Basketball's No. 1 Anti-Fan

Chapter 406 [Sentiment]

Shortly after the Christmas game ended, the 2019 All-Star voting began.

That year, the Charlotte All-Star Weekend was forced to be cancelled due to LGBT issues, but this year the league found an opportunity to make it up.

On the Kings side, in addition to Hansen, Mitchell and Tatum were also selected for the candidate list.

The Kings officials also canvassed for the three.

Of course, it's actually Mitchell and Tatum. As for Hansen, if he doesn't win the vote, it would be the same as if he didn't score 40 points this season. Tying the three of them together would be a bundled promotion.

It was during this time that Hansen noticed that Mitchell seemed a little worried.

"Why, are you worried that you won't be able to make the All-Stars?" Han Sen still admired Mitchell very much and would show concern for him whenever he got the chance.

But to his surprise, Mitchell shook his head: "I know I'm not qualified for that. I'm struggling with whether to continue to participate in the dunk contest."

The last time Mitchell participated in a dunk contest was last year, at last year's Cleveland All-Star Game.

At that time, Hansen was one of the judges of the dunk contest, and the final champion was Aaron Gordon.

Mitchell performed well in the preliminaries, scoring 48 points in the first dunk, but unfortunately he met Gordon and Jones Jr. and ultimately missed the finals.

This year, Gordon, who has realized his dream, will most likely not participate, but Jones Jr. should continue to participate.

"Do you want to join in?" Han Sen asked with a smile.

Mitchell nodded. He still liked dunking.

But then he said again: "But I'm worried it will be the same as last time."

Mitchell has a very strong character. Although it is an entertainment event, he always has to play a supporting role, which he finds difficult to accept.

"Go if you want." Han Sen was still simple and direct.

Seeing that Mitchell was still confused, Han Sen continued, "I'll be your assistant."

Mitchell was stunned when he heard this. He looked at Hansen and thought he had heard it wrong.

Han Sen is such a big shot now, if this person becomes his assistant, it would be like having his own BGM when he appears on stage, and the impression score would be maxed out.

"Of course if you don't need an assistant, I can only cheer you on from the sidelines."

"No, I'll go!" Mitchell's eyes immediately became firm.

With Han Sen as his assistant, this experience was more meaningful than winning the championship.

"I'm rooting for you~" Han Sen smiled and patted Mitchell's shoulder.

Mitchell also got some experience cards from Jokic.

But for Hansen, he has been a contestant and a judge in the dunk contest, but has never been an assistant. This is also an interesting experience for him.

When the last second of 2018 passed and the New Year bell rang, time immediately came to 2019.

Just after entering the new year, the Kings also got better.

They achieved a season-long six-game winning streak at the start of January, and successfully surpassed the Rockets to reach third place in the Western Conference.

The last time the Kings reached this position was at the beginning of the century, when the Princeton Kings under Adelman swept the league and became a serious championship-level team.

In Hansen's first year with the Kings, he was able to lead the team to this level with a group of rookies, and he averaged 40 points per game, which was quite shocking.

Some fans were expressing their feelings about "how Jordan would perform in the small ball era", but more fans thought that even if Jordan came, it wouldn't work, and only Hansen could do it.

But Han Sen has always been the same Han Sen, from the beginning of the season to now, and he is now as steady as a machine.

The main reason for the Kings' winning streak is Tatum's stable performance.

During this six-game winning streak, Tatum averaged 6 points per game, with a field goal percentage of 20% and a three-point shooting percentage of 49%.

Or to put it in a more intuitive way, if the Kings needed 100 points to win, Hansen contributed 60 points and the others together contributed 38 points.

Then Tatum's stability in the past period has changed that number from 38 to 40, and the Kings have since entered a winning mode.

Of course, this is also related to the Kings' schedule. At the beginning of the season, they faced the Cavaliers and the Bucks, and then the Pelicans and the Warriors. After finishing the tough schedule, it is naturally easier now.

It is against this backdrop that the results of the first round of voting for the NBA All-Star Game were announced.

In the Western Conference frontcourt voting, Tatum actually received 70 votes, surpassing All-Stars such as Anthony Davis, George, and Green, and ranking third only after Hansen and James.

Although this was only the first round of voting, it also allowed Tatum to truly feel the benefits of playing alongside Hansen.

That means if you perform a little bit well, you will get much more attention than others.

That’s why people say that Hansen itself is the biggest stage, which is more effective than any big city or top football team.

Time flies and it is now the end of January, and the All-Star voting results are officially released.

Apart from Hansen who won the title of the vote with 620 million votes without any suspense, the rest of the results were full of surprises.

In the Eastern Conference backcourt, the second place was actually veteran Wade, who received 360 million votes.

In the Western Conference backcourt, veteran Rose also ranked second, and he also received 330 million votes.

In other words, if the starting lineup is still determined directly by fan voting as in the past, Wade and Rose will be selected as All-Star starters again at the end of their careers.

The main point of this is a feeling.

However, the fans' sentiments are not without reason.

As for Wade, although he did not announce that this was his last season like Kobe did, it can still be seen from many details.

First of all, Wade did not continue to stay with the Cavaliers but chose to return to the Heat, where his dream began. This is the standard operation of veteran retirement.

And this year Wade often exchanged jerseys with opposing players during the game, which makes this point even more certain.

Wade helped the Heat win their first championship in team history in 2006, and then helped the Cavaliers win two consecutive championships to complete the dynasty. His contribution to the second championship was particularly outstanding, with the famous scene of pouring champagne on his knees. Although his historical status is not as high as Kobe, he is the third shooting guard in history after Kobe.

Even if he doesn't have a retirement tour, fans will give him enough respect in all aspects.

Rose's popularity is more due to his popularity that year and his outstanding performance this season. This season, Rose averaged 20 points per game for the Timberwolves and also scored a career-high 50 points in a single game, which made him cry and many fans cry.

It is also worth mentioning that Doncic received a full 420 million votes!

Although the competition in the Eastern Conference frontcourt is particularly fierce this year and he has failed to shake the positions of Durant, Jokic and Antetokounmpo, this also shows his popularity.

Doncic's playing style in his rookie year was extremely agile, giving people a refreshing feeling.

On the Kings side, Tatum and Mitchell also received 300 million and 260 million votes respectively.

In comparison, last year both of them received hundreds of thousands of votes, which shows the stage and popularity that Han Sen brought.

However, in the current All-Star voting mechanism, fans' votes only account for 50%, and the remaining 50% is selected by the media and players, with each side accounting for 25%.

As a result of the three being combined, Wade and Rose were kicked out of the starting lineup, and they were replaced by the host team's core player Kemba Walker and the Rockets' core player James Harden.
From a rational point of view, this is a more reasonable result, because both Walker and Harden deserve to be elected based on their season performance and personal strength.

However, the All-Star Game is ultimately played for the fans, and the fans are obviously dissatisfied with the result.

As public opinion continued to ferment, Silva also made a decision that violated league rules: he gave one additional quota to each of the East and West.

The spot in the East was given to Wade, while the spot in the West was given to Rose.

Han Sen was surprised when he saw the result.

It’s not that he gave it to me, because as time got closer to the era before he traveled through time, his memory of these things became clearer.

He remembered that he gave it this year, but it was given to Wade and Nowitzki, and even forced Nowitzki, who originally didn't want to retire, to "retire".

I didn’t expect the result to change now. Whether Nowitzki will retire or not is another matter, but this wave is completely in line with the expectations of the fans. After all, the vote represents the wishes of the majority of fans.

This change has a lot to do with Rose's previous experience with the Cavaliers.

The Cavaliers' dynasty not only brought more championships to some people, but also changed their destiny.

Hansen sent congratulatory text messages to both Wade and Rose. Being able to enjoy such treatment at the end of their careers is another fairy tale belonging to the NBA.

Shortly after the All-Star roster was released, the league announced the captains for this year's All-Star Game.

After Han Sen came from the East to the West, the captain of the team changed drastically this year. Durant became the captain of the East, and Han Sen was naturally the captain of the West.

As for last year's captain James, and last year's highly popular Curry, they can only play supporting roles in front of Hansen.

It was also at this time that some James fans belatedly realized that Hansen and James were in the same division again. Not to mention the trivial matter of All-Star voting, the key point was that if they couldn't beat Hansen, it would be the same as before, and they would forget about the runner-up title.

Last year's live broadcast of the talent show was extremely popular, so there is no reason to change it this year. Because of last year's success, this year's talent show also invited some fans to the scene, making it a grand occasion.

Even the process of deciding on players before the game became complicated. Hansen and Durant sat on chairs and shot three-pointers to see who could make more of the five three-pointers.

As a result, in this segment where ability outweighs luck, Hansen was not as unlucky as last year. He made three of five shots, beating Durant's two and getting the chance to select first.

Hansen’s first choice is Jokic.

Although they are no longer on the same team, Hansen's preference for Jokic has not diminished at all.

Durant immediately chose Davis as his first choice.

Unlike the various tactics used by James last year, Durant's choice is more conventional. After all, there are only two players in the starting lineup who can play center.

Without so much intrigue, the two of them selected people very quickly.

Hansen successively won Curry and Antetokounmpo, while Durant won Irving and Harden.

Then, with only Kemba Walker and James left in the starting pool, Hansen took... Walker without hesitation.

With Durant looking helpless, last year's captain James became the last one left this year.

Last year, the one left over was James Harden, and this year it's James. They're both James, but unlike last year's intrigue, this year James is really not wanted by either side.

However, this year's starting lineups for both sides, Walker + Curry + Hansen + Antetokounmpo + Jokic VS Irving + Harden + Durant + James + Davis, seem to be much more balanced than last year.

If they play a real game like last year, the outcome will still be very interesting.

In the reserve selection phase, Durant snatched Leonard away with the first pick.

When the Raptors made the trade last summer, the biggest risk was that Leonard would not play. As a result, no one expected that Leonard not only had a high attendance rate this year, but also played at an MVP level.

What fans joked about back then has been reversed this season: Leonard usually doesn't play, but when he does, he is invincible.

The Raptors' deal now seems to be a huge win.

However, it can be seen from Durant's choice that he is very genuine and is just aiming to win.

Han Sen focused on his feelings and chose Wade as his first choice.

This was Wade's retirement season and the last time Hansen and Wade played on the same team.

As the All-Star Game draws closer, the league has begun using the theme of "emotion" to promote its games.

The feelings of Wade and Rose being selected, the feelings of Hansen, Wade, Rose and other Cavaliers dynasty players playing on the same team again, and even the feelings of Curry directly fulfilling his original promise and participating in the Charlotte Three-Point Contest, and the feelings of Hansen appearing in the dunk contest as Mitchell's dunk guest.

It can be said that these directly set the tone for this All-Star Game.

This will also attract more fans to pay attention to this event.

The day before the All-Star Weekend, Hansen flew to Charlotte on his private jet.

Although he was the only one selected for the finals this year, besides him, there were Tatum, Mitchell and Hield on the plane.

Tatum is going to participate in the Rookie Game and Skills Challenge, while Hield is going to participate in the Three-Point Contest.

However, the busiest one is Mitchell. He has to participate in the Rookie Game, Three-Point Contest and Slam Dunk Contest. He is a working maniac during the All-Star Weekend.

-Dividing line-

All-Stars final results:
Hansen team starting lineup: Kemba Walker, Curry, Hansen, Antetokounmpo, Jokic
Substitutes: Lillard, Wade, Rose, Butler, George, Griffin, Towns, Gobert
Team Durant starting lineup: Irving, Harden, Durant, James, Anthony Davis

Substitutes: Westbrook, Lowry, Klay Thompson, Beal, Hayward, Leonard, Aldridge, Embiid
(End of this chapter)