When pride still matters

Chapter 505 We are at our best

Yu Fei and Durant's conversation was limited to the two of them.

But its significance to the Supersonics goes beyond just the two of them.

When they were talking about this, other players and coaching staff were present, but everyone pretended to be busy with their own things, as if a group of low-level players did not understand the thinking of high-level players. They ignored the conversation between Yu and Du and acted like they were busy.

Their body language says: Sorry, I can't hear what you are saying.

But appearing to not care doesn’t mean you can really ignore it.

Yu Fei and Durant are people who can influence the team's structure. When the former talks to the latter about "which year's Kobe" you want to be, he is actually indirectly asking other teammates.

Do you recognize this "Kobe"? If Durant really wants to be Kobe, do you support him?

If someone had said, "Sorry, Kevin, we don't need Kobe."

That's the end of the problem.

Durant will no longer have Kobe's problems, but it will cause a bigger problem, which is why Durant cannot become the Kobe next to Yu Fei.

Fortunately, we are all smart people and will not do such stupid things.

So, they pretended to be busy and heard the whole conversation between Yu Fei and Durant.

Durant wanted to be 01 Kobe, and Yu Fei agreed.

This is a big deal.

Because so far, it is hard to say whether the second player in the Supersonics is Durant or Bosh.

They both played very well.

Bosh and Yu Fei are a better match, but Durant has a higher ceiling.

So, the question comes to Bosh.

After experiencing a low point at the beginning of the season and a revival in the middle of the season, Bosh basically experienced the ups and downs of a star player who actively joins the team and regains his status and respect again after sacrifice.

The snobbish world will always find ways to let people know that the person who ranks higher will naturally receive all kinds of preferential treatment and praise.

Bosh once thought that the glory of his time in Toronto had gone away with this decision that was doomed to be despicable after careful consideration, but Roy's injury changed the situation. Karl's resignation due to illness made him the biggest beneficiary of the big core system.

If the Supersonics win the championship in this situation, Bosh will be considered by many to be the second best player after Yu Fei.

Now, Durant suddenly rose up and secured his spot as the No. 2 seed with just a few words. As for Bosh's current position, he didn't care.

After practice that day, Bosh went to Yu Fei and asked, "If KD is Kobe in 2001, then what is my position?"

"Chris, I have limited knowledge of NBA history, so just be whatever you want to be," Yu Fei said.

Is this Yu Fei’s disclaimer?

"David Robinson in 1999, what do you think?"

"I think you care too much about these things." Yu Fei said, "This is just a word game between Kevin and me."

Bosh said: "Kobe is famous for being out of the system, and my position today is entirely due to my full integration into the system. How can our system continue to operate with the addition of Kobe?"

"Wake up, Chris." Yu Fei packed his things, threw the backpack to Lin Kevin, and then said, "Don't forget why you came here. If you care so much about your ranking in the team, you wouldn't have chosen Seattle. Toronto treats you like Cleveland treats LeBron, but you left as a champion. Now that you haven't won the championship yet, are you in a hurry to calculate how much share you have in this championship?"

Bosh thought he was in the moral position, but the rules that determine the course of events are always set by those in high positions.

His reasoning works in many places, but not here.

The playoffs have begun, and the Spurs are not an opponent that the Supersonics can defeat while playing infighting.

Durant was uneasy, so Yu Fei gave him a shot in the arm.

The rest doesn't matter.

"I just want a fair chance to compete," Bosh said.

"Chris, do you think LeBron has a fair chance against Kobe in Los Angeles?"

Yu Fei's words were chilling.

It was enough to remind Bosh who he was.

Yes, he, like LeBron James, is a wimp who betrayed his old club and went to a big city to compete for the championship in the name of the championship.

Just because some changes happened within the team and he got the opportunity to perform, can he forget who he is?
How does he compete with Durant?
Durant is 22 years old this year. He is the No. pick selected by the Supersonics themselves, an American son who won two consecutive championships with the team, and a future star that Nike has spent a lot of effort to promote. He is not comparable to a traitor like him who abandoned his parent team to curry favor with others.

"Think positively, Chris," Yu Fei said, "as long as we win the championship, everything will be fine."

Listening to the rule makers say this, Bosh suddenly wanted to see the building collapse, but he couldn't do it.

He still has to contribute to the Sonics' championship.

Because this is the path he chose.

It was also a choice he made early on.

It's just that in the past few months, Yu Fei inadvertently created an illusion for him. The third team and the All-Stars are his rewards, but if he wants to go further, then I'm sorry, that position has never belonged to you. Now it's time to get back on track.
Countless thoughts raced through Bosh's mind, but in the end, he had no way out.

Playing well is his only option at the moment.

Yu Fei didn't care whether Bosh was disappointed in him because he didn't do anything wrong.

Everything that happened within the Supersonics was only because the inherent balance was broken. The result of the balance being broken was that some people were happy while others were worried. He just used his personal prestige to restore the internal situation to the default setting.

He didn't need to do this.

If Roy hadn't been injured, if Carl hadn't had throat cancer, a lot of things wouldn't have happened.

The SuperSonics have had bad luck this season, and a lot of bad things have happened to them that were enough to trigger a chain reaction.

Bosh profited from this.

When he thought his status had been upgraded, Durant's deliberate backlash caused internal shock. Yu Fei publicly clarified Durant's status, and Bosh was automatically downgraded.

This is just ordinary internal politics.

Durant is the future of the Supersonics, but Bosh is not. He is just a mercenary who helps the team win the championship. The former is the base, while the latter may be a passerby. When the passerby threatens the base, stabilizing the base is the most important thing.

This let Bosh know that he is not now and will not be the team's number two in the future.

But then again, if he cared so much, why did he come to Seattle?
Wouldn't it be nice to continue staying in Toronto and be the king of the mountain?

Therefore, Yu Fei's words that winning the championship will make things better are absolutely true for Bosh. He must remember what he gave up to come here. People who make this choice have no other way but to succeed, because no team will believe that you will stand with the team.

They must succeed, and if they fail, they will switch to another team and aim for the championship until they succeed.

Another person who is worried about this is the team's head coach Tyronn Lue.

Lu suddenly felt that his life was a bit miserable. Why did so many things happen to the team he took over in just a few months?
In his impression, although there were occasional ups and downs in the team under Karl's leadership, there had never been such drastic changes.

He had already tried his best to establish Yu Fei as the absolute core. Just when he thought the team had recovered under his leadership, Durant went crazy again.

Lu hopes Durant's abnormality is a sudden phenomenon.

He believes in Durant's ability to adjust.

It will be fine.

But it was Yu Fei’s power that ultimately made Durant better.

When Yu Fei pointed to the bottom corner and told Durant to get out, the storm seemed to be transferred to another time and space by a magician. At that time, the game was intense, but the Supersonics regained calm.

Yu Fei's leadership rebooted Durant's brain, and then he returned to normal.

Lu was relieved for the whole night. He knew why Karl was carefree, because he had Dafei.

But today, Da Fei broke the wall of sighs and asked Durant clearly, do you want to be 00 Kobe (be a younger brother) or 03 Kobe (rebel)?
Durant's answer was unexpected. He wanted to be 01 Kobe.

But Yu Fei shockingly agreed.

Status was established, power was exchanged, and a new balance suddenly emerged, and it ended without Chris Bosh even having the qualifications to express his personal opinion.

Lue felt almost the same as Bosh.

Why did Da Fei discuss such an important matter in public without informing him? Was he, the coach, just a decoration in Da Fei's eyes?

What makes Lu different from Bosh is that he comes from the "bottom" of the NBA.

No matter how high a position a guy who comes from a humble background climbs, he will have more or less empathy. At the very least, he will think from the other person's perspective: Why did Dafei do this?
Lu soon got the answer.

Because if you choose again ten thousand times, between Durant and Bosh, everyone will choose the former.

Keeping Durant stable is the most important thing.

As for not notifying the coaching staff in advance, isn’t it because he gave Dafei the right to make independent decisions?
Does Dafei need to consider the coaching staff’s ideas when deciding how to play on the court?
He is a core player, and an unrestricted core player who can do whatever he thinks is reasonable.

But how to fit Durant, who aspires to be the 01 Kobe, into the existing system?
For a moment, Lu thought of George Karl, who was undergoing chemotherapy.

He wanted to ask his ex for help again.

But as soon as he took the first step, he changed his mind.

The Carr era is over. No matter how many people think Carr will return to coaching if he gets healthy, Lue insists that Carr is not coming back.

He has been given the opportunity of a lifetime as the youngest coach in the league today.

If he succeeds, his coaching career will be smooth sailing. If he fails, no team may be willing to give him a second chance.

At a critical juncture concerning his personal destiny and future, can he keep asking for help from people who might come back and take his job away, even if the other person is his mentor?
Lue decided not to ask Karl for help, which was both the team's only option to get rid of Karl and a necessary choice for him to become self-reliant.

That night, Karl organized a meeting of the coaching staff to study and discuss Durant's new position.

However, the biggest problem that Karl left for his successor was the lack of all-round talents among his assistant coaches.

Because Carl never thought that he would suddenly be struck down by a serious illness while coaching.

He doesn't have backup talent to help him take over the team when he has to leave.

His coaching staff is full of assistant coaches who are only good at one subject, just like role players on the bench.

The worst thing is that none of these people are good at offense. The only one who has studied offense, John Welch, is a data control. He even proposed a data called position plus-minus - he believes that the plus-minus of all positions cannot correctly judge the importance of players, and only by comparing with the same position can the most valuable players be found.

Therefore, many people think he is more suitable to be a baseball coach.

Fundamentalist basketball experts believe that basketball is a sport that does not require so much data assistance. It is easy to tell who can play and who cannot.

"If we hold KD to Kobe's standards, then the current position is no longer appropriate." Welch raised a key question, "The most important thing is that Kobe averaged more shots per game with the Lakers than Shaq."

Defensive assistant coach Tim Gegurich joked: "It's not us who should worry about this. Let Frye make the decision."

"Yeah, the ball's in his hands anyway." Lu liked the suggestion.

The best advice he gets is often not decided by himself, but by passing the ball to their greatest responsibility god.

"Then there's one more problem left," Welch said. "We need to increase his ball possession, but with his current receiving position, he can't get that many offensive opportunities. We have to adjust his offensive positioning."

Generally speaking, Durant will wander around the left and right sides, or go out to receive the ball for a three-pointer, or receive the ball for a mid-range shot. When the tactics cannot be opened, he will take on the responsibility of the ace at the third position and ask for the ball to play one-on-one. This positioning requires him to move and block frequently, which consumes a lot of energy. If he wants to increase the number of shots, he must not play like this.

Lu looked at the silent Adrian Dantley, "AD, what do you think?"

"George's success in Milwaukee taught us that the only proper position to play secondary offense next to a player like Frye is on the perimeter," Dantley reminded. "That's also how Kobe played in the OK triangle offense. He was always on the perimeter passing the ball, and when Shaq started the offense, he would go to the weak side and wait."

Lu said worriedly: "With KD's size, he is not suitable for frequent attacks from the outside."

Dantley’s answer was both simple and profound: “That’s not something we should be thinking about.”

A coaching team that is able to plan and make brilliant plans generally does not appear in reality.

Especially a coaching staff like Lu's, they are paper gluers, trying hard to piece the team together as a collective, and when they are torn apart again, the coaching staff can only put on a piece of tape that is not tough.

The team needs to change, so they have to change.

This change may not be effective, but there is nothing they can do about it because they cannot control the changes in the team or foresee what will happen next.

After that night, it was a new day for the Sonics.

This is Game Day 2 of the Western Conference semifinals.

Before the afternoon games began, The Seattle Times released its latest poll.

70% of Seattle residents support using taxpayer money to build the most luxurious arena in the country for the SuperSonics in the city center.

However, when the option became "If the city government raised funds for the new arena by imposing a 0.1% sales tax, would you still support it?" the support rate dropped below 50%.

However, when the Sonics win titles, their approval rating is usually above 90%.

That's why the SuperSonics chose to submit their financing proposal in June.

Once they achieve the three-peat, they can use the hot-headed public opinion to pass the proposal.

However, variables still exist.

During the All-Star Weekend not long ago, Sonics owner Clay Bennett attended labor-management negotiations on behalf of big city owners and was considered "tough." Although the Sonics made a net profit of more than $100 million a year, he was determined not to share most of the profits with other owners.

When the news reached Seattle, civil rights organizations like MCCAIT (Let Citizens Focus on More Important Things), which had already strongly opposed building a stadium for the SuperSonics, became furious.

You make 100 million every year, and you still have to take hundreds of millions out of the fans' pockets to build a luxurious stadium? Are you crazy? Where is justice?
Bennett didn't expect that this kind of thing could have a boomerang effect.

The original intention of building a new arena was to gain more profits. Now that the Sonics make $100 million a year, the public will think that they have made enough money. A new arena is not an urgent matter for the SuperSonics, and the money should be used elsewhere.

The forces supporting the Supersonics are strong, but the forces opposing them are also strong.

As the deadline approaches, the confrontation between the two forces in the city becomes more intense.

On the night of the Western Conference semifinals, people from the MCCAIT organization held protests at all four gates leading into KeyArena.

They held banners and chanted slogans, wondering how greedy the Sonics were and why $100 million in profits couldn't satisfy the team's appetite.

“Only a great city can make a team this profitable.”

That night, Yu Fei was surrounded by reporters when he entered the stadium, and he gave his opinion.

"If you focus too much on the team's profitability, you will fall into some people's narrative trap," Yu Fei said. "The sports economy driven by the team has revitalized the stores and commercial streets around the KeyArena. On the surface, this is a sports economic boom, but in fact, we have indirectly driven four or five times the commodity economy. If there is a new arena, the team will certainly make more money, but at the same time, more people will make money because of us."

When Yu Fei entered the arena, the team's public relations manager laughed and said, "Frye, the public doesn't care how much we make."

"Then why is our support rate dropping?" Yu Fei asked.

"Because MCCAIT's voice is louder, and our games can't drown out their voices," the PR manager said. "When the Western Conference Finals start, Seattle... no, from Washington state to the whole country, the only topic in the sports world is who will make it to the Finals, us or the Lakers."

Yu Fei asked, "You mean, we just need to play ball?"

"Yes. As long as they beat the Lakers, the SuperSonics will be able to establish their sacred status in Seattle," the PR manager said. "Americans like to see sacred things. Once something sacred comes, the only thing they can do is worship it. At that time, agreeing to let the city government build a new arena is out of the question."

That night, the Spurs maintained the same strategy from the previous game.

But they didn't expect that Durant's offensive position would shift from the high positions on the left and right wings to the outside.

This change was unexpected because the Spurs coaching staff had no idea what benefit having Durant on the outside would bring to the Supersonics.

Then, Yu Fei's harvest of Ginobili continued.

But tonight, Ginobili's offensive state no longer gives people a super ghost feeling.

He can even respond on offense.

However, the Argentines lack endurance.

Bosh did what he was supposed to do. He and Brown protected the basket together. Duncan was affected by injuries this year and did not seem to adapt to his current physical condition. He fell into a mediocre state for two consecutive games, which was neither mediocre nor outstanding.

What broke the Spurs' hearts was that Durant pulled the trigger and entered the authentic Kobe mode, shooting three-pointers from the outside, playing one-on-one with the ball, and pulling up shots facing the basket.

Iguodala limited him in Game 1.

But if one game can be restricted, it does not mean that every game can be restricted.

Durant is already a star player.

Moreover, he has no upper limit.

Even if a star player with no ceiling has not yet reached his peak, he can still give people a glimpse of his future when he is in good form.

The feeling Iguodala had tonight is what many people will feel when defending Durant in the future.

In one word: high.

When he is hot-handed, his strong shots that ignore the defense can easily destroy the confidence of the defensive players.

Yu Fei's offense had not yet started to work, but Durant, who played like 01 Kobe, made it difficult for the Spurs to deal with him.

At the end of the first half, the Supersonics led by 18 points.

Popovich looked dazed. This was the most terrifying episode.

They put a lot of effort into studying Yu Fei, trying to remove his support and make him fight like a trapped beast.

But with their existing reserve of players, they are simply unable to seal off Yu Fei's helpers.

But if you don't do this, and let the stars of both sides go all out and compete with each other, the quality of the Supersonics' stars will be obviously better.

In the second half, Yu Fei began to attack the Spurs' heart, continuously playing pick-and-roll with Bosh and targeting the Spurs' inside players.

If Duncan doesn't come out, then call Luol Deng. They both have the last name Deng, so there's no difference when calling them.

The Spurs' collapse was foreseeable, the Supersonics were in too good shape tonight.

But the 34-point gap stung.

"Only 34 points? I thought we lost by 100 points."

After the game, Popovich said self-deprecatingly.

Tyronn Lue is in high spirits, Yu Fei got a triple-double tonight, Durant scored 30 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists, and the team seems to be on the right track, which shows that the adjustments made by the coaching staff are correct.

Therefore, Lu excitedly told ESPN reporters: "You know, when we are at our best, we can conquer heaven!"

(End of this chapter)