Don't talk trash to him.

Chapter 99: Finally someone has cleaned up this old thing!

"He said he was looking forward to it? Are you sure he said... looking forward to it? And not any other words?" LeBron James was a little surprised to hear Suwan's answer. In his opinion, anyone could say this word, but Suwan was absolutely impossible.

But now, after repeated confirmation, the reporter still told him very firmly:
"Yes, Sue, that's what it says!"

LeBron still didn't believe it until he saw the interview video.

Did Su Wan really say that?

Why?

He is not "Sister Li".

Of course, he couldn't understand it, and even all the reporters thought that Suwan was expecting LeBron to lead the Cavaliers into the playoffs.

Their ideas could not keep up with Su Wan's bold imagination.

Su Wan did not pay too much attention to the follow-up reports of this incident. Whether the possibility he anticipated could come true in the future would be known on April 4. It was not something that had to be done. All his energy was put into improving himself.

The wave of zone values ​​he collected in the past has given him the ability to "breakthrough", and now his breakthrough potential value has reached 95 points.

Next, he decided to put all the collected zone values ​​into the "ball control" ability.

Breaking through and mid-range shooting are now his two skills with the greatest potential and the fastest growth rate. They are also the two skills that occupy all his training time. In the upcoming playoffs, these two skills will also become his reliance.

As the playoffs approach, he hears more news related to the playoffs.

That is a completely different stage from the regular season.

If there are a few games in the long regular season where even the core players of the team feel slack, then every game in the playoffs is like fighting for meat in the jungle, extremely intense.

Such a stage will reveal the "slackers" in the regular season and allow the real "stars" to shine even brighter.

Su Wan wants to shine more brightly. Even though this is the first playoffs in his career and his slump is understandable, he does not want to lose his current glory.

In order to achieve this goal, all he can do is practice, practice, and practice again.

To the point of being a little impatient.

Rick Carlisle noticed his abnormality and talked to him once: "Man, I'm more worried about you missing the playoffs due to injury than the slump you might experience in the playoffs. That's the real bad situation."

Carlisle's words were as cold as ever, but this time they touched Suwan's heart.

He began to adjust his mentality, no longer being so impatient to practice more, and brought his training rhythm back to its previous level.

On March 3, after defeating a number of weak teams and achieving a record of 20 wins and 3 losses in March, the Pacers faced a "focus battle" at home. The opponent was still not strong, ranking twelfth in the Western Conference, but it attracted much attention.

Their opponent is the Los Angeles Lakers!

The second match between Suwan and Kobe.

Before the game, many media outlets were speculating that "Kobe will choose to come back in this game", which attracted a lot of attention.

But in the end, Kobe just watched the game from the sidelines and did not appear on the court.

I originally thought that I wouldn’t see any interaction between Suwan and Kobe this time.

Unexpectedly, during the pre-match warm-up, Suwan suddenly walked to the Lakers' bench, looked at Kobe with a smile and said, "I heard you can't play today? It's okay, just sit here, I'll put on a 'show' for you, just sit down and watch quietly, I won't charge you for the ticket."

These words made people feel dazed.

Nearly 20 years ago, one night, Johnson was injured and sitting on the bench, unable to play against the Celtics. Larry Bird also walked over and said something similar.

Now, the same situation is happening. Facing Su Wan's servile smile, Kobe can only smile helplessly, just like Johnson did back then.

It is worth mentioning that the No. 2 player of the Lakers that Suwan will face tonight is also an "old acquaintance":
Sasha Vujacic!

Since joining the Lakers, the Slovenian "Golden Boy" has been sitting on the bench all the time. When the management saw that he had no chance to play, they demoted him to the Development League, where at least there are games for him to play and he can maintain his form.

As a result, he missed Suwan's first game at Staples.

After that game, Kobe was injured, which caused rotation problems at the No. 2 position. The coaching staff recalled him from the Development League. I don’t know if it was intentional, but they let him start tonight.

Vujacic was quite happy to get the chance to start, but when he heard that the opponent was Suwan and the Pacers, he was very resistant. However, he did not reject the head coach's proposal in the end. He knew very well that if he refused to start tonight, his rookie season would probably be over.

In the NBA, having no confidence is more terrifying than having no ability.

So he still stood in front of Su Wan.

From July last year to March this year, more than half a year has passed, and the changes between Vujacic and Suwan can be described as "huge differences".

Suwan has become the league's hottest new star, and Vujacic is becoming another proof that "European players easily have trouble acclimatizing in the NBA."

What is even bigger than the gap in public opinion is the current abilities of the two of them.

Even without the "The Zone" mode, Suwan can easily beat Vujacic, but now he no longer has the "European genius" in his eyes. Every time he scores a goal and passes by the Lakers bench, he will ask Kobe:
“Isn’t this goal too cool?”

"No way, it's too easy. Is this the Lakers' defense?"

"Kobe, your hands must be itchy, right? It's a pity you can't play, hahahaha!"

……

Kobe's face was immediately made to look extremely bad.

Just by looking at this face, Su Wan could imagine how harmonious the atmosphere would be on the Lakers' special plane returning to Los Angeles.

You’re welcome, Su Wan felt that this was what he should do!
It was not until the end of the game that Suwan, who had scored 31 points, 6 rebounds and 5 assists, shouted to the Lakers coaching staff: "I have already checked it for you. Let this Slovenian continue to play in the Development League. He is a fake in the NBA!"

These words are exactly the same as the "trash talk" that Vujacic used against Brandon Malone.

He actually remembers it from that time until now?

Wujacic has always heard from the media that Su Wan is a petty person. Now, he finally knows how petty Su Wan is.

But his biggest feeling was... How did I manage to suppress him in the first half?
After the game, Vujacic suddenly wanted to applaud himself in the summer league.

It’s really awesome that he could suppress such a “monster newcomer” for a short period of time!
After the game, Irene asked Su Wan why he did this, and Su Wan said:

"Before the game, the media gave me hope. I thought I could still play against Kobe, but that didn't happen. As everyone knows, I'm a petty person. I need to do something to release my emotions. Now I feel comfortable, but I guess Kobe should be very uncomfortable, but he has no chance. The next time we meet will be in the distant new season, unless he can lead the team from the 12th place in the West to the finals after his comeback..."

Irene discovered the "highlight": "Finals? Do you mean that the Pacers are very confident that they can make it to the finals this year?"

Su Wan smiled and said, "Don't put too much pressure on my teammates, Irene. When you report, just say that I think so!"

Irene was really obedient and even specifically noted this in the title: "Targeting the Finals? 'Super Rookie' Suwan believes this year's Pacers can make it out of the East."

Since there were only two NBA games yesterday, it was the first time that Suwan talked about his playoff goals in front of the media cameras, and ESPN gave it headline treatment.

Not surprisingly, this sparked another round of discussion.

Coupled with the "fanning the flames" of some reporters, sarcastic voices soon came from Detroit.

Ben Wallace: "That rookie should play a playoff game before discussing the playoffs! Does he think the playoffs are a game of playing house like the regular season?"

Larry Brown: "This is the young people nowadays. They don't know what it means to reach the finals. They think it's something that can be done easily. They don't know how many players in this league have tried their best and still can't reach the finals once in their entire careers."

Suwan responded quickly. Regarding Ben Wallace, he said: "I am curious whether Ben Wallace would also attack his opponent when he was 15 points behind in the playoffs."

Ben Wallace: It's not over yet, is it?
Originally, the "Palace of Auburn Hills Incident" had already been determined, with Artest beating a fan and committing a heinous crime. However, as Suwan kept reminding the outside world in front of the media, Ben Wallace was the first to take action.

This adds another label of "can't afford to lose" to Big Ben.

As for Larry Brown...

"He has been in this league since the 70s, and it wasn't until 04 that he won his first championship. Of course, he feels that it's not easy. But if you ask the Celtics who won eight consecutive championships, they will tell you a completely different answer. From what I know, when they won the last championship of their eight consecutive championships, they were too lazy to even open the champagne."

"Some people are like this. If something they find difficult, they will subconsciously think that it is also very difficult for others to do it!"

“They don’t consider whether it’s a problem of their own ability.”

"For example, Larry Brown has been in this industry for more than 30 years. We all know about his coaching problems, but he himself is the only one who doesn't know. This is why it took him so many years to finally win his first championship..."

"Fortunately, he is a coach in the NBA, otherwise it would be difficult for him to hold on until the moment of winning the championship, unless he breaks the Chiefs' record!"

"The Chief" is Boston Celtics legend Robert Parish, who played until he was 44 years old before retiring and played a total of 1611 regular season games in his career.

It was an extreme humiliation. Larry Brown's face turned blue with anger when he heard these words. His 70-year-old body was shaking, as if Suwan had hit his shoulder again. Billups wanted to persuade him: "Coach, why don't we not mess with that rookie? You can't scold him."

But he knew very well that if he said that, he would only be insulted by Larry Brown.

forget it……

The best strategy is to yo-yo quickly.

Billups was determined to hide where Larry Brown couldn't see him, and as soon as he entered the locker room, he saw Milicic.

"morning!"

The former "Golden Boy" of Europe saw him and greeted him with a big smile.

Billups sniffed subconsciously. Apart from some bad breath, there was no smell of alcohol. "You didn't drink today?"

Milicic laughed and said, "If I had gone to drink, I would have missed such a pleasant thing. That new Chinese guy is really interesting. How is Larry? Is he almost mad to death?"

This is the most exciting day for Milicic since entering the NBA.

No, it should be said that since the "shoulder bumping incident", he feels so happy every day.

Finally someone has fixed this old thing!

Bill Duffy has been very busy recently because it is approaching April and the American "tax season" is coming. Nike will deposit US$4 million for the first year of the contract into Suwan's card before April.

If the money is paid through a personal account, then the federal income tax plus the Indiana state income tax and the Indianapolis city income tax will be paid as 1571% of the $30 million. This is in spite of the low tax rate in Indiana, which is only 5%.

If it were in places like California, half of Su Wan's income would go into taxes.

Suwan isn't sure if his career will continue in Indiana.

In fact, no one can guarantee whether they can stay in a certain team forever. This is the NBA.

So Bill Duffy helped Suwan register a company in Reno, Nevada, where there is no corporate tax. Apple also registered a hedge fund there to avoid taxes.

In this way, Suwan can save at least 9% of state and city taxes. Although it is only 9%, 1571% of 9 million is about 143 million, which is almost Suwan's salary in the first year of his rookie contract.

In addition, Suwan will need to pay the buyout fee of the "Sharks" in the near future.

This part of the money is not a lot, because Su Wan is different from Yao Ming. He is not a player trained by the "Big Sharks". He transferred from Aoshen to the "Big Sharks". As for why Aoshen let him go so easily...

Because they had discovered the treasure Sun Yue, and Su Wan had a conflict with Sun Yue, Aoshen traded him away.

However, this matter was a secret, and only the top management of the Aoshen team knew about it. The Aoshen team was a completely "private team", so this matter was not spread out.

Last summer, after leading the "Sharks" to win the championship, there was only one year left on the contract he signed with the Aoshen team, so when he expressed his desire to go to the NBA to participate in the draft, the "Sharks" did not obstruct him. He only needed to pay the "Sharks" a buyout fee of one million.

The money is not a big issue.

If the original owner breaches the contract, he must pay the price for the breach.

But there are still some people who come to ask for money, which makes Su Wan a little annoyed.

None other than...

Rotten association!

The second update is here.

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(End of this chapter)