The preseason starts on October 10th, and on the 6th, the SuperSonics informed all the players that the team will assemble at 9 a.m. on the 8th, and the team's boss Tekken will arrive.

On the morning of the 7th, several Chinese arrived in Seattle that day.

Zhou Quan and Zhou Jianguo, father and son, as well as supersonic president Frank Lewis and several executives, went to the airport to greet them.

The person who came was a sponsor of Zhou Quan in China, and this time he came to prepare to open up the international market, advertise on the home field of the supersonic, and send money to the supersonic team.

On the 8th, at 8 o'clock in the morning, before Zhou Quan arrived, a group of players rushed to the headquarters training ground one after another.

Thorpe and Campbell both arrived early, not to mention the youngsters, who arrived earlier.

At 8:50 a.m., a grinning Rodman appeared in the training hall.

"Big bugs?"

Rashad Lewis was surprised, he rarely saw Rodman so punctual last season, and he was 10 minutes early, but he didn't dare to talk to Rodman.

"Hey, Dennis, good morning."

Campbell and Thorpe said hello to Rodman.

"Hey, Dennis."

The other young people followed suit.

Seeing Rodman so punctual today, head coach Paul Westfaal, who was waiting at the training ground, breathed a sigh of relief.

Yesterday Whithit told him that the problem of Rodman's late arrival and early departure and absence from training will be solved, so that he does not have to worry, he didn't believe it at first, but now he believes it, and the influence of Iron Fist on Rodman is indeed great.

"Hey, everyone."

At this time, Zhou Quan appeared at the gate of the training ground.

Seeing his figure, everyone immediately felt a great pressure and rushed to their faces.

"Hello Boss."

After reacting, Big Ben immediately yelled in high spirits.

"Hello Boss."

Brad Miller and Bruce Bowen next to them were startled and hurriedly shouted.

"Hey, Iron Fist."

"Boss."

The others also hurriedly shouted.

"The old guy stands in the front, the rookie stands in the back, and line up." Rodman shouted as the second in the locker room.

"Old old, little small!"

Zhou Quan looked at the twelve teammates in front of him, and felt that this season was a bit dangerous, and he was afraid that he would have to work hard in the regular season, otherwise there might be problems in the playoffs.

His goal is to make it to the top half of the playoffs and avoid meeting the top four teams in the first round, with the minimum goal of reaching the second round, otherwise it would be too humiliating for him.

He began to speak: "Guys, apart from me and Dennis, you are all newcomers to this team, and none of you have been involved in our dynasty......"

Hearing this, Rodman, as one of the main forces of the dynasty, couldn't help but puff up his chest, while the others showed extremely envious looks.

Thorpe, the knife guard of the big dream back then, even had a conflict with Zhou Quan on the field, and now he runs to the supersonic speed for the championship with a low salary of 500,000, and he feels the most deeply after hearing this sentence.

Zhou Quan continued: "Now this team can be regarded as a brand new team, there are too many young people, most of you only have a base salary of hundreds of thousands, and now you tell me, do you want to continue to play in this league? Do you want to get tens of millions of big contracts in the future? ”

"Tens of millions?"

All the young people, including 28-year-old Barry, had their eyes lit up.

Zhou Quan did not wait for an answer, but continued to draw a big pie and said: "I know what your answer is, but just thinking is not enough, you must put it into action, use your efforts, use your hard work, to fight for your future, so that you can get tens of millions of big contracts." ”

These words immediately made all the young people's breathing heavier, excited, excited, and began to imagine the future.

Zhou Quan's voice continued to sound: "I mean, in my team, there is no slackness, only hard work; There is no chaos, only competition; Whoever doesn't work hard, whoever wants to mess around, and whoever slacks off, will be kicked out, do you understand? ”

"Understood!"

Shocked, all the young people cheered.

Next, the pre-season begins.

On the 9th, Zhou Quan traveled with the team to Los Angeles, where the preseason of the season was held.

At one o'clock in the afternoon, after lunch, Zhou Quan drove to the headquarters. Outside the gates of the headquarters, dozens of journalists blocked his car.

"Iron Fist King, are you here to send your teammates to the headquarters today?" A reporter asked.

The reason why he asked this is because Zhou Quan has never played in the preseason, and he did not have his rookie season, and he was injured at that time.

"No, I'll go with them." Zhou Quan smiled.

"What?"

"Iron Fist, are you going to play in the preseason?"

"Iron Fist, will you play?"

The reporters immediately became excited and immediately began to ask questions.

Zhou Quan nodded and said: "Our lineup is an absolute rebuild, I will play for some time." ”

"Oh!"

The reporters exclaimed.

Soon, the news that Zhou Quan will participate in the preseason spread all over the United States.

In the current NBA, the ratings of the Finals are like that, and the preseason game is not much attention, NBC does not have a national live broadcast at all, that is, the regional broadcast of the host city, and the league does not expect anything from this preseason.

Before the supersonic bus left headquarters, the league had already received the news that Zhou Quan was going to participate in the preseason, and then received a notice from NBC television that the NBA would broadcast the supersonic preseason game live in the United States.

"Great!"

David Stern said excitedly.

……

"Tekken, which hotel are you in? Ox? OK, I'll pick you up at six. "At the Lakers headquarters training gym, O'Neal called Zhou Quan for dinner.

"Shaq, take me."

When Kobe Bryant heard it, he also yelled to go.

"Let's be together."

O'Neal did not refuse, after three seasons of tempering, Kobe Bryant played 19.9 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.8 assists, 1.4 steals and 1 block last season, and his offensive and defensive performance was good, becoming the Lakers' second scoring point, the outside core, and his status in the team has risen significantly, and he is now his most important helper, which he values very much.

Because of their names, the media gave the two of them a nickname, called OK Combo, a name he likes a lot, because it is smooth.

At half past six, the three of them sat in a luxuriously decorated Western restaurant.

When ordering, Zhou Quan was not polite, the best caviar asked for two taels, and O'Neill was so distressed that he was about to shed tears.

"Amazon has made you a lot of money, don't you feel sorry for this caviar money?" Zhou Quan said angrily.

O'Neal laughed, and Kobe Bryant hurriedly asked, "Shaq, how much did you earn?" ”

O'Neill whispered mysteriously, "I've earned three or four times." ”

"How much is that?" Bryant asked.

"I won't tell you." O'Neill shook his head.

Kobe Bryant was angry, looked at Zhou Quan, and said with some grievances: "Iron Fist King, we can be regarded as friends, why don't you take me to make money?" ”

"You rookie, what kind of friendship do you have? Remember, you are a junior, and it is good to follow your seniors to eat and drink for nothing. Zhou Quan said angrily.

Kobe Bryant was so angry that his face turned blue, do I lack this bit of food and drink, what I lack is a lack of money.

Zhou Quan smiled: "It's not that I won't take you, didn't you go to my house in the 97 finals, who let you and Iverson go out on a yacht, otherwise you can hear some news." ”

Kobe Bryant was stunned, and O'Neal laughed.

"Iron Fist, your garbage lineup can be compared to the base salary lineup of Mosaic back then, the whole team of thirteen people, eight or nine base salaries, what, your general manager, that trader Whithitt is going to be bad?" O'Neill sneered with a grin.

Zhou Quan said disdainfully: "We are a youth army, why is the garbage lineup?" We practice in the regular season, and we can do it in the playoffs. ”

"No way, we're strong now." Bryant shouted.

Zhou Quan glanced at Kobe Bryant, and said with a smile: "Boy, Jordan can't make a splash under my defense, let alone you?"

I'll kill you outside, and let people grind the shark inside, with his current tonnage, he won't score much points from exhaustion. ”

Kobe Bryant said unconvinced: "Every time Jordan hits you, the performance is not bad!" You can't stop him. ”

"So, boy, you're comparing yourself to Jordan, aren't you?"

Zhou Quan was happy, but he nodded and said: "I am a mortal enemy with him, he meets me, which one doesn't do his best to break out?" It's not uncommon to perform well. ”

Speaking of which, he said to O'Neal: "Shark, I've been gone for two years, you actually wasted two years, and now I'm back, to be honest, the current supersonic lineup is average, even if a group of young people have a little potential, they need time to grow, this may be your last chance, you have to grasp it!" ”

O'Neal nodded, and said confidently: "Now that Kobe Bryant has grown up, Iron Fist, you just watch, if you meet your superSonics in the playoffs, you will also die." ”

Zhou Quan couldn't help but laugh and said: "I was swept by the Jazz in the 97/98 season, and I was swept by the Spurs last season, sharks, you are the life of being swept, who gave you the courage to kill us?" ”

O'Neal's old face was flushed, but fortunately he couldn't see it, and he snorted: "Isn't this Kobe Bryant not growing up?" ”

Zhou Quan laughed, Kobe Bryant was stunned, he was swept for two consecutive seasons, and this is all my pot? Am I the boss, or are you the boss?

O'Neal sighed: "Tim Duncan is really strong, and the play is too consistent. ”

"The Spurs swept you, what stats do you and Duncan have?" Haven't played with Duncan yet, Zhou Quan asked casually.

O'Neal was a little embarrassed, but he didn't hide it: "He averaged 29 points and 10.8 rebounds per game while shooting 51.3 percent from the field. I had 23.8 points and 13 rebounds on 49.3 percent shooting. But it's not that I'm worse than him, it's David Robinson who is on the side to help defend me, and the two of them are against one of me. ”

"I remember it so clearly, you remember it well!" Zhou Quan teased.

O'Neill snorted, "Don't laugh at me, if you run into it, you'll be blown into slag by the two of them." ”

Zhou Quan smiled and said: "They blow us up on the inside, and we blow them up on the outside, and we don't suffer." This season, the Spurs must want to defend the title, you Lakers can't be counted on, the Jazz are useless, it seems that if you want to stop the Spurs, we have to do it. ”

O'Neal's eyes widened and he wanted to refute, but he was swept by the Spurs in the second round last season, and he really didn't have the confidence!

……

On the 10th, the preseason begins.

The Lakers' home arena is one of the arenas where the tournament is held, and this arena is the Lakers' new home arena called Staples Center.

The first game of the SuperSonics was against the Lakers, and this game was also the official opening of the Staples Center.

The game started at eight o'clock and at six o'clock, and countless Los Angeles fans poured into the brand-new arena.

The NBA league's U.S. television broadcast rights belong to NBC Television Company, but NBC does not monopolize it and resells part of the game rights to other TV stations, which is a risk-sharing business.

The game was broadcast live across the United States by ESPN and featured by Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith.

The two are Mosaic's old teammates, and they have a good relationship and cooperate tacitly.

Before the live broadcast began, Smith said, "Charles, who are you standing on?" ”

Barkley shook his head and said, "Lakers." ”

Smith laughed and said, "I knew that I could only stand at supersonic." ”

Barkley snorted, looking a little unhappy.

The two are partners, but as commentators, in addition to cooperating with each other, in order to have some gimmicks in the commentator, they will also deliberately have some relative positions and argue with each other, which can attract more fans' attention.

A few minutes later, at half-past seven, the live broadcast began, and after the opening remarks, Smith asked, "Charles, what is your attitude towards the comeback of the Iron Fist?" ”

"It's a very good thing for the league. After he announced his comeback, there has been a lot of good news from the league recently, many sponsors have returned, and overseas operations have begun to improve. According to market research, fans' expectations for the new NBA season are intensifying. Barkley laughed dryly.

Also, his jersey sales have been out of stock several times, and the supersonic foundry is working overtime like crazy. I'm now expecting season ticket sales to be as hot as his jersey sales, and that's really good news. Smith said.

"Yes, I'm looking forward to it too." Barkley nodded.

"What about you personally?" Smith asked with a smiling smile.

"What does his comeback have to do with me personally?" Barkley screamed.

Smith laughed and said, "So what do you think the SuperSonics will perform this season?" ”

Barkley analysed: "He's not playing for two years, he's two years older, he's 27 and a half years old now, and although the media says he's back in training in July, I don't think he'll be back to his peak at this point.

And the supersonic lineup, haha, eight or nine base-salary players, the rest of Rodman and Thorpe are also old, Campbell is also 31 years old, and the strength is average, I don't think the superSonics can do anything this season. ”

"Do you still look down on the Iron Fist team?" Smith grinned.

"I just make an objective analysis based on the facts, without subjective opinions." Barkley immediately emphasized.

"Charles, aren't you habitually on the opposite side of Tekken?" Smith quipped.

Hearing this, Barkley's bald head jumped with bruises, and countless fans in front of the TV also burst into laughter.

(End of chapter)