When pride still matters

Chapter 370 Time waits for no one
Surprisingly, while the Sonics won three of five consecutive road games in Cleveland, their last two road games ended in defeat.

Since 2005, Yu Fei's team has never lost two games in a row.

This is a testament to the dominance he represents.

But the main reason for these two defeats came from off the court.

From Seattle, to be exact.

A few days ago, "Sports Illustrated" tried to ask local politicians about the difficulty of the Sonics building an arena.

Seattle Council President Nick Licata said: “The most fundamental reason is that the Sonics’ impact on Seattle’s economy and culture is close to zero.”

This sentence immediately angered thousands of black citizens, because basketball is the main sport for black people to participate in.

What is even more affected is the public's confidence in Supersonics.

Early next year, the Sonics will once again submit a new proposal to the city government for financing the arena. Under such circumstances, local government officials publicly making such remarks will undoubtedly cast a shadow on the Sonics' prospects in Seattle.

The Sonics don't make money because before the flight arrives, if they rely on their own operations, even if they have the highest attendance in the league, they will still suffer losses.

This is an untouchable slide in all walks of life in the United States.

"Whether they admit it or not, the capacity of the Key Arena does limit the economic income of the Sonics. If they want the Sonics to bring economic effects to the local area like other big market teams, they should support the Mariners and Seahawks like they did in the first place. Support us all the same." Yu Fei asked, "I don't understand, we are also a Seattle team, why can't we have a more beautiful arena?"

Karl decided to optimize the system, and he didn't care about the impact off the court.

Two consecutive losses made George Karl realize the problem.

Because he is right.

They can't put all the burden of court control on Roy just because Yu Fei has changed his style of play.

The "racism" emphasized by Yu Fei really made Licata burn in the butt.

When the host raised the question of how much responsibility the city government would have to pay if the Sonics moved to another city because they couldn't get a new arena, Licata responded: "I think it's 0. It's not up to us to decide whether the Sonics stay or go. Yes. The decision was made by the franchise themselves. We've given them a beautiful arena and spent taxpayer money to renovate it, and they shouldn't ask for more."

A few days later, Licata went on an interview show to continue talking about the Sonics.

When the SuperSonics returned to Seattle, a large number of reporters were waiting for Yu Fei and the others to respond to Nick Licata's remarks.

He is rarely emotional when playing, and he did not show a normal game state in the last two away games.

Otherwise, if something goes wrong with Roy, they will be in chaos.

That's because since the 90s, when Jordan's rise changed NBA economics, the Sonics have never held on to a superstar with commercial attributes for a long period of time. Shawn Kemp once had this potential, but the Sonics at that time were a "motivated" team.

Yu Fei chose to take over, but the whole team's condition seemed to be affected, and the upward trend came to an abrupt end.

"If the Sonics leave, we can only express regret, but from an economic point of view, it will have almost no impact on us. You can talk to any economist about this topic, and they will tell you that no matter the Sonics are in Not here, Seattle would still be a major city in the United States. You can argue until the end of the world, but I stand by this, the economic effect of the Sonics on Seattle is zero."

"I think this is a kind of subconscious racism." Yu Fei said, "Basketball has nothing to do with skin color, but it is indeed the main sport for African Americans in the Seattle area. For forty years, the SuperSonics has been the totem of the city. And cultural icons have influenced countless people. He said our cultural influence is 0, does this prove that he feels that the cultural influence of African Americans is not part of the culture?"

Licata immediately clarified his remarks. He said that his words were too superficial and failed to accurately convey what he wanted to express. But he remains unwavering in his assertion that the economic impact of supersonics is almost zero for the local area.

As for the economic part, Yu Fei also had words.

Unfortunately, Yu Fei is still unable to refute Licata's remarks from an economic perspective.

Roy reacted extremely violently to this incident.

They were more inclined to increase their competitiveness than to develop Kemp's commercial value, so they did not hesitate to offer a mediocre white center a higher salary than Kemp and refused Kemp's request for a salary increase, thus causing an explosion. Kemp’s mentality.

This not only ruined the SuperSonics' championship prospects in the Peyton Kemp era, but also ruined Kemp. After that, Kemp was traded to the Cavaliers, and the SuperSonics began to sink. They waited for Jordan to retire and ushered in the league's lockout. Then they found that the market was sluggish, and the key arena was too small compared to the big ones that could rent hundreds of stores. For the museum, the profit is too low.

Schultz Howard asked the city government to give them a new arena but was rejected continuously.

Then, the Sonics began to falter. All their hopes were in a new arena, and this hope became increasingly slim.

The Sonics alienated fans during the Schultz era, and while the team still enjoyed high attendance, the Sonics' product was no longer popular in the Emerald City.

As a result, they suffered losses every year and became a shame for big-market teams.

Therefore, Yu Fei is now unable to refute Licata.

In recent years, the Sonics have indeed suffered losses every year. However, according to the information he has, his arrival has injected vitality into the SuperSonics peripheral market and regained the favor of sponsors.

If this situation continues, the Sonics' financial report may be a surprise after the end of this season.

But Yu Fei didn't know if he still had time.

Because there's something very wrong with the way the Sonics operate.

As Thanksgiving approaches, NBA teams will focus their efforts locally.

They will hold a large number of community activities to bring the team closer to the fans. This superficial work may seem ordinary, but it can allow the team to establish nepotistic relationships with locals.

Locals will feel part of the team because they have easy access to players worth millions or even tens of millions.

However, there have been few and far between sonics-related events.

When Yu Fei was in Milwaukee, the Bucks would take advantage of Thanksgiving to sell commemorative products every year. As long as Yu Fei endorsed them, the products would sell out.

The Bucks can reach 1/3 of their season's ticket revenue just by relying on this kind of holiday merchandise revenue.

However, the top management of the SuperSonics seems to have trouble getting along with money, and their economic awareness is extremely weak.

The week before Thanksgiving, the Sonics were basically playing at home, but except for a few players, no one had been asked to go out to do community activities.

Ordinary players may enjoy leisurely activities, just like Yu Fei hated such activities in DC.

However, this is a time when the Sonics need their fans' support.

The result of disregarding the community is alienating fans from the team.

11 April

The Sonics have a break today and have no other plans except daily training.

Yu Fei took the initiative to come to Sam Presti's office.

Presti is watching the report that just came in from the scouts.

"Derrick Rose is good, let's draft him next year." Yu Fei joked.

Unlike other general managers in the league, Presti is very young - in fact, he can be said to be the youngest GM in NBA history.

He is only 30 years old this year. what does that mean? This means that he was only 2023 years old when he personally selected three MVPs, sent away two more, and then led the team to rebuild until the 24-46 season when he was sitting on the Thunder Young Guards with a bright future.

Being young means that Presti does not have the aura of elders like other general managers. He is willing to joke with the players.

Yu Fei wants Ross?

simple.

Presti said seriously: "If you really want to play with Derek, I can arrange for you and Brandon to be retired for the season, and then we can dive into the lottery at full speed."

This is a good idea, but time cannot wait for us.

Yu Fei responded pointedly: "I have no objection, but by then, will the SuperSonics still be in Seattle?"

Presti knew that Yu Fei would not come to him if nothing happened.

He casually put down the scouting report and said as sincerely as if he meant it: "Our contract with Key Arena does not expire until 2010. Before that, you don't have to worry."

"Even if we were still in Seattle at that time, with the way we treat our fans now, we would lose all our fans within a few years." Yu Fei said, "This is not a step forward or a step back. We need to have a sense of presence in the community, but We have almost no community events right now and I want to know what the team’s plan is and why are we alienating fans step by step?”

Presti didn't expect that Yu Fei came for this matter.

"I'll arrange it right away," Presti said.

Yu Fei asked: "What are the arrangements?"

"Plenty of frequent community events where fans can feel the love," Presti said. "I hope you don't get bored."

(End of this chapter)