Champion Creed

Thanks to his data-centric defense, he never led his team to the NCAA Tournament in all four years of college. Moreover, he started excessive drinking in college.

The most normal of these people might just be Calbert Cheaney, but Cheaney is a small forward with average physical fitness, his offense is relatively developed, and it's unlikely he will improve much in the NBA.

This year's lottery draft was filled with various problematic youngsters, and I think even if Roger went directly into the draft, he could make it into the lottery.

At least, Roger's physical fitness visibly explosive, and he has no bad habits. Moreover, his potential is unfathomable.

If you don't know what Roger has done, I can quickly summarize, he scored an average of 38.8 points per game with a 64% shooting percentage, and he's a guard, you know. Then he blew away the number one high school player in America with his overwhelming force, and scored 58 points in the state championship game.

See, isn't Roger way better than those misshapen fruits?

Jack McCollum joined "Sports Illustrated" in 1981 and is a well-respected column writer.

So his articles do carry a certain authority.

This article gave Abunassar even more confidence, he believed that among the 11 lottery spots, there must be one that could belong to Roger!

Right now, Roger just needed to do two more things.

First, kick all the high school talents' butts at the McDonald's All-American Game on April 2.

Second, strike while the iron is hot and declare he would take his talent directly to the NBA.

I thought this article was already a great boost for Roger, but following that, Shaq, with his innate monstrous strength, gave Roger a hefty shove from behind.

On March 31, the Magic played an important playoff positioning game on the road against the Pacers.

This was the last regular-season meeting between the Magic and the Pacers this season, and also the most critical one.

Both teams currently had tied records and were ranked eighth and ninth in the East, respectively. So, the direct clash between the two teams was no doubt crucial for snatching a playoff berth.

Shaq's performance in his rookie season was already quite outstanding; he was the first rookie in 11 years to score 1000 points and 1000 rebounds in a single season, giving the Magic hope for the playoffs.

But Shaq was not content; he wanted more than just the hope of making the playoffs, he wanted a concrete playoff spot.

However, things didn't go as desired, and the Magic lost horribly in this pivotal game against the Pacers.

The Pacers mercilessly picked apart the Magic 118-102.

Shaq had a good game with 28 points and 19 rebounds, consistently dominating the inside as usual.

But Nick Anderson, the shaky number two scorer during crunch time, predictably faltered again.

In this game, his free throw shooting was inexplicably 8 for 15, a 53.3% success rate.

Even Shaq's free throw percentage today was at 61.5%!

Moreover, he let the skinny Reggie Miller score 24 points almost at will, including a 44% three-point shooting percentage.

This guy also repeatedly showed stage fright during critical times, getting the chance but not daring to shoot, and throwing the ball away in the final seconds.

Even O'Neal had enough; although his passes weren't amiss, there's no way the world would really believe that fans can't see such shirking of responsibility.

That's why Shaq always emphasized, Roger not passing the ball isn't necessarily a downside!

The most infuriating part was that after the game ended, all media began criticizing Shaq again, saying he couldn't play tough games.

O'Neal was furious; he stormed into the locker room and lunged at Anderson, screaming just 5 centimeters from Anderson's face, "What the hell are you doing!? You're like garbage!"

O'Neal really wanted to hit him at that moment, but he also knew that if he did, the Magic's season would be over prematurely.

So, unable to vent his frustration, he said in an interview with reporters in the parking lot, "If we had a shooting guard like Roger now, I should be celebrating a victory!"

The next day, the "Orlando Sentinel" struck while the iron was hot and conducted a survey, asking the question, "Could we have beaten the Pacers last night if we replaced Nick Anderson with Roger?"

90% of respondents said, "Yes"!

Incidentally, the "Orlando Sentinel" is the same paper that made the poll about "Is O'Neal worth 115 million", which indirectly helped push O'Neal away from the Magic.

When the survey results were published, Nick Anderson was extremely embarrassed.

He might be the first NBA player in the eyes of fans who isn't even as good as a high schooler.

The "Sports Illustrated" article and O'Neal's comments made more and more people notice Roger. Everyone was curious about who exactly this high school player was, who was considered capable of entering the lottery and compared to NBA players.

As it happened, the voting results came out today, and Roger and Andrae had arrived in Memphis, the venue for the 16th McDonald's All-American Game.

Once again faced with a crowd of reporters, neither Roger nor Andrae felt nervous anymore.

They were no longer those naive young boys experiencing their firsts.

However, the questions from the reporters did take Roger by surprise.

"Shaq thinks you're better than Magic's guard Nick Anderson, do you agree?"

"If you enter this year's draft, are you confident about making it into the lottery?"

It seemed that comparing Roger with others at the McDonald's All-American Game no longer satisfied the media.

The connection between Roger and the NBA was getting closer and closer.

For Roger, this actually was a good thing.