"Finally I can feel a little cleaner!" Zhang Guan leaned lazily on the sofa, holding a bowl of ice cream and eating it with relish.
"Now the media has given you a nickname, 'God of War'. Isn't it very domineering?" He Yiming said with a smile: "Originally, there were several boxers who came to see you to see the butterfly step, and now they all Shut up. It’s just that some media are making trouble.”
"Gonghuo? What do you mean?" Zhang Guan asked.
"Those boxing commentators are making various analyzes about who is stronger between you and Klitschko. Boxing magazines and sports media are also happy to report this kind of news. The posture is like letting you beat Klitschko as soon as possible. If you want to fight and compete, isn't this just a fight?" He Yiming said.
"Klitschko is also a person who has seen big storms. After all, he is the heavyweight boxing champion of the four top events. He can't stand the provocation of the media!" Zhang Guan said.
"That's not necessarily true. As far as I know, Klitschko is a very proud man. He has never allowed others to ride on his head, so he holds four heavyweight boxing titles. If If the WBC heavyweight champion is not his brother Klitschko, but someone else, I believe Klitschko will definitely challenge for his fifth world boxing title belt." He Yiming continued: " Moreover, based on your record and level of attention, the big guys in Las Vegas will definitely be willing to spend hundreds of millions to let you play a game. You have to know that driven by profit, even small people No matter how proud Klitschko is, he will still choose to compromise."
Zhang Guan nodded. As long as he can give enough benefits, not to mention Klitschko, even Zhang Guan himself will compromise. Zhang Guan couldn't help but think of the fight of the century between Mayservy and Pacquiao. The cumulative income of both parties exceeded 300 million US dollars, and the income of both parties exceeded 150 million US dollars. If it were any boxer, a boxing match would Even if the competition earns 150 million U.S. dollars, he will not refuse.
Behind this battle of the century, there is a revenue of 600 million U.S. dollars, including more than 400 million U.S. dollars in paid-on-demand revenue, 71 million U.S. dollars in game ticket revenue, 69 million U.S. dollars in entertainment venue broadcast revenue, and only print advertising revenue in Las Vegas. The total amount is US$1,320, and the income from international broadcast rights is also US$35 million, which does not include the income from the event hosting rights bought out by MGM Grand Hotel.
In fact, the 600 million U.S. dollars is only a fraction of it. The real bulk is gambling revenue. The amount of regular gambling is definitely one digit more than the 600 million U.S. dollars. And if illegal peripherals are included, there is one more. "Zero" is also normal. To put it bluntly, drug lords in Mexico and Colombia may not be able to bet on this boxing match after working hard for several years.
The benefits that a top-level boxing event can bring are simply too great. This is why the match between Zhang Guan and Klitschko does not only exist in theory.
"Okay, let's not talk about boxing for now. Now that I've got rid of those boxers who come looking for trouble, I guess no one will bother me in a short time. I can go see Lao Deng with peace of mind. "Zhang Guan said.
"Old Deng? Who is Old Deng?" He Yiming asked in surprise.
"Of course it's Deng Huade! The new coach of the national team. The Men's Basketball World Championship in Turkey is about to begin!" Zhang Guan said as he swiped his phone and found the grouping of the men's basketball team in the World Championship.
"The grouping of the World Championships seems to be different from what I remember! Why is it still the third level? This kind of grouping feels a bit like the Olympic group stage!" Zhang Guan thought silently.
…
The group stage draw for the Turkish Men's Basketball World Championship was held in Istanbul as early as December 14 last year. 24 teams will be divided into four groups to compete.
According to FIBA's group draw rules, the 24 teams will be divided into tiers, with the first tier being the United States, Argentina, Spain and Greece; the second tier being Serbia, Slovenia, France and Turkey.
Originally, the Chinese team was in the fifth tier, along with New Zealand, Iran, and Angola. However, due to winning the Olympic Games two years ago, FIBA ranked the national team in the third tier this time, along with Brazil, Puerto Rico, and Canada. The same level, and this is the reason why the grouping has changed.
Zhang Guan originally thought that an Olympic champion would definitely have a chance to raise the Chinese team to the first level, or at worst to the second level. As a result, FIBA only raised the Chinese team to the third level. Obviously, in the international In the eyes of the Basketball Federation, the men's national basketball team is still not a strong team.
Of course, Zhang Guan is not the only one who feels unfair. For example, Croatia and Lithuania, two strong European teams, have been assigned to the fourth tier, while Australia, which is not weak, has been assigned to the fifth tier. As for the sixth tier, countries such as Jordan and Lebanon are really weak.
In the group stage, one team from each level was selected into a group. In the original historical process, the Chinese team was divided into Group C, with the Greek team, the Russian team, Puerto Rico, the Cote d'Ivoire team and the host Turkey team. In one group, although the Chinese team only won one from Cote d'Ivoire, it was originally hopeless to qualify. However, Cote d'Ivoire defeated Puerto Rico in the last round and was ahead of the Chinese team by a small margin, so it was very lucky to qualify.
This time, the Chinese team was mentioned in the third pot, and naturally it was impossible to be in the same group as Puerto Rico. In the end, the Chinese team was assigned to Group A. In the same group are Argentina, Serbia, Germany, Angola and Jordan.
This reminded Zhang Guan of the Olympic Games two years ago, when the Chinese team was in the same group as Germany and Angola. The grouping at that time was called the group of death. In comparison, the current grouping is better because there is a weak team like Jordan.
The rule is that the fourth place in the group will qualify, so for the Chinese team, as long as they can defeat Angola and Jordan, they can guarantee the right to qualify. If they defeat Germany again, they may be able to get into a better group stage group.
…
Bob Denghuade is an American basketball coach. He is only 40 years old. He is definitely young among basketball coaches at this age. At least for the Chinese national team, this foreign coach is indeed very young.
Compared with Harris and Yunus before him, Denghuade does not have such an exciting resume. In his coaching career, he served as an assistant coach for a long time. He did not serve as the head coach for a long time, but his record was outstanding. It's very good. From another perspective, Deng Huade is not an internationally renowned coach, but he has his own unique coaching style.
At this time, Deng Huade was holding a tactical board with a worried look on his face.
"Bob (Deng Huade), you seem to be troubled. Have you encountered any problems in your life?" Coach Gong, the leader of the men's basketball team, appeared next to Deng Huade unknowingly.
As the leader of the men's basketball team, Leader Gong is very concerned about all matters of the team, especially the young coach Yang, who has already been on Leader Gong's daily attention list.
"Gong, you have many outstanding young people, but we can only bring twelve places to Turkey. Among these twelve places, ten of them have been decided by your officials and must be brought to Turkey. Yes, I can only choose two people among the others!" Deng Huade complained.
"The ten places we have set are all the strongest players in our country. Several of them have NBA experience, and there are even NBA superstars. I don't think that except for the American team, there is no player from any country. Will the team reject NBA stars?" Leader Gong said immediately.
"Okay, I admit this, but some of them are really not suitable to appear on the court. For example, your number one star Dayao, he is indeed the strongest center currently in the NBA, but don't forget that he is injured Yes, he just had an operation not long ago." Deng Huade continued: "Dayao is working very hard to recover, but recovery requires a process and takes time! Although he can move now, he still cannot Intensive training, even training with the ball, is very difficult, let alone confrontational training. I think it is impossible for him to recover before the World Championships. If he is forced to play, it is very likely that the injury will be aggravated. Injury, this will ruin his career! I think Dayao should not occupy a quota. Even if he goes to Turkey, he may not be able to play on the court; even if he does go on the court, he may not be able to adapt to the game. The intensity, he should take good care of his injuries now."
Before Coach Gong could intervene, Deng Huade continued: "There is also Zhang Guan, your trump card. I have heard before that when Dayao is away, he will be your main attack point, but now we are only one step away from the World Championships in Turkey. It's been many months, but I haven't even seen his shadow! By the way, there's a lot of news about him. He defeated twelve opponents in six days, and even got the nickname 'God of War'! This is true It’s cool. But it’s really hard for me to imagine that a basketball player would be boxing with a group of gorillas one month before the World Championships!”
"Zhang Guan is our best athlete. You have seen his performance in the Olympics. The final victory over the US team was due to his killer kill." Coach Gong said immediately.
"But basketball is a sport for five people! Others are already familiar with my tactics, but Zhang Guan didn't even touch the ball. There is still one month left. I feel that Zhang Guan will definitely not be able to integrate into my tactics. In the system. Just imagine, in the game, a player who is always outside the tactical system is still the team's main attack point. This game is simply unplayable! Is it possible to let other players play four against five? Rather than giving him a spot, it’s better for me to try out those young people. Their understanding ability is great, they work hard on the court, and they can adapt to my tactical system." Deng Huade said immediately.
"Four against five? That's not possible. One against five is possible." Director Gong said with a smile.
"One against five? What do you mean?" Deng Huade asked.
"It means Zhang Guan can hit five by himself." Director Gong continued: "And Zhang Guan's tactical adaptability is very strong. Coach Yunus even commented that Zhang Guan's tactical understanding and tactical execution are absolutely outstanding. He is the best in the world. He may not be able to direct a game, but he can definitely plan a perfect attack. Moreover, in our national team, there is a special tactic designed around Zhang Guan."
"Special tactics designed around Zhang Guan? Are you talking about opening up the space for Zhang Guan to break through? I have seen the video of your game in the Olympics. This kind of breakthrough and passing ball is very common in Europe." Deng Huade said immediately.
"No, no, no." Coach Gong shook his head: "I'm not talking about breakthrough points, the name of the tactic I'm talking about is 'Give the ball to Zhang Guan'!"
"Yeah." Deng Huade looked at Director Gong and waited for a few seconds, only to find that Director Gong didn't say anything anymore, so Deng Huade couldn't help but ask: "What next?"
"What then?" Director Gong asked inexplicably.
"Why is this man half-speaking!" Deng Huade complained in his heart, and then said: "Didn't you just say give the ball to Zhang Guan? What happens next?"
"There's no more!" Coach Gong continued to explain: "This tactic is to give the ball to Zhang Guan. After that, there will be no one else's business. Zhang Guan will naturally complete the attack."
"Uh..." Deng Huade was speechless for a moment. He felt that Director Gong's answer was a bit nonsensical.
"By the way, I forgot to tell you, Zhang Guan will return to the team tomorrow." Director Gong continued.
"Zhang Guan returns to the team?" Deng Huade shrugged: "To be honest, I really don't plan to count on him. Since the end of the 2008 Olympic Games, he has not played for nearly two years. Now he is better than the Olympic Games. By the time, I’m afraid I won’t even be able to reach 30% of the level!”
…
"Zhang Guan, long time no see!" Dayao walked forward with a smile, followed by several other old acquaintances from the national team.
"How is your recovery from your injury?" Zhang Guan looked at Dayao's feet and then asked, "Can you run?"
"The recovery is better than I expected, but now I don't dare to do confrontation training. I hope that by next month, when the World Championships start, I can compete. The intensity of confrontation in international basketball is higher than that in the NBA. It’s much lower, so I don’t have to recover to the best condition. If I can recover to 70% to 80%, it will be enough to cope with the World Championships.” Dayao said.
"The premise is not to meet the American team." Zhang Guan said.
"Don't worry, we are not in the same group as the American team this time. Maybe we have to go to the finals again before we can meet the American team!" Dayao came closer and whispered: "I will stay when I see Deng Huade later. Dim Sum, he has a lot of opinions about you!"
"Why? Is it because I didn't return to the team until now?" Zhang Guan asked.
"It's almost the same reason. Americans don't always like others to be special." Dayao said.
"It's okay. When we get to the training ground, he will naturally understand. If he has any opinions, keep them!" Zhang Guan said.
(End of chapter)