Jordan: I thought he was there to help me!

Chapter 581 Jordan is back after so long! Happiness is that simple!

"What? You also asked Stern for leave?" Lin Tian leaned back in his chair, listening in surprise as Kidd cursed Stern as a scoundrel.

"My left Achilles tendon isn't healed yet! It hurts terribly with every movement, but that old geezer insists I go to New Orleans for treatment. What kind of crappy place has better treatment options than New York?"

"Circumstances are beyond my control. This time, I have no choice but to play in the All-Star game." Kidd cursed as he twisted his foot a few times and then grimaced in pain to show his discomfort.

"Jason, is your left foot injured or your right foot injured?" Lin Tian looked at Kidd's outstretched right foot and couldn't help but complain. With this acting skill, he's trying to play the victim here?

"Oh, oh, oh, the left foot, right?"

Kidd quickly switched feet, twisted them painfully a few times, and let out a series of screams.

Kidd and Lin Tian's antics brought laughter and cheers to the entire Eastern Conference All-Star locker room. After being relentlessly exploited by Stern and the league during the day for the past few days, these stars finally got a little relief from the jokes of these two.

We'll get our revenge on that old bastard sooner or later! He's treating us like animals!

unacceptable.

Yes, it's the last day of the 2006 Houston All-Star Game, which is the venue for the All-Star Game itself.

How should I put it about the past two days?

The stars were playing back-to-back games for three consecutive days without a break, and had no chance to experience the joy of Space City. Stern wished he could send people to pick them up from the hotel at dawn and take them all to NBA event venues in various districts, where the stars could promote the games and do community service.

Brothers, it's tough!

The All-Star Rising Stars Challenge on the first night became Chris Paul's stage. This small guy showed amazing energy, not only in shooting, driving, and playmaking, but also in completing two dunks with his towering 178cm height!

Why do people say that he is supposedly 183 cm tall, but his height is at most 178 cm?

During a timeout in the rookie game, Lin Tian forcefully dragged Iverson, practically choking him, to the front of the first-year team's bench. Then he made Paul stand up and pinned the two unwilling guys together, one too afraid to resist and the other unable to.

Of course, Lin Tian was accompanied by several other stars from the East and West, including Garnett, O'Neal, Stoudemire, and Anthony.

Otherwise, even if Lin Tian could hold both of them down at the same time, he would have to knock them both unconscious if he wanted them to stand up straight and compare heights.

The cost is a bit high.

But now, there's strength in numbers! A group of people pulled and dragged the two people from below, making them straighten their legs but not stand on their tiptoes, and then loudly pressed down on their hair from above to prevent inaccurate measurements due to their hair.

Then, Lin Tian came to a conclusion.

Iverson is tall!

Although it's only a tiny bit taller, it's still tall.

"Alan, you claim to be 183 centimeters tall?" Lin Tian didn't reveal the answer, but asked in a cheeky tone.

"What do you mean by 'claimed'? I'm 183cm!" Iverson retorted, annoyed. So what if I'm short? Just because I'm short doesn't mean you bunch of bastards can bully me.

I may be short, but I'm damn handsome!

"Chris is taller than you, he also claims to be 183cm!" Lin Tian looked at Paul: "Chris, you're so young, you're not being honest! Aren't you supposed to be 183cm? But you're taller than Allen now, you must be at least 185cm!"

"No, I... that..." The newly debuted Paul obviously didn't have the shamelessness and ruthlessness he would later have. At this moment, he was surrounded by a group of big shots and couldn't speak, but after stammering for a long time, he glanced at Iverson and suddenly made up his mind.

"I am indeed 185 cm tall!"

"Go to hell." Lin Tian gave him the middle finger. He had actually been fooled by the kid's big, watery eyes.

Who said he was honest and was trembling? That's a shameless lie.

But Lin Tian wasn't afraid that the two would deny it or lie, so he simply waved his hand and said, "Nate, come here!"

Hehe, you first-year team, I still have someone else!

Nate, whose official height is only 175 cm, walked over with a grin, looked at the group of big shots, and asked dumbly, "What's up, boss?"

"Stand up straight! Come on, compare your height with Chris and Allen!"

"I'm not going to compete with him!" Iverson and Paul shouted almost simultaneously, every cell in their bodies resisting the idea of ​​competing with Nate in height.

As for the reason?

The two of them understood each other without saying a word.

Their official height is 183 cm, but that's all exaggerated.

But Nate, that shorty, is officially 175 cm tall.

Regardless of whether it's watered down or not, it can't compare to him!

Once compared, the truth will definitely be revealed.

"Hold him down! Trying to run away?" Lin Tian snorted and said, "Chris, go play basketball, you're not needed here."

Lin Tian waved his hand, letting Paul live. After all, Paul was just a kid, and it wasn't fun to bully him. It was much more fun to bully a top star like Iverson, who was an MVP.

"Nate, stop right there! Stand still, don't move, nice, let me see..." Lin Tian carefully observed the height difference between the two: "Nate, tell me the truth, did you lie about your height?"

"I misrepresented it." Nate scratched his head sheepishly. Unlike Paul, who had a naive and foolish expression but was full of wit.

This guy's innocent and foolish expression was full of naivety and stupidity.

"Nonsense! You didn't exaggerate!" Before Lin Tian could even speak, Iverson yelled like a cat with its fur standing on end, "You fucking think this through before you speak!"

"I should actually be 1-2 centimeters taller," Nate said, scratching his head sheepishly. "I figured since I'm short anyway, I might as well report being even shorter, so I didn't wear socks during the physical test and even bent my knees a tiny bit."

Good grief, they're reporting the wrong information!

Iverson breathed a sigh of relief. He was genuinely afraid that Nate would say he was actually less than 175cm tall, which would have been incredibly embarrassing for him.

"What are you so happy about?" Lin Tian looked at Iverson and said, "He's taller than you!"

"Impossible!" Iverson exclaimed, his eyes wide. "Kid, explain yourself. When were you measured at 178 centimeters?"

"high school!"

"See! I knew it, he's at least 185 centimeters tall now!" Iverson pointed at Nate and said, "He's grown taller, but he doesn't know it! So it's perfectly reasonable for him to be a little taller than me, and my 183 centimeters is quite accurate!"

"Come on, Allen, have some shame." Lin Tian waved his hand dismissively, "Don't you even know how tall you are?"

"Mind your own business! Do you average more points per game than me? Do you have more free throws than me? Have you ever won a scoring title? Have you ever won a steals title?" Iverson looked at the group of people and said with dissatisfaction, "What's it to you how tall I am!"

After Iverson finished speaking, he stormed off from the group and sat down to the side.

"Is he crazy?" O'Neal scratched his head and said, "I've won the scoring title."

"I've won those titles too." Lin Tian nodded and said, "I've also won the steals title and the assists title, hehe, let's see if I can provoke him again."

Lin Tian chuckled, plopped down next to Iverson, and continued to tease the guy.

Meanwhile, regarding the question of who is taller among these shorter players, based on the measurement results, Iverson > Paul > Nate.

Um...yes, Iverson was just a tiny bit taller than Nate.

But how big is the gap between the three of them?

Lin Tian could only say: "Very negligible."

It is certain that all three of them are taller than 175 cm, but none of them are 180 cm tall.

This concludes Lin Holmes' detective lesson.

Let's get back to the Rising Stars Challenge.

Chris Paul was the most dazzling player in the game, scoring 21 points and 11 assists. He also led the first-year team to victory over the second-year team and rightfully won the Rookie Game MVP trophy.

As for the others, Deron Williams also showed off several of his signature crossovers, earning Lin Tian's comment: "This kid's crossover is just like mine." Smith and Nate, the Knicks' duo, also scored a lot of points and both had dunks, which can be considered a warm-up for the dunk contest the following night.

Hmm... I think I've forgotten someone?

Raymond Felton, the second overall pick in this year's draft, had a rather mediocre performance in this game.

It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't great either; it was just an average performance with no highlights, not worth mentioning.

This performance is actually similar to his performance in the regular season this year.

mediocre.

Not great, but not bad either. He has talent, but not much. He might have the potential to become a player like Billups, and he could be a late bloomer, but for now, he's quite mediocre.

In any case, he was completely overshadowed by Paul and Deron, who were selected after him.

The only pity is that, although Jordan came to Houston because of the disaster in New Orleans, as a living symbol, he had to stand up for the league at this time.

But he didn't come to watch the game today, which means he's too afraid to show his face in front of Lin Tian.

After all, the season is already halfway through. Who can't tell who is at what level and who has what ability?

Paul, along with Steve Jackson and Jason Richardson, played an offensive style of basketball with the Warriors. The whole team was running and jumping around like crazy. Although the team's record hadn't improved yet, Paul's personal average of 15+9 points per game had almost secured him the Rookie of the Year award.

Although Deron Williams is slightly inferior to Chris Paul, in a Hornets team that was rebuilding from scratch, no one suppressed his desire and style, allowing him to play freely, and he still performed at a very good level.

Most importantly, Deron Williams won both of the Hornets' head-to-head matchups against the Warriors, outperforming Paul in both team and individual performances.

These two are already showing signs of becoming unparalleled duos, like LeBron James vs. Carmelo Anthony.

As for Felton?

Lin Tian decided to call Jordan to offer his condolences.

What if my old friend needs help?

"Hey Michael, it's me. Watched the Rising Stars Challenge? You... FUXX!" Lin Tian could only shrug as he looked at the phone that Jordan had hung up on.

But just because you, Boss Joe, hung up on your buddy doesn't mean you can get away with it.

Trying to run away? Dream on!

If you don't show up today, are you supposed to participate in an event tomorrow? Are you supposed to represent the NBA to speak and offer support?

You're not getting away, you little brat!

Lin Tian stopped calling Jordan to bother him and instead called Pelinka directly.

Tell him to immediately prepare a crew and assemble a filming team capable of shooting GG by tomorrow afternoon.

As soon as the event ends tomorrow afternoon, Lin Tian is going to drag Jordan to take pictures of AND 1's new GG!

Hehe, we filmed it half a season early!

No matter how stubborn or short-tempered you are, Jordan, at this stage of the season, can't you see clearly who deserves Rookie of the Year and who doesn't?

It's been a two-man show between Paul and Deron for a long time. As for you, Felton, you probably won't even make the All-Rookie First Team.

If someone still stubbornly insists that the season isn't over and that Felton can still make a comeback and win Rookie of the Year, and refuses to cooperate with the filming, then Lin Tian will have to curse them out, cursing them as filthy as possible.

Who told you, Boss Qiao, to be so shameless?

Pelinka didn't say anything about Lin Tian's sudden emergency, as he was already used to his boss's tendency to act on a whim.

Fortunately, it's just a GG movie, not Star Wars.

He made two phone calls and found an absolutely reliable and experienced filming team in Houston.

He finished it that very evening, not just the next afternoon.

Its main feature is extremely high efficiency.

As for the script for GG? It was written back when Lin Tian and Jordan made the bet. It was basically something like Jordan wearing AND 1 saying that the shoes were really good and he wanted them too, or that this was the reason why you could win five consecutive championships, or that the two of them would have a one-on-one match while wearing the shoes, and so on.

Quite boring, quite old-fashioned, but that doesn't matter.

Anyway, the main point of this GG is that Jordan appeared in AND1's GG. Even if he just sat in the chair for two minutes and did nothing, that would be enough!

All we need is a gimmick; as long as the plot isn't anti-intellectual, it's fine.

Lin Tian's task on the second day of the All-Star Game was to spend the whole day with Jordan, talking to him about the situation and details of the previous night's Rising Stars Challenge, and analyzing the abilities and performances of the three point guards: Paul, Deron Williams, and Felton.

"Are you fucking done yet?!" Finally, Jordan couldn't hold back any longer and launched a tirade against Lin Tian.

"Whether I'm done or not depends on you!" Lin Tian spread his hands and said, "You have to admit defeat. You lost the bet, not me."

"Fine, I lost! The guy I picked won't get Rookie of the Year this year! Nobody else will either! Paul is Rookie of the Year this year, is that enough? Are you satisfied now?" Jordan glared angrily at Lin Tian.

There was nothing he could do; Paul's lead was simply too big and too obvious. The fighting spirit he displayed in his rookie season was clearly at least a level above all other players in his draft class.

"Okay, how will the bet be settled?"

"How are you going to make that promise?" Jordan scoffed. "If you can get the film crew here today, we'll start filming right now! If you can't, we'll talk about it after the season ends. I'm busy!"

"What a coincidence! What a coincidence!" Lin Tian clapped his hands and said, "Let's go! The venue is all set up, just waiting for you." The event had already ended, and Lin Tian grabbed Jordan by the neck and walked towards the road. Then, incredibly, a minivan stopped and the door opened.

Lin Tian shoved Jordan up, the whole thing proceeding with practiced ease, like a premeditated kidnapping.

Well, okay, it was premeditated.

Even if Jordan ran, he wouldn't have anywhere to run.

Who told you to make a bet with me and lose?

Mr. Lin, are you really going to give me a chance to run away?

While the two were on the road, Lin Tian didn't even speak to Jordan, but instead continued to provoke him.

He picked up the phone and called AND1, casually saying, "We can move the new shoe release date to March. I'll drag Michael to shoot the Game Boy sneakers right now. We'll shoot the Game Boy sneakers in one day, do post-production for another two weeks, and then release the Game Boy sneakers in early March. At the end of the month, while the Game Boy sneakers are generating buzz, we'll release the shoes!"

"No problem! Let's ship it in March!" The person on the other end agreed to Lin Tian's suggestion without hesitation.

Looking at Lin Tian's smug expression, Jordan really wanted to punch his nose and then knee him in the face a few times.

Unfortunately, he couldn't win. His own arm was still being held by Lin Tian. What could he do?

He could only say helplessly, "You're already on the bus, are you afraid I'll run away? Can you let go first?"

You could tell from Jordan's tone and expression that it really hurt.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." This time, Lin Tian's apology was truly from the bottom of his heart.

I was so excited that I forgot I was still holding onto someone's arm.

That's awkward.

That night, Lin Tian dragged Jordan to take pictures of GG, and they took pictures until late at night, so neither of them went to the All-Star individual competition this year.

However, Lin Tian wasn't interested in this anyway. Although players like Houston, Nate, and Smith would be competing in today's individual events, Lin Tian had already decided not to watch even without Jordan's involvement.

As for the reason?

This year's dunk contest has been revamped. One change is that the number of participants has been increased from four to six, allowing two more people to showcase their talent and abilities.

Another change is that, instead of the original rule that a person could be penalized three times and would lose their qualification and only receive the lowest score if they failed to get a penalized, the rule has been changed so that the penalty can be deducted continuously until a penalized person is penalized.

The league's original intention for this reform was good. They hoped to increase the visual appeal of dunks, prevent players from giving up on more difficult and exciting dunks due to their conservative approach, and encourage them to give their all and bring out their best dunks to compete.

The intention was definitely good, and it would also help the league improve the excitement of the Slam Dunk Contest.

But the problem is...

Nate Robinson was among the participants in this year's Slam Dunk Contest.

Lin Tian didn't dislike this somewhat silly, straightforward younger brother. On the contrary, he quite liked this guy who was loyal, reckless, and also quite inspiring.

The problem is, this guy is too straightforward.

He's stubborn and gets stuck on trivial details.

How exaggerated is it?

If he's set his sights on a move but can't get it right because he's not in good form, he won't consider changing the move or lowering the difficulty.

He'll keep dunking until the stadium loses power.

This tenacious and never-give-up spirit is a key reason why he was able to make it into the NBA despite being over 170 centimeters tall.

But this kind of spirit is completely unacceptable in a dunk contest!

Ultimately, events proved that Lin Tian was right not to go. (End of Chapter)