Chapter Sixty-Five: The Aura of Leadership

“Beautiful! Three consecutive blocks. When the team was in a slump, He stepped up.”
Smith shouted excitedly; he now openly admitted to being a fan of Star, often showing obvious favoritism in his commentary.
Barkley, seeing this, wore a look of sorrow. He was considering whether to request the network to change his on-air persona.
He didn’t like being cast as the anti-Star guy; he wanted to swap roles with Smith.
After all, it was getting harder and harder to criticize Star as his performances kept improving, and it would only get tougher in the future.
If he had to stick with this persona, he’d be forced into awkward, baseless criticism.
When that happened, he’d no doubt be roasted by Star’s fans.
“It’s just one disrupted offense, that’s all,”
Barkley still dutifully played his part, expressing his disdain for Xinghui He.
“You can’t put it like that, Charles. Even if it’s just one broken play for the Blazers, it’s a huge morale boost. He is already showing the qualities of a leader,”
Smith replied.
“You’re talking nonsense. We all know the Clippers’ leader is Brand.”
Barkley retorted.
…
China, CCTV.
“Did you hear that? Star just said, ‘Is there anyone else?’ He’s imitating Feng Xiaogang from ‘Kung Fu Hustle’—and he does it pretty well,”
Sun Zhengping laughed.
“Those three consecutive blocks from Star have fired up his teammates. This never-say-die spirit really shows leadership qualities,”
Zhang Reason mused, pondering to himself whether, if Xinghui He and Yao Ming joined the national team together, who would take the lead.
“There’s news from America that Larry Bird wants to trade Artest and Jermaine O’Neal for Star, and then build the team around him. Clearly, it’s this very trait he values,”
Sun Zhengping shared another juicy tidbit.
These bits of gossip were far more interesting to fans than the game itself; this was exactly what they loved.
“Star’s amazing—one man for two All-Stars.”
“There’s no way Star will go. He’s already the boss of his team, and besides, Los Angeles is a big city.”
“Los Angeles may be big, but the Clippers aren’t respected there. The Lakers are the real home team, and Kobe is the true king of LA.”
Amidst the fan discussion, at some point, a die-hard Kobe supporter had joined in.
“Kobe? Give Star two years, and he’ll surpass him.”
“Surpass Kobe? What a joke.”
“You’re the joke, you traitor.”

“How can you talk like that?”
…
Back on the court, the Clippers were on the attack.
They had a stronger roster than the Blazers, and with everyone giving it their all, they quickly gained the upper hand.
Since the score difference wasn’t large to begin with, after just two possessions, the Clippers had taken the lead.
But this burst of energy was as fleeting as it was explosive.
After the Blazers called a timeout, the Clippers’ momentum was completely spent.
When play resumed, they looked lifeless once again.
With their renewed vigor, the Blazers regained the lead and steadily widened the gap.
There was nothing Xinghui He could do about it; after all, he wasn’t a true leader yet and couldn’t dictate how his teammates should perform, or he’d only breed resentment.
It was just a regular season game—Xinghui He didn’t take it too seriously.
He considered his rookie season a time for growth, nothing more.
In the end, the game produced a minor upset:
The Blazers beat the Clippers 101 to 92.
The entire Clippers squad was underwhelming: Brand scored 17, Mobley 18, Cassell 14.
Xinghui He’s performance wasn’t stellar either: 6 for 14 from the field, 4 of 10 on threes, and 1 of 2 from the line.
Seventeen points on fifteen shots—if he were just a role player, this would be acceptable.
But for a core player, it was far from enough.
Still, He did set a new personal best in blocks this game, tallying four—a small milestone, at least.
After the game, the Clippers players were in high spirits, as they now had a five-day break until their next game on the sixth.
Fortunately, neither Brand nor Xinghui He had Kobe’s temperament; otherwise, seeing the team laugh and joke after a loss would have triggered an outburst long ago.
Of course, this also highlighted the Clippers’ lack of a winning culture—a team with little ambition or hunger.
If the leader is complacent, the role players will be even more so.
Perhaps none of them ever considered winning the championship this season.
Witnessing all this, Xinghui He fell into deep thought.
He knew Sterling wouldn’t trade him easily; there was a good chance he’d spend his whole career with one team, just like Kobe.
Therefore, the team’s culture had to change.
To win a championship, talent on paper wasn’t enough—fighting spirit was crucial.
Moreover, their roster wasn’t even that strong.
Given Sterling’s stingy reputation, he was unlikely to pay the luxury tax, so their lineup would never match the star-studded teams built around LeBron.

In short, Xinghui He felt the Clippers’ locker room culture needed a shift.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t the true leader yet, and stepping up to make such changes now would be hard to get everyone on board.
Even with management’s backing, teammates might only pay lip service.
“So, anyone free these next few days? I’m throwing a party at my place—come over and have some fun.”
Xinghui He said.
He wanted to build stronger bonds with his teammates—parties and gifts were tried-and-true methods for fostering camaraderie.
“OK, after working hard these last couple of days, we do deserve to relax,”
Cassell immediately responded.
You couldn’t turn down your future captain.
“Just say the word, and I’ll be there,”
Kaman, who held no ulterior motives, genuinely enjoyed hanging out with Xinghui He.
A few other lesser-known players agreed, simply following the crowd.
When it came to Brand, he seemed to hesitate before saying, “I’ve got some things to take care of these next few days.”
He was already preparing to distance himself, no longer wanting to get too close to Xinghui He.
With Brand’s response, a few players close to him also politely declined He’s invitation.
This left Xinghui He in an awkward spot, but there was nothing he could do about it.
In both his previous and current lives, he was never someone particularly smooth or calculating, so he hadn’t considered all the angles.
He’d thought that simply making the suggestion would get everyone on board.
Instead, it turned into a bit of an embarrassment.
Still, Xinghui He didn’t dwell on it.
As long as he pretended not to feel awkward, the situation wouldn’t be awkward.
“OK, let me know when you’re free and I’ll throw another one,”
he added, acting as if he hadn’t caught Brand’s meaning at all.
After the game, Xinghui He skipped the press conference, leaving the duty to Dunleavy and Cassell.
Naturally, this disappointed the reporters—they had wanted to ask Xinghui He whether he still believed the team could reach the Western Conference Finals.
With He absent, the journalists’ interest dropped, and they just asked a few token questions without giving Dunleavy a hard time.
After all, it was the second game of a back-to-back, and Dunleavy had a perfectly good excuse for the loss.