43. You Hear! 175 Can Go Pro!

Chapter 43: Listen! A 175 Can Go Pro!

"The Napoleon of China dropped 40 points to set a new single-game scoring record in a European first-division league. He might be the most talented scoring point guard Europe has ever seen."

After the game, it wasn't just the Spanish media; even the UEFA Champions League newspapers reported on Sun Hao's performance.

Sun Hao's influence had, at this moment, expanded across all of Europe.

In fact, it wasn't just Spanish and European media; even China's most renowned sports newspaper, Titan Sports Weekly, covered it, and it was front-page headline news.

That was the benefit of breaking a record, especially one this big.

Even though information didn't spread as quickly back then as it would in later years, it still made its way over in no time.

Sichuan Blue Sword Team Club, Head Coach's Office.

Yang Wei's brows were tightly knit.

Two years ago, because Yi Jianlian had made it onto the Hongyuan first team, he had ridden that wave of success and successfully become the head coach of the Sichuan team.

But due to his poor coaching record, the team had failed to make the playoffs for two consecutive years, and he could see he was about to be fired.

He wanted to find a new position before that happened.

But because his record was so bad, other teams all politely declined for various reasons, which left him feeling very frustrated.

"Coach Yang, your newspaper."

Just then, the security guard knocked and brought him his newspaper.

He wasn't in the mood, so he just signaled for the man to put the paper down and then went back to his thoughts.

After racking his brain for a long time with no ideas, he picked up the newspaper to take a look.

The moment he saw the front page, his eyes widened in surprise.

It was the first time he had seen Titan Sports Weekly use its front-page headline to report on European basketball.

And the headline was unusually striking.

Europe's Strongest 175.

He focused his eyes and looked closely, discovering it was about someone named Sun Hao winning the UEFA Champions League MVP.

Two questions involuntarily surfaced in his mind.

What exactly was the UEFA Champions League?

And why did the name Sun Hao sound so familiar?

He read the newspaper content carefully and learned that the UEFA Champions League was a new European competition, and it seemed to have considerable influence.

But halfway through reading, he felt like cursing.

This report was using this incident to question China's domestic basketball selection system, claiming that a height-based one-size-fits-all approach had forced this person to go to Europe.

And the author was showing off his knowledge by using NBA players Muggsy Bogues and Kevin Murphy as examples.

He didn't read the second half; he just skipped straight to the end of the article to look at the author.

Su Qun.

He had never heard of this person's name before; he must be a rookie.

These newspaper people were getting more and more out of line.

Did they know the current state of Chinese basketball? Did they understand what "the system" meant? Did they know how selection worked?

A bunch of outsiders, still pointing fingers and making comments.

There was a Chinese saying: "Different trades are separated by mountains." These people were just like those pedantic scholars from the old days, showing off their shallow knowledge.

He tossed the newspaper aside.

But just after throwing it down, he remembered someone.

Yi Jianlian.

He recalled that when Yi Jianlian went to the Hongyuan team for a tryout, he had been accompanied by someone, and that person's name was also Sun Hao, wasn't it?

Although it had been quite a while, he still had some memory of it because that kid had arrogantly declared a five-year pact.

He picked up the newspaper and looked again.

Newspaper photos from that era weren't very high resolution. After staring for a while, he shook his head.

There were many people in the world with the same name. It couldn't possibly be that coincidental, the same person.

Calculating the time, it had only been a little over four years since then. Someone who couldn't even get through the door of professional basketball back then had now broken the single-game scoring record in a European league?

What kind of international joke was that!

He put the newspaper down and stopped thinking about it.

But this did remind him of something. Wasn't his greatest achievement discovering Yi Jianlian in the first place!

The reason he had been able to come to the Sichuan team as head coach in the first place was all because of that.

Now he could go back relying on that too!

The former old leader of the Guangdong Provincial Sports Bureau, Li Yuanwei, was now with the National Sports Bureau.

Never mind helping him secure a head coach position in another province; getting him placed into the Guangdong Provincial Sports Bureau, into the system, was as easy as raising a hand.

Thinking of this, he suddenly felt enlightened.

There was still a long time until the end of the season, meaning he had ample time to contact Li Yuanwei and arrange a meeting.

He believed his old leader wouldn't be unreasonable; besides, he was a master at brewing tea.

The moment he imagined the comfortable life within the system, he wanted to slap himself.

Why hadn't he thought of this before!

National Sports Bureau.

"I misjudged, I misjudged."

Li Yuanwei put down the phone in his hand, then picked up the newspaper in front of him to take another look. He shook his head with a smile, muttering to himself repeatedly.

Unlike Yang Wei, he was now an official in the Sports Bureau, specifically in charge of training the country's young players.

Whenever a new talent emerged, he had to be the first to learn about it.

He had known about the UEFA Champions League before, but hadn't paid much attention.

After all, it was a new tournament, and Europe was far away, with little prior exchange.

It wasn't until he saw this newspaper today.

Who would have thought that the single-game scoring record in a European first-tier league now belonged to a Chinese person!

Even if he hadn't deliberately looked for this news, it had appeared right in front of him.

In other words, it wasn't that he had found it; it had forced itself on him.

The phone call just now was news he had sent someone to investigate.

This Sun Hao was indeed the Sun Hao he remembered.

That Five-Year Pact, spoken by a 13-year-old kid, was too unique.

And that look in his eyes, which didn't belong to a 13-year-old.

He had thought Sun Hao couldn't achieve it, but unexpectedly, before five years were even up, he had already done it ahead of time.

And he had informed him in such a way.

After laughing, his expression turned somewhat complicated.

Normally, if it were anyone else, he would have sent someone to make contact immediately, pulling the person into the system as soon as possible.

That would add another elite talent to the country's basketball program.

But it had to be Sun Hao.

Wasn't this forcing him to slap his own face!

He wasn't narrow-minded, but making him go back to find a 17-year-old Sun Hao—he just couldn't swallow his pride.

Besides, although La Liga was a high-level league, it was still a European league, and the value of those points needed further verification.

But after reading this article, he fell into deep thought about another issue.

Was the current system really flawed?

Originally, his stance had been firm: basketball was a sport based on physical talent, and among physical talents, height was the most important.

Using height as a cutoff maximized selection efficiency.

As for the Muggsy Bogues and Kevin Murphy that Su Qun mentioned, how many short players like that were there?

Even Americans had few, let alone China.

But Sun Hao had given him a shock.

Now, a real, undeniable case was happening right before his eyes.

Someone they had thought couldn't even play professionally was now making a name for himself in a European first-tier league and had even scored the highest.

And then there was that glaring headline.

Europe's Strongest 175.

The man was only 175, and he had done it.

It was true that the success rate for short players was low, but didn't they deserve a chance?

If one succeeded, wouldn't that be a blessing for Chinese basketball?

If one was buried, wouldn't that be a misfortune for Chinese basketball?

PS: I want to draw my sword and pierce the sky, breaking through the short pink chrysanthemum. Would the big shots be willing to lend me a hand with your recommendation tickets?!

Today's Cheesy Love Lines

I missed you so much today that I changed my underwear five times in a row.