Annie and Charlize went to apply for visas first, while Lu Yu "reported" to Snoopy about his return to China.
Snoopy is now the director of Lu Yu's agency. He needs to arrange his travel including security, food and accommodation. And after all, he is bringing Annie and Charlize with him this time, so sometimes he needs Snoopy to cover for him.
Before leaving, Lu Yu went to see Jessica and spent a day with her. When they talked about returning to China, she agreed. After all, the national team would be training in a few days. It was understandable for Lu Yu to go back at this time.
.
When I was applying for the visa, there was news from the NBA trading market.
The Bulls acquired Richard Hamilton via trade.
The price is the young and capable offensive players Marcus Fizer, Ron Mercer and veteran Charles Oakley.
In Lu Yu's previous life, the Wizards traded Hamilton for Pistons' wave shooter Stackhouse.
But the premise of this deal is that the Bulls had previously traded Oakley to the Wizards, and this time the Wizards focused on Oakley first.
Jordan named Oakley.
His gold medal beater!
It seems that Feizer and Mercer are more like additions, but actually they are not. Before Lu Yu came, in the Bulls' lineup, Feizer and Mercer were the Bulls' first and second scorers.
hand.
Therefore, the Wizards feel that this transaction is not a loss at all.
After this trade occurred, the Bulls obtained an excellent immediate combat ability like Hamilton, but suddenly there was a serious vacancy inside.
So the next step for the Bulls is to strengthen the power forward position.
It's just that there is no suitable power forward in the trading market. Even if there is a suitable power forward, the asking price is ridiculously high, and the Bulls simply cannot trade a matching player.
But the Bulls' advantage is that they have enough salary space.
They set their sights on Trail Blazers power forward Rasheed Wallace on the free market.
Rasheed Wallace's contract with the Trail Blazers expires this summer, and the two sides are discussing the contract amount. However, last season, although Trail Blazers rookie Randolph's performance was average, Wallace continued to be injured, leaving him
He has become the team's most stable rotation player.
Due to injuries, it is difficult for Wallace to get a big contract.
In the end, the Bulls signed Rasheed Wallace with a four-year, $28 million contract.
Lu Yu couldn't help but feel that it was a bit ridiculous. Two of the Pistons' top five were actually taken down by the Bulls. How will the Pistons play in the future?
However, these two are indeed the most affordable and most powerful players in the current player market.
But no one has seen it yet. The Bulls had no choice but to give Wallace a big contract after winning Hamilton. As long as there is a capable power forward in the team, they probably will not give Wallace a big contract.
Such a high price.
But in Lu Yu's opinion, this contract is a huge profit, isn't it?
Rasheed Wallace, nicknamed the Roaring King, averaged 19.3 points and 8.2 rebounds per game last season. He can shoot three-pointers and grab rebounds. The price is a bit expensive, but it's worth it.
Hamilton was also a scorer averaging 20 per game last season.
This makes the Bulls' paper strength look unprecedentedly strong.
The Bulls have become the absolute protagonist of the offseason. Unfortunately, the Bulls did not win the championship last season. If they had won the championship, it is estimated that many veterans would want to join the Bulls due to the transactions made during the offseason.
Everyone is watching. As long as the Bulls can win the championship next season, there will definitely be people trying to get in.
For example, Payton and Malone are still waiting and watching.
If Lu Yu knew that the two of them wanted to come, I'm afraid he would start worrying about the Lakers' F4 formation next year. If the Lakers' F4 formation fails, will O'Neal still travel east?
Can Kobe still be the boss?
Lu Yu decided to come back after the World Championships and throw a grand farewell party for Oakley. After all, Oakley took care of himself a lot in his first season with the Bulls.
Well, it's a serious party.
Definitely not the kind of thing Artest does.
Lu Yu did not attend the press conference for the new teammates to join. Instead, he flew back to China from Chicago with Annie and Charlize to start a seven-day trip to China.
Wearing a hat and a mask in summer is definitely inappropriate, so Lu Yu simply wore sunglasses to cover up.
Fortunately, I was not recognized by the fans when I walked out of the airport.
Lu Yu suddenly felt very relaxed and could go on an ordinary trip.
In seven days, they went to the Jiangnan Garden in Wujun and the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties in Jinling. Finally, they climbed Mount Tai together. When they were going down the mountain, Annie complained that she would break up with Lu Yu if Lu Yu asked her to climb the mountain again in the future!
Mount Tai is so high that they started climbing at ten o'clock at night in order to see the sunrise.
As a result, we had to climb to the top of the mountain at three o'clock in the morning. When we got to the top of the mountain, we found that it was freezing cold, so a few people rented military coats and squatted in the corner of the mountain top.
Seeing people eating instant noodles around them, the smell made Annie and Charlize swallow their mouths.
Finally, Lu Yu asked his assistant to buy a few boxes of instant noodles, and a few people had their first breakfast on the top of the mountain. The top of the mountain was pitch dark, and no one noticed who Lu Yu was.
But Lu Yu was very surprised. The instant noodles at the top of the mountain actually cost eight yuan a bucket?
Isn’t this too profitable?
They also heard that some people rented military coats from the bottom of the mountain, paid a deposit of 200 yuan, and then carried them from the bottom of the mountain to the top of the mountain. They probably had to carry the military coats back to the bottom of the mountain. There is a high probability that they would not be able to find them when they got to the bottom of the mountain.
Here comes the person who rents their military coats.
After getting off Mount Tai, Lu Yu couldn't wait to find a hotel to sleep.
It's a pity that Annie and Charlize share a room and don't sleep with Lu Yu.
If I had known earlier, I would have brought one. Isn't it crazy to bring two?
Sleeping alone is such a lonely thing.
After the trip was over, Lu Yu arranged for them to fly back to the United States, and he took a car to the training center in the capital.
After arriving at the training center and meeting with their teammates, several veterans felt a little uncomfortable because they felt that they had squeezed out a few young people.
However, when they heard that Lu Yu had arranged NBA training camps for several young people, they hugged Lu Yu gratefully.
After the training camp started, they played a few more warm-up games.
Played a game with Nigeria's national team, and finally beat Nigeria by more than 20 points. This was something that I would never dare to think about in the past. According to past strength, the Chinese men's basketball team is weaker than Nigeria, let alone defeating its opponent.
More than ten points.
And this time Nigeria heard that the Chinese men's basketball team had four NBA players in the lineup, and they sent their absolute main lineup.
Even so, the Chinese men's basketball team won by 20 points.
The second game was against the Yugoslav men's basketball team. This time the Chinese men's basketball team won again, but it was of little reference value because the Yugoslav men's basketball team only fielded their second team.
The opponent in the third warm-up match was the German team. Wang Zhizhi met his teammate Dirk Nowitzki. The Chinese men's basketball team lost this game, and Dirk Nowitzki's three-pointer killed the game at the last moment.
After three warm-up games, all teams around the world saw the strength of the Chinese men's basketball team.
On August 26, the Chinese men’s basketball team flew to the United States collectively.
There is a voting system on the NBA website: excluding the United States team, which country can win the championship of this tournament?
The answer is so exciting: the Chinese team ranked third with 15.6% of the votes, second only to Yugoslavia and Canada.
For a time, the voices of reaching the top eight and winning medals were rising one after another, one wave after another.
But Lu Yu knows that in this World Championships, the United States is nothing!
The American Dream Team only finished sixth.
In Lu Yu's previous life, in this year's World Championships, the United States fought at home for the first time, aiming to defend its title with a 58-game winning streak.
As a result, they were first defeated by Argentina in the group stage, then eliminated by Yugoslavia in the quarter-finals, and finally lost to Spain in the battle for fifth or sixth place. It was a series of losses.
Not to mention that now there is another variable called the Chinese team.
In the previous Chinese team, first the potential new point guard Hu Xuefeng who performed well in the warm-up match was seriously injured, which may jeopardize his career. Then Dazhi, who was playing for the Mavericks, was absent due to communication problems with the Basketball Association. God of War Liu Yudong, who was recovering from his injury at home, was temporarily suspended.
Recruited into the team.
In this way, a Chinese team that is both young and old, full of hope and potential but also scarred, sets off for Indianapolis!
But it's different now. The Chinese men's basketball team has four NBA players, Lu Yu, Wang Zhizhi, Battelle and Yao Ming, as well as Yi Jianlian, the star of the top NCAA team. The team also includes Liu Yudong, Gong Xiaobin, Hu Weidong, Li Nan, Zhu Fangyu, Guo Shiqiang and
Liu Wei is one of the strongest players in the CBA.
Even Liu Yudong's injuries were much lighter than those in Lu Yu's previous life.
This Chinese men's basketball team is here to win.
As for the U.S. men's basketball team, they are still the same people, with Ben, O'Neal Jr. and Brand on the inside, Pierce, the bearded Davis, and spiritual leaders like Reggie Miller on the outside.
The so-called spiritual leader can only fool around mentally.
This group of people is not enough for Lu Yu to watch in the NBA. None of the really big stars are here. It would be weird if they don't lose!
The most embarrassing thing is that there is Lu Yu's old rival on this team, Jay Williams, who was just drafted by the Rockets this year. Jay Williams, who has never played a game in the NBA, is actually selected.
You can imagine how outrageous the dream team is.
What’s even more outrageous is that Nick Collison only entered the NBA in 2003. In 2002, while he was still in college, the U.S. Men’s Basketball Team also recruited him into the national team.
Also, LaFrentz is a role player. He was traded three times in the 2001-02 season, but he was still selected for the United States Men's Basketball Team.
Anyway, it was Li Ke’s mother who opened the door for Li Ke, and Li Ke was at home.
If you change to another team, these players may be very good, like Yao Ming, and Jay Williams are both rookies this year, but Yao Ming is the best player in China, and there are only 4 players in the whole of China who can
Enter the NBA.
The U.S. team is different. The players here are not the best players in the United States at all.
Calling this team the Dream Team is a bit insulting to the name of the Dream Team.
What is more worthy of Lu Yu's attention is Yugoslavia and Argentina. Yugoslavia has Peja. Although the Bulls and Kings did not face each other in the playoffs, Peja's strength is absolutely unquestionable.
When Yao Ming and Wang Zhizhi talked about the Yugoslavia team, they both looked at each other awkwardly.
Lu Yu was stunned for a moment.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
Yao Ming thought for a while and then said: "Yugoslavia is really strong. In last year's Universiade, we lost to them by 40 points!"
Lu Yu remembered that last year the Chinese men's basketball team defeated the US men's basketball team at the Universiade, but lost to Yugoslavia in the final and finished second.
If we look at it from the current perspective, the qualifications of the 12 players representing China are controversial. In fact, it is in line with the rules for Yao Ming and Wang Zhizhi to participate in the University Games. They are studying part-time in sports colleges and have relevant student status.
You can participate.
The real strict requirement for the Universiade is age, which must be between 17-28 years old. Therefore, people like Liu Yudong, Hu Weidong and Gong Xiaobin were not in the lineup that time.
The reason why Lu Yu remembers this competition is because his college teammate, Dan Dickao, participated in this Universiade.
The U.S. men's basketball team got through it easily, beating its opponents by an average of 39.8 points per game.
But they met the Chinese Men's Basketball Team in the semifinals. Amid the cheers of the audience at the Tsinghua University Gymnasium, the Chinese Men's Basketball Team members challenged their opponents time and time again.
The final attack of the game was controlled by the American team.
At this time, the Chinese men's basketball team led by one point.
Dixon, who scored a game-high 28 points, started quickly, successfully broke away from the defense and entered the penalty area, jumped up and shot. At the critical moment, Yao Ming appeared in the defensive position and stretched out his huge palm to interfere with the shot.
In the end, the Chinese team defeated the American team and entered the finals, where they met their opponent in the finals, Yugoslavia.
In this game, it can be said that the Chinese team was unlucky, but it can also be said that Yugoslavia is indeed very strong.
Wang Zhizhi suffered a calf injury in the first half, and Yao Ming sprained his ankle in the third quarter. But even though everyone expected to lose, they never expected to lose by 40 points in the end.
Forty points difference!
Such a sap caused both Yao Ming and coach Wang Fei to miss the post-match award ceremony.
"I found an excuse for spraining my ankle and didn't go to receive the award. In fact, I just didn't want to go." Yao Ming said helplessly.
Even if both Yao Ming and Wang Zhizhi played the entire game, they would not be able to make up for the 40-point hole.
And in that Yugoslav team, there were many players from the current Yugoslav team.
They are really strong.
In Lu Yu's previous life, Yugoslavia was the champion of this World Championship, so Lu Yu directly targeted them as his final opponent.
Now that I'm here, my goal must be to win the championship.
It doesn’t matter whether you get it or not, but the goal must be set bigger.
Just like Lu Yu, who just entered the NBA last year, he said in an interview that his goal was to win the championship. Although the Bulls did not win the championship in the end, the Bulls did reach the finals.
Lu Yu has the same attitude towards the World Championships.
We’ve come here, but if we don’t go for the championship, what’s the point?
Of course, this was what Lu Yu thought in his heart, and he did not tell his teammates because he was afraid that his honest teammates would not be able to accept it for a while.
After all, in their eyes, it's already good enough to reach the quarterfinals.
