jdhmnovel Chapter 150: Would you like to make a cameo appearance?
Chapter 150: Would you like to make a cameo appearance?
The Rockets' scouting department has determined that Jabari Smith Jr. is the best fit for the current Rockets team.
This year's draft has three power forwards, a significant lead, having swept the top three spots in the draft almost six months in advance.
In addition to Jabari Smith, there are Paul Bankel and Chet Holmgren.
Paul Bencairo has better ball control and is stronger than Smith, but he needs to have the ball in his hands.
Holmgren is too skinny. He will definitely need to gain muscle to enter the league, and his health will be an unknown at that time. He will also need a certain amount of ball possession.
If these two are paired with Wang Xiucheng, then there will be a lack of ball possession.
The Rockets already have Shen Jing waiting for the ball.
Therefore, Jabari Smith, who doesn't need the ball and has relatively better defense, would be a better fit for Wang Xiucheng.
Jabari Smith Jr. is the least ball-handling of the three power forwards, so if he can't develop ball-handling skills, he can only be a defensive specialist and a long-range shooter.
But it is precisely this point that means Jabari Jr. is not required to have the ball.
With Wang Xiucheng's passing and drive-and-kick abilities, a highly mobile long-range shooter is the perfect fit for the current Rockets team.
Wang Xiucheng nodded, indicating his agreement with Stone and Patrick's opinion.
"Now we just have to wait for next month's lottery. Shouldn't they give us the top pick this time?"
According to draft predictions released by ESPN and other authoritative media, Jabari Smith has consistently been considered the number one pick.
Stone put away his phone, took a sip of his beer, and looked forward to the Rockets' future.
Wang Xiucheng's phone suddenly rang.
He glanced at it and saw that it was Jenna.
So I took my phone and went to a quieter corner.
"I'll be in Houston in half an hour. Come pick me up."
As soon as the call connected, Jenna's voice came through.
Wang Xiucheng was completely bewildered.
There was no other way but to tell Stone and Patrick that the team-building activity was ending early.
Patrick frowned slightly as he watched Wang Xiucheng leave in a hurry.
The biggest problem facing the Rockets right now isn't the draft, but Wang Xiucheng's contract.
The Rockets' season has ended, which also means that Wang Xiucheng's one-year contract, which had been converted to a minimum salary, has also ended.
This summer, we must sign a new contract with Wang Xiucheng.
Now the entire league is watching Wang Xiucheng.
It is foreseeable that once the trading market opens in July, the Rockets' offices will be overflowing with contracts from the bidding king, Xiu Cheng.
The reason for this outcome was the bald man standing in front of Patrick, looking forward to the future.
Patrick already knew that Wang Xiucheng initially only wanted 4600 million over 4 years, a salary slightly higher than Cunningham's.
Stone didn't give it to him.
Later, Wang Xiucheng played better and better, and more and more teams were eyeing him, especially before the mid-term trade deadline, which could almost be described as crazy.
The Nets were even willing to give up all the draft picks they received in the trade for Harden from Philadelphia just to acquire Wang Xiucheng.
Stone got scared, and that's when he agreed to a four-year, $46 million deal.
As a result, Wang Xiucheng disagreed and demanded 60 million over four years.
At this point, Stone still had a choice.
As a result, he chose to postpone the signing once again.
What now?
Wang Xiucheng already holds the All-Star Rookie Game MVP trophy and Houston's only Slam Dunk Contest championship trophy.
In addition, he's already a shoo-in for the Rookie of the Year title.
6000 million over 4 years is simply an insult.
If Patrick were Wang Xiucheng, he wouldn't agree to this price either.
Fortunately, Wang Xiucheng is a restricted free agent and is also subject to the Arenas clause, so the highest price other teams can offer is 6000 million over 4 years.
The problem is, why did they drag it out until now when they could have finalized the contract months ago and built a good relationship with Wang Xiucheng?
No wonder fans say the Rockets' general manager is the dumbest guy in the entire league.
That's absolutely true.
Patrick watched Stone swaying and dancing to the music, and shook his head in exasperation before downing the beer in his bottle in one gulp.
……
After more than half an hour, Wang Xiucheng finally met Jenna at a private airport.
When Jenna stepped off the plane and saw Wang Xiucheng, her icy expression finally melted.
She seemed to have some grievance, but she didn't say anything. Instead, she went to Wang Xiucheng's side and bit his neck hard.
Wang Xiucheng grimaced in pain, but dared not flinch.
Jenner, who is already showing her pregnancy, seems to be easily agitated.
Ma Wei, Wu Di, and Wu Jia were already used to this. The three of them went straight to the plane, took their luggage from several bodyguards of Jenna whom they already knew well, and loaded it into their car.
"Alright, let's go home after we've finished eating. It's still a bit chilly at night in Houston in April." Wang Xiucheng draped his coat over Jenna's shoulders.
"Tell me first, did Taylor come for you?" Jenna asked, looking up at Wang Xiucheng's face.
"Taylor? She has a concert in Houston, why would she do this for me?" Wang Xiucheng asked in surprise.
Although I have doubts about Swift, I still believe in Wang Xiucheng and Jenner.
This trust she had built up with Wang Xiucheng after checking up on him so many times.
"When are you going back to China?" Jenna asked again.
Wang Xiucheng said he would return to China as soon as the season ended, as there were many things waiting for him there.
Jenna really wanted to go, but it was unusual for her to be in China.
Given her health condition, she dared not travel long distances.
It was only because Wang Xiucheng had promised to go back with her to see her sister that Jenna asked that question.
“I’ll leave in three days, and I’ll be back by early June at the latest,” Wang Xiucheng said after thinking for a moment. “But I’ll come back often in between; I won’t stay in China all the time.”
Yao Ming has already told Wang Xiucheng that the team for the Summer League has been assembled.
According to the plan, these people will travel to the United States in June for a month of intensive training.
Then they will participate in the Las Vegas Summer League in July.
Wang Xiucheng would naturally have to train with these people, so he would return to the United States with them.
"so long?"
Upon hearing this, Jenner's eyes filled with confusion once again.
I thought Wang Xiucheng would be gone for at most half a month, but I didn't expect it to take so long.
Fortunately, Wang Xiucheng would often come back, which made Jenna feel much better.
"Alright, all the luggage is loaded, let's get on the bus."
……
With the regular season concluded, the final NBA regular season standings have been determined.
Meanwhile, various statistical data are being released one after another.
Among the various regular season statistics related to the Rockets, the player ranked first in steals is Dejounte Murray of the Spurs, who is making his first All-Star appearance. He won the regular season steals title with an average of 2.0 steals per game.
Paul ranks second with 1.9 steals per game.
Seven players, including Wang Xiucheng, Smart, VanVleet, and Haliburton, tied for third place with 1.7 steals each.
On the assist leaderboard, Paul and Harden both rank first and second with more than 10 assists per game.
Trae Young and Dejounte Murray rank third and fourth respectively, with 9.7 and 9.3 assists per game.
Rookie Wang Xiucheng surprisingly ranked fifth with an average of 8.7 assists per game, tied with Doncic.
Throughout his rookie season, Wang Xiucheng played 66 games.
In an average of 29.4 minutes per game, he can contribute 13.5 points, 8.7 assists, 1.7 steals, and 2.7 rebounds.
In addition, turnovers can be kept to within 2.4 per game.
This also explains why an undrafted player can attract the attention of all teams.
With the release of various rankings, the NBA league office also announced the winner of the March Rookie of the Month award.
Barnes in the east, and Wang Xiucheng in the west.
This is also the first time Wang Xiucheng has received the title of "Best of the Month".
Harrison Barnes of the Eastern Conference Raptors averaged 16.6 points, 7.6 rebounds, and 4.0 assists per game in March.
Wang Xiucheng from the West averaged a double-double of 14.2 points and 12.2 assists per game in March, along with 3.3 steals and 3.6 rebounds.
Besides being named Rookie of the Month, Wang Xiucheng is also considered a shoo-in for Rookie of the Year.
This led all the draft experts to jokingly admit they were blind, and they also began to focus more on other young players from the same country as Wang Xiucheng.
after one day.
The Houston Chronicle's front-page sports headline was bought by fans, who then printed an "advertisement" in black and white on a white background.
“Ms. Taylor Swift, we would love to welcome you to a concert in Houston.”
"But please stay away from our King."
"Message from all Houston fans."
This "advertisement" not only went viral on the US internet, but also quickly spread across the Chinese internet.
"American superstar takes a liking to Chinese player."
"Swift's next heartthrob, Wang Xiucheng!"
"Who is Wang Xiucheng that even Swift is envious of?"
"As the season ended, Wang Xiucheng prepared to return to China, and Swift pursued him intensely."
Suddenly, all sorts of irresponsible self-media news appeared online, pushing the names Wang Xiucheng and Swift to the top of the trending searches.
This left the guy who had deliberately held back for half a month, choosing to release the song after Wang Xiucheng's season ended, completely bewildered.
They spent 500 million to buy a trending topic, but in less than ten minutes, it was overtaken by various trending news articles starting with "Wang Xiucheng"!
I absolutely have to get my money back!
……
Three days later, Wang Xiucheng returned to China with Ma Xiaoxuan and Ma Wei, as well as Wu Di and Wu Jia.
Although Jenna intended to give Wang Xiucheng the use of her private jet.
However, her plane is registered in the United States, making it very inconvenient to use in China.
Wang Xiucheng also felt that using a private jet was a bit too high-profile.
Although he really liked Jenna's plane, he had no choice but to decline.
Back in Yanjing, Wang Xiucheng gave interviews to several media outlets and filmed a few commercials under Ma Xiaoxuan's arrangement. He also got a rare day off at home.
Tomorrow morning, Wang Xiucheng will have to go to the business world, where there are also a lot of things waiting for him.
After finishing his meal, Wang Xiucheng was lying in his room scrolling through the news.
A news item caught my eye.
The anti-corruption campaign in the sports world seems to have yielded some results.
Especially in the football circle, a reporter revealed that the problem seems to be quite serious.
While the situation is somewhat better in the basketball world, there are still many cases of people holding positions without performing their duties.
In April, the Chinese Basketball Association underwent a major reshuffle, and some leaders who held positions but did nothing were transferred.
Yao Ming and Xu Jicheng have officially resumed their original positions and led the formation of a team mainly composed of young players to participate in the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas in July.
Not long after, several reporters, including Yang Yisu and Su Qun, revealed that Wang Xiucheng would also join the team to compete in the Summer League.
This news quickly became a trending topic again, and Wang Xiucheng's name, after a few days of silence, once again topped the list.
This caused the young man, who had been hiding for several days and thought the storm had passed, to spend 500 million yuan to promote his new song, only to have it all wiped out again.
It is said that at 10 p.m., this young man posted a Weibo message crying that he wanted to quit the entertainment industry, but he deleted it very quickly.
But some quick-fingered fans still managed to take screenshots of him.
The next day, thanks to this screenshot, this young man finally made it onto the trending topics list, although it only lasted a few hours before being overshadowed by Wang Xiucheng.
Unable to fall asleep, Wang Xiucheng was about to go out to the basketball court for a while when the phone rang.
Wang Xiucheng's sister, in Wang Xiucheng's name, paid for all the roads in the village to be repaired, the streetlights to be replaced, and two new basketball courts to be built on the open space.
Now, every night the village's mischievous kids play on the playground until very late. Sometimes, their parents have to use sticks to get them home covered in dust.
The name displayed on the phone is Yang Ying.
Wang Xiucheng was somewhat surprised.
A few days ago, when Wang Xiucheng was chatting with Yang Ying, he remembered that this woman seemed to be filming in Hengdian and should be very busy. Why was she calling him at this time?
"Sister Baby." Wang Xiucheng didn't get up; he remained leaning against the bed and answered the video call.
"Did I disturb your sleep, little brother?" Yang Ying's voice came through the phone.
Wang Xiucheng saw that Yang Ying was wearing makeup and an elaborate headdress, as if she had just returned from the film set.
"No, I'm resting at home today. I slept during the day, so I'm not sleepy at all." Wang Xiucheng smiled and asked, "Sister, did you miss me?"
Wang Xiucheng started flirting again.
"Who would have thought that Wang Xiucheng, the Chinese star of the NBA and the heartthrob of so many girls, would be so good at flirting?"
Yang Ying carefully removed the headdress while saying helplessly.
"I meant it," Wang Xiucheng said, feigning innocence.
"Alright, I have something important to tell you." Yang Ying's expression changed, but Wang Xiucheng didn't notice it because of her makeup.
Ignoring Wang Xiucheng's pitiful expression, Yang Ying said, "The movie I'm filming right now is missing a very important cameo role. Would you like to come and help out?"
Upon hearing this, Wang Xiucheng shook his head. He had never acted before, and even though he had filmed a few commercials, most of them had no lines, making him essentially just a flowerpot.
Therefore, Wang Xiucheng was self-aware enough to know that he couldn't eat just any kind of food.
Seeing Wang Xiucheng shake his head, Yang Ying seemed to have already known she would be rejected, so she added, "There's a kissing scene."
“I won’t go, as if I’m only fit to film these flowerpot dramas.” Wang Xiucheng shook his head again.
If a woman is called a vase, then a man can only be called a flowerpot.
I'll be very busy from now on.
There's simply no time for a cameo role.
Yang Ying paused for a few seconds before saying, "It's a kissing scene with me, aren't you coming?"
Upon hearing this, Wang Xiucheng suddenly stood up, his eyes widening. "Come on, I'll take it. Save this role for me."
Yang Ying blushed and looked at Wang Xiucheng, who was somewhat excited, on her phone screen, feeling inexplicably nervous.
She remembered something Wang Xiucheng had said to her.
"At least there are still many people who like you."
So, you were one of those people, weren't you, little brother?