NBA's King of Talking

Chapter 140 The Eagles' Media Day

The Hawks' media open day has never been very lively. There's no way around it; in this league, there's never been any absolute fairness. Nowadays, the trend of forming super teams is even more pronounced, which further exacerbates this "gap between rich and poor."

But this year is different. The Hawks' aggressive moves in the offseason free agency market have attracted a lot of attention. Not only that, they also acquired the highly popular Chinese-American dunk champion, Jia Fei.

The question of where Jia Fei would go in the offseason was no less hot than that of potential stars like Josh Smith. Among the many big names in the free agent market, besides Dwight Howard and 58, his popularity was top-tier. After the announcement of his so-called big contract, another wave of discussion ensued, making the Hawks the most talked-about team among the 30 NBA teams this summer, excluding teams with big fan bases.

The Hawks finished 6th in the Eastern Conference with a 44-38 record last season. This season, they made a lot of acquisitions during the offseason, which made fans and outsiders more optimistic about their prospects.

Many experts believe that if the Hawks want to improve their record and advance further in the playoffs, they need a true superstar. Previously, whether it was Joe Johnson or Josh Smith, while they had the ability, they weren't superstars, causing the team to repeatedly fail to reach the Eastern Conference Finals or the NBA Finals.

This is why the Hawks are so eager to acquire Jia Fei. Jia Fei isn't a superstar right now, and is even just a role player, but he possesses all the physical attributes to become one; he's a rough gem worth developing. Often, what prevents a star from reaching the next level is talent. Take Joe Johnson, for example. His individual skills are truly outstanding, but his physical gifts are quite average. He can't compare to Kobe, Carter, or McGrady at the same position. In terms of pure physical talent, Iguodala also surpasses him.

The Hawks are also eager to achieve results. They are slowly accumulating talent and waiting for the right time to go all in on star players to compete for the championship.

Jia Fei has already put on the Hawks' number 3 jersey, and Art Mayok has put on the number 35 jersey.

Art Mayork originally wanted to wear the number 5 jersey, but Carroll had already reserved it, so he didn't compete for it. Jia Fei had previously asked him why he chose the number 35 jersey, whether it was because of Durant. He said no, he said he liked number 5, and Jia Fei wore number 3, so 3 and 5 together make 35, indicating that the two had a good relationship.

This explanation... Jia Fei felt like the bromance was overflowing! Is this what you call the significance of number 35?

PS: Du Xiaoshuai: "Why are you dragging me into your lovey-dovey displays? Can't you just let me surf the internet in peace for a while? I can tolerate the women's PDA, but why do I have to eat the men's PDA too?"

Jia Fei met his new teammates for the new season at the media open day. 26-year-old Horford is in his prime, but he is already a veteran of this Hawks team, as is Korver. Looking around, there are actually very few players on the team older than them, which shows how young this team is.

At 34, Brand is clearly the oldest player on the team. Back when he was with the Clippers, he was known as "Captain" and was a 20+10 machine. Now that he's older and no longer an All-Star, he will be an important veteran in the Hawks' locker room in the new season.

The team's head coach also made an appearance. Larry Drew, who led the Hawks to a 44-38 record last season, left this summer. Mike Budenholzer, from the Spurs system, took over as head coach.

Jia Fei's impression of Coach Budenholzer was that he was truly adept at coaching ordinary teams. You didn't need to worry about their regular season record; as long as your team's roster wasn't too poor, he could help you achieve satisfactory results. His weaknesses were also obvious: his in-game reactions were incredibly slow, not just slow, but extremely slow. He also didn't know how to adjust, and was the type to rely on readily available information.

Jia Fei is clearly an important player for the team in the new season. He was arranged to take a group photo with Horford and Teague, the two core players of the team, giving off a vague feeling of the "Hawks' Big Three".

Jia Fei took the most official photos of himself since entering the NBA. Previously, he was just a minor player in the Thunder and didn't take many official photos. But this time was different; he took a lot of individual photos.

He posed for photos with his good friend Art Mayork, other players who joined this summer, and head coach Budenholzer.

After the photoshoot, the beautiful photographer exclaimed, "You're so handsome! If you didn't play basketball, you could consider going into the entertainment industry. You have the face of a movie star."

"Thank you for the compliment!" Jia Fei smiled slightly; had he already won the heart of the female photographer?

"This is my Twitter account..." The beautiful photographer secretly slipped a small note to Jia Fei.

"Uh..." Jia Fei was a little embarrassed. American girls are too open. Are they going to make a direct move?

After the photoshoot, Jia Fei was interviewed by several media outlets.

"Jia, what was the main reason for choosing the Atlanta Hawks this summer?" a reporter asked.

"The reason is that they offered me a satisfactory contract, and I have more playing time here than I did with the Thunder," Jia Fei replied. He really didn't need to make things up; it was the truth. With money and playing time in hand, what more could he ask for?

"Jia, hello. There's been a lot of talk about how the Hawks offered you a contract that's too high. What do you think?" another reporter asked.

"Haha... I find this question quite interesting. I'm really curious why outsiders see it that way. I didn't force the team to sign the contract. As for why the team offered me this contract, you'd have to ask the team's general manager. I don't know the specific reasons. As for my opinion, I'm very happy. Who wouldn't want to get a big contract?" Jia Fei replied with a smile.

Jia Fei's answer made the reporters on the scene laugh. Yes, the contract was not something he insisted on; it was something the Hawks were willing to offer. Even if it was overpriced, it was because the Hawks were happy to pay it. Within the rules, they have money and can do whatever they want; what business is it of yours?

"Jia, what are your expectations for the Hawks' new season?" the third reporter asked.

"I hope to compete for the championship with the team!" Jia Fei said.

"Oh, you think the Hawks are already a championship contender?" The reporter sensed there was a story to uncover.

Jia Fei's statement was ambiguous: "A soldier who doesn't want to be a marshal isn't a good soldier. Regardless of whether we have the strength to win the championship, our goal for the new season is the championship. Isn't our goal in playing 82 regular season games to win the championship, just to get the number one draft pick?"

The reporter was stumped. Yes, if you're not playing for the championship, are you just going to tank?