On the afternoon of February 17, training for the rookies officially began at the Staples Center.

Of course, the biggest purpose of this training is not to train players, but to commercial hype.

Every year on All-Star Weekend, the training before the rookie game and the training before the All-Star Game are open to the media throughout. To put it bluntly, this training is a show for the media to increase the exposure of All-Star Game.

In the training ground, some of the players were playing and chatting with each other, and some were interviewing reporters. There were only a few people who were training seriously.

Link regretted it a little. If he had known that the All-Star Game training was a show, he would have brought trainer Marcus Will. Now Link can only train with an unfamiliar trainer. Link always feels that he is not efficient.

At this time, what Link was practicing was naturally the offensive steps he learned from Kobe in the early morning.

Link and Kobe's training continued until 7:30 in the morning, and they gave up when both of them were so tired.

What surprised Link was that after training with Kobe in the early morning, he didn't feel sleepy. He walked on the street early in the morning and felt refreshed. Moreover, the extra training not only allowed him to learn a lot from Kobe, but also allowed his little white strip progress to grow beyond the plan.

After training, Kobe smiled and patted Link on the shoulder, "Next time I have a chance, I'll be happy to train with you."

Link really doesn't know whether this is a good thing or a bad thing. Fortunately, he is not a Lakers player, otherwise he would definitely receive calls from some paranoid from time to time in the middle of the night.

Speaking of what Kobe taught Link today, there are a lot and a lot of things.

What are the test steps, the pace of the dribbling breakthrough, and even the back-to-back steps, Kobe is talking about wherever he thinks, and he doesn't care whether Link can digest it or not.

Because Kobe is very clear that basketball is probably not something that can be learned by relying on others to teach you. Unless you are willing to think slowly, it will never become a trick in your "armament". Therefore, whether you can learn it is not based on digestion when you learn, but how much time you are willing to practice when you go down.

Link also knew this truth. When he was learning defense with Tony Allen, Link liked to catch his teammates and practiced with him for nothing. Conley was the most tortured. He was embarrassed to reject Link, so he was only able to be destroyed by Link over and over again on the training ground.

Now Link has a pretty good defensive foundation. In addition to thanking Hill for her talent and Tony Allen's guidance, she also has to thank Conley for her sacrifice.

However, the defense of the trainer in front of him was too weak for Link. He could get in without stepping and could just pull it up. He could not achieve any effect with unfamiliar trainers.

Seeing Link catching the trainer to practice, the reporters also became interested. In particular, some media from China finally took advantage of the break of Link's rest and went up to interview.

"Link, do you have time to accept an interview?" The Chinese journalists were quite cautious. After all, there were not many Chinese players playing in the NBA, and they didn't know what their temper was.

"No problem." Link smiled and was still very happy to see a "hometown" media interviewing him.

"What are you practicing just now? We have seen you practice the same program since the beginning of the training."

The reporter used English to communicate with Link. Link looked around and there were no American reporters, so when he answered, he started to speak Chinese.

"Observation steps, various offensive steps. I want to improve my offensive methods, so I must hurry up."

The reporters were overjoyed. Link said this in Chinese, and it was not a mess at all.

"For you, what does it mean to train hard? You are almost the hardest-working player in the entire training hall. Why do you still work so hard during this relaxing moment of All-Star Weekend?" The reporter also began to communicate with Link in Chinese. This not only brought the distance between the reporter and Link, but also directly brought the distance between Link and Chinese fans.

Chinese fans will feel that this guy is no different from everyone except that he cannot choose his nationality at the beginning. If Jeff Austin knows this, he will definitely be so happy that he will be very happy. In the future, the door to the Chinese market will undoubtedly be opened to Link.

In this era when black people can become popular even if they shout "I love China" in Chinese, why can't Chinese people do it?

"Training hard means everything. I know very well how I got up from the bottom step by step. So, I won't relax for a moment. Because there are many people behind you, and once you relax, some people want to replace you."

"If you have the chance, are you willing to come to China to play?" Finally, the reporter asked a question that was enough to attract all Chinese fans to pay attention.

Link was a little confused. Is this guy talking about playing in China referring to CBA or the national team? The key is that no matter which one he refers to, it is not realistic.

"I will of course go if I have the chance, but now, I still want to do what I have at hand." Link could only answer in a very official tone, which was considered to be a mess.

After seeing off the Chinese reporter, Link sat on the sidelines and thought for a while. One of the major benefits of his identity as a Chinese American may be that he does not have to contact the Chinese Basketball Association. After all, China does not allow dual nationality, and even if Link wants to, he cannot play on behalf of the Chinese team.

What's more, Link's wish is not that intense.

Of course, every boy will fantasize about winning glory for his country, but joining the Chinese men's basketball team is not as simple as winning glory for his country. The rules of the game may be more complicated than the NBA.

When the Chinese Basketball Association enters the Yao Ming era in the future, Link is willing to provide some support within his ability. But forget it now, it is better to stay away from the Chinese national team Zhang Fengwu.

"Link, what have you been practicing just now? Are you thinking about how to overshadow my limelight tomorrow?"

Just then, Link heard someone talking to him. When he turned around, he found that it was his "good teammate" DeMarcus Cousins, who was in the first-year team.

As one of the best inside players among the 10 rookies, Cousins ​​was naturally invited to participate in this year's rookie tournament. Since Link and Cousins ​​were not in the regular season, Cousins ​​kept pestering him as soon as Link arrived in the locker room today.

"You can't catch my pass tomorrow, Link."

"I will definitely not show mercy to you on the training ground, bastard!"

"If a mistake happens tomorrow, I can't spare you!"

Cousins ​​is like an aunt in the vegetable market, always nagging next to Link from time to time, and Link can't stand it.

Isn’t it just that I lost to myself once? Is it necessary? And strictly speaking, Cousins ​​lost to Randolph in that game. Why do you always catch me?

"No, I just practice casually. Who dares to steal your limelight?" Link did not get entangled with Cousins. Cousins ​​was extremely immature during this period, and there were not many people in the league who could communicate with him.

"No matter how you practice, bastard, have you seen that guy? Wall is my good friend! Tomorrow, he will pass the ball to me, passing a lot of balls. As for you? You will be forgotten, man." Cousins ​​has a little childish temper, and the loss to the draft has made him feel uneasy until now.

"Yes, yes, that's your good buddy Wall. But you may not have figured out the situation. DeMarcus. Our team is very special this year. We have two No. 1 picks. Wall and No. 1 pick Griffin are the focus of people's attention tomorrow. So guess, will your good brother Wall pass the ball to Griffin or pass the ball to you? Have you seen Griffin's dunk? All people in Los Angeles are waiting to see him dunk. We will be forgotten by you and me."

After hearing Link say this, Cousins ​​looked at Wall, then looked at Griffin, who was surrounded by reporters, and curled his lips.

"But you don't have to worry too much, DeMarcus. Because we don't want to be forgotten by you and I. But how can we attract attention between the two top picks? Yes, we have to join forces. We have to take the initiative to steal their limelight. The rookie competition is not really about winning or losing. If even the impressive scenes cannot be left behind, then what else can we play?"

Link was very tempted to fool people. He would do whatever he wanted to deal with a guy like Cousins. After all, the brain circuit of such a person is abnormal.

"I won't join forces with you!" Cousins ​​scratched his head, then turned around and left, not entangling Link again.

Linkergenzi finally became quiet. Cousins ​​will definitely think carefully about whether to believe in himself. For a while, he will not be annoying again.

Although he said those words to fool Cousins ​​away, Link really wanted to leave a wonderful performance. If he was just here to accompany Wall and Griffin, what's the point?
Chapter completed!