If Vince Carter hadn't been born in 2000, maybe the NBA would have no such thing as a slam dunk contest.

After Kobe won the 1997 Slam Dunk Contest, both the league management, media and fans believed that the Dunk Contest had no highlights.

Rod Ton, the vice president of NBA basketball operations at the time, said bluntly, "All dunks have been done, and there will be no new moves."

Of course, what is more important is that no superstars who are in their year of playing are willing to participate in this event. Those who come to participate in the dunk competition are just rookies with excellent physical fitness but average performance in official competitions. Without top stars, no merchants are willing to sponsor. For the NBA, the commercial value of the dunk competition has also fallen to a low point.

So, in 1998, NBA president David Stern decided to suspend the dunk contest. In the following 1998-99 season, the All-Star Game was cancelled due to the suspension, and the dunk contest was suspended for two consecutive periods.

It was not until 2000 that Carter, McGrady, Francis and others contributed to the NBA that perhaps the greatest slam dunk contest in history that this highly anticipated event crawled out of the grave.

But that was just a rebirth of the slam dunk contest. From 2000 to Dwight Howard played Superman in the slam dunk contest, the slam dunk contest really ushered in the second **. What about after "Superman"? No one knows who will stand up.

Fortunately, people now have a hot candidate - Link.

Everyone was looking forward to him participating in the dunk contest and saving this event that was about to end.

But many media are pessimistic about this, especially when Link was interviewed by an ambiguous answer, which made the media exaggerate.

"Think about it, what a funny picture it would be if Link lost to a player like Harrison Barnes in the slam dunk contest."

"If you are a superstar, would you dare to take this risk? And if Link is in the competition, everyone will want to do their best to beat him. Because defeating Link is the best way to become famous."

"Stop saying anything. I knew Link was a softie. If he dared to participate in the slam dunk contest, I would dare to interview him in women's clothing!"

The next day, Link found that many media were complaining about him. The most eye-catching one was the one in women's clothing for interviews.

If it were just a reporter from a small media somewhere, Link wouldn't care too much. After all, who would care whether a young reporter was wearing women's clothing? Maybe he would still deliberately use Link to hype it.

But this time the person who argued with Link was not a little reporter from a third-rate media, but the famous Bill Simmons!

Bill Simmons is a famous basketball columnist. Because he was a screenwriter before, and he has a thorough research on basketball and NBA. With his sharp writing style and meticulous views, he quickly became famous in the circle.

His book "Basketball History" published in 2009 has topped the sales list in the United States for a long time and has been regarded by fans as a classic work in basketball books.

As his fame grew, Bill Simmons's path became wider and wider. He is not only a NBA columnist, but also often plays guest-starring reporters and commentators. He even invites some famous NBA stars to interview and talk shows from time to time. It can be said that he is one of the most popular basketball media people in the United States.

Not only in the United States, Link also knows that many domestic basketball writers are learning Bill Simmons' style to write. This shows how huge this guy has.

Bill Simmons has one characteristic, that is, he does not hide his identity as a Celtic fan. His views never care whether it is impressive. He always likes the opponents of the Black Celtics who die. They are the famous king of jokes and the king of poisonous tongues. When the Celtics played badly, Simmons even blackened his home team.

It can be said that Bill Simmons is the least afraid of all the famous basketball media people.

Now, the rising Memphis Grizzlies and Link seem to have become the targets of Bill Simmons's savage tongues.

Link shook his head, not expecting that such a well-known basketball media person would come out to set the pace. It seems that Simmons is quite confident about not participating in the dunk contest.

Link was indeed a little angry and said that he didn't dare to let it go. Bill Simmons directly used the word "soft egg", and Link felt that it was too much.

Besides, when I said I didn’t dare to participate, it was just not sure. After all, the new season has not started for a month, and NBA has never been a player who has decided so early to participate in the slam dunk contest.

Of course, Link is not a child anymore. He would not slam the table and say he wanted to participate in the slam dunk contest when he was stimulated. Only children would be deceived by this kind of provocation.

Link wants to put things aside for the time being in the dunk contest. Now, it is the most important thing to play the game well.

Of course, Link will not forget what Bill Simmons did. If he does participate in the slam dunk contest and win the championship next year, Link will never let Bill Simmons go.

The words have been said and it is impossible to take them back. At that time, Bill Simmons has to wear women's clothing, and even if it is not worn.

Adults are responsible for what they say.

I thought that as long as I didn't respond, this matter would basically be suppressed. But Link never expected that Bill Simmons, the guy, would get involved with him.

After the game against the Kings, Link led the team to the best ten consecutive victories in the team history. NBA officially announced the latest list of the best players of the week, and Link was on the list.

That night, Bill Simmons sang a counter-tune with the league in his talk show, "Maybe soon, the Best of Week will have to face the first defeat of the new season."

"The Los Angeles Clippers are unstoppable this week. They have won four consecutive victories. Among the four wins, one defeated the Thunder and one defeated the Rockets! There is no doubt that the Clippers are already the first-sequel team in the Western Conference this season. If you have seen the Clippers' performance this season, you will definitely agree with what I said."

Bill Simmons is as confident as ever. Now, if you dare to say that a team will definitely break the Grizzlies' undefeated golden body, it is probably the only one who is Bill Simmons, a maverick guy.

But if Bill Simmons is only good at talking, it will be no different from the Joker. The reason why he is so famous is because he really knows basketball very well and is really in stock.

Next, he analyzed why the Clippers could win.

"Yes, last season, the Clippers were shaved by the Grizzlies in the playoffs. But this summer, on the basis of leaving Paul, the Clippers added coach Doug Rivers, J.J. Redick, Darren Collison, Dudley and others. Well, they are not superstars, not as dazzling as Howard joins Space City, but these reinforcements of the Clippers are undoubtedly seriously underestimated."

"Last season, the Clippers had the worst starting wing in the league - Caron Butler and Willy Green. Last season, 82.6% and 90.4% of their shots came from assists, which means they had almost no independent offensive ability. At the same time, when the Clippers were on the court, they lost a lot of blood, and they lost 5.3 points and 2.8 points more every 100 rounds. I can't count how many times Link beat Butler to a pig's head last season."

"But after the Clippers replaced the wing combination with Redick and Dudley, their progress will be very obvious. These two players are younger and have a more solid defense. They will never become aces, but the ball quotient is high and they are reliable team defensive players. At the same time, both of them have shooting skills that are not as good as their ex. Crawford and Barnes are still there, so Rivers no longer needs to consider whether to use better but not accurate enough or more accurate but not good enough. He just needs to use them according to the functional combination."

"Last season, the Clippers' offensive efficiency ranked fourth in the league and eighth in the league. After Doug Rivers coached this season, the Clippers' defense could not be worse. And their offense would undoubtedly be stronger. Judging from the current games, the Clippers' offensive efficiency ranked second in the league, second only to the Memphis Grizzlies, surpassing the Thunder! The Clippers' record is 7 wins and 2 losses. One of the two games lost was the opening game and the other was the powerful Heat. They were not weak, but they were not lucky. If the Grizzlies also met the Heat in advance, they might not have had any invincible golden body."

"In the next game, Paul and Griffin will definitely take revenge fiercely. Link, be ready to take the call. This time, you can't pass the test by just arbitrary abuse."

Link didn't know what supported him after watching Bill Simmons's entire talk show, but I have to say that Simmons is indeed a professional basketball player, and his analysis of many things is not worse than that of the team's analysts.

The Clippers' data in all aspects this season are indeed perfect. In the game that won the Thunder, the Clippers even scored 6 players in double digits, showing their completely different lineup depth from last season.

But no matter how powerful Bill Simmons is, he is just a reporter and a writer. Basketball is played by players, not by data analysis.

The next day, in the airport lobby, Link was interviewed by reporters. There is no doubt that the content of the interview was related to Bill Simmons.

"Link, how do you think of Bill Simmons' various remarks about you recently?"

"He is an excellent basketball writer. I bought two sets of his "Basket Shi Tongjian" and I like it very much."

The reporters all laughed. They all knew that Link could not only praise others, and he would never give such a boring answer.

"However, I think he might have some misunderstandings about me and my team. We are the defending champions, the defending champions who hold O'Brien Cup firmly in their hands. We are obviously more convincing than those vague and vague data. I hope he understands that basketball is not a number game. I also hope he understands that don't just use the word soft egg on others, otherwise the consequences will be serious."
Chapter completed!