Basketball's No. 1 Anti-Fan

Chapter 325: Sombor Car God

The Cavaliers' championship parade was grand, and the media coverage after it ended was overwhelming.

The most popular posts on social media were Malone's "Who is your daddy" and Hansen's statement that James fulfilled his promise to bring the championship to the Cavaliers.

Originally, the Cavaliers were going to win the championship by stepping on James, and Cunningham came up with a closed-loop formula, so James had already suffered a critical blow.

Now Malone and Hansen are adding insult to injury, which is like rubbing salt into James' wounds.

What's even worse is that Kobe's fans, who theoretically should have been accepted by James after Kobe retired, also started to complain about James crazily at this time.

After all, Kobe used up his last bullet. If James had performed better, the Lakers would not have been eliminated.

Even Kobe wouldn't have gotten seriously injured until his retirement season.

Just at this time, TNT aired its latest episode, which discussed Han Sen.

Before the show started, Kenny Smith first brought up a fact that had not been noticed before. In his 7-year professional career, Hansen achieved an unprecedented achievement: he reached the divisional finals in all the first seven years of his career!
When Smith stated this fact, O'Neal and Barkley were stunned.

Maybe it was a show effect, but the audience watching the show were indeed shocked.

Some people are slandering others by presenting facts, but some people are exaggerating others by presenting facts.

Excluding his rookie season, Hansen led the team as a core player for the remaining six seasons.

It just so happened that the two teams when he was the core, both the Grizzlies and the Cavaliers, were not considered strong teams before he left.

After he left, the Grizzlies seemed to have gotten a lot in return from the trade, but the team's competitiveness declined significantly.

So an easy conclusion to draw is: Han Sen can make his teammates better, and much better.

Thus began a bragging contest against Han Sen.

O'Neal and Barkley tried their best to compete for the position of the number one Korean fan.

The key is that the fans don’t think they are bragging.

In this regard, Hansen and Jordan are of the same type. They are both the kind of beings that become more terrifying the more you study them.

This episode received good response.

Because after Hansen led the Cavaliers to make history, what fans naturally wanted to see was someone praising him hard.

However, what no one expected was that because everyone on social media was complaining about James at this time, this wave directly made James the "then"

Especially since Hansen and James were teammates in their early years and failed to win the championship.

Then James and Hansen became two sides of the mirror, because whether it was the Heat, the Thunder, or the Lakers, the teammates around James always played worse than before.

Some James fans argued that it was because James' teammates were all stars, and forming a team meant making sacrifices in ball possession.

So why are all James' teammates stars?

This is another classic case of being stubborn and blocking both ends.

James' social media became extremely lively in an instant.

The overwhelming pressure of public opinion can crush a person.

Don't expect him to get the respect on social media that he doesn't get on the court.

After just two days, James couldn't take it anymore.

He posted a social media status:
"Having said all that, I will still say hello to you all! I will leave social media for now, take care everyone."

This escape was very similar to the way he left Cleveland.

However, this official way of announcing leaving social media is also quite novel.

Sure enough, as long as you pay enough attention to James, he can always bring you some surprises from time to time.

Hansen didn't pay attention to these at the moment. After the championship parade, he followed Jokic to his hometown, the small town of Sombor.

He had never been to Serbia before, so he was curious about what Jokic's hometown looked like.

When he finally got there, he finally understood why Jokic liked Cleveland.

Because this place can't be said to be somewhat similar to Cleveland, it can only be said to be exactly the same.

The same extremely high greening rate, the same fresh air, suitable for retirement.

If you ignore the architecture, it's a mini version of Cleveland.

But this place is really not big. Although it is the second largest city in northern Serbia, its total population is only 5.

After they arrived, Jokic took Hansen on a carriage ride around the city.

It took them only about an hour to complete the circle.

The main feature of this place is that it is small and exquisite, just like a sparrow, with all the necessary facilities.

And the interesting thing is that the landmark buildings here are the two churches on the left and right.

One is Orthodox and the other is Catholic.

At noon, Jokic took him directly to the most famous local Elephant Restaurant for dinner.

What surprised Hansen was that the dishes here were mainly Hungarian cuisine, but he also tasted the local specialty, fish pie.

It was when they were eating that people in the restaurant finally recognized them, and many of them came over to get autographs and take photos with them.

But unlike Cleveland's frenetic fans, they all seemed calm.

Hansen seemed to finally understand why Jokic had such a personality.

The culture here is highly inclusive, the living environment is suitable, and the pace of life is slow.

If he was born here, he would probably want to go home and retire after making enough money, just like Jokic.

After eating and drinking, they went to the local racecourse to select racehorses.

Serbia is a country dominated by the Orthodox Church, and horse racing is a traditional sport that predates the Orthodox Church.

The price of this racehorse was somewhat beyond Hansen's expectations. It cost more than 20 US dollars.

After buying the horse, the first thing Jokic did was to give it a bath. Hansen felt that his gaze was more loving than the one he gave his girlfriend.

After washing, he also sat in the truck bed and test drove it himself.

This kind of racehorse is different from the horses we usually see. They are trained from a young age and can run on the track as long as they receive instructions.

After running two laps, Jokic looked so happy when he came down.

If you want to do your work well, you must first sharpen your tools. It feels so good to be rich.

The horse racing competition was held a week later, and Hansen took this opportunity to visit other cities in Serbia.

While he was strolling around, the 2016 NBA Draft was taking place at the Barclays Center.

The time difference between Serbia and the United States is 6 hours. When the draft was held there, it was early in the morning in Sevilla.

Han Sen did not watch the draft, but paid attention to it when he woke up the next day.

This year's No. 76 pick belongs to the ers, who selected "the next James" Ben Simmons;
The second pick belonged to the Knicks, who selected Brandon Ingram;

The third pick belonged to the Brooklyn Nets, who selected Jaylen Brown.
The butterfly effect continues to take effect, and much of the "history" that Hansen knew no longer appears.

The Kings played well in the regular season last season and were ranked 8th.

Their final choice was the same as Hansen's advice to Ajiali, and they selected Domantas Sabonis with this pick.

Sabonis Jr. is the son of international basketball superstar and NBA famous "old star" Arvydas Sabonis. Sabonis Jr. did not inherit his father's height. He is only 2 meters tall and has not entered the ranks of popular rookies.

But in the small ball era, this height is actually more than enough to play center.

Moreover, Little Sabonis inherited the passing gene of Old Sabonis, and he is a typical European white bear, good at pick-and-roll and positioning. You can think of him as a poor version of Jokic, which is more than enough for a thousand-year-old bad team like the Kings.

The Cavaliers eventually selected combo guard Dejounte Murray from the University of Washington with the 25th pick.

Then the Warriors selected Zhou Qi with the 30th pick.

This choice made Han Sen stunned.

However, just like Ding Yanyuhang last year, his appearance has raised the expectations of Dongda players in the eyes of NBA management.

Moreover, Zhou Qi was predicted to enter the lottery in the previous draft, but because he came from the system, his age was exposed, causing his ranking to decline.

The Cavaliers selected Derrick Jones Jr. with the 55th pick.

Then, Hansen saw that the Grizzlies selected Wang Zhelin with the 57th pick. This pick originally belonged to the Spurs, and they traded for Wang Zhelin specifically.

It's hard to say that they didn't want to consolidate the Chinese market in Memphis that Hansen had previously created.

Wang Zhelin, who was selected in his sleep, wonders if he will choose to go to the NBA in this parallel world.

A week later, Hansen returned to Sombor after a short trip to Serbia, where he would watch the horse racing competition.

On the day of the horse race, Han Sen found that the stands were crowded with at least several thousand people.

This is incredible in a small town with a population of only 5.

But this also shows how much horse racing is loved in the local area.

Just before the race started, a government official came over to greet Hansen.

After the translation, Hansen realized that the other party was Serbia's Minister of Sports.

This surprised him very much. He didn't expect that he, who had just come to watch Jokic's horse racing, would cause such a sensation.

But this is actually reasonable.

Hansen's influence is global now. The fact that an athlete of his level visited Serbia and did not cause a stir before was mainly because it was a surprise visit.

He has been in Serbia for a week now, and even if the reaction here is slow, he should be found.

What made Han Sen feel comfortable was that after the necessary exchanges and photos, the Sports Minister returned to his seat and did not sit next to him all the time.

This allowed him to focus all his attention on the horse racing.

Soon, cheers broke out at the scene, and the contestants came out one after another with their racehorses.

Jokic's protruding height makes him stand out among the other players.

Slavs are generally tall, but those who are 2 meters tall are still a minority.

In fact, Jokic could have chosen to find a professional horse racer, but he did this to fulfill his childhood dream.

The race was about to begin and the contestants got into their cars.

Hansen was also worried about Jokic's horse.

Fortunately, Jokic was not in the barreled Baishuishan version at that time, otherwise he would have been exhausted to death after running a game.

With a whistle, the annual horse racing competition in Sombor officially kicked off.

This competition is called horse racing, but Hansen actually feels it is more like car racing.

Jokic's horse was the first to rush out, and the money was not wasted.

But it wasn't long before he was overtaken.

It's just that his body size is too disadvantageous in this kind of competition.

The Sombor horse racing track is similar to a car racing track, an oval with one lap of 1200 meters. A total of three and a half laps is required, which is nearly 4000 meters.

This distance will not tire the horse too much and will also test the racer's skills.

Hansen quickly saw Jokic's skills.

His cornering technique, which was right at the edge of the field, was a bit like cornering in a drainage ditch.

His heavy weight pressing down on the car was actually an advantage at this time.

As the saying goes, everyone can accelerate on a straight road, but overtaking on a curve requires true skill.

This guy probably knows more about horse racing than basketball.

And as the race progresses, the horses' endurance begins to show.

Jokic's horse had a lot of endurance and began to gradually overtake his opponent.

When entering the final 200-meter sprint, Jokic was already truly in the lead.

There were cheers at the scene, and Hansen also stood up and applauded Jokic.

In the end, Jokic was the first to cross the finish line.

After the game, Hansen went down to the field to congratulate Jokic.

Although this is only a preliminary round, Hansen is now quite optimistic about Jokic.

In the afternoon final, Jokic continued to advance and finally won the 2016 Sombor Horse Racing Championship.

After winning the championship, Jokic held the trophy in the stable and sang a Serbian song that Hansen was unfamiliar with, dancing with joy.

It was much more exciting than when the Cavaliers won the championship before.

Han Sen was now certain that this kid really loved horse racing more than basketball.

After the horse racing competition is over, there is a bonfire celebration in the evening to celebrate the successful completion of the competition.

It was at this bonfire party that Hansen ate authentic Balkan barbecue and drank the mead that the Slavs loved.

This mead has a high alcohol content, just like vodka.

As they drank more, their faces turned red and they were getting drunk.

"Boss, I really don't understand why you are so optimistic about me. Do you like men?" Jokic has already started talking nonsense.

Hansen pushed Jokic away to make his position clear.

"I told you that I'm a time traveler and I know you'll become an NBA superstar. Do you believe me?"

"Then tell me tomorrow's lottery numbers." Jokic really wants to retire early.

But it was obvious that he thought Han Sen was joking.

After all, who in their right mind would believe that there are time travelers in this world?

Han Sen couldn't help but laugh.

But gradually, his smile faded, and then he patted Jokic on the shoulder and said seriously:

"Because our countries were once brothers."

When Hansen visited Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, he saw the ruins of the embassy of the University of East Asia in Yugoslavia.

(End of this chapter)