, how can our teams fight with you?" ”

Zhou Quan couldn't help but smile and said, "David, don't take them seriously, those three old guys are all old, especially Barkley, who is almost a ball, and he can't fly for a long time." As long as you find a good helper, you have a chance. ”

"I hope so." David Robinson sighed.

When he played, as the core of the away team, Zhou Quan still received a lot of applause.

"Zhou Quan has more and more fans in other cities, which is a big change this season." Zhang said happily.

"It's a fan." Xu Jicheng said with a smile.

"Possibly, haha!" Zhang Li said with a smile.

(End of chapter)