Basketball miracles

Chapter 58 [Tacit Understanding, Straightforwardness]

After the meal, Xiao Tu offered to pay the bill, and Stern did not refuse. Both of them were in a good mood.

They really need each other.

Stern was very pleased that Xiao Tu thought this way and expressed gratitude for the league's support. This is exactly the kind of chemistry between the league and the stars he wanted; the NBA needs the cooperation of its stars to develop rapidly.

Stern then thought about some of the black basketball stars and suddenly felt a headache coming on; they were just a bunch of idiots.

It's one thing for some people to dress like slum thugs and behave like hooligans, but playing basketball well is the key. However, there are also those stupid black people who frequently give interviews and publicly criticize the NBA, practically sabotaging their own careers. Stern truly cannot understand this.

The league gives Black players a lot of free throws, and they don't appreciate it; they just think it makes them look good. But if they get a few fewer calls in the playoffs, they start complaining, claiming the officiating is unfair and that the league is targeting them.

Xiao Tu and Stern got along very well and felt like kindred spirits.

Xiao Tu felt that the league had never hidden who it favored, so it was easy to see. Only those perpetually dissatisfied idiots wouldn't see it, yet they liked to hurl insults and thought it was cool to do so.

In Xiao Tu's opinion, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, once considered the best player in the league, was an idiot. He wouldn't shamelessly praise Skyhook just because they were teammates, and they rarely chatted.

During the meal, Stern didn't mention Kareem Abdul-Jabbar at all, believing that the Lakers were now Magic Johnson and Xiao Tu's team. The commissioner's attitude was too obvious; there was nothing Xiao Tu could learn from Abdul-Jabbar.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's refusal to cooperate with media interviews and his actions exacerbated racial tensions. In a 1972 interview with Black magazine, he said, "People think I'm a nasty black man... To me, that's a compliment."

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's aloofness and silence were interpreted by many white media outlets at the time as confrontation and antisocial behavior, especially his refusal to interact with white reporters, which was seen as disdain and hostility toward the media.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's most foolish move was repeatedly praising streetball players in public. Xiao Tu thought he was just a low-level scumbag whose magazine would be emptied; his survival was pure luck, what was there to brag about?

But because of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's praise, the story spread among fans and eventually became, "Many streetball players could dominate the NBA, but they disdain playing in the NBA." "Jabbar admitted he was inferior to the Goat."

These rumors have directly lowered the NBA's prestige, and even 30 years later, some people still think American streetball players are amazing. In reality, very few streetball players can make it to the NBA, and even those who do are often just role players, never becoming stars.

Xiao Tu believes that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's failure to become the greatest player in NBA history was entirely his own fault.

在70年代他足足收获了五座MVP奖杯，分别是71年、72年、74年、76年和77年。理论上贾巴尔在73、75和78任何一年拿到MVP后都能完成三连MVP的壮举，联盟也确实想让他获奖，结果75年贾巴尔“罢赛”寻求交易，主动放弃。

Even so, the league continued to promote him, and he even won the regular season MVP once without making the playoffs.

In the 75-76 season, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar averaged 27.7 points, 16.9 rebounds, 5 assists, and 4.1 blocks per game, while the Lakers only managed 40 wins. After forcing his way out of the Bucks, he won MVP with this kind of record on his new team? Are you kidding me?
比贾巴尔更合适的人选也不是没有，勇敢者队的鲍伯-麦克阿杜场均31.1分12.4篮板4助攻2.1盖帽。他率领勇敢者队拿到了59胜，联盟第二的傲人战绩。

That's right, he's the veteran who's currently serving as Xiao Tu's backup for the Lakers.

The question is, how many fans in later generations will know who McAdu was? This is the difference between the league promoting him and not promoting him.

After chatting with Stern, Xiao Tu learned that Larry Bird's many witty remarks became topics of conversation among fans because he was heavily promoted by the league.

Bird's "dominance" mainly came from his trash talk. How did this man, who always spoke softly, was so quiet and rarely shouted, manage to make his trash talk so famous?

The answer is definitely the league's encouragement!

In this pre-internet era, fans could only see what the media reported. Even if Bird himself boasted about his trash talk to everyone he met, it wouldn't have generated any buzz without extensive media coverage.

Why does the media keep hyping up Bird's trash talk? Because he wasn't the dunk champion, scoring champion, rebounding champion, assist champion, steal champion, or block champion. He was technically versatile and had impressive stats, but he wasn't a champion in any of those categories. Plus, he couldn't jump high enough to make spectacular plays, so to promote him, they had to find a different approach.

Through hype, Bird's talent for trash talk has been portrayed as something like "number two goes to a sermon, stays in a hotel at night, number three goes to a restaurant, and then watches a movie," constantly brainwashing fans.

There's no media coverage of what happened before Tibbard entered the NBA. This is because he was portrayed as having social anxiety in college, and being quiet and reserved was his defining characteristic.

Looking back over the past fifty years, among people with social anxiety, aside from the actor who exposed his genitals in "Lust, Caution," no one has had a greater contrast in their behavior than Bird. That actor had social anxiety... the others were fine.

Xiao Tu's current high profile is also inseparable from official promotion. Brainwashing-style propaganda makes people believe he has superhuman physical abilities and is the most handsome man in the sports world. Otherwise, no matter how talented a newcomer is, it's impossible for him to become famous after only a dozen or so matches.

Xiao Tu held a very high and unique place in Stern's heart.

Stern agrees with Xiao Tu's statement that the NBA should be a superhuman sport, not a sport where ordinary people can dominate the league long-term based on basketball IQ and skills. Superhumans undoubtedly attract more fans, and there's direct evidence to support this. Bird was the MVP last season, but ranked third in the Eastern Conference All-Star voting, behind Moses Malone and Julius Erving.

Bird has never been the NBA's leading vote-getter, not even in the Eastern Conference; his highest vote count was last season. This season, he is currently fifth in the Eastern Conference, trailing rookie Michael Jordan.

What about Xiao Tu? He was voted the most for forwards in his rookie season and ranked second in total votes in the league, only behind Magic Johnson.

The fans have discerning eyes.

Madonna has a lot of work to do in New York and has to attend to her own things, so she won't be returning to Los Angeles with Xiao Tu that night.

With a long time to go before the game, Xiao Tu didn't want to go straight back to the hotel, so he inexplicably found a public phone and called Jennifer Connelly's house.

In New York, she was his only friend. The Lakers only played the Knicks twice all season, and he came to New York once, so he felt it was necessary to call Jennifer. Even if he was too busy to meet her, he should at least call and chat.

The phone rang only once before it was answered. Xiao Tu could hear a babyish voice through the phone line: "Hello."

"Hi Jennifer, this is Sebastian Shaw, I'm in New York."

"Huh? You recognized my voice right away?" Jennifer asked in surprise.

"Your voice is unique." Xiao Tu thought to himself, how could I not recognize your sweet, childlike voice?

If I were to call Qi Wei, I definitely wouldn't be able to confirm. I'd have to say, "Hello, Uncle, I'm looking for Qi Wei." Otherwise, if it really wasn't her and it was indeed Uncle, it would seem very impolite.

“I can recognize your voice too,” Jennifer laughed. She had been waiting by the phone all morning, sensing that Xiao Tu would call her, and finally, he did in the afternoon.

They talked on the phone for a while, and Xiao Tu asked Jennifer to tell him a clear location so he could take a ride to find her.

He learned that Manhattan and Brooklyn are not far apart, separated only by the Hudson River and connected by the Brooklyn Bridge, making transportation very convenient.

The two agreed to meet at the Brooklyn end of the bridge, which was easy to find.

Sure enough, as soon as Xiao Tu got out of the car, he saw Jennifer waving at him from a short distance away. She was wearing a casual yellow jacket, blue pants, and a red hat, and with her delicate features, she looked like a fairy descended from heaven.

If this were a movie shoot, Xiao Tu felt there should be a close-up shot of the face, at least five seconds long.

Jennifer looks beautiful even in simple outfits, and Xiao Tu confirmed one thing: she is indeed a little taller than Madonna; she's developed too quickly.

Xiao Tu stepped forward to greet him and couldn't help but praise him, "Casual clothes suit you better. When you shot the Snickers commercial before, the fat director didn't make you look pretty enough."

The Snickers ad was a huge hit, and Jennifer's popularity soared even higher than before.

Jennifer was secretly delighted, and the shocking question slipped out: "So, who's prettier, me or Madonna?"

Without hesitation, Xiao Tu answered, "You're prettier."

Jennifer was taken aback: "Then why are you dating Madonna and making the news every day?"

"No matter how beautiful you are, I can only date Madonna. If it were you, I would go to jail."

“…” Jennifer was speechless.

She's already acted in two movies, and even starred in a film in Italy. She's met many adults, but no one has ever spoken to her so frankly.

Xiao Tu shrugged, speaking from the heart; he didn't want to become a "prisoner" in the NBA.

Actually, Jennifer speaks quite frankly; that's how two straightforward people talk.

(End of this chapter)