When pride still matters

Chapter 131 This is the head-on confrontation you want

At present, most of the Bucks' players are in place, and the only one who is not coming is third-year guard Michael Reid.

Why didn't Reed come?Because the Bucks are hesitant to bring him back.

In 2000, the Bucks selected Reed with the 14th overall pick in the second round and signed a two-year contract with him.Now, the two-year contract is over. Reed averaged 11 points per game last season and shot 48% from the field. Even if he stops improving, he will still be a good scorer.

Starting from this season, the league will officially implement the luxury tax policy. Although Reed, whose contract has expired, is a free agent, if a team spends money to grab people, "based on salary health and team future considerations" (Translation: Out (due to not wanting to pay the luxury tax), the Bucks will not match Reid's contract.

Yu Fei didn't know Reid before he traveled through time. Now that he has just finished his rookie season, his impression of him is that he is an accurate shot.Then, when he looked at Reid's data, he realized that it was no longer accurate, it was damn accurate.

Reed's three-point shooting percentage is close to 44%, which is faster than Ray Allen by 5 percentage points, and his three-point production per game is only 0.4 fewer goals than the latter.

Yu Fei, who was tortured by the Wizards' zero-shooter lineup in his rookie season, never thought that he would have the opportunity to play with some of the league's top shooters.

That led him to ask about Reed before practice began.

General manager Larry Harris's answer was: "The Dallas Mavericks have made a four-year, $4 million offer to Michael, and we are considering it."

A rising top shooter will only pay $300 million per year for the next four years. Do you still want to consider it?

"I want to play ball with him!" Yu Fei said, "Did you hear that? I want to play ball with him!"

Harris expressed embarrassment: "If we match Michael's contract, our cap space will no longer be healthy."

Yu Fei was too lazy to talk official with him, "I know I just came here and don't know much about the situation in Milwaukee, but since you gave me Glenn Robinson's cabinet, it means you have some expectations of me. In that case, why not Keep people who are suitable to play with me?”

"What you said makes sense, Frye. I will reflect this situation with Senator Cole. I believe he will make the most correct decision."

That's what the two of them said.

Yu Fei returned to the court, and George Karl was organizing a tactics class for everyone.

Carr's style is very different from Collins'.

Collins is a tactical master and requires players to memorize a large number of tactics during the training camp. This is obviously something that a fledgling player like Kwame Brown who has just left high school basketball cannot adapt to.

And Karl's tactics on the offensive end are very simple.

He doesn't like to see stops for isolations, he likes to see passes, and he gets angry if the ball isn't flowing smoothly enough down the field.

That's why he couldn't get along with Carmelo Anthony in Denver.

Carr interrupted the match as Sprewell showed off his triple threat move.

"Stop doing such unnecessary things!" Karl snapped. "After receiving the ball, you must dribble, shoot or pass immediately! This is our only standard for good offense and bad offense!"

What he said really didn't sound like what a modern coach should say.

Now is the era of big ball, people do not value three-pointers, so players will not get easy scoring opportunities because of the open space.At present, if the team wants to break the deadlock, the most efficient way is to let the star stand up and play in isolation.

Although the shooting rate of this so-called efficient offensive method has always been only about 40%, for those teams that rely on star players to play in isolation, this is efficient, because they only need to prevent the opponent's shooting rate below 40% on the defensive end. , a 40% hit rate in singles is beneficial.

But Karl doesn’t like this?

Then Yu Fei had something to say. During the regular season last season, he remembered that Anthony Mason was messing around on the court in one game, but Karl was indifferent.

Now, Anthony Mason is still on the team.

He's standing on the other side.

Watching Mason up close made Yu Fei marvel at the diversity of professional basketball players. He was just too strong.

Yu Fei does not fully agree with Karl's offensive concept.

He agrees that the ball needs to flow, but Karl is clearly averse to having a big core with the ball.The reason why Yu Fei was able to bring the Wizards into the playoffs in the last 1/3 of last season was because he relied on his ball-handling to drive the other four.

The reason he wants Michael Reed is also because this person can bring him great help on the outside.

Obviously, getting Karl to change his mind cannot be done overnight, but Yu Fei will never avoid the conflict of game philosophies. In the end, practice will prove who is right.

After the boring tactics class was over, Yu Fei waited for the match he was most looking forward to.

He still remembers his first rivalry game in Washington last year.

He earned his status through that game.

The environment of the Bucks should not be as suffocating as that of the Wizards, and Yu Fei is also a sophomore who has experienced one year in the NBA, so he is very confident about it.

I just used this game to test the results of my special training in the offseason.

Since the Bucks have many new players this year, Karl asked the old players to form a team, and then asked the new players to form a team.

The white team, which is mainly composed of veteran players, is Kevin Ollie, Ray Allen, Anthony Mason, Jason Caffey, and Dan Gazulic.

The white team composed of new players is composed of Yu Fei, Latrell Sprewell, Devin George, Christian Laettner, and Travis Knight.

"Spree, you take control of the ball." Yu Fei seemed to have given up the ball, but in fact he left the rough job of dribbling the ball through half court to the madman.

If there was any rookie who left a deep impression on Sprewell last season, it was definitely Yu Fei.

He will not forget that in the opening game of last season, Yu Fei dared to challenge him for the first time and helped the Wizards complete the tip-in to seal the victory at the last moment.

Sprewell still can't believe Jordan would trade Yu Fei.

This person has a bright future visible to the naked eye. What is Jordan thinking?
"I'm fine with that," Sprewell said.

"It's no problem." Yu Fei said matter-of-factly without looking back.

For some reason, Sprewell felt that Yu Fei was aloof and arrogant.

It's like he's the leader of this team.

No matter how high his potential is, a second-year player is not going to lead the team.

Just as Sprewell was thinking this, Tim Duncan's face flashed in his mind.

Yu Fei ran to the frontcourt and faced Anthony Mason, who was not the same size as him at all.

"Hey, second grader, why doesn't MJ want you?" Mason thought he was very humorous.

Then, Sprewell dribbled to the frontcourt and passed the ball to Yu Fei.

Yu Fei played the offensive method that Karl wanted to see most.

No stopping, no fake moves, just dribbling to the right, using his speed to get rid of Mason, and he didn't hesitate to take a shot when he got a shooting opportunity.

"Shh!"

"Why do you ask me such a question?" Yu Fei felt his silky touch and couldn't help but smile proudly, "What team is the Bucks in your life? Have you been abandoned a few times? Why? , you still want me to share with you my experience of being abandoned? You are the master in this area, right?"

Some people like to joke about other people's dark history, but once they are stepped on, they will jump.Mason said angrily: "Maybe I should teach you how to talk to a veteran!"

The furious Mason had only one way to play, and that was to keep asking for the ball.

And basically no one among the senior players of the Bucks dared to challenge him who was out of control.

The ball was quickly put into Mason's hands.

The person responsible for defending Mason is Yu Fei.

Mason wanted to knock Yu Fei away with his body, "I'm going to fuck you right now, you damn second grader!"

He dribbled forward confidently, trying to head Yu Fei hard.

However, although Mason has the most developed muscles in NBA history, he only weighs 113 kilograms, while Yu Fei has gained weight in the offseason to 106 kilograms. However, Yu Fei does not have such developed muscles, so the gap looks huge. .

But Mason's plan to use his body to knock Yu Fei away in one fell swoop was doomed to be a delusion.

Yu Fei not only withstood his impact, but also slapped his ball away, then pushed forward and snatched the opponent's ball.

"Foul! Foul!" Mason yelled at the referee uncontrollably, "This is a fucking foul!"

His complaints were not over yet, Yu Fei had already dunked in the frontcourt.

He jogged back, as if looking at a stupid dog, "Stop barking, you don't think a stupid ass like you will have any star privileges in the game, do you?"

Mason muttered the word starting with "F" and slammed into Yu Fei.

Yu Fei, who was well prepared, was only knocked back a step, and then hit him back with more force.

In their words, they were just stuck.

This is not a fight.

But if anyone dares to get stuck like this in an official game, the referee will give each of them a technical foul.

Ray Allen of the white team was stunned.

For someone like him who is a "black sesame" (black on the outside and white on the inside), Mason is the kind of person he is unwilling to mess with in his life.

Friends warned Mason long before he joined the team last year.Mason's skills are comprehensive, but he is sometimes too obsessed with the ball. If he gets the ball, the offense is over.

To George Karl, who hated players sticking to the ball, Mason was the cockroach of the team, and he fought against Mason last season.

But Mason yelled at Carl with the scariest expression Ray Allen had ever seen: "Shut your mouth, you fat pig!"

Mason completely changed the way Bucks players viewed George Karl.

Carl cowered in front of Mason.

He tried to get the front office to trade Mason, but general manager Larry Harris, who was at odds with Karl, refused to do so. Why?Mason was the Bucks' most important reinforcement in last offseason. If he were to be traded, it would mean that the management's work in the offseason last year was a complete failure.

Harris, who became general manager last summer, declined to take on that responsibility.

Of course, Carr believed this was Harris' revenge on him.

But none of that matters anymore.The important thing is that Karl backed down in front of Mason. He is not a tough guy, at least not the tough guy he imagined. He can no longer make players believe that he is a tough guy, listen to his tough guy quotes, and play his tough guy basketball.This is why the Bucks were predicted to be second in the Eastern Conference before the game last season, but ended up falling into the lottery.

Mason is the source, but the collapse of Carr's prestige as a head coach is fatal.

Because the coaching staff couldn't control him, didn't have the courage to bench him, and the management was unwilling to trade him, Mason became the Bucks' unique franchise player.

Maybe even the most franchised player in Bucks history.

It was such an American Gojo Satoru who thought he was "the only one in heaven and earth", but in his second year in Milwaukee, he met Su Nuo, who was destined to cut him in half.

Mason took the ball again and switched from facing the basket to playing with his back. Then he encountered Yu Fei's despicable stool withdrawal tactic and hit the air directly. He fell and the ball went out of bounds.

"Coward! Coward! You don't dare to confront me head-on!" Mason yelled angrily, "You damn coward!"

"How can you let me confront you when you've been beaten on the back? You are really a retarded person who grew up eating shit, aren't you?"

Personal attacks are the lowest form of trash talk, but sometimes it works.

Especially when Mason suffered repeated setbacks and could never breathe a sigh of relief.

Mason, who lost his mind, decided to press the whole court.

Yu Fei, who had no intention of controlling the ball, directly took possession of the ball from Sprewell.

Sprewell had no objections.

Because it is obvious that Yu Fei has become the protagonist of this stage, and he also wants to see how it will develop in the future.

Yu Fei was like walking a dog, speeding up, slowing down, changing direction, constantly shaking Mason away from him without speeding up to pass him.

He is like one of those streetball celebrities on the future Internet who are so bored that they dribble and wag their dogs.

Mason was shaken from the backcourt to the frontcourt by Yu Fei.

It can be said that the nature of the competition has changed.

The game so far has been more like one-on-one between Yu Fei and Mason than the five-on-five the coaching staff wanted to see.

However, no one interrupted the proceedings.

Yu Fei has completely become the opposite of George Karl's basketball philosophy.

For 20 seconds, the ball was completely in his hands.

Yu Fei swayed left and right, suddenly exerted force, completely disintegrating Mason's center of gravity, and made a large change of direction to the left with a cross step, causing Mason to fall to the ground.

Then, Yu Fei rushed to the basket, no one dared to defend him, and Dan Gazulic got out of the way.

Yu Fei dunks.

Yu Fei grabbed the basket with one hand, veins bursting out on his arm, and pulled the basket hard.

Yu Fei's body language and dunk strength clearly showed that he was full of anger, but he smiled sarcastically when passing Mason: "Is this the head-on confrontation you want? Haha."

"Have they...had any unpleasantness happen to them before?"

Dan Gazulic didn't know what Yu Fei's purpose was in treating Mason like this in the first match.

"He shouldn't have mentioned Michael," said Lightner, who knew the reason. "That was off limits."

(End of this chapter)