Just like how many Chinese people had difficulty distinguishing the faces of foreigners, many foreigners had difficulty distinguishing the faces of Chinese people.
Of course, everything had their exceptions.
It was like how most Chinese could recognise the female lead in European action movies.
Cough, back to the topic.
In the summer of 1995, the moment McGrady saw Su Feng… Believe it or not, McGrady actually stared and took a long look at him…
Su Feng truly had dashing good looks that transcended international boundaries.
To McGrady, Su Feng looked a lot like a Chinese superstar named Zun Long.
But Su Feng had a special aura and charisma.
His eyes dazzled like stars and gave off a mysterious vibe.
His clothes were clean and tidy and he had a slightly skinny physique.
But every inch of his body seemed to be created according to the golden ratio…
Could this guy be a Superstar?
That was McGrady's first impression of Su Feng.
On the court, after McGrady arrived, the group of black youths "thrashed" by Su Feng immediately erupted into cheers.
After staring at Su Feng for a while, McGrady calmly commented while looking at Su Feng, "I've never seen you before." "
Su Feng nodded and smiled. "I came from Pennsylvania."
Pennsylvania?
Looking at Su Feng, McGrady seemed to remember something.
Although thinking about such things made McGrady feel tired, it made him faintly remember Kobe.
McGrady and Kobe got to know each other through a high school basketball invitational match.
In Su Feng's previous life, after McGrady entered the NBA, one could consider McGrady as Kobe's closest friend.
While on break, they loved watching soap operas and going to amusement parks together.
What was worth mentioning was, in the many versions of Kobe autobiographies Su Feng read in his previous life, Kobe was never stingy with his descriptions and praise of McGrady. There was no doubt that their friendship was very strong.
Moreover, McGrady created many legends while leaving behind many regrets in the NBA.
That time he scored 13 points in 35 seconds, he made Tim Duncan display a whole spectrum of emotions on his face.
That time he won 22 matches in a row, it was as though he had returned to his prime when he was playing for the Orlando Magic and was invincible.
When he watched Yao Ming get selected first overall in the first round of the draft, he knew there was no way he could return to the past.
Su Feng knew McGrady because he was the NBA's annual scoring leader twice when he played for the Orlando Magic and understood him deeply because he was once Yao Ming's teammate and formed the iconic duo of Yao Ming and McGrady with him.
But Su Feng truly got to know McGrady because of Kobe.
"Pennsylvania? Philadelphia?" McGrady suddenly asked.
Su Feng laughed and replied curiously, "You know me?"
McGrady shook his head slowly. "I don't know you, but I know Kobe."
Next, McGrady added, "Why did you come to Auburndale?"
Su Feng shrugged and threw his shame out the window, "Because I'm already invincible in Philadelphia. It's not interesting to have 1v1s with Kobe anymore.
"Kobe can't beat me no matter how hard he tries, and that makes me feel a little lonely.
"But Kobe said that there's someone he can't beat in Florida. So I wanted to come look for this person.
"And after seeing you, I think I've found him.
"Tracy, nice to meet you. My name's Su Feng."
After hearing "Tracy", McGrady's eyebrows twitched unnaturally. After all, Su Feng was handsome and all, but…
Why did he know how to talk?
"Really? But I heard Kobe say that he has a new teammate in Lower Merion.
"He's called Su and he's Chinese.
"Kobe said that his new teammate gets thrashed by him everyday. And the funniest thing is that he never admits it after losing a 1v1.
"Kobe said that even the world's most scoundrelly cheat would not be as bad as him.
"Oh right, Kobe also said that this guy's dream was to play in the NBA.
"Moreover, to help this guy achieve his dream, Kobe actually disregarded his friends' invitations.
"I think we're talking about the same person."
McGrady spoke in a very calm tone, but Su Feng felt that every sentence he spoke was like a sharp blade piercing his heart…
What the heck!
Didn't we agree not to go for the heart when killing?
Su Feng was very angry. Because he never expected that Kobe would mention him to McGrady over the phone.
And the thing that made him most angry was just how scoundrelly Kobe made him out to be.
"You came to Auburndale to challenge me to a 1v1?" McGrady asked while looking at Su Feng.
"Yes, that's right. Because you're my new tool!" Of course, although Su Feng thought that, he definitely would not put it in that way.
Su Feng just nodded and passed a basketball beside him to McGrady while asking, "You game?"
Right now, many of the black youths who crowded around them on the court were all cheering for McGrady. And after scanning the entire court once, killing intent suddenly appeared in McGrady's sleepy eyes.
Because Su Feng did not know…
That Kobe also mentioned in his calls with McGrady that…
Su Feng's defending was way better than McGrady's.
Therefore…
It was all Kobe's fault, Benzema refused to take the blame!
McGrady also wanted to see just how great the person Kobe heaped piles of praise on was.
…
On the court, McGrady attacked first. And one had to admit that McGrady was truly very talented.
In Su Feng's previous life, when McGrady just entered the NBA, he was around 2m tall.
Of course, some said he was 198cm and some said he was 201 cm and some even said he was 203cm…
After all, the NBA official heights of players were never actually true in this era.
Because he was worried that his coach would assign him to play within the free throw lane after entering the NBA, McGrady, who wanted to play as a guard, deliberately stated his height as shorter than he actually was.
But after McGrady went through puberty, many people felt that his true height had already reached 205cm, and maybe even taller.
Moreover, McGrady's arm span was around 220cm, he could dash 40 yards within 4.4 seconds, and he could jump up to 44.2 inches high after a run-up.
In the NBA, using his unpredictable first steps, and his second and third steps where he took extremely huge strides…
In the 02/03 and 03/04 seasons, which were the last few seasons where the handcheck rule still applied, McGrady could get an average of 32.1 and 28 points per match respectively and he was the NBA's annual scoring leader for two consecutive seasons.
In the future, many people felt that McGrady was the most talented out of the Four Great Shooting Guards because of his ridiculous talent.
Iverson relied on his speed, but he was not as tall as McGrady.
Carter was known as the UFO, but his ball-carrying skills and speed were both slightly worse than his cousin's.
Kobe was known as the little bricklayer, but McGrady's bricklaying skills… Ah spat, Kobe had small hands and was always envious of McGrady's big hands.
One could say that among the Four Great Shooting Guards, McGrady had all the qualities of the other three, but the other three might not have the qualities that McGrady had.
Unfortunately, McGrady had Congenital Scoliosis. Although his day to day life was not affected, as he played more and more high-intensity NBA matches, coupled with the fact that the stamina-preserving playstyle and Goji tea had not been popularised yet, an inability to stay on the court for long periods of time was always a problem for McGrady.
Of course, as one of the Four Great Shooting Guards, McGrady, just like the others, was affected by the environment he grew up in and also had a "one-of-a-kind" personality…
Clang!
In the first round of Su Feng VS McGrady, McGrady won.
When defending this time, even though Su Feng had already lowered his center of gravity as much as possible, McGrady's first step was way too fast.
After being fooled by McGrady's starting crossover, Su Feng was unable to keep up with McGrady's devilish pace.
In the end, McGrady leapt very high into the air and slam dunked the ball into the hoop with one hand.
Courtside, besides the group of black youths clapping and cheering for McGrady, the three trainers Su Feng previously hired were extremely amazed…
After all, they could all be considered basketball insiders.
Frazier exclaimed in shock, "My lord, are geniuses worth so little now?"
Alan Stein was also very amazed. "Are those children even human?"
Mancias shook his head. When he was making his training plan for Su Feng based on his body condition, he already felt that Su Feng was a genius, but…
What is talent?
In the future, many people said that the Four Great Shooting Guards and Four Great Power Forwards were just products Stern came up with and advertised greatly to replace Jordan and the Four Great Centers.
But these people did not stop to think. For someone to be able to advertise you successfully, you had to be actually capable first!
To Su Feng, McGrady's most ridiculous quality was not his jumping or his speed, but his dribbling skills.
In the future, many people dissed McGrady and said he was a superstar not because of his skills, but because Stern advertised him. But let's not talk about whether that was true. After all, McGrady only made an average of 2.2 errors per match in his entire career.
He had a tall and lanky figure, but his dribbling amplitude was very large. In the future, Durant would become a fanboy of McGrady.
In reality, in the 90s, the future warrior had already appeared. It was just that he appeared a little early.
To put it frankly, there was no way you could advertise someone to make them suddenly become talented.
Because it was very easy to determine whether someone was truly talented.
"Is that all you got?" After he scored a slam dunk, McGrady passed the ball to Su Feng and dissed him.
Su Feng did not reply. After catching McGrady's pass, he shot immediately from beyond the three-point line.
McGrady was speechless.
Swoosh!
"I won, I scored three points. 3 to 2, the match is over." Su Feng laughed while doing a victory pose towards McGrady.
McGrady was bamboozled.
What the heck. Who records scores for 1v1s like that?
And that was only one round!
Besides that, you…
Isn't this way too shameless?
Luckily, Kobe was currently at Adidas' ABCD training camp. If not, Kobe would definitely tell McGrady, "Heh, you think Su Feng's shameless after just that?"
However, Su Feng was already celebrating his "victory" on the court.
Right then, McGrady could not stand it anymore. "No way, that doesn't count. Set the rules properly first. Let's restart."
Seeing McGrady take the bait, Su Feng smiled. "I can play with you again, but you'll have to go by my rules. Don't worry, I won't set nonsensical rules."
After pondering for a while, McGrady nodded.
"Come to Orlando with me. I can play with you every day there until a victor emerges from between the two of us," Su Feng said while looking at McGrady.
Orlando?
What on earth?
McGrady was stunned.
"I can treat you to steak everyday," Su Feng added.
Steak?
Although my family is poor, how could I, Tracy McGrady, fall for your little tricks just for steak?
To McGrady, he would not go to Orlando with Su Feng even if that meant he would starve to death.
Because even though Su Feng was Kobe's friend, they were not close. Moreover, it had not even been 20 minutes since they first met!
"How about this. Don't tell anyone. I'll give you $100 every time you win against me in Orlando," Su Feng added secretly.
"Are you serious?" McGrady said while looking at Su Feng in disbelief.
"Of course I'm serious. If you don't believe me, you can ask Kobe. When have I ever gone back on my word?" Seeing McGrady's expression of glee, Su Feng continued, "Actually, I want to improve my basketball skills.
"Kobe went to the Adidas' ABCD training camp this summer. I want to thrash him after he returns.
"Kobe mentioned you to me many times and I think you're as good as him.
"Look, these three are all professional trainers, and I've rented a gymnasium in Orlando.
"Don't you want to shock that coach of yours who doesn't recognise your abilities after the new school year starts?"
McGrady was really dumbfounded this time.
What?
He had rented a gymnasium in Orlando.
And hired three trainers?
Bro, does your family own a gold mine?
Actually, McGrady might not believe it even if he said it, but even Su Feng himself really did not know whether his family owned a gold mine or not.
Moreover, so what if his family owned a gold mine?
Su Feng's life goal in this life was to enter the NBA, become a basketball superstar, and marry a fair, rich, and beautiful lady.
You say Su Feng's dream is very ordinary?
Sorry, dreams are priceless!
Moreover, after transmigrating, being reborn, and having the system bestowed upon him, Su Feng did not believe that a mysterious power did not exist in this world.
Anyway, playing basketball was his dream, and there was no need for him to do things to anger this mysterious power.
There would be plenty of opportunities for him to earn money in the future.
"I'll have to discuss this with my mom and grandma," McGrady stated after hesitating for a while.
"No problem, I'll go with you," Su Feng replied while smiling.
Do you know why Su Feng had brought the three trainers with him to Auburndale?
He had done so precisely because they could be used in crucial moments like these!
Su Feng was very clear that if McGrady's mother and grandmother disapproved, it would be futile even if he dragged McGrady away to "elope" with him.
But with these three tools, ah spat, with these three trainers, it was different.
Because they were really legitimate trainers with trainer licenses.
…
As he followed McGrady home, Su Feng started chatting with McGrady through their mutual friendship with Kobe and his understanding of McGrady.
What was worth mentioning was that Su Feng purposely mentioned Carter in front of McGrady.
And when Su Feng mentioned Carter, McGrady's eyebrows twitched unnaturally.
In Su Feng's previous life, many people said McGrady and Carter only discovered they were cousins after they joined the Raptors.
But at the same time, there were also many people that believed they knew each other long before that.
And today, Su-Detective Conan-Feng cracked the case!
In reality, if you knew McGrady and Carter's story, you would discover that the story of the two of them only meeting each other after joining the Raptors had a lot of loopholes.
Yes, communications technology was not that advanced in the 90s.
But take note that Carter and McGrady both grew up in Florida.
Moreover, the two of them met at a family gathering once when they were four.
Alright, it was normal for a four-year-old child to be unable to remember things.
But here lies the problem. In 1995, Carter was already famous. And after he went to university, Carter studied at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
And where was Mount Zion Christian Academy, which McGrady transferred to in grade 12, located?
The answer was North Carolina.
So if McGrady and Carter really "did not know each other", then if even Kobe, who was far away in Pennsylvania, could be dissed by his coach using Carter, could McGrady's friends, teammates, and family possibly not read the news at all?
And in 1997, after McGrady joined the draft, even if Carter could not remember McGrady, could Carter's friends, teammates, and family possibly not know McGrady?
Alright, here comes another problem.
Since their friends, teammates, and family all did not know they were cousins, how did they know they were related?
Did they do a DNA test?
Only one truth prevails.
Carter knew he had a younger cousin named Tracy, and McGrady knew he had an older cousin named Vince.
If you were familiar with McGrady and Carter's personalities, you could discover how this story unfolded.
Everyone knows that the Four Great Shooting Guards have their own "one-of-a-kind" personalities.
For example, because his family was poor and he grew up not having enough money to eat, Iverson developed a wild and intractable personality and a never-say-die attitude.
At the same time, because he went through too much hardship when he was young, after AI entered the NBA, he spent money very freely.
Meanwhile, because Carter was well-to-do and born with a silver spoon in his mouth, he was criticised in the future for lacking the desire to win like Kobe did. At the same time, he lacked AI's stubbornness. Most of the time, Carter was more like an obedient child.
Also, because Carter was inexperienced in the workings of the world, you would find that many of his actions exposed his low EQ.
Meanwhile, the environment McGrady grew up in was completely different.
He was brought up by his mother and grandmother, and they did whatever they could to give McGrady all the love they could give him.
Whether it was catching freshwater fish for McGrady or bringing him to sneak into hotels and amusement parks, McGrady's childhood never lacked warmth.
But McGrady was also scarred for life in his childhood.
Because when he was very young, he experienced the miserable conditions of the slums.
Hence, McGrady's greatest wish in his childhood was to escape from Auburndale. He wanted to escape from here, he wanted to have money, and he wanted to escape from poverty and crime.
And while growing up in such an environment, McGrady also met an extremely suspicious high school head coach.
Ty Willis never trusted McGrady. Even when the child's talent was already obvious for everyone to see, Willis chose to ignore all of that time and time again.
Don't be surprised. In America, which treasured freedom, democracy, and peace, such things were not rare.
Just like that, McGrady continued growing up in a complicated environment. Meanwhile, his cousin Vince Carter was like a sharp sword hanging above his head.
When he participated in the Mcdonald's All-Star Match with Garnett, Carter had become the "Child of Other People" in the eyes of many American parents.
Although Carter's biological father had abandoned him when he was young, Carter's stepfather loved him more than his biological father did.
Under the nurture of his stepfather and mother, not only were Carter's academic results exemplary, he was also an expert saxophone player. And when he was 12, Carter completed the first slam dunk in his life.
In high school, Carter met Brinckerhoff, who was good in man-management. He gave Carter the treatment of a superstar within the team and allowed him to glide in the heavens freely.
From that moment on, Texans had a premonition that a UFO had landed on earth from outer space.
One could say that Carter's life before entering the NBA could only be described as perfect.
But Carter gave an extremely huge amount of stress to McGrady.
It was not that McGrady did not want to acknowledge his relation to Carter, but because McGrady's mother had instilled the ideology of independence and being self-reliant to McGrady since he was young.
No matter how poor they were, McGrady's mother and grandmother would try their best to create the most comfortable environment for McGrady.
Thus, McGrady knew a long time ago that he had a distant older cousin named Vince Carter.
And this cousin of his was outstanding. So outstanding, in fact, that it made him feel miserable.
He did not want to take advantage of his relationship with Carter, because he wanted to prove himself using his own ability.
After all, before grade 11, McGrady was always in a state of self-doubt.
Su Feng remembered that it was after meeting his benefactor, Smith, that McGrady realised, d*mn, I'm that good?
After thrashing Odom in Adidas' ABCD training camp, many people said that McGrady chose to skip college because his academic results could not get him admitted to one.
But in reality, other than his academic results, another reason that McGrady wanted to enter the NBA as quickly as possible was that he wanted to prove that he was not worse than his cousin.
But the god of destiny makes fools of the people…
What he did not expect was that the Raptors would buy his cousin in the second year.
Actually, after McGrady entered the NBA, Carter also reacted.
Yo, isn't this my cute and attractive little cousin?
He actually managed to enter the NBA?
If you have read Carter's autobiographies before, you know how "gay" the period of time Carter and McGrady spent playing together in the Raptors was.
In fact, they were so close that they almost slept together at night.
But if you read closely, you will discover that most of the time, it was Carter that looked for McGrady first instead of the other way round.
And this was completely different from his relationship with Kobe.
Because you….
McGrady finally proved himself. But Carter..
The "Child of Other People" came again!
And what made it worse was that McGrady felt that Carter was far more talented than he was, and that there was no way he could catch up to him.
That was especially so in 2000's Slam Dunk Contest. Those who watched that year's contest probably all remembered that McGrady had two slam dunks that were prepared very sloppily.
In reality, McGrady later said himself that he was forced by Carter to participate in the contest. He actually did not want to participate because he felt that there was no way he could beat Carter.
Meanwhile, Carter… was famous for having low EQ.
In reality, Carter probably just wanted to get famous together with McGrady. However, he effectively hurt his cousin's feelings again.
To put it frankly, this period's McGrady did not realise just how incredibly talented he was.
And he did not realise that the obstacle he could not overcome was not Carter, but himself.
So when the Orlando Magic extended an olive branch to him later on, McGrady went there without even thinking.
Take note, at that point, the Orlando Magic already had the extremely famous Hill. Moreover, it was highly likely that they would sign Duncan. So when McGrady went over, he was mentally prepared to be the third best player there from the start.
Hence, did McGrady leave because he did not want to stay at the Raptors and continue being the second or third best player?
No…
It just so happened that the Orlando Magic offered him a lot of money. Also, he could finally stop living under Carter's shadow.
It was only after he neared retirement that McGrady slowly reconciled with himself.
No one is perfect after all. This was the cause of McGrady's indecisive and jealous personality.
Mancias suddenly turned to McGrady and asked while they were heading to McGrady's house, "Tracy, has no one told you just how amazingly talented you are before?"
McGrady shook his head and dissed Ty Willis a bit as well.
"My God, no way. You have to leave that d*mned high school immediately. He will only hinder your progress!" Mancias was very agitated. Because to him, the idiot Willis was destroying McGrady's talent.
Right then, Su Feng noticed that while McGrady's eyebrows twitched, a confident glimmer flashed past his sleepy eyes…
"Why don't you come to Lower Merion High School? We can form the strongest high school trio!" Su Feng suggested jokingly.
McGrady shook his head. "That's too far from home."
"I'll contact schools for you. It just so happens that some of my friends are working in high schools. Believe me, your talent will definitely be known throughout America in the next two years," Mancias predicted.
One had to admit. The Emperor's greatest advisor was very accurate when identifying talents.
A product from The Emperor was indeed an exquisite product!
…