After a brief interview, everyone on the Sonics team rushed to the airport without stopping and took a special plane to Los Angeles.
After a day off, the Sonics will play their next game, an away game against the Lakers. On road trips, the Sonics always stay in hotels. If they go back to Seattle, they have to take an extra plane. Not getting enough rest will affect their condition.
In order to allow the players to better recover their physical strength, George Karl announced a holiday on the 9th and free activities. The players will not improve much if they practice on the road for an extra day. There is no need to work so hard in the playoffs.
After scoring less than 20 points for two consecutive games, Yang Jian's scoring average dropped.
However, with his excellent performance in the first two games, Yang Jian's scoring average still ranks third in the scoring list. The only people ahead of him are Michael Jordan and Hakeem Olajuwon, and Karl Malone is lower than him.
Ranked fourth with 0.7 points.
What the four of them have in common is that they all shoot over 50% from the field. Yang Jian's shooting rate is actually higher than that of the inside players. He is currently the only player in the league with a shooting rate of 60%.
In addition, he can contribute at least one top-five dunk in every game. It is difficult not to be famous. Fans who like to watch highlights already remember him, and think that he is better at dunking than Jordan, with more tricks and more tricks.
pretty.
Nowadays, few fans pay attention to the shooting percentage, otherwise Yang Jian's popularity would be even higher. He has significantly improved the strength of the Sonics. His scoring efficiency is far better than other rookies, and he is on the same level as the big-name stars.
Fans don't pay attention to shooting percentages, but the league's experts analyze these things.
After the game against the Nuggets, Yang Jian's information was placed on the desk of current NBA president David Stern at the league headquarters in New York.
Stern is a short white man with an unattractive appearance and a kind face. He looks very ordinary and does not give people the slightest sense of oppression. In fact, he has great ambitions and strong action. He is an amazing person.
He is the fourth president in NBA history, and the achievements of the previous three presidents cannot be compared with him.
In the past, the NBA could only be played in the United States, and players could not participate in international competitions. The audience of the NBA was not large, and the attention was far less than that of rugby, baseball, and even the ice hockey league had a bigger market than the NBA.
After Stern came to power, he used television and sponsors as the main means to promote NBA basketball to the world market, causing the NBA's total revenue to continue to increase since 1984. As long as Stern does not step down, the NBA will become one of the four major players in the United States in the future.
The richest man in professional sports leagues, his influence spreads all over the world.
It was Stern who built a sports league that was on the verge of bankruptcy, drug-ridden, and scandal-ridden into a business empire with unique value. During his tenure, the average salary of players increased by 20 times, and the league's revenue increased by 30 times.
Stern's story that is most familiar to Chinese fans is that of "persistent waiting."
In the late 1980s, Stern brought boxes of video tapes to China Central Television alone to discuss cooperation. During this meeting, he made an offer that was hard to refuse—providing free game tapes to CCTV every year.
The "lonely and courageous" Stern secured a national platform to promote the NBA outside the United States and opened the door to the Chinese market, which later grew into the NBA's second largest market.
At this moment, Stern said excitedly: "Russ, I think TV programs from all over the world should open up the Chinese market. The NBA must enter the Chinese market, and now this opportunity is finally before us."
"Yeah." Lars Granik, a fat white man with a round face, smiled and could completely understand the reason for Stern's excitement.
Granik graduated with honors from Harvard Law School in 1973, joined the NBA as a lawyer in 1976, became assistant to the general counsel in 1978, general counsel in 1980, executive vice chairman in 1984, and vice president in 1990.
The two can be called a golden partner, and many of the NBA's major moves were made through discussions between them.
Sports programs and media communication have a highly symbiotic relationship. The higher the media exposure, the higher the commercial value of sports programs. When more new media platforms join the bidding war, the NBA's broadcast rights revenue will continue to rise.
Stern knew this very well, and after taking office, he relentlessly carried out the star-making project.
In the 1980s, Stern created a lot of topics surrounding the duel between "Bird" Bird and "Magic" Johnson. The protracted rivalry between the lifelong rivals, the Lakers and the Celtics, in
It greatly expanded the influence of the NBA in the United States. By the late 1980s, as the two heroes aged, Michael Jordan was pushed to the forefront again.
There is a problem that has not been solved. China has broadcast too few NBA games before. Stern has no way to convince the Chinese media to pay attention to the regular season. The reason is very simple. No Chinese players have played in the NBA before.
No matter how strong the American players are, they are still foreigners. Only when Chinese players become stars in the NBA will a large number of Chinese fans feel that they are their own people.
Yang Jian is the bridge between China and NBA and the key to further cooperation.
Stern said with a smile: "Let's vigorously promote Yang. His strength is outstanding and his performance is surprising. He is fully capable of becoming a high-flying star."
Yang Jian's registered height is 193cm, which is the height of many ordinary people. This is one of his advantages. Post stars rely on their height advantage to play, and ordinary people cannot imitate their playing. Therefore, the sales of big men's shoes and jerseys are generally not as good as those of guards.
Granik nodded in agreement. "To promote him and let fans know him is very simple. Just promote him through dunks. His jumping ability is indeed not inferior to Jordan's, and he has more tricks. He will definitely win the dunk contest."
Stern clapped his hands. "That's it, vigorously promote 'yellow people can fly'. In addition, we must promote his accurate shooting. He is very tough, but also has a soft shooting touch. His current statistics are very good, if
He was selected as the Western Conference All-Star. Chinese fans must really want to watch his game, and just broadcasting the NBA Finals is definitely not enough."
Granik said with a smile: "Maybe before the Star Weekend, we can get a call from CCTV and want to broadcast more games. As long as Yang performs well in the NBA, he will definitely be very popular in China. He is a shooting guard.
, are we going to promote him as Jordan’s successor?”
Stern shook his head. "No, think of another title for him. A black player about two meters tall is more suitable to be Jordan's successor, and there are already three successors. Jordan is back, and finding too many successors will cause problems.
Fans are disgusted."
Anfernee Hardaway of the Magic and Grant Hill of the Pistons are both called Jordan's successors. Jerry Stackhouse, the top pick of the 76ers, has just entered the league and has relatively good statistics. Some media also say that he is.
Jordan's successor.
Yang Jian, don't join in the fun and take over. His style of play is completely different from Jordan's. Stern doesn't even know who Yang Jian's model is. There has never been a star similar to him in the league.
"As long as Yang becomes a star, there may be more Chinese players to play in the NBA in the future." Stern said with great enthusiasm: "China has a population of 1.3 billion and its economy is developing rapidly. In the future, Chinese fans will definitely help the NBA rise. Give more
The SuperSonics should arrange some nationally broadcast games, they played very well."
In the 21st century, the number of NBA live broadcasts has been decided before the start of the season. In this era, it can be adjusted. Strong teams can gain more exposure, while weak teams can fend for themselves.
The SuperSonics started the game with high scores every game. Fans would definitely prefer to watch this kind of game instead of a defensive battle where the winner is determined by the 80th or 90th minute.
Yang Jian is destined to become famous, even if he is not that strong. Because he joined the NBA at a special time, with the right time, right place and right people.
In a parallel world, it was not until the beginning of the 21st century that Yao Ming entered the NBA through the draft and became the first No. 1 pick in Asia. Coupled with the domestic media's crazy coverage of the NBA, the NBA officially stabilized its foothold in China. Before that, Chinese fans
Just adore Jordan.
After Yao Ming entered the NBA, countless domestic fans began to pay attention to this basketball league and gradually got to know other NBA stars. The NBA gradually became the most popular sports league in China.
Now Yang Jian has brought this time forward significantly, and it is absolutely impossible for Stern to ignore him. Although he is a foreign player, he can still become a target that is highly praised by the league.
What Yang Jian has to do is to play well, maintain a good condition, and continue to prove his strength.