Chapter 114: Danger! The Number One Point Guard is Coming!!!

There are two classic sayings in the NBA. "Basketball is round, anything is possible on the court." "There are no weak teams in the NBA."

Therefore, the Lakers losing to the Grizzlies did not cause much public controversy.

There wasn't much sadness on the faces of the Lakers players; in a long regular season, losing is unavoidable.

For these professional players who have been around for many years, it was just an ordinary night.

Even Kobe Bryant, who has a strong desire to win, didn't say anything. He lay on the plane and slept quietly; he also had many worries recently, and he needed to return to Los Angeles to get a good rest.

However, Fan Xi kept watching the game replay on his iPad. He had the video editor cut all the footage of his confrontations with Conley for him, carefully reading the details of the game.

This failure helped him a lot.

Since Fan Xi entered the League, Mike Conley is the player who has brought him the most intense confrontation, which accelerated his proficiency in various techniques and provided comprehensive improvement for his further evolution.

Therefore, after the game, Fan Xi specifically went to chat with Mike Conley for a while.

Mike Conley is a friendly person; his character is the same as his low-key and pragmatic style of play.

He also respected Fan Xi, telling him, "Actually, many times, I felt helpless against you. If you had been the main attacker tonight and had more ball possession, perhaps the result would have been different."

At the same time, he also mentioned that the few shots Fan Xi took against OJ Mayo were very brilliant.

Fan Xi had a pleasant conversation with him.

The two left each other's contact information and agreed to practice together when they had time.

What Fan Xi lacks most now are practice partners with similar strength and restrictive styles.

Fan Xi's physical fitness is not bad now, and he possesses the individual technical experience of several historical superstars. If he integrates them all, he can easily move from All-Star strength to superstar level.

The long flight gave Fan Xi plenty of time to review. When the iPad ran out of power, his understanding of the game had risen to another level.

In the past four games, Fan Xi appeared as a team assistant, with very little ball possession. Therefore, his stats were much lower than before, but his integration into the Lakers' existing system increased significantly.

While Fan Xi was seriously reviewing the game, Old Winter was also discussing with Phil Jackson, stating that Jack had only averaged 7.2 shots in the past four games, which was very few, and he hoped Fan Xi would get at least 15 shot opportunities per game.

Old Winter never hid his concern and love for Fan Xi.

He hoped Fan Xi would quickly grow into a superstar.

Phil Jackson also had this inclination.

But as the head coach, he knew deeply that this was a systemic problem. The Lakers' average shots per game this season is 81.2, and Kobe Bryant averages 21 shots per game, which is already a relatively restrained situation for him.

Pau Gasol averages about 14 shots, Lamar Odom is about 10, and Andrew Bynum was about 10 before, which is already 55 shots. The remaining shots are for Dunleavy, Barnes, Fisher, Walton, and Joe Smith—a whole bunch of players. If Fan Xi's average shots per game standard is raised to 15, whose shots should be squeezed?

Previously, the reason Fan Xi was able to get the Unlimited Shooting Right was because Kobe was injured and the team was doing its best to cultivate Fan Xi.

Now, as they are about to enter the playoffs, Andrew Bynum is also about to return.

Therefore, Phil Jackson is worried about the systemic shock caused by major changes. As everyone knows, strong teams always make minor adjustments, not systemic changes.

"Wait until next season, wait until next season. We will have plenty of time to make tactical changes around Jack, and we can even trade away some players for him."

Phil Jackson said to Old Winter.

When he said this, there was determination in his pupils. It is conceivable that he had long ago made a difficult decision.

Old Winter understood Phil Jackson's hidden difficulties and nodded slightly. But he still felt that Fan Xi would always suddenly explode in some game, and even God couldn't stop him.

After Kobe Bryant returned to Los Angeles, he went straight home. Although Fan Xi didn't ask him what exactly happened, he vaguely guessed it might be a matter between husband and wife; Vanessa was arguing with him about divorce.

As early as a month ago, street tabloids exposed that Vanessa had hired a private detective to secretly photograph Kobe, but no one took it seriously at the time, and everyone was busy eating the gossip about Fan Xi and Jenner, Selena, and Taylor Swift.

As the saying goes, it's hard for an honest official to judge family affairs, so Fan Xi didn't ask much, although he heard his teammates discussing it in low voices.

Fan Xi believed Kobe had enough wisdom to solve this matter. Fan Xi had seen the love story between Kobe and his wife in magazines when he was very young: it was like Prince Charming and Cinderella. Moreover, they had experienced a major change in 2003, and at that time, Vanessa stood firmly by Kobe's side; he believed this time would be the same.

Just as Fan Xi came out of the airport, he received a call from his agent, Lu Yuan, who asked Fan Xi to go to the studio the next morning to sign the contracts that had been negotiated in the past few days. After Fan Xi signed them, the sponsors would enter the payment mode.

Subsequently, Ma Chen, who is responsible for Fan Xi's media public relations, also called Fan Xi, saying that he had arranged a very important exclusive interview for him. The CCTV camera team had already flown in from across the ocean, and they were full of great sincerity to make a special program for Fan Xi.

Fan Xi's fame in China and even Asia is already at a super-first-line level, but there has never been a face-to-face, detailed program to promote him.

After Ma Chen took over, he used his connections of so many years to manage and arrange things for Fan Xi, and gave Fan Xi's first exclusive interview to the most influential TV station in the country.

Fan Xi attached great importance to this news and quickly cleared his schedule.

When Fan Xi drove to his apartment in Los Angeles, it was already evening.

His trainer and nutritionist, Frazier, had already prepared a sumptuous dinner for him. He formulated a brand-new recipe for Fan Xi, aiming to increase strength, confrontation, and endurance; this was a problem Frazier discovered while coordinating with the Lakers' trainer.

Every NBA superstar has a professional team to provide services in terms of catering and training. LeBron James spends millions of dollars a year on training and maintaining his body.

The fees for Fan Xi's trainer and nutritionist are okay, just at an average level. Moreover, his salary is paid by the Fan-x brand.

After finishing dinner and doing an hour of training with Frazier's help, Frazier went home; he didn't live at Fan Xi's house... Americans value privacy very much.

Fan Xi became bored, so he turned on the TV and tuned to the ESPN channel.

The TV was reporting basketball news.

The Lakers' 3-1 record in the devilish away games in the Southwest Division received unanimous praise from hosts and commentators, and they all agreed that the Lakers are the number one championship seed in the West.

Famous host McBlin even said definitively, "The Lakers are just one step away from the second three-peat dynasty in history, and Kobe Bryant looks ready to be crowned the third Finals MVP of his career."

This topic soon expanded.

The guests discussed the Lakers' current lineup, and soon talked about Fan Xi, who was watching TV.

Special commentator Doug Reich said unceremoniously, "... People are waking up from the hot 'Jack Wave.' The Lakers' problem will appear at the 1-guard position. Jack Fan has performed mediocrely in the past four games, his stats are bland, and in the last game, he even suffered a lot in the duel with Mike Conley."

"The logic of basketball won't lie; miracles don't exist in the world. Jack Fan will return to the level a player who went undrafted should be at; Lakers fans should just treat it as a beautiful dream. Those companies that have placed heavy bets on him, you... just..."

Doug Reich made an exaggerated mocking expression, which caused a burst of laughter in the studio.

Then, Reggie Miller attacked him, "I think you're just throwing out a shocking point of view to attract attention. Jack Fan is not as unbearable as you say; he just hasn't gotten as much ball possession recently, that's all. In fact, he played very brilliantly in the past four games, and his advanced stats are very eye-catching. Even in the game against the Memphis Grizzlies, he was still the only player on the Lakers with a positive plus-minus; the responsibility for the loss doesn't lie with him at all."

Reggie Miller is a firm supporter of Jack.

Then, that basketball commentator Doug Reich said, "Wait until you see the game the day after tomorrow, and you'll know. The day after tomorrow, Chris Paul will tell Lakers fans at the Staples Center what a real point guard is."

When Fan Xi heard this, he realized that the next opponent was the New Orleans Hornets.

As soon as he heard Chris Paul, Fan Xi remembered Chris Paul's resentful face at the All-Star Game; Chris Paul's jealousy and hatred for Fan Xi were visible to the naked eye.

Fan Xi snatched his All-Star starter spot and also shined in the All-Star Game, taking away the most shining MVP trophy.

This made Chris Paul very dissatisfied.

He had long been planning to beat Fan Xi until he was ruined.

Pop!

Fan Xi quickly turned off the TV and then called the video editor, asking him to quickly send a highlight reel and technical analysis of Chris Paul to his email.

He had to study Paul.

Paul is the number one point guard in the League today, and with such intense hostility, Fan Xi couldn't help but feel nervous from the bottom of his heart.

If Paul really caught him in front of the home crowd and taught him a lesson, his reputation would definitely be damaged.

It might even affect his commercial value.

That night, Fan Xi focused all his attention on Chris Paul's highlight reels.

For this reason, he even silenced his phone.

The next day, when he went to the studio, he found 9 missed calls on his phone. 3 from Taylor Swift, 3 from Kendall Jenner, and 3 from Scarlett Johansson.

It was quite even.

Fan Xi's return to Los Angeles is a very important signal for these three, and they have a yearning emotion for Fan Xi.

The mysterious aura on Fan Xi always makes them dream about him, unable to forget.

Especially Scarlett, Scarlett considers herself a big sister who can easily handle Fan Xi, even if things get out of hand, she can retreat unscathed. On All-Star night, she pulled Fan Xi into a small room and did crazy things. At that time, she also said to Fan Xi coolly: "After walking out of this door, we will forget all this and pretend we don't know each other. Little brother, sister is not the kind of person who cries and drags things out."

However.

Since then, she has become addicted to the taste, dreaming of Fan Xi almost every night, dreaming of those scenes that made her face flush red.

Then, she went to get a tattoo, tattooing Fan Xi's name.

It even made the gossip news.

Although this news was left unsettled under her public relations.

But she used a new nickname for Fan Xi: "The tormenting little goblin."

Fan Xi frowned, "I think you are the tormenting little goblin. With you looking like this now, where is there any trace of a cool and aloof woman? If Durant knew you were pestering me like this, he would definitely regret saying he wanted to drink your bathwater."

Fan Xi shook his head and put his phone aside.

Then, he headed to Lu Yuan's studio in Los Angeles.

When Fan Xi saw Lu Yuan again, Lu Yuan was already in high spirits. Although there was some fatigue in his expression, he had achieved unprecedented success in his career.

When he worked at CAA before, he had never negotiated so many and such large projects. When the managers of those big companies saw him, they were all arrogant, treating him as an assistant who looked after files.

Although CAA is the largest agency in the world, as a Chinese person, no matter how capable Lu Yuan is, he was still frustrated.

In the North American workplace, although Chinese people can easily mix into middle-management positions, that is the ceiling; wanting to go higher is harder than ascending to heaven.

Lu Yuan finally has the feeling of being in charge of everything under Fan Xi.

"Jack, thank you so much for giving me such an opportunity. We proved that Chinese people are no worse than anyone else. Do you know? When I faced those arrogant big-brand managers, I put on an even more arrogant attitude, and they could only listen obediently. This is so cool!"

Lu Yuan said, unable to hide his excitement about his work mood during this period. Subsequently, he told Fan Xi, "Jack, as long as you continue to make progress on the court, I feel we can create even greater miracles."

Fan Xi nodded.

But he didn't say much, because he was about to face a huge challenge.

The NBA's number one point guard, the number one point guard who holds a grudge against him and is determined to make him collapse.

After Fan Xi signed the three contracts, he headed to the Staples Center, where he would accept an exclusive interview with CCTV.

On the way to the Staples Center, Fan Xi received a call from Kobe Bryant.

Bryant told him on the phone: Jack, I might not be able to play in the next game.

The Black Mamba's tone was full of embarrassment.

He didn't reveal more content to Fan Xi, but it could be heard that he was deeply troubled by family problems.

And the Los Angeles radio this morning was already playing the statement from Vanessa's lawyer; Vanessa is seeking a reasonable property division plan.

(Many friends think the Lakers lost too quickly in the previous chapter. Actually, this is a transitional chapter. In addition, regarding the issue of Fan Xi's strength. I want to say that Fan Xi is obviously arranged to play as an assistant in these few chapters, the ball is not in his hands, as the Second Route Marshal, it is impossible for the stats to be very beautiful.) ===== CHAPTER 115 =====