The No.1 Anti-Fans in Basketball-Chapter 49 You can start thinking about it now

Hansen gazed at the reports in silence for a long time, his mind awash with a myriad of thoughts.

After the last conflict, he had thought that as long as he and James didn’t interfere with each other, he could rely on improving his own abilities to achieve success with the Cavaliers.

But now it seemed he had still been too naïve about James and his team.

Just because it was a pass from James, and a forced pass at that, the news could be written like this.

Instead, he, the person who made the game-winning shot, had become a mere supporting character in the corner of the news reports.

Would the news still report that the success of the buzzer-beater was due to James’s drawn-up strategies if it hadn’t been James passing the ball?

What nonsense about snatching the tactical board being negative press, it was a divine interception, the key to victory!

James truly was a microcosm of the United States, using the power of public opinion to market himself, ensuring all the spotlights were fixed on him.

As for the people around him, they were all just objects for him to leech off in achieving this goal.

And with hindsight, Hansen also realized that after arriving at the Cavaliers, his avenue for earning negative popularity points had also diminished.

Before the draft, he had found a shortcut to earning negative popularity by targeting LeBron fans.

But now that he was with the Cavaliers, this shortcut was no longer viable.

Because, no matter what, he couldn’t publicly antagonize James.

If he were to do that, the threat of being sidelined, as Ilgauskas had mentioned, would be the least of his worries, baselessly targeting his teammate could likely lead to being blacklisted by League teams.

He had chosen the 3D route initially to ensure he would be noticed by NBA teams, but being picked out by James was something he hadn’t expected and he had really drawn the short straw.

Hansen took a deep breath.

Though he had vented his emotions internally, the dissatisfaction persisted.

No, he couldn’t just sit around and wait; he had to respond.

James relied on the media to control public opinion, but was he really without any options?

Or rather... why couldn’t he do it too?

Granted, his current influence couldn’t match up to James, but he still had the backing of the East Market.

Moreover, the public opinion he wanted was not to confront James directly, but to broadcast his achievements and increase his visibility.

Take the recent game-winner for instance, he wanted the media to report that he had accomplished the shot, that he had saved the Cavaliers.

With this in mind, Hansen thought of someone.

He picked up his phone and called Tois, an assistant coach at the Grizzlies, to get the phone number of Jamal Carrell, then made contact with him.

Yes, that was the ESPN reporter who had interviewed him after his game at Michigan State University.

He arranged a meeting place and time with him.

Two days later, the day before the Cavaliers were to face the Raptors on the road, they met in a coffee shop in Toronto.

The two exchanged pleasantries when they met.

"I want you to be my personal reporter, to cover my exclusive news," Hansen said without much preamble, knowing from their last interview that Carrell was a no-nonsense type, getting straight to the point.

Carrell appeared distinctly surprised, but he didn’t express his stance immediately, instead, he touched his chin and pondered for a while.

As an ESPN reporter, he was of course aware of the post-game news reports about the Cavaliers and Magic Team.

Any ordinary person who had watched the game would find such reporting absurd, just like witnessing the Emperor’s New Clothes.

But as someone in the media, he was no stranger to such peculiarities.

It could be said that when Nike signed a historic 7-year, $90 million contract with James before he entered the League, these kinds of things were expected.

The significance of that contract was underestimated by many; around the same time, Kobe’s contract with Nike was not even $9 million a year, and Kobe already had three consecutive championships to his name.

This only meant one thing, that Nike saw James as the next "Jordan" to expand their brand’s influence.

As for Hansen.

His gaze returned to Hansen.

Hansen showed no emotional fluctuation, simply waiting quietly for his decision.

Hansen was quite an interesting character; he knew this from that NCAA interview back in the day.

Later, Hansen being picked at the edge of the lottery truly shocked him for a whole year.

Including making his debut with a 3+1 game-winning shot.

Ah, and that big mouth of his.

In the eyes of regular people, that would be a flaw, something that attracts criticism, but from a media person’s perspective, that was a natural content-generating machine.

There was indeed a lot about Hansen worth digging into.

"I can agree to your offer, but I have one condition," Carrell put down his hand.

"Go ahead."

"If your news content involves going up against LeBron, I won’t report on it; I’m not looking to lose my job," Carrell admitted candidly.

Hansen nodded and then extended his hand towards Carrell.

With a handshake, they made their agreement.

Just at that moment, the server had just brought the coffee they ordered.

Indeed, dealing with someone like this was straightforward.

The two of them drank coffee for a while and also discussed some details of their future collaboration.

When their conversation was just about wrapping up, and they had finished their coffee, they got ready to leave.

"Do you know Windhorst?" Before standing up, Hansen asked Carrell a question.

Carrell nodded; of course, he knew Windhorst, LeBron’s personal agent and a hotshot ESPN reporter.

"Have you ever thought that one day you might become a reporter of even greater influence than him?"

Carrell was taken aback; he didn’t expect Hansen to ask him such a question.

He shook his head; unless Windhorst voluntarily let go of clinging onto LeBron’s coattails, no one could surpass him.

"Then you can start thinking about it now," Hansen said with a smile, his gaze firm and confident,

"Because one day, I’ll become a player whose influence exceeds that of LeBron."

Carrell was stunned.

But for some reason, such an absurd statement coming from Hansen’s mouth made him truly consider it for a moment.

Perhaps it was because, in today’s context, Hansen managed to break into the NBA from the G-League, which in itself was a miracle.

Of course, once he came back to his senses, he felt it was just the brash declaration of a confident rookie, a product of their ignorance.

"Then I’ll look forward to it," he still said to Hansen with a smile, out of politeness.

Hansen smiled and said nothing more, because time would provide the answer.

...

In the game against the Raptors, the Cavaliers didn’t adjust their starting lineup, with Varejao still serving as the starting power forward.

Victory can cover up many things, including any need for a lineup adjustment.

I’ve won already, why keep tweaking?

That was the thought of many Cavaliers fans, and of course, of LeBron James.

The result was, the Cavaliers lost to the Raptors with a score of 91 to 101.

LeBron put up a near triple-double with 26 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists, but he also had 4 turnovers.

Varejao played for 24 minutes, shot 0-for-5, managed to get 1 point and 4 rebounds from free throws, and also committed 5 fouls.

The Cavaliers’ team shooting percentage was also just 34.9%.

Apart from LeBron, Hansen was one of the team’s few bright spots; he played for 28 minutes, 4-of-8 from three, scoring 14 points along with 3 rebounds and 2 steals.

Their opponents, the Raptors, had Bosh with 21 points and 16 rebounds and Bargnani with 28 points and 5 rebounds.

The problems brought about by the Cavaliers roster in the offensive end still existed, and their defensive inside game was also blown apart.

The next day, an article by ESPN reporter Carrell sparked a heated debate.

The news headline was: "Hansen’s game-winner helps the Cavaliers avoid back-to-back losses to start the season."