When pride still matters

Chapter 432 Hate loneliness
Chapter 432 I hate being alone

Although the NBA season has ended, the marketing surrounding Yu Fei has just begun.

In the first week of July, Sports Illustrated predicted that Yu Fei would surpass Michael Phelps, Tiger Woods, Tom Brady and others to become the best athlete of the year.

Jack McCallum previewed his autobiography of Yu Fei to be published next summer with a long article "Running Wild with Fry Yu".

Yu Fei-related memorabilia sold by the Sonics is the best-selling item in the sports world.

Sponsors followed.

Even Hollywood directors want to take advantage of his limelight and want to give him a prominent role in their movies.

"No time, I have an important mission in Las Vegas."

Just a few days after Yu Fei clarified to gossip reporters that he was about to enter Hollywood, paparazzi in the casino first photographed him having a close relationship with a Canadian actress, Rachelle Lefevre.

“We’re still getting to know each other,” Rachel said.

This means they can become free agents again in the summer of 2010.

Now, his name is literally everywhere.

In order to get closer to Yu Fei, some sponsors will take the initiative to please Brown, thereby opening up channels for contact with Yu Fei.

On the court, he is the invincible ultimate winner. When he comes to the national team, he is also a recognized leader. He and Anthony form the "Night Club Alliance". However, although they go to nightclubs together, Anthony and the others are only flesh and blood, and they have nothing to do with Yu Fei. Those who are constantly entangled are either Hollywood stars or celebrities from pornographic magazines.

Yu Fei's stay in Seattle caused some waves in the basketball world, but it was not surprising. However, the media still wants to praise his loyalty to his hometown.

But Yu Fei did this just to seek flexibility, while Brown actually refused a five-year, $5 million contract and signed a three-year, $4000 million mid-level contract.

There is a detail in the new contracts of Yu Fei and Brown, that is, the last year is a player option.

The entertainment version has him, and the serious version also has him.

This is Yu Fei's response to his spending the night with Diola.

Brown holds multiple sponsorship contracts through Yu Fei's relationship, and his income from endorsement fees alone exceeds his playing salary.

This seems to imply that they may move to the next step at any time.

"Is Frye's so-called great mission to change a girlfriend every day in the casino?"

Anthony said with envy: "Only when you have seen Da Fei's life with your own eyes can you know how true it is that there is a class gap between stars. I think I am no worse than anyone else, but in the eyes of others, Da Fei is Flying is a hundred times more attractive than me."

A few days later, the SuperSonics announced that they had reached a three-year contract extension with Yu Fei and Kwame Brown.

Although he lost a little salary, Brown and Yu Fei got too close.

Therefore, he knows very well how important being bound to Yu Fei is to his career.

Yu Fei's presence and influence forced the rest of Team USA to adapt to their new role - a shrouded supporting role.

A week later, Yu Fei and the famous porn star Diora Baird entered a hotel to spend the night together and were photographed by paparazzi.

The media banter elicited no response.

"This is my private matter, no comment."

Of course, all this is with Yu Fei's tacit approval.

Old K said that the dream team has no core, but this is wrong.

Yu Fei is the core.

Kobe wanted to continue his struggle in the Western Conference Finals in Las Vegas, but he was alone and didn't have many helpers.

Yu Fei's position has become more and more stable and cannot be shaken.

This forced Kobe to concentrate on training.

When Yu Fei and the others went to the nightclub to have fun, Kobe would practice alone, but there seemed to be no end to these depressing days, and there would be no change in the status quo.

Then, LeBron James in Cleveland extended an invitation to Kobe.

In Chris City, James owns a bicycle manufacturing company. In order to promote the company, he holds a bicycle marathon in the city every year and invites many NBA players.

This year, he followed Nike's wishes and invited Kobe Bryant.

This is a place where Kobe can temporarily stay away from his worries. He directly asked for two days of leave from Old K.

Old K agreed.

The contact between James and Kobe symbolizes the change of the "King without King" marketing strategy that Nike has always pursued.

In the past, due to the high popularity of both Kobe and James, in order to prevent the two sides from conflicting in popularity, Nike would not only pit the two against each other in terms of hype, but also lead fans to attack each other.

However, Yu Fei's success has unified the fan market, and now basketball fans are only divided into Yu Fei fans and other fans. Seeing that James' popularity is being pushed further and further away, Nike can only change its strategy. Since individuals can't compare, they will compare. Through the superposition of popularity, they can also generate enough fans to compete with Yu Fei.

When Kobe arrived, James was surrounded by a lot of things.

He has commercials to shoot and an autobiographical book about his high school years with Vanity Fair writer Buzz Bissinger.

Autobiographies of sports stars have always followed the same pattern. A writer interviews a large number of relevant people, masters the so-called first-hand information and integrates it into the book.

The arrival of Kobe Bryant gave Bissinger an extra perspective.

Bissinger wanted to know what Kobe thought of James.

"Great man." Kobe actually didn't know much about James, "No need to say more."

Bissinger also tried to interview James' mother. But although Zhan's mother agreed for her son's sake, she was very uncooperative during the interview and was unable to provide valuable clues at all.

As James and Kobe happily rode their bikes together in downtown Cleveland, Bissinger had an image in his mind.

The greatest No. 23 and No. 24 in basketball have come together. If they join forces, can they fight against the unique No. 44?

But if you think about it, this is almost impossible to happen.

James proclaimed himself king, showing that he wanted to be the star wherever he went. In fact, in the eyes of writers represented by Bissinger, this is the reason why James and his dear eldest brother broke off.

The king cannot always lie at the feet of the chosen one.

If this is the Chosen One's plan, then there will be a bloody fight.

And what about Kobe? He is the most famous "viper" of our time. When a person complacently uses the nickname Black Mamba, you know he is not easy to get along with. In fact, everyone with common sense knew that Kobe would remain the boss until he retired. This is the honor he earned by personally forcing O'Neal away.

Of course, if anyone wants to believe that Kobe forced O'Neal away not to become the boss, but because he couldn't understand the other party's style, that's fine. However, as long as you are a normal person, you should know that Kobe wanted to force O'Neal away at the risk of ruining his reputation. In the end, he wanted to sit in that position for himself, instead of kneeling down and licking the King's shoes a few years later.

Just as James and Kobe were riding their bicycles happily, the famous "Four Horsemen" around James also came.

Maverick Carter, Randy Mims and Rich Paul.

They are the closest people in the world besides James' mother, wife and children.

If Bissinger wants to write a convincing history of James' high school upbringing, they are the interviewees not to be missed.

"You know, there's no question that LeBron would be successful without our help, but do you know why we're still here?" said Maverick Carter, the eldest of the Four Horsemen. , “Because LeBron hates being alone.”

It was an answer that shocked Bissinger.

It exposes some of James' weaknesses and explains many of James' actions.

Bissinger looked back at James, who had already ridden far away.

He must really hope to have a helper as good as Kobe around him, just like the help provided by the Four Horsemen off the court.

Bissinger suddenly remembered the current Cavaliers.

This is James' one-man team. The Cavaliers' signings have not brought any help. Five years later, LeBron is still fighting alone.

For Cleveland, the King's Judgment was coming.

The 2008-09 season will be James' contract year.

Will he leave?
Before today, Bissinger didn't know the answer.

But now, he already had a definite answer in his heart.

Las Vegas, Marriott Hotel
Yu Fei sat shirtless on the bed, looking at the woman in front of him who was gradually putting on clothes with blurred eyes.

"You don't look happy with me."

said the woman.

"No, I'm just a little bored."

Yu Fei replied.

"Bored?" The other party sneered, "After I forgive you for going behind my back to find Bichi from the peach magazine, you said you were bored?"

"Rachel, you know that's not what I meant."

The woman asked back, "How do you stop being bored?"

"During the competition." To be precise, it was when the opponent was completely defeated. Even if there was only one person crawling in front of him, Yu Fei would not feel bored. "That's good, though. I mean, it's a good night."

After a while, she left, and Yu Fei's thoughts flew to the sky again, as if the woman named Rachel Lefevre had never been here.

(End of this chapter)