When pride still matters

Chapter 558 Things have changed

“Thanks to you, I now know how it feels to be the overall runner-up.”

After the game, it is customary for the champion and runner-up players to greet each other. For Yu Fei and Yao Ming, this part is not difficult. However, Yu Fei habitually mocked the other party: "I thought you had fully experienced this feeling when you were in the CBA."

Yao Ming's face changed. The feeling the Supersonics gave him was indeed as desperate as when he was shrouded by the Bayi team.

"Is it your instinct to be annoying, GOAT?" Yao Ming asked sarcastically.

"maybe."

Afterwards, Yu Fei asked Yao Ming about his summer plans.

"What else can I do? I don't have time to feel sad about being the runner-up. The London Olympics are waiting for me."

London? Oh, it's an Olympic year.

Perhaps because he had changed so much history, Yu Fei had become numb. Moreover, he did not realize how important Yao Ming's participation in the London Olympics was to the Chinese team. In the 2012 Olympics in his previous life, even when Yao Ming retired, the Chinese team was still able to fight to the end in the match against Spain. Now that Yao Ming has joined, it is tantamount to a guarantee for the Chinese team to reach the quarterfinals.

"What about you? Are you going to London to play the savior again?" Yao Ming asked.

What is the direct impact of the shutdown?

In the 2010 World Championships, the US team could only send some inferior players to participate, so the US team naturally lost the 2010 World Championships. The team composed of development league players only made it to the quarterfinals and was sent home. Such a failure is understandable, so the US team does not need a savior, and Yu Fei has no intention of participating.

"No." Yu Fei said something that upset Yao Ming again. "You know, I'm old and I've retired from the national team."

These are the words of a superstar who is not yet 29 years old, in the prime of life, and has just achieved four consecutive championships in the modern NBA.

"That's it!" Yao Ming said, "You are considered old, then what am I?"

Yu Fei smiled and said, "It seems that you also know that you are not young anymore, so I advise you to make plans early. There are not many players with your physique in history who can play for a long time."

"Yao Dasha" may be the most fabricated derogatory name, because Yao Ming has never been associated with the word "stupid". He knew Yu Fei wanted him to take care of himself. He sighed. Which team is as luxurious as the American team? Even if he plays until he is 40 years old, he may be one of the best players in the country. There is no way the national basketball team will not recruit him. Therefore, he must play for the national team until the end of his career.

He was prepared for this.

“Maybe I’m the first.”

Just like that, Yao Ming's mind was completely freed from the failure in the finals, and his heart had flown beyond the United States.

Wade was in mixed emotions. Since entering the NBA, he had two chances to win the championship, one this year and one in 2006, but he was defeated by Yu Fei both times.

Others may say that if you can’t beat him, just endure it and make the GOAT old.

But Wade can't do that. Although he entered the NBA in 2003, he is the same age as Yu Fei.

Then there's Curry, who is having his first season of top-level competitiveness, and the loss is a little painful for him, but it doesn't cause nightmares.

He thought he was young enough.

"See you next year, we'll win then."

Curry has already loaned out next year's Eastern Conference champions.

Yu Fei wished them good luck, then waved goodbye to the reporters on the scene and walked to the locker room. As soon as he opened the door, he knew what would happen.

Champagne was pouring down like rain, and his teammates who usually respected him chose to pick up the champagne and fire at him.

He vaguely heard someone shouting:

"Again!"

Again, such a long journey, such a painful entanglement, must we do it again?
sure?
Yu Fei wiped his face and saw Clay Bennett. The bastard finally showed up. He knew that he would not make things difficult for him on this wonderful night.

He is right.

Yu Fei didn't even have the time to pay attention to him.

Holding a champagne, he echoed those people who had no idea how difficult it was to "do it again."

"Again!"

“Come again next year!”

After the carnival, everyone feels differently.

Bosh sat there quietly, drinking champagne and thinking about the future.

"Can we really do this again?" Bosh asked. "Frye, are you serious?"

This is undoubtedly an unusual question. Everyone thinks Bosh is about to leave because he is not respected enough in the Supersonics. But if staying can chase the fifth consecutive championship, how many people will choose the latter between honor and personal dignity?
Yu Fei asked back: "What does it mean to be serious?"

"I don't know," Bosh said. "If it were me, I'd probably swear on God."

"Don't believe in any oaths, Chris." Yu Fei glanced at Bennett, "You should know that every divorced couple has sworn to God to stay together for life."

Bosh understood the meaning of Yu Fei's glance. The man who disrespected him was sitting there.

Then, the most memorable scene of the night happened. Bosh picked up a half-bottle of champagne and walked towards Bennett. The evil side of Yu Fei's mind hoped that Bosh would hit Bennett's head with the champagne. But Bosh just sprayed the champagne at Bennett and shouted, "I can stay, give me the maximum salary, this is what you owe me!"

Teammates at the scene jumped up and started to cheer. Bennett woke up from the ecstasy of winning four consecutive championships, forced a smile, and responded in an unbelievable tone: "Of course! Of course! Chris, we need you to stay!"

In the locker room, ESPN reporter Mark Stein witnessed all this and asked Yu Fei: "Do you believe him?"

"There is no basis of trust between him and me anymore." Yu Fei said calmly, "Let the facts speak for themselves."

When Yu Fei said that he and Bennett had no basis for trust, he was not speaking as a player, but as the ruler of the team. As the owner of the team, if the boss loses trust with the ruler, the result is self-evident.

“Can I include this in my article?” Stein asked.

Yu Fei finally smiled, and it was still the smile of a superior: "This is why you are sitting here."

Then, Grant Hill stepped up. Due to injury, he missed tonight's game, but it did not affect the result. The Supersonics finally won the championship, and Hill achieved his wish and became a champion. For a veteran who is almost 40 years old, this is a perfect moment.

"Thank you guys for leading me to win this championship. A lot of incredible things happened this year," Hill said. "But we did it, and this is a perfect ending for me. I will always be grateful for everything that happened tonight!"

Some people advised him to play for another year, but Hill no longer had the will to fight. Veterans almost always hold on with their last breath, especially those who want to win the championship. Once the championship is won, he will age faster than expected. Therefore, no one could persuade Hill.

The rest of the evening's suspense wasn't much of a suspense.

About who will win the FMVP.

As expected, Yu Fei won his eighth FMVP trophy.

At this moment, no one is discussing whether he is the GOAT.

He is the GOAT, a living GOAT, a GOAT still playing, a GOAT in his prime. Every honor he wins makes it more difficult for those who come after him to catch up.

It is worth mentioning that Durant received two FMVP votes, which is a recognition of his performance in the finals.

But this doesn't help Durant at all. Can two FMVP votes be considered an honor?
Come on, after tonight, no one will care about this. Only the FMVP winner will go down in history books.

The scenes that happened in the locker room flashed through Durant's mind. He is not Bosh, he will not waver in the goal of five consecutive championships, and he is not Hill, so he will not lose fighting spirit at this stage.

He has dedicated his entire career so far to Yu Fei's empire.

From now on, he will fight for himself.

The next day, public opinion was about the familiar season settlement process.

It is a consensus that Yu Fei has replaced Jordan's historical status, so there will basically be no more discussion about his historical status.

He has become a consensus in the basketball world as the GOAT.

Now, experts are starting to analyze whether he can win ten championships before his career is over.

Considering his age and the competitiveness of the Supersonics, this doesn't seem to be a difficult goal.

Then, Zach Lowe, who has recently begun to make his mark at ESPN, said pointedly: "It depends on whether Kevin Durant stays in Seattle."

Lowe's words made the world begin to re-examine the relationship between Durant and the Supersonics.

After Yu Fei returned, the Supersonics, which were triggered by the trumpet incident, suddenly turned around. Durant never caused anything again. During the entire playoffs, he played a crucial role with an average of 27 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists per game.

His performance was so good that people almost forgot he had done such a thing.

Now that the old matter has been brought up again, people have discovered that Durant has never made any explanation about the incident, nor has he apologized to the team, nor has he made any statement admitting his mistakes.

Doesn’t this mean something? Then came an article published by Marc Stein, Yu Fei’s mouthpiece at ESPN.

Stein wrote an article titled "The Empire's Loudest Night" about what he saw and heard on championship night, highlighting Bosh's desire to stay in Seattle and pursue a fifth consecutive championship.

The news immediately took social media by storm.

Bosh retweeted Stein's article on Twitter and confirmed the story with a muscle-flexing emoji.

So the pressure shifted to the Supersonics.

Specifically, the person bearing that pressure is team owner Clay Bennett.

In the season that just ended, the Supersonics' net profit was $1.5 million, $1000 million more than before the suspension.

This incident shows how hot the supersonic market is.

Many teams have not yet recovered from the lockout, but they have not been affected at all.

However, according to the latest profit distribution system, $1.5 million of the $5000 million in profits must be turned over.

Because the Supersonics have more than four maximum salary contracts this season, the total salary of the team directly triggered the super luxury tax. By the end of the season, Bennett will have to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes.

After a great season, Bennett not only didn't make any money, but lost millions.

Now Bosh actually expressed his intention to stay?

Will such a terrible luxury tax happen again?
Bennett barely considered that keeping Bosh would ensure a fifth consecutive championship.

What he sees is that Bosh's presence will cause him to continue to lose money next season.

Regardless of whether the Supersonics win five consecutive championships, losses are inevitable because their market has been almost fully developed. With the new arena not yet built and they are forced to continue using KeyArena, there are only so many coins that fans can spend.

Until the Sonics move into their new arena, their profits won't see a dramatic increase.

Bennett hopes that until that day comes, his team can still be as profitable as it has been in the past.

He has supported Yu Fei's empire with real money.
However, he knew that such an excuse would not work.

In the past four years, Yu Fei has made him more than $200 million in profits, but now he is complaining about a loss of several million? How can the GOAT understand this?
What's more, because the super luxury tax has wiped out profits, does Bennett really have no profits?

Don’t forget that the profit split between labor and management is 50-50.

In any case, the investors will have a 50% share, and Bennett will take out his own profits, and other teams will also take out their own profits. In the end, it will be a considerable amount of money that will be divided equally among the 30 teams.

There will never be a loss. What Bennett called a loss was just because he didn't make enough money.

This is the crux of the matter.

He had no right to stand in front of Yu Fei and complain.

Because Yu Fei had helped him make money. Even when the labor-management dispute broke out, he, a man who had made a lot of money in the past few years, could stand on the side of the small market owner and take the lead in demanding that the players take a pay cut.

Ultimately, the players' share of profits dropped from 57 percent to 50 percent.

A 7% profit concession means that every player has taken a pay cut.

That is to say, even Yu Fei's salary dropped a little because of this.

There is nothing more greedy than this.

Yu Fei wanted to put pressure on Bennett directly, but Bosh talked him out of it.

Bosh doesn't want Yu Fei to exert any personal influence.

He asked Bennett to deliver the contract to him himself.

After all, he is a star. The Supersonics have disrespected him once during the season. Now he is magnanimous and has given him another chance. What he wants is an attitude.

Where is the most sensitive part of this matter?
During the season, after Bosh announced that he would test the free market this summer because he was not respected, the Supersonics offered him a contract again.

This means the child has died and the milk has come.

Bosh certainly wouldn't accept it.

Bosh has now changed his mind and wants to stay. Since he has made such a statement, if the Sonics' intention was real and not just a formality, they should have offered him the contract immediately.

As a result, a few days passed and nothing happened.

They didn't contact Bosh's agent, and Bennett or Presti seemed dead, completely disappearing from the public eye.

This caused strong negative public opinion in Seattle.

In the end, the team actually brought out the veteran coach George Karl, who only holds the title of vice president, to respond to the incident.

"Our goal is to bring back the same players before the new season and the team will focus on the draft before July."

Carl still had his face, and the accusations and doubts from the outside world were suppressed.

However, anyone with a discerning eye can see that this is the key to procrastination.

But they all let Carl come out and play Tai Chi, so the fans and the media had to give him face.

The upcoming draft is hailed as the last and most attractive draft of 2003.

Because of the lockout, many top players in the 2011 draft withdrew from the draft, including lottery picks like Kyrie Irving and Klay Thompson.

They had to repeat until the 2012 class, turning this already highly anticipated draft into a historic year.

This draft is full of talented players, but the most eye-catching one is Anthony Davis, a super inside potential stock who is said to appear once in a decade.

Although Davis has not yet entered the NBA, the frequency with which he has been mentioned in the past year is, for Fei, just like Wenban Yama was frequently named by NBA scouts in 2023.

Scouts believe that AD is like a combination of Duncan and Garnett. Looking at his talents, currently only one ability is elite in the NBA, and that is defense. However, due to his background as a guard, he grew rapidly like a genetic mutation during high school. While growing taller, he retained his agility and coordination, plus the basic skills of a guard, which gave him unlimited possibilities.

Therefore, the suspense of who will be the No. 1 pick in this year's draft has been lost since a year ago.

At last month's lottery drawing conference, the annual misery competition began again.

Ever since the 1985 lottery controversy, the NBA lottery has been the focus of conspiracy theories. This is not the fault of the outside world, because there are too many doubts.

Apart from assigning Ewing to New York in 1985, the most important off-court factor in the lottery is the comparison of misery.

Among the teams participating in the lottery this year, the worst off is New Orleans. After Paul left, the team was taken over by the league and was ownerless. Although a new buyer has been identified, the only way to appease the new owner of such an unattractive team is to offer huge profits.

So, somehow, the No. 2012 pick in naturally fell into the hands of the Hornets.

The New York Knicks, who chose to play badly because of Stoudemire's season-ending injury, drew the second pick. They were the winners of the lottery, winning the second pick with an extremely low probability and pushing the Cavaliers and Wizards to third and fourth place.

During this period, the scouts have been praising Anthony Davis more and more, and some people have compared him to Bill Russell.

The Hornets have basically confirmed that they will draw this magic card.

But there are still some short-sighted people who ask about the possibility of trading the No. 1 pick.

As a result, the Hornets' words cut off the hopes of those who wished for the contract: "Unless Seattle is willing to send Frye, nothing will happen."

This statement makes all trade requests a joke.

The Supersonics will never trade Yu Fei, just as the Hornets will never give up Anthony Davis, the core of the team.

In the days leading up to the draft, the Sonics should have focused on trying out rookies who had late first-round prospects.

However, the explosive news from within their own ranks once again made them the headlines across the United States.

April 6st

ESPN's NBA intelligence expert WOJ released a nuclear bomb on Twitter: "Kevin Durant officially requested a trade from the SuperSonics."

A few minutes later, Durant's agent Rich Kleiman liked the tweet and confirmed the news.

Within a few hours, Durant, Supersonics, and the One and Only Empire became the hot trends on Twitter.

From now on until a trade happens, this will be the most important news in the NBA.

This will almost certainly be the biggest news of the offseason.

(End of this chapter)