Chapter 1015 Accept the Challenge and Face the Champion
On November 17th in Chicago on the east coast of the United States, the Lakers' flight had just arrived here. Since it arrived at noon, after checking into the hotel, Ji Feng, Kobe and others made a special trip to a nearby restaurant for dinner.
This is Chicago, one of the resorts in the hearts of basketball fans, and it is also a major gourmet metropolis in the United States. It is rumored that Jordan often lingered in the restaurant here when he was not retired.
Although I don't know if it's true or not, but I can't guess it's wrong. Ji Feng has only been here once before, and this is the second time. After all, the East and West play an away game a year, and the back-to-back schedule gave him no chance to experience this. The charm of this city, so this trip was proposed by Ji Feng, after all, except for him, everyone else has been here more than once.
It has been a full ten years since Jordan retired for the second time here, but you can still see Jordan's unique imprint here, except for the eye-catching sculpture at the entrance of the Chicago United Center, on the subway, in the store, on the cultural wall, and even in the restaurant Here, it is possible to encounter elements of Jordan by chance, which is enough to show Jordan's influence on the city.
And when you walk on the street, there are many people wearing Jordan sneakers and jerseys. You can't tell that Jordan has retired for ten years, as if Jordan will still wear it tonight.
Especially the place where Ji Feng and the others came is said to be one of Mr. Qiao's favorite restaurants back then. This cannot be verified, and Ji Feng can't send a text message to ask now, but the owner here is definitely a Jordan fan.
When you walk in here, you may feel that this is a Jordan-themed restaurant. There are still posters of Jordan's various periods on the wall here, and Jordan's big autographed photos are hung on the wall directly opposite the door. See, it is very conspicuous. There is even a pair of AJ generation limited editions in the glass cabinet at the door. According to their boss, this was worn by Jordan back then. He spent a lot of money to get it. It was in 2000. It cost 60,000 US dollars, which is really a big deal, and it is said that the boss has other stocks, all of which are unique.
Regarding this, Ji Feng just wants to say that he is awesome, among other things, this boss has absolutely top-notch investment vision, and these things will definitely increase in value in the future, and it is not an ordinary increase in value.
"Jordan is still awesome." Farmar looked around and sighed, this is the ultimate of a player, he can make a city so full of his elements, and keep it for so long.
"It's not that the Bulls didn't live up to expectations. Since Jordan left, no one has been able to watch it." Ji Feng spread his hands and said.
What Ji Feng said is the truth. The fans’ nostalgia reflects the current state of the Bulls, no, it should be the state of Jordan’s retirement for ten years. From 1998, Jordan’s successful retirement in 1998 to bid farewell to the basketball world for the second time, and then Scottie Pippen, Rhodes Old officials such as Mann, Luke Langley and Toni Kukoc also left the Bulls one after another. The Bulls dynasty began to decline, and the NBA has since entered the post-Bulls era.
Although the Bulls could not be regarded as big fish during this period, their strength has long been different. They missed the playoffs in the Eastern Conference and did not return to the playoffs until the 04-05 season. After that, they were constantly eliminated and then continued to rebuild.
And the rebuilding was not going well. Although Chicago's name is loud enough, it is a big club, and the exposure is enough, but no star is willing to come.
This is easy to understand. Jordan's influence is too great, and his achievements are there. It is inevitable that anyone will be compared. No star will choose such a big challenge.
So they can only pin their hopes on the selection group, but selecting Jordan seems to have exhausted their luck in the draft. Although they are in the lottery every year and have won the No. Len Rose, Jay Williams, or Danny Marshall are all nobodies, and Brand is barely a star player. Naturally, such a player configuration cannot make a difference in the playoffs, so they are now Rebuilt for the third time.
And this time, they finally had a change of luck!
"Isn't there one here, Derek, that guy wants to challenge you." Kobe raised his eyebrows at Ji Feng while eating the steak.
In the past two years, they first traded Big Ben in exchange for Gordon and Larry Hughes, selected George Noah, and also got Asik's draft picks, plus the original Hinrich and Ben Gordon , this lineup looks a little bit, but this is not the point, the point is that they won the No. 1 lottery again, and all of this, this No. 1 pick is a bit stupid.
Derrick Rose!
The guy who had heard about Ji Feng in his rookie season, the guy who made a big splash in the NCAA arena, a guy who was still the undisputed No. 1 pick in the draft year of 2008.
You must know that it is very difficult for a guard to be the No. 1 pick, especially in the draft year. Unless the guard is good enough to be the No. 1 pick, such a No. 1 pick will generally not have parallel imports.
Because the first choice of the team managers is definitely the big man, even Jordan was only the third pick in the year, and Olajuwon was still the No. Wang, that's the truth.
So it is conceivable that Rose is given high expectations. Some media even bluntly said that the era of NBA guards is coming based on him. He is also one of the few people in the NBA who signed sneakers without entering the league.
Since the start of the game, although Rose was a little flustered at the beginning, his performance has been getting better and better in recent games, and he has gradually found the feeling of the game, especially on the field. Rose led the team to a 24-point victory over last year's playoff team Philadelphia 76ers , Rose made 10 of 16 shots and scored 30 points. This is the first 30+ in his career.
So today Rose has been called the hope of Chicago's revival, the new favorite of the Bulls, and is still quite influential here.
In the past two days, the whole of Chicago has been reporting Ross's words, because he took the initiative to challenge Ji Feng during the interview. The phrase "I'm waiting for you in Chicago" was interpreted by the Chicago media as a declaration of battle. This is what happened here in the past two days. Sports hot topics.
"Stop making trouble. To be honest, he might challenge you. It's not in the same position. This buddy is also funny." Ji Feng smiled helplessly after eating the steak. He didn't know what kind of feelings Ross had for him. course.
"However, if this guy wants to feel the warmth of seniors, I can satisfy him." Ji Feng wiped his mouth, of course he would accept the challenge, champion, he actually likes them the most... Military training them, after all Ji Feng is very respectful to himself No one cared about the draft back then, but the resentment was deep!
"Well, I can give up my position, you go to him, to be honest, I really have a headache for that guy's speed." Fisher said, he also studied Rose, this kind of guy with the best body is their This type of veteran is the most troublesome type, and he will definitely peel off his skin in a defense.