In May, driven by Nike’s momentum...
The New York Times columnist Ira Borko conducted a special interview with Qin Yue at the basketball training gym at Wake Forest University.
At this time, Qin Yue had just completed the first phase of training content devised by Grover.
In appearance, Borko noticed that compared to the March Madness, now Qin Yue not only looked more handsome and upright, but also his eight evenly symmetrical abs hidden under his training jersey proved just how hard this Eastern raptor had trained after the March Madness ended this year.
Before the interview began, Borko specifically reached out to Grover to learn about Qin Yue’s training situation.
As a Pulitzer Prize winner, Borko knew very well that if he wanted to increase the credibility of the report, he must gather information from multiple aspects and not rely on just one opinion.
"This kid has an endless thirst for basketball... his enthusiasm for training is just like Michael Jordan back in the day." Grover told Borko.
Regarding Grover’s words, Borko felt there was nothing new to say.
Because over the years, whenever talking about basketball players’ training diligence...
Almost their coaches and teammates would describe it as "not below Jordan."
It seems that ever since Jordan distanced himself from the basketball world...
Everyone in the NBA is like Jordan.
However, during a casual chat, Grover still revealed to Borko a very interesting piece of information...
"He said his talent comes from divine reward after finding redemption."
From this piece of information, Borko keenly sensed the focus of his upcoming interview:
—Finding redemption and divine reward.
In fact, after this year’s March Madness, it wasn’t just Borko; many people were very curious...
Why did Qin Yue, with such outstanding dynamic and static talent, only get the opportunity to showcase his talent to the world during his sophomore career?
Borko had seen local media in Winston-Salem interview Qin Yue and learned from his classmates about what kind of person he used to be.
And at this moment, as these pieces of information came together...
Borko found that a novel topic and eye-catching report were already in front of him.
As the behind-the-scenes driver of LeBron James’ highest exposure of national popularity in his life...
Back then, after watching James’ performance at the Adidas ABCD camp, Borko immediately wrote in The New York Times the next day, stating that James could even enter the professional league immediately after the then-upcoming end of the junior season.
This report stirred a frenzy in the American basketball community at that time and, in a sense, made James a household name.
Borko knew very well that the vast majority of readers simply don’t care about how those geniuses evolved step by step.
Because those readers who are interested in how geniuses evolve often find out about them through other means.
Like their future biographies.
Like their future documentaries.
At present, people are curious about Qin Yue’s turn from a wandering path.
What’s interesting is that divine reward after self-redemption.
Even though Borko himself doesn’t believe that God really exists in this world.
But many times, God is the best excuse in this world.
Just like how many American capitalists, after rising to prominence, use God to cover the truth of their rise...
Divine reward is not only free from jealousy but can also greatly bridge the gap between you and ordinary people.
"The most valuable experience I gleaned from many successful people is to never talk about your struggles and efforts when people ask how you succeeded.
Because you can’t tell them what background you used or what underhanded methods you used during the process of success.
Basketball as a sport is the same; Michael Jordan can share his training methods with everyone, but not everyone can become Michael Jordan using the same methods."
After settling the interview thought, Borko quickly began this exclusive interview with Qin Yue.
The following interview process could only be described as relaxed and enjoyable.
During the special interview with Qin Yue, Borko found that Qin Yue not only spoke calmly and logically clearly, and unlike the vast majority of Chinese people he had interacted with...
This kid would always unconsciously showcase his confidence.
At the end of this interview, Borko looked at Qin Yue with curiosity and asked: "If you could choose an NBA player as your template, who would you choose?"
Although previously, in many public occasions, Qin Yue had expressed to the outside world that he was willing to become Barkley’s successor...
But in Borko’s eyes, that was just Qin Yue’s expedient measure.
After all, being able to relate to an NBA legendary star at the beginning of a career, who would refuse?
However, unexpectedly...
This question really stumped Qin Yue.
Because if he has to choose a player as his template right now, the only one that comes to mind is Paul Banchero twenty years later.
Before Qin Yue’s crossing, lauded as the 2022 NBA top draft pick, Banchero had just completed a new round of weight gain, with a height of 208 cm and a weight of 120 kg, besides having a physique similar to Qin Yue now, his playing style also has many similarities with Qin Yue. (As shown in picture)