Chapter 498: 496. Solicitation and Solicitation

Liu Mang is in the headlines again!

He scored 5 points and 1 assist in the last two minutes, strong carry, not relentless at the critical moment, and even had post-up scoring and post-up support, especially the no-look-pass that was played according to the established tactics. It was the first of the five best goals of the day.

Although it is not as imaginative as Weber's ground-hitting pass that was double-teamed and intercepted across the middle in the third quarter, but that flamboyant pass, led by the ball, and his teammates cooperated tacitly. Ratliff's pick-and-roll was timely, After getting rid of the defense, Boozer's accurate mid-range shot to the receiving point is too similar to the cooperation between Magician and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, except that one is a mid-range shot and the other is a big skyhook.

In particular, the media and online forums praised Liu Mang again and again, because he actually has a bit of back punching ability. Although some professionals later analyzed that Liu Mang just caught Christie by surprise with his unskilled back punching, but at least he has it. !

Don't you see that Jordan and Olajuwon became gods, relying on back hitting!

With 27 wins and 24 losses, the Eagles' record has surpassed the Wizards who just lost, officially dominating the ninth place in the Eastern Conference, and it is only one game away from the Magic, which was overtaken by the Hornets and directly collapsed to the eighth Eastern Conference.

Ending the team's nine-game losing streak against the Kings, the Eagles did not have a chance to have a drink to celebrate. They flew to Salt Lake City the next morning and had a day off in Salt Lake City. Then there was another back-to-back, first playing the Jazz, and then Going back to California to play the Warriors back to back.

Sacramento is only a 40-minute flight from Salt Lake City. At 10:00 noon, the Eagles arrived at the hotel in Salt Lake City.

"Did the person who arranged the schedule in the league get his head in the seawater while swimming in summer? Can't we just play three games in California first?" After entering the hotel, he finally warmed up, and Liu Mang couldn't help complaining.

"You can never guess what the people who arrange the schedule in the league are thinking." Kevin Wesley, who has had a career for nearly 20 years, is very used to it.

Kevin Wesley lived a chic and comfortable life after returning to the Eagles. His dressing style was very popular in the Eagles, a team with a high exposure rate. It only sold well in the United States, and agents in Asia began to come to him for negotiation.

Thanks to Liu Mang's popularity, the Eagles players have made a lot of money. For example, Matt Barnes, who obviously has no chance to perform, signed with several wolf underwear brands because of his good figure. Liu Mang, who signed a 2-year, 500,000-dollar endorsement, and also signed a 2-year, 2-million-dollar endorsement for this brand, was embarrassed to shoot commercials with him. Barnes' muscular body looks like Liu Mang is a thin monkey , Barnes is really too strong, he deserves to be the master who can play power forward if his speed is slow in the later part of his career.

Several members of the Eagles complained a few words, and went back to their rooms to put away their things, to rest, to play cards, to exercise, to play billiards, and to go out of the hotel to visit the snowy scenery of Salt Lake City.

Liu Mang went back to his room and took a bath. After his body was completely warmed up, he went to the gym to warm up and practice the strength of his waist, abdomen and back. He found that the core strength of the waist, stride and back is too important to train well. , These things don’t work, they can knock themselves down.

After practicing for almost an hour, it was almost 11:30. Liu Mang was just about to go back to his room to take a shower and eat some nutritious meals. The few hours after the workout is the best time to absorb food. Eat some fiber, high Protein food, the muscles grow much more.

Once or twice is definitely not enough, and the effect will be obvious after a period of time.

I had just put away the gym equipment when the phone rang and it was Stockton.

Liu Mang connected the phone: "Hi, John."

"Hey, Ace, are you free? Out for lunch?" Stockton's voice came from the other end of the phone.

"Oh, that's great, I'm just about to have lunch, where are we going?"

Someone is in for a treat! Of course Liu Mang was disrespectful, but he didn't feel ashamed at all. If someone treats someone, he saves lunch money!

On game days, the team will provide lunch and dinner. If it is not a game day, you can eat by yourself. Of course, there must be breakfast, which is included in the room rate.

"You live in the Hyatt Center, right? Carl and I will pick you up..."

...

...

Liu Mang went back to the room and took a quick shower, dried his board and put on thick clothes. Ten minutes later, Stockton drove his big pickup to pick Liu Mang up.

Looking at Stockton, who is becoming more and more like an ordinary middle-aged man, and this pickup truck full of rustic flavor, Liu Mang can't connect this attitude towards life with the assist leader in NBA history that almost future players can't surpass. stand up.

No time to sigh, there is no heating in the parking lot, it is too cold! Liu Mang quickly got into the car, and couldn't help exclaiming: "Oh, John, the winter here is too cold, how did you live here for 19 years!"

"Ace, how is it? Salt Lake City is not bad, you see, the streets are so quiet, and you don't have to be afraid of sneak shots when you go shopping." Stockton smiled and started the engine.

"If you're not afraid of being secretly photographed, those paparazzi will cherish their dog's life." Liu Mang complained.

"Haha, Ace, you are so interesting. In fact, Salt Lake City is pretty good. You will know if you come to play more..."

...

The hotel where the Eagles stayed is in the city center. Salt Lake City is quite small. How small is it? The urban area of ​​the domestic imperial capital is more than 1,600 square kilometers, while Salt Lake City is less than 300 square kilometers, including various villa areas. Big hotel right in the city center.

After driving for a few minutes, I arrived at the reserved restaurant, which is a restaurant of a fitness club. Malone had already ordered and waited.

After sitting down and chatting for a while, the waiter in the restaurant saw that everyone was here and started to serve the food.

Liu Mang looked at the plate after plate of "fodder" brought up, so desperate! He didn't expect to come out to make an appointment for lunch, and it turned out to be a nutritious meal!

Stockton and Malone are older, and they need a reasonable diet to maintain their state, which is more demanding than the young Liu Mang's diet. They haven't eaten junk food in the past three or four years. They are young. I can still eat it once in a while, but I can’t touch it in recent years, and carbonated drinks are even more insulated.

Forget it, no matter what, someone treats guests, Liu Mang still eats quite a lot.

After eating almost, the waiter removed the plate, and after the meal, black tea and vegetarian sugar-free snacks were brought up.

The three began to chat after dinner.

"How about Ace, the snow scene in Salt Lake City is not bad." Ma Long said looking at the small town covered in silver outside the window.

The restaurant is on the fourth floor above the gymnasium, which is considered to be a relatively high place around. The buildings in most cities in the United States are not high. Except for the top ten big cities, most of them have no tall buildings. Of course, compared with Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Shenzhen .

This is the question again, Liu Mang complained to Stockton just now in the car, what the hell is Salt Lake City, don't you guys have any points in mind!

Liu Mang looked out the window and said, "The snow scene is nice, but it's too cold. I'm from the south, so I'm not used to it."

"Haha, Ace, you will get used to it after staying here for a long time. You can come and play more when you have time. You might like it here." Malone laughed.

"Probably..." Liu Wei felt that these two old men had really been partners for a long time, and they all had the same awkward chat skills.

After chatting awkwardly for a while, Malone suddenly said with a little sentimentality: "Ace, I'm worried now. If John and I retire, will anyone come to Salt Lake City?"

Salt Lake City is known as a small city of ice and snow. It’s really not a name given casually. The winter here is really too cold and too long. Because it is on a plateau and surrounded by mountains and rivers, the weather in winter is very special. First, it lasts for three to five days. The heavy snow, often with small tornadoes, dropped the temperature to minus 20 degrees, the extreme point was more than minus 30 degrees, and then there was no rain or snow for more than half a month, and the snow could not melt. It was so cold that It is unbearable, but from the end of November or early December, the snowfall season in Salt Lake City began, that is, the NBA regular season started not long after the snowfall season began, and then spring began to arrive in mid-March, and now at the end of February, It's not the coldest time in Salt Lake City anymore. The temperature is more than ten degrees below zero. The coldest time is close to minus thirty degrees. It can be even colder in a snowstorm, and it may be more than minus thirty degrees.

That is to say, for more than half of the regular season, Salt Lake City is a world of ice and snow. It is almost the same as Toronto, the northernmost city in the NBA. The key point is that Salt Lake City is still a small city. It has only been a few months since the Winter Olympics, and there are no tourists here. up.

No tourists, no popularity, no popularity, only local people buy tickets, the tickets are naturally not expensive, the Jazz can't make much money, the Jazz can't make much money, and the salaries for the players are often low It will be the highest level in the league. There are no popular players and there is not much extra income. Then there will be no stars willing to join. Without stars, there will be no new fans who like the Jazz. Without new popularity, there will be no income, forming a vicious cycle.

Liu Mang thought, it seems that the Jazz has never had a superstar at their peak to join since the establishment of the team, and even young free agents with outstanding talents, no one has considered this traditional strong team.

Even in the era of the information explosion in the future, the influence of the size of the city brought about by the size of the city will be made smaller and smaller by the advanced communication technology, and no star is willing to join the Jazz.

It is estimated that it is mainly because of the weather here and the rare entertainment activities here. It is so cold that most people stay at home, except for Kevin Wesley who wants to find inspiration for dressing everywhere. The kind that ran out to catch wind.

Liu Wei saw it, today, these two old men who are about to retire are trying to recruit him!

Well, I am very respectful and grateful to the two seniors, Liu Mang, but Liu Mang will not make a promise that is not in line with his heart because of this kind of matter related to his career.

Liu Mang organized his wording and said: "Later generations will benefit future generations. John, Karl, you don't have to worry about this city. There will be a group of people who will appear after you retire and make this team better than what you created. glorious time."

The rejection was very tactful, and Malone and Stockton smiled at each other. They didn't expect much at first, but they were still rejected. There was nothing they could do about it.

That's Atlanta! It has been nearly two years since Liu Mang joined the Eagles. The Atlanta ball market is getting better and better. Atlanta is already the ninth largest city in the United States. The NBA market has not been fully developed, and its popularity can only get better and better. Where is Salt Lake? The city can compare.

But this young man is really polite, and he refuses in such a civilized manner. The saying that future generations have their own blessings, Americans who don't understand Chinese culture, listening to these words, feels too educated.

Liu Mang looked at the helpless and free-spirited two seniors. They recruited him, so he had to show something, right? Reciprocity!

"John, Karl, look, you don't have much chance of winning the championship. Do you want to consider fighting for another year next year, come to Atlanta, and let's win the championship together?" Liu Mang tentatively solicited.

On a whim, Liu Mang wanted to try soliciting, but in terms of language, it was not as euphemistic and "educated" as the response he gave just now after careful consideration.

Malone and Stockton's face immediately pulled down, you brat, why don't you be so direct! We two old men have persisted for 19 years and have not left, but we still haven't won the championship. This year seems hopeless, but don't you know if you don't see it?

"No, I'm not going to the East." Ma Long refused directly.

Stockton was a little better, and said with a smile: "We will talk about it later, we are still opponents this season."

Going out to the airport now, and returning to Chengdu at 3:00 p.m., the next chapter may be quite late at night, but the previous normal update will resume tomorrow, please ask for a monthly ticket...