Chapter 228: Chapter 42: This Is What You Call a Franchise Player

Just as the reporters were at a loss for words, David Stern walked to the center of the court. He was ready to announce the night’s most important award: the MVP.

As the trophy was brought to the center of the court by the emcee.

The fans erupted in cheers. What began as a few scattered shouts quickly swelled into a deafening, tsunami-like roar: "Su! Su! Su!"

Without a doubt, Su Xi had conquered the entire audience tonight.

Despite this, Kenny Smith was still going on, saying, "Jack only knows how to be opportunistic. He doesn’t have the ability to carry a team by himself. He’s only good at adding icing on the cake. Throw him on a bad team, and he’d be useless. He’s just a slightly more advanced blue-collar player... The only reason he could win MVP tonight is because the Western Conference Team wasn’t united and didn’t play its strongest lineup."

"The players on the East were a good fit for that weird strategy..."

Kenny Smith was completely unhinged now, having become Su Xi’s biggest hater in the entire world of commentary.

But he couldn’t change the iron-clad fact.

David Stern held the microphone, still wearing his signature smile, and slowly said, "The Most Valuable Player of the Los Angeles All-Star Game is... from the Indiana Pacers..."

He paused there.

The entire crowd was already cheering and screaming.

On the sidelines, Artest was like a boxing referee, holding Little O’Neal’s hand in one hand and Su Xi’s in the other.

"Su Xi!"

As David Stern announced the name.

Artest immediately raised Su Xi’s hand high in the air.

The showmanship was perfect.

Su Xi smiled and hugged Artest, then Little O’Neal, Michael Redd, Paul Pierce, Allen Iverson, and Rick Carlisle. Then, ignoring Kidd, Wallace, and the others beside them, he strode to the center of the court.

He took the trophy from Stern’s hands.

He raised it.

He had made NBA history.

Su Xi became the biggest winner of this All-Star Game. He was the top vote-getter, won the Rookie Challenge MVP, and won the All-Star Game MVP. This was the first-ever All-Star Grand Slam.

"I’m very happy to receive this trophy. I’m very grateful to my teammates. Without them standing firmly by my side in the final moments, helping me, and encouraging me, we never could have defeated the powerful West. Ron, Jermaine, Paul, Michael, Allen—every one of them is an MVP."

"I also want to thank Coach Rick Carlisle. He withstood immense pressure. He protected me and entrusted me with an unprecedented fast-break strategy, which was the reason for our victory."

"And I want to say one more thing here. If Rick Carlisle isn’t the Coach of the Year this year, it would be a total joke."

This was Su Xi’s acceptance speech, in his usual style.

He subtly dissed the Eastern Conference All-Stars who tried to sabotage him, emphatically praised those who helped him, and put Coach Carlisle on a pedestal. It was a classic case of "you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours."

Swiftly repaying favors and settling scores.

This was Su Xi’s way of doing things.

After finishing his acceptance speech, he was once again surrounded by reporters.

Before the interview even began, he turned the tables and asked the reporters a question: "Do me a favor and find out which basketball experts and NBA superstars said I didn’t deserve to be an All-Star starter before the game. Then, go ask them what they think about Su Xi winning the All-Star Game MVP this year."

Uh...

At this, the reporters struggled to keep their composure.

They had seen vindictive people before, but they had never seen anyone take it to Su Xi’s level.

He didn’t let even the smallest thing slide.

As members of the media, of course they loved this kind of player. He never hid anything; if he was unhappy, he acted on it. And after he was done, he’d even ask you how you felt about it and if you’d learned your lesson.

The reporters then asked some questions about the game, and Su Xi’s answers were more or less the same as the ones he gave in his TNT interview.

Until a reporter from a Hollywood entertainment outlet managed to squeeze in.

He asked Su Xi, "Jack, you weren’t on the court during the third quarter, and we noticed that Scarlett wasn’t in her seat at that time either. Were you two on a date for that half hour or so? We saw a red mark on your neck. Did Scarlett leave that?"

"Which media outlet are you from?" Su Xi asked.

"Time Warner," the reporter replied.

A pretty big media company.

"Don’t ask questions unrelated to basketball on a basketball court."

Su Xi said to him, "As a major media outlet, you shouldn’t believe every rumor you hear, and you certainly shouldn’t go chasing shadows. There’s no truth to any of it."

Su Xi used this as a chance to end the interview.

Meanwhile, his good teammate Ron Artest was holding court on the other side.

"There were some All-Stars, led by Ben Wallace and Jason Kidd, who wanted to isolate Jack. They felt his skill level wasn’t up to par for an All-Star."

"But Coach Carlisle insisted on letting Jack lead the team, and a lot of smart players stood firmly behind Jack. So, those guys just stood on the sidelines, wanting to see us make fools of ourselves."

"Now, you’ve all seen the result."

"The East won by a large margin. Jack got a super triple-double and won MVP. Those people who belittled him, who were determined to see him make a fool of himself, left the arena empty-handed and dejected."

Artest was on the front lines, opening fire.

"There are cameras and sound equipment all around the court. You guys are resourceful. If you find that footage, you’ll know I’m not just trying to stir up trouble."

"I’m on the side of justice. The evil side has been defeated by the Justice League."

Artest said, "Jack did something that even Kobe and Jordan couldn’t do. He’s the first rookie All-Star to break free from being isolated. He will definitely lead Indiana to even greater success."

Artest ended on a high note.

He publicly acknowledged Su Xi as the core of the Pacers. With this, all the schemes to create drama in the Pacers’ locker room fell apart.

This also meant that everything Su Xi failed to obtain in Cleveland, he now held firmly in his hands in Indiana.

Some reporters also deliberately went to ask Little O’Neal about the issue of the team’s core.

Little O’Neal was naturally shy and not good with words. He didn’t have a strong desire for the label of ’team core’ or ’team leader’. He was a superstar who had risen from the bench, so he didn’t have that kind of psychological baggage.

"When the ball is in Jack’s hands, I’m not worried."

With this answer, Little O’Neal made his feelings clear.

The statements from Little O’Neal and Artest showed the outside world one thing: Su Xi had already unified the team internally. As a rookie, he would lead the Pacers in their charge toward the ultimate goal.

Su Xi’s rise to power was beyond many people’s expectations, even more shocking than him winning two MVP awards during All-Star Weekend.

In the NBA, it was extremely rare for a rookie to become the core of their team in their first season.

Unless they were one of heaven’s chosen, a player who was already considered to have the makings of a ’franchise cornerstone’ before the draft.

Players like James and Anthony in this year’s class, or legends like O’Neal and Duncan.

These people were all high draft picks, or to be more direct, they were heaven-sent geniuses that teams acquired by tanking.

In comparison, Su Xi’s story was truly inspirational. He was traded by the Cavaliers on draft night to be a supporting player for James. In the end, because he developed too quickly and got too much media exposure, he was envied and cast out by James, and thus traded to the Pacers.

The Pacers were a strong team; they had been championship contenders since 2000.

An ordinary rookie on a strong team isn’t even guaranteed playing time, no matter how high their draft pick is... Milicic is a prime example.

But Su Xi had played so well that he’d lived up to the hype. Halfway through the season, he had earned the sincere and wholehearted respect of the team’s original inside and outside cornerstones.

Although many people still questioned whether Su Xi was just a role player.

But if you can take a functional role to the extreme, you become a star. A superstar.

...

None of the Eastern Conference superstars that Artest called out came forward to refute him. They chose this method to let the controversy die down.

Because they knew that if the sideline tapes were dug up, they would have to face even more infamy.

However, a videotape soon came to their rescue.

Everyone’s attention was focused on this tape.

Some entertainment news fans even thought this was the biggest bombshell of All-Star Night.

...

...

[A lot has been going on lately. I will resume two Chapters a day starting tomorrow.]