NBA: Start by torturing Jordan and add points to upgrade

As for the second half of the talent show, Lin Tian really didn't remember it and was too lazy to pay attention to it anymore, since it had nothing to do with him anyway.
After the draft, Lin Tian told Xu Yong to play well, not to rush or be afraid, and to take it one step at a time. He also shared his own rookie season experience with him.

Ok……

Lin Tian didn't tell Xu Yong about how he physically defeated three bastards in the training camp.

After all, the younger brother was a top-ten pick in the first round, while Lin Tian was a bottom-ten pick in the second round. The two of them had no comparison in terms of starting point, and the challenges and treatment they faced after joining the team were bound to be completely different.

At the very least, it's certain that he won't be ganged up on and bullied by those little Karamis who can't even get a turn in any rotation.

Even without Xu Yong or Lin Tian intervening, the team's head coach and management would not allow such a thing to happen!
Are you kidding me? We finally found a genius newcomer, are you going to just let a bunch of fringe people bully him?
Therefore, Lin Tian was quite confident about Xu Yong's future.

After settling things with Xu Yong, Lin Tian didn't stay in the United States any longer. Instead, he set off early the next morning and flew back to the capital of China, where he would adjust to the time difference and rest for a couple of days.

Then he will rejoin the team and start training!

According to the team's plan, Lin Tian will join the team on July 1st and train for 10 days to get acquainted with everyone and find his rhythm. Then, the team will play 8 warm-up matches in the following two weeks.

In the first four matches, the Hebei China Fortune team will, as usual, travel to Europe to play against four Eastern European teams: Lithuania, Russia, Slovenia, and Türkiye.

Then they returned to China, where the Chinese team will take full advantage of their home ground and play four Stankovic Cup matches. Their opponents this time will mainly be teams from Africa and the Americas, and they may face strong teams such as Argentina, Brazil, Angola, and Puerto Rico.

As for who they will ultimately face, that will depend on the draw and the qualification process.

In short, the opponents in the eight warm-up matches of the Chinese team were all stronger than the last, including champions from various continents, traditional powerhouses, and strong contenders for medals.

These 8 matches will definitely give the Hebei team a good chance to get a feel for real combat!

The last of these eight warm-up matches is scheduled for August 4th, four days before the opening ceremony of the Olympics and six days before the Chinese team's first Olympic match. This will give the young men of the Chinese team a good rest so that they can be in top form for the Olympic Games!

This time, the Chinese team's lineup has actually begun the process of rejuvenation. Although there were more than 20 players training at the training base when Lin Tian arrived to report to the team, everyone knew that half of them were just sparring partners.

The purpose is simply to allow the team to use as many lineup combinations as possible during five-on-five practice sessions, so as to achieve different training objectives.

Even so, Lin Tian could still clearly see that most of his teammates from when he first joined the team in 00 were no longer with the team.

Hu Weidong, Da Ba, Liu Yudong, Sun Jun, Zheng Wu...

These veterans have already unknowingly stepped down from their roles and left the front lines of the court.

Guo Shiqiang, Sun Jun, and Gong Xiaobin have even been promoted to assistant coaches on the Chinese coaching staff.

Lin Tian's arrival undoubtedly made this already united team, which was full of dreams of winning a gold medal, even more excited. After he joined, everyone's enthusiasm for training became even higher! After each training session, everyone would take the initiative to do extra training.

In addition to his own training, Lin Tian also took on some assistant coaching duties, such as guiding young players Chen Jianghua and Sun Yue on the details of dribbling and breaking through, and the details that need attention and vigilance when organizing the offense.

Lin Tian would also go and compete in shooting with Zhu Fangyu and Wang Shipeng, two top shooters, and give Yi Jianlian some pointers on how to position himself for rebounds.

In short, he shared his more than ten years of experience without reservation, and he would provide assistance to anyone who needed Lin Tian without hesitation.

Unbeknownst to many, Lin Tian's status in the Chinese team has already undergone a three-stage leap: from a rising star to an absolute core player, and then to the most senior and highest-ranking absolute leader.

Another sign that shows Lin Tian has matured is that when the track and field team approached him to persuade him to run again at the Olympics, Lin Tian agreed without hesitation.

He didn't make any excuses or try anything funny; he just nodded and agreed.

I've matured; I no longer bully old men.

Of course, Lin Tian agreed so readily and directly because this year, a monster, a real monster, will appear on the sprint track!

Sniping invincible monsters and making them indistinguishable from ordinary people is one of Lin Tian's favorite things to do.

Come on, Mr. Lin! It's time to have a proper contest with the true legend of the fastest human!

If Lin Tian's unwavering agreement to participate in the 100-meter race stemmed from his eagerness to compete against Usain Bolt, then another incident further demonstrates his maturity.

The General Administration of Sport sent a document stating that Lin Tian would be the flag bearer for the Chinese team at this year's Olympics, and that he would carry the flag at the opening ceremony of the Olympics!

Four years ago, Lin Tian would rather feign illness or injury than accept this mission, finding the job tedious, thankless, and exhausting. He was determined to refuse it no matter what.

But this time, Lin Tian agreed without hesitation.

This directly rendered all the prepared arguments and tactics of Li Yuanwei, the basketball association bigwig who came to deliver the message, useless. Li Yuanwei originally thought that he would have to persuade Lin Tian for at least two hours, and might even have to sign some unequal treaties to resolve the matter. In fact, he had made two preparations.

If Lin Tian remains uncooperative and refuses to listen to reason, then Li Yuanwei will pull out his trump card: a substitution! Let Yao Ming play!

Anyway, he had already prepared a backup plan when he came.

But this time, to my surprise, all the preparations were useless and all the ideas came to nothing!

The whole thing went so smoothly that Li Yuanwei felt he shouldn't have come. He could have just made a phone call and it would have been settled. Why did he bother coming here?

If Lin Tian knew Li Yuanwei's thoughts, Lin Tian would probably change his mind in a heartbeat and say: Come on, hand over your bottom line, and I'll agree to your request after you do.

As for why Lin Tian agreed so readily and directly this time, it's actually quite simple.

Firstly, of course, it's because this is the Beijing Olympics! Even a carefree guy like Lin Tian is quite concerned about his country and hometown hosting such an important event for the first time in its history.

Of course, Lin Tian had to lend a hand to this world-class event with the participation of the entire population!

As for the other reason, the story goes back to before he returned to China.

That was right after Lin Tian finished his special training with Xu Yong and Sun Yue. He was planning to rest for a few days, but then he suddenly received a call from his grandfather, who asked him to go to Dallas.

When Lin Tian went this time, he didn't think too much about anything else.

They assumed the old man had found something new and interesting, so they went there without any suspicion. Then, they arrived at the encampment.

Well, a base of operations, because Lin Tian found it hard to associate this thing in front of him with a house or a home.

It's completely unlike anything else; it's just like the damn front lines.

However, just as Lin Tian was worrying that this was going too far and might cause an accident, the old man took the initiative and threw a grenade directly into his hand. Then Lin Jun had an M4 in his hand and a bunch of bullets hanging diagonally on his body like Ralph.

"I've called you here today because I have something to discuss with you."

"Are you sure you have something to discuss with me, and not a request for me to assassinate the President of the United States?" Lin Tian looked at the scene before him and couldn't believe that the old man wanted to discuss something with him.

“If we can’t reach an agreement, you can indeed choose to do one of these two things.” As Lin Jun spoke, he casually pulled the bolt of his rifle with a ‘click’, and then turned around and got into an armored vehicle equipped with a heavy machine gun.

"Are you feeling alright, old man? If I remember correctly, you're almost 80 this year, right?" Lin Tian's feelings were quite complicated at this moment. The good news was that the old man seemed to be in pretty good spirits, but the bad news was that the good news was a bit too good. "Don't give me that nonsense, I'm asking you now, are you going to do it or not!"

"No, what are you going to do? Give me a hint." Although he knew the old man was just joking and wouldn't actually shoot him, anyone would be nervous being pointed at by a heavy machine gun and carrying a grenade.

"Go kill the President of the United States, no, I just blurted it out." Lin Jun quickly spat a few times, making Lin Tian even more worried.

Is the old man practicing this thing?
"Someone has approached me about being the flag bearer for the Olympic opening ceremony. It's alright that you declined in 04, since it was abroad. This time it's on our own soil. Since they've asked you to be the flag bearer, you have to do it!"

"That's all?" Lin Tian let out a long sigh of relief. He was genuinely worried that the old man would ask him to do something illegal or immoral, like finding an F-16 or something to have some fun with...

Wow, wait a minute, if we could get our hands on this, it would actually be really fun!

No!

That's not the point. The point is, all because of an Olympic flag bearer, the old man pointed a heavy machine gun at his own grandson?
This kind of behavior makes it quite convincing to say that the old man wanted Lin Tian to bomb the UN headquarters.

"You're a slippery little devil. On the phone, you were dodging the question and not giving me a straight answer. Haven't you done this a few times before?" Lin Jun said disdainfully. "Anyway, this time, you have to make me look good."

“Those old bastards don’t have a grandson as successful as me. I have to make them jealous just once.”

"Then when I enter, I'll wear clothes with your name on them so everyone knows I'm your grandson?" Lin Tian scoffed, finally understanding why the old man was so concerned—it was all just bragging!

"No need for that. Everyone knows you're my grandson now. Let's keep a low profile! We should keep a low profile when necessary. Oh, and there's one more thing." Lin Jun continued fiddling with his heavy machine gun and casually said, "Well, I won't be going to the Olympics. You'll have to do your best."

"If you don't win a gold medal, don't call yourself my grandson."

"Where are you going again? Are you planning to keep fiddling with these junks here?" Lin Tian was furious at Lin Jun's behavior. These two old men in the family were really unreliable!
"I'm going to Eastern Europe. An old comrade of mine got a T-90, and I'm going to give it a try! I heard it also has a few missiles, so I can try to bomb some in the no-man's land! I never got to play with this advanced stuff back then, and I never thought I'd be able to do it now that I'm old!"

"Grandpa, I'm not trying to be nosy," Lin Tian said, still unable to resist advising, "Even if you can get your hands on nuclear weapons, don't fucking play with them! Those things can make you a target for the whole world."

"You little brat, get lost if you have nothing to do." Lin Jun waved his hand impatiently, indicating that you should get out of the way.

"Fine, then get lost." Lin Tian was too lazy to say anything more to this bewitched old man. He raised his hand and threw the grenade back, directly to Lin Jun.

"Holy crap!" Lin Jun exclaimed, quickly turned and threw the grenade out of the room, then crouched down and covered his head, hiding inside the car.

I waited for ages, but it didn't explode.

"Damn! You didn't pull the safety pin?" Lin Jun breathed a sigh of relief when he realized that Lin Tian had just thrown it back untouched.

"Damn it, you just threw a real grenade at me like that?" Lin Tian was furious. Luckily, he hadn't been playing around with the pins just now, otherwise, if he had been caught like that, he would probably have become famous throughout the entire rebirth world.

"The first reborn being killed by his own grenade in the multiverse."

I reckon even the gods of my world wouldn't stand by and watch, and would have to resort to some kind of time-reshaping or other powerful techniques to forcibly save me.

Which deity would be so disgraced?
It seems that from now on, when other gods meet, they'll greet each other with, "Hey, you there, I heard your reborn person was blown up by their own grenade?"

Her face is gone.

In any case, Lin Tian had 'escaped death', but he was obedient and dared not cause any more trouble. He obediently agreed to the General Administration of Sport and became the flag bearer at the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games.

Of course, before leaving, Lin Tian didn't forget to add that if he could really get his hands on a nuclear bomb and couldn't resist, the old man should definitely invite him to join in.

What man could resist such a moment?
Then, as time went on, the Chinese team began to streamline its roster, and those fringe players who came to train and develop for the national team left the team one after another.

Finally, with the team about to depart for Europe for warm-up matches, Jonas finally announced the team's 12-man roster.

Center: Yao Ming, Da Zhi

Power Forwards: Yi Jianlian, Du Feng

Small forwards: Zhu Fangyu, Wang Lei

Shooting Guards: Sun Yue, Wang Shipeng, Li Nan

Point guards: Lin Tian, ​​Liu Wei, Chen Jianghua
This lineup can be considered a combination of three generations: old, middle-aged, and young.

Lin Tian has become the second oldest player on the team. Only Li Nan, born in 74, is older than him, and only Da Zhi is the same age as him. Da Zhi is slightly younger than Lin Tian by less than a month and ranks third in the team.

As for the other nine players on the team, they are all born in the 1980s, with the youngest, Chen Jianghua, being less than 20 years old!

This lineup includes all of China's top athletes, except for Xu Yong, ranging from veterans to prime-age athletes and young newcomers. It has everything: experience, passion, skill, shooting technique, ability, confidence, and teamwork...

This Chinese national men's basketball team can definitely be called the most powerful and reliable national men's basketball team in history!
Their goal is obvious: the championship! The gold medal! A five-peat!
The women's volleyball team once dominated the world in the 1980s, achieving a five-consecutive-championship streak!

This year, it's China's turn to challenge this record!

The united Chinese men's basketball team got into form early, with the whole team displaying excellent form. They won all four of their warm-up games in Europe, easily securing a four-game winning streak!

Even so, this winning streak was achieved without the absolute core players like Lin Tian and Yao Ming playing much or going all out. Jonas gave the younger players more opportunities in the warm-up games.

In the match against Lithuania, a world-class powerhouse widely recognized as a medal contender, the Chinese team expended a bit more effort, allowing Lin Tian and Yao Ming to play aggressively, and the process of winning the game was somewhat suspenseful.

The remaining three matches were easily swept aside.

The Chinese team then set off for China, where they will next compete in the Stankovic Cup.

This time, the opponents are much stronger, all of them being champion teams from various continents or the top teams in the FIBA ​​world.

Or to put it another way: apart from the US team and Lithuania, whom they had played before, all the top teams in the world have come! Each team naturally has the same idea: to take this opportunity to test each other's strength and, incidentally, let their players have a few real matches before the game starts!
As for the result, the Chinese team naturally went on another winning streak!
With Lin Tian protecting the backcourt, a healthy Yao Ming, the strongest contender for the world's best center, anchoring the paint, plus several other strong role players, their strength is arguably unmatched, if not the best in the world.

Or rather, apart from the Dream Team, no other team is qualified to compete with the Chinese team.

However, while others might think that the Chinese team can dominate the world stage and is just waiting for the final battle with the American team, Lin Tian knows that in this Olympics, their opponents are far more than just the American team.

And Spain too!

At the Stankovic Cup, the Chinese team and the Spanish team also faced off. In the semi-finals, the Chinese team crushed the Spanish team by 34 points, leaving the Gasol brothers and their outside shooters helpless and complaining.

But Lin Tian knew: these guys were definitely holding back! They were playing dumb to take advantage of the situation.

He would not underestimate this Spanish team, which had almost pushed the American team to the brink of defeat and once had a chance to win the final victory!

He knew how bad these Caucasians were.

It seems that this Spanish team will not go all out during the entire group stage. They will only unleash their full potential in the knockout stage!
This team should not be underestimated!
And besides Spain, they are undoubtedly China's biggest rival in this title defense! (End of Chapter)