Chapter 8

On the 8th, Su Feng and Kobe arrived in Pittsburgh together, preparing to participate in the 1996 McDonald's All-American Game held in this second-largest city in Pennsylvania on the 9th and 10th.

Since its inception in 1978, this was the 18th McDonald's All-American Game, the one that Su Feng and Kobe were participating in.

As the pinnacle event of American high school basketball, many great players had emerged in past McDonald's All-American Games.

Such as O'Neal, Mourning, Webber...

And last year's Garnett, Carter, Marbury, Billups...

In short, this event definitely represented the highest level of American high school basketball at this time.

Because, as a "Human Encyclopedia of the Four Shooting Guards," Su Feng had watched this McDonald's All-American Game on Bilibili in his previous life.

Yes, that's right, although this was an All-Star Game, the two sides were really going at it...

With real swords and guns, no blanks.

Of course, because it was an All-Star Game, the pace of the game was much faster than a normal high school game.

In addition, although this kind of All-Star Game didn't have much tactical content, this 96 McDonald's All-American Game was absolutely full of talent.

Take the East Team that Su Feng and Kobe were selected for this time. In addition to Tim Thomas and Stephen Jackson in the starting lineup, there were also Jermaine O'Neal and Hamilton on the bench.

On the West Team side, it was led by Mike Bibby, nicknamed the "White Devil."

His teammates, like Corey Benjamin and Jason Collier, were all players who had played in the NBA in Su Feng's memory.

It is worth mentioning that Su Feng remembered that Kobe's performance in this All-Star Game in his previous life was not good.

Although before the game, Kobe was recognized as the East Team's top player, but...

All-Star Games like this, especially high school All-Star Games, to put it another way, it was a competition of ball hogs.

Young players hardly passed the ball to each other in order to show themselves.

Su Feng still remembered that when he reviewed this game, the most common comments on the screen were "Heartache for Kobe!" "Kobe, you have this day too?" "Hahaha, xswL, can you believe Kobe can't get the ball?" "Wow, so Kobe can play off-ball!"

Ahem...

Okay, Su Feng finally knew why Bill Duffy told him to enjoy this All-Star Game as much as possible and focus on the subsequent workouts.

Because this kind of game was simply the nemesis of team players like Su Feng.

"Alas, it seems that I have to be more selfish in the future and can't play so much as a team." Su Feng thought sadly as he arrived in Pittsburgh.

But then again, compared to Philadelphia, Su Feng had a natural affection for Pittsburgh for some reason.

Because this city, just hearing it, gave him a feeling that it was very suitable for playing iron (shooting a lot).

In particular, Pittsburgh also had a famous NFL team - the Pittsburgh Steelers.

"When I make money in the future, I must buy this team. This name is simply made for me," Su Feng thought with emotion.

...

After arriving in Pittsburgh, Su Feng and Kobe checked into the hotel arranged by the event organizing committee. While checking in at the hotel front desk, Su Feng and Kobe happened to meet Stephen Jackson, nicknamed "Warrior Saint" or "Captain Jack."

Jackson, whose appearance screamed bad guy, was explosively talented. Just looking at his elbows, which were much thicker than his peers, ordinary people didn't dare to get close to him at all.

Su Feng remembered that this Warrior Saint was not selected until the middle of the second round by the Suns in the future, and he was waived by the Suns without playing a single game.

However, Jackson's draft position fell so far behind not because of his talent, but because his reputation was too loud, so loud that even NBA teams were afraid of him.

The reason why the Suns gave up Jackson was because shortly after being selected, Jackson got into a fight with a group of hoodlums in a nightclub and made the local newspaper.

At the time, when the Suns' management saw the news, they felt that they must have been out of their minds to pick such a troublemaker in the draft.

Jackson would spend nearly three years wandering overseas before returning to the NBA, and then in that famous Palace Brawl at Auburn Hills, Jackson used just one fight to make the whole world remember him.

At that time, he was like the returning God of War. After seeing his good brother Artest being beaten, a roar from him caused millions of fans to lie down. (Note: the millions of fans here is an exaggeration)

"Hey, I like your nickname, Philadelphia Twins, cool."

Originally, Su Feng didn't want to have too much interaction with this Warrior Saint.

After all, if he wasn't careful, he and Kobe combined might not be his opponent.

As a result, he didn't expect Stephen Jackson to be such an easygoing guy.

Actually, Su Feng wasn't really afraid of this "Warrior Saint"...

Because Su Feng knew that in the future, apart from the Auburn Hills Palace Brawl, Jackson's performance on the basketball court was much more honest than many players who looked gentle.

Also, to be fair, the McDonald's All-American Game was worthy of being the ceiling for high school players...

Because after observing up close, Su Feng found that if he were to simply compete in terms of physique, he might not be able to beat Stephen Jackson at the moment.

So...

Being a good person is so important.

In Su Feng's memory, Jackson had a wonderful dunk in this McDonald's All-American Game, a true straddling dunk where he glided forward for nearly a meter while riding on someone.

It was just a pity that Jackson didn't make that dunk in the end, otherwise it would definitely have been selected as one of the top ten dunks in McDonald's All-American Game history.

If it weren't for his scandal-ridden student days, Jackson would definitely have been selected in the lottery in the future.

After chatting with Jackson for a while, Su Feng found that this guy's brain wasn't very complicated.

He didn't have any other thoughts, just purely curious about Kobe and Su Feng.

After all, this McDonald's All-American Game in Pittsburgh was like half a home game for Su Feng and Kobe.

After arriving in Pittsburgh, Jackson had been hearing people talk about the Philadelphia Twins, so he wanted to see with his own eyes what was different about the Philadelphia Twins compared to him.

"You guys look too much like good students, we're not on the same path," Jackson said suddenly with emotion while chatting.

Su Feng, Kobe: "..."

Bro, since you think we're not on the same path, then why have you been chatting for so long?

"By the way, do you guys like singing, dancing, and rap? I'm a rap expert," Jackson suddenly turned his head and asked.

Su Feng, Kobe: "..."

Big brother, what exactly do you want?

Fortunately, at a critical moment, a normal person finally arrived.

Just when Su Feng and Kobe were scratching their heads trying to figure out how to deal with Jackson, the West Team's star player, Mike Bibby, also arrived at the hotel.

Mike Bibby, nicknamed the "White Devil," was recognized as the best point guard in this year's McDonald's All-American Game.

Bibby had amazing strength. In Su Feng's previous life, Nash probably envied Bibby's pair of iron elbows the most.

In the future, after entering the NBA, Bibby had a season where he scored 20+ points per game at his peak.

He was accurate from three-point range, making a total of 1517 three-pointers in his career.

The only regret was that Bibby never made an All-Star appearance in his career, because there were simply too many excellent point guards in the West during that period.

Also worth mentioning is that Bibby's grandmother was Chinese, and he even tattooed his grandmother's surname on his body in the future.

Therefore, after arriving at the hotel, when Bibby saw three people of similar height chatting, he immediately noticed Su Feng, the most handsome of the three.

"Yo, guys, you're all here so early?" Bibby had seen magazines before and recognized Su Feng and Kobe, the Philadelphia CP (couple).

Kobe and Su Feng also knew Bibby, because Bibby's reputation at this time was no smaller than Kobe's and Su Feng's.

It had to be said that fate was such a wonderful thing.

Because of Jackson's magical brain circuit, after Bibby joined this chat, everyone really didn't lack topics to talk about.

Just as the few of them were chatting more and more enthusiastically, Jermaine O'Neal, who had a face that made you want to bully him, and Tim Thomas, who looked like a bad guy but actually played very timidly, also arrived at the hotel.

Thus, the main characters of this McDonald's All-American Game had a friendly discussion about art and life in the hotel lobby.

Oh, right...

Why did it feel like someone was forgotten?

Well, that's not important.

(Hamilton: Am I that invisible? I've been here all along...)

...

"Su, do you think these moves I've prepared can win the championship?"

In this McDonald's All-American Game, in addition to being selected as starters for the East Team, Kobe, just like in Su Feng's memory, also received an invitation to the dunk contest, while Su Feng was invited to participate in the three-point contest.

Su Feng didn't want to discourage Kobe, because Su Feng knew that this year's dunk king would be a player named Lester Earl.

What, you don't know this guy?

Well, it doesn't matter, anyway, this guy didn't make a name for himself in the NBA in the future.

In the future, many Kobe haters would think that Kobe, as the top favorite in this dunk contest, must have bet on himself to lose before the game, otherwise, there was no reason for him to lose...

Actually...

To be honest, after spending two years with Kobe, and after watching Kobe's performance in the NBA dunk contest in his previous life...

Su Feng could responsibly tell these Kobe haters that Kobe didn't lose on purpose, with Kobe's brain circuit, what kind of creativity could he have?

Moreover, although Lester Earl wouldn't be famous in the future, Su Feng remembered that this guy had defeated Kobe and Odom when Kobe participated in the Adidas ABCD Camp.

What it boiled down to was...

There were indeed many basketball geniuses in the United States, but there were even more cases of early promise that didn't pan out.

In Garnett's biography, the Wolf King mentioned that he couldn't beat his teammate, Ronnie Fields, no matter how hard he tried in high school.

It was just a pity that Fields later suffered a car accident, and after recovering from his injuries, he could only wander around and make a living by playing in some lower-level leagues.

"Su, have you lost your sense of aesthetics?

Aren't my ideas amazing enough?" Kobe asked a little angrily, looking at the silent Su Feng.

Okay...

Since you sincerely asked, then I will mercifully tell you what creativity is!

Su Feng simply told Kobe a few moves, and after listening to Su Feng's explanation, Kobe's jaw instantly dropped to the ground.

"But, can I do these moves?" Kobe asked rhetorically.

"Yes, of course, these are just the basics."

Su Feng was very clear about Kobe's jumping ability and hang time.

In short, a man who could dunk with one hand in so many different ways, couldn't he do these creative moves that Su Feng was talking about?

Su Feng had watched the century-long battle between Gordon and LaVine in the future, and had also seen streetball masters like White Chocolate.

To put it bluntly, if Su Feng had the chance to break the system's ceiling in the future, he would definitely let the people of this era see what dunking really was.

Besides, since Bill Duffy wanted him to enjoy the All-Star Game, wouldn't it be great to do something fun?

"Kobe, do you know where I can buy cigars?" Su Feng asked Kobe curiously.

"What? You want to smoke cigars?"

"No, I just want to show off."

"..."