Chapter 16

As the team that Lin Han was about to join, the Utah Jazz's performance this year was truly disappointing compared to their achievements in recent seasons. Although the Jazz, like the Lakers, were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs this year.

However, for the Lakers, being eliminated in the first round this year was not surprising. After all, they entered the playoffs last year as the eighth seed in the Western Conference and were also eliminated in the first round. One could say that since the departure of Magic Johnson, everyone knew that the Lakers were a team in decline.

The Lakers are now a team in decline, but the Jazz are not like that. Two seasons ago, the Jazz advanced to the second round of the playoffs in the West. Last season, they even made it to the Western Conference Finals, only to lose to the Portland Trail Blazers led by Clyde Drexler. Everyone knew that since the team's new owner, Paul Allen, took over, the Blazers had always been strong in depth.

Although they lost last year, many people believed that the Jazz had only lost to the depth of the Blazers. If they could strengthen their depth this season, the team would be very competitive in the West. However, it was somewhat embarrassing that the Jazz's performance this season was truly disappointing.

Why was the Jazz's performance this year so much worse than last year? From the perspective of core players, one could say that the Jazz's core player, John Stockton, participated in the Olympics, just like Jordan and Pippen of the Bulls. Stockton's performance this year was much worse than last year. However, the more important issue was the team's other roster problems. Although Stockton's performance this year was not as good as last year, he was still one of the most consistent players in the league. Even if his performance declined due to the Olympics, it was still limited. The same was true for Malone.

Compared to last year, the other players on the Jazz were a year older. For example, the team's star guard, Jeff Malone, the former All-Star from the Washington Bullets, is already 32 years old and is clearly showing signs of decline in his career. The team's most important bench player, Tyrone Corbin, is also 31 years old, and his performance and condition are severely declining.

In this situation, the team's center position still relies on the 36-year-old white interior player, Mark Eaton. One could say that this year, apart from the team's two star players, the Jazz's center, small forward, and shooting guard positions all need to be strengthened.

However, like the Lakers, the Jazz do not have many assets to address these weaknesses. At least their draft picks are not good, and the trade value of the other players on the team, apart from Malone and Stockton, is also very limited.

Therefore, Jerry Sloan was interested in Ma Jian in March. Although Ma Jian's strength may not have been very strong, he could at least strengthen the team's interior. The cost of signing Ma Jian was also very low. However, Ma Jian ultimately chose to go to the University of Utah instead of entering the NBA draft. Now, although Ma Jian is no longer an option, Lin Han's appearance has once again surprised Jerry Sloan, and this surprise is even stronger than Ma Jian's.

After all, Lin Han is a player who averaged over 30 points per game in the three rookie games and was the scoring champion of the training camp. Although many people do not believe in him due to his physical condition, thinking that he will struggle against the high-intensity defense in the NBA, Sloan's view is different. The Jazz already have a player, Stockton, who is not physically outstanding but is one of the best point guards in the league. In Sloan's view, Lin Han, like Stockton, has prominent strengths and weaknesses, but his strengths far outweigh his weaknesses.

As for Lin Han's "toxic" playing style, Sloan does not care much about it. Currently, the entire Jazz team, except for Malone, a stable interior scoring point, does not really mind sharing the ball with Lin Han. For example, the team's star shooting guard, Jeff Malone, is already 32 years old and is rapidly declining in his career. As a veteran, he clearly understands his position and will not cause any trouble for Lin Han. Therefore, for many other teams, Lin Han's playing style may be toxic and too ball-dominant, but it is not the case for the Jazz.

In this situation, Lin Han really has the potential to disappoint the shrewd Jerry Sloan.

Of course, at this point, Lin Han wants to join the Jazz or the Lakers, but he does not really think about it much. For him, it is enough to know that Jerry Sloan seems to really care about him.

On June 4, 1993, Lin Han returned to Utah from Chicago. He originally planned to stay in Chicago after the training camp to watch a few Finals games, but what made Lin Han very angry was that, as a rookie this year, super rookies like Hardaway and Webber received invitations from the Bulls, but Lin Han, the scoring champion of the Chicago training camp, did not get an invitation. This made Lin Han very angry.

Although he could buy tickets to support his idol, Jordan, the ticket prices for the Finals, which were over a thousand dollars, were almost beyond his means. He only had five thousand dollars on him.

So, in the end, although Lin Han visited Chicago once, he did not really get to enjoy the city. He rushed there and rushed back.

"Hey? Hey, Alice, look, I'm on USA Today! I'm actually in the newspaper!"

Although Lin Han was still angry when he returned to Utah, when he walked out of the airport and went to the newsstand to buy some newspapers about this year's draft predictions, he saw his name on the front page of USA Today, the most famous newspaper in the United States. USA Today is known for its authoritative reporting on NCAA and NBA drafts.

In today's draft prediction by USA Today, Lin Han was ranked 30th, a high second-round pick.

Name: Lin Han

Age: 19

School: Utah Valley Community College

Height: 6'6"

Weight: 190 lbs

Position: Shooting Guard

Secondary Position: Small Forward

Strengths: Shooting form almost identical to Jordan, unimaginable offensive desire

Weaknesses: Lack of high school and college basketball experience, rapid rise raises doubts about the future, and extremely poor defensive and physical attributes.

High School or College Data: Unknown

Report: This is a player with extremely prominent strengths and weaknesses. His perfect turnaround jump shot, like Jordan, makes him one of the best scorers among this year's rookies. In the recently concluded training camp, he became the scoring champion. However, apart from being the scoring champion, Lin Han did not leave any other impression in the training camp. Personal prediction: This is a player worth gambling on. His future depends on how well he adapts to the NBA. This newspaper predicts he will be selected 30th overall.

30th overall? This is USA Today's prediction! And this is USA Today's prediction! Moreover, when Lin Han flipped through other famous American newspapers, such as the Los Angeles Times, New York Times, and Washington Post, he found his name in their draft predictions as well, although they were all predicted to be second-round picks and the introductions were not as detailed as USA Today's. Nevertheless, this was Lin Han's first appearance on the stage of mainstream American media.

"Huh, what's this?"

The Chinese-American super rookie says: Hardaway is a perfect player, and I am worlds apart from him in every aspect.

When Lin Han saw the headline on the front page of the sports section of the Chicago Tribune, he almost spat out a mouthful of blood. After reading the content of the article, he felt even worse.

At the end of the training camp, as the scoring champion of the camp, Lin Han naturally could not go unnoticed. Many people asked him to evaluate his teammate Hardaway. Lin Han was very dissatisfied with Hardaway, so he used a lot of sarcasm. However, he did not expect it to be reported this way.

It made it seem like Lin Han was flattering Hardaway.

"These guys don't understand the depth of my language, hmpf."

After throwing the Chicago Tribune to the side, Lin Han cursed angrily.

"Coward, don't be so angry. Although the media's reporting style is problematic, this is a good thing. Your reputation value has increased because of your seemingly flattering comments about Hardaway. It's now 5%, not 1%. Congratulations, you have learned how to build your reputation."

As Lin Han was angry, the clear laughter in his ear made him a bit dazed.

Praising others can build reputation? Is that true?