… 6.5.2013

ESPN report: Mavericks impressed by Daniel Choi’s workout, will take him if he falls to 45. But boards have have projected him to move up to 29.

… 6.27.2013

There was a ginormous stage with a large screen hanging over it, with a smaller tv hanging slightly above a wooden podium in the center.

“Good evening and welcome to the 2013 NBA draft.” A short white man with white hair and glasses walked over to the podium. 

“He is the president of the NBA? That little man?” Hyomin scoffed.

Jiyeon watched her make fun of him. All of her members were seated on the couch, they had all suprisingly woken up at 8 am to watch it.

 MBC had purchased rights to subtitle the Draft and stream it on their TV station.

“Thank you to everyone who is attending here at Barkley center here in Brooklyn New York.” 

There was a loud booing from the audience.

“See even the crowd hates him!” Hyomin repeated her point.

“Leave the little man alone.” Eunjung defended him.

“Americans just like to boo everything.” Soyeon commented.

Jiyeon rolled her eyes at her member’s comments.

She was laser focused on watching. Hoping that Daniel would be taken soon.

It was exciting, thinking about the idea of him finally achieving his dream.

She hadn’t texted him much less spoken to him since that day. But she would always cheer for him. 

“Thank you to everyone watching in the United States, Europe, China, and for the first time Korea!” 

Boram stood up and began to cheer, immediately all the members stared condescendingly at her. 

“What? We’re Korean.” She questioned shrugging her shoulders.

“Tonight is the culmination of years of dedication for the best young players in the world.”

The TV kept jumping to scenes of fans booing and giving the commissioner thumbs down and revealing their middle fingers. 

Even Jiyeon was shocked by the amount of disrespect could be broasted on an actual TV channel.

“Without further ado, best of luck to the Cleveland Cavaliers who have five minutes to make their selection.” The president announced before walking into the room as a clock with 5 minutes ticking down appeared on the big screen. 

Different possible names appeared on the screen for who they might take underneath.

Their strange English names translated into Korean sounds, making for amusing content.

“Where’s Daniel Choi?” Eunjung suddenly screamed in concern. “Did they forget him?”

Jiyeon shook her head. “He’s not going to get picked for a while. There’s 14 picks each for five minutes and then another 16 picks with 3 minutes.”

“How do you know this?” Hyomin asked in confusion.

“Research.” Jiyeon answered as she stared at the screen.

In her spare time she had actually translated and read different reports about who might be taken at each pick.

The president returned to the stage an envelope in his hand. 

“With the first pick in the NBA draft, the Cleveland cavalier’s select… Anthony Bennet.”

There was a mix of woahs, boo’s, and cheers from the crowd.

“Daebak.” Jiyeon gasped in shock. “I don’t think he was supposed to go number 1.”

“Ya! Don’t act like you know anything.” Eunjung responded annoyed by Jiyeon’s apparent knowledge.

The draft continued for many more picks. Name after name being called by different teams.

Jiyeon and Eunjung were the only one’s left still watching as an hour had passed as the first 20 picks were finished and Daniel was still to be determined.

She could see him.

He was sitting at the table waiting for his opportunity.

It wasn’t a surprise, a whole country was watching in anticipation for the Korean boy to be taken, of course the NBA would invite him. There was a worried expression on his face as pick after pick was taken. 

She wished she could be there beside him, be there to tell him it would be ok. Tell him that everything would work out.

A sound rang and the president returned. “The Denver nuggets have agreed to trade the 21st pick for a future pick and Jose Calderon from the Dallas Mavericks.”

“What happened?” Eunjung asked staring at Jiyeon.

Jiyeon had not researched into how trades worked, but she had a good feeling for some reason.

“With the 21st pick, the Dallas Mavericks select…” There was a pause as the president stared out into the crowd. “Daniel Choi, the 6’2 point guard from NYU.”

“Come quick!” Eunjung suddenly exclaimed jumping up and down.

There was a great amount of cheering as the handsome Asian man stood up from the table and hugged his parents and then a cute teenage girl. Then proceeded onto the stage, he was wearing a white t-shirt and black suit with low-cut black pants that showed his ankles along with white shoes, simple yet looked so good on the handsome man.

“I wonder if that’s his girlfriend, she’s cute.” Hyomin commented now staring at the screen.

“She’s his sister.” Jiyeon suddenly interjected remembering the pictures of his family that Daniel had shown her.

Realizing too late that Eunjung and the rest of her members were staring at her suspciously.

“Whatever you say, miss replica jersey.” Soyeon teased.

Jiyeon however was too overjoyed to comment. She was so happy for him. He deserved this after all his hard work.

“A interesting decision by Dallas to trade up in the draft for Daniel Choi, a great scorer and passer, but the questions about his height and defense are still looming over many teams.” An announcer explained.

The TV suddenly jumped to a shot of the heart of Gangnam showing the pick and seeing the great amount of cheering as crowds of people stared at the billboard.

“Daniel, what appears to be all of Korea is currently celebrating your pick. How do you feel? What’s going through your head right now?” A reporter asked the young man.

The handsome young man seemed to think for a second. 

“I want to thank everyone who has supported me and cheered me on since the beginning. I want to thank everyone watching in internationally, I’ll do my best to represent.” 

He then asked the reporter something quietly and she nodded.

“Hello, everyone watching in Korea, thank you for all of your love and support. I also of course thank all the pretty idol stars who showed their encouragement.” He spoke in Korean.

Jiyeon felt a tear flow from her eyes as she watched. How could she not cry? 

Jiyeon was proud. He had truly made it, all of Korea was cheering for him.

She remembered when crowds of people use to cheer and call her name, she wanted him to experience that, he deserved it.

…6.28.2013

Korea Daily: Daniel Choi selected with the 21st pick, and all of Korea pours their love on their young star.

June 28th, 2013

Dubbed the Basketball idol, Daniel Choi was recently selected by the Dallas Mavericks with the 21st pick. He will be officially in the NBA and everyone knows it.

The MBC broadcast of the NBA draft had a record 6 million viewers on Korean Televisions. It seemed everyone and their grandma tweeted out their congratulations to him after his selection.

Famous Actors such as Kim Soo Hyun and Lee Seung Gi tweeted out messages of encouragement. Followed by other famous athletes and celebrities as Yuna Kim and Park Jisung. Finally, many idols took to social media to post their congratulations with the #choi21. 

Choi21 has recently become the most searched key word with Daniel Choi appearing 3rd.

The mavericks organization will be holding a press conference to introduce him to the team on July 1st. 

…

“There are hundreds of organizations from Korea calling for you to endorse their products.” His agent told him.

They were heading towards his hotel located in Brooklyn. Sitting in a black van he stared outside at the giant city. “You just became that Nation’s hero.”

Daniel was in a good mood. He would’ve pointed out that he wasn’t even Korean, he was an American.

But he would hold back, he wanted to stay happy. He had just gone through a whole night of press conferences and he was exhausted. If basketball news coverage wasn’t enough, now celebrity press were coming for him. 

He groaned just thinking about it.

“Did Yao Ming or Jeremy Lin go through this?” He wondered aloud.

“They did, but you know what makes you more special?” His agent asked him. 

“What?”

“You’re handsome.” His agent responded grinning.

Daniel nodded his head, he wondered if that really was the reason. 

“Oppa I can’t believe this is really real.” Daniel glanced back to see his sister who was sitting in the back seat.

“Believe it, I’m in the NBA now.” He responded chuckling. He sighed again as he lay against his seat. “Remember when you used to joke about that whenever I would practice in the backyard? Look at us now.”

“I know. I wonder how my make up looked on TV, I told all of my friends I was going to be on TV. They said they would watch.” She told. “But I think they’re probably just watching cause they said they like you.”

Daniel chuckled.

They arrived at his hotel. He opened the door, and followed his agent into the hotel room he shared with his sister. His parents had already gone to the hotel a few hours earlier. It was 2 am now, the different shoots and conferences had taken a while. Not to mention the amount of his future teammates had FaceTimed him.

He lay on the bed now. His sister laying on the bed beside him.

“Jenny.”

“Yes?”

“Do you think she watched?”

He knew they both knew who he was referring to.

“I’m sure she did, I’m sure she’s proud of you.”

… 7.1.2013

ESPN report: Daniel Choi holds up Jersey and looks like a perfect fit in Mavericks organization. Daniel Choi expected to debut in NBA summer league July 5th.

…7.5.2013

SOOMPI: Daniel Choi finally does interview with Showbiz Korea

July 5th, 2013

Looking ahead before he plays his first game as an NBA player on the Dallas Mavericks, sat down with SHOWBIZ Korea to do an interview.

He began the interview looking handsome towards the pretty reporter who asked him how he felt.

“It still feels surreal, I always dreamed of playing in the NBA and now I want to show other people, that it’s really about how hard you work, not your physical appearance, skin color, or language you speak.”

This was a large topic as he spoke about the racism he felt during his college games where fans of other teams would hurl racial slurs towards him. He said this was something that started even in High school.

Then when asked about how he could be so mature in front of the camera and act like such a professional.

“I actually watched a lot of idol interviews and saw how mature they could be.” He laughs. “It’s embarrassing but I took a lot of notes from them.”

The interviewer blushes as she then asks him deeper into that. He is asked who are some of his favorite celebrities and idols.

“My parents growing up showed me many drama’s and movies, but I think I didn’t really began to embrace my own culture and celebrities until high school. I fell in love with girl groups like SNSD, Girl’s Day, and of course T-ara.”

The interviewer laughed as we did at his boyish heart. She then asked him the question I’m sure everyone was waiting for. What celebrity would be closest to your ideal type?

“I think my ideal type would definitely be a girl who is cold on the outside, but also cute as you get to know her. I would say T-ara’s Jiyeon would be my ideal type.”

After seeing her support for him through her outfits, we can’t help but feel like he made a good choice. Although his description does seem quite specific.

He was then asked about his Korean.

“Actually my Korean is not that good originally because I mainly speak English at school.” He chuckles cutely. “But after watching dramas and making more friends who are Korean at college, it improved a lot. I hope you can understand me ok.”

We of course can understand him. Our Basketball idol oppa will be playing his first game in Las Vegas July 12th and it will unfortunately not be broadcasted in Korea. But viewers may follow online and wait for highlights on YouTube. He will be wearing the Jersey 21 like the trending search word.

What do you think of this emerging idol? 

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Top Comments

“I can’t believe he is really playing in the NBA I’m so proud of this oppa. Fighting Choi21!”

“I love it so much, I wish he didn’t choose Bully Jiyeon as his ideal type, but it seems a good move considering the outfits she wore.”

“I am glad he gave everyone a shoutout, after all the support he was given its good to see he appreciates it a lot, also so cute that he watched idol interviews for inspiration. CHOI21 fighting!”

… 7.12.2013

ESPN report: In limited minutes Daniel Choi drops 6 points in summer league debut 2/6 shooting.

… 7.16.2013

Daniel sighed as he sat on the bench. It was almost the 4th quarter and he had barely played. In order to qualify for the summer league playoffs they needed to win this game. He stared at the coach who seemed hesitant to play him.

He had 16 points so far in the time he had been allowed to play.

“Coach.” 

The coach stared at him, then shook his head. 

They were down 4 points as only 4 minutes remained in the game.

“Please, let me play.” Daniel could feel his legs shaking, in anticipation.

112-108. 

“Daniel. Go in.” His coach finally announced.

Daniel quickly took off the long sleeve warm up he was wearing and checked into the game. His blue Maverick jersey perfectly fitting him with the large number 21 on the back.

The ball rolled out of bounds. 

He checked into the game and high fived his teammates as they stared at the other team’s red Miami Heat jerseys.

The player matched up against Daniel suddenly dug into him with his shoulder.

“You Asians should stick to what you’re good at.” He whispered. Daniel grinned. He wasn’t about to let that go.

A player passed the ball to his opponent, but Daniel saw it coming and stole the ball as he ran towards the other hoop. 

He easily scored a lay-up and the crowd cheered.

112-110 

The Heat brought the ball down again, Daniel watched their point guard as he dribbled looking for an opening. Daniel saw a player coming to set a screen and jumped backwards in time to avoid it as his opponent drove down the lane. 

He watched his opponent pull backwards and take an awkward shot that had no chance of going in the basket.

Daniel was passed the ball and he noticed his teammate standing in the corner wide open. He looked one direction to fake them out and passed the entirely different direction. 

The player put them up by one point.

112-113.

Daniel suddenly shouted “press!” To his teammate.

 They hounded their opponents jumping up and down and raising their hands up high to keep them from getting past them, even on their own side of the court.

His opponent clearly frustrated took the ball and charged into him. Daniel was smaller than his opponent and fell backwards.

“Charge!” The referee called.

Daniel glared at his opponent, giving him a shrug afterwards.

“You chinky son of a .” The man yelled at him.

Daniel was furious at that statement but another of his teammates put a hand on his shoulder to calm him down. 

He took the ball and began dribbling as his opponent tried to steal it away. He crossed over and drove right past him. He noticed one of his teammates open, but elected to score again as he took a step forward and shot the ball. 

112-115.

There was only a minute left and they were up by 3 points.

They pressed again and tried to steal the ball.

His opponent took the ball and tried passing to his teammate, but Daniel stole it again. He drove towards the open basket to score, when he felt two hands push him forward. He couldn’t react as he tripped coming down and fell onto the ground.

Immediately the referee’s rushed over as he could hear his players stop as well. The crowd had gone silent. As whistles were called.

He suddenly felt a major pain in his ankle. 

“Ahh!!!” He screamed unable to bear it. He began clutching his ankle as tears flowed down his face.

Sure he had, had injuries, but never one that hurt this bad.

For a second he couldn’t feel his foot.

He screamed again.

Was this it? Had his dreams all ended at this moment?

… 

ESPN report: Daniel comes up big during the final game of summer league, but is fouled hard and sustains ankle injury. Led off by two teammates. Mavericks win 112-117. Currently seeing doctor.

… 7.14.2013

ESPN report: Mavericks report rookie point guard Daniel Choi has suffered torn ankle ligament, will undergo surgery. 3 month expected recovery date.

… 7.30.2013

KOREABOO:

Trending entertainment news: 

• BTS on the rise has fans joining their “Army”
• Basketball Idol Daniel Choi sustains major injury unlikely to return for 3 months idol’s show support for him to get better
• Exo expected to return with single GROWL
• Apink’s Naeun moves from cute to “CUTE” with Nonono
• VIXX wins 1st Music Show with JEKYLL
• T-ara’s Ahreum to leave to purse solo career

…

Jiyeon had read article after article detailing his injury, she had typed in message after message to him, but always deleted them. 

It had been 3 months.

What could she even say? 

She thought of how he had comforted her during her scandal. She should do the same, but she couldn’t. She felt so pitiful, what could she say to make him feel better?

He had always been the one to comfort her, after all… all she could do was “smile prettily.” 

Had Hwayoung been right? Was this all she could do?

Even her members had posted on social media for him to get better. Yet she couldn’t even create one out of fear. She couldn’t tell him to cheer up. 

She felt useless.

She checked her phone.

93ers group chat: 5 new messages

IU: did you say anything to him yet?

LUNA: you should at least send a message

IU: we just don’t want you to worry so much

Jiyeon knew her friends wanted what was best for her, but she couldn’t do it. She was afraid. 

She knew she had a lot to prepare for, their return to Korea would be in October and before then they would work with Davichi to perform in Mongolia.

She could just drown herself in practices and recording. 

The guilt and pity she felt towards him seemed to be uncontrollable.

… 10.6.2013

Jiyeon watched as fans shouted her member's names. They were making a special appearance at the Hallyu dream concert.

They all stood mic-ed up for their performance. 

Suddenly a stage worker beckoned for her, Jiyeon quickly rushed over wondering if there was a problem. 

“I think your mic is not working.” The stage manager began toying with her microphone until she finally finished with a grin. 

Jiyeon smiled as she rejoined her members. She looked back at the manager to thank her but noticed she was whispering something to another stage hand.

They both suddenly grinned smugly towards her.

“Let’s go.” Hyomin called for her, the roar of the crowd behind her.

They both exited out onto the dark stage as they prepared for their concert.

The music began and they all posed as a quick and EDM based beat began to play. They began dancing to their new song 'Number 9'. 

It wasn’t until her part, that she realized… why the stage hands had been grinning.

Her microphone was not working. She couldn't hear her voice at all.

“Just continue, just continue!” She could hear call into her earpiece as the production crew wanted them to finish.

She continued to sing and dance ignoring the fact that the audience could not hear her voice, her other members noticed but decided that the best choice was to continue.

When the song ended and they all bowed. Qri took the initiative to introduce each member one by one.

However, as she introduced Jiyeon through the cheer she could hear a loud boo from several people in the crowd. She knew she shouldn’t be disheartened by it, but it wasn’t like she could not hear it.

The members all exited the stage after that and walked backstage.

Jiyeon looked for the stage manager. 

“You!” She rushed towards her. “Why did you do that?”

“What are you talking about?” The stage manager played innocent.

“You did something to my mic.” Jiyeon shouted in frustration.

“I don’t recall that.” She turned to her friend. “Do you recall that?” 

The girl shook her head indifferently.

Jiyeon clenched her fist.

“What are you going to hit me? Like the bully you are?” The girl sneered at Jiyeon. “Look even the crowd knew you were a bully.”

Jiyeon felt a tear slide down her face. She hated it, she hated that she couldn’t do anything about it. Suddenly a hand was on her shoulder, it was Hyomin.

“We will report you personally to the producers until then, don’t talk to my member like that.” Hyomin growled.

“You too. You’re all bullies. Especially Jiyeon, I don’t need to listen to people like you.” The stage manager stormed off. 

“Are you ok?” Eunjung rushed over to Jiyeon.

But it was too late. The damage had been done. Jiyeon wept into Hyomin’s shoulder, how long was this going to last? 

…

Jiyeon stared out the van window. She could see her make up, smeared from tears, in the reflection.

“I’m sorry.” She apologized for the 1000th time to her members. “You’re all suffering too, but here I am pitying myself.”

“They fired the stage manager on the spot. Don’t worry, you don’t need to ever put up with that understand?” Qri ordered clearly pissed off.

Jiyeon nodded hesitantly.

“You don’t deserve this hate Jiyeon. You don’t deserve any of it. So just hang in there.” Soyeon comforted her.

… 10.10.2013

SOOMPI: T-ara returns with y new comeback in 'Number 9' mv. Mini album “Again” hits number one on Korea’s billboard for the first time since Scandal.

… 10.30.2013

KOREA digest: Netizen’s clearly not over Bullying Scandal with T-ara’s 'Number 9'

In their long anticipated Korean comeback, despite high MV viewership and holding the number one spot for a whole week. T-ara’s 'Number 9' goes winless in competition shows as fan vote prevents a strong Judge vote. 

During many performances fans, mostly female show up with signs “Bully Jiyeon” on them. Many studios released statements regarding their new crackdown on what would be allowed to write onto the signs.

That said, the single hit China’s billboard number one spot, a feat only done by Girls Generation and Super Junior previously. 

T-ara’s Jiyeon was actually seen crying after finishing second place during a live broadcast. Many fans hit forums scolding the haters for their constant groundless torment.

Bullying of people is never something that should taken lightly, however are Netizens taking this too far?

////////////////

Top Comments:

“How stupid do people have to be to not realize that they are being bullies by writing that? I think this is ridiculous that we will have to look back and wonder why T-ara was never as big of a success in Korea due to a baseless rumor scandal.”

“Serves her right. Jiyeon still seems unapologetic for the bullying she did. You can tell by her face. She makes me want to slap her.”

“I think this is getting out of hand. No matter what Jiyeon did or did not do, the rest of the group shouldn’t have to suffer because of her.”

… 11.2.2013

ESPN report: Injured Rookie Daniel Choi expected to make debut December 26th cleared to practice for the first time after torn ligament surgery.

… 12.3.2013

Daniel stared at the music video intently watching for every scene with Jiyeon in it.

This was of course his tenth time watching it.

She had gone with short length blonde-is hair this time and she still looked stunning.

Sure it sometimes bothered him that she always wore such revealing outfits and over 6 million people could see her like that. But that was another topic.

He wished he could’ve told her how much she looked great. How happy he was that T-ara was finding success again.

He was beginning to find his stride again. He was practicing again and the coach, Rick Carlisle, was optimistic about him playing again.

The problem was that his team was winning without him. Thus, there was very little reason for them to play him. Their team already had a good point guard and he could break up their existing chemistry.

Rehabilitation for him was brutal, it had taken long hours everyday for him to recover. He at the time was too busy to miss Jiyeon. But now he did.

He could stare at the pictures of them together for hours each day. 

But that was the past. He would climb to the top, he was watching her reascension and he didn’t want to be left behind.

… 12.26.2013

ESPN report: Daniel Choi has disappointing return in first game 3 points 1-4 from the field in 20 minutes. Coach Rick Carlisle mentions a process for him. Dallas lose 106-117

… 

SOOMPI: Basketball Idol has disappointing NBA debut with large international audience.

December 27th, 2013

Daniel (Daehan) Choi logs in his first minutes inside a real NBA game the day after Christmas and perhaps his present was just his presence. He scored only one 3 pointer in four attempts ending the game with 3 points and 2 assists. 

Korean Netizens rush to encourage him many supporting him that he would get better. Despite only playing one game and being injured for a while, Maverick’s jerseys with his name on it are completely sold out for the holidays. 

What do you think about his disappointing debut? Could he not be fully healed?

/////////////////////

Top Comments:

“Let him adjust, our oppa just got better. He’ll take some time to get better. I barely managed to snag his new Jersey and I’ll be wearing it often.”

“He reminds me of Oh Sehun with his tall height, I watched the broadcast and came away that he still looked handsome with his blue jersey despite the loss. Cheering for you Daniel Oppa!”

"Don't give up Daniel oppa! Fighting from Korea!"