The Best Point Guard

Su Xi’s interview electrified the entire nation.

Chinese fans swelled with pride and cheered for Su Xi.

Of course, many in the American media also cherry-picked content from the interview to broadcast back in the United States. They painted Su Xi as an arrogant, domineering, and conceited individual, strongly encouraging the Dream Team to deal a devastating blow to Su Xi and the Chinese Team in this year’s World Championship.

They also ridiculed Su Xi’s claim of bringing the Knicks a five-peat, using words like "delusional," "daydreamer," and "lunatic" to describe him.

Of course, the New York media didn’t join the chorus. On the contrary, they were thrilled that Su Xi had made another promise.

They were more than willing to believe Su Xi’s promise; after all, the kid who grew up in New Jersey had always been a man of his word.

And the very reason those other basketball media outlets were reacting so frantically was precisely because Su Xi always delivered on his promises.

If Su Xi were truly just an arrogant, delusional daydreamer, would they be reacting so strongly?

The roster for the Dream Seven Team was also officially announced around this time.

Coincidentally, it was basically a lineup of Su Xi’s ’dearest friends and relatives’.

This year, the 2003 draft class was carrying the torch. Wade, James, Antonio, Syracuse, and Bosh—a total of five outstanding representatives from that golden generation—were participating... except for the strongest one, who was on the Chinese Team.

The other players were Dwight Howard, Elton Brand, Brad Miller, Joe Johnson, Chris Paul, Shaun Battier, and Antoine Jamison.

How should one put it?

Although the American basketball media was constantly hyping up revenge and talking about destroying Little Sheep Su Xi, their true superstar aces hadn’t been deployed. Kobe wasn’t there, Tracy McGrady wasn’t there, Duncan, Garnett, Little O’Neal... none of these experienced superstars in their prime had come.

So, when Su Xi commented on the Dream Team, he said, "They’re just a bunch of kids, nothing to write home about. They won’t even make it to the finals. I know exactly what they’re capable of."

This part of Su Xi’s interview was translated into English by the American media, who saw it as the ultimate insult to the Dream Seven Team. They attacked Su Xi viciously, branding him a traitor.

Moreover, members of the Dream Team also chimed in, saying, "This is the best motivation for us. We will give our response."

Su Xi didn’t care.

He had no need to care.

The reason he’d given that interview and said those things was that he had personally curated the Chinese Team’s roster.

He had to convince the leadership of the basketball association and other relevant parties.

As everyone knows, the national team sometimes gets saddled with veteran players who are strong domestically... but who, in reality, don’t excel in international competition.

Su Xi chose to bring up the younger players.

Give the youth more opportunities.

He even picked a recent high school graduate.

To Su Xi, the only way for young players to improve was to fast-track their promotions and temper them through high-intensity, real-game experience.

The subtext of him saying the Dream Team wasn’t strong enough was: We can win the gold medal with a roster like ours.

Su Xi’s status in China’s basketball circles was now transcendent. When he made up his mind, he was virtually unstoppable—unless someone wanted to go against the God of Basketball.

Public opinion would surely teach them a harsh lesson.

Thus, the final roster for the Chinese Team was: Yao Ming, Wang Zhizhi, Yi Jianlian, Zhu Fangyu, Li Nan, Liu Wei, Liu Xiaoyu, Sun Yue, Su Xi, Zhang Qingpeng, Wang Lei, and Cheng Jianghua.

Su Xi had spearheaded the personnel selection. In fact, if not for the immense pushback, he would have even wanted to let Yao Ming rest.

But that was, of course, a bold idea. If Yao Ming rested, the tournament would basically become nothing more than a training exercise.

After all, Yao Ming was a super weapon in FIBA.

...

When the Chinese Team arrived in Japan, they received an unprecedented welcome. The hype surrounding them far surpassed that of the Dream Team, which should have been the most popular team there.

But who could blame them, when Su Xi’s star power outshone all of theirs combined? The number of championships he had won was greater than their combined total, as was his number of Finals MVP awards. In both comparisons, the score was 3 to 0.

How awkward.

It was worth noting that the Chinese Team and the Dream Team were placed in the same group.

The six teams were: the Chinese Team, Team USA, Puerto Rico, Slovenia, Italy, and Senegal.

Not a single pushover among them, which is why people were calling it the "Group of Death."

The World Championship format was as follows: the teams were first divided into four groups of six. After playing each other in a round-robin group stage, the top four teams from each group, based on points, would advance to the knockout stage. From there, it would proceed from the Round of 16 to the quarterfinals, the semifinals, and finally, the championship game.

The rules were similar to the Olympics.

The very first game in Group D was already a must-see matchup: the Chinese Team versus the Dream Team.

It was the single most hyped group stage match in international basketball. Su Xi even saw many television media outlets on-site that usually covered the NBA; they had all come to Japan to broadcast this game live.

Su Xi also ran into Charles Barkley.

Barkley asked Su Xi privately, "Do you think you have a good chance of winning?"

Su Xi said, "One hundred percent."

"Why?"

"Because the Dream Team isn’t suited for the FIBA system; they’re used to playing under NBA officiating. I, on the other hand, can transition seamlessly. More importantly, we have Yao Ming, and Yao Ming is the number one center in FIBA. When we have the advantage on the perimeter and total dominance in the paint, how are you guys supposed to win?"

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