The Best Point Guard

Chapter 377: Chapter 117: Only I Can Help You Escape the Sea of Bitterness

The 2005 All-Star Weekend was held in Denver, so it was only natural that Carmeron Anthony made the Western Conference All-Star reserve roster. It’s one of the NBA’s unwritten rules; as the star player of the Nuggets, he deserved the honor.

His individual skill certainly warranted the honor.

However, judging by his stats this season, Carmeron Anthony hadn’t shown much improvement compared to his rookie year.

In their rookie regular season, Su Xi, Carmeron Anthony, and LeBron James each had their own merits. Su Xi had a better team record and more historic single-game performances.

But now, halfway through this season, Su Xi’s overall performance was a step ahead of LeBron James, mainly reflected in his team’s record when he was leading them by himself. Stat-wise, the two were pretty close. Su Xi was averaging 22.5 points, 10.6 assists, 8.5 rebounds, and 2.9 steals per game, while LeBron James was averaging 27.6 points, 7.5 assists, and 7.2 rebounds.

Meanwhile, Carmeron Anthony’s per-game stats this season had actually seen a slight decline from his rookie year.

On the other hand, Dwyane Wade had improved by leaps and bounds since O’Neal’s arrival, becoming the third-best player of the 2003 draft class after Su Xi and James.

This year, Wade made the All-Star reserve roster in the extremely competitive Eastern Conference.

The guard competition was fierce in the East, while the frontcourt competition was intense in the West.

A look at the starting lineups for both conferences made this clear.

The five starters for the East were: Su Xi, Iverson, Carter, James, and O’Neal.

The starting lineup for the West was: Kobe, Tracy McGrady, Garnett, Duncan, and Yao Ming.

The East’s reserves included guards like Arenas, Pierce, Wade, and Billups, with the other three spots going to Ilgauskas, Jamison, and Little O’Neal.

Little O’Neal’s selection as an All-Star reserve sparked some controversy, as many felt his involvement in the fight at Auburn Hills Palace was a stain on his reputation.

However, Su Xi had been consistently supporting Little O’Neal, which ultimately influenced the NBA coaches to vote him in.

Little O’Neal was the best power forward in the East, even if he had a reputation for bullying the weak and fearing the strong. If he didn’t make the All-Star team, which other power forward could?

The reserves for the Western Conference Team were: Nash, Marion, Nowitzki, Ray Allen, Lewis, Ginobili, and Anthony.

There had been strong support for Stadumier as well, but he was ultimately not selected by the coaches. The negative fallout from his behavior at last year’s All-Star Game still lingered. The league wouldn’t risk public outrage by including him, as he was the epitome of politically incorrect.

David Stern didn’t want one rotten apple to spoil the festive atmosphere of the All-Star Weekend.

...

Su Xi didn’t participate in the Rookie Challenge, and neither did James. The two newly-minted All-Stars, Wade and Carmeron Anthony, ended up teaching the first-year players a lesson. The rookie team was no match for them, as the difference in skill was immense.

Su Xi stayed holed up in his Denver hotel. Since the calendar turned to 2005, there had been an endless stream of gossip about him.

It wasn’t just Jessica Alba and Scarlett Johansson publicly vying for his affection; a new and formidable contender had entered the picture.

Megan Fox.

Megan Fox was a recently famous, C-list Hollywood actress. She didn’t possess the same level of superstardom that Scarlett Johansson and Jessica Alba currently enjoyed.

But she was an exceptionally beautiful woman. Having just come of age, she had beaten both Jessica Alba and Scarlett Johansson in a nationwide youth poll for the "100 Most Beautiful Faces in America."

This caused quite an uproar at the time.

This was because Megan Fox didn’t have the image of a successful actress. Before this, she had only played bit parts in TV shows and movies or taken on villainous roles. Her most famous on-screen role was playing the antagonist in a Disney teen movie tailor-made for their "little princess," Lindsay Lohan.

In Disney teen movies, there’s always a beautiful but villainous popular girl. The protagonists, on the other hand, are always the "little princesses" with freckled faces and, at best, above-average looks.

Defeating the two bona fide "Miss Sus" in the nationwide youth poll made Megan Fox shoot to fame, and she began to get more work opportunities as a result.

It was around this time that Su Xi and Megan Fox met.

Su Xi was on very good terms with *Playboy*. He had appeared on a *Playboy* cover before he even became famous, which broadened his appeal at the time and set him apart from other rookies.

After he became a star, *Playboy* continued to spare no effort in promoting Su Xi and expanding his influence among young women. That was why Su Xi attended a party hosted by *Playboy* in Las Vegas.

Su Xi met Megan Fox at the party. Thanks to that poll, Fox’s fame was on the rise. Her management team had been carefully crafting a sexy image for her, modeling her public persona after those of Jessica Alba and Scarlett Johansson.

They were desperate for Megan Fox to get involved in some kind of rumored romance with Su Xi. After all, those two "Miss Sus" had a near-monopoly on Hollywood’s resources at the moment. It would be incredibly difficult for Megan Fox to break into that saturated market.

But when Fox met Su Xi, she was remarkably restrained and composed, not at all like the other starstruck girls.

Her behavior was a bit like Vanessa’s when she first met Kobe on a studio set.

In comparison, Lindsay Lohan was much more excited than Fox.