Chapter 652: Press Conference, Changing Numbers
After Chen Yan announced that he was bringing his talents to the Big Apple, many stars became eager to join forces with him.
This was a great opportunity to contend for a championship, and it would not earn them the scorn of being called coattail riders.
If Chen Yan were still with the Suns, any star who joined him directly would be accused by fans of riding his success, even if they won a championship together.
But now, he was going to a brand new team.
That changed the nature of everything.
Among them, Chris Paul was the most restless.
Before the season started, Paul had already made it clear that he would not re sign with the Charlotte Hornets. He wanted to go to a team with championship potential, or at least one capable of reaching the Conference Finals.
He had wanted to go to New York before.
He had contacted Anthony.
He had contacted Howard.
Seeing that neither of them had made a move, Paul had also remained in observation mode.
Now that Chen Yan was going to New York, his goal suddenly became clear.
However, although Paul was willing, New York was not.
The Knicks had asked Chen Yan for his opinion, and Chen Yan was not very interested in Paul joining.
Chen Yan felt that he and Curry were a better fit.
If Paul were brought in, Curry would inevitably become one of the trade pieces, and that was not worth it.
Moreover, what the Knicks lacked now was not backcourt players, but frontcourt players.
If they were going to make acquisitions, they should start there.
New York fans plunged into a 3 day carnival, treating Chen Yan, the back to back MVP, as their savior.
Although New York had a long history, it could not truly be called glorious.
The Knicks had only won the championship trophy twice in the 1970s, defeating the Los Angeles Lakers both times under the leadership of Willis Reed.
Willis Reed could be called the greatest player in Knicks history.
Fans once thought he was the beginning of something great.
In the end, he turned out to be the peak.
After Reed, the Knicks never touched the championship trophy again.
In the 1980s and 1990s, with the arrival of Ewing and Pat Riley, the team regained competitiveness.
But competitiveness was only competitiveness.
They were still far from a championship.
They were defeated by the Chicago Bulls 4 times in a row.
It could be said that Jordan was the greatest nightmare of Knicks fans.
And now, the Knicks had obtained a Jordan like figure of their own.
After the Ewing era, the Knicks entered the money era at the end of the 20th century.
Cablevision acquired the Knicks for $30 million in 1997.
Cablevision had a market valuation of $8 billion. It owned 100 percent of Madison Square Garden and related properties. In addition to the Knicks, it also owned the Rangers hockey team, the WNBA New York Liberty, Radio City Music Hall, the MSG Network cable channel, and all shares of the New York and Chicago regional sports television networks.
The owner was rolling in money, but the team's performance became worse and worse.
In the 1st decade of the 21st century, the Knicks only made the playoffs twice.
A large part of the reason for the team's poor performance was that the New York market was simply too good.
In other words, no matter how bad they were, someone would still pay.
Naturally, the owner did not need to spend too much effort on building the roster.
Although not much thought was spent, a lot of money was.
The Knicks often inexplicably signed players to oversized contracts, leaving the impression that they were foolish with money.
Cursing the owner every year had become a regular program for New York fans.
And then, while they were still cursing, Chen Yan arrived.
One could only say that happiness had come too suddenly.
Even the fans had not expected the Knicks to actually acquire Chen Yan.
Knicks fans had been waiting for a superstar like this to arrive for years.
In recent seasons, the images of Chen Yan dominating the Knicks and piling up outrageous numbers against them were still vivid in their minds.
Now that such a player belonged to them, how could Knicks fans not be excited?
Murals of Chen Yan appeared everywhere on the streets of New York.
Chen Yan's Knicks jersey had not even officially gone on sale yet, but fans had already started making their own versions, modifying old jerseys with Chen Yan's name and number.
These details clearly showed the fans' immense enthusiasm for his arrival.
As soon as the trade news broke, Taylor Swift was very excited.
Taylor usually operated between New York and Los Angeles.
If Chen Yan came to New York, he would be closer to her.
On the 22nd, Chen Yan flew to New York.
This was his 1st press conference as a Knicks player.
The Knicks also showed him enough respect.
Owner James Dolan and several team executives personally came to welcome him.
Dolan smiled, embraced Chen Yan, and said he was a fan of Chen Yan.
Chen Yan smiled and thanked him.
Such polite words were just for show.
Almost every celebrity or capitalist Chen Yan met said the same thing.
The lives of these big bosses were far richer than people imagined. Aside from a few true basketball enthusiasts, most of them did not watch many games. To them, the team was simply a tool for making money.
So Chen Yan was more willing to believe they were fans of Kardashian than fans of him.
The press conference began.
Chen Yan first expressed his loyalty.
"New York is the biggest stage in America and even the world. I am very fortunate to have the opportunity to play here. I have only 1 goal here, and that is to win a championship."
Chen Yan's speech made owner Dolan and the head coach laugh with delight.
Excellent.
Young man, full of spirit.
A reporter asked, "Chen, when will you be able to play for the team?"
Chen Yan said, "I am always ready. Of course, everything depends on the coach, but as long as I step onto the court, I will be at 100 percent."
The reporter continued, "Chen, your stats have declined this season. After coming to the Knicks, do you expect to bounce back?"
Chen Yan smiled.
"If I remember correctly, I am still averaging 35 plus 5 plus 5, right? Is that what you call rock bottom? Then your expectations for me are indeed a little too high, haha.
"Everyone knows that this season, because of off court factors, I was distracted. But I think after coming to the Knicks, I can focus more of my energy on the court."
Another reporter asked, "What is your role after joining the Knicks?"
Chen Yan answered cleanly, with a natural air of dominance.
"Someone who can lead the team to victory."
A reporter asked, "Will you continue wearing number 0 after coming to the Knicks?"
Chen Yan said, "Honestly, I have a lot of affection for number 0. But coming here, I believe this is a new beginning, so I plan to change my jersey number to 1."
The reporter continued, "Why number 1? Does it imply that you have become the number 1 player in the league?"
Chen Yan burst out laughing.
"Hahaha, I know what you want to hear, but I will never say it. I am not that kind of arrogant person. The reason I chose number 1 is that 1 is a little bigger than 0. I feel that I have improved a little compared with when I first entered the league. That is all."
In the NBA, a number was not just a number.
It also symbolized a player's personality.
When people mentioned number 23, they thought of Jordan.
When people mentioned number 24, they thought of Kobe.
When people mentioned number 3, they thought of Iverson.
Chen Yan had only been in the league for 4 years, but now, whenever fans mentioned number 0, he was the 1st person who came to mind.
Before him, the most famous number 0 had been Arenas.
Overall, number 0 was an unpopular number.
But number 1 was different.
Hardaway, McGrady, Billups, and many other stars had worn it.
Chen Yan dared to choose this popular number because of his extreme self confidence.
He believed that in the future, whenever fans mentioned number 1, they would think of him.
Although Chen Yan explained his number choice, fans had their own interpretation.
They believed Chen Yan was declaring to everyone that he was the number 1 player in the league.
.....
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