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Chapter 305: The 149th Battle Against Yao Ming!_2

Chapter 305: The 149th Battle Against Yao Ming!_2

Jordan: "..."

He’s hardened! His fist has hardened again!

Zhang Yang chimed in, "Michael, do you know the ’Bird’ that well?"

Jordan glared at Zhang Yang and turned away.

This kid, bored during the off-season, actually went to watch the Bird’s videos to learn how the Bird organizes the offense with his back to the basket.

Isn’t my boss Jordan’s post-up play magnificent? Although he was quite excited to see Zhang Yang play post-up step-back shots making Marquis Daniels retreat continuously... he just wasn’t pleased!

...

The first time blowing in his ear seemed quite effective, but Zhang Yang felt it was not enough.

Everyone is clear about Carlisle’s capabilities; it’s normal for Bickerstaff and Jordan to take notice, but it’s not certain they can poach him.

If they don’t secure the target they fancy, it’s possible the old senior might still come over.

In terms of capability, Zhang Yang thought the old senior was very strong. Creating a defensive system around Gerald Wallace, Okafor, and Perkins, plus Millsap, Rondo, and him with Felton, could be fierce.

But he, an 18-year-old player... really didn’t want to work with the old senior.

They still needed to look for other coaches; Van Gundy would be nice, good defensive prowess...

If all else fails, Little Van Gundy is not far from being fired, and they could give it a try.

There’s also Grizzlies’ assistant coach Lionel Hollins and Suns’ assistant coach Alvin Gentry; both are promising options at the moment.

But there’s no rush; currently, with good momentum, Jordan and Bickerstaff wouldn’t do something as drastic as changing coaches midway. At the earliest, it would be next summer, if not the summer after that, so they can take their time with blowing in the ear.

After the preseason ended, the Bobcats had a day of rest; on the 28th and 29th, Bickerstaff conducted targeted training based on tactical performance during the preseason.

On October 30th, the Bobcats flew to Houston. Tomorrow, their new season will officially kick off, and naturally, their opponents are the Rockets.

Zhang Yang once again saw the familiar but ’long-lost’ gimmick ’China Derby’ and felt somewhat emotional.

He heard that Guangdong had agreed to Yi Jianlian’s participation in the NBA draft; after the new season, Yi Jianlian will head to the US in pursuit of a bigger stage... That’s what he learned from Tellem, who has already gone to Guangdong to compete with other agents.

However, Zhang Yang could sense from Tellem’s tone that his agent didn’t have high hopes of snatching Yi Jianlian; it was just something that, being so obvious, they had to compete for.

Unlike him, for players like Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian, a bunch of vampires set their sights on them the moment they decided to go to the NBA. Those people would forcefully insert a ’Yi’s Team’ to take care of domestic business affairs and heavily interfere with the choice of Yi Jianlian’s American agent.

Simply put, they had to find someone willing to bleed them dry or someone naive.

Yao Ming was a bit smarter than Yi Jianlian; he chose a naive American agent. Yi Jianlian... Zhang Yang remembered he ended up with a vampire.

Upon arriving in Houston, Zhang Yang went to Yao’s Restaurant, where Yao Ming treated him to lunch.

When ordering, Zhang Yang saw that a serving of small dumplings, with only six dumplings, was priced at 5.9 US dollars... nearly as expensive as his family’s farm; the money of the wealthy is indeed easy to earn.

Having heard that the servings at Yao’s Restaurant were small, Zhang Yang ordered a few extra dishes... Indeed, ordering more was the right move as the servings really were small.

The Sichuan and Huaiyang cuisine tasted very authentic! Zhang Yang had prepared himself for ’dark cuisine,’ expecting Americanized Chinese food.

Hearing Zhang Yang’s surprise at the authentic taste, Yao Ming said, "The chefs are all brought in from back home. When Americans order, we use Americanized cooking methods, but for you, I specifically asked the chefs to cook according to our taste."

After lunch, Yao Ming took Zhang Yang to the top-floor tea house to drink tea and chat leisurely.

From the disappointment of the World Championship to looking forward to the Olympics right at their doorstep, to the off-season acquisitions by various teams.

What Yao Ming enjoyed talking about the most was Chandler being let go by the Chicago Bulls.

The Pistons couldn’t agree on a salary with Ben Wallace.

Chicago Bulls offered Ben Wallace a 4-year, 60 million US dollar max contract, but the Bulls didn’t have enough space and, without Bird rights, couldn’t offer that much. So, they almost gave Chandler away to the Hornets, only getting back JR Smith and PJ Brown in return. JR Smith wasn’t kept by the Bulls either; he was promptly sent to the Nuggets, further creating space.

After making enough basic cap space, the Bulls proposed a sign-and-trade to the Pistons, offering a first-round pick plus Darius Songaila, who averaged 9 points, in exchange for the max-contracted Ben Wallace.

Seeing Yao Ming so happy when talking about the player he had dominated, Zhang Yang felt this was the real Yao Ming, much more genuine than the one promoted by the media.

As they chatted, Zhang Yang brought up the issue of Yao Ming’s weight and its impact on his health.

Last year, when Zhang Yang asked about the reason for Yao’s weight gain, Yao bluntly stated it was because he wanted to defeat O’Neal head-on. Zhang Yang tactfully expressed, "O’Neal is getting old soon, you’re still so young; to bulk up just to face him, abandoning your previous playing style, is not worth it." But Yao Ming insisted it was all the more reason to beat O’Neal soon, or he would lose the chance later.

When Zhang Yang heard this, he stopped advising, as Yao had his own obstinate beliefs.

But this year, O’Neal had seriously exceeded his weight limit, surpassing his heaviest during the Lakers era, and his health points had been drained over the past two years. His inevitable decline in strength was evident, and Zhang Yang felt he still needed to give a heads-up.

Since Zhang Yang mentioned it casually, Yao Ming wasn’t resistant and said, "Actually, I’ve thought about the impact of the weight on my health. But the experts said my dominance increased with the weight gain, and the fans, media, and Yao’s Team all said the same... I’ll consider this issue."