Chapter 1 "Ha-ha, Su, you're too weak. I won again!"

Philadelphia, inside the "Old Winton Basketball Training Camp" indoor basketball hall, watching Su Feng lose to him again in a one-on-one, Kobe triumphantly put his hands on his hips and laughed loudly.

Speaking of...

Ever since Su Feng poked Kobe's heart with his big palm last time, Su Feng noticed that throughout the entire winter vacation, Kobe would seize every opportunity to mock him relentlessly.

"Needle" truly deserves to be—

Kobe "Nitpicking" Bryant.

"Come on, Su, let us continue to fight to the finish!"

Kobe, with his amazing waist strength, didn't rest. After mocking Su Feng, he immediately demanded to start the next round of one-on-one.

Su Feng was speechless.

Because this wasn't a fight to the finish at all. It was clearly me continuously losing, losing, losing, losing, losing, okay!

That day, Su Feng silently made a vow in his heart.

That was that he must prepare hundreds of millions of classic trash-talking lines.

When he could beat Kobe, he would teach him how to be Iron Man.

Heh, as a staunch Kobe fan, Su Feng was naturally Su "Nitpicking" Feng as well.

...

Time entered 1995, January 23rd. After finishing his winter vacation special training, Su Feng welcomed another evolution.

His jumping ability had increased to 61. Although he didn't know if there was a "dunk" attribute in the system yet, Su Feng could now easily complete a dunk with a single-foot takeoff.

Perhaps because of his resentment towards "dunking" in his previous life, Su Feng now wanted to dunk whenever he had the chance.

'I'll never have to worry about being a weak dunker in the future!' Su Feng thought excitedly.

Of course, Su Feng quickly realized that under Kobe's defense, it was impossible for him to complete a dunk at all.

Su Feng: orz.

In addition, after the polishing during the winter vacation, the "Kobe Fadeaway" had also been trained by Su Feng to the "NBA second-round pick" level.

There was no way around it. This skill passively leveled up as Su Feng missed shots, and Su Feng couldn't just not upgrade the skill for the sake of getting more brick-laying value, right?

Otherwise, what was the point of him missing shots?

So, Su Feng discovered that since obtaining this system, he was either on the road to feigning "depression" or in the midst of genuine "depression."

Conflicted!

"Huh, the system updated my height data?"

"191.5 centimeters now. I wonder how tall I'll end up growing."

"My weight also increased by 0.5 kilograms. How can I 'gain weight' a little?"

It is worth mentioning that because Joe Bryant always drank Coke in front of Su Feng and Kobe during the winter vacation, Kobe couldn't bear it one day and bought two bottles of "ice-cold Coke."

Why drink ice-cold Coke in the middle of winter?

Because if Coke isn't ice-cold, can it still be called Coke?

"I'll only drink this once! This is my last bottle of Coke in my life!"

Kobe's self-control was very impressive in Su Feng's memory, but there was no way around it. Even if you had good self-control, who could stand being mocked in their face every day?

At a critical moment, Su Feng developed new black technology.

Because after secretly adding a little bit of nutrient solution to the Coke...

Su Feng found that although the effect of the nutrient solution was partially offset, its effect was still there!

Su Feng's eyes lit up, and he felt like he had opened a new door.

So, after tricking Kobe into looking back by saying there was a UFO behind him, Su Feng also secretly added a little bit of nutrient solution to Kobe's Coke.

After all, Kobe had brought him a lot of opportunities in this life, and Su Feng was not an ungrateful person.

"Huh, why do I feel stronger after drinking Coke?" Kobe wondered if his dad had lied to him about athletes not being allowed to drink Coke.

"Drinking a little bit shouldn't be a problem," Su Feng said, changing the subject.

"Well, we'll just drink a little bit in the future," Kobe said.

Although the English numbers didn't sound as interesting as the Chinese ones, at that moment, Su Feng had automatically imagined Kobe's "a little bit" as a whole lot.

Of course, the desire for food and drink would only lead people astray.

For Su Feng, even if he discovered how to properly drink ice-cold Coke, he would not focus his mind on it.

After all, playing basketball was just too interesting!

...

Lower Merion, school basketball gym.

"Dear coaches and teammates.

In the game against Archbishop Carroll High School on December 20th last year, because I got carried away, we ended up losing the game.

I am deeply saddened by this.

For a long time, Coach Gregg has taken care of us like a father.

Kobe is the best teammate I've ever had, and Su leads us forward like an older brother.

And David and Guy are my closest comrades-in-arms.

However, I have failed your expectations.

In my opinion, regardless of whether a game is important or not, we should treat every game as if it were our last.

However, I have disappointed you.

In the future, I will take this as a lesson, deeply reflect on it ideologically, remember the shame, and keep the lessons in mind.

I will invigorate my spirit and wholeheartedly play every game that follows.

I hope that all of you teammates and coaches can forgive me and give me another chance.

I will definitely repay everyone with my sincerity."

After reciting the apology letter in a 'wronged' tone, Robbie Swartz glanced at Kobe cautiously.

Kobe was very satisfied with Swartz's attitude, plus the special beef burger and ice-cold Coke that Su Feng made this morning were perfect, so Kobe decided to forgive Swartz and not hold a grudge.

And after listening to Swartz's self-criticism, even Su Feng was shocked.

Seriously, this guy is talented!

"Su, thank you for last year!" After being forgiven by Kobe, Swartz ran to Su Feng's side to thank him.

"No problem, no problem, but Robbie, did you write this apology letter yourself?" Su Feng asked curiously.

Swartz scratched his head embarrassedly, "My girlfriend has a very good Chinese best friend. This apology letter was written by her best friend. It is said that the inspiration came from a certain sport in her best friend's country."

Holy crap!

I freaking knew this apology sounded so familiar!

"Ah, right, Su, isn't her best friend from the same country as you?" Swartz suddenly reacted.

Su Feng patted Swartz on the shoulder, let's not talk about it, it'll hurt my heart if we keep talking about it.

But...

It doesn't seem like much.

Because at least, in this life, I can see the 2001 miracle again.

You have to know, that was a real miracle.

...

The Pennsylvania high school basketball league's divisional league will restart on February 16th. These days, Gregg's values have been jointly destroyed by Su Feng and Kobe during training.

During the winter vacation, in addition to improving his jumping ability, Su Feng also asked Kobe for tips on blocking and stealing.

Because Su Feng's defense mainly relied on his attitude and the experience he gained from being hammered by Kobe too much.

But Su Feng found that he was similar to Kobe in height and wingspan. Although he was not as good as Kobe in terms of jumping and strength, Su Feng's hands were also bigger than Kobe's...

Why could Kobe average four blocks and four steals per game, while he could only average zero point something blocks and zero point something steals?

You have to know, this is just high school basketball.

Most of the time, those who appeared opposite Su Feng and Kobe were weaklings.

Even if there were slightly stronger ones, they were just the laziest of the weaklings.

Although Su Feng knew that his defense was good, Su Feng also knew that data... was the key to him entering the NBA in the future.

If Su Feng remembered correctly, Iverson was once named the Big East Defensive Player of the Year in college.

Back then, the Answer relied on his hand speed, which was even faster than that of a single dog.

But in fact...

For most of his career, Iverson's defense relied on his tenacious perseverance and never-say-die spirit.

Many players who guarded Iverson had put up good numbers because their physical talents restricted Iverson's defense.

In Su Feng's previous life, which of those top 3D players wasn't amazingly athletic?

Many people said that Klay Thompson was ordinary, but in fact, Klay's running distance was ranked first in the league for several seasons.

Moreover, Klay was very strong and even guarded the opposing team's inside players during games.

With this kind of talent, can he be considered ordinary?

"Hiss~! Did they open a cheat?" Looking at the amazing rate of improvement of Su Feng and Kobe, Gregg exclaimed.

Well...

Su Feng was really cheating.

But Kobe...

Alright, Su Feng sometimes wondered if Kobe had the exact same cheat as him.

In this life, after becoming friends with Kobe, Su Feng realized what it meant to be a proud son of heaven and his terrifying rate of improvement.

Su Feng knew that Kobe's learning ability was quite amazing. In the future, after he entered the league, his skills would improve significantly every year.

Among the four great shooting guards, if we were to compare who was the most well-rounded, with Kobe having his passing button installed, perhaps only McGrady, with his "Iron Will" installed, could fight him.

Cough, I'm digressing again.

...

...

Time flies, and it's February in the blink of an eye.

Because American high schools will have spring break in March, the high school league schedule will be relatively tight in February.

It is worth mentioning that when it came to the traditional Chinese Spring Festival, Kobe also specially gave Su Feng a videotape that he had treasured for many years...

Uh, don't get me wrong, it was a videotape of Jordan's games.

Su Feng laughed at the time, because Kobe was treating the Spring Festival as a holiday like Christmas, right?

However, being alone in a foreign country during the Spring Festival reminded Su Feng of the time before he transmigrated.

So, when he received Kobe's gift, Su Feng seriously touched Kobe's head.

Don't worry, in this life, that illusion will never appear!

Su Feng planned to start complaining to Kobe about the dangers of helicopters every day after he entered the NBA in the future.

Well... in fact, helicopters are still relatively safe as a means of transportation.

But that doesn't matter. As an excellent keyboard warrior, if you can't make something out of nothing, can you still be called a keyboard warrior?

Su Feng believed that under his fierce bombardment, Kobe would definitely stay away from that damn thing.

Cough.

Let's get down to business.

During the Spring Festival, Su Feng also called his parents to report that he was safe.

Su Feng had called his parents before when he transferred schools. Although Su Feng had not yet convinced himself to recognize "Su Feng's" parents, Su Feng could hear the two old people's concern for "Su Feng" from the phone.

Speaking of which, when Su Feng's father, Su Weiguo, learned that Su Feng had transferred schools because of playing basketball, he was a little happy.

Because in Su Weiguo's opinion, playing basketball was good, at least it could exercise the body.

Su Feng was made to laugh and cry by Su Weiguo, but in order to prevent them from suddenly hearing that he was going to play in the NBA and not being able to adapt, Su Feng felt that he still had to report the situation to them little by little.

In this way, in February, after the flames of the divisional league were reignited, the "low-key" Lower Merion toolman, led by two small blacksmiths with a strong desire to win, finished this year's divisional league with a record of 23 wins and 1 loss!

And this was also Lower Merion's best divisional league record since the school was founded.

In the subsequent district league, Lower Merion had another 8-game winning streak.

Since losing to Archbishop Carroll High School last year, Lower Merion had had another 16-game winning streak, once again breaking the school team's record!

After advancing to the final state championship battle with an unstoppable momentum, Lower Merion had even become the favorite team of local fans in Philadelphia.

Well...

Don't ask.

Asking is that being bad is the 76ers' tradition.

You have to know, as long as the current Philadelphia fans see Shawn Bradley, they want to say an American curse word.

The final state championship battle will begin on March 20th. Lower Merion's first opponent will be Chester High School, which destroyed Kobe's championship dream in Su Feng's previous life in his senior year and had "delusional monster" DeMarcus Cousins.

Eight teams will compete in a single-elimination tournament, which means that whether they can win the Pennsylvania championship depends on these last three games.

Only...

After seeing the date of the game, Su Feng fell into silent thought.

Knowing history well, he knew that

The amount of hype that Lower Merion could generate this year would be very limited.

Because...

...

...

Let's turn back time a little...

Chicago.

On February 4th, Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson officially met.

The Zen Master knew that Jordan had decided to come back at this time.

So, after chatting with Jordan for a while, Phil Jackson, who had a good understanding with Jordan, went straight to the point and said, "Michael, I think you can come back at the end of the season."

Jordan nodded without hesitation, "I can start playing from the playoffs."

Phil Jackson immediately shook his head and said, "No, you need games to get back in shape. How about 25 games?"

Jordan spread out his hands, "That's too many, 20 games."

Phil Jackson smiled. At this moment, he showed a kind smile like that of Colonel Sanders, "Then let's make it 20 games!"

And just as Jordan and Phil Jackson finalized the matters of his comeback, on March 4th...

The Bulls defeated the 76ers on the road, but on the way back to Chicago, the plane carrying the Bulls players and coaching staff had an accident.

Because of the loss of cabin pressure, the plane rapidly fell from a height of 10,000 meters to more than 3,000 meters.

Plates flew around the cabin, and oxygen masks fell from the ceiling. The whole scene was extremely chaotic.

According to many Bulls players' recollections afterward, their first reaction at the time was: we're going to die.

Fortunately, perhaps God felt that these people had to accompany Jordan to create another dynasty, and the plane finally landed safely.

To appease the players' emotions, Phil Jackson immediately arranged for the whole team to rest for a day after landing.

And it was on the 5th, the day the whole team rested, that Jordan came to the Berto Center again and found Phil Jackson.

To confirm his condition, Jordan hoped to train with the team in the following days.

Phil Jackson nodded and agreed to Jordan's request.

And at about six o'clock in the morning, BJ Armstrong, who was sleeping soundly at home, suddenly received a call from Jordan.

Armstrong, who had not yet recovered from yesterday's cabin pressure loss, rushed to the Berto Center after receiving Jordan's call.

There, he saw a scene that made him extremely excited:

Michael Jordan was shooting, picking up rebounds, shooting again, picking up rebounds again...

The events of the Bulls' first dynasty kept echoing in Armstrong's mind at this moment.

It was as if Michael Jordan had never left.

"BJ, let's have a one-on-one," Jordan suddenly said to Armstrong.

Armstrong nodded, because although he was looking forward to Jordan's comeback, he also wanted to know if Jordan could still play like he used to.

And Armstrong quickly got the answer.

Because Michael Jordan, wearing casual clothes and shoes, easily defeated him in this one-on-one.

In this way, Armstrong practiced with Jordan for a whole day.

In addition, besides confirming Jordan's condition, Armstrong also noticed something in Jordan's one-on-one with him that could not be described in words...

His love for basketball.

Armstrong knew that the Jordan who loved basketball had really returned.

On the 6th, when Bulls media public relations assistant Tom Smithburg opened the door of the training hall, he was stunned.

On the court, the Bulls players were tensely training, and the players' shouts to each other were obviously louder than usual.

Then, Smithburg discovered that a black player wearing casual clothes easily completed a dunk.

At this time, the entire Bulls coaching staff was in a state of shock, and upon closer inspection, Smithburg was dumbfounded...

Because that player who dunked.

Was none other than—

Michael Jordan.

Later, in Steve Kerr's recollection, Kerr once said that everyone was stunned when they learned that Jordan was coming back, but in the next second, a thought immediately arose in the minds of all the Bulls players...

That was that we were once again the most powerful contenders for the championship.

And although the matter of Jordan's comeback was kept quite secret, the news that he had begun training with the Bulls still spread quickly.

There were more and more speculations about Jordan's comeback recently.

Even Kobe, who had always only focused on one-on-ones with Su Feng and ignored everything else, had become more and more excited recently...

Su Feng knew that the earthquake that could only be compared to the assassination of the US President...

Was about to come.

...

...

American time, March 19, 1995.

When Michael Jordan opened the window and breathed in the fresh air, he slowly opened his arms. At this moment, he seemed to be declaring to the world: Prepare to tremble, mortals!

His agent, Falk, was hurriedly revising the press release for Jordan's comeback. Just now, Falk had also re-negotiated with Stern about the publicity for Jordan's comeback.

Speaking of which...

Stern had been feeling great recently.

Well, those two little guys in Philadelphia were pretty good.

The transoceanic bridge was expected to be built.

Plus, Michael Jordan was about to come back. Stern believed that the NBA would definitely live a simple and boring life under his leadership!

"Michael, take a look at the draft." After working all night, Falk felt that his writing could only be described as flamboyant.

This press release, which was as long as 10,000 words, was not only sensational but also absolutely shocking.

'I'm really a genius.' Looking at Jordan, who was already intoxicated by his writing, Falk thought happily.

"Delete it all."

After a long time, Jordan threw the press release aside and said.

Falk: "???"

What does that mean??

Delete it all??

Did he think my writing wasn't good?

Or that the story I wrote wasn't sensational enough?

Wasn't it easy for me to get up in the middle of the night to look up words in the dictionary!

"Use this sentence!" Jordan took out a pen and wrote a sentence on a piece of paper.

Falk stepped forward to take a look and suddenly took a deep breath.

On the paper was written:

"I'm Back!"

...