Chapter 287 The Chosen One

After searching for a good while, Su Feng and Kobe finally found a decent-looking restaurant.

There was no helping it; Cleveland was no Philadelphia, let alone Los Angeles.

As a city filled with tragic colors in the American sports world, Americans called Cleveland:

—"A place worse than hell."

In addition, there was also a famous joke about Cleveland in America:

"Cleveland, don't be too sad because everyone in America laughs at you. You have to know that every country laughs at one of its cities.

For example, in Russia, we laugh at Cleveland."

Don't doubt it; this was a true depiction of Cleveland, a city that everyone in America could freely make fun of.

So, the question was, why would the NBA officially arrange such a commemorative All-Star Game in Cleveland?

Don't be surprised; if you knew what Cleveland had been through, you would understand why the NBA officially arranged this All-Star Game in Cleveland.

You had to know that in the 1980s, the Cleveland Cavaliers were a team that forced the league to amend its rules for them.

In the early 80s, after Ted Stepien bought the Cavaliers, in addition to replacing 23 players and 4 coaches within a year, in 1981, he also did something extremely speechless.

Perhaps feeling that the Lakers at the time were not strong enough, in 1981, Stepien practically gave away the Cavaliers' first-round pick to the Lakers.

Then, the Cavaliers, who only won 15 games that season, successfully helped the Lakers draw the top pick.

And the Lakers became the only championship team in NBA history to hold the top pick.

The NBA executives were speechless.

In desperation, they had no choice but to amend the rules for the foolish Mr. Stepien.

The rule stipulated that after that, no team was allowed to trade away their first-round pick for two consecutive years.

Cough...

Kids, to prevent you from being mentally handicapped, we can only stipulate that no one is allowed to trick you anymore.

Ridiculous, funny, and despairing almost filled the Cleveland Cavaliers' team history.

And even in the Cavaliers' most glorious era in the late 80s and early 90s, they could only become Jordan's backdrop time and time again.

Uh...

Jordan's famous "the shot" was precisely made in that Eastern Conference Finals series against the Cavaliers.

No future, no star players, just like the city of Cleveland, the Cavaliers seemed to be labeled as destined for failure from the very beginning.

Therefore, against this background, holding such an All-Star Game, in the eyes of the NBA executives, could better highlight the meaning of "inheritance."

To give hope to the desperate Cleveland, the fifty greatest players would eventually grow old, and those new generation players would successively take over the torch from their predecessors.

Such a meaning entrusted Stern's beautiful vision for the future of the NBA.

Burn, Cleveland, and welcome your better tomorrow!

E

In order to take care of her precious grandson, Freda bit the bullet and begged for various baby products and toys from her neighbors, the most famous of which was a blue plush elephant.

This was definitely the most precious gift in LeBron James' life.

Because on Christmas night in 1987, after receiving the first basketball in his life, James' grandmother Freda passed away.

And since then, James had always kept this blue plush elephant.

The hunger and cold of his childhood made James grow up quickly, because he understood the so-called coldness of human relationships from an early age.

And after Freda's death, in order to support James, Gloria found James a prospective stepfather.

A man named Eddie Jackson.

But the good times did not last long. In 1990, Jackson also went to jail.

So, like Iverson's experience of eating dirt, young James also played football for bread and sausages.

When he was in fourth grade, James, who played as a wide receiver on the field at the time, had set a record of 19 rushing touchdowns in 6 games.

And like Iverson, who later met Coach Thompson, James also met the first benefactor in his life this year:

—Frankie Walker.

This school football coach, when he heard that James was going to drop out of school, found Gloria, furious:

Please give me your son, you can't ruin this child's talent, he will definitely become the best wide receiver in the United States in the future!

In the end, Gloria reached an agreement with Walker.

Gloria would find a way to pay the rent and let James live in Walker's house for a long time.

And after becoming good friends with Frankie Walker Jr., the son of Coach Frankie Walker, his talent in basketball also began to gradually emerge.

In 1996, just as Su Feng and Kobe were busy participating in the draft, James and a few friends formed a basketball team.

And it was also last summer, because of a chance encounter, James met the second benefactor in his life:

—Keith Dambrot, the former basketball coach of the University of Michigan.

Under Dambrot's guidance, James' basketball skills and his height grew rapidly.

Until this winter, because it happened to be the All-Star Weekend in Cleveland, in order to let these children who had never left Akron feel the atmosphere of the All-Star Weekend, Dambrot and his friends drove these children from Akron to Cleveland.

After wandering around with these Akron boys, at the suggestion of Frankie Walker Jr., these children walked into a Nike shoe store together.

Young James was quickly attracted by these dazzling shoes.

Looking at the basketball shoes placed on the shoe cabinet, James felt his heart beating faster and faster.

However, because he noticed the unfriendly gaze of the clerk, James did not step forward to touch these shoes.

There was no helping it, who made the air in America so "sweet" and "free"?

The poor and the rich, one side is heaven, the other side is hell.

The clerks in this store did not think that these poor boys had money to buy any pair of shoes here.

"Let's go!" In the specialty store, the sensible James said to his companions.

As the leader of these children, everyone always listened to James.

Although McGee and Travis wanted to take a few more glances, they still firmly followed James out of the Nike shoe store.

At this time, after waiting for James and the others to leave the specialty store, Dambrot stepped forward and picked up the Aj that James had been staring at, and said to the clerk with a smile: "I want this pair of shoes."

It was worth mentioning that, just after the clerk had packed the Aj for himself, Dambrot looked at the clerk and said: "Please remember that child's face.

In the future, he will have the ability to buy hundreds of stores like yours."

After speaking, Dambrot ignored the clerk's surprised expression. After picking up the shoe box, he slowly followed behind James and his companions.

"LeBron, do you still have any pocket money?"

Walker put his hand on James' shoulder and said.

Although he was only 12 years old, James' height was already close to 180 centimeters.

Among his peers, he was tall, so it was difficult for Walker Jr. to walk with his shoulders hooked like before.

"Frankie, you didn't spend all your pocket money again, did you?" James said with a smile to Walker.

Walker nodded awkwardly, spreading his hands and said: "Save the poor little Frankie, the great LeBron."

James shook his head helplessly. After rummaging through his pockets several times, he took out a few coins and said to Walker: "I only have these."

Walker smiled as he took the coins, and after a while, he returned to the team with two ice cream cones.

"Originally, the money was only enough to buy one, but the boss said I was cute and gave me one."

Walker said with a smile as he handed the other ice cream cone to James.

James glanced at the other four companions, "Frankie, let's all eat together, one bite for each person."

Walker hesitated for a while, but under James' pressure, he finally handed his own ice cream cone to Travis first.

In this way, six teenagers shared two ice cream cones.

Of course, everyone tacitly left the largest portion to James.

James frowned and looked at the other five, and said: "You don't do that..."

And perhaps because all his attention was focused on his companions, at this moment, James did not notice that his right hand holding the ice cream cone happened to bump into a passerby.

Dambrot, who was following behind James and the others, hurriedly stepped forward when he saw this, and said: "I'm sorry, LeBron didn't do it on purpose..."

Huh?

LeBron?

Su Feng, who was originally chatting with Kobe about Iverson's shower room, was stunned on the spot looking at the ice cream cone plunged into his chest.

"Sir, I'm sorry..."

Looking at the tall Su Feng, and Kobe, who was slightly shorter than Su Feng, James frowned and apologized.

Frankie Walker Jr., who reacted the fastest, hurriedly stepped forward to "rescue" the ice cream cone plunged into Su Feng's chest.

"Sir, I can swear to God, LeBron really didn't do it on purpose."

Wait a minute...

Looking at this group of 12- and 13-year-old black teenagers, and the black teenager who looked obviously much older than this group, Su Feng decided to take a deep breath first.

Looking to the sky!

This is so...

Isn't this my Pippen?

As a "Humanoid Encyclopedia of LeBron," how could Su Feng admit the wrong person?

As for LeBron James' appearance, there weren't many even in the entire United States...

Although he looked relatively young at this time, Su Feng would believe it if you said he was 18 years old.

Forehead wrinkles were his trademark. The boy emperor who came out of Akron, a humanoid tank that couldn't be stopped no matter how you chased it.

You could dislike him, you could also hate him and tease him.

But what you couldn't change was that from the moment he landed in the NBA, he had already pre-ordered a Hall of Fame spot.

His name was LeBron, his last name was James.

Su Feng's future successor.

Su Feng felt that America was really too small.

Because he could even run into James?

Oh, right!

If Su Feng remembered correctly, James had indeed started to receive formal basketball training at this time.

So, James ran over to watch the All-Star Weekend with his friends?

At this moment, Su Feng curiously sized up James.

In terms of height, James' actual height was not much worse than Iverson's.

However, compared to the tank in the future, young James was a bit too slender.

That was right, James was still in a semi-dirt-eating state at this time.

In the future, James would only really start to become strong when he went to high school.

Because he would become famous throughout the United States when he was a freshman, and people would line up to give him money.

After scanning around, if Su Feng guessed correctly, the group of 12- and 13-year-old black teenagers should be James' childhood buddies.

In another two years, James would form a team called "Northeast Ohio Shooting Stars" to play games all over the United States.

And when James was 15 years old, his name as a genius would spread throughout the entire state of Ohio.

Next, it would be LeBron's illustrious football and basketball record.

In the future, James did not give up football until he decided to skip college and play in the NBA.

Since then, the NFL had also lost a super wide receiver.

And the NBA had also ushered in a little emperor who was labeled as "Magic + Jordan" by scouts.

Speaking of which, just as Su Feng was sizing up James, Dambrot suddenly looked at Su Feng and said: "You... are you Su?"

At this time, James suddenly looked up at Su Feng in surprise and said: "You... are you 'the king' who created the 'Meteor Dunk'?"

Su Feng: "..."

"That's right, he is Su, this year's Eastern Conference All-Star starting small forward." Kobe patted Su Feng on the shoulder and said with a smile.

"Oh my god! We met an All-Star player!"

"It's really Su, look, his hairstyle is exactly the same as in the poster!"

"Wow, 'the king'! I love his 'Meteor Dunk'!"

"I'm sorry, I really didn't do it on purpose just now, 'the king'!" James apologized to Su Feng in a sincere tone.

"..."

…

ps: Ho, finally finished revising! A guaranteed update of 10,000 words is here! A Qiao is going to sleep! Ah, all the readers who gave rewards, I will count them together tomorrow, otherwise, I am afraid that I will misspell your IDs in a sleepy state! Thank you for your support! Love you all! Mua!