When pride still matters

Chapter 543 Xiao Si will definitely not love again

At the Sonics' media day, what the players said in interviews became fodder for the media.

The media believed that there must be hidden dissatisfaction that would shake the Supersonics' chances of winning four consecutive championships.

Bosh's comments are most likely to be misunderstood.

Because Bosh claimed that his long-term sacrifice was an unhealthy state and was vague about the future.

Even stranger was the fact that when reporters on the scene interviewed Sonics owner Clay Bennett, they also didn't get a definite answer from the controversial upstart.

The reporter asked Bennett whether the team would renew Bosh's contract.

Bennett replied: "It's all going to plan."

Everything? Including Bosh's contract extension?
Bennett smiled and said, "Let time answer that."

There is no clear answer, which of course makes people think a lot.

Later, another reporter mentioned that the Sonics' total salary currently ranks first in the league, plus the super luxury tax that has been triggered, this is a huge expense. How does the team consider this matter?
Bennett felt that this was his chance to gain popularity.

"You can't make enough money." Bennett, who was strongly opposed to using part of the profits to subsidize small-market teams during the union period, suddenly regarded money as dirt. "I can make money every year, but the opportunity to win four consecutive championships may only come once. In order to achieve this goal, I am willing to pay any price."

This is real.

Bennett does intend to use his financial ability to create a chance for Yu Fei to win four consecutive championships.

But this attempt is like those island flowers who have good conditions but want to make quick money, so they retire after filming only one work in the Japanese dark world. Bennett is only willing to do this for one season.

He believed that Yu Fei could understand him.

On that day, the 2010-2011 SuperSonics team took a family photo at the Furtado Center.

Then, the training camp continued.

Yu Fei gradually recovered his form and began to show his dominance in training matches.

However, Durant seems to be able to match Yu Fei's strength.

He maintained a 30-70 situation in the matchup.

Considering that one of them is 23 years old and the other is not yet 29 years old, in the long run, Yu Fei will soon rise to the top and then start to decline, while Durant's rise has just begun.

However, compared to the development curve of ordinary athletes, superstars can often maintain their peak period longer.

Moreover, Yu Fei is not the kind of person whose peak period is shortened due to his indulgence in pleasure.

People in Durant's camp hope that the status of the two will gradually be exchanged after Fei turns 30, but now it seems that day is still far away.

Durant is not arrogant, and he doesn't feel good about himself enough to think that the handover of the baton can be achieved in a few years.

What he needs to do is consolidate his position as the second man in the team.

The first person to bear the brunt was Roy.

Since the two did not face off against each other in training games, Durant's competitive intention was not so obvious.

However, when the official game started, Durant's intentions were known to everyone.

In early October, training camp ended and the SuperSonics went to Las Vegas to play preseason games with the Heat, Trail Blazers and Bobcats.

The preseason game against the Heat may be one of the more watched preseason games among the many overlooked ones.

After all, the Heat are one of the big winners of the offseason.

When both sides opened the game, the starting lineups gave people a star-studded feeling.

The Supersonics have all their best players, including Yu Fei, Roy, Hill, Durant and Bosh.

The Heat's players are Wade, Curry, Ariza, Love and Yao Ming.

More than a year of shutdown has changed many people.

Some people lose their physical shape and their ball skills due to lack of self-discipline.

Some people have reaped unexpected benefits from the shutdown.

Wade and Curry are typical examples.

In his previous life, Wade lost the 2011 finals and felt that if someone on the team didn't win the championship as the leader, their fighting spirit would be weakened, so he took the initiative to give up his position, chose to gain weight, match up with the opponent's spearhead, play more without the ball, and change from the main attacker to the secondary attacker. The team decisively returned to normal. But as Bosh said, sacrifice is very difficult. This certainly brought Wade two championships, but it also made him suffer from injuries after 2012, and his condition declined year after year.

Now he is still the team's unshakable starter, sharing the ball with Curry, and he doesn't need to practice without the ball, because Curry himself has a historical level of without the ball ability. And he doesn't have to defend the opponent's arrow. Ariza does this. In addition, after a year of lockout, even if there is any injury, it is almost healed now.

Eleven months older than Yu Fei, Wade, now 11, is at his absolute peak.

Then there's Curry.

Before the suspension, Curry had just finished his rookie season, averaging 18 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists per game, which was extremely amazing, but like other guards who like to play rhythm games, he is at serious risk of ankle injuries.

Curry suffered several ankle injuries during his rookie season.

At the beginning of the league's suspension, Yu Fei wanted to form a team to go to China to play games. Curry was invited, but he did not participate because he had to undergo ankle surgery at the time. After he recovered from the surgery, he participated in an accelerated training camp. In the training camp, the trainer taught him a way to effectively reduce the load on the ankles - use the buttocks to exert force instead of the ankles.

A whole year of special training allowed Curry to get rid of his old way of exerting force, and he reshaped his skills and game.

Even in the preseason, Yu Fei could clearly find the soaring 16-point shooting feeling from Curry.

He had only seen that version of Curry in highlights, and now, in 2011, Curry already feels a bit like 2016.

Is this the butterfly effect?
Yu Fei didn't understand.

Because he was too young in his previous life, he did not experience Curry's complete rise.

Curry now has actually just entered the state of the 2012-13 season ahead of time.

There is nothing to worry about. He is just an ordinary All-Star guard, averaging only 23 points, 4 rebounds and 7 assists per game.

The low-intensity preseason made the Heat look nearly unstoppable.

Wade's breakthrough, Curry's off-ball and dribbling three-pointers, and the wonderful chemical reaction between Yao Ming and Love.

Yao Ming actually didn't do anything. When he wanted to play in the low post, Love could pull out and shoot three-pointers. If Love wanted to play in the low post, Yao Ming could do the same.

But the problem is that Love is still a great assist player who can provide 5 assists per game.

In Yao Ming's more than 20 years of basketball career, he has never partnered with such a powerful power forward.

The non-defensive preseason game was won by the Heat, who were in better shape.

133 is better than 121
The Miami people looked like they were having a blast.

"It feels good not to have to play 36 minutes every game," Yao Ming said proudly, "We look really strong."

Yu Fei smiled and said, "It's just a preseason game, is it that serious?"

"See you in the finals." Yao Ming said.

"Let's meet in the regular season." Yu Fei said contemptuously, "I don't think you can get past New Jersey."

"That's right!" Yao Ming said confidently, "I don't think Howard wants to face me in the playoffs at all."

This was a point that Yu Fei overlooked.

Although Howard is the best inside player in the league, he is only the best in a broad sense, because you can't find anyone better than him, but Yao Ming just beats him up every time he sees him.

So maybe Miami actually has a chance this year.

Yu Fei quickly put the matter behind him.

Two days later, the Supersonics played against the Trail Blazers, and the game was not suspenseful.

The Trail Blazers are still rebuilding, and this time they are very determined.

Because next year's draft will almost certainly be the deepest in history.

A large number of potential players who escaped from this year's draft will participate in the 2012 draft. In addition, this draft class already has Anthony Davis, who is known as the "Little KG", and the Trail Blazers are determined to get this guy.

Perhaps because they wanted to give up, they chose to continue training Space Yi, who had made slow progress in the past three years.

Fans' expectations for Yi Jianlian have gradually dropped from an All-Star to an ordinary starter, or even just to become a main rotation player.

Yao Ming set too high a standard, which became a burden for Space Yi.

He didn't want to lose to Yao Ming, but he was indeed not as good as Yao Ming.

He still likes to take long jump shots one or two steps inside the three-point line, and still likes to use his physical fitness to force himself in the paint and then be blocked. His rim protection ability is good, but his rebounding is not good enough because his offense is too far outside, and his defensive end is not strong enough due to his weak core strength.

After the game, Spacey scored 14 points and 8 rebounds.

It's just a preseason game, no one will care.

However, Yu Fei still saw his bright spots.

His love of shooting may be a hindrance in the era of big ball, but in the era of space basketball, it is a skill that meets the needs of the times. It's just that his hit rate needs to be improved.

Therefore, his NBA career may last longer than expected.

Two days later, the SuperSonics played against another bad team, the Bobcats.

The game itself is not worthy of attention, but the scene of Jordan personally attending the game and looking into Yu Fei's eyes made many people imagine a plot in which enemies meet on a narrow road.

However, Yu Fei did not even appear in the game.

The Sonics easily tore through the Bobcats.

In terms of perception, the Bobcats are worse than the Trail Blazers.

How can a team like this not lose money?
Yu Fei felt sick whenever he thought about the concessions the players' union made on dividends to subsidize such teams.

It is October 10th, the opening day of the new NBA season.

After 468 days, the NBA regular season starts again.

As the defending champions, the Sonics are one of four teams attending the opening game, and they will face the New York Knicks at home. The Knicks are a suitable opponent.

They have no deep hatred with the Supersonics and will not ruin the atmosphere of this good day.

However, as the Supersonics raised the fourth championship banner in team history at KeyArena, a fair-skinned bald guard on the Knicks looked dazed.

"Can you believe this, Amare?" Jason Kidd, 38, said. "That guy has only lost twice in the last years, and one of them was to me."

"He was still a rookie at the time, right?" Stoudemire didn't like to hear Kidd bragging. "What's the point?"

Kidd sighed, "I just want to know who can lose only twice in ten years? Has there been such a person in the past? Will there be such a person in the future?"

"Yes."

"Bill Russell won eleven times in thirteen years."

Kidd said disdainfully: "It's great, but I respect the guy who did it in a league with 30 teams more."

"You're only saying that because you beat Frye, right?"

Kidd had unwittingly fallen into Jermaine O'Neal territory.

Defeating Yu Fei in the playoffs has become something that can be written into the resume.

The opponent's whispers did not affect the championship ceremony at all.

Raise the flag and receive the ring.

These steps are particularly critical for the team and players.

The Sonics were the last team to settle their 2009-10 season.

This ceremony is the settlement process.

It symbolizes endless glory.

For someone like Bosh who is experiencing this for the first time, he will feel that the sacrifice he made is worth it.

And those who can only watch will have expectations.

"What do you think Frye feels?" Kidd muttered to himself, "He has received a ring from the president seven out of the past ten years. Is that interesting? His hands are almost full of rings."

Stoudemire didn't want to listen to the old man's nagging, he just wanted the game to start quickly.

He didn't like the ceremony, and he didn't like KeyArena.

Compared to Madison Garden, this place can be described as shabby.

Who would believe that this is the home court of a dynasty team?

The Sonics' new arena isn't expected to open until 2015, so until then, owners and guests alike will have to be patient.

But Stoudemire still didn't like it.

Bad things tend to happen when you play in a bad gym.

After the ceremony, both sides can finally officially start the competition.

The Supersonics are more relaxed.

Because the Knicks mainly rely on Stoudemire, Kidd is already very old, has leadership but not dominance, and Stoudemire is an inside core who is strong in offense but weak in defense.

Their only chance to upgrade was to trade for Anthony from Denver, but that fell through, so they have to stay the same.

The game started with Roy beating Kidd.

Kidd now has three major advantages: one is control, one is defending slow and explosive guards, and the other is spot-up three-pointers. Although his shooting has been criticized, at this stage of his career, his spot-up three-pointers are still stable.

From the perspective of his playing style, Roy does not have absolute explosiveness and first step, but his skills are too rich and his rhythm is too strong.

Kidd likes players like Fisher who can't run and doesn't attack as hard as himself. It's a bit unsportsmanlike for Roy to be so eager to prove that he is better than before.

In the first few minutes of the game, Roy scored 6 points in a row over Kidd.

Kidd was dissatisfied and prepared to connect the team's offense and use a more mature performance to tell Roy what a qualified point guard should do.

However, Kidd discovered a bad situation.

Many of his teammates have yet to recover from the effects of the shutdown.

Even after rehabilitation in training camp, some people still fail to meet the requirements.

Like Emmanuel Shumpert, who missed a pass from Kidd.

Fortunately, Stoudemire picked up the ball and used his extraordinary strength to dunk in front of Bosh.

This is not a situation Kidd would like to see.

But there are a lot of bad things going to happen tonight.

Roy is used to using offense to motivate his teammates. Once the offense goes smoothly, organization will also be easy.

Yu Fei quickly took advantage of the pass from Roy and got his first point of the season.

Then came Bosh, then Hill.

Hill missed the three-pointer, but Durant grabbed the offensive rebound.

Durant faced Tayshaun Prince, who was signed by the Knicks with a high salary during the offseason. The thin Prince was also affected by space basketball and was pushed to the power forward position.

Durant, who is no longer the same as before, scored over him with a turnaround jump shot.

Confidence began to surge in Durant's heart, and he thought he could ignore all defenses.

This is the problem Roy is about to face.

My teammates are strong, but they all crave the ball, and even I have to use the ball to find my feeling.

Who should the ball be given to?
Because of the confusion, Roy's organization had problems.

Yu Fei discovered this and thought that Roy should not forget the tacit understanding they had in the past - if he didn't know who to give the ball to, let Frye do it.

So, from that round on, Yu Fei began to ask for the ball aggressively.

Bosh? Go outside and space the floor.

Durant? You can't take what I don't give you.

For four consecutive minutes, Roy only passed the ball to Yu Fei.

Yu Fei controlled the offense and dominated the ball. He did not take shots himself every time, but distributed the ball to his teammates fairly in his own way.

Then Roy knew what to do.

At the end of the first half, the Supersonics scored 66 points and led the Knicks by 25 points.

Yu Fei scored 20 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists and 11 shots in the first half.

After him, Roy took 9 shots, Durant 7 times, Bosh 7 times, and Hill 4 times.

It seems to be an absolutely fair distribution of ball possession, but it may not be the best distribution of ball possession in the eyes of some people.

However, this is only the first game of the new season, so it is understandable if we are a little more reasonable.

No one was unhappy about it.

On the contrary, the Knicks lost too many points in the first half, which made them feel embarrassed as they claim to be a playoff team.

Stoudemire said he wanted to play tougher in the second half, but the SuperSonics did not believe that a team relying on Stoudemire could be that tough.

Toughness is often linked to defense. Can Stoudemire defend?
The answer is yes, but not much, and his understanding of defense is problematic.

Toughness on the defensive end means leaving no effort in the confrontation, and Stoudemire's specific performance is to swing his elbows to put pressure on the opponent. His opponent didn't want to go too far, but since he started it first, he could only accept it.

The intensity of the game may not have increased, but the brutality has definitely increased dramatically.

Once there are too many unnecessary actions, some unexpected events that people are unwilling to accept will occur.

For example, Kidd broke his ankle when the cylinder was forcibly destroyed while shooting.

Roy was also nearly injured when his foot was tripped during a jump shot.

The game became wild, and then a tragedy occurred.

Stoudemire tried to save the doomed game with an explosive aerial slam dunk, however, he neither touched the ball nor landed steadily. His landing posture was very awkward, and the moment his body touched the ground, miserable screams spread throughout the stadium.

Amar'e Stoudemire is down.

His hunch was right, KeyArena would bring him misfortune.

This is also a situation that his opponents do not want to see.

Yu Fei glanced at Jordan, wondering if he had done anything at the time.

Jordan quickly denied: "I didn't touch him."

Afterwards, Stoudemire was carried off the court. This accident not only changed the Knicks' season, but also made Tyronn Lue break out in a cold sweat.

There was still a little more than one quarter left in the game, but he decided to replace core players such as Yu Fei because the lead was already large enough that it would not have any impact even if all substitutes were used to play the rest of the game.

"You must protect yourself when playing on the court!" Coach Lu said to everyone, "To win four consecutive championships, you must first stay healthy!"

Unexpectedly, Beverley, the scumbag, suddenly made a cold joke: "That's right, and I'm sure Stoudemire won't be able to love the game as much as Frye for a long time."

Combined with Stoudemire's subsequent injuries, this is definitely a joke with a hint of hell.

It’s just that at the time, no one knew the situation would be that bad, so they laughed.

Finale
124 is better than 105
The Sonics closed out the 2011-12 season opener with a big win.

(End of this chapter)