25: 018: I’ve decided to bring Talent to the NBA!
25: 018: I’ve decided to bring Talent to the NBA!
At the moment the final buzzer sounded, all the fans in the arena stood to applaud the Western Conference All-Stars.
When the organizers decided to have the West play with four against five, everyone thought the game was over.
But Roger, with a clenched mouth and wielding a machete, incredibly cut through all the thorns.
In such a situation, as long as he fought until the last moment, Roger would earn everyone’s respect.
What people didn’t expect was that he would directly seize the victory!
After the game, Jacque Vaughn, Andrae, and O’Bannon were so exhausted that they simply lay down on the wooden floor.
For them, this was the craziest night they had ever experienced in basketball.
This rare personal experience taught this group of big boys who loved to dream one thing: facing multiple opponents was not enjoyable at all!
Only Roger was still standing on the court, pointing his finger at the score on the big screen.
54 to 42, even four against five couldn’t kick Roger out of the winner’s circle!
His past failures taught Roger the law of the survival of the fittest and to strive.
Now, he was relying on these lessons and getting closer to success.
Just like the forest teaches the hunter the wisdom of survival, and the hunter uses it to walk out of the forest, Roger’s past failures were about to lead him to the success he longed for!
After pointing at the scoreboard, Roger turned around, looked at Andrae, who had given his all on defense that day, and extended his hand to pull him up from the wooden floor, “We’re heading out now, buddy!”
Roger was indeed heading out, as countless NBA scouts in the venue were already evaluating his future.
Ivica Dukan didn’t even know how to describe Roger’s performance that day.
In the last 10 minutes, he had almost single-handedly scored 25 points.
While scoring a record-breaking 40 points in a single game, he also casually helped Jacque Vaughn set the record for the most assists in a McDonald’s All-American Game with 13…
Who says Roger is selfish?
He clearly works well with his team!
How could assisting teammates not make him a team player?
What surprised Dukan as well was that, having watched so many of Roger’s game videos, Dukan had never seen a game where Roger was off.
To be exact, Roger didn’t have those “Oh look, he’s on fire tonight” kind of climactic nights because scoring high in the games had become a habit for him.
He was at a climax every night!
Dukan was still thinking about how to summarize this brilliant night when John Wooden walked into the arena holding the McDonald’s All-American Game MVP trophy.
The legendary figure in American basketball smiled kindly, patting Roger’s head, “Tonight, you showed people your courage.”
According to the usual practice of the event, there should have been one MVP chosen from each of the East and West teams.
But today, John Wooden made a last-minute decision before going on stage.
This year, there could only be one MVP!
“Giving the MVP to anyone other than Roger would be a disrespect to his efforts this year,” he had told Bob Geoghan at that time.
John Wooden handed the trophy to Roger, who held it high.
Starkhouse, standing nearby, looked at the number 14, feeling utterly disgraced.
Losing despite having five against four was undoubtedly the most shameful night of Starkhouse’s basketball career.
Now, all he wanted to do was to reclaim everything he had lost in college games!
He and his old teammate McKinney had already planned to report together to North Carolina and play for Coach Dean Smith.
But Starkhouse still felt it wasn’t enough; the team needed a big man.
He glanced at Rasheed Wallace.
Although the guy was temperamental, he was undeniably talented.
So, he approached Yelling Maestro, who was also unwilling to just lose the match like that, “This game really sucked, buddy.”
I never thought we’d lose!” Even though Yelling Maestro hadn’t been directly involved in losing a 5 against 4, being outplayed by a much lower-ranked Darnell Robinson humiliated him no less than Starkhouse.
“Just complaining won’t help; we need to act!
If we both bring our talents to North Carolina, guess what will happen?
We can win championships, not just one, not just two!”
Starkhouse wasn’t being overly confident.
Just a month ago, North Carolina had just taken another championship in the March Madness tournament.
And this year’s championship team from North Carolina didn’t have top-tier talented players.
Starkhouse believed he was stronger than the team’s first guard George Lynch, and the talent of the team’s white center Eric Montross wasn’t half of Rasheed’s.
If they could win championships, then us united, aren’t we going to make Roger cry in college?
While Starkhouse and Yelling Maestro were scheming to unite, reporters on the scene began interviewing Roger.
“This is undoubtedly a great game, 4 against 5, and you still won by 12 points!
Roger, what kept you going without giving up through the high-intensity game?”
“We just wanted to win more, it’s not just my victory, all four of us gave it our all.”
“So now, as the sole MVP of the 16th McDonald’s All-American Game, what do you want to say?”
“I might not know how to be a good point guard, but I know how to win.
Many people criticize me, but no one has ever beaten me.”
After Roger said that, even old man Wooden couldn’t help but smile.
This kid, already daring to diss the media like that, huh?
Well, that’s how superstars act.
With the McDonald’s All-American Game behind him, Roger had become a nationally known high school basketball star.
Two days later, Roger defeated another top-five nationwide player, Rashad Griffith who was 2.11 meters tall, in the Magic’s Roundball Classic.
In that game, Roger happily scored 37 points with only one assist.
But perhaps because of what Roger had said last time, the media criticizing him became fewer.
When a person keeps winning, whether he passes the ball or not really doesn’t seem that important.
On the other hand, under the tough defense of Andrae, Griffith managed only 12 points and 7 rebounds.
Thus, the top high school players in the nation had all fallen victim to Roger’s magic!
After that match, Roger’s high school career truly came to an absolute end.
Everyone was guessing which college Roger would choose.
At that moment, fans didn’t realize a big news story was silently brewing.
Currently, in April 1993, the hot basketball news in major newspapers was about this:
Allan Iverson could face five years of prison due to a bowling alley brawl!
Jerry Stackhouse, Jeff McKinney, and Rasheed Wallace join forces at North Carolina!
Coach Dean Smith is about to embark on a new era of glory!
— Sports Illustrated.
Charles Barkley has ended Jordan’s monopoly on the MVP, but the winner of this year’s championship remains undecided till the finals are over!
Even with respect shown to Stackhouse of Oak Hill Academy, Randy Livingston of Isidore Newman School, and Rasheed Wallace of Simon Gratz High School, the foremost high school basketball player in the US is “Truth” Roger from China.
Without Roger, Block High School would just be struggling.
He has brought this team to an astonishing height.
So, where will his next stop be?
While people were discussing whether Barkley could stop Jordan, whether North Carolina could dominate collegiate basketball, and whether Iverson would end up in prison,
Block High School suddenly issued a statement to the media, announcing that they would hold a press conference in the school gymnasium to reveal Roger’s next choice.
The modest Block High School was packed on the day of the press conference, with national media gathered in that cheap basketball hall that had seen no attention for decades.
The media set up their cameras, and as Roger looked into the gymnasium through the main door, he took a deep breath.
After today, his life would begin a whole new chapter!
Before entering, Roger glanced at Lu An.
He was wearing faded jeans and the same old basketball shoes that Roger had worn before.
Because of his nervousness and the overcrowded gym, he kept wiping sweat from his brow.
Roger put a hand on Lu An’s shoulder: “Uncle.”
Don’t be nervous Jie, you can definitely make it!”
“I’m not nervous at all, I just want to say…
Uncle, I don’t want to be poor anymore, and you don’t have to be, either.”
After that, at precisely noon, Roger entered wearing a smart suit.
He waved cheerfully to the media and sat down in front of them.
On the table, there were several college hats.
There was Louisiana State University, UCLA, University of Connecticut, Kentucky…
you wouldn’t be surprised to see any major basketball school’s hat up there.
Roger got right to the point, “Hello everyone, I’m Roger, and I’m ready to take my talent to, uh…”
As he spoke, Roger looked at the hats in front of him and pretended to stroke his chin in thought.
This little joke made the reporters relax a bit.
Roger ran his hand over each hat, but ultimately, he didn’t pick up any university’s hat to wear.
On the stage, Roger’s smile gradually disappeared: “In fact, I’ve decided to skip college and take my talent straight to the NBA!”
The room suddenly went quiet, as all the reporters hadn’t heard such a decision in nearly two decades.
Five minutes later, Bulls general manager Jerry Krause received a phone call from Dukan:
“Have you seen the news?
Damn, if we don’t let him come to Chicago for a tryout, we’ll be the joke of the whole league!”