One Year Left to Play-Chapter 41 - 13: Want Some Votes? (Please Bookmark and Recommend)

The atmosphere was a tad awkward. Xu Jicheng wasn’t sure if Zhang Hao was a Chinese-American or a Chinese national. He watched tonight’s dunk contest and Zhang Hao’s interview, from the interview to Zhang Hao’s self-introduction video. Xu Jicheng felt that Zhang Hao had a completely different personality from domestic athletes, quite outgoing. Nowadays, it’s quite tough to find information on someone; even within China, it’s hard to track fugitives across provinces, and it’s even tougher in a foreign land.

However, having been a journalist for over ten years, Xu Jicheng was well-prepared, so he laughed and said, "Sorry, sorry, let’s start the interview..."

Xu Jicheng directly skipped this topic. Anyway, it’s a text news report, skipping this part is fine. However, he plans to add this segment in his book "NBA 50 Years" due to be published next year. The requirements for national official media and his book are different.

"I suppose I’ll call you Aix. Congratulations on winning the dunk contest."

"Thank you."

"Why did you decide to participate in the dunk contest?"

With this first question, Zhang Hao felt the awkwardness from domestic media; it was truly awkward. His first response was to retort, "They invited me, so I participated," but upon reconsideration, wanting to become a coach doesn’t necessarily have to be in the United States, returning home is an option too! Returning to China to study at sports universities that provide much better benefits, if he becomes famous beforehand, perhaps he could become a young coach for the domestic basketball team.

Resisting the urge to mock, Zhang Hao thought for a moment and replied, "For my dream.

I want to become an outstanding basketball player, so I came to test my abilities. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

I have a dream, which might sound ridiculous to you. I want to become the greatest athlete in China’s sports history, the greatest sports figure. In the future, I aim to join the Chinese Men’s Basketball Team. I intend to change China’s weak standing in the world basketball arena, and I want to become the head coach of the Chinese Men’s Basketball Team... But I know it’s very challenging, so I’ll take one step at a time firmly..."

Damn it, Zhang Hao thought about his just over a year to live and decided to boast first.

However, Xu Jicheng listened to Zhang Hao’s extremely ambitious dream and his calm tone, it didn’t seem like mere boasting...

Is this the response of an 18-year-old high school student?

If Xu Jicheng hadn’t known Zhang Hao didn’t have an agent, he would have thought Zhang Hao’s agent coached him. When Zhang Hao passed the selection contest, Xu Jicheng began searching for Zhang Hao’s contact information, but couldn’t find it at the time. Inglewood High School refused to disclose students’ information, and McDonald’s initially had zero interest in interviewing American high school All-Stars. When they decided to interview, they didn’t get the players’ interview permits.

It wasn’t until Zhang Hao won tonight’s dunk contest that he got the opportunity from McDonald’s to interview Zhang Hao.

From Zhang Hao’s words, Xu Jicheng sensed "dreams," and "youth." In a flash, he recalled nine years ago, wanting to change the chaos in China’s media industry just after graduating from Shandong University...

Still, too young! Xu Jicheng planned to help Zhang Hao polish his words. How can one say the national team is "weak"? It should be expressed as "I want to help the national team reach the world stage."

The meaning is the same, but the tone is completely different. Domestic sports bureau officials, those amateurs managing professionals, cannot tolerate negative comments.

This was part of the struggles Xu Jicheng faced upon entering the workforce, a rare sight seeing a young guy like Zhang Hao. In terms of career, Xu Jicheng couldn’t help much—a high school senior... Xu Jicheng didn’t know Zhang Hao’s future, but he still planned to help. If Zhang Hao didn’t make it big in the future, it wouldn’t matter, but if Zhang Hao truly rose to fame, as a basketball enthusiast, Xu Jicheng would certainly be happy to see a Chinese player reach the highest global basketball stage.

Xu Jicheng’s subsequent questions mainly revolved around Zhang Hao’s performance during high school, aspects of life after arriving in the United States... Not much would be written in the news, but he planned quite a lot for the special edition of his book "NBA 50 Years" about "Chinese Athletes Pursuing an NBA Dream."

Ten minutes later, the interview was over. Zhang Hao and Xu Jicheng took a photo together with a McDonald’s advertisement stand as the background.

McDonald’s requested Xu Jicheng to note "McDonald’s All-Star Dunk Contest" in the news, and the image also had to feature McDonald’s advertisement as the background.

...

...

"Woo woo..."

Back at the hotel, Zhang Hao transformed into a whining monster on the bed, rolling around in the sheets... too bad he was alone.

As a young person, and an athlete, he’s quite restless.

But when the dunk contest ended, some female classmates and local Los Angeles university female students who came to watch rushed into the arena to congratulate him, stuffing small notes with contact details into his clothes. He had given them all to his teammates right in front of Aprile Clark... Now, a little bit of regret.

Got up, took a shower, Zhang Hao’s complex mood calmed down.

Winning the dunk contest, he was exhilarated, but he was very clear, this wasn’t an important award, not even regarded as an award by professional players. High school... is just high school after all.

Even if it’s the future internet era’s number one high school player nationwide, if not performing well in professional arenas, it’s just a joke.