When pride still matters

Chapter 244 Dreams Breaking Athens

Quentin Richardson's departure or stay will not affect the Bucks' overall situation of competing for the championship.

It can be said that Big Q is not a key figure. But the mismatch of Big Q's contract can actually show the team's attitude towards spending money.

Because in the next few years, if the team is to remain competitive, they will need to spend more money.

Yu Fei had no opinion on the matter and just called to congratulate Da Q on signing a substantial contract.

Then, the Bucks went silent on the free market.

The news that the Lakers decided to trade O'Neal is still the number one event in the trading market.

But even if they want to trade, the Lakers still need to get enough returns.

Therefore, the trade process was long and grueling for Bryant, who wanted to see O'Neal's wardrobe explode right now.

The team was slow to finalize the deal, and Kobe naturally felt that things were not a sure thing, so he continued to meet with teams that had salary space.

First the Suns, then the Nuggets.

Whenever Kobe meets a team, news will spread that Kobe and the other team had a very happy conversation.

This makes the Lakers executives feel that they may lose Kobe at any time.

O'Neal's transaction progress has been greatly advanced.

The Lakers have an unchanging principle when making transactions, that is, they will not give O'Neal to a strong team in the Western Conference.

At the beginning, the Dallas Mavericks pursued O'Neal the most fiercely.

Except for Nowitzki, the Mavericks can afford it.

As for the Lakers, no one except Nowitzki likes him.

The deal naturally fell through, but the longer the deal dragged on, the more ordinary the offer the Lakers got.

Pat Riley, who had been waiting for the opportunity for a long time, took action when the Lakers were in a dilemma.

Just like what happened in history, the Heat only used three players, including Odom, and a future first-round pick to acquire O'Neal.

After O'Neal was traded, Kobe immediately announced his contract extension with the Lakers. The farce between the two great players has come to an end, and other big-name players in the free market have also found homes.

The situation is basically the same as Yu Fei's previous life. Nash left Dallas and went to Phoenix to start a new chapter in his career. Kenyon Martin didn't want to stay in Philadelphia and watch Iverson play unlimited singles. He wanted to go to a team that was younger and more capable. The team with a bright future is the Denver Nuggets, who currently have a bright future. Rasheed Wallace re-signed with the Pistons as expected.

The biggest trade since the start of free agency occurred between the Dallas Mavericks and the Washington Wizards.

The Mavericks sent several players, including Antawn Jamison, to Washington in exchange for several players, led by Jerry Stackhouse.

In Yu Fei's previous life, this deal also included the signing rights of Devin Harris, but now, the world line has changed.

The Wizards player who went to Dallas to replace Harris was Kwame Brown.

Kwame only had one happy season with the Wizards before being waived.

People have regarded him as the biggest parallel import since Michael Olowokandi.

But in fact, if you don't regard him as the number one pick, he is still a good blue-collar insider.

The teams kept making moves, but the Bucks did little.

After the signing day began, apart from letting go of Big Q and signing Brent Barry, there were only some inconspicuous signings.

By July 7, the contract signing market had calmed down.

The signings that each team should make have almost been made, and now it is time for the experts to grade each team's offseason operations.

The quasi-dynasty Bucks were honorably graded C.

Reason: On draft day, the draft picks were wasted on a scrawny weak-league scorer by sending away main center Dan Gazulic, who won two championships with the team, for no apparent reason on draft day. Although signing Brent Barry was a bright spot, letting go of Quentin Richardson for nothing was a big failure.

Overall, experts believe the Bucks are inevitably heading toward a cycle of decline as a quasi-dynasty team.

They no longer have the strength of the first championship, nor the desire for the second championship. The team's lineup is aging, the salary space is locked, and coupled with the chaos in the draft, the day of ruin is expected.

The one that gets an A grade is the Miami Heat because they traded $5 for $10.

Yu Fei is not interested in experts' comments.

This summer, his documentary will be released. Reebok has discovered his amazing popularity in Asia, so it continues to arrange a trip to Asia to consolidate its base.

This time, Yu Fei’s trip to Asia covered China, Japan, South Korea and the Philippines.

Just as Yu Fei was embarking on his romantic journey, Larry Brown's dream team was under doubt.

The top star of this dream team is Allen Iverson.

As we all know, Iverson likes to be late. Although he used the slogan "Standing in front of you is the new Iverson" to change the public's perception of himself when he first joined the US team, after only one week, he and James and Stoudemire were both suspended by Brown for being late (warm-up game).

James' lateness is understandable, after all, something terrible happened in his hometown. As the vice-captain, Iverson's lateness was unacceptable to the outside world.

When you were playing in the league, you were often late, and the only people who were upset about this might be the 76ers fans. Now you are wearing the Stars and Stripes, and you are still late? What a disgrace to America.

This makes the fledgling little emperor James feel that he has the responsibility and obligation to help this team defend the glory of the Dream Team.

Yes, he feels like Iverson and Duncan's right-hand man.

The "Boozer legend" still bothers him. He doesn't know what his future with the Cavaliers will be. However, the journey of the Dream Team has surprises besides bitterness.

James discovered that besides himself, there were Carmelo Anthony and Dwyane Wade.

Three NBA rookies were actually selected for the Dream Team. You can imagine how many people who really should join this team chose not to.

As the best among young players, James, An and Wei were excluded by the veterans. They called themselves the "new guns", but soon, conflicts occurred, like a nightmare - Stephen of the New York Knicks Marbury thinks James and Anthony, who say "Hello, I'm the King." all day long, are a little arrogant.

James can be called narcissistic, while Marbury's dislike of Anthony is from the bottom of his heart.

Because in New York, Anthony is more popular than Marbury.

The New York Times once conducted a poll to let fans decide: If we could trade Stephen for Carmelo Anthony, what would be your decision?

The vote in favor of the deal was overwhelming.

This made Marbury very hurt and even had a grudge against Anthony.

Larry Brown also felt that he was losing control of the team. It was a disorganized team. Nine of the 12 players who won the America's Cup in an invincible manner under him last year were not participating.

Such personnel changes are no different than changing teams.

They need to re-adjust, re-define the starting lineup, and redo the work they have done well. In this case, Brown, who already distrusts young players, cannot give 03 a chance.

In addition, the Athens audience is also very hostile to the United States. Whenever the Dream Team falls behind, the noise at the scene feels like those devil's home games in the NBA.

In the first game of the Olympic Games, James played less than 20 minutes, took 3 shots, and scored 5 points. Puerto Rico beat the Dream Team by 19 points.

Larry Brown vehemently criticized the team, saying this doesn't work, that doesn't work, especially the young people, each one is worse than the last, and he won't believe them anymore.

That night, James thought about Yu Fei's resistance to the national team in the hotel room.

Yu Fei never said why, as if he had expected this day.

From then on, James and Anthony, like Wade, always sat on the bench.

The Browns have decided to rely solely on established veterans like Marbury to play the game, as if the loss to Puerto Rico was the younger guys' fault.

The Dream Team then lost to Lithuania, but won the other three group matches to ensure a spot in the knockout rounds, where they were defeated by Argentina before the final.

Since 1992, the myth of the Dream Team's invincibility in the Olympics has been broken.

After the game, as all members of the Dream Team took the bus back to the hotel, the conflict between the old and new generations completely intensified.

It was Marbury again. He yelled at James, who only played 3 minutes that night: "You are nothing, you didn't bring us any help!"

"What did you say?"

"You want close-knit team camaraderie?" Marbury cursed. "Fuck team camaraderie! You'll never be the best! You'll never be as good as Frye Yu." ! You are not even as good as a fucking hair on his head!"

I don’t know why, James’ mood didn’t fluctuate much when Marbury cursed, but when he said that taboo name—Larry Brown banned players from discussing Frye Yu—James felt a surge of emotion. The unbearable stinging sensation forced him to respond.

He and Marbury got into an argument on the bus.

The Dream Team's failure was criticized and ridiculed across the country.

Bill Simmons wrote in a column: "This team is doomed to fail. We have basically failed to learn from the failure experience at the World Championships, and once again ignored the three elements of success in international competitions, which can make open shots. Three-point guard, a pure point guard who creates opportunities for teammates, at least two shooters, or three, an athletic big man with enough size to play in the low post and pick-and-roll! If you don't respect the winning elements of the game, you will fail, always! "

This is what Yu Fei has agreed with this person for a long time.

When the Dream Team defeated Athens, he was being entertained by the hot and enthusiastic Ernie in South Korea.

"Why don't Larry Brown and Colangelo know the truth that even Bill Simmons knows?" Yu Fei laughed sarcastically, "I will never understand what they are thinking."

Lawson was enjoying a massage with Yu Fei, and he had nothing but endless disdain for Brown, "That stubborn old man is an incompetent person who deceives the world and steals his reputation. Da Fei, you are right not to join the dream team!"

"Of course, when did I miss it?" Yu Fei said proudly.

"That is, Reebok thinks that the wording of your rejection of the national team needs to be changed." Lawson said, "They think that you can refuse to participate because of the situation in the Middle East like others."

Yu Fei hummed comfortably, gave Ernie an approving look on his back, and then replied: "I don't want to get involved in politics, and I think this reason is not good. Why can't it be more aboveboard? I would rather lie here and enjoy the massage. , and I don’t want to represent the Dream Team in Athens and play fucking basketball! It’s that simple.”

At this time, Ou Ni on his back left a kiss on Yu Fei's neck: "Oppa, I think you are right!"

(End of this chapter)