The purpose of Zhou Qi's call to him was also very simple.
Since he no longer has the opportunity to play in the CBA, he can only play overseas. When talking about overseas, the first thing that most people think of is the NBA, which represents the highest level of basketball competition.
But the problem is that Zhou Qi has already tried to enter the NBA with the Houston Rockets before. In 2016, he was selected by the Rockets with the 43rd pick in the second round, but basically did not get many playing opportunities and was eventually waived by the team.
Before calling Wang Feng, Zhou Qi's agent tried to contact several NBA teams, but with little success.
Although the Chinese men's basketball team just defeated the American men's basketball team and won the Olympic gold medal not long ago, everyone knows that the only person who truly defeated the American men's basketball team was Wang Feng, who had strong personal ability. Although other players of the Chinese men's basketball team occasionally performed brilliantly,
But the overall strength still does not meet the NBA's high-intensity confrontation requirements.
Seeing that there was no hope of joining the NBA, Zhou Qi's agent helped Zhou Qi contact other overseas leagues, including the European League, Türkiye, Australia, etc.
Australia's NBL league has a team that is more interested in Zhou Qi and is willing to sign Zhou Qi.
The next home was found, but Zhou Qi was still a little unwilling.
Although the Australian League is more competitive than the CBA, which will help him get further training, if possible, he still wants to play in the NBA as much as possible.
Therefore, after some careful consideration and entanglement, he dialed Wang Feng's phone number.
Wang Feng's current status in the NBA is no less than that of LeBron James at his peak. Back then, James could make pure blue-collar player Tristan Thompson sign a five-year, $82 million high-paying contract, and he could also make JR.
Smith signed a four-year contract worth $57 million.
Whether it is Tristan Thompson or JR Smith, based on personal data and on-field performance, the contract is a standard premium contract, but because of James' influence, the Cavaliers management still chose to compromise.
Zhou Qi doesn't have too many extravagant hopes. He just hopes that Wang Feng can help him get a low-salary contract with the Cavaliers, or even just a ten-day short-term trial training contract, so that he can have such an opportunity to show his abilities in front of the team.
Just fine.
Listening to Zhou Qi's narration on the phone, Wang Feng was silent for a moment, and then said: "Buy a ticket that can get you to Cleveland as quickly as possible. I will find a way to give you a chance, but whether you can seize it or not, you still have to
It’s up to you.”
"Thank you, Brother Feng!" Zhou Qi was excited. In fact, before making the call, he was not sure whether Wang Feng would help. After all, Wang Feng was new to the Cleveland Cavaliers, and he started to criticize the team's personnel issues.
It is also a relatively dangerous behavior for Wang Feng, which is likely to cause dissatisfaction from both the management and the coaching staff.
Zhou Qi still underestimated Wang Feng's energy in the Cavaliers.
Not to mention the signing of a low-paid player, even if Wang Feng called the general manager tonight and told him that when he saw the head coach entering the training hall with his left foot in the morning, he felt very unhappy.
Maybe the Cavaliers will start interviewing a new coach.
Okay, this is a bit exaggerated, and his behavior is a bit too arrogant, but this is just an example to describe Wang Feng's status and energy in the Cavaliers.
…
After hanging up the phone, Wang Feng shook his head slightly.
As far as he is concerned, he actually doesn't like this kind of backdoor behavior, but he still agreed with Zhou Qi. This was not out of worldly considerations, but based on the future of the Chinese men's basketball team.
After the Tokyo Olympics, the Arab League was basically semi-retired in the national team.
At the celebration banquet before, the Arab League vaguely expressed his intention to hand over the captaincy of the men's basketball national team to Wang Feng.
Once the UAE withdraws from the Chinese men's basketball team, it means that the era of the Great Wall of China has completely become history, and Wang Feng will also lose his most stable and capable helper.
Looking at the new generation of Chinese men's basketball players, Zhou Qi and Guo Ailun can be regarded as the leaders.
Wang Feng knows very well that Zhou Qi has many black spots. He was exposed by his teammates as a big name, not serious in training, egg-filled cakes, Poland's sixth player, etc.
But no matter what, it cannot hide the fact that Zhou Qi is the most talented and strongest player among the new generation of players in the Chinese men's basketball team.
This is a cruel fact. In sports, talent always outweighs hard work.
O'Neal is often criticized for not training seriously enough, and is often late and absent, but he is one of the top ten superstars in history.
Jimmy Butler is the most diligent player in the league, but his strength is often underestimated. He was rejected by both teams if he wanted a maximum salary contract, and Butler's talent is only as good as that of Wiggins.
The talent comparison is slightly worse. Looking at the United States and even the world, his talent in basketball is also at the top level.
Zhou Qi's talent is obviously not as good as Butler's by more than one level, but looking at the entire country of China, he can't find anyone else.
Therefore, although he does not like Zhou Qi very much personally, Wang Feng still hopes to promote Zhou Qi.
Zhou Qi can become stronger, and Wang Feng will not have such a hard time participating in national team games. This can be regarded as helping himself. After all, national team games, such as the Men's Basketball World Cup and the Olympic Games, as long as they win the championship, there will be generous rewards.
Of course, the premise for all this is that Zhou Qi deserves this opportunity.
Wang Fengfeng gave Zhou Qi a chance, but whether he can get a contract with the Cavaliers depends on him.
During this process, Wang Feng helped and even urged him to maximize Zhou Qi's potential.
If he can bear it with gritted teeth, it's okay to stay, but if he can't resist it and even feels that Wang Feng is deliberately making things difficult for him, then there's nothing he can do.
If the mud cannot hold up the wall, no matter what you do, it will be of no use.
…
Two days later, Zhou Qi and his agent arrived at the Cleveland Cavaliers arena with excitement and trepidation.
"Hello, Mr. Zhou Qi, you have worked hard along the way. Let's take a good rest today. We have arranged a trial training and will start early tomorrow morning."
When Wang Feng's compatriots in China came to the team for trial training, the Cavaliers management naturally paid enough attention to it and arranged hotel, food and accommodation in advance. There was a dedicated person in charge, and the attitude was quite friendly.
Zhou Qi and the others naturally knew about it. The scouts had all the information on Zhou Qi, including the reasons why the Rockets chose to lay off Zhou Qi.
"The body is too thin, has poor resistance, is easily injured, and has difficulty adapting to the fierce physical confrontation in the NBA."
In the NBA, physical fitness is an item that many teams focus on.
Don't always think that the current NBA competition is not good because of some ancient claims that the competition in the past was much better than now.
The so-called not good is only in comparative terms.
The offensive pace of the small ball era is extremely fast. Under the fast-paced offensive and defensive transitions, each team pays more attention to the changes in rhythm rather than the pressing and muscle collision at the basket in traditional positional battles.
However, times are constantly improving, and more reasonable training and diet plans will only make players' physical fitness better and better.
Zhou Qi failed to adapt to the fierce competition rhythm of the NBA during his two years with the Rockets. Therefore, the Rockets concluded that he could not adapt to the NBA and was eventually laid off.
The Cavaliers management does not believe that Zhou Qi can adapt to the NBA now, although it seems that Zhou Qi has been consciously gaining weight in the past few years. His weight has increased from 98.97 kilograms when he first participated in the draft to 113 kilograms.
As a big insider with a height of 2.17 meters, his weight of 113 kilograms is still a bit light.
But with Wang Feng’s face, how could he not give it?
As long as Wang Feng lets the news go, it's no big deal to give Zhou Qi a basic salary contract and hang it up.
It's not surprising that every team in the NBA has one or two players who don't get much playing time throughout the regular season.
But what surprised the Cavaliers management was that Wang Feng made a rather strange request.
"Don't miss any of the items that should be tried out normally. All of them should be given to Zhou Qi. I want to see what the scouts say about Zhou Qi."
Although I don't understand why Wang Feng did this, the team still did it.
The next day, while the Cavaliers players were conducting daily training, they would occasionally glance at Zhou Qi on the other side of the court, who was undergoing various tests.
"That one seems to be Zhou Qi, right? He's Wang Feng's teammate in the Chinese men's basketball team. He played for the Rockets for two years before being laid off."
"Well, I seem to have some impression. Although I haven't seen him play on the court, there are only a few Chinese who play in the NBA. I can't be wrong."
Several Cavaliers players were talking in low voices, but when they saw Wang Feng not far away, they immediately shut up.
Zhou Qi's round of testing took a whole morning.
The Cavaliers' scouts were also very efficient. Before the afternoon, Zhou Qi's physical test report had come out.
"This is not bad, much better than expected." Team coach Bickerstaff praised repeatedly. "It seems that Zhou Qi has not been neglected in the past few years in the CBA. His physical fitness is better than that of many inside players in the NBA.
He is even better, and I think he deserves a contract from the team."
"I think so too." General Manager Altman also echoed: "Strictly speaking, the team's only interior players are Kevin (Love) and Jarrett (Allen). It is necessary to sign
A big post player to add length inside."
Wang Feng: "..."
It is said that Americans are straightforward and can talk about things directly, unlike Chinese people who are convoluted and unclear.
But how can these two old foxes look so straightforward?
Obviously they don't look down on Zhou Qi at all, but because of Wang Feng, one said that Zhou Qi has improved a lot than before, and the other used the team's lack of inside players as the reason.
The same goes for scouts.
The report given by the Cavaliers scouts and the physical test data are all correct, but from a personal point of view, it actually says that Zhou Qi has good potential and does not rule out the possibility of becoming the team's interior defensive backbone.
This is a bit too much.
Wang Feng knows very well what level Zhou Qi is. It's okay to say that he is the defensive gatekeeper of the CBA team. Want to be the defensive gatekeeper in the NBA? Unless he is as bad as himself!
Wang Feng knew that the entire Cavaliers team was trying to give himself a step up. As long as he nodded his head, the team would give Zhou Qi a basic salary contract. As for whether he can really adapt to the NBA game, there is no question.
It's not within their consideration.
An unguaranteed basic salary contract only costs over one million US dollars a year, which is nothing compared to Wang Feng's super maximum salary contract of nearly 40 million US dollars.
But this is not Wang Feng's purpose.
His main purpose of letting Zhou Qi come to the Cavaliers for testing is to give Zhou Qi an opportunity to become stronger. If everyone just muddles along like this, Zhou Qi will not get the chance to train and grow at all. Then there is no point in Wang Feng's half-day effort.
What is it again?
Shaking his head slightly, Wang Feng put aside the scout's report and said: "I will arrange a practical test in the afternoon. I want to test Zhou Qi's skills in person!"
Wang Feng's words made the general manager and head coach stunned. Neither of them had figured out what kind of medicine Wang Feng was selling in his gourd?
Did he test Zhou Qi himself and then let Zhou Qi pass?
There is no need at all. None of them disagrees with Zhou Qi joining the team. Could it be that Wang Feng wants to further increase Zhou Qi's worth and win a higher-priced contract for his teammates in the national team?
Without knowing what was going on, the team still followed Wang Feng's request and arranged the court in the afternoon.
Also in the Cavaliers' training hall, all the Cavaliers players are training next door, and on the other side of the court are the team's management, dozens of members of the coaching staff, Wang Feng, Zhou Qi and Zhou Qi
's agent.
"Zhou Qi." Wang Feng, who was wearing a training uniform, looked at Zhou Qi with a calm expression and said calmly. "This is the first and last test for you. It will directly determine whether you can stay on the team."
As he said that, he took a basketball from the staff on the side and said, "Next, I will hold the ball and attack 10 times, all inside attacks. As long as you can guard against one of my goals, you can get a contract with the Cavaliers."
.”
Wang Feng's words stunned Zhou Qi.
But there was an uproar among the players on the other side.
“It’s fun to watch!”
Many people's faces showed excitement.
This kind of trial training method is not unavailable. If you want to test a player's offensive or defensive ability, you must test it in actual combat.
In most cases, the team will organize a 5-on-5 game within the team, and then let the trial players join one side for inspection.
This kind of one-on-one assessment, with a superstar of Wang Feng's level conducting the assessment, is absolutely unique.
This kind of excitement is a must-see!
Soon, more people gathered around the trial training venue.
Head coach Bickerstaff glanced at the players and was about to scold them and tell them to go back to training, but then he thought about it and changed his mind.
"I see, Wang Feng wants to prove in front of the whole team that Zhou Qi's joining is not a backdoor, but does he really have the strength?"