The dunk contest is the highlight of this McDonald's event. Usually, when a program airs on TV, there's a fee involved; it's the producer who pays the TV station because the TV station can sell advertisements. However, in recent years, the dunk contest has been aired nationwide without charging any fees, and McDonald's even had to spend money to promote it across various channels.
Essentially, McDonald's is spending pure cash to produce this program, so the key event, the dunk contest, must not be done carelessly.
The producer carefully reviewed the physical test reports of the participating players, preparing to select some of them to create flyers and distribute them within various communities.
Certain players need to be promoted, such as Carter, Desmond Mason, and Ricky Davis, all of whom are high school students famous for their dunking in their respective states.
The producer was surprised when he reviewed Zhang Hao's physical test report.
Zhang Hao and Pierce were purely invited to make up the numbers. He wouldn't be surprised if both declined to participate, but since they joined, he was naturally pleased. He could use them for promotional purposes, which would somewhat boost viewership in the Los Angeles area, bringing in that profitable student crowd.
Pierce... His running and jumping abilities are average, which is already considered quite good. Pierce's weight rivals that of some NBA interior players; he really does look like a mound, and the nickname Little Barkley is no joke.
And Zhang Hao... That 109 cm running jump is top-notch even among Black players!
This needs to be well-promoted by distributing more flyers in the Chinese communities.
Chinese people are a very special group among global immigrant communities. Even after immigrating, they still consider themselves Chinese. Of course, this mainly refers to the current generation of immigrants and their families raised predominantly by Chinese parents. The next generation, however, is less certain.
Even when there are millions of Chinese gathered, they might exhaust themselves through infighting, but in a foreign land, their cohesion is very strong.
McDonald's hasn't had much luck breaking into the Chinese circle when it comes to fast food; the older generation still prefers Chinese fast food and KFC, which better suits the Chinese palate.
This producer didn't see Zhang Hao as a small role to be the savior for breaking into the Chinese market. After all, distributing more flyers doesn't cost much; it's just part of what a producer should do. Besides, Zhang Hao needs to pass the preliminaries to warrant more promotion. If he doesn't pass, there's no point.
Nonetheless, this made the producer more eager for today's afternoon preliminaries.
...
After the physical tests, they ate lunch provided by McDonald's, which was an assortment of fast food, with cameras filming nearby. It was evident what was going on.
Regarding preparation for the dunk contest... if it were the old Zhang Hao, he definitely wouldn't participate — his dunks had no novelty. But now, while his dunks may not be stronger than Carter's, with so many creative styles evolving among the dunkers in the future, the creativity he remembers now is all his!
During breaks in shooting practice, Zhang Hao also practiced those dunks. His exceptional jumping ability allowed him to complete many dunks, boosting his confidence. He didn't have high hopes for the championship, but he was eager to pass the preliminaries, enter the finals, and score a perfect dunk.
In the afternoon, Zhang Hao casually chatted with Pierce, Tyronn Lue, and Muhammad. At 1 PM, the three of them arrived early at the Great Western Forum's court. There were two McDonald's High School All-Star Preliminaries this afternoon, with the dunk contest preliminaries in between the two games.
There were also spectators for the preliminaries, mainly local students from Los Angeles, with a majority from Inglewood High School.
As the three arrived at the front row of the player area, a well-shaped, athletic Latino girl sitting in the front of the player section behind them greeted them, "Aix, Paul, you're here!"
Pierce just responded with a "Hi," showing his lack of interest in women.
This puzzled Zhang Hao, although it seemed Pierce had always been like this. It's like he once heard a Chinese friend say, "How can you afford a girlfriend with no money?" and since then, he hadn't dated anyone throughout high school...
Also lacking money, Zhang Hao cheerfully replied, "Aprile, you're here too? Are you here to cheer me on?"
Having gotten used to Zhang Hao's changed demeanor recently, Aprile Clark raised an eyebrow, teasingly saying, "Yeah, our Inglewood dunk king, let's see your performance today."
"I initially thought I might not make it to the finals, but with you cheering, I feel energized and eager to perform..."
After exchanging pleasantries, Zhang Hao sat down to watch the game.
The game... There's a reason why the McDonald's All-Star High School Game isn't taken seriously by colleges — considering the individual abilities of the players on the court, Zhang Hao felt that they were all impressive when singled out, much stronger than his opponents in high school games. In the California high school scene, he and Pierce were the trump cards.
But this group had no synergy; whoever held the ball would play solo, without organization or discipline. What could you see?
It was like an All-Star rookie game, where everyone just wanted to rush in and dunk.
Still, the cheers from the crowd were intense. There were dunks and blocks, and no one wanted to lose to anyone else.
Among the players in these games was someone Zhang Hao remembered— Mike Bibby, who had been New Jersey's Basketball Mr. for two consecutive years, but hadn't gotten a chance to showcase his skills.
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