Chapter 463: Newbies, Let's Have a One-on-One First

All the teams were waiting for the free agency to open. 

They were seeking trades, clearing some big contracts to free up salary space, just like how many teams deliberately tanked in the past to vie for Duncan.

In the summer of 2015, Wade Dong's contract with the Suns was coming to an end. To secure him, planning had to start a year in advance, especially since the Nets' owner, Guo Zifeng, had publicly stated that the Nets would offer a 5-year, 700-million-dollar contract to Wade Dong the following summer. To sign Wade Dong, a higher price had to be offered.

Of course, some teams had other plans.

Everyone knew that signing Wade Dong, even with only 53% of his salary counting towards the team's payroll, would still touch the salary cap. Essentially, there wouldn't be enough money left to sign another superstar.

Wade Dong's lack of help on the team also gave other teams an opportunity.

So, just a few days after the free agency opened, the league was rocked by several major trades. The Rockets emptied their pockets and added a pile of draft picks to trade for Harden from the Lakers and Paul from the Heat.

The Lakers' Big Four and the Heat's Big Five were thus disbanded.

Harden and Paul would team up on the Rockets to form the 'Beard and Brow' combo.

With the Heat's Big Five disbanding, the Suns would have no rivals in the league for the next season... It seemed like many teams had directly given up on the 2014-15 season and were just waiting for the 2015-16 season to begin.

Trades were flying all over the league...

The only constant was the Suns, who did not participate in any trades throughout the entire process. 

...

There was also the 2014 NBA Draft.

Wiggins became the number one pick, and Embiid was selected third by the 76ers.

The Suns didn't get a good pick, only managing to draft Dinwiddie and Jokic in the late first round and second round, respectively. However, Jokic was restricted by some treaty and wouldn't be able to join the NBA and play for the Suns the following season.

...

The FIBA World Cup used to be called the FIBA World Championship, and the name was changed in 2012.

So, 2014 was considered the first FIBA World Cup.

Hua Xia announced their roster at the end of July, which included Wade Dong, Huang Yu, Lin Hao, Yi Nan, Li Pei, and Gu Qi. This made them the country with the most NBA players participating in the World Cup that year, aside from M Country.

In addition to them, there were several rising star players, Wang Dalin, Li Shu, Guo Sen, and Ding Hang... This was also the intention of Yao Ming and Deng Hua. With Wade Dong and Huang Yu, along with Lin Hao and Yi Nan, Hua Xia was already a world-class powerhouse. They might as well take this opportunity to bring along some young players, as they were the future of Hua Xia's national team.

M Country also announced their roster for the FIBA World Cup.

Most of the players who participated in the Olympics the previous year chose not to continue playing in the World Cup... One reason was that M Country had no shortage of basketball players, and the other reason was not something that could be shared with outsiders. Was it because the fear of being dominated by Wade Dong in the Olympics hadn't dissipated yet, so they chose to avoid confrontation?

However, when Wade Dong saw that James and Durant were not on M Country's roster, he breathed a sigh of relief and didn't even bother attending the national team's training camp. →

Before the FIBA World Cup began, Hua Xia's national team arranged a series of friendly matches with three other countries. Without Wade Dong's participation, Hua Xia won two out of three games.

To ensure the fairness of the World Cup, the six seeded teams were separated during the draw to avoid Hua Xia and M Country from meeting in the group stage, as both teams were favorites to win the World Cup that year.

In early August, the group draw for the FIBA World Cup was completed.

Hua Xia was placed in Group D, along with AD, HG, SL, LT, and AG.

Aside from HG, the other teams were quite strong, but they were still a bit inferior to Hua Xia.

Wade Dong only rejoined the team after the training camp ended, as he was preparing to go to Spain. Despite this show of star power, no one on the team, including the nutritionist, had any complaints or dared to complain.

On Wade Dong's first day back, the training hall was filled with welcoming cheers.

"Brothers, you've worked hard. Let me apologize to you first."

Wade Dong humbly said, "As you know, I have a group to manage, and mundane affairs have kept me busy, delaying the team's practice."

Deng Hua explained, "Wade Dong, don't say that. Our training camp is just to build up our fitness. I consulted with Coach Gentry, and he told me that we can win the championship as long as all our tactics revolve around you."

"Hahaha... I feel even more guilty now that Coach Deng says that."

Wade Dong waved his hand and laughed, "I didn't participate in the training camp, so I delayed the tactical training, didn't I?"

Lin Hao said, "We've all thought about it. We'll treat the group stage as tactical training."

"What can we learn from such weak opponents?"

Wade Dong waved his hand and then noticed several young men standing at the back, "Are there new guys from the village?"

"Hello, Brother Dong!"

"Hello, Brother Dong!"

"Hello, Brother Dong!"

Guo Sen, Wang Dalin, and Ding Hang quickly came forward to greet Wade Dong.

There were several players who were around the same age as Wade Dong, but when he won the FMVP, they hadn't made a name for themselves in the CBA yet. In a sense, Wade Dong was their idol.

Suddenly seeing their idol in person, they were a bit nervous. Wade Dong sensed this tension and directly pointed it out, "I feel like the new guys are a bit nervous. How about this, you guys come and have a one-on-one with me, and you won't be nervous anymore."

"Ah?!"

Hearing that Wade Dong wanted to play one-on-one with them, the new guys became even more nervous.

During the training camp, the national team often had some entertaining one-on-one matches, but Huang Yu would always dominate them. Now, facing Wade Dong, the few guys looked at each other and waved their hands, saying, "Never mind, we're not your opponents, Brother Dong."

Deng Hua snorted coldly, "Don't even have the courage to play one-on-one? Then you might as well quit the team!"

"Hehe~"

Wade Dong patted Deng Hua on the shoulder without saying a word.

The new guys lowered their heads, and Huang Yu walked over and said, "Brother Dong, we haven't played one-on-one yet, right? Why don't we play a game first?"

"We haven't played one-on-one?"

Wade Dong rubbed his chin, realizing he had missed a talent point, which was quite embarrassing!

"No!"

Huang Yu shook his head firmly.

"Then let's do it. Let's play for three points?"

"Three points seem a bit too little. Let's play for 21 points, how about that?"

"21 points is fine too. Let's shoot from the half-court three-point line, and whoever makes it first gets to start."

Wade Dong had originally planned to just play for three points, as there were still several talent points waiting for him here. Since Huang Yu insisted on playing the international standard of 21 points, he had no choice but to agree.

"G~~~"

Huang Yu stood at the center circle and missed his shot.