When pride still matters

Chapter 133 The goal is to be the best

The league requires NBA teams to be transparent with the media during their preseason training camps, which is due to David Stern's "public proximity" policy.

He wants the outside world to know what NBA teams are doing at this time.

As the most trafficked sports website on the Internet in the United States, ESPN will not miss this opportunity.

They sent all their sports reporters who specialize in NBA writing, including Mark Stein, Howard Cooper, Lawrence May, and David Aldridge.
Among them, the person most fascinated by basketball is undoubtedly Mark Stein.He is determined to do his best as an NBA observer.

Stein's first stop was the Washington Wizards, and his second stop was the Milwaukee Bucks.

He didn't get a chance to interview Jordan yesterday.

When he asked Doug Collins what the Wizards' purpose was in trading Yu Fei, Collins was very embarrassed.

"This is the NBA, when a trade happens, it happens."

Collins said nonsense.

Stein didn't get the answer, so he hoped to get it from Yu Fei.

That's why he chose the Bucks as his second stop.

Speaking of which, he and the Bucks also have a relationship.Before the start of last season, he predicted that the Bucks would advance to the Eastern Conference finals with the second-best record in the Eastern Conference, and then lose to the Magic, which was ranked first in the Eastern Conference.

As a result, the Bucks did not make the playoffs, and the Magic relied on Tracy McGrady alone to support them after Grant Hill's retirement. In the end, they only made a first-round trip.

To be fair, can you blame him for having poisonous milk?He was definitely not the only one who was optimistic about the Bucks and Magic.In fact, the Bucks did have that intention at the beginning of the season.

They started with 9 wins and 1 loss, and it seemed that they were not going to win second place in the Eastern Conference, but first place in the Eastern Conference.

Then, the Bucks entered Waterloo and began to lose continuously.Losing will not only stir up old conflicts, but also trigger new conflicts, and George Karl is a coach who never avoids problems. He likes to criticize his players in front of the media.Bucks new aid Anthony Mason also spoke out about this.The Bucks' original three Musketeers also said they didn't like Karl's criticism.

The Bucks fell from first place in the Eastern Conference to the edge of the playoffs at an incredible speed.

“What will it be like this year?”

This is what Stein asked George Karl.

"We'll see!" Karl repeated, "We'll see!"

How about Fry?
"It's better than I thought." Karl said happily. "Even if you just stand on the sidelines and watch him for a few times, you can see that he is extraordinary. He is a plug-and-play player."

Later, Stein came to Sprewell and wondered if the madman back home was used to the coldness of Milwaukee.

"It's really not as prosperous as New York, and I can't find much entertainment, but it helps me focus on basketball."

How do you get along with Fry?
"We're still getting to know each other, but I think he's the kind of guy who can play well, and you can tell that right away."

Sprewell's assessment of flying was surprisingly consistent with George Karl's, which amused Stein.

Stein followed up with Anthony Mason, the widely acknowledged culprit who allowed the Bucks to slip from second place in the Eastern Conference to the lottery.

As a vocal voice who is more willing to criticize his teammates than the head coach after the game, Mason defended himself in front of Stein: "There are problems that must be pointed out. A team that refuses to face the problems has no future. I never No regrets. However, there are a lot of new players this year, and I think they are all very capable, so I feel I need to make some changes. But if I see obvious problems and we don't change them, You're still going to hear me pick up the phone and say some nasty things."

There are many people complaining about your ball handling problem. What do you think?
"It's not a problem, it's my habit."

How about Fry?
"Even though he's only a second-year player, I don't think anyone here is better than him."

Before asking Yu Fei questions, Stein still needs to meet with the "only remaining musketeers".

Ray Allen is a pleasant interviewer. He is not as rude as most black players and speaks elegantly, just like a white man wearing black skin.

Stein is not racist, but he feels that if every black man is as knowledgeable as Ray Allen, racial discrimination will disappear completely.

Another reason why the Bucks were doomed last season was that the loss intensified the conflict between Ray Allen and Glenn Robinson.

Milwaukee's meager media energy downplayed the Bucks' internal struggles.

But Stein heard from his sources that the two were having trouble getting along late in the season.

This is why the Bucks must trade one of them.

"Has your relationship with Glenn been mended?"

That was a question Stein posed to Ray Allen.

Allen responded: "Repairing a relationship that never was? No, I wouldn't do that."

"Will the departure of many old faces affect your preparations?"

"No, I'm a forward-looking person."

“Who are the leaders of St. Francis?”

"I wish it was me, but it's an up in the air thing."

Then Stein asked the crux of the matter: "Do you think Frye could be that guy?"

Ray Allen stared at Stein with lightning eyes, "He has this potential."

Stein knew Allen's ambitions, and he also knew how unpleasant it would be for him to admit that Yu Fei, a sophomore, was qualified to compete for the top spot.

Unfortunately, Rey-ray, this is the real world.

Stein walked towards Yu Fei.

The most special man in all of St. Francis Training Center is training with the help of three people.

Moreover, Stein knew that those three people were not Bucks insiders, but Yu Fei's trainer, physical trainer and assistant.

"Fry, can I interview you?" Anthony Lawson wanted to come over and drive Stein away because Yu Fei's training was not over yet.

But Yu Fei stopped him, "Tony, take a rest, Mark is my friend."

Since Yu Fei wanted to rest, Lawson and the others naturally had nothing to say.

Yu Fei and Stein walked to the sidelines and asked, "Mark, I heard that you went to DC yesterday."

Stein looked at Yu Fei in surprise.

Although this matter is not a secret, Yu Feineng knew so quickly that there were only two possibilities. One was that he would follow up on his column, and the other was that he still had a source of information in DC.

Stein didn't believe that Yu Fei would be free enough to read his article.

So there is only one answer.

"Well, I watched their training yesterday."

"how is the situation?"

"It looks good. The Wizards haven't had such an exciting lineup in many years."

Do Jordan, Cassell, and Stackhouse combined make people think?
Ok
But Yu Fei feels that the Bucks are better.

If their boss is more generous and matches Michael Redd's four-year salary of US$4 million, then their four strongest people are: Yu Fei himself, Ray Allen, Latrell Sprewell, Michael Reed.

You could even call this lineup the "Big Four."

Stein then asked, "Are you still used to it in Milwaukee?"

"The shape of the basketball here is the same as in DC, the air is the same as in DC, and the fans are all respectable. What am I not used to?"

"What do you think about DC trading you?"

"I'm grateful for that."

Yu Fei's answer made Mark Stein stop thinking for a while.

Thankful?

Ok?
Stein looked at Yu Fei seriously: "What is there to be grateful for?"

"I think everyone knows that this is DC choosing between me and MJ, and that's why I'm grateful to them. It's a testament to how stupid they are to work for such a stupid franchise to me. It's a disaster. Five years from now, I'll be the best player in the league, maybe no one, and MJ will be gone without a trace in professional basketball. And then, they choose between those two futures. MJ, I'm grateful that I got away from such a stupid team."

Since entering the league, Yu Fei has been famous for "dare to speak".

In his rookie season, he already had two widely circulated classic quotes: "The team lost but I didn't lose" and "He said he wanted to trade me".

But Stein didn't expect Yu Fei to express this point of view so bluntly.

This made Stein extremely excited, because this was obviously not all Yu Fei wanted to express.

"Can I put your words in my column?" Stein asked cautiously.

Yu Fei said calmly: "Isn't this your job?"

Stein can be said to be the ESPN writer who admires Yu Fei the most, and he is also a rare NBA observer who clearly stood by Yu Fei in the "He said he wanted to trade me" incident.

Now, he discovered that he could not only be a supporter of Yu Fei, but even a fan of the other side.

"What do you want to say about your relationship with MJ?"

"No. The relationship between me and him is like two poles in a Yin-Yang diagram, mutually exclusive. It's always like this, and you've all seen it."

Stein felt he had received enough information today.

So he asked his final question: "Do you have anything else to say to MJ?"

Jordan's team has always had an advantage in public opinion because Yu Fei does not have his own media power.

His media power mainly comes from his agent and Reebok, but there are many players under these two parties. Unless Yu Fei grows into the best player under their command, their media power will not fully support Yu Fei.

Therefore, Yu Fei needs his own media power.How powerful this force is, both Jordan now and James in the future have shown him.

That's why he courted Mark Stein, ESPN's second-most popular basketball writer, largely because of his volume of writing.He wrote an average of ten articles a week, far more than many of his colleagues, including Bill Simmons.

This is someone worth wooing.

Therefore, Yu Fei is very willing to provide the other party with the information he wants.

"Just because I was traded to Milwaukee does not mean that I failed in the competition with MJ. Rather, it was because I almost won the competition that I was traded. Because MJ cannot fail, and Nike needs MJ to succeed. DC needed MJ's influence, and MJ hated me, which is why I was traded to Milwaukee. But, that's fine, I don't have to continue to compete with a player who is also the owner. Now that he did whatever it took to trade me, I can only wish him good luck, but I must say that he is no longer the flying man in your eyes. He is a coward who is afraid of failure. Anyone who wants to refute this should first understand why I was traded."

Finally, Yu Fei said prophetically: "I will live a better life than him. This is my determination. I will succeed in Milwaukee. This is the only way for me to prove the stupidity of this deal."

A day later, Mark Stein caused an uproar with his "Bucks training camp revelations."

Five days later, the Bucks announced they would match Michael Redd's four-year, $4 million contract, a 1200+3 contract with a player option in the final year.

Two days later, the Bucks held a media conference.

Yu Fei was in the center like a designated leader, flanked by owner Herb Kerr and head coach George Karl.

What is the Bucks' goal for the new season?

Boss Cole said: "I have been thinking about Michael (Reed)'s contract in the past few days, and I know that if we keep him, the luxury tax will cost me. But Frye wants to play with Michael, and George also thinks Michael could help the team, so I made up my mind. We don't want to get back to the playoffs, we want to compete for a championship, and that's our goal. Last year we were the second-best team in the East, and after bringing in such a With so many good players, there’s no reason why we can’t be the best.”

(End of this chapter)