When pride still matters

Chapter 466 The whole world is the enemy
James said that he had encountered worse things in Las Vegas, thereby implying that what Yu Fei did to him was even worse than what happened tonight.

But it was too early for him to speak.

When something extraordinary happens, it's not just the fans who need time to accept him, but also those who control the public opinion who can stir up the storm.

July is the most important month of the offseason for the NBA. They not only complete the finishing work of last season (championship parade) this month, but also hold various meetings to prepare for next season, as well as the summer league, so that Each team tests the quality of the newcomers they have just selected.

However, James' "decision" suddenly became the theme of this month.

David Stern's efforts to secretly prevent the special from happening were in vain, and the results were as bad as he imagined, and he had to come out and explain himself.

"I have a few things to say about LeBron leaving Cleveland. First of all, he certainly has the right to make this decision. I think he is both a great player and a very good person. If he had consulted beforehand, My advice, I would probably advise him to notify Cleveland earlier even if he didn't announce where he was going so we could avoid this situation. I would also advise him not to make the show known as "The Decision". Think he was given the wrong advice in this regard. His honesty and integrity were evident, but the decision was ill-advised and poorly executed. People got our input before it aired."

Professional media people keenly felt that Stern made a series of subtle criticisms of James.

It can be seen from this that the alliance has a negative view of the "decision".

This is normal, just like when Yu Fei signed a short-term contract and completely disrupted the contract renewal method of NBA rookies, James' "decision" directly challenged the principle of "GM builds the team and the players play", let alone the league at its peak. The second person joined forces with the third person in the alliance.

This incident greatly disappointed Jordan, who had always regarded James as his successor.

Of course he hopes James defeats Yu Fei, but not in this way.

It's like he joined the Trail Blazers after 1990 and beat the Pistons. Is there any merit in that?

"In hindsight, I never would have called Larry, I would never have called Maggie and said, 'Hey, let's make a team together,'" Jordan said at a celebrity event in Nevada After the golf game, he said, "But... times have changed. I wouldn't say it's a bad thing, but if it were me, I wouldn't do it."

TNT's Charles Barkley followed.

"I'm not going to say that LeBron is not the next Michael Jordan. Because LeBron's goal has always been Frye." Barkley commented loudly on the TNT show, "But he did something that Frye would never do. What would Frye do? He would stay home and wait for Chris Bosh to ask him to lead him to win a ring. One way, at this point, he became the Chris Bosh of Kobe!"

First there was official criticism, then denial from celebrities who had always been optimistic about him, and now media people led by Buckley are trying to gain popularity on the show - of course, the audience likes to watch it.

Then the sportswriters, headed by Bill Simmons, came on the scene.

As the No. 1 sportswriter of our time, Simmons's views on this matter have received great attention.

Simmons responded to the expectations of the outside world and wrote a long article eloquently, analyzing James' "decision" like a psychologist.

There are many comments that are very personal to him.

"LeBron was faced with one of the biggest decisions in sports history. He had options in front of him: 'win' (Chicago), loyalty (Cleveland), and a chance at eternity (New York). But I never expected that. His choice was 'HELP!!' Maybe we were putting LeBron in the wrong role from the beginning, but he wasn't. He is not a magician. You can't expect him to end a ten-year feud with a sky hook when facing the enemy of his life. He always longs for a Kobe Bryant who can bear great responsibility for him."

Simmons understands James' choice very well. He believes that this is a choice that brings James extremely close to victory.

But in the end, as a media person who considers himself a fan, he wrote from the standpoint of the fans: "This is LeBron James's final choice. Not Miami, not Cleveland, not Chicago, but the West Coast. This is himself. That's right. As someone who is over 24 years old, I can't blame him, but as someone who loves basketball, I can't forgive him."

As a sports writer, Simmons' advantage is that he can put into words the feelings that fans are thinking but cannot express in words.

In this case, he undoubtedly did.

His article resonated widely.

It also meant that those who had made a name for themselves in professional basketball circles through their written work began to attack James.

Official criticism, celebrity denials, media ridicule, and public opinion questioning—James' "decision" triggered the largest Internet violence in history.

Countless Yu Fei fans are not planning to let this opportunity pass.

They know the grudges between Yu Zhan.

Over the years, Yu Fei's overwhelming record has made his fans always condescending when facing James' fans.

No matter how staunch a fan you are, you can't face the fact of twenty-eight consecutive losses.

This time, with James' self-destruction truck-like "decision", Yu Fei fans swept the former's Twitter account.

Following James' first tweet, tens of thousands of fans called James "Coward Brown" in various humiliating ways.

Moreover, just calling James cowardly is considered to be of high quality.

Some low-quality people directly used the obscene photos of Delonte West and James' mother to humiliate their character: "Coward, you just don't want to recognize your stepfather!"

For half a month, James' camp could hardly breathe.

Nike, which is behind James, has no intention of fighting back.

This kind of "feat" that triggered the anger of the whole country is not something they can fight against.

The most ironic thing about the whole thing is that the people who had the most reason to hate James burned all souvenirs with the words "LeBron" and "James" on them, but they did not make further overreactions like the outside world.

Except for Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert's crazy announcement that the Cavaliers will win the championship earlier than James, there is almost no voice from Cleveland.

But in Yu Fei's radio show, this voice was very loud.

Some Cavaliers fans complained: "Frye, I implore you to stop the evil empire in Los Angeles! My hometown has been destroyed by LeBron. Our boss goes crazy in front of the media all day long. He actually vowed that the Cavaliers will succeed before LeBron." You are the only one who can do this, please, stop that devil!"

Yu Fei agreed to him.

What if Jenko joins forces? The SuperSonics have him, Durant, Roy, and the newly joined Bosh, and their lineup is much more reasonable.

The most unbearable thing is also the wail from Cavaliers fans.

"As a Cleveland native, I have experienced the failure of Cleveland sports my entire life. But failure was unforeseen, but that man's decision was a murder that was a year in advance! Even if it was my wife sleeping with my father I wouldn't be in such pain, but that guy, he spent a whole year promising he was going to stay, and then chopped off our heads on national live broadcast!"

"That's right." Yu Fei tried to empathize with Cavaliers fans, but he couldn't, so he had to end the day's program with a joke. "This is what Cavs fans are like now."

A lot has happened since July. James left Cleveland in a way that will be remembered forever. His purpose was to create a huge momentum, and he succeeded.

It's been a long time since he's been a staple in basketball.

But the price of being the protagonist is having the world hate him.

At the same time, Yu Fei and Reebok completed a five-year contract extension of US$5 million, and starting from this year, he will receive 2% of the profit dividend from the "Chosen One" brand every year. This is somewhat different from the 10% they originally planned. But it's also based on what's happening internally at Reebok.

At present, Reebok desperately needs the profits of "The Chosen One" to expand the company's scale. Therefore, although they did not give Yu Fei 15% of the profit dividend, they gave him 3% of the company's shares.

For the fly camp, this is an acceptable alternative.

It was also after Yu Fei renewed his contract with Reebok that he strongly recommended the company to sign Stephen Curry.

After weighing the deal, Reebok beat Under Armor to sign Curry at a price of $4 million over four years.

On signing day, Curry's agent Christian Laettner responded to those who believed that Reebok signed Curry because of his relationship with Yu Fei.

"Steph is the son of the future." Laettner said. "That's my opinion and Frye's opinion, but we can't force Reebok to spend 2000 million to sign a rookie who looks like a junior high school student. When Reebok I think you should congratulate Stephen for deciding to do this."

The biggest story of the summer is coming to an end, but free agency has just opened.

The Lakers, who have three stars, can only fill the roster with basic salaries, while the Heat, with two sub-max salary spaces, also need to make strong operations to appease Wade.

As for the defending champion SuperSonics, they suddenly fell silent after becoming the Evil Empire in Los Angeles.

The only news is the official signing of second-round pick Alonzo Gee.

"What we need most right now is patience," Sam Presti told those around him.

As the defending champion and with a well-organized lineup, the Sonics can certainly be patient, but the Heat cannot be patient.

Riley wanted Wade to recruit James, but was told that they didn't know each other that well. So, he had no choice but to go into battle himself and use the ring to stimulate the opponent.

Unexpectedly, James was determined to go to a team that looked more promising.

This ruined Riley's perfect plan for both the present and the future.

The Heat first competed with the Knicks for Amare Stoudemire.

As the only remaining top superstar on the free market, the Heat have two main advantages in recruiting Stoudemire.

The team has a better record than the Knicks, and Florida, where Miami is located, has no state taxes.

These two conditions are extremely attractive to players, but Stoudemire does not like the Heat's arrangements for him.

The Heat's must-have mentality is also reflected in the recruitment of Stoudemire.

Riley hopes that Stoudemire will come to the Heat to gain weight and play full-time center, so that Kevin Love's growth progress will not be affected. In contrast, Stoudemire prefers the Knicks, who don't require him to take a pay cut and allow him to play any position he wants.

Although the Knicks' plan to recruit James failed, New York's city base is still there. As long as the first person joins, more people will definitely follow.

Stoudemire made the decision, just like in his previous life, to sign with the Knicks.

Seeing that he was gone, the Heat turned to the Magic's wing core Hedo Turkoglu and restricted free agent Danny Granger and gave them a maximum salary without water.

This means that the Heat's plan has shifted from signing two stars to signing one star, even if the star's salary is higher than Wade, because this is what Wade wants.

The Bucks' cap space is on the verge of exploding.

Granger just finished his rookie contract.

As the core figure of the team, renewing his contract is the Bucks' primary plan.

However, the Bucks now have two max-salary contracts in Kevin Martin and Pau Gasol. In addition, since the Fei era, young people selected by Lin Lin have either signed a second contract or are facing renewal. season.

Granger is one of the representatives.

It is necessary to keep Granger, but the Bucks are not what they used to be. After Yu Fei left, they are no longer a team that can explode fans' gold coins.

Therefore, their choice is to increase revenue and reduce expenditure.

First, it matched the Heat's maximum salary offer for Granger, and then sent Lou Williams, who held a mid-level contract, to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for Wayne Ellington, a rookie drafted at the end of the first round this year by the Wolves, and two future players. A second-round pick.

In doing so, they significantly reduced their luxury tax next season and prepared themselves for LaMarcus Aldridge's extension next summer.

As for the Magic, they did not pursue Turkoglu to the end.

Carter's stellar performance in the playoffs and Howard's dominant defensive presence confused their judgment on Turkoglu.

They can think that a point guard like Nelson is enough to assume Turkoglu's organizational responsibilities. The only reason why they can't beat the Bucks is the lack of offensive firepower.

Therefore, they fully pursued Ray Allen, but lacked interest in following up on Turkoglu's offer.

In this way, the Heat and Magic are satisfied.

The Heat signed Hedo Turkoglu for four years and $4 million, and the Magic signed Ray Allen for four years and $6000 million.

Afterwards, Carlos Boozer signed with the Bulls, Shawn Marion moved to the Mavericks, and Jason Kidd followed Stoudemire's footsteps into Apple City. Most of the stars in the free market have their own deals.

Then it was Allen Iverson who caught the attention of teams.

Iverson is also a free agent, but he is no longer the superstar he was at the beginning of the century.

For strong teams, if Iverson is willing to serve as a substitute and be responsible for the offense of the second team, then he is a worthy target.

But Iverson was Iverson after all, and he refused to serve as a substitute.

In the end, only the Philadelphia 76ers, his old club, were willing to give him a basic salary to make money while harvesting gold coins from fans in the name of sentiment.

The Heat, who still have more than 10 million in salary space, have begun to become a troublemaker in the free market.

They attacked everywhere, and finally targeted Trevor Ariza, who had just finished his qualifying contract with the Bulls and became an unrestricted free agent after five years.

Back in Milwaukee, Ariza was known as "Fry's guy."

Due to being trained one-on-one by Yu Fei every day, his defense has improved greatly, and his shooting has also improved rapidly under the deliberate training of the coaching staff. But his growth stalled with the Bulls.

The Bulls before Derrick Rose arrived were a team with no priorities.

They don't know if their talent is enough to press the championship button, but they are not willing to hold on to the strength that can make the playoffs.

The internal chaos has compressed Ariza's room for growth. Although his defense has improved greatly over the years, his outside shooting percentage has remained at 33%, only an improvement of two percentage points compared to the Bucks.

But what Riley likes is his semi-3D attribute.

Ariza's growth from a rough guy who couldn't shoot to this stage shows that his shooting ability can be developed, and his defense at the third position is what the Heat urgently need.

The Bulls gave Ariza a two-year, $2 million contract, which was vulnerable to the Heat's four-year, $1200 million mid-level contract.

The Heat successfully signed Ariza.

This formed the starting lineup of Curry, Wade, Ariza, Turkoglu and Love.

One funny thing about this lineup is that Love is likely to become the Heat's starting center in the new season.

But putting this joke aside, Yu Fei, who is currently filming "Iron Man 2" in Hollywood, feels that the Heat have amazing potential.

There are four people in a lineup who can play ball. This is the embodiment of the all-round concept in the small ball era. Maybe the Heat will return to the Finals next season.

At the same time, the Lakers, who had become the evil empire, began to bleed.

After signing Hamilton, they acquired James through a sign-and-trade.

The existence of the Big Three made their salary space bloated. At this time, Andrew Bynum, who became a restricted free agent, began to accept outside offers.

It was Jim Buss's treasure trove, but the rise of Marc Gasol made Bynum embarrassed.

Last season has proven that the twin towers are ineffective against the Sonics, but Bynum is obviously not as good as Garrett in the triangle offense. Phil Jackson has already planned to push Artest to the fourth position next season. In this way, The Lakers don't even have a place for Bynum.

At this time, the Warriors gave Bynum a four-year, $4 million offer.

The Lakers can match it, but the price is that the luxury tax will become a scourge in the new season.

But the Lakers had no choice.

Bynum was kept, not because the team needed him, but because they couldn't give up such a high-quality asset.

If Bynum is let go, the Lakers will not be able to make any big moves in the free market with the salary space of the Lakers. Keeping Bynum will certainly bring a heavy burden to the finances, but Bynum is the best player in the NBA under the age of 25. One of the young players, he can be sold at a high price in the trading market in the future.

In the end, Buss made the decision, and the Lakers chose to match.

At this point, the Lakers' top six for the new season are basically determined, and the remaining positions need to be filled with only mid-level exceptions and basic salaries.

This evil empire in the eyes of the public has become an existence like 08 Green Kai.

The Sonics are strong, but they don't have that many positions, and the Lakers have become the promised land for veterans after Jenko joined forces.

Among the veterans in the free market, the Lakers gave the mid-level exception to Mike Bibby, who was eager to win a championship and was willing to accept a substitute role, and then used the basic salary to sign Eddie House and Big Z, who came to Los Angeles from following James.

After the Lakers' operation, ESPN's roaring king Stephen A. Smith jokingly said: "Why do we have to spend more than half a year to decide the ownership of the championship? I think these steps can be omitted and let the SuperSonics and Lakers fight directly. 81 games, whoever gets 41 wins first will be the championship in the new season.”

The Lakers have gradually raised the arms race to a surprising level through solid operations.

The SuperSonics also took action at this time.

The primary goal of Jermaine O'Neal, who has an appointment with Yu Fei, is not to win the championship on the SuperSonic Express, but to get a pension contract.

But after going round and round, no one was willing to provide him with a large pension contract.

So, he turned around and found Sonics.

The Sonics are willing to use the mid-level exception to sign him, provided that he accepts being a substitute. O'Brien has long lost the arrogance of a star. Since he can't get a big contract, why not get a ring on the bench?

"I think I can help on the court," O'Brien said, "but if you think I need to sit off the court, I will also cheer for my teammates."

"So, you accept this role?"

"why not?"

The Lakers and Heat surprised the free market, making it seem so natural and smooth for the Sonics to sign O'Brien.

The Seattle Times commented on O'Neal's signing: "In the end, the loyal Jermaine O'Neal came to the command of the chosen one."

That day, Yu Fei tweeted: "From now on, I have Michael, Jordan and O'Neal on my team. How long do you think it will take me to blow up the locker room?"

Kwame Brown quickly left a message on Twitter: "I have something I don't know whether to say or not."

PS: Two in one, too lazy to separate chapters.

(End of this chapter)