When pride still matters

Chapter 254 Enemies meet on a narrow road

James' refusal to participate in the dunk contest due to an ankle injury caused more criticism than Yu Fei imagined.

Moreover, the reasons why experts criticized James also made Yu Fei laugh.

"If LeBron wants to aim to surpass MJ, then participating in the dunk contest is what he should do."

Okay, everyone knows that Jordan has participated in several dunk contests, but you don't necessarily need to win the dunk contest to surpass Jordan. This thing is not even ranked on Goute's resume.

Instead of setting a false goal like surpassing Jordan, it is better to be more realistic and ask why James can play in the All-Star Game but cannot participate in the Dunk Contest, or ask the league to provide some benefits. If you go to the zoo to play with the monkeys, you have to feed some fruit. Letting the NBA's humanoid creatures entertain the public with dunks naturally requires some sweeteners, such as formulating a seven-figure championship reward.

If there was such a reward, Yu Fei wouldn't dare to mention it. Those who have good physical fitness but don't usually have the opportunity to show off would definitely want to come to the dunk contest to compete.

What happened within the Bucks this year made Yu Fei clearly understand the power of money. As long as the bonus is high enough that even star players cannot ignore it, experts will naturally participate.

Otherwise, there will only be more and more stars like Yu Fei who are only willing to participate in the three-point contest to entertain themselves, and stars like James who activate smart injuries and refuse to participate in the dunk contest.

After Yu Fei saw James, he went to find Iverson.

Recently, Iverson can be said to be in high spirits during happy events.

Last year, he clamored for a trade, but the team failed to complete the deal, so they traded Kenyon Martin's half-season rights from the Nets to appease him.

Then when the season was over, Philadelphia and Iverson had been in love and fighting each other for many years. They had already become one among you, and one among me. They didn't have the position of a rough guy like Martin, and he didn't like playing in Philadelphia, so he settled down.

The 76ers selected Iguodala in the draft, but did nothing in the free market. Iverson once again made a fuss and asked for a trade.

This time, the 76ers still failed to send Iverson away, and then started the same operation as last year.

The player they got this year looks far better than last year's Martin, one of the best power forwards in the league, Chris Webber.

Moreover, Iverson can rest assured this time, Weber will not leave the team easily. His contract is very large and the time is very long, so he cannot leave even if he wants to.

There's just one problem. Webber is one of the best power forwards in the league when he's healthy, and the reason Webber was traded is because he has rarely stayed healthy since 2002.

Webb often returned to the factory for overhaul, and the Kings maintained Princeton's operation due to the rise of Brad Miller and others. Later, a new tacit understanding was completely formed. Webber, who came back, could not integrate at all and was eventually traded. .

Iverson had limited knowledge of this. He only knew that Webber was far better than Martin and that he still had great potential in Philadelphia.

Yu Fei and Iverson attended Reebok's event.

After the event, Iverson was in a good mood and decided to treat him.

He took Yu Fei to a Michelin three-star restaurant, but there were not only diners here, but also individual NBA players.

Such as Kevin Garnett.

Iverson came up to him and gave him a black man's greeting ceremony, "Man, how are you doing?"

"Yo, I'm fine, everything is fine except for wanting to kill David Stern!" Garnett awakened someone's gossip soul as soon as he opened his mouth.

Yu Fei asked: "What happened?"

"I didn't want to come to Denver because of knee soreness," Garnett said angrily, "but the league office told me that if I missed the All-Star Game due to injury, I would have to miss the All-Star Weekend for the same reason. Five regular season games.”

Yu Fei didn't expect that the league's control was so lenient. Is this still the NBA he remembered that allowed stars to rest at will?

"What is this, a disguised suspension?" Iverson said in disgust, "Those old men will do this all day long!"

Yu Fei joked: "A ban is a ban. It doesn't matter. Just treat it as a holiday for yourself."

"If I wanted to give myself a holiday, I would just rush into the auditorium and beat up an unhappy spectator." Garnett seemed to be deliberately bringing back some bad memories of Yu Fei.

His goal was achieved, and the image of Sprewell strangling someone's neck flashed in Yu Fei's mind.

"Don't provoke him," Iverson reminded kindly. "Be careful when this guy takes revenge. You have an injured knee, how can you stop him?"

Iverson reminded him well, and Garnett immediately remembered how O'Neal had been ravaged by Yu Fei in recent years.

But when it came to this, he wanted to tease Yu Fei even more.

"You and Shaq are teammates this year. How many passes are you going to throw to him?"

Yu Fei said like a villain: "I don't have the ball. I wonder if he eats shit?"

"Housai Crab, we are in a Michelin restaurant, can you please stop saying this, we are all gentlemen!"

Originally, Yu Fei just wanted to have a casual meal, but Iverson ordered many dishes and specifically picked the most expensive dishes on the menu.

This left Yu Fei with no choice but to overeat himself. He must have violated the dietary regulations today.

But considering the bill for this meal ran into the tens of thousands of dollars, a violation is a violation.

Moreover, if Iverson wanted to treat him, he wouldn't let Yu Fei or Garnett get a chance to win. He would fall out with anyone who wanted to get a win.

"Brother, you are so lavish, can you survive after you retire?" Garnett asked kindly.

"What is this?" Iverson didn't care about spending tens of thousands of dollars on a meal. "Don't mind, KG, you make money to spend it. Otherwise, why would you and I play hard and sign a big contract?"

Yu Fei and Garnett looked at each other, and the two calculating people unanimously shut up.

That night, Yu Fei accepted Yao Huang's invitation and went to the best movie theater in Denver to attend the premiere of "The Year of Yao" without stopping.

There were many Chinese media present, and Yu Fei's appearance was a surprise to them.

Before the movie started, they rushed to interview Yu Fei.

Just like Yu Fei saw in the domestic news in his previous life, if there are Chinese athletes playing in top foreign leagues, they will constantly ask foreign players for their opinions.

Yu Fei emphasized: "Yao and I are friends. Although yellow people account for 40% of all mankind, in the NBA, Yao and I belong to a minority group. We must rely on each other."

A reporter who was not very good in English asked in surprise: "You mean, you and Yao will hug each other? Wow!"

Yu Fei: "."

After that, the movie starts.     Rather than saying this is a movie, it is better to say this is a documentary about Yao Shuan's rookie season.

Throughout the film, there are three clips that left a deep impression on Yu Fei. One is the blurring of O'Neal's racial discrimination against Yao Huang, the other is Yao Huang's calm smile when watching Barkley kiss the donkey's butt, and finally It’s the magical song “YAOMING (repeating)~~~~”.

"what do you think?"

After reading it, Yao Huang seriously asked Yu Fei how he felt.

Yu Fei's answer made Yao Huang want to die: "It's okay, the song is very nice."

Yao Huang couldn't laugh anymore, "I still can't stand that song. I feel uncomfortable all over when I listen to it."

"Actually, it's okay. It's not that embarrassing. The biggest problem with this movie is O'Neal's part." Yu Fei said, "I don't know why people are so keen on portraying you two as rivals. It's unfair to you. Moreover, The content that really should have been filmed was not filmed.”

Yao Huang knew what Yu Fei was talking about, and he also knew the conflict between him and O'Neal.

"You know, O'Neal's father has already apologized to him and me, and this is the United States after all." Yao Huang said meaningfully, "We are a minority group in the league, and we have to compromise on some things. "

Yu Fei knows all these things.

But whenever he imagines himself or Yao Huang saying "nice" to any black player and then being filmed, then the matter is definitely not something that can be solved by saying sorry.

Just thinking about this made him furious.

He would never let this go.

Later, Yu Fei and Yao Wei went to the Pepsi Center to watch the ongoing Rookie Challenge.

At that time, the rookie game was already in its second half.

There is not much suspense in the game. The overall talent of the 03 generation is much stronger than that of the 04 rookies. They have one more year of game experience, coupled with a hot outside touch, the score has always remained in double digits.

In the end, Anthony, who was at home, won the Rookie Game Most Valuable Player trophy.

It was a consolation prize for him.

When he lost to James in the Rookie of the Year award last year, there were still people who complained about him. But now, James has achieved evolution. Currently averaging 28 points, 7 rebounds and 7 assists per game, he has the strength of the top ten stars in the league, and Anthony is not only There is no obvious improvement, there are a lot of off-field troubles, and the ranks have been stretched.

As soon as the Rookie Challenge ended, the scene entered the typical post-game session of the All-Star Weekend.

There are endless interviews with various celebrities.

Yu Fei was about to leave, but just as he was walking down the aisle, not far ahead, a bald middle-aged black man was walking toward him.

Even if this face turned into ashes, Yu Fei would still recognize it.

Michael Jordan is 42 years old this year, but he is still not as paunchy as Yu Fei saw in his previous life.

Jordan also saw Yu Fei.

Whether the conflict between Jordan and Yu Fei is greater, or the conflict between OK is greater, many people have been arguing about this.

But those who have an in-depth understanding of these two grievances will choose the former without hesitation.

Because OK has had a honeymoon period after all, and has been successful together. Conflict is the inevitable result of the development of things.

And Yu Fei has been going against Jordan since the first day of training camp in his rookie season.

"How is it going?"

Jordan spoke first. Of course he knew how Yu Fei was doing recently.

The chance of three consecutive championships was wiped out by a fight, can it be okay? This was the first time Jordan discovered that the team name Pistons sounded so pleasant.

"It's not very good." Yu Fei said mockingly, "But when I think that we can at least play in the playoffs, some teams have only won 11 games now, and they have to consider the lottery draw just halfway through the season, I feel better. ”

Jordan was angry but could not break out, "If you are willing to compare the defending champion with my team, then I don't know whether it is your misfortune or my luck. We are a team in the first year."

"But this is not your first year managing the team. Just look at what you did in D.C. and you will know what the future of the Bobcats will be like." Yu Fei smiled sarcastically.

Yu Fei didn't give Jordan a chance to talk back.

He continued: "Well, it might not be fair to compare teams, so let's compare you. Do you know what the hottest topic is recently?"

Jordan looked at Yu Fei coldly.

"You should have heard this, everyone is talking about how good my little brother LeBron James is at 20 years old, you know, he has a huge future, he is already the best player in the league at such a young age. One, although he hasn’t proven himself in the playoffs yet, everyone believes that he is far better than you at the same time.”

"Look, LeBron is already stronger than you at the same time, what about me?" Yu Fei described a reality lightly, "I at the same time organized your third retirement ceremony not long after, and then in the general manager The finals show that your decision to trade me is the most ridiculous thing in NBA history."

"You see, I am better than the current situation or the past. Of course, you can pray that shit at the Palace of Auburn Hills will continue to happen to me." Yu Fei laughed, "GOAT, this is you The only thing that can be done.”

Many people at the scene heard Yu Fei's words.

This confrontation will undoubtedly make headlines tomorrow.

And Yu Fei's words will be talked about again, just like his amazing contract renewal controversy.

Jordan maintained his self-restraint to the maximum extent. He told himself not to be impulsive and not to do anything that would tarnish his image. He was different from a notorious bastard like Yu Fei.

But in addition to remembering Yu Fei's disrespect and humiliation of Jordan, people at the scene will also notice that Jordan has almost nothing to refute.

Afterwards, Yu Fei returned to the hotel room and prepared to rest.

He will participate in the Three-Point Contest tomorrow and the All-Star Game the day after tomorrow. He will definitely not be able to wander around as leisurely as he did today.

(End of this chapter)