When pride still matters

Chapter 40 He is the future
The number 44 in Yu Fei’s hand is one of the most unlucky numbers in NBA history, Jerry West’s unfortunate childhood (domestic violence), and Pete Maravich’s cursed life (a twisted personality created by a control freak father) , successfully predicted that he would die of a heart attack), the fall of David Thompson (drug abuse), and the unexpected tragedy of Draza Petrovich (death in a car accident).

That's what the Celtics equipment manager was trying to say, that the bad luck represented by this number is almost the same as everything the Celtics have encountered since 1986.

Len Bias, who was regarded by Reid Auerbach as Bird's successor, died suddenly of drug addiction less than two days after being drafted by the Celtics. He was another player who gave Jordan four hits in a single game. Reggie Lewis, Bird's successor, died suddenly on the court due to a heart problem. He came with the aura of God and was determined to make great achievements in Boston. Rick Pitino, who erased Auerbach's mark, experienced three humiliating seasons. He left behind a frequently read "That Door" ([-]) speech and left in despair. Paul Pierce, the leader of the team, was almost stabbed to death in a nightclub last year.
Yu Fei is not interested in the Celtics' miserable history since the mid-80s.

If he knew the details, as a half-Seattle man, he would say that Green Kai is a good guy.

As the saying goes, those who do evil will be punished by death. Auerbach calculated all his plans and took the second pick from the SuperSonics in 1986. He finally selected Len Bias and made the Celtics suffer from it ever since. Cursed.

Putting on the white team's jersey, Yu Fei began to run in with his teammates.

Since there was no point guard in the team, Yu Fei decided to take turns with Roy as the point guard, with Joe Johnson playing the third position, Gerald Wallace playing the fourth position, and Jack Dawson playing the fifth position.

Through pre-match testing, Yu Fei discovered that Gerald Wallace had no ability to attack independently.

Although Wallace claimed that his three-point shooting percentage in college was close to [-]%.

But Yu Fei didn't believe it, because even in normal shooting practice, his shooting percentage was less than [-]%.

With this kind of accuracy in practice, can you achieve a hit rate close to [-]% in actual combat?

Yu Fei had no data to verify his judgment, but he was right.

In Gerald Wallace's freshman season, he took 1.8 three-pointers per game and hit 0.3, with a shooting percentage of a terrifying 17%. Multiplying this data by two would almost reach the NBA average.

With such accuracy, expecting him to open up space is just a dream.

Fortunately, the white team has Roy and Johnson, two shooters with outside shooting capabilities. Yu Fei can also shoot one shot himself. Although the accuracy is not as good as that of Wallace, it is much better than Wallace.

After the warm-up, the competition began.

The black and white teams line up around the center circle, and the black team looks stronger because they have three potential lottery picks.

They are Eddie Griffin, Kedrick Brown (SG/SF) and Rodney White (SF).

Judging from major draft simulations, these three are all solid top ten candidates.

Griffin, in particular, was selected in the top five of mock drafts on multiple lists.

The news that Griffin declined the Rockets' trial invitation surprised many people. This is an extreme confidence in his draft prospects.

Therefore, his acceptance of the Celtics' trial invitation was beyond many people's expectations.

Because although the Celtics have two lottery picks, their picks are not much better than the Rockets, No. 11 in the first round and No. [-] in the first round respectively.

"You don't want to jump the ball?"

Griffin was surprised to see Yu Fei standing on the edge like a defender.

"Do you really want to jump the ball with me?" Yu Fei could see Griffin's hostility.

To be honest, he is more hostile to Griffin.

Ever since Yu Fei was elected as the MVP of the ABCD training camp, people have been comparing him to Griffin, and those people have done so from the standpoint of "Griffin is better."

Who wants to be compared and compared with others all day long and then insist that he can't compare?
The two of them have never fought against each other, so why do you say he can't compete?

Today is a chance for Yu Fei.

In fact, this is also the reason why Eddie Griffin "condescended" to come to Boston for a trial training. He wanted to have a chance with Yu Fei, and by the way, he used actions to tell everyone not to compare him with Yu Fei. Yu Fei is not worthy. .

Griffin heard that Yu Fei played center in high school, but now he doesn't dare to jump the ball with him. Isn't this showing weakness?
"Hmph, just run away. When I dunk on your head, I hope you can find a proper angle to avoid it!"

The person in charge of jumping balls on Yu Fei's side is Wallace. The real center Jack Dawson is not only short in stature, but also not good at jumping.

In his words, he is good at blocking, pick-and-roll, mid-range shooting and low-post single defense.

Yu Fei thought at first that he might be a player like Hayes. When he heard that Dawson was from D2, he came to the conclusion that this was at most a Hayes who had shooting but was bankrupt in other aspects.

As expected, Griffin won the ball for the black team and chose the low post with force.

Dawson's defensive posture looked okay, but after Griffin got the ball, he stepped back and shot overhand.

2 is better than 0
There was nothing Dawson could do, his talent was crushed.

"After this game, I won't hear anyone say you're a pornographic version of me again," Griffin said arrogantly, "I've had enough of that shit!"

What kind of outrageous theory of victim guilt is this?

Yu Fei is the one who is deeply troubled. What does Griffin have?He is still a top-five pick in the eyes of many people. Regardless of Yu Fei or not, he is the market leader at this position.Yu Fei, on the other hand, is constantly underestimated because of Griffin's existence. Why?Just because this bastard with questionable character managed 42 points and 18 rebounds on 11% shooting from a mediocre college with a [-]% winning rate?
It’s really frustrating!

Yu Fei dribbled the ball past half court. Before anyone arrived, he called Dawson to come out for a pick-and-roll.

The biggest difference between Griffin and the insiders Yu Fei had previously trained in the military is that his athletic ability and agility are enough for him to switch to guard outside players.

Just when Griffin switched defenses to deal with Yu Fei and wanted to start a one-on-one match in advance, Yu Fei made a no-look pass and gave the ball to Dawson at the free throw line.

Yu Fei has confidence in Dawson's shooting. During the previous warm-up, he never missed a shot from the free throw line.

Now, he's at the free throw line.

Dawson collected the ball and shot.

"Shh!"

"Do you think this defense will make the Celtics coaches doubt your defensive IQ?" Yu Fei teased.

Griffin scolded: "You're a weakling who only knows how to pass the ball!"

"Are you in a hurry? Don't be in a hurry, it's just the beginning." Yu Fei chuckled and stepped back to defend.

Then, Yu Fei suddenly opened his position and released Rodney White, who was facing him.

This time it was Yu Fei's lack of understanding of White's technical characteristics.

As soon as Griffin saw that Yu Fei was trying to double-team, he passed the ball.

White got the ball from the outside, got up and shot, and made a hollow hit.

White is considered a safe stock in this draft. He basically cannot enter the top five or fall out of the top ten. Therefore, he actively participates in trials with all teams. As long as his performance is stable, there will be no problems.

At the current level of competition, White can play inside and shoot outside. He is tall and has long arms, and has obvious defensive influence.

Yu Fei decided to switch defenses with Dawson before the game started.

But looking at it now, if Dawson is asked to guard White, can he guard him?

Maybe it will be even worse.

Unless they can find some of White's technical weaknesses on the court for Dawson to target, this defensive matchup is really difficult to change.

Therefore, Yu Fei chose to engage in more off-ball confrontations with White, and possession of the ball was given to Roy.

As the most underrated player on the court, Roy used his skillful left-handed dribbling to fool the Celtics coaching staff into thinking he was left-handed until he used a deft behind-the-back deflection to shake off his defender and score with a right-handed jumper. At that time, everyone suddenly realized.

It turns out that he is not left-handed, but that his left hand is so proficient that it is almost indistinguishable from his dominant hand.

"Fry Yu and Eddie Griffin are both players that are difficult for us to reach, but" Jim O'Brien stared at Roy, "What's the situation with that young man?"

The scout shook his head and said: "There is no market. He is a high school student from Washington State. Before graduation, there was no mainstream list that ranked him in the top 100 in the United States."

O'Brien couldn't help but ask himself, was it just a flash of inspiration?

Then, another player from the black team started to exert force.

Kedrick Brown singled out Joe Johnson. Both players were favored by the Celtics. Now they faced off directly on the court. Brown used his physical advantage to blast away Johnson's defense and rush to the basket to score.

Immediately afterwards came Yu Fei's second bright spot since the start of the game.

First call Joe Johnson's pick-and-roll, and then slow down the breakthrough rhythm to lure the opponent to double-team.

The moment before the pinch was formed, the ball had flown away from Yu Fei's fingertips and rolled towards Joe Johnson's palm.

Joe Johnson hit the target immediately and responded with an open three-pointer.

"That boy gave me a completely different feeling than Lamar Odom." O'Brien said, "Lamar is like a bust of Magic, only about 30% of Magic's level, and Frye, he has It doesn’t feel like a magician.”

The assistant coaches and scouts said nothing. They all knew that O'Brien had such a talkative style.

When Yu Fei blocked Kedrick Brown's breakthrough layup 11 seconds later, O'Brien said: "This kid is so special. I don't think there is a development template suitable for him in the history of the NBA."

"He is the future."

⑴Pitino’s infamous “That Door” speech: Larry Bird will never walk out of that door again (referring to the locker room door), fans.Kevin McHale is never going to walk out of that door again, and Robert Parish is never going to walk out of that door again.Moreover, even if they come back, they will be old men.We are a young, passionate, hard-working team now (the Celtics were 24-35 at the time) and we will get better.People don't realize this.Once you realize these three are not coming back, the city will be fine.

(End of this chapter)