Chapter 29 The Battle of Public Opinion
The next day, Li Ke performed a morning jog as usual.
Compared to before he got Damien James's bounce talent, his routine morning run changed a bit.
As long as there is no class in the morning, he will run further and longer.
"The endurance of D-level, strive to upgrade it by relying solely on yourself."
Endurance is now another test subject for Li Ke. Li Ke predicts that if he can have B-level endurance, it will be enough to enter the NBA.
After running for a while, Li Ke specially bought a copy of "Austin News".
“Unfair Sports Illustrated!”
As a result, before he could see his own interview, he first saw the shocking title on the front page.
"Since the new season of NCAA has been underway, Kevin Durant is undoubtedly the best performing freshman. None of them, even if the limitations of freshman are removed, he can also be the best performing nCAA basketball player..."
"And Greg Oden, who just made a comeback in early December, may have performed well, but he should not surpass the preseason kd that has been popular for the entire preseason in one game..."
"Obviously, the subjective and bias of Sports Illustrated is not concealed at all..."
The title is terrifying, but in comparison, the content is very dull.
But in the United States, if a big newspaper is questioned too subjective and biased, it will be a very serious problem.
Li Ke found a place to sit down, carefully scanned the front-page article, and found that he also mentioned himself.
"The starting striker of the University of Texas at Austin Horns, Kevin Durant's teammate Sheldon Lee, said bluntly: Greg Oden is not a No. 1 pick because he has too many injuries..."
Well, now, Li Ke knows why Stephen Adler asked so many questions about Xiao Du and Oden in his exclusive interview yesterday.
"Fire at the Sports Illustrated? It depends on the person who pays attention to you..."
Li Ke felt that Sports Illustrated's most likely ignored the Austin news in which he was only known in Austin, but when he returned to his apartment, Xiao Du appeared again with a smile on his face, Li Ke knew that things were not simple anymore.
"Did you know, Sheldon, this morning, the Los Angeles Times, the New York Daily News, the Houston Chronicle and the Austin News all spoke for me."
Xiao Du seemed very excited, but Li Ke frowned.
"All of you are so upset?"
"Yes, although the article was written by the same person, I have to say that it was written very correctly!"
Li Ke shook his head. He knew that this matter was not that simple. Stephen Adler, the contributor of this article, obviously came with preparation from yesterday's exclusive interview.
...
Sure enough, in the afternoon, a CBS program, the battle between Xiao Du and Oden's prediction scorer became the main topic of discussion.
The best-selling writer, sports columnist Bill Simmons, who was invited to participate, expressed his opinion, and he first commented on Du Xiao.
"I have never seen a player like KD. He is seven feet tall and has an arm length of nearly 2.3 meters, but he is as thin as a bamboo pole. He can't play the center and does not have such strong dominance in the penalty area. He is a pitcher and can shoot from any position on the court. I have to say that this is also a kind of talent, but no one dares to bet on this unstable talent..."
"Compared with KD, NBA prefers big men like Greg Oden, who has the same height and long arms, Oden is stronger and his dominance in the penalty area can be seen with the naked eye..."
"So, there is no problem with the change in Sports Illustrated?" the host asked.
"Yes, there is no problem. If I were the general manager of NBA, I would choose Greg Oden, 99% he would be the next cornerstone player, and as for KD, 50% he would be the cornerstone, but he still has a 50% chance to become Michael Olovokandi."
It is impossible for Xiao Du to watch such a show specifically, but the second day after the big show started, the discussion about Xiao Du and Oden was no longer there.
As a counterattack, Sports Illustrated interviewed the former NBA best manager, who is currently retired, Stankasten:
"Greg Oden or Kevin Durant? I will choose Greg. He has a higher talent. He will become the next Bill Russell or Tim Duncan. As for KD, he is also great, but he has too many uncertainties. The draft is one of the few opportunities for a weak team to turn around. No one will choose a rookie full of uncertainty and give up a rookie who will definitely become a Hall of Fame..."
There is also an opponent that Oden has defeated just now, NCAA Valpareso University head coach Hermodrew also expressed his opinion in front of the media: "He just came back and met us. He got a double-double in 23 minutes. When he recovers, you will learn more. He is obviously not at the peak yet..."
An in-service executive of NBA who did not want to be named: "In NBA, it is always safe to choose a big man."
These reports, Xiao Du, who is keen on this, will naturally not ignore them.
So, for the next period of time, Xiao Du became gloomy and gloomy. He never expected that public opinion would be like this.
Stephen Adler, who caused the incident, has not been idle for this period of time.
He wrote another article pointing to Oden's injuries.
Next, the third article compares the performances of Xiao Du and Oden in NCAA, and the final conclusion is that Xiao Du's performance is better.
Experts who think Auden should be the top scorer can only come up with illusory things such as talent theory, center forward cornerstone theory, etc.
For a moment, both sides had their own opinions.
The discussion seems to be endless, but the NCAA season must continue.
During this period, the University of Texas has defeated a group of weak teams in the league in succession.
Of course, there are some strong opponents among them, such as Kansas State University with Catil Martin, Oklahoma State University with James Ancurry and Terrell Harris, University of Oklahoma with Blake Griffin's brother Taylor Griffin, and so on...
However, Decai still achieved a winning streak, maintaining a complete victory since the preseason.
As time goes by, their strong showdown with the University of Kansas is getting closer.
"In the Big 12, the University of Texas-Austin President Horns seems to have a sign of being ahead of the game. This season, they have been winning and never lost. The University of Kansas Jayhawks in the league seem to be blocked by them, but even so, the Jayhawks cannot be ignored."
Bill Self is the head coach of the University of Kansas. His resume is much more brilliant than Rick Barnes. He led the team to win the championship in the division when coaching the University of Tulsa and the University of Illinois. Now, he is only one NCAA Championship to prove himself.
Li Ke is also familiar with the name Bill Self, because there were rumors in his previous life that after Greg Popovich retired, Bill Self would take over as the head coach of the Spurs, which seems to have also shown Self's coaching ability from other perspectives.
Kansas is a typical team basketball. In recent seasons, the one who ruled NCAA was also team basketball. The Gators who won the championship in the season were many stars, but they played team basketball.
This may be the reason why Brandon Rush and Mario James are very confident.
In NCAA, superstars always fail, and team basketball is the one who keeps winning.
The war is approaching, whether it is Brandon Rush, Mario Chamos, or even Julian Wright and Darrell Arthur, they are all clamoring in the media:
Chapter completed!