29. Regrets on draft night

“When my name was read, you raised the phone and asked David Stern to put the Rockets hat on the phone. Go. If an American reporter wants to interview me, you will be the middleman and charge them 10 yuan for one interview. Haha, there are so many people who want to make money from me, and you will definitely make a lot of money this night." - Yao Ming.

The meeting on June 23, 2002 was of decisive significance to Yao Ming. After his family delegation announced that it had reached an agreement with Shanghai, the 22-year-old center who led the Eastern Conference 2 months ago The leader of the men's basketball team that won the CBA championship is no longer owned by Shanghai Oriental.

This is an extremely difficult struggle, and the price of Yao Ming's contract buyout hovers between millions of dollars. Although I promised Yao Ming that I would never leak the specific figures, CCTV and Sports Weekly obtained accurate information through other channels and made it public within a few hours. In the evening of the same day, ESPN sports network also published news, announcing that Yao Ming had realized his dream at a cost of nearly 10 million US dollars.

In the entire history of the NBA introducing international players, this is the most expensive freedom. When Nowitzki joined the Mavericks, he only spent about 2 million US dollars to buy out his contract, Gasol paid 2.5 million, and Tsakalidis of the Suns only spent 300,000 US dollars. Therefore, when Fang Fengdi, When the family delegation composed of Zhang Mingji, Heisenger, Chinese agent Lu Hao and lawyer Wang Xiaopeng appeared in front of reporters, there was a somewhat tragic atmosphere in the air.

Except for the sentence "We and the Oriental Club have reached an agreement," no one is willing to disclose the details, but everyone actually understands the true meaning. Yao Ming's agreement to buy out his contract has become an anomaly in the history of sports economics in China and even the world. Lu Hao said: "I hope this agreement will not be imitated in the future. We do not want to become a sinner in the development history of China's sports industry."< /p>

This evening, Yao Ming’s joining of the Rockets finally settled. In the afternoon of the previous day, the Chinese Basketball Association had just held a press conference to announce to the media that Yao Ming would not go to New York to attend the draft on the 27th. As a result, Yao Ming became the first player in the 36-year history of the NBA draft not to attend. No. 1 pick. NBA officials have invited the Chinese Basketball Association and Yao Ming many times before. Zhang Xiuqing from Asia Company called me several times to inquire about the development of the situation. However, the final decision of the Chinese Basketball Association made them extremely disappointed.

The official statement of the Basketball Association is that Yao Ming will stay with the national team for training and prepare for the Four Nations Men's Basketball Invitational Tournament starting on July 1, but in fact, this is closely related to the "Wang Zhizhi Failure Incident" that was making a lot of noise at the time. . Wang Zhizhi is stranded in the United States because he wants to play in the summer league. The Basketball Association is worried that Yao Ming will not obey the rules once he goes to the United States. Although Yao Ming's family representative repeatedly stated: "Our position is to obey all arrangements of the Chinese Basketball Association," Yao Ming finally lost the opportunity to appear in Madison Square Garden.

I have always believed that this will be a lifelong regret for Yao Ming. Yao Ming will rely on his talent and personality to become the first Chinese to be looked up to and worshiped in the history of American professional sports. June 27 at the Madison Square Garden Theater in New York was supposed to be the time for him to showcase his talent and embark on the road to heroism. the first step.

Before the Chinese Basketball Association made a final decision, I had been looking forward to the arrival of good news. I have already agreed with Yao Ming that I will go to New York with him to witness the great historical moment. At the beginning of June, my air tickets, US visa, interview application and hotel reservation at SHERATON NEWYORK were all completed, and I was just waiting for the date of Yao Ming's departure.

Around June 15th, Yao Ming told me: "I may not be able to go to New York."

I didn't give up at the time: "Is it finalized? I can still do it. Wait a few more days for you to finalize the news."

On June 20, Yao Ming sent a text message saying: "Go on your own and tell me when you come back." His tone was very. Firmly, let me know that his absence from the draft is a certainty. I embarked on the road to New York alone on June 24. Before leaving, I wrote: "In front of me, there is a coronation without a king."

The character of New York is with me. It was quite different when I came here in the summer of 2001. After experiencing the 911 incident, I was driving from the Williamsburg Bridge towards Manhattan. The sky in the distance was empty only with white clouds, and there was no sign of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center. When I arrived in New York, it was already 4 pm local time. The first thing I did after putting down my luggage at the hotel was to go to Chinatown to buy a phone card so that I could call Yao Ming in Beijing. Before this, I had visited more than a dozen American cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Philadelphia. New York's Chinatown has the largest number of Chinese people, the noisiest, and the largest place. But the hard-working life in the capital of the world has brought hardships to the faces of the Chinese here. I can't see the comfortable posture and fair skin of the Chinese in Los Angeles or San Francisco. Their expressions are slightly gloomy. They don't have mansions or cars, but they are busy in the crowds of people from morning to night.

I remember Knicks boss Langton once said that there is a huge Chinese market here.

But at that time, I suddenly believed that even if Yao Ming really arrived in New York, the Chinese here would probably not be in the mood to buy tickets to Madison Square Garden in such a complicated and difficult life. During a heated discussion with the Knicks in Shanghai Oriental, another Chinese center, Battelle, once told an American reporter in Denver: "Yao Ming probably doesn't like big cities like New York." This was indeed what Yao Ming was thinking. He was already in a noisy city. After living in the city for 22 years, maybe I shouldn't go to another noisy place; Houston is vast and quiet, and the media treats people gently, which may be more suitable for Yao Ming's development.

Early the next morning, I called Yao Ming’s mobile phone. It was already the evening of the 25th in Beijing, and this guy was still playing games.

"How about it? Are there my posters on the street over there?"

"Stop dreaming."

"Yes. I'm trying it in Chicago." During the training, it was said that a signed jersey of mine could be sold for US$1,000 in New York. Now that there is no chance in New York, no one will pay attention to me."

He said with a smile on the other end of the phone.