Chapter 124

Even in his past life, Tang Tian hadn't thought about such detailed things.

His appearance had affected many people.

Like Lin Yi in front of him.

Poverty lowered a person's starting point, limited their horizons, and even their future, but it couldn't take away a person's most primal love.

The TV signal might be bad, but there would be newspapers.

*Basketball Pioneer*, *Sports Weekly*…

The news on them: Tang Tian’s clutch three-pointer helped the Spurs win the first game of the Finals; Tang Tian’s game-winning shot helped the Spurs change the score to 3-0; Tang Tian’s steal from James and two free throws secured the championship.

News photos of the braided rope bracelet, photos of him holding the championship trophy, photos of the championship parade.

Tang Tian hadn't seen those, but he could imagine them.

No cell phones, no TV, but these were the topics that children enjoyed talking about after school.

There might even be basketball hoops donated by caring people in that mountain area, and they were imitating Tang Tian's shots.

Perhaps in that small mountain area, a small-ball era had already begun, and three-pointers were even more attractive than Tracy McGrady's fadeaway jumper.

These things weren't impossible.

When a Chinese player made a key shot in the NBA and helped the team win the championship, it really wasn't impossible.

Tang Tian turned his head and glanced at the Nike staff.

The staff gave him a smile.

He returned the smile.

They really put their heart into it.

They weren't just perfunctorily finding some college students, but really finding children with dreams.

"Yes, you will see it."

Tang Tian said with a smile.

He didn't say anything about getting them a satellite receiver, because there were definitely more than one place like Lin Yi mentioned in the country.

And after this event, someone would definitely do such a thing for him.

What he could do, or what he should do most, was to appear on the Olympic stage.

Not to let these children wait in vain.

Perhaps rationally speaking, there were too many reasons to limit him from participating in the Olympics, but for these children, and for these enthusiastic fans who came to the event.

He had to participate.

The last part of the event was a one-on-one between the children and Tang Tian and others.

Yi Jianlian was still shy and basically didn't exert much force. Wang Quanze scored several goals in front of him, drawing cheers from the fans at the side of the court.

But when it came to Tang Tian, ​​whether it was Wang Quanze or Lin Yi, he focused on defense and gave them a bunch of blocks in a row.

This wasn't about being nice to basketball fans, but about telling them how difficult the NBA was, and the effort they needed to put in behind it.

At the end of the event, Nike prepared special sneakers for Tang Tian to sign and give away.

At this time, Tang Tian took the initiative to ask the staff to find two of his Spurs jerseys.

One was for Wang Quanze, with the words "Chase your dreams" and his signature on it.

On Lin Yi's jersey, he wrote the words "Hope is always there."

Perhaps one day in the future, these two children would really appear on the NBA stage.

After the event ended, Tang Tian took out the phone card that Huang Zhen had left for him before and took the initiative to call.

There were only two and a half weeks left before the start of the Olympic Games. Theoretically, the selection time had long passed.

Although the national team's 12-man roster hadn't been officially announced yet, it had already been leaked before.

Point guards: Liu Wei, Chen Jianghua, Guo Ailun

Swingmen: Sun Yue, Wang Shipeng, Zhu Fangyu, Yi Li, Zhou Peng

Bigs: Yi Jianlian, Wang Zhizhi, Zhang Zhaoxu, Ding Jinhui

And the men's basketball team was training in Europe.

Now wasn't really a good time.

However, Huang Zhen called him back an hour after communicating with Tang Tian.

No problem! Special affairs, special handling!

After receiving a definite reply from the Basketball Association, Tang Tian then greeted Fegan.

"No, no, Tang, you're taking a big risk. Our insurance terms this year don't include the Olympics!"

Fegan immediately reminded Tang Tian in a serious tone.

His reminder was right. Because Tang Tian's decision was temporary, the insurance wasn't in place.

If there were any injuries, he would have to bear the risk completely on his own.

"I know, I'll take the risk myself."

"You're crazy!"

Fegan couldn't understand Tang Tian's decision at all.

The Chinese team's current strength was very poor, and Tang Tian's addition wouldn't bring about a qualitative change. Without breakthrough results, it wouldn't bring him any benefits.

In other words, this was a completely high-risk, low-reward thing.

"We can consider participating in the 2016 Olympic Games. By then, I'll take care of the insurance and you'll have enough strength to change the game."

Fegan continued to persuade him after calming down. His words still showed that he was very optimistic about Tang Tian's development.

Tang Tian was silent for a while, then shook his head.

"There are some games that I have to play. I've made my final decision."

Tang Tian said finally.

Fegan shook his head helplessly.

He really couldn't understand Tang Tian.

Just like before, he didn't understand why Tang Tian had to treat every fan so patiently.

But in the end, he could only sigh.

After more than a year of contact, he knew that once Tang Tian made a decision, he wouldn't change it.

After finalizing the itinerary and some minor details, Tang Tian had already set the time to go to Europe.

The day after these things were finalized, the Basketball Association released the 12-man roster for the London Olympics with lightning speed.

The speed was like they were afraid that Tang Tian would go back on his word.

This 12-man roster was basically the same as the one that had been leaked before, but Yi Li's name had been changed to Tang Tian.

After the list was confirmed, Tang Tian also received a message from Huang Zhen, telling him not to worry about Yi Li and that they had done their job well.

After this series of operations, Tang Tian's goodwill towards the Basketball Association had increased a lot.

The release of this list also caused a wave of heated discussions among domestic fans.

"What's going on! Didn't Tang Tian have no news before? How did he suddenly appear on the roster?!"

"This is definitely the most explosive news of the year. I originally said that the London Olympics weren't worth watching, but now with Tang Tian and Yi Jianlian, things are going to get interesting!"

"Haha, I think we might really have a chance to get into the top eight this time! Recreate the glory of 2008!"

"I think it's difficult. Tang Tian isn't a core player."

"That's true. Although I know Tang Tian is very strong, without the help of strong teammates like the Spurs, his performance will be very limited."

"I can imagine Tang Tian running into open spots but not receiving the ball, or maybe defending the ball but not being able to push it past the half-court line immediately…"

"Although I don't want to admit it, the national team is really weak outside of Asia. If it wasn't for Yao Ming's dominance in the paint in 2008, it would have been really difficult to get into the top eight!"

"And our group this time is also very bad. Spain, Australia, Brazil, Russia, and the host team, Great Britain. Without any African brothers to send us warmth, it's going to be hard to win a single game!"

"Don't be pessimistic, brothers. We have Yi Jianlian and Tang Tian. We also have two NBA-level players."

"Yes, let's just wait quietly in front of the TV and see what kind of surprises the men's basketball team will bring us!"