My Lord, you need to stand up!

Chapter 859: Platters Everywhere
The fight was fairly evenly matched.

From the moment they let Wei Dong pick these draft losers at Madison Square Garden, they were used to a disorganized, individualistic performance.

Ideally, one should only have the opportunity to practice and improve formations, tactics, and routines after joining a club.

But somehow he ended up in Hong Kong. Fred, that street thug, had no coaching skills whatsoever; he was lucky if he could even handle the daily management tasks.

There's no question of a systematic approach to development.

Previously, Blackie and his teammates relied solely on their individual abilities and physical talents to overwhelm Hong Kong amateur players. To compete with Hong Kong's professional elite teams, they needed two heavyweight players to lead the charge.

Kemp doesn't possess much tactical skill.

Honestly, if he continues to play in this low-confrontation environment, it's questionable whether he'll still be good enough to be drafted by NBC in a couple of years.

On the contrary, Hardaway had already fully developed during his two years in college, which is why the NBA now basically drafts players from NCAA college teams.

The NBA's incredibly complex tactics are really hard for someone who hasn't gone to college to adapt to.

Therefore, compared to the mainland players, the individual strength of the black-and-white players who only know how to fight alone is obviously stronger. However, under Lu Bin's shouts and commands, Ma Jian and others who have lived in the sports team since childhood can play more routine combinations.

After all, these players are close to the best level in mainland China; they're just too young to have taken their place in their respective teams.

It was quite a spectacular display of dragons and tigers leaping and bounding.

The hundreds of fans who live nearby, run shops, or exercise in the stands were in for a treat, enjoying the view and cheering enthusiastically.

Ma Jian and Zhang Jinsong also played with great enthusiasm, which indeed met Wei Dong's requirement for high-intensity training to effectively stimulate their excitement.

Wei Dong, naturally, felt as if he had drunk two ounces of fine wine, pondering how to get these people to realize their talents.

But all of this changed completely after his wife arrived with Camp, Cheng Lang, and the others.

The 18-year-old boy, who is 2.08 meters tall, took his girlfriend to the training center early in the morning. After finishing his extra training, he went home and then joined the rest of the group to go to the city.

Now, without saying a word, he went onto the field, creating a mudslide-like impact on the minds of the five mainland players!

With his addition, Black and White's fighting strength has clearly doubled.

The situation of fighting individually was quickly adjusted to a strategy centered around Kemp, and they immediately joined forces as a spearhead.

The mainland players were immediately overwhelmed and scattered.

It was only thanks to Zhang Jinsong's desperate efforts, Ma Jian's toughness, Fan Bin's hard work, and Adijiang's flexibility that they were able to barely hold on and avoid collapse. Lu Bin, who had a knee injury, certainly couldn't keep up with this high intensity and could only shout commands.

The black and white players provided Kemp with all-around ball-handling, helping him intercept passes and make runs, feeding him various high lobs, allowing Kemp to perform high-difficulty maneuvers near the backboard.

A powerful dunk, an alley-oop, a reverse layup...

This is different from the style of play in international competitions, where physical strength must be evenly distributed in order to win, and effectiveness is emphasized over fancy moves.

Neither Blackie nor Kemp have entered the professional arena; they both have a performative playing style, doing whatever pleases the audience.

This was a way of playing that Zhang Jinsong and his team had never seen before.

They were already stunned while they were still on the field.

Only Ma Jian, a hothead, insisted on going head-to-head with Kemp.

Perhaps psychologically, he didn't have the mindset that those guys in the army could always go back and cover for him no matter how they performed. He understood that once he left the Jibei team, he couldn't go back, and that he could only get ahead by fighting desperately.

That was real scrambling and collisions, a constant crashing and banging!
Even though Ma Jian, who is still two months older, can eat at the professional meals provided by the sports team in mainland China, his nutritional level is still not as good as that of someone from a poor background in Citibank.

They all weigh around 200 pounds, and their core strength is already considered the best in mainland China, but they are still far behind Kemp, who is among the top black players.

One collision and he stumbled!

It all comes down to relentless, desperate perseverance.

Zhang Jinsong happens to be the same style, able to entangle with him from both sides, but his body is so strong that he is always thrown off balance and then crawls back up.

The Hong Kong guys in the stands were initially excited and arrogant, but when Kanjani arrived, things changed.

Gradually, everyone fell silent, watching with admiration as these two indomitable players were repeatedly dunked on, blocked, and knocked away, yet they continued to fight desperately without any discouragement!

This is a spirit rarely seen in Hong Kong basketball players.

Everyone played very politely; losing wouldn't be a big deal, and winning wouldn't be a great achievement.

Such a ferocious, dog-like fight! They practically wanted to bite each other.

Fan Bin seized every opportunity to shoot from the perimeter, while Adi Jiang's shooting was really inaccurate, but his passing had a bit of an NBA feel to it, with all sorts of unexpected cuts and runs. Even Lu Bin maintained his mid-range shooting accuracy and refused to give up.

The score quickly widened, but neither of them fell apart or collapsed.

Then, starting from who knows where, the applause began, and both sides applauded: applause for Kemp's dunk, applause for Zhang Jinsong's steal, applause for Fan Bin's three-pointer, applause for Adijiang's pass...

Even after being knocked into the air, Ma Jian applauded. The atmosphere grew increasingly lively, filled with joy, excitement, and exhilaration!
Because these are all helpers that Bo Zai Dong found, they are all his own generals!

This team's ambition is no longer just to dominate Hong Kong; they want to expand to other regions and achieve results at the Olympics!
Qin Yuye didn't care how well he played basketball. As soon as they met, he winked and whispered in Shen Cuiyue's ear, almost getting kicked out by the Jianghu girl.

So what if you've practiced a little Dragon Tiger Kung Fu? What are you showing off to me for?

If Wei Dong sees this, he'll scold him too. Can't he do his job properly?!
Have you contacted the Basketball Association? Have you reached out to the team members? Have you finalized the coaching staff? What about the media?

Anyway, Old Heng arrived faster than the Basketball Association. The dock management was still his people, and the security guards probably informed him as well.

A string of cars arrived one after the other, and they were all delighted to see each other.

Upon learning that the HK basketball team had qualified for the Olympics, and that Wei Dong was to return to try and secure the position of president of the Basketball Association, they prepared to come and discuss the division of spoils.

As a result, he returned to the mainland the next day, and then brought back these few fierce generals 24 hours later.

Even if you don't understand basketball, you can tell that these guys are already rare in terms of physique and talent among people of Asian descent.

This clearly demonstrates that Wei Dong has connections and influence far and wide!

"Commercialization—these people will become the face of Hong Kong in the future, the face of the waterfront sports city. Construction is about to begin, and the basketball team's qualification for the Olympics has indeed garnered strong support from legislators and the Construction and Building Department for our application!"

Heinz Group is one of the largest real estate groups in Hong Kong, and the elder Heinz is the most prominent member of the middle generation of the family.

It's still very exciting to talk about now. This kind of approval is not easy. They had difficulty getting approval for commercial district buildings before. This time, it took about half a year, and they finally got through thanks to their status as an Asian champion and the basketball stadium center.

The trainee who came from Washington State University, the college graduate designer who was tied up by Liu Xiaoyong back then, was also with the design team here. He immediately opened the current finalized application plan and showed it to Wei Dong.

There have been slight adjustments compared to the initial concept.

The land reclamation is minimal; the main feature is the circular basketball arena, which has a diameter of over 100 meters. Therefore, the approved land only involves the renovation of the existing dock area, with the basketball arena resembling a luxury watch embedded in its strap.

The stadium was indeed as magnificent and beautiful as Wei Dong had imagined, except that it wasn't in the exact center; capitalists still prioritize profit when making decisions.

It was placed in a more remote area near the end, so that as much of the land near Tsim Sha Tsui could be used for commercial purposes. Moreover, this location is just right in the middle of two subway stations, so no matter which side the fans exit from, they have to walk six or seven hundred meters through the entire commercial area.

Hong Kong may seem like an international free port with cheap used cars, but the cost of owning a car is very high, and its ownership rate is far lower than that of mainland China in 30 or 40 years.

If a city doesn't have much demand across regions, then it doesn't have a strong desire to use a car.

Therefore, the vigorous development of public transportation is a characteristic of Hong Kong, with public buses, minibuses, and the MTR being the key areas.

However, this basketball arena, designed to accommodate 30,000 spectators, still has more than 2,000 underground parking spaces reserved.

This is where the significance of the president of the basketball association becomes apparent.

Wei Dong hasn't yet secured this social position, but he's taking a path completely unrelated to Lao Heng's side, further increasing the cooperative value that Lao Heng can't grasp.

Moreover, the partnership between the Basketball Association and this real estate company provides a guarantee for a series of future events, ensuring a promising future business outlook.

Wei Dong then invited Lao Heng to discuss with the Basketball Association the possibility of the veteran player participating in the construction of the basketball arena, bearing half of the construction costs, and ultimately receiving a 20% stake in the arena. Lao Heng readily agreed.

He also acquired a 20% stake in the basketball stadium in addition to the land, and other commercial buildings still rely on the basketball stadium to generate buzz.

The more partners there are in this kind of big business, the greater the success will be, since it's not like he's getting a share of the business.

So, how did Wei Dong lead the HK basketball team to win the Asian championship and qualify for the Olympics?

Old Heng offered Wei Dong a commercial office building as a bargaining chip after the completion of the sports city project.

The entire massive construction plan, which will last for more than 20 years and involve a total investment of no less than HK$20 billion, will consist of more than 30 buildings of varying heights and shapes.

This is not only an extra reward, but also a way to tie Wei Dong's business interests to the entire sports city.

While waiting for the basketball association to arrive, Lao Heng casually mentioned that a large number of old, abandoned crane ships, yachts, and cargo barges in the typhoon shelter outside the dock were an eyesore, and that they would have to find a way to clean them up once the basketball stadium and supporting high-rise buildings were built.

Before container terminals became popular, various bulk cargo crane ships were the mainstream, and dozens of dock tugboats and work tugboats accumulated from nearly a century of transit terminals were crammed there.

We used to have over a dozen crane ships in good condition; they were really useful.

So Wei Dong didn't mind being a garbage collector: "Just clean it up for me, give me a token amount of money, and I'll haul it to the Yangtze River for repairs and then use it."

Old Heng scoffed, "What money? We're already being grateful if they don't charge for waste disposal or ship dismantling. I'll go negotiate."

Wei Dong suddenly realized that the two unscrupulous merchants were chuckling to themselves.

The basketball association staff arrived just then, and we were able to watch the second half.

Even though Kemp later overwhelmed the mainland players with his superior stamina, his talent was still evident, especially his tenacious fighting spirit despite being completely outmatched and exhausted. They recognized his worth: "Good, good, good, arrange for someone to process the formalities immediately..."

Generally, basketball teams register for these major tournaments with twelve players. Having Wei Dong provide six players as the main force will prevent the original HK team from being too unworthy of its name.

Thus, a brand-new mixed-arts basketball team was born.

(End of this chapter)