บท 26: Politician McHaney
At this moment, Li Zhen had no idea that he was already receiving attention from at least two NBA teams. If we add the call from the straightforward Kareem to the Lakers' general manager, it should be three.
Of course, whether it's scouts' recommendations or endorsements from former players, they only serve to increase the team's interest. Whether he will truly be valued by a team and picked in the draft still requires a long journey.
You see, most players who make it to the NBA have already shown their talent in high school, like Brooks, whom he defeated this time. He was already a basketball star in California during high school... But even so, his projected draft position wasn't very high, hovering around the end of the first round or early second round.
This illustrates just how difficult it is to enter the NBA.
And after Brooks experienced this painful defeat, as Li Zhen's influence grew, his draft position actually started to drop.
In a way, this showdown is like a zero-sum game: if someone rises, someone else falls. This is why many relatively unknown players make it into the NBA through their outstanding performances in the crazy March Madness, showcasing their skills on the star players and smoothly entering the league.
Of course, this is also why Brooks, after the game, expressed his dissatisfaction.
"He won the game, but he didn't beat me. I believe those articles hyping him up on the internet will ultimately bring him down. Because those spectators will come with very high expectations, and once he can't deliver the corresponding performance, the current hype will devour him."
Brooks' words actually hold some truth.
The amount of attention generated by students from Stanford University and Harvard University on the internet has quickly made Li Zhen a celebrity. People suddenly remembered this person named Bruce Li, a Stanford student, and he even made a game-winning shot identical to Michael Jordan's game winner on the Jazz back in the day.
If the internet only provides fragmented information, letting everyone know that there is a person named Bruce Li at Stanford.
Then the special NCAA edition of the magazine Slam Magazine released the next day became a perfect supplement. Richmond's detailed report quickly let NBA fans know about the dramatic background of Bruce Li, who created a miraculous game-winning shot yesterday afternoon.
And this seamless "promotion" seemed like it was specially arranged.
When people learned... that the Stanford Cardinals team had lost two core players in succession, the coach left the team to recruit players for the next season, and announced that Bruce Li would not be registered for the next season, the dramatic tension reached its peak.
An abandoned guy leading an abandoned team to create a miracle: after defeating the University of Southern California, they continued to slay the mighty Oregon trying to create their own miracle.
So, is Bruce Li the chosen one, and is Stanford the team that will ultimately create the miracle?
Everyone loves an underdog story.
Moreover, Li Zhen is so outstanding. He entered Harvard before he was even fifteen, excelling in both academics and sports, and he's also one of the founders of the popular website Facebook.
These backgrounds, like powerful strokes of color, adorn his identity in an extraordinary way.
After all, the NCAA basketball players that people usually know are the kind of muscular men who are not good at studying, and some even have to cheat to get into college.
But now, Bruce Li has overturned this established impression; he's a straight-A student. And he's so handsome, meeting everyone's aesthetic standards.
He's truly a prince charming.
The girls couldn't help but sigh.
Without a doubt, Li Zhen has become the most eye-catching figure in the entire magazine. People didn't even care whether LaMarcus Aldridge from Texas could beat the European prodigy Andrea Bargani and become the number one pick in 2006, let alone how many three-pointers the self-proclaimed Larry Bird 2.0, Adam Morrison, hit in training camp... These guys are not unremarkable, but compared to the legendary Bruce Li, in terms of story, identity, and even name, they're just too ordinary, too conventional. (T/N: Aldrige is seriously better. Like why the f*ck is Bargani the #1 pick and Morrison #3)
Their stories can be found in almost every issue of Slam Magazine, but someone like Bruce Li is definitely a first in the history of NCAA.
It's worth mentioning that, besides having a very large circulation in the public, Slam Magazine is a must-have for everyone in the NBA. (T/N: are they still relevant now?)
Especially in the months leading up to the draft, many managers would familiarize themselves with the prospects of this year's draft class through special editions of Slam Magazine and Sports Illustrated dedicated to NCAA.
When Bruce Li's name, after being bombarded on the internet, appeared again in bold print before them, and filled with narrative, their attention couldn't help but shift towards this guy.
After all, he had an even more intriguing identity: he was Chinese.
Who didn't know that Houston was currently raking in fortunes thanks to the "Great Wall" from China? This led many teams to eagerly seek voices from China.
So, unconsciously,
Li Zhen had actually garnered NBA attention higher than some first-round players.
But what he needed to do now was maintain this momentum. If he kept winning games, leading his team into the championships, his popularity would continue to swell, and the attention would grow even greater.
By that time, he might even become a bona fide sensation.
...
Coach McHaney had originally planned to return to Stanford on Monday and accompany the team to Washington for the final Pacific Division qualifying game for guidance.
However, when he saw the report in Slam Magazine in the morning, he canceled his return plans.
He was angered by the journalist's depiction, even though he had indeed abandoned the team.
But the way the journalist portrayed him made any reader see Coach McHaney as a villain because in his description: the team's coach lacked backbone, leaving the team in despair after losing two core players, and without the foresight to spot talent, he even made the decision to expel Bruce Li from the team next season.
Although he was just adding subjective judgment on top of facts, nobody likes to see themselves as the antagonist.
So, Coach McCarney decided not to go back.
He didn't believe Stanford could beat the formidable Univerity of Washington, especially with the potential lottery pick, the senior Brandon Roy.
So why should I go back and bear this blame?
If we lose, they'll say it's my responsibility, that I'm not capable enough, that I'm hindering Bruce Li's performance.
Once again, McHaney chose to wash his hands of it all. He would watch Stanford fail, and then return to take charge of the aftermath.
He had the mindset of a politician.
But being a politician was never a compliment.
And what he didn't know was, as he firmly made his decision not to return, in the Stanford training facility where Li Zhen was actively training, the voice of the Positive Energy Baby resounded in his mind once again: "Congratulations, releasing fifty thousand drops of sweat, activating ten-points of the talent energy grid once more."
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