Chapter Fourteen: Role-Playing

  Lakers 102 narrowly beat Warriors 100. Ye Feng played for 14 minutes, scoring 2 points, 5 rebounds and 2 blocks. His dunk was selected as one of the top five plays of the day, but apart from that, he didn't do much on offense.

  In the following games, as long as Ye Feng was on the court, his opponents would adopt a 2-3 zone defense and guard the basket tightly. He pulled to the high post, but the defenders were all small guys, and he had the height advantage but couldn't score, which was very disappointing. His shooting with someone in front of him was even less accurate than during training.

  If Ye Feng rushes to the front court, the defender will take a foul tactic and send him to the free throw line. Ye Feng's poor performance on the free throw line is comparable to "Big Ben" and "shark", continuously performing 4 penalties with 1 goal, 6 penalties with 1 goal. The more he shoots, the less he scores, the greater the pressure, until the sixth game, when he stands on the free throw line, he feels a little dizzy.

  The Lakers ended the preseason with a 5-2 record. Ye Junlin only played around 15 minutes per game, but fortunately this won't affect his chances of staying on the team. The coaching staff thinks he has potential to be developed and is an unpolished gem that can become a treasure with some polishing.

  The preseason ended, the team took a three-day break, and Ye Feng returned to Los Angeles with the team. That night, the team held a press conference announcing that he had signed a one-year contract with them, and in the new season, he would wear the No. 74 jersey for the Lakers. Manager Kupchak and Ye Feng attended the press conference together and showed off the jersey.

  Then the journalists started asking questions, and Ye Feng was interviewed by so many people for the first time.

  "Congratulations on signing with the Lakers, can you talk about your feelings at this moment?"

  Yue Feng was a bit tongue-tied with the first question. Many people, when accepting an interview, would first say thank you to XX Basketball Association, thank you to their parents and friends, thank you to their leaders, thank you to all TV... But Yue Feng found that his joining the Lakers had nothing to do with these people. "I'm extremely happy. The Lakers are a great team, I like playing in Los Angeles."

  Reporter: "Now you have the opportunity to fight alongside Kobe, how would you evaluate him?"

  Yue Feng thought for a moment and said, "He is technically comprehensive, confident in his three-point shot, and is a super basketball star. In the preseason training camp, I learned a lot from him, he is my role model and goal."

  "Are you saying you want to reach Kobe's height?"

  Ye Feng knows what the reporters like to hear and how to hype it up, these words won't make people feel disgusted, but will only make them think he has a strong desire for self-improvement. "I know this is hard to achieve, but having ideals and great goals is always good, right? I hope there's such a day, on the premise that God gives me shooting ability."

  A female journalist smiled and asked, "Los Angeles is the headquarters of Hollywood, where stars shine brightly. Many people online have praised your appearance as exceptional. Will you take advantage of these conditions to enter the entertainment industry?"

  Yue Feng smiled and said: "If I can become a league superstar and have time off during the holidays, I will consider it in the future. Now I must put practicing ball first."

  Reporter: "You're a non-draft pick entering the NBA, and the Lakers' interior competition is fierce. Are you worried that your playing time can't be guaranteed? What role will you play in the team?"

  Ye Feng said: "I will obey the team's arrangement, coach's command. As long as I'm on the court, I'll do my best to be a good role player. If the coach arranges for me not to play, I'll also do well."

  The reporters burst out laughing.

  "A Chinese journalist asked: 'You are the first Chinese player to join the NBA, would you be willing to represent the Chinese national team in competition?'"

  "I'd certainly be willing to play for the Chinese team, my parents are both Chinese and I'm also Chinese, but I was born here and have an American passport, so maybe I won't have that opportunity."

  That reporter was very pleased that Ye Feng spoke Chinese and smiled as he asked, "If the Lakers were to meet Yi Jianlian and Yao Ming's team, what would you think?"

  Yue Feng smiled and said, "I would like to make friends with them. Yao Ming is a great player and a good person who is also very humorous. Yi Jianlian is about the same age as me, maybe we can chat."

  Reporter: "Sun Yue was selected by the Lakers this season, but did not sign smoothly. Some fans said that you took his place, how do you view this issue?"

  Yue Feng put on a surprised look. "I didn't steal his position, he didn't participate in the training camp, I stole Elton Brown's position, Turner's position, hoping he can join the Lakers next year."

  The press conference was very brief, and the news of Ye Junjian joining the Lakers was enough to excite Chinese fans for a while. Sun Yue couldn't play, but now with Ye Junjian it's not bad either. His scoring in the preseason all came from dunks, leaving a deep impression on people, and fans love dunkers.

  The Lakers' final 15-man roster has been announced.

  Defensive backs: Derick Fisher, Jordan Farmar, Gabe Pruitt.

  Shooting Guards: Kobe Bryant, Maurice Evans, Sasha Vuja?i?

  Left wingers: Luke Walton, Vladimir Radmanovi?.

  Power forwards: Lamar Odom, Ronny Turiaf, Brian Cook, Yi Jianlian

  Center: Andrew Bynum, Kwame Brown, Chris Mihm

  Ye Feng returned home to find a group of people having a party in his house. This was not a celebration for signing with the Lakers, but rather Neil and a group of USC students had come over to have fun.

  Americans are party animals, always having parties every other day. A group of familiar or unfamiliar people gather together to eat, drink and have fun without any restraint. Yefeng is not very interested in parties, but now he has no choice but to join in.

  He found Neil in the crowd and laughed: "Pal, are these all your friends?"

  "Ye, you're back? Congratulations on signing the contract." During this time, Neil also became friends with him and patted his shoulder, laughing: "We're all classmates, including exchange students from the UK. We're having a party here, don't mind do you?"

  Ye Feng naturally had no opinion. "Don't mind, everyone have fun."

  The British are known to be heavy drinkers, and soon many people were drunk. The music was getting louder and louder. Ye Feng was very popular, with several girls pulling him to chat, but none of them were his type, so he said a few words and escaped to the balcony, where it was quieter.

  Gabriella was also on the balcony, sitting on the floor with newspaper spread out, looking a bit melancholy. Seeing him come in, she smiled slightly and said softly, "You're back?"

  "Yeah, I'm back," Ye Feng said with a smile. "I was thinking of finding a quiet place, didn't disturb you, did I?"

  Gabriella said softly: "It's okay, it's very spacious here, want to sit for a while?"

  Ye Feng also sat down on the ground and asked: "You seem unhappy, what happened? Maybe I can help you."

  Gabriella shook her head and sighed, "I failed another audition, it's always like this. I went to the TV drama 'New Ugly Betty' for an audition, the director asked me to sleep with him in exchange for a supporting role, I'm so angry. Is Hollywood really that rotten?"

  Under the same roof, Ye Feng's career is booming, while Gabriella is having a very difficult time.

  Hollywood is indeed cruel, newcomers sleeping with directors to get roles is a normal thing. The cruelest part is that there are too many extremely beautiful women in Hollywood, and many people who want to be exploited can't even get a chance. If you want to become a superstar here, talent is the most important thing, connections and exploitation have to take a back seat. People in the film industry here don't have short-sighted views or seek quick profits, a team can spend several years preparing for a high-quality movie, investors also have patience to wait.

  Ye Feng suspected that Gabriella belonged to the category of people without acting skills. If she had acting skills, she wouldn't have debuted in her first movie until 2011 and been evaluated as a "flower vase". During this time, Ye Feng also roughly understood Gabriella's personality: she was honest, spoke softly, wasn't good at telling jokes, and was always serious. Such a girl could be said to be gentle, but gentle people are hard to become good actors.

  Ye Feng smiled mischievously. "Your current expression is pretty good, if there's a tragic scene you'll definitely pass the audition."

  Gabriella frowned and said: "I'm so unlucky already, you're not comforting me, but instead saying heartless words to provoke me?"

  Ye Feng smiled and said, "I don't think you're the kind of person who would sleep with someone for a role or to get ahead. If you want to make a name for yourself, you have to stand out in terms of acting skills. Good actors all have their own unique style, and the broader your range, the easier it is to succeed. Do you know what you're good at acting?"

  He has interviewed many movie stars, and in order to find a topic with the other party, he needs to be very familiar with movies. He has watched many movies and also listened to Hollywood stars talk about acting skills, and a few words sparked Gabriella's interest in chatting.

  "I want to star in a romantic love story like Meg Ryan."

  Yefeng shook his head. "That's too difficult. Meg Ryan wasn't always a sweet girl, she played a careless, sloppy, somewhat self-righteous and tearful woman in 'When Harry Met Sally', who became famous for her unique image. To be honest, I think you lack personality."

  Gabriella sighed: "I think you're right."

  Ye Feng continued: "The shortcut to fame is to play a personality role, shape a unique image, let people recognize you, and make the director remember you. For example, I do action, what will you think of?"

  He put out a orchid finger, shook it several times, and smiled: "I now have dark circles under my eyes, my beard and hair are very long, who am I?"

  Gabriella immediately thought of the answer. "Jack Sparrow."

  "Alright...". Ye Feng knelt down on one knee, clenched his fists and placed them on the ground, expressionless, his eyes slowly turning to look at both sides.

  "Devil Terminator? You're really selling it." - Gabriela

  "Alright." Ye Feng sat back beside her, saying softly: "Next, I won't act this out. You imagine these scenes: a cold and beautiful woman, strong and agile, she's an assassin working for a massive organization. The organization sends her to rescue a young man, she has a shootout with people in the supermarket, speeds through the city in a Ferrari, then there's a car crash, explosion... Who is this person?"

  Gabriella thought for a moment and said: "Angelina Jolie? Mira Jovovich?"

  Ye Feng smiled and said: "They can be. What I want to say is, if you were to play the role I mentioned earlier, could you do it well?