When pride still matters

Chapter 496 Final Advice
In the end, Dirk Nowitzki undoubtedly became this year's AMVP with 39 points, 15 rebounds and 5 assists.

It's a perfect outcome for Dallas.

They organized the largest stadium in the area to host the All-Star Game, and then they really made a fortune. Nearly 100,000 people came to watch the game. The immediate consumption behind this was immeasurable. Now, Dallas' hero is the star of stars, and what better outcome could there be?

"I don't like to see star players at home getting God-like treatment. We are all voted by the fans to be All-Stars and we have the same opportunity, but if someone is at home, we have to give all the flowers. Give it to him. What’s the point? If you give Kevin Durant the same opportunity, he will be AMVP too!”

No. 1 whistleblower Bill Simmons wrote on Twitter.

The All-Star Game is over, and the players will be greeted by the final 1/3 of the season and the exciting trade deadline.

Previously, the trade between the Spurs and the 76ers has created a push, forcing teams that can become better to find ways to strengthen.

When the Lakers put Andrew Bynum in the trade option to strengthen the fourth position, the Nuggets were immediately interested.

However, the Nuggets are not the only team that is eyeing Bynum.

There is a paradox surrounding Bynum in the current NBA.

Scouts believe Bynum will be the next Jermaine O'Neal - an instant star once he breaks away from the Lakers' current structure and gains tactical status and freedom of movement on the court.

This is because Bynum has shown a Shaquille O'Neal-like inside presence in his limited playing time. His talent is so dazzling that it is difficult to ignore, but in the Lakers, he must become a supporting role in the triangle offense. . Because the Lakers have Kobe, James, and Marc Gasol, who is far smarter than him, they don't need a stupid young man to wield his talent in the low post.

Why is it a paradox? Because there are many signs that Bynum cares more about small interests outside the court than becoming another O'Neal. He has a passive personality and needs people to push forward, but if you push too hard, He will be ruined.

Such a personality is inherently unlikely to succeed on the basketball court.

But no one was open-minded. Even Yu Fei only knew that Bynum seemed to be a great hairstylist, but other than that, he was very confused about his popularity in the trading market.

As long as the Lakers are willing to trade Bynum, they will almost certainly get a fourth star.

This is why Kobe said after the All-Star Game: "I can't wait to get back to the real game!"

Even the people who value the All-Star Game the most in history find the All-Star Game boring, which shows how much they are looking forward to the upcoming new players.

If the Lakers get a fourth star, they'll have some advantages over a Sonics team that's losing Brandon Roy, which could lead to greater scrutiny of two teams destined to battle each other in the playoffs. Much expectation.

But all of this will have nothing to do with George Karl.

After the game, Karl was waiting for Yu Fei in the corridor.

He wants to tell the other party his test results.

Obviously, Yu Fei's legend is about to reach the most important page. The decisive battle between his chosen empire and the evil empire in Los Angeles will become the most important sports story in the past ten years and the next ten years. Once he defeats the evil empire, If he wins his sixth championship, then the GOAT controversy will dissipate. Whether it is in terms of numbers or dominance, his record of seven championships in eight years will put him on the throne.

But he, the person who helped Yu Fei get to this point, couldn't continue.

This is so unfair.

However, Karl did not have such negative emotions.

He misses the Spanish restaurant not far from Seattle Center, where shrimp parmigiana was his go-to dish, paired with a cold glass of Coles wine, and where he could enjoy a nice meal on vacation. He also misses Tony's in St. Louis, where crab and tomato pie and lasagna are out of this world.

And New York. Whenever they go to New York to play a game, if time permits, Karl and Yu Fei will go to the Brazilian restaurant of Halski Kitchen to eat barbecue. Yu Fei believes that the barbecue and rice there are better than the pork chop rice. What Carl liked most was the tall, beautiful waiters in the restaurant who would walk around the table holding long metal kebab skewers, letting the meat slide neatly onto the plate.

For Carr, the biggest blessing that decades of coaching experience has brought him is that he can enjoy the best food in the world every day. As long as he wants, he can taste delicious food from all over the country. The delicious food suddenly turned into a food show that kept replaying on a loop in his mind.

Until Yu Fei's arrival, Carl returned to reality.

He knew that the life of enjoying delicious food as an unknown gourmet, the most memorable part of his life, was over.

"George, you should really see the expression on Kevin's face after he missed the AMVP." Yu Fei joked and walked towards Carl, "He looks like someone has stolen 1000 million US dollars!"

Karl feels sorry for Durant, that young man worked hard tonight and he deserves AMVP.

However, he and Yu Fei tried their best.

And, that could be a good thing for Seattle.

AMVP may only be regarded as an honor the size of a fly's leg among NBA honors, but even such a small honor will trigger competition. If Durant gets him tonight, will he feel satisfied?
No, this is just like actresses in the Japanese dark world. Fans expect them to try as many things as possible until there are no limits anymore. This desire will not be reduced by a little satisfaction.

Durant failed to complete his first experience of MVP. This is his misfortune, but it may be the Sonics' luck.

"This is Dallas after all." Karl said with a smile, "Dirk is the one everyone expects."

Yu Fei couldn't deny that Durant was really unlucky tonight.

Later, Yu Fei asked: "George, don't you want to see me for something?"

Karl didn't intend to hide it. He hoped that Yu Fei would be the first person in the team to know about it.

"At the beginning of the year, I got a little bump on my neck," Carr said.

Yu Fei nodded: "I heard you say it."

No one took it seriously because Carl was old and didn't exercise much. Like other fat Americans, it was not surprising that his body was bloated due to excess fat.

"I went for a test before coming to Dallas and got the results today." Karl's words were calm, as if this matter was not worth mentioning. "It's throat cancer."

Yu Fei looked at him in disbelief.

It's like a good friend who has worked with you for many years has just come out of the annual carnival and is about to share what happened today, but the other person suddenly becomes serious and says to you: "I might die."

Yu Fei was not mentally prepared.

He remembered that Carl had prostate cancer a few years ago, but unexpectedly, he now had throat cancer.

"You'll be fine, right?" Yu Fei asked.

"It's hard to say," Carl said. "The doctor said that if everything goes well, my survival rate in the next five years is probably between 30% and 50%."

At this point, Karl made a joke: "It's like KD's three-point shooting percentage tonight."

Now that the condition has been established, a few things are certain.

Carr won't be able to return, at least this season.

For the Sonics, who are aiming for three consecutive championships, this is tantamount to a bolt from the blue.

Many media people believe that the coach is not important, the key is the players. But, those same people said the same thing, George Carle was important to Flying Empire.

The two have worked together for eight years since 2002.

From Milwaukee to Team USA to Seattle, these eight years of tacit understanding, mutual understanding, and mutual support, Karl only needs to take a look at Yu Fei's expression to know how he is feeling, and then look at his offense to roughly know what Yu Fei's mood is. status of the day.

Whenever Yu Fei tends to lose control on the court, Karl will also call a timeout in time.

He was recognized as a "butler", a nanny who had numerous positive impacts on Fei but never threatened Fei's privileged position above the rest of the team.

A person who can hold a thigh but has limited talents is called Kwame Brown.

If Karl is able to hug his thighs and have a significant impact on the game, he will receive more respect.

For example, when Karl helped Durant grab the AMVP tonight, we can see that his on-the-spot micromanaging is already quite clever. He simply disrupted the order of appearance of James and Yu Fei, so that the two of them could stagger and fight on their own. Effect.

Moreover, even if the person involved knew that Karl had this intention, he could not say anything because Karl's reasons were legitimate.

Even more difficult than losing Karl was finding his successor.

This can almost only be selected from Karl's coaching staff, because only the original team can retain the system. Otherwise, if a somewhat clever control freak like Paul Westhead (1) is recruited, not only will he be in trouble with Yu Fei A fierce conflict will also lead to the destruction of the Supersonic Empire.

At this time, Yu Fei was in a state of confusion, and the good mood that appeared during the All-Star Weekend had disappeared without a trace.

He frantically recalled information about George Karl from his previous life, but he couldn't think of anything. Because at that time, Karl had already faded away from the front line of basketball. But this will make Yu Fei think of bad things - will Carl?

"When are you going to announce this?"

Yu Fei asked.

"the day after tomorrow."

"Is there anything else you want to do?"

"Of course," Carl said. "Before I receive treatment, I want to have one last big meal. I have made an appointment with Chef Semensma of the Chinatown restaurant (ChoLon)."

"I'll go with you."

Two days later

The team regrouped and Carr announced his condition to the team at the Furtado Center.

This immediately triggered various fluctuations within Supersonic.

General manager Sam Presti had difficulty controlling his emotions. He knew better than anyone how rare it was to have an experienced coach like Karl who got along extremely well with Yu Fei.

It's almost impossible to find.

It was impossible for them to find a replacement for Karl, both in terms of ability and tacit understanding with Yu Fei.

Owner Clay Bennett publicly promised that Karl would always be a member of the SuperSonics and that his existing coaching contract would be converted into a formal management contract. If he recovers in the future, he can return to the coaching staff at any time. . Afterwards, everyone expressed their blessings to Karl one by one.

Durant's statement was the most touching. He thanked Karl with red eyes and spent five minutes talking about what Karl meant to him.

At that scene, even Yu Fei, who had already known the news, almost couldn't hold back his tear ducts.

This was the team's lowest day since Yu Fei transferred to the SuperSonics in the summer of 2007.

After everyone dispersed, the top man regained his senses.

Bennett approached Presti and asked, "Who should we put in George's job?"

"First hold a press conference to announce this to the media," Presti said. "After that, it's best to ask Frye for his opinion."

Bennett nodded heavily: "Yes, the players know better than us who is the better coach!"

Presti admired his boss' ability to put it so nicely that "we can't replace Karl without Frye's nod."

In the afternoon, the Sonics held a formal press conference for Carr.

"Painful chemotherapy is inevitable, and now my biggest wish is to still be able to help the team during the treatment process." Karl said, "I firmly believe that the SuperSonics are a dynasty-level team, no matter who comes Take over my job and I will provide corresponding help.”

As soon as the news came out, the outside world was shocked.

Yu Fei’s mouthpiece Mark Stein sadly said on ESPN: “This is like Michael Jordan losing Phil Jackson in 1998!”

That night, Yu Fei and Carl went to a Chinatown restaurant together.

Carl ordered ginger mustard pot stickers, bacon fried rice, lobster galette, and braised lamb shank. All are his favorites.

After the meal was served, the restaurant’s chef, award-winning Michelin chef Lon Symensma, came over: “George, Fry, is everything okay?”

Apparently, he watched today's news.

"Couldn't be better, Ron." George took a bite of the lamb leg. "I'll never forget the taste."

Simonsma nodded and said, "Use slowly."

Yu Fei ate the steak without saying a word until Karl said: "Fry, eat more vegetables."

Yu Fei looked at him puzzled.

"My poor diet is to blame for my disease," Carl said. "If you don't want to get this damn disease at my age, you'd better listen to me."

Yu Fei picked up a piece of broccoli with a knife and fork, "It's up to you."

Later, while they were dining, they talked about the past. Carl said that there was no such good restaurant in Milwaukee back then.

Yu Fei admitted that this was one of the reasons why he left Milwaukee.

This made Carl laugh.

Yu Fei also smiled.

Mark Stein said losing Karl was like Jordan losing Jackson.

He didn't like the metaphor.

Of course, if we insist on using Jordan's deeds as an analogy, then Karl's departure may be more like Jordan's father being murdered in 1993.

His mother has been running a business in DC for a long time, and he only has Karl as an elder. He has played the role of both mentor and father by his side in the past eight years. When he can't control his temper, Karl can coax him. When his on-the-spot judgment was wrong, Carr's timeouts always worked.

Carr is still the only one who knows how he got to Milwaukee, his incredible rise, how he came from Milwaukee to Seattle, how he went from America's scum to America's hero.

Now, he must stop here.

Carl's final piece of advice is to eat more vegetables.

Yu Fei accepted.

After that, Carl officially left his post, and Presti found Yu Fei and asked him what he thought of the new coach.

Yu Fei is opposed to recruiting a new coach from the outside.

He prefers to pick a successor from Karl's coaching staff, so that if Karl wants to return in the future, it will be easier for the team to do so.

Therefore, the SuperSonics directly gave up recruiting new coaches from outside, and instead chose to select suitable candidates from Karl's coaching staff.

Cal’s coaching staff is huge.

However, there were only four people who really helped Carr in coaching.

Ron Adams, who has followed Karl for many years, was poached by the Warriors last season. Now, the most senior assistant coach is defensive coach Tim Grgurich. He is Karl's hometown in Pittsburgh and has played in college basketball. Coaching experience, and created the Amoeba defense that is now popular in college and the NBA.

His problem is that he only knows defense, and all offensive points depend on the players themselves. This characteristic destined him to only serve as a defensive coach in the NBA.

Then there is John Welch, who is mainly responsible for statistical work, and his offensive and defensive tactical reserves are not enough to be a head coach.

The remaining half are players.

One is NBA star Adrian Dantley. While he serves as an assistant coach next to Karl, his main job is to be responsible for the offensive training of the players.

Then there is Tyronn Lue, who was trained intensively by Karl.

Karl believes that Lu is a talent that can be developed, but no matter how talented he is, he was still a player last season. He has only taken over the assistant coaching job for half a season. Can he be the coach?

The most important thing is that Lu is not yet 33 years old.

Can a young man who is young, has no strong resume, no systematic understanding of techniques and tactics, and no knowledge of the system framework, take over Karl's Sonics team?

Looking at Carl's coaching staff list, Presti felt dizzy.

No matter who you choose, you feel like you are destroying yourself.

In the end, the decision came to Yu Fei.

Presti couldn't make a decision.

This decision can only be made by Yu Fei.

Of these four, who do you want to lead the team?
Presti thought that Yu Fei would choose Tim Grgulic, who was the most experienced and mature, and also had the closest relationship with Karl.

However, Yu Fei actually said the name of Tyronn Lu in a gesture of not shying away from relatives.

Presti panicked.

"Tylen is too young," Presti said. "He doesn't have the ability to coach yet."

Yu Fei said: "Others will help him."

This is precisely the key reason why Presti believes Lue cannot become a head coach.

"If Tyron becomes the head coach, I don't think the other assistant coaches will help because each of them is more qualified to be the head coach than Tyron."

Yu Fei smiled and said: "The others I refer to are other players below me."

Presti understood.

It's not who becomes the coach that matters, it's who the players want to be their coach.

Yu Fei represents other players here and does not want to use his personal will to override the team. He was just stating the fact that if the players vote for the coach themselves, Tyronn Lue will definitely become the assistant coach with the most votes.

There was no special reason, Lu just won through popularity.

That's why Carr thinks he has the potential to be a good coach.

The popularity of being able to mingle with everyone is rare.

At this moment, the gears of Tyronn Lue's life began to turn.

His opportunity should have come in 2016. For a novice coach, six years of preparation time is neither too much nor too little. However, he only participated in the assistant coaching job for half a season and was pushed to the most important coaching position in the NBA. , this is a hell-level test for any novice coach.

Tyronn Lue had no choice. He only knew that when the opportunity came, he had to seize it.

He accepted the job for which he was chosen.

That day, he went to find George Karl and invited other assistants to have dinner. That night, he told the assistants the news of his selection. Everyone had complicated expressions. Karl enlightened him, and Lu also kept a low profile.

The SuperSonics coaching staff reached a consensus this night that they must keep the fruits of victory left by Karl. No matter who is in charge of the coach, they must ultimately move forward as a team.

On February 2, SuperSonics young coach Tyronn Lue led the team to officially hit the road.

It was the first game of his coaching career, and the opponent was the San Antonio Spurs.

⑴ In the 80s, the coach of the Lakers became jealous of the praise that Magic received during the championship season and the huge contract of 20 million US dollars in 2500 years. In the next two seasons, he took advantage of Magic's injury and switched to positional warfare. He refused to change until Magic came back. Determined to use your own routine to win. As a result, he gave up the opportunity to defend the title in 81 and was beaten away by the magician Gong in 82.

(End of this chapter)