Chapter Eleven Cold Reception

  The Chinese team, apart from Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian, only had Wang Zhizhi posing some threat. Other players, such as Sun Yue, couldn't even get close to the basket, and their shooting was unstable, making it hard for them to find any opportunities under Parker's defense.

  The little giant sat on the sidelines, his face looking terrible all along, being defended by a rookie so passively, and it's no wonder his face looked bad, even if he was injured, he felt humiliated.

  Yao Ming scored 18 points and grabbed 6 rebounds in the first three quarters, which is not a bad performance, but judging from his physical exertion, if he really played until the end of the fourth quarter, he would probably be out of energy.

  Ji Country's defense against Yao Ming, although it was a front-court defense, also consumed a lot of physical strength.

  Fortunately, both of their bodies were like those of a strong and resilient young man who could run forever, although they were only 19 years old, their physical strength was already excellent, full of vitality.

  Ji Zhe scored 5 points, grabbed 8 rebounds, blocked 3 shots and made 4 steals. The Chinese team paid a heavy price to pass the ball to Yao Ming, which is also one of the reasons why Yao Ming looked embarrassed.

  Compared to his brother's outstanding performance on the defensive end, Ji Guo Xi excelled at both offense and defense. This is related to his opponent, Taikong Yi, as he proved with his own performance that Taikong Yi was absolutely overestimated, while he, Ji Guo Xi, was absolutely underestimated!

  He contributed 20 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 blocks in the whole game, a double-double data that made him shine again in the summer league. Especially when facing the lottery show who is more than 20cm taller than himself, what he said to the reporters two days ago became not just boasting, he proved himself with his performance on the court.

  The two brothers did not appear again in the last quarter, and the final score was 90-64. The Chinese team lost by a margin of 26 points to the Clippers who were missing four main players, making many American fans laugh.

  After the match, at the press conference, Lao Deng did not bring Ji Guo out again. The old coach already knew that this twin brother was a stubborn and unruly guy, and it's better for him to appear less in front of the media, otherwise who knows what kind of trouble he would stir up?

  Ji Guo's demeanor in front of the media is much more mature, with elegant manners and speech that never offends, leaving many provocative media outlets at a loss for words.

  "The Chinese team is not adapted to the NBA rules, including a three-point line that is farther than in international basketball, and they obviously did not show their true strength today."

  "Yes, I'm very interested in this ancient country and when I have time, I will definitely go to China to visit my hometown. Is it possible for me to join the Chinese men's basketball team? Of course, that's a great idea, Yao Ming is the number one center in the West, I would be honored to be his teammate."

  “…………”

  Ji Guo responded to the reporter's question, speaking eloquently and taking the opportunity to express his desire to join the Chinese men's basketball team, openly stating that he did not rule out this proposal.

  However, the Chinese men's basketball team did not show any enthusiastic response. The next day, a certain official from the Basketball Association responded with a formulaic answer that neither expressed hope for the two brothers to join the Chinese men's basketball team nor rejected them outright, adopting an ambiguous attitude and using delaying tactics.

  After the national shame, he was very dissatisfied. His brother had already taken the initiative to show goodwill, but the Chinese Basketball Association did not immediately visit him. Do we need to kneel down and beg three times? It seems that his brother has already been humble enough, with a low enough attitude, can't really kneel down and cry out loud to join the Chinese team?

  "They don't know how to appreciate kindness, wait till they lose five games in a row and they'll naturally remember us. I've said it before, brother, you can't expect good results from trying to please everyone. Those officials, you shouldn't give them an inch, or they'll think we're easy to bully! In my opinion, as long as we play well, once we make a name for ourselves in the NBA, they'll come crawling back like lapdogs, wagging their tails and begging us!" Ji Guo said indignantly.

  The two brothers returned home, and the next day they saw a statement from the Chinese Basketball Association in the newspaper. Ji Guoqiu also felt very uncomfortable in his heart, unexpectedly his younger brother was right, sometimes things can't be done too actively, it's better to make oneself look worthless.

  Apart from being unhappy with the Chinese Basketball Association, the two brothers received some news today that they didn't know whether to consider good or bad.

  Elton Brand, the current captain of the Clippers, has finally returned to Los Angeles after a vacation somewhere and will train with the team in two days.

  They don't know what the team leader thinks of them. Maggette, the second-in-command, still has an attitude of loving to ignore them, being very cold on and off the court, making it clear that he doesn't like them. If the leader also dislikes them, then it's really hard for them to get along in the Clippers.

  But the good news is that even if the captain joins the team for joint training, he will not play in the summer league and will not become a substitute.

  In a summer league game like this, Brand definitely looked down on it and felt that he was wasting his physical strength in vain.

  "I don't know if that guy will be like us in our previous life and ruin a season?" Ji Guo said with a gloomy expression.

  "Get your mindset right, don't wish for others to fail, the key is whether our own strength is enough." Ji Guoqiu still had a high and mighty tone, making Ji Gu feel secretly contemptuous: "The older generation has been given a good person card, but doesn't know the reason, it's really a waste of rebirth."

  On July 12th, everyone came to the stadium for training in the morning. The two brothers saw Elton Brand, the core of the Clippers, for the first time. His height was indeed as rumored, just over 2 meters tall, and looked absolutely not 203cm, let alone the official data of 206cm, unless he wore three insoles. However, his arm span was indeed terrifying, and the proportion of his arm span to the two brothers' height was comparable.

  Today, as expected, Brande indeed lived up to the two brothers' worries, treating them with equal coldness, not a bit of enthusiasm, and some intentional estrangement.

  Ji Guo stretched out his hand, but Brande pretended not to see it, nodded slightly and gave a lukewarm greeting, as if they had just met.

  Chris Kaman wasn't enthusiastic about the two of them either, fellow villagers are enemies after all. However, Kaman at least didn't let Ji Guo Chou lose face, taking a step forward and putting his hand out to help him out of the awkward situation.

  Ji Guo Chi had expected this and hadn't gone over, leaning against the basketball frame, watching from a distance as the scene unfolded at the entrance, without any intention of going forward to greet his new teammates.

  Brand didn't let the two "carry the bag" and such, now the league is not popular with this, those who still play this set are low-moral players, bullying rookies is not something to be proud of. Brand looked at the two with disapproval, but did not intentionally make things difficult for them, just kept a distance.

  The captain and Kaman do not need to participate in the summer league by reason, neither of them thought about it, they are here to gamble, this is Las Vegas, also known as "Gambling City", "Shopping Paradise" and "Wedding Capital", and follow the team for recovery training during their leisure time.

  Lao Deng arrived at the stadium at 9 o'clock and did not see the discordant scene of the team members an hour ago.

  The team's main force, except for the old cat Mobley and the alien Cassell, already has three people on board, including the team's first and second-in-command.

  The two brothers, however, had a bad relationship with their parents, which cannot be said that they did not know how to handle interpersonal relationships. The reason lies elsewhere.

  Ji Guo Xi said to his brother, "They are indifferent to us because we pose a threat, a threat to their status. Have you read the newspaper? After yesterday's match, there were many fewer criticisms and accusations against me from the reporters."

  Ji Guo Chou did not respond, he knew his brother was right.

  If it's a rebuilt team, the rookie's performance is nothing to worry about. But in a team that already has a core, this is a problem! Especially when there are two twin players in the same position, they really have the ability to make the team rebuild for themselves, so the original team's core naturally becomes awkward, and the rejection of the two can be understood.

  Lao Deng Liwei is arranging an intra-team training session today, lasting 20 minutes. The reason for this idea is that the team's two main interior players have returned, and he can't wait to see what it will be like when the twin interior players face off against Ka Man and Brand, who formed last season's starting interior lineup.

  Brand and Kaman returned from vacation a week ago and have been training on their own since then, so physically they are fine.

  The players finished warming up and began their team training.

  Lao Deng Liwei said: Dan Di Kao, Smashing Park, Tim Thomas, Ji Guochou, and Ji Guoxiu were divided into one group. They wore red jerseys and became the Red Team. This year, the team's third position is in short supply, with only Ma Ge Ti as a small forward, so the Red Team's third position can only be temporarily filled by Thomas, who can also play the third position.

  Another group, also known as the "Bench Mob", consisted of Trevon Bluiett, Quentin Goodin, Kyle Castlin, Elijah Cain and Chris Baldwin.

  Today, except for Mobley and Cassell who didn't show up, plus the ten on the court, it's basically the Clippers' 12-man roster this year.

  Kaman and Ji Guo quarreled over a ball, an assistant coach acted as referee, and in the middle of the court threw the basketball...

  Ji Guo Qiu quickly jumped up, his yellow palm with absolute advantage first touched the basketball, and the blue team got the right to attack for the first time.