When pride still matters

Chapter 256 The Wind Rises in Phoenix

After returning from Denver, negotiations between Yu Fei and the Bucks also entered the final stage.

Although the Bucks were extremely reluctant to sign such a short-term contract with Yu Fei, they did not dare to delay the contract extension until the offseason at the risk of completely falling out with Yu Fei's camp.

Before the trade deadline, Yu Fei and the Bucks reached an agreement, and the two parties signed a three-year contract extension of US$3 million, with the third year being a player option.

The outside world was wailing.

Many media believe that this will open a new chapter in NBA history, but this chapter may not be what fans want to see.

Player GM, Bucks president, owner... Various nicknames that transcended the players themselves were attached to Yu Fei's head.

This made people in Yu Fei's camp very angry. They believed that this result was caused by the Bucks management.

As a championship contending team, the Bucks do not have the courage to spend big money, nor the determination to pay the luxury tax to maintain the lineup, whether it is letting go of Quentin Richardson for nothing or renewing Sprewell this season. The deadlock has proven this point.

For players like Fei who want to hit the historical status, once the team does not have the belief and corresponding investment in winning the championship, their goals and interests will no longer be consistent.

In this case, a short-term contract can be understood in many ways, depending on how you look at it.

If the Bucks work hard and no longer impose restrictions on the luxury tax, then this is Yu Fei's ideal team and they will have a long-term future.

If the Bucks are content with the status quo and want to keep Yu Fei but are unwilling to continue investing, then this short-term contract will reduce Yu Fei's pain to a great extent.

After all, two years flew by.

He is young and can afford to waste, but once the Bucks waste these two years, don't expect others to give him a third year.

In order to put himself in such a favorable situation, the price Yu Fei paid was his reputation and a guarantee of US$4500 million.

The moment Yu Fei signed the contract, Harris' assistant asked them to look at the camera.

There was a click, Yu Fei was smiling, little Harris had an ambiguous expression, and Trem looked like he had won the battle.

"I believe that one day we will regret this contract." Harris Jr. said with a smile.

Yu Fei said: "At least if you keep me, I will still fight for the championship."

Little Harris looked at Yu Fei deeply, "Do you really think we still have a chance to win the championship?"

"Of course." Yu Fei asked, "Don't you think so?"

Harris Jr. is pessimistic, not only because of the ongoing impact of the battle at the Palace of Auburn Hills, but also the departure of Ray Allen and the continued aging of the championship-winning lineup.

From the perspective of the next few years, the only way for the Bucks to strengthen is through the draft, but Yu Fei, a draft wizard, is very keen on remote management drafting.

(Martin and Ariza performed poorly in their rookie seasons)

Harris really has no hope of winning the championship.

"I'd love to think so."

Harris Jr. said politely.

This is the reason why Yu Fei doesn't like to talk too much to these guys. It's too stupid. If there is no hope, there is no hope. Why don't you just say no? It will make it seem like Yu Fei can't accept the reality.

However, Yu Fei's goal is still clear.

The top priority this season is still the pursuit of the championship. If they cannot win the championship, they must also ensure that the Pistons cannot win the championship.

What happened at the Palace of Auburn Hills changed the Bucks' fortunes this season. At first, what Yu Fei wanted was for the team to keep Ray Allen and also renew Sprewell. In this case, the Bucks would have to pay a lot of luxury tax in the future. But it also guarantees that it will still be the favorite to compete for the championship in the next few years.

However, the incident at Auburn Hills changed Yu Fei's plan. Not only did he lose his biggest helper, but he also banned Sprewell for one year. Yu Fei can only hope that Martin and others will grow rapidly next year.

But he still has to settle this account with the Pistons.

This is not just for myself, but also for all the teammates who are affected by this.

After that, the trade deadline officially arrived.

Webber's deal was officially finalized, and the Kings sent him to Philadelphia.

Since the transaction was exposed early, and Iverson's good mood in Denver also proved this, there were no surprises to the outside world. The only ones who would have emotional fluctuations were Kings fans. But if you think about it carefully, they have lost nothing. As the latest case of Ewing's Law, Weber's help to the team is not as good as before. It's time to move on.

Antoine Walker returns to Boston

Baron Davis was traded to the Warriors, who suddenly had the "Three Musketeers" like the Bucks at the turn of the century.

A few hours before the end of the trade deadline, Isiah Thomas made a sudden call to Milwaukee, intending to trade Nazr Muhammad for Zaza Pachulia.

Little Harris just felt baffled at the time.

The deal was unnecessary for both parties and was simply rejected.

Later, little Harris learned that Thomas was interested in Malik Rose of the Spurs, but he was worried that Popovich would not like Muhammad, so he turned his attention to the Bucks.

Pachulia is similar to Muhammad, but there is one thing about him that the Spurs appreciate - he is an international player.

Using Pachulia to make an offer to Popovich has a greater chance of success.

As a result, the Bucks rejected him.

Thomas can only offer Muhammad.

Since David Robinson retired, finding inside players to reduce Duncan's load has been the Spurs' main task.

A plug-and-play blue-collar center like Muhammad is very attractive to the Spurs. When he heard that Thomas only wanted Rose, Popovich pretended to be embarrassed and said: "We need to think about it, I will call you back right away."

I don’t know whether Popovich immediately high-fived and hugged the people around him after hanging up the phone to celebrate that the team’s last shortcoming was filled by the good people in New York.

When Yu Fei heard about the deal between New York and the Spurs, he wondered if Popovich had saved Thomas' life. Otherwise, how could he get what he thought?

The result of this transaction is that New York received a 3-man rotation consisting of 5 shooting guards (referring not to position but to playing style), 2 power forwards and 10 small forwards. As for the Spurs, in terms of lineup , impeccable.

"Isaiah, what a good man." Yu Fei said with emotion.

Mutombo nodded and said: "He is indeed a good person, but he has a bad temper."

"Da Fei, stop being lazy!" Mobley threw a ball over, "The battle begins!"

Mobley's "battle" was a three-on-three half-court confrontation.

This is a small game that Mobley brought to the team.

The losing team either goes on a "death trip" or takes out $1000 each.

Generally speaking, whichever team Yu Fei is on will win. With his size and style of play, there is no solution for him to play three-on-three in the half.

Hearing Mobley's call for formation, Yu Fei happily fought.

As a result, Yu Fei won easily with only outside shots. "Are you going to run away or give me money?"

"Don't try to win money with me."

After that, the old cat took off his jersey and started a "death trip".

What is a "death trip"? This is a training method used by NCAA coaches. The specific content is as follows:

Specifically, it is a running drill that players are required to complete within 28 seconds.

First, it requires players to run from the baseline to the free throw line, then run back to the baseline, then run from the baseline to the midline, and then turn back from the midline to the bottom line.

Can you still keep up? anything else. The players are then asked to run to the free throw line in the opposite half of the court, then turn back, and finally run to the bottom line of the opposite half of the court and then turn back to the starting point.

It must be completed within 28 seconds, and if you fail, try again.

If Yu Fei loses, he will give the money directly. After all, the trip is too tiring.

Not only Yu Fei, but also Lao Mao, everyone else gave money directly when they lost. After all, everyone is used to spending money lavishly. It was only a thousand dollars, which was a small amount of money for players with a minimum salary.

This also shows how well Laomao manages the family, and it seems that he will not go bankrupt after retiring.

A few days later, the Bucks began a three-game trip to the Western Conference.

The first opponent is the Phoenix Suns, who have risen strongly this season.

What Steve Nash did in the Suns was just like Yu Fei did when he was traded to the Bucks.

However, the Suns looked stronger than the Bucks in the first half of the season.

The Suns led the league record by winning 35 of their first 31 games.

But Yu Fei was more interested in their playing style.

The Suns average 97.35 possessions per game, the most since the 1999-2000 Kings, and lead the way in three-point attempts (nearly 25 per game) and field goal percentage (39.3 percent). This kind of rhythm and three-pointers combined with Nash's superb passing and Stoudemire's shocking dunks made it impossible for opponents to withstand the impact of their constant scoring inside and outside.

In Yu Fei's view, even if this Suns team is moved to the small ball era 20 years later, they will be able to fully adapt.

Because they are the originators of modern small balls.

Although the Bucks have an X offense to start with the future 5 OUT lineup, this is not their regular style of play.

The Suns' regular play style seems to be very close to the play style of the small ball era. They do not have a full-time three-point shooter. From the statistics, their main rotation lineup includes several insiders including Stoudemire. Except for that, everyone else is a shooter.

A total of eight players on the team average at least 2 three-pointers per game. Whether it is Nash, Joe Johnson or Marion, who has the lowest posture, he will decisively take three-pointers whenever he has the opportunity. This makes the Suns' court space far wider than that of other teams. In terms of the width and breadth of the offense, it is a dimensionality-reducing blow to those traditional teams that still insist on setting up isolation zones for singles and taking advantage from the inside.

On the Bucks side, after the battle at the Palace of Auburn Hills, they basically established a one-star, four-shooter system with Yu Fei as the absolute core.

That night, Karl wanted to see who was more unrestrained on the offensive end, the Bucks' one-star star or the Suns' S.S.L.O.

Thus, a dazzling offensive battle began.

Both the Bucks and Suns worked hard on the offensive end, while the defensive end was very light, which led to high scoring in the first quarter for both sides.

34 is better than 29

In the unrestrained rhythm of the game, the Suns scored 34 points in the first quarter, leading the Bucks by 5 points at home.

This gives Karl a better angle to observe the Suns' style of play.

Although the Suns' astonishing number of three-pointers per game is considered deviant, after the Bucks won two consecutive championships, Karl's view of basketball has been refreshed by Yu Fei.

He intuitively believed that the purpose of the Suns taking so many three-pointers was to create opportunities to attack the basket.

In a basketball game with a five-man defense, it's already difficult to contain a shooting specialist, which is why most teams start with a player who is accurate from outside. However, what if four of the five opponents can shoot three-pointers anytime and anywhere? It is almost impossible to completely guard against Wuwai. This is the Bucks' 5 OUT concept and the basic philosophy of the X offense.

To a certain extent, the Bucks are the pioneers of the Suns, but the Suns have taken greater steps in shooting from the outside.

When two advanced concepts collide with each other, the experience given to the audience is novel and wonderful.

Smooth, fast, and efficient, the most entertaining factors in a basketball game are all in this game.

5 OUT is the Bucks' trump card in the playoffs, but in this extraordinary period, they need Yu Fei to serve as the core of 5 OUT for a long time to maintain the team's lower limit.

How to maintain the rhythm and control the situation is what Yu Fei needs to learn further.

Today, the more mature and complete Suns had the advantage of home court and finally defeated the Bucks with a score of 121 to 111.

"There were no losers tonight," Suns coach D'Antoni said. "I saw the next phase of how basketball works here."

(End of this chapter)