Speak Shanghainese, write brush characters, interact with fans... Kyrie Irving's week in Xiamen and Shanghai, when he appeared in the public eye, his trip to China seemed to be no different from other NBA stars.
But if you count the other part of the itinerary that fans don't see, Irving's trip to China looks particularly different.
Irving's ideas were always ahead of their time.
After signing with the Chinese brand Anta, he received the title of "Chief Creative Officer (CCO)" – no false name, and in just a few days in China, he attended staff meetings, visited the brand's labs and factories, and couldn't wait to share his inspiration with everyone around him.
In the NBA, Irving has always been an elusive contradiction for the outside world, but on every trip to China, Irving is particularly real.
"I'll be nervous too, I'll be anxious, but I'll find a way to overcome it." In an interview with the media, Irving will bluntly say what he thinks, even on topics that seem sensitive, "Curry is a good contender, I want to catch up with him, and I want another championship." ”
Irving communicates with the young players.
"Grab your chance to ask me questions"
In the past few years, Irving has not been to China much, but each time he has left a topic related to Chinese basketball.
The last time he came to China, Owen just got off the plane and went to the State General Administration of Sport non-stop, and then seriously trained one-on-one with the players of the Chinese men's basketball national youth team.
In the training video circulating on social networks, Irving taught China's young players a lesson with his skillful heads-up skills.
This time in Shanghai, although Irving did not personally end the game, he asked his father Drederick Irving and his trainers to teach the training system of the "Owen family" to the young players of the CBA Nanjing Tongxi Youth Team and Zhejiang Huipu High School Team.
Irving's father categorized the players according to the position of play, and provided targeted training actions and guidance according to the characteristics of the players in different positions, and throughout the process, Irving's father and trainers were very strict with every detail such as "the catch position is too low".
When the whole training session was over, Irving did not leave the court, but took the initiative to let all the young players sit down, leaving time for the group of young people to ask questions and communicate.
Irving's father (left) instructs young player training.
"There is a player with more than a decade of NBA experience sitting in front of you, don't you all have a problem? When I was a young man, I was eager to participate in a training camp with NBA stars on the floor. ”
Seeing that the young players were silent, Irving himself was a little anxious, "I appreciate that you guys give your all on the pitch, but you should take every opportunity to make you better. ”
After Irving said this, a young player finally slowly raised his hand and asked a question that made the other young players laugh, "Are you nervous when you play?" What do you do if you are nervous? ”
"Until now, a lot of games have been stressed, which is normal, and of course I have learned how to reduce my tension." When the young players noticed that Irving's answer was particularly serious, they also suppressed their laughter.
"You can think that when you stand on the field, you also represent your family, you are fighting with the glory of your family, so that you can become calm and turn your tension into your own intensity and strength. Of course, this is not easy and takes a lot of time to learn. ”
After Irving answered this question, the questions on the scene suddenly became positive and enthusiastic - "How do you maintain self-discipline for a long time", "What do you do if you hit a bottleneck in training", "What was it like to throw in that three-point shot that won the championship"...
Owen answered every question very seriously, and left a lot of "classic quotes" - "I also wake up at four in the morning, or 12 o'clock at night, and go to the gym." ”
For these people who love basketball, there is no need to say what kind of story is behind this paragraph.
"The best part of coming to China in recent years is participating in the confrontation and communication with young players." In an interview, Irving told The Paper that he is happy to be able to help young people, "I want to bring people together through basketball, and I always think about how to help young people, because they represent the future." ”
Owen was warmly welcomed by Chinese fans.
"I'm chasing Curry and I'm hungry for the next title"
Perhaps it is precisely because Irving wants young people to take fewer detours, and he is always very blunt when answering various questions from young players.
When asked about his "game-killing" three-pointer against Curry in Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals, Irving bluntly said, "Of course it feels great to be able to make a key shot like that, but I have more to work on." ”
Looking back now, Irving still sees this experience more as a motivation to move forward.
"Curry is a good friend of mine and a very good contender, he's a two-time MVP winner and he's got four championships, so I'm still playing catch-up. However, I snatched a championship from him, and now I very much want another championship. ”
The road to the championship hasn't been easy, and Irving himself admits that he's often in a state of anxiety.
"When I'm anxious, I use meditation to alleviate that feeling, but it's actually hard because you don't know what kind of mood swings there are."
"Life is not perfect, basketball is not perfect, you throw key shots and you throw them, these are part of basketball, so accept anxiety and learn some ways to turn anxiety into motivation."
Owen himself said that he would write down his goals and ideas from fourth grade, and then prepare himself for the problems he might encounter later on, and also let himself understand why he did them.
"You know, right now I have a lot of accomplishments written down in my notebook, but there are also a lot of things I hope to do in this world."
The idea of the Chief Creative Officer
When talking about his goals and future, 31-year-old Ou Wenran still has a lot of whimsy, which may be why the theme of his trip to China is "Creative Journey".
"I also chose to sign with ANTA because I wanted to create something special and leave a spiritual legacy that my children can be proud of."
Irving's identity is actually the "chief creative officer" (CCO) of ANTA basketball, which is not a title set purely for publicity.
After coming to Xiamen, Owen shared his ideas with the people around him in the office - he also attended the staff meeting, visited the brand's laboratory and factory, and then personally participated in the design of the new personal logo "Owen Shield".
This is a "very Irving" logo design, and the "tentacles" extended by the K and I morphs represent the elements that Owen values and relies on to succeed: focus, strength, speed, flexibility, father, mother, and family roots.
Not only that, but he also turned the ideas in his mind that "the outside world does not understand" into his "Owen code", expressing his spiritual world and attitude to life through various symbols.
Unlike other NBA players' China tours, Irving was involved in almost the entire design throughout the China tour, reaching out to different people on the entire production line and passing his ideas on to everyone.
Owen himself said the trip to China was just the beginning, and he had more to share with Chinese players and fans.
"I hope that the whole world, including China, can see that these inherit the wisdom of the family and the fathers."