Chapter 269: Chapter 63: [I’ll Smash the Mouth of Anyone Who Dares to Snarl]

"Good morning."

On the early morning flight to Detroit, Su Xi greeted Reggie Miller, who was trying to wake up with a cup of coffee. Reggie quickly patted the seat beside him and said to Su Xi, "Jack, sit here."

Su Xi usually sat in his dedicated seat in the back, preferring to rest his eyes on flights to away games. Reggie Miller, however, was a motor-mouth, always chattering away about all sorts of trivial things.

Reggie Miller was completely different from the NBA superstars Su Xi had imagined. In his mind, NBA superstars spent money like water and were extravagant and charismatic. Reggie Miller was more like an old aunty in the back kitchen of a Chinatown restaurant whose mouth was rarely ever shut.

That was why Little O’Neal and the others often suggested Reggie Miller become a commentator after retirement.

Uh...

The flight from Indiana to Detroit wasn’t long, so after a moment’s thought, Su Xi sat down beside Miller.

Miller talked endlessly. He started reminiscing about his basketball career, telling Su Xi how he had worked hard to get where he was, how he’d made it into the NBA, and how he had defied the odds to succeed. Then, he brought up his usual topic.

"Jack, I want to retire with a championship," Miller said, looking at Su Xi earnestly. "We have to give it our all this run. God told me this is the closest I’ll ever be to a title. Jack, can you give it everything you’ve got in every game from now on? Play at one hundred and twenty percent?"

’What kind of question is that?’

Su Xi’s brow furrowed slightly.

"I’m crystal clear on this: you’re our only hope of beating the Pistons. We only have a chance to win if you play great," Reggie Miller said to Su Xi with sincerity. He was truly treating Su Xi as his last hope.

Su Xi told him not to worry, that the championship was just as important to him—perhaps even more so.

Miller finally calmed down, but he found it strange. ’You’re just a rookie. How could your desire for a championship be greater than mine?’

Then, Miller proactively started sharing his techniques for practicing off-ball shooting with Su Xi. He was serious and detailed in his explanation. He genuinely hoped Su Xi’s shooting could improve; the stronger Su Xi became, the better his own chances were of winning the title.

At that moment, Su Xi suddenly asked him a question: "Reggie, are you willing to pass on your shooting techniques and experience to me without holding anything back?"

"Of course. This is about my championship, after all. It’d be best if you could completely surpass me," Reggie Miller answered, his tone perfectly natural.

The words just tumbled out.

But Su Xi felt no transfer of talent.

This meant Reggie Miller wasn’t being completely truthful.

Miller was still holding something back. That was just human nature; who would truly mentor a successor with no reservations? Even Chinese master craftsmen always kept a final trick or two up their sleeves when teaching an apprentice.

Su Xi smiled and patted Miller’s shoulder. "It seems you don’t want that championship as badly as you say."

Hm?

Miller was surprised, but also a little flustered. He couldn’t meet Su Xi’s gaze anymore, feeling as if the rookie could see right through him.

For the rest of the flight, their conversation grew sparse. They talked about the weather in Indiana and New Jersey, and Miller asked about food in China. But Su Xi only had a superficial knowledge of Chinese cuisine, since he had moved to the United States at the age of nine.

As a result, the conversation felt stilted.

...

At the Marriott Hotel in Detroit, Su Xi gave an interview to CCTV. With the Athens Olympics on the horizon, a growing number of sports fans back in China were eager to see if Su Xi would be named to the national team.

In the midst of all this, a basketball association official made a ridiculous suggestion: "If he really wants to come back and play for his country, he should be in training camp right now. He can just give up on his NBA games, can’t he? What could possibly be more important than the Olympics? Yao Ming has already come back, so why hasn’t he?"

This viewpoint actually gained some traction in China, as many people weren’t very familiar with the NBA. It was the same reason why Wang Zhizhi’s request to play in the Summer League years ago had been labeled a ’betrayal’.

Su Xi had kept in contact with Wang Zhizhi of the Heat Team by phone. Su Xi hoped they could join the national team together, which would make the squad more competitive.

Su Xi was thinking purely from a team-building perspective.

But clearly, it would be much more difficult for Da Zhi to return.

Su Xi answered the question frankly. "Right now, I need to focus on playing well in the playoffs. After that, we can talk about the national team. My agent previously informed me that there were some administrative obstacles to me joining, and I’m not yet sure if those obstacles are gone."

"I am very, very, very willing to play for the national team."

Su Xi made his stance clear.

After that, Su Xi discussed the playoffs.

As the first Chinese player to lead an NBA team to the Eastern Conference Finals, Su Xi received a deluge of attention and adoration back home in China.

All of Asia took pride in him. Some Japanese media outlets even dubbed him the number one athlete in Asia.

In Asia, sales of Su Xi’s signature shoes far outstripped those of any other active star, a testament to his popularity being in a league of its own.

This was also why Nike had willingly paid up without any delay. The question now was whether Su Xi could lead his team to the Finals and win Finals MVP.

Nike’s internal forecast was that it would be difficult—hell-level difficult, one might say.

The mainstream basketball world was not optimistic about the Pacers’ chances of defeating the Pistons.

If their odds of beating the Pistons were 40%, then their odds of making it to the Finals and beating the Lakers dropped to less than 5%.