When pride still matters

Chapter 275 God Bless Cleveland

After a few days of training, the most surprising thing about the Bucks is the growth of Kevin Martin.

If Martin's performance last season was completely useless, then he gave everyone something to look forward to in this year's training camp.

Although Martin did not gain 20 pounds as Yu Fei hoped, he actually gained 8 pounds (3.5KG).

Coupled with the fact that the league will completely prohibit defenses from attacking offenses starting this season, Martin finally has room to fully display his skills in the NCAA.

This has been very obvious in the Bucks' intra-team competition.

Initially, Carr had Sprewell guard him.

As a result, Sprewell was beaten repeatedly because he couldn't keep up.

Later, Karl asked fellow student Ariza to deal with Martin.

Ariza, who still seems to need a lot of polishing, is like a plaything in front of Martin.

Finally, the player who successfully restricted Martin was new aid Laga Bell.

But even Bell only completed the suppression of Martin under the rough playing style of the team competition. In the game, many of his actions will be called fouls, and the effect may be different.

This year, ESPN sent Mark Stein to the camp to observe the Bucks' preseason games as always.

Martin's performance made him write in amazement: "When Kevin Martin was criticized for his poor performance in his rookie season, Frye said that we need to give young people at least three years to know whether they belong in the NBA. . Now, Kevin Martin only has two years to prove he belongs here."

Stein made a bold prediction: "Kevin Martin will be the Most Improved Player of the Year in the new season."

Later, Stein came to Yu Fei again and wanted to conduct an interview.

Yu Fei and Stein have a very good relationship, so there is no reason to refuse.

Stein took out a pen and notebook and prepared to take shorthand.

His first question was: "The National Basketball Association is finalizing the roster for the World Championships in Japan next year. There is a high probability that you will be on the call-up list."

Yu Fei smiled and said nothing.

Stein asked: "How was it this time?"

If it were in the past, Yu Fei would most likely refuse directly with the reason of "whoever wants to go will go."

However, Reebok also realized that continuously rejecting invitations from the national team would give Yu Fei the reputation of being "unpatriotic", so it also prepared words for Yu Fei in advance.

"I really want to represent the national team, but I don't have an answer to this question now." Yu Fei said, "It's still a long time before the World Championships, and I have to finish this season before I can make a decision. For now, I'm inclined to accept the call-up."

Stein then asked a second question: "What are your expectations for Kevin Martin's second season?"

"I hope he becomes the team's starter and averages 15 points per game."

If he does, he will be the Most Improved Player of the Year.

Stein thought to himself, then asked another question: "How come you and LBJ raised tens of millions of dollars for New Orleans at Jay-Z's 'Me and the World' party, and that charity game is still talked about today." occurring?"

Regarding this matter, Yu Fei told the truth; "It was LeBron's idea, I was just part of the plan."

"You once said last year that you have to be patient for a rookie for three years. LeBron is about to enter his third season. Are you optimistic about the Cavaliers' performance this year?"

"Of course." If Yu Fei remembers correctly, the Cavaliers should be able to enter the playoffs this year. "LeBron has already proven himself. If the Cavaliers' GM did more, maybe they would have entered the playoffs long ago."

"Do you have confidence in LeBron?"

"Of course, you know, he's my little brother."

Stein jokingly asked: "How are you going to treat your little brother in the opening game?"

"I will try my best to win," Yu Fei said, "and wish him all the best."

A few days later, Mark Stein ranked the Bucks third in his season preview, behind the Spurs and Mavericks.

This move made Stein controversial.

Because the Bucks don't look much better than last season.

To the outside world, the additions of Raja Bell and Kwame Brown may not be able to fill the vacancies of Cuttino Mobley and Christian Laettner.

Danny Granger is a rookie and has limited impact.

As for the second-year players Kevin Martin and Trevor Ariza, they are both considered to be parallel imports, and their influence is negligible.

Under such circumstances, how much more would Stein have to do to rank the Bucks third in the league?

Stein refused to reply to the controversy from the outside world. These people have never seen the Bucks training camp and do not know the specific situation. When the new season starts, they will naturally know that the Bucks have quietly built a team for Frye Yu. Strong army.

At the media conference, the Bucks' atmosphere impressed the media.

This is no longer the sluggish Bucks team they remembered.

Although there are veterans like Mutombo, Horry and Sprewell, there are more Mesozoic players like Yu Fei and Kwame Wolves and a large number of young players.

"We made it to the conference finals last season, so I think a championship is a realistic and attainable goal."

George Karl said in an interview.

Afterwards, the Bucks were arranged by the league to go to China to play two preseason games. Due to the popularity of last year's China Game, this year, the league made a bold move and arranged for the Bucks and Rockets to play a preseason game in Shanghai.

Since the Rockets acquired Tracy McGrady from the Magic last year, their popularity has reached its peak in China. This is the first love of a generation of fans - the Yao-McRae era.

During the few days he came to China to compete, Yu Fei attended all the events he could attend, showing a decent image of an elegant and easy-going superstar just as the league and sponsors wanted to see.

In the subsequent games, since it was a preseason game, both sides restrained themselves.

Yu Fei, on the other hand, had the idea of ​​​​entertaining the audience and would not disappoint when he could show off his skills. Therefore, various fancy passes, difficult dunks and the addictive long-range three-pointer left a deep impression on the fans at the scene. .

In the end, the Bucks defeated the Rockets 117-104.

"Before the game, he (Yu Fei) said that he would only fight at 250 in the preseason." Yao Huang told the domestic media, "You have all seen the result. He even used the energy to feed himself tonight. At home, he is actually more popular than me, I am only 250."

The media was surprised: "Does Frye know what '250' means?"

Yao Quan smiled mysteriously: "He knows everything."

Another preseason game requires the two teams to move to BJ, and their opponent is the Kings, who came to China to play preseason games last year.

It's just that last year there was a Chinese guard Liu Wei on the Kings team who wanted to seek NBA opportunities. This year he has no gimmick and is just a foil for the Bucks and Rockets.

After gaining a lot of popularity in China, the Bucks returned to the United States to play two more preseason games and won both of them.

The opening game of the new season will start on October 10.

There were two games that day, one of which was the Bucks' away game against the Cavaliers.

Since James entered the NBA, the league has been hoping to create a gimmick like the Yao-Shark War on them.

However, the close friendship between Yu Fei and James made it bankrupt.

Yu Fei doesn't dislike James as much as O'Neal dislikes Yao Huang, and James seems to be the opposite of traditional black people except for his skin color. His emotional intelligence is too high to be decent, and it is even less likely that he will have a conflict with Yu Fei.

Even the best marketing experts would not be able to design "gimmicks" for them under such circumstances.

But league executives believe that the honeymoon period between Yu Fei and James will end sooner or later.

This is not the 60s, when Russell beat Chamberlain on the court and went to Chamberlain's house for dinner, and the two were as close as brothers; nor is it the 80s, when Magic and Larry Bird broke through without any conflict of business interests. Overcome racial restrictions and become close friends.

This was the 90s.

Yes, it's the 21st century, but the rules Jordan created in the 90s continue to influence today.

That rule is that the pool of professional basketball is very small, and "there can only be one" standing at the top.

Of course Yu Fei can continue the big brother and little brother game because he is at the top.

But what if one day, James attacks this?

Then anything can happen.

Today, Yu Fei went against the norm and arrived at the Cavaliers' new arena, the Quicken Loans Center, two hours early.

When he first entered the league, Yu Fei would go to the away games two hours early to familiarize himself with the away games.

Now that he already knows about each team's home stadium, he naturally does not need to continue to do so.

It's just that the Cavaliers have moved to a new arena this season, so he picks up the flowers in the morning and relives the feeling of his rookie season.

Arriving at the unfamiliar new arena, Yu Fei could vaguely feel the cash-making ability of the Cavaliers' new owner, Dan Gilbert, and how much he wanted to please James.

James said he wanted a brand new scoreboard, so the Quicken Loans Center introduced the latest scoring system.

James liked burgundy, so Gilbert changed all the seats in the venue to this color.

James also likes TVs, Xboxes and stereos, so these items are installed in every player's locker in the locker rooms of the home and away teams.

Then, James is still a bit stinky and narcissistic?

Even better, the building outside the Quicken Loans Center is also one of Gilbert's assets. He leased the building to Nike as the Cleveland branch, and then the building was painted with a ten-story mural of the portrait. The main character is naturally the scene of James dunking, and it also says "We are all witnesses."

When Yu Fei proposed to arrive early to warm up, Cavaliers boss Gilbert was preparing the schedule for tonight's opening game.

"Fry Yu, the guy who bullied the team into signing a two-year contract?" Gilbert asked.

The assistant nodded: "That's right."

For every ownership group, this type of player is a nightmare.

"He can do whatever he wants and leave him alone."

Gilbert was thankful they had James instead of Frye Yu.

99% of people believe that Frye Yu will abandon Milwaukee and go to a big city, but 1% of people think that James will abandon Cleveland?

No, there are not even 0.1% of such people.

Cleveland is a blessing to have LeBron James.

(End of this chapter)