The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 1673 - 20: The Fourth Chinese NBA Player (2)

Chapter 1673: Chapter 20: The Fourth Chinese NBA Player (2)

Of course, such rational voices are in the minority; most New Yorkers are just in it for the spectacle.

The New York media seized the opportunity to ridicule, with some tabloids using sensational headlines like "The Century Scam of Basketball" and "A Sports Murderer Beyond O.J. Simpson, He Murdered All of America."

If Gan Guoyang could really murder all of America, he wouldn’t choose to play basketball.

The outside world was noisy and chaotic, but Gan Guoyang had to face a challenge alone.

After being escorted into the police car, Gan Guoyang’s head almost touched the car’s roof, forcing him to lower his head a bit.

The fat white policeman beside him looked nervous, with beads of sweat on his forehead, constantly pursing his lips.

"In this weather, wearing a suit is a bit warm, huh?" Gan Guoyang suddenly asked him.

The fat white policeman realized Gan Guoyang was speaking to him, feeling somewhat flattered.

"Oh...yes...yes, it’s okay. Are you...are you alright, Mr. Gan?"

"I’m fine, just need to lower my head for a while. This might be the first time in my life I’ve lowered my head in June."

Laughter erupted in the police car; Gan Guoyang always emerged victorious in June whenever he reached the finals.

"What’s your name?"

"Jackie Williamson, just call me Jackie."

Then, Gan Guoyang asked for the names of all the police officers in the car and quickly memorized them.

On the short drive from the hotel to the police station, Gan Guoyang had already memorized their names and roughly understood their temperaments.

Before getting out of the car, Gan Guoyang left an autograph for each of them and shared his phone number, saying they could contact him if there was anything important.

After getting out, Jackie remarked to his colleagues, "If I could, I think I’d be willing to work for Gan, no matter what it is."

"Really? Even blowing up the police station?"

"Oh, of course, I’ve been wanting to do that for ages."

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Gan Guoyang didn’t stay long at the police station; the next day he was bailed out, leaving the station but could not leave New York, as he had to undergo questioning and investigation by the FBI.

Just as Gan Guoyang anticipated, the FBI and CIA started monitoring him very early, even before the May 7th incident.

However, Gan Guoyang was confident they wouldn’t have any evidence or leverage because there was no real basis for the suspicions.

Therefore, amid the investigative bureau’s various pressure tactics and psychological manipulations during interrogation, Gan Guoyang remained unmoved, providing unbreakable testimonies.

The FBI even conducted a surprise inspection of Gan Guoyang’s residences in Portland and San Francisco, hoping to find some evidence, but they still came up empty-handed.

The only issues FBI could latch onto were:

First, from May 1st to 7th, Avia happened to be hosting a basketball training camp in Belgrade—under Gan Guoyang’s name.

This timing, during wartime, to host a basketball training camp event was very unreasonable.

Gan Guoyang explained, "I hope basketball can bring peace."

Second, communication records show that on May 6th, a phone call was made to the Belgrade embassy but was not connected.

The communication address was processed, but the FBI has reasons to believe this call is related to Gan Guoyang, yet they have no concrete evidence.

Gan Guoyang stated that his calls often aren’t managed by him personally, and on May 6th, he was playing a match, what calls could he be making?

The Avia Company and Gan Guoyang’s team were also investigated; their statements were indeed flawed, but it seemed more like nervousness in facing interrogation.

In conclusion, after two weeks of investigation, the FBI didn’t gain much, although they vaguely felt something was off, they couldn’t find a breakthrough point.

Meanwhile, the 1998-1999 NBA season had moved on, and the 1999-2000 draft conference had been successfully held in New York.

The Bulls, who were still contending in the finals against the Portland Trail Blazers in 1998, had plummeted to the bottom in the 1998-1999 season following Jordan’s retirement, thereby securing the 1999 first draft pick. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Klaus finally had the chance to prove himself, that he could quickly piece together another championship-winning team, and not solely rely on Jordan, Pippen.

He himself was a championship manager!

The Bulls used the first pick to select the Duke University graduate power forward Elton Brand.

Klaus’s choice of an inside player was not only due to Brand’s talent but perhaps also because he wanted to prove he wasn’t aiming to repeat Jordan’s success, instead, to carve out a new path.

Besides this, Klaus also acquired Ron Artest with the 16th pick in the first round, a pick obtained in a trade from the Suns—he was a strong small forward, Klaus was already building a new structure.

The Vancouver Grizzlies used the second pick to choose Steve Francis, as this remote Canadian team desperately needed an explosive rookie on the perimeter to boost attendance and viewership.

The neighboring Toronto Raptors had seen attendance jump from 26th in the league’s rankings during the 1997-1998 season to 10th in the league after acquiring Vince Carter, climbing 16 spots.

It could be said that relying on Carter’s spectacular dunks, the Raptors had already established a foothold in Toronto, whereas the Grizzlies had no such talent.

Francis was their lifeline, Vancouver’s Vince Carter.

However, while Francis, like Carter, possessed tremendous physical fitness and outstanding aerial dunks capable of attracting fans to watch the games, the two were completely different people off the court, with distinct backgrounds, personalities, and behavioral patterns.

Carter was born into a middle-class family in Florida; his parents divorced when he was 7, he lived with his mother who later remarried.

His mother was a respected teacher, whose main work involved correcting juvenile delinquents, while his stepfather was a band conductor.

Thus, Carter was always brought up in a strictly educated environment, taught to respect himself and others.

He had a passion for sports and music, later attending the renowned University of North Carolina under Dean Smith’s mentorship.

A player like Carter, no matter which team he plays for, would always be diligent, performing his dunking skills for every fan.

Francis, on the other hand, was entirely different; he grew up in the slums of Maryland, his father imprisoned for robbery, and his mother died of cancer in 1995, leaving him to live with his grandmother.

From as early as 10, Francis worked for drug dealers to survive, transporting drugs, selling cocaine on the streets in his teens, acting as a henchman for drug traffickers.

After his mother’s death, he quit basketball and school, though his talent didn’t go unnoticed; he was subsequently discovered by high school and the University of Maryland, becoming an all-American basketball star.

During a game against Shawn Marion’s Vincent University team, Francis achieved quadruple-double stats, shaking up the entire collegiate basketball scene.

Before the 1999 draft conference, Francis had been a popular choice for the top pick, although among the top three teams, he tried out for the Bulls and the Charlotte Hornets, but showed no interest in the Vancouver Grizzlies.

He declined the Grizzlies’ tryout invitation, publicly stating he didn’t want to play for the Grizzlies, citing Vancouver’s distance from his home in Maryland as too far.

Additionally, he claimed taxes were too high, sponsorships too few, and that God didn’t want him to go to Canada.

These reasons drew a lot of criticism towards Francis, especially from the Vancouver media.

At the draft conference, the Grizzlies still chose Francis, believing that once chosen, he had to play and couldn’t refuse.

After all, in NBA history, cases of players reluctant to play for certain teams but still being picked were numerous, and in most instances, players would compromise.

When freshly drafted in 1999, Francis did indeed promise to play for Vancouver, but said he needed time to consider and negotiate terms with the team.

Meanwhile, NBA’s biggest news wasn’t the draft, but rather the investigation into Gan Guoyang’s espionage allegations, leaving few concerned about Francis and the Grizzlies’ fate.

People were more intrigued by the fate of another Chinese player from the draft conference—Wang Zhizhi.

While Gan Guoyang, a Chinese Basketball God, was embroiled in an investigative storm, which team would dare select this inexperienced Chinese inside player?

The answer came at the 20th pick of the first round—the Atlanta Hawks selected Wang Zhizhi at the 20th pick of the first round, making Wang Zhizhi the fourth Chinese player in NBA history.