The roundtable is a tradition of the NBA All-Star Game and is usually arranged one day before the All-Star Game.
In fact, to put it bluntly, the roundtable is actually a meeting between the stars and the media.
Of course, in the eyes of many people, the roundtable is actually the most powerful and exciting part of the All-Stars.
For many reporters covering NBA All-Star Weekend, in fact, the confrontation between the Eastern and Western stars is not the most watched part. This annual roundtable meeting with big names is the most exciting part of the All-Star Game.
On this day, big names participating in the All-Star Weekend will gather in a certain hotel, take off their jerseys and put on casual clothes, sit at a round table with media reporters from all over the world, and talk about their gains and losses during the season and their current life.
And this year's roundtable was held at the Denver Marriott Fest.
At about 12:30 noon, many media reporters had already arrived.
The table with the nameplates of James, Kobe, Nash, O'Neal and Chen Jie has become the place where reporters gather the most.
Obviously, these five people are the most popular players in this All-Star Game.[
The reasons for the high popularity of the five people are different. Like James, the reason why he is so popular is because as last year's Rookie of the Year, he is the representative of the 2003 generation to participate in the All-Stars this year. This identity has made many reporters very interested.
Kobe is very popular because he has always been like this. In addition, this year is the first time that he faced off against his former teammate Shaquille O'Neal in the All-Star Game. O'Neal is very popular for this reason. After all, he just moved from the West to the East. Everyone is very excited.
I want to see how O'Neal evaluates the superstars on both sides. Nash is so popular today because he has led the Suns to the first place in the league this year. He was the regular season MVP last year and is expected to win the award again this year.
.And Chen Jie is very popular not only because he has just finished the Rookie Challenge, but tonight he will participate in the Dunk Contest and the Skill Three-Point Contest. In addition, this is also his first All-Star Weekend trip, everyone wants to hear about it.
Listen to his feelings.
There were a total of 24 players participating in the final All-Star Game, 12 from the Eastern and Western Conferences. This year, the Eastern Conference starters are Allen Iverson, Chen Jie, LeBron James, Vince Carter, Shaquille O'Neal, and substitutes.
There are Ben Wallace, Arenas, Paul Pierce, Wade, Jamison, O'Neal Jr. and Ilgauskas.
In the West, the starting lineup is Tracy McGrady, Kobe Bryant, Yao Ming, Garnett Duncan. The substitutes include Nash, Marion, Stoudemire, Nowitzki, Ginobili, Ray Allen, and Lewis.
West head coach Popovich, East head coach Skiles.
These twenty-four players, plus two coaches, are the protagonists of today's roundtable discussion.
It can be seen that the starting lineup is almost all idol players, each of whom has thousands of fans, while the substitute lineup is full of powerful players.
In fact, this is also related to the All-Star selection system. The starting lineup is actually selected based on fans' votes, and it depends entirely on the fans' love. Some players, such as Carter, are actually not in good shape this year, and the Raptors can't even make the cut.
In the playoffs, the fans chose him because they liked the Canadian Flyers. The substitute lineup was selected by coaches and media. Of course, they depended on their strength and condition. At this time, star aura is not important.
This selection system is also well known. After Yao Ming entered the league in his first year, he was selected into the starting lineup, which also benefited from this selection system.
Of course, this selection system can sometimes lead to some interesting situations. For example, when the starting lineup is there, the team may fall behind, but as soon as the substitute lineup is added, the team's strength immediately improves.
This is what happens often.
Without further ado, the media gathered at the roundtable meeting at about one o'clock.
But the stars haven't arrived yet.
After about ten minutes, the first person finally came. The person who came was the old coach Popovich. He and his assistant walked into the roundtable conference hall. As soon as they entered the door, they saw so many reporters crowded together.
Povich was taken aback.
After looking around, Popovich found that he was the first one to arrive.
And the media reporters finally found someone who could be interviewed. They all had green eyes, as if they could eat people.[
Popovich seemed a little nervous. He quickly took a step back, pretended to look at his watch, and then said to himself: "It seems that the time is not up yet, well, let's go get a cup of coffee!"
As he spoke, Popovich turned around and ran away.
However, these reporters are sharp-eyed and are not willing to let Popovich go.
They didn't wait for Popovich to go far and immediately surrounded him.
The scene was spectacular, just like a big wave hitting an ant.
Unfortunately, Popovich is that ant.
Surrounded by reporters on three levels inside and outside, Popovich felt like there was no breathable air around him.
The reporters asked questions one by one, but Popovich couldn't hear them clearly at all. He looked at the reporters in front of him who had been waiting for a long time and were a little crazy and hungry. His eyes were full of frustration, like a frustrated little daughter-in-law.
generally.
He motioned to his assistant with his eyes. Obviously, his meaning was very clear, that is, asking for help.
No matter where you go, quickly grab a player and block me.
In fact, the players have basically arrived now, but they don't really want to face reporters and are chatting downstairs in small groups.
When Popovich stopped walking, he saw several superstars.
Duncan Ginobili was chatting. Popovich's assistant didn't know anyone well, but he was familiar with both of them.
Immediately, he pulled Duncan and Ginobili upstairs.
The two of them didn't know what was going on at first and thought Popovich was looking for him.
Finally, I went upstairs to take a look.
Duncan and Ginobili saw Popovich surrounded by at least a hundred reporters.
When the two people saw this scene, their first reaction was to run away quickly and come back later when there were more people.
As a result, the two people were discovered by reporters as soon as they came up. They wanted to run away. How could the reporters give them a chance?
Immediately, dozens of reporters branched out and surrounded Duncan and Ginobili.
The three Spurs generals were surrounded by reporters.
A roundtable discussion. It started with the Spurs team press conference.
Duncan Popovich and Ginobili were so frustrated that they could only accept interviews from reporters.
It really felt like attending a press conference in San Antonio.
Duncan Ginobili and Popovich's miserable life didn't last long.
In about twenty minutes, it was time for the roundtable meeting to officially begin, and the superstars began to arrive one after another.
Among the people who received the most attention, Nash was the first to appear. Today, Nash was wearing a black suit and looked very handsome.
As soon as Nash arrived, he attracted the attention of the media. Many media came forward to ask Nash about the Suns' goals for this season.
Nash also answered reporters' questions humbly and politely.
First of all, Nash expressed satisfaction with the Suns' performance so far.
However, Nash remains cautious about his predictions for the playoffs.
The Suns have been using run-and-gun tactics for two years, and D'Antoni's tactics have now been integrated into the Suns' DNA.
Last year, their record was first in the league, but in the playoffs, they were still defeated by the Spurs.
After all, the playoffs are different from the regular season. Although the Suns have a good record this year, Nash is still not optimistic.
Just after Nash accepted a few words of interview, Iverson came wearing a hip-hop outfit.
Then, James also arrived in a suit and tie.
He and Wade came together. The two players of the 2003 generation gathered together, so the media could interview them together.
Not many media mentioned the previous Rookie Challenge without praise. What they asked more about was the team's record and predictions for the future.
Wade now has O'Neal as his teammate, and it's obvious that he has a lot of ideas this season. Although the Heat are currently ranked third in the Eastern Conference, Wade seems confident that the Heat can achieve results this year.
As for James, his biggest hope for the Cavaliers, who are starting high and going low, is to make the playoffs.
Now, he is still making his playoff debut.
After the three of them, O'Neal also came. Coincidentally, just a minute after O'Neal came in and sat down, Kobe also came.
The two people can be regarded as appearing at the same time in a certain sense.
The Lakers are still ranked in the top eight in the Western Conference. After O'Neal left, the Lakers' record declined, but at least now it seems that they still have hope for the playoffs. Kobe is also in a good mood and was very cooperative during the interview.
.
There seemed to be more people around O'Neal than Kobe.
After all, reporters know the personalities of both players very well. It is not easy to get some news out of Kobe. However, O'Neal is a big mouth.
His mouth has already brought countless gimmicks to the media.
During this roundtable meeting, the media hope to get some explosive news from O'Neal.
O'Neal did not live up to expectations. He said that this year's Eastern Conference All-Stars are better than the Western Conference All-Stars. He also predicted that in this year's All-Star Game, the Eastern Conference would sweep away the decadence of previous years and defeat the Western Conference.
But, in the All-Star Game, the Eastern Conference hasn't won in several years.
O'Neal's bold words only scratched the itch of the media.
Immediately, the reporters asked O'Neal to evaluate the players from both sides participating in the All-Star Game.
O'Neal was generous in his evaluation. He spoke highly of Yao Ming, Duncan Garnett and others.
However, there are two people that O'Neal has always refused to comment on.
One is naturally his former teammate Kobe Bryant, who has now had a falling out, and the other is not difficult to guess, the Bulls' number one, Chen Jie!
The grudge between O'Neal and Chen Jie is deep-rooted. It is impossible to expect O'Neal to say good things about Chen Jie.
However, on such an occasion, no matter how loud O'Neal was, he could not criticize Chen Jie.
Therefore, when faced with issues involving Chen Jie, O'Neill chose to remain silent.
O'Neal is being interviewed here.
On the other side, Chen Jie, Yao Ming, McGrady and Skiles appeared together.
The four people seemed to be still talking about something. They were a little different from the other players who were chatting and laughing when they came. The conversation between the four people looked very serious, as if they were discussing some important issue.
When the reporters saw this scene, they became very interested in the issues discussed by the four people.
Chen Jie reached his position, and the reporters who gathered around him immediately killed the reporters in front of other players.
It can be seen that although there are five people that the media pays most attention to, the most popular among them is Chen Jie.
The tables of Chen Jie and Yao Ming happened to be adjacent to each other, and many Chinese reporters were also gathered here, and there were quite a few of them.
When a reporter from a major domestic portal asked Chen Jie and Yao Ming what they had just discussed, neither of them concealed anything.
However, their answers shocked the reporters.
The two people actually answered that they were talking about the future development of Chinese basketball.
This topic is so big that none of the Chinese reporters dare to talk about it.
However, Western reporters don't care about this, and they have little interest in the development of Chinese basketball.
What they care about is Chen Jie's evaluation of the Bulls' performance in the previous half of the season, as well as the Bulls' future development and goals for this season.
This season, the Bulls have gone through ups and downs, and so has Chen Jie's state. There was even a time when reporters and fans across the United States wondered whether Chen Jie had hit the rookie wall.
That was also the most difficult period for the Bulls and Chen Jie.
But fortunately, it's all over now.
In the next month, Chen Jie led the Bulls to a record high.
Before the All-Star break, they had won thirteen consecutive games.
And their record now ranks first in the Eastern Conference.
Therefore, Chen Jie is still very satisfied with the first half of the season.
The Bulls' goal for this season was to enter the playoffs.
Now it seems that it is very simple for the Bulls to enter the playoffs.
So, do they have a more ambitious goal?
Chen Jie did not answer the question directly, but pointed to Skiles in the distance and said with a smile: "My coach is right there, you can ask him. Guys, he is our coach. He
Whatever he says, I will work hard for. From this perspective, I am just a pawn in his hands!"
Chen Jie's answer was met with laughter.
However, this problem was solved for Chen Jie.
On Scales' side, more reporters gathered around.
After talking about the team, we naturally talked about the All-Star Weekend. Chen Jie also said in front of reporters that what he hopes most today is to win the three-point shooting contest. The second is to win the skills competition.
Because these two projects can prove Chen Jie’s training efforts and solid basic skills.
The reporters also understood Chen Jie's mood very well.
The roundtable meeting continued in this atmosphere and did not come to an end until about three o'clock in the afternoon.
