Chapter 3 Summer League

  "Ever since we were picked, many people have been saying that our team made a terrible trade! My brother and I can't respond now, but we will use our performance on the field to tell those who look down on us that they are wrong!"

  The first game of the summer league will be held on July 9, 2007 at the "Pavilion Ballroom" in Las Vegas.

  Two brothers as this year's Clippers first-round pick rookie, followed by head coach Dunleavy to attend the pre-game press conference, when facing reporters, Ji Guoqiu said on behalf of his brother.

  "I'm a reporter for The New York Times. You two brothers have the same build and position as your compatriot Yi Jianlian, do you think you will be better than him?"

  "We don't know each other, my brother and I grew up in Vancouver, we are not familiar with the strength of our hometown players, this question will be left to prove on the field, we look forward to meeting Yi Jianlian on the court."

  After answering the reporter's questions, Ji Guoqiu felt that these reporters' questions were not too difficult for them, which was also related to their being unknown. What can be gained by embarrassing a player who is not famous?

  But this year, with the two of them, there's a real sense that Chinese people are taking over the NBA. Adding Zhou Qi and Sun Yue, there are four Chinese players participating in the draft this year. Except for Sun Yue, three of them were selected in the first round, which is an incredible achievement.

  At home, even if the media doesn't look good on them two brothers, but fans are excited to think that China's basketball great era is coming. Maybe in the next few years, there will be batch after batch of domestic excellent players going abroad, coming to this big stage of NBA, blooming their own light, and winning glory for China.

  Deng Lijun said in an interview: "This year's summer league is mainly for training and testing young players. Rookies and new signings have the opportunity to show their abilities. If they perform well, the team will change their short-term contract to a one-year guaranteed contract."

  This year, the Clippers' starting lineup is not bad, but it's hard to find a few substitutes who can be used. The team has signed a bunch of 10-day short-term contracts during this period, hoping to use the summer league to find a few useful players by casting a wide net.

  However, in Lao Shuai's heart, among these players, apart from the two brothers Ji Guo and Qi, there is really nothing worth paying attention to, let alone anything that can catch his eye.

  Today their opponent is the Denver Nuggets, last year the Nuggets formed the "Golden Duo" of the league, Iverson and Anthony's combination, the champion of attack power in the league, but the weakness on defense made them still unable to compete for the overall championship, not even making it past the first round.

  In the summer league, most of the main players of each team are still on vacation, and the Clippers themselves are no exception. The Nuggets' dual guns will not participate in such a low-level game even more.

  Ji Guochu and Ji Guochi have been reporting to the team for two days, but not only Brand, Maggette, even Mobley, Cassell, and Camby haven't seen them.

  It wasn't until later, when the assistant coach mentioned it, that I realized the main players wouldn't end their vacation until the preseason was over, and at the earliest, after the summer league ended. So they don't have to worry about "carrying the bag" for the team's old-timers. Now, among the two of them, they are the highest in status on the team, and at least they have a three-year guaranteed contract, while many of their teammates have non-guaranteed contracts, and quite a few even have short-term contracts of only ten days.

  In the locker room, before going on stage, Deng Lijun shouted to his teammates: "Today is just a summer league game. To be honest, there are not many fans who will watch such a boring game. The only ones who really care about this game are the coaching staff of the teams. So, you should know what that means? Now tell me loudly, do you want to play in the NBA?"

  Most of the players in the locker room were from the development league, who dared not to answer loudly, all shouting with their voices: "Yes, we do!"

  Deng Livi smiled and said, "You think it's useless, the decision is in my hands, the way to move me is to have an outstanding performance on the court. Now announcing the starting lineup, point guard Smush Parker, shooting guard Quentin Richardson, small forward Ruben Patterson, power forward Eddy Curry, center Yao Ming."

  Two brothers sat on the chair listening to the head coach announcing the starting lineup, they knew they would definitely be selected as starters, they were the team's key training targets, and the coaching staff also wanted to see if the two had any strength in the game that was shown during training.

  The team took to the field, and Ji Guo Chou and Ji Guo Chi walked out of the player tunnel, looking around in all directions. They found that although the "Pavilian Stadium" was not small, there were not many people seated, with a maximum occupancy rate of 60%, leaving many seats empty.

  This is a very normal phenomenon, their team doesn't have any famous rookies, and the game isn't at the Los Angeles home court, so of course not many people watch their games. Having 60% attendance rate is already pretty good. They can't compare to the Supersonics and Trail Blazers, even the Bucks' attendance rate is much higher than theirs because they have something worth watching.

  "Pavilion Arena" today came a lot of Chinese people, should be specifically to support the two. Although they did not make a name for themselves during their university days, but wherever you go in the world, there are always Chinese people, even in Las Vegas, there are also many Chinese people here.

  The two brothers were very handsome, with clear-cut features, straight noses, dragon eyebrows and phoenix eyes. With their tall stature, they could be described as "handsome and elegant, extraordinary".

  Yi Jianlian is the most handsome in Chinese men's basketball, but compared to the two brothers, he still lags behind. Especially since they are twins, the visual impact is strong, and they can immediately attract everyone's attention.

  Ge Ge Ji Guo Chou plays center and wears the No. 6 jersey, while his younger brother Ji Guo Chi plays power forward and wears the No. 9 jersey.

  The starting lineup for the Nuggets: point guard Anthony Carter, shooting guard J.R. Smith, small forward Yakhouba Diawara, power forward Linas Kleiza, and center Steven Hunter.

  On the opposing side, JR Smith and Kresimir are both well-known players. One is a famous "nerve knife" in the league, and the other is a European star general. Both had good performances last season.

  Looking at the Clippers' lineup, basically no one has proven themselves in the NBA.

  Two brothers are reborn, knowing that the Clippers' performance this year will be a mess, except for the unexpected injury of Captain Blake Griffin and their inseparable relationship with these poor substitutes. However, now that they have the two of them, the Clippers will definitely not be as sluggish as before.

  Do they still need Griffin when they have speedy ships?

  "Boss, Klay is much shorter than me, I've got to score more points today." Ji Guo said secretly in his heart before the jump ball.

  "I can help you with your scores, but don't even think about slacking off on defense!" Ji Guoqiu didn't mind helping his younger brother with his scores; he was currently more focused on defense than offense and was better at defending and rebounding.

  The two men agreed to divide their labor and the game was about to start. The players of both teams returned to their own half court, ready for the jump ball.

  Ji K'ou's height is 211 cm, which is his barefoot height. In general, 90% of NBA players report their heights with shoes on and also exaggerate a bit on top of that. The two brothers are no exception. To make them more intimidating, the Clippers shamelessly changed their heights to 216 cm.

  In terms of physical fitness, it is clear that older brother Ji Guo Chi is slightly better. In addition to weighing 230 pounds and being 1 cm taller, his vertical jump also reached 80 cm, which is a very good data for a center player.

  Howard's vertical jump is less than 100cm, already a rare jumping monster in the league.

  Ji's counterpart is Steven Hunter, who stands at 7 feet 1 inch (2.16 m) and weighs 240 pounds, slightly stronger than him.

  The referee threw the basketball into the sky and the game began.

  Two people jumped up at the same time, and Ji Guo's momentum was obviously better than his opponent in terms of speed and bounce. Especially those 228cm long arms, when stretched out, were simply crazy, easily deflecting the basketball to their own half court, Clippers attack first.

  The few reporters on the scene witnessed the entire dunk process, marveling at Ji Guoqiu's jumping ability and his terrifying arm span.

  The two brothers are almost the same height, and their arm span is also the same. Everyone thought that when they stood together in the three-second zone, it was like a "Patriot missile" in the sky, prohibiting flight!

  Hei Pa Ke dribbles the ball to the front court, this is a player who was once arrogant and overestimated himself when he was young. Now four or five years have passed, his edges have been worn off, and he knows that what he's pursuing is actually just a guaranteed basic salary contract.

  So when Ji Guo Chou Ti was in a high position and should have been responding, he immediately passed the ball to the opponent.

  Ji Guo Chou doesn't have the ability to score with his back to the basket in a low-post position, his scoring mainly relies on two low-post moves and mid-range jumpers from the free throw line. The rest is just second-chance attacks after grabbing rebounds in the frontcourt, plus some easy scores from picking up loose balls under the basket. However, he has a great ability to make high-post passes, thanks to his telepathic connection with Ji Guo Xi, their coordination is beyond ordinary people's imagination, they can pass the ball to each other at the first time when the opponent has shooting opportunities.

  He received the basketball with his back to the free throw line, quickly turned around, and used his arm span to hold the ball high with one hand while looking for passing opportunities on one side and seeking his own mid-range shooting opportunity on the other. In this position, he could have directly jumped up and shot.

  Henton focused his attention and didn't give him a chance to shoot.

  Ji Guo Xi suddenly started running from the left low position to the right three-point line. His explosive power, speed and agility are much better than Ji Guo Chou, even compared to ordinary small forwards. This sudden movement made Krezha, who was defending him, a little unprepared and unable to keep up at first.

  Quickley's chance, Deuce Murray just ran to the right 45-degree three-point line and stopped, and the basketball was passed into his hands at the right time. What he had to do was simple, jump shot...

  Kreza caught up and only symbolically raised his hand, the basketball had drawn a beautiful arc, "whoosh" into the net!

  Doc Rivers gestured heavily on the sidelines, this is exactly what he wanted from the two brothers. Initially, it was their coordination that moved him and the team's high-level officials, otherwise, there would only be his opinion as head coach, and the Clippers could not make a deal with the 76ers.

  "This is two unpolished gems!" Deng Lively thought excitedly in his heart, the physical quality of the two brothers was absolutely top-notch among inside players, and their basic skills didn't seem to be bad either. He couldn't understand why they couldn't make it out in college? With such strength, they would have a chance to compete for the NCAA championship in any 64-strong university team, but the two were unknown in college?

  But then Daryl Morey thought that if the two were not famous in college, they would not have been picked by them. The 76ers had three first-round picks this year, and it's likely that the two would have been selected by the Philadelphia 76ers.