CHAPTER 87: CHAPTER 85, PRESS CONFERENCE, OVERCOMING ECONOMIC HARDSHIP!

In his home country, Zeng Xingyang quickly topped the Weibo trending searches after being selected.

Major portal websites have opened a special column for NBA Zeng Xingyang.

It’s been a long time since such a significant event caught the attention of basketball fans nationwide.

The 7th pick is quite a high ranking for a rookie, which means Zeng Xingyang will likely be included in the Nuggets’ rotation for the early games next season, as the team intentionally cultivates him.

Whether he can remain in the rotation will depend on him showing his true skills on the court.

On the American side, the evaluation of the Nuggets’ draft pick isn’t very high.

The Miami Sentinel: "Not all MOP players have a chance to stay in the NBA. Zeng Xingyang’s traits are very singular; he can defend, he can shoot threes, deserving of a first-round pick, but selecting him as the 7th pick is too high. This pick could have fetched a player with stronger ball-handling skills, which is precisely what the Nuggets need more now."

The New York Basketball Newspaper: "Zeng’s best-case scenario is becoming another Klay, but not every shooter can become Klay. In terms of overall athletic talent, Zeng isn’t even comparable to many second-round picks. The Nuggets lack a good passer now, so who will feed him the ball? This will be a severe problem."

The Los Angeles Times: "Zeng’s good looks could land him in movies. He’s not fit to be the cornerstone of the Nuggets’ team build, more suitable as a system role player. The Nuggets are likely to fumble through a season; their goal next season is still to pick a ball-handling core."

Many media outlets believe Zeng Xingyang’s talent doesn’t warrant such a high draft pick, and selecting him in the mid-first round would have been better.

Zeng Xingyang read the evaluations of various websites on his phone and was quite displeased.

This also fueled him with motivation; when the new season begins, he’s confident he can prove these people wrong.

On the third day after the draft, Zeng Xingyang sent his family off on a flight back home. He would be quite busy afterward.

The Nuggets staff also helped Zeng Xingyang rent a three-bedroom apartment in a wealthy area in Denver the next day.

After bidding farewell to his family, Zeng Xingyang boarded a flight to Denver with Schwartz.

Denver, a consolidated city-county in Colorado, United States, is also the state’s largest city and capital.

Back then, Kobe was quite impulsive and did it in Eagle County, Colorado!

Denver is located on a plain adjacent to the Rocky Mountains and is the core of the Denver-Aurora Metropolitan Area.

In 1975, oil and gas were discovered here, attracting wealthy merchants and tycoons from all over.

The city gathered thousands of oil companies, with skyscrapers rising and oil rigs clustered outside.

Denver skyrocketed in value at that time, developing rapidly and becoming a renowned city in the American Midwest.

The population here isn’t large; the Denver Metropolitan Area has about 2.8 million people, indicating this isn’t a big NBA market.

The Nuggets were originally an ABA team, joining the NBA in 1976.

Historically, they’ve reached the ABA Finals in the 1975-76 season and the NBA Western Conference Finals twice in the 1977-78 and 1984-85 seasons.

The Nuggets ranked first in the Central West District in their first NBA year, with consistently high attendance rates.

This signifies that even though the market is small, the fans here are very loyal and passionate about watching games.

As soon as Zeng Xingyang and Schwartz got off the plane, they were picked up by Nuggets staff and taken to the best five-star hotel for a press conference.

"Click, click, click!"

When Zeng Xingyang and Schwartz stepped out of the Elfa business car, outside reporters frantically clicked their cameras, including some with yellow-skinned journalists in sight.

is different from previous years; the media industry is now very prosperous. Whether traditional media or Internet site reporters, they come offline to interact with players to get firsthand news sources.

Especially some specialized domestic websites, upon learning Zeng Xingyang was selected, quickly sent reporters to Denver to establish a small office, preparing to track Zeng Xingyang’s related reports for the long term.

The Internet era is rapidly narrowing the attention gap between players in small and large cities.

Besides journalists, some Chinese fans also held banners welcoming Zeng Xingyang.

Zeng Xingyang’s arrival thoroughly excited the Chinese community here, and even those who don’t watch basketball now have a reason to watch games next season.

It’s Zeng Xingyang’s first time being surrounded by so many reporters and fans. Previously, in the school team, the reporters’ attention would be divided among Towns, Booker, and others.

Now, these people are here specifically waiting for him, all revolving around him.

Schwartz is evidently accustomed to such scenes. He spread his arms, escorting Zeng Xingyang into the hotel with the staff.

"Relax, Zeng. This will be your daily life from now on. Once you become a star, there won’t be any private space."

Schwartz’s words made Zeng Xingyang feel that his life had completely changed.

Zeng Xingyang soon calmed down emotionally, putting on a professional smile, warmly greeting the surrounding fans and staff.

Many Nuggets staff also arrived at the hotel.

The team’s public relations manager, equipment manager, assistant coach, among others, came to prepare for the press conference.

Connelly also came to introduce Zeng Xingyang to the team’s staff one by one.

This explosive-bodied White Girl in OL attire is the team’s public relations manager.

This muscular black man is the team’s equipment manager...

Town’s memory is excellent; he can remember anyone’s name after hearing it just once.

After squeezing through the crowd, Towns finally sat down at the press conference chair!

Connelly and Schwartz didn’t sit on either side but left Towns to handle it himself.

"Click, click, click!"

The camera lights flashed.

"Towns, as the 7th pick, you’ve been given a huge responsibility by the Nuggets. Do you feel pressure?" a reporter asked.

"Pressure exists, but it will become my motivation to move forward."

"Can you become the cornerstone of the Nuggets?"

"I can help the team put the ball in the basket."

"Do you think you deserve to be selected at the 7th position?"

"Of course, the team made a wise decision, time will provide the answer."

"Some Nuggets fans think you might be a bust, how do you respond?"

"Such doubts are understandable before seeing me play; fans are welcome to watch me this season, and they’ll have their own answers rather than basing on hearsay."

"What are your personal goals for the new season?"

"Strive to win Rookie of the Year."

Reporters asked one question after another; Towns handled them calmly and composedly, answering appropriately.

Some questions were sharp and hostile, but Towns showed very strong emotional stability.

Town’s logic in answering these picky questions is simple.

You haven’t seen me play in the NBA yet, so how can you draw conclusions?

Let the facts speak, don’t talk nonsense.

After the interview, Towns signed his name on the rookie contract provided by Connelly.

This contract is the standard contract set by the league for first-round rookies, without any pitfalls.

Towns signed a 4-year (2+1+1) $14 million rookie contract with the Nuggets.

The NBA has detailed salary regulations for players at each pick in the first round.

According to the labor agreement, first-round picks have a four-year contract, with the first two seasons being fully guaranteed and the last two being team options.

There’s also a rule that after the first season of the rookie, the team must decide whether to exercise the third-year team option by October 31 of that year.

Similarly, after the player completes the second season, the team must decide whether to exercise the fourth-year team option.

Normally, even for players picked late in the first round, rookie seasons come with some playing time, and teams usually exercise the team option after the first season, giving them at least three years in the league.

But if a first-round pick truly can’t succeed, even if picked early, teams may forgo exercising the fourth-year team option after the second season.

Of course, for those who can easily become superstars in their rookie season, teams will definitely exercise the team option, and this is considered rookie dividends.

Towns’ rookie season starting salary is $3.1 million, and after various taxes, he’ll receive about half.

Town’s salary isn’t high, but it provides enough security.

After signing the contract, the jersey appearance photoshoot followed, marking the end of the press conference.

Early the next morning, Towns advanced $800,000 of his salary from Connelly.

He first sent $100,000 to his family so his parents could pay off some debts incurred during his studies abroad.

Then Towns set up an account specifically for buying Bitcoin.

As someone who traveled through time, this shortcut must be taken advantage of a bit.

Bitcoin’s current rate is $462 each, and he spent $460,000 to buy 1,000 of them.

There’s no investment as aggressive as this; once he has more money later, he plans to dabble in real estate and spend the rest of his life without financial worries.

Towns plans that once he retires, he’ll buy an NBA team to manage.

Even though his career hasn’t started yet, he has a clear life plan.

After that, Towns repaid the $60,000 loan given to him by Schwartz previously and spent $70,000 buying a BMW.

This leaves him with $110,000.

Towns temporarily has no intention of buying property, and his financial pressure isn’t significant.

Finally, Towns has completely freed himself and his family from their financial predicament