When pride still matters

Chapter 561: This Summer's Actions, Next Summer's Results

The draft continues.

The Cleveland Cavaliers had the third pick this year, and they felt they were in a great position after the Sonics selected Kyrie Irving with the second pick.

They already have the foundation to build a team.

John Wall is getting better and better, but nothing can be accomplished by just one person. As a rebuilding team, they must choose the most talented player among the remaining players.

They are happy that Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is still on the roster.

They were almost excited to use the second pick to select McGee. This man who was known as a combination of Gerald Wallace and Scottie Pippen could definitely not be wrong.

Then, almost as if it was destined, Bradley Beal was selected by the Wizards with the fourth pick in the first round.

But this time, DC doesn't have Wall.

Brandon Knight, who played an extra year in college due to the lockout, was selected by the Charlotte Bobcats.

At the same time, the Golden State Warriors, who held the sixth pick, selected Damian Lillard. It is worth mentioning that they have two lottery picks this year.

Then there is Andre Drummond, who was originally a talent on par with Anthony Davis, but was completely outshined after entering the NCAA.

He has poor skills and personality problems. Scouts doubt whether he is willing to work hard to improve his shortcomings. Questions about his professional attitude are the key reasons why his draft stock has declined sharply.

That landed him in the hands of the Toronto Raptors.

Then, Klay Thompson, who also returned to college due to the lockout, was selected by the Warriors as a mature senior with the 13th pick in the first round.

He is running towards his own destiny just like Bill, but the person who truly determines his destiny is no longer in Golden State.

Splash, splash. Even a great Buddha is just a flower splashed in the water. When the water is gone, no matter how dazzling the splash is, it is impossible for it to be seen on the stage of the sixth game of the divisional finals.

Since there are a large number of repeaters in this draft, the overall talent and depth far exceeds that of previous drafts in the new century. Therefore, the 2012 draft is also called the "Gilded Generation."

Unfortunately, no matter how famous they are, very few people can realize their talents in the NBA.

Later, the Sonics selected Jae Crowder, a short and stocky forward from Marquette University, at the end of the first round.

The Warriors continued their efforts and selected Draymond Green from Michigan State University with a second-round pick.

Another second-round pick, Khris Middleton, was acquired by the Houston Rockets.

Thus, the 2012 draft came to an end.

After the draft, Yu Fei went to see where those familiar faces were and was surprised by the results.

The Warriors chose Lillard, Thompson and Green.

However, Thompson and Green were selected by them in their previous life, so this is not a big deal. The key is Lillard.

Although this guy cannot compare with Curry, no matter how powerful he is, he will be beaten badly every time they meet in the playoffs, but in a Western Conference without Curry, if he develops well, he may become the No. 1 point guard in the Western Conference.

Selecting three All-Stars with three draft picks, is there such luck in history?
Yu Fei didn't know, he only knew that the rise of the Warriors seemed unstoppable.

You know, they not only have the three young players they just selected, they also signed Joe Johnson with a maximum salary after the lockout ended last year.

They also selected a guy named Kawhi Leonard in the 2011 draft.

And, they also selected Tyreke Evans with the fourth pick in the 2009 draft.

In terms of the lineup alone, the Warriors have gathered top talents in every position, but they don't know it themselves.

Yu Fei couldn't help but wonder, did the Warriors during this period really have some good luck?
Although they didn't get Curry, they still look like a team with a bright future.

It’s hard to think about this kind of thing because things like luck are too abstract. All we can say is that the Warriors’ management did an excellent job.

The end of the draft heralds the approach of the offseason.

This summer is not as star-studded as last summer, but there are still two superstars who cannot be ignored and some overlooked All-Stars entering the free market.

The big stars are naturally the Lakers' Nike duo.

In the summer of 2009, Kobe, the second-best player in the world, and James, the third-best player in the world, met in Los Angeles and formed an evil empire with only one goal, which was to end the Sonics dynasty.

As a result, the script did not go as they had imagined.

James was branded as a humiliator in the 2010 Western Conference Finals, and the subsequent lockout deprived the evil empire of its second chance to challenge the SuperSonics. In the season that just ended, the Lakers were not competitive at all against the SuperSonics.

Throughout the season, it can be seen that James has surpassed Kobe in terms of combat effectiveness and game influence. It can be said with certainty that the Lakers' future competitiveness does not depend on Kobe, but on whether James stays.

James never committed.

Not long ago, the Sonics traded Durant, bringing a little hope to desperate Lakers fans.

Durant is gone, the Supersonics are not as strong anymore, and D-Fly will be 30 next year. Let LeBron and Kobe make one more push!

But James adopted an extremely rational attitude.

This gesture will not be unfamiliar to Cavaliers fans.

"LeBron James has to do what's good for LeBron James." These are what James said while on vacation in Florida.

So the answer is obvious, that's not what James meant.

Although Kobe is a big star, he is an aging star and is basically tied to the Lakers. As long as the Lakers don't want to let him go, he will stay in Los Angeles.

Therefore, this summer there is only one big star, James, and "Decision 2" is ready to go.

In addition to James, there are two All-Stars in the free market, namely Chris Bosh and Steve Nash.

Bosh was disillusioned with the SuperSonics and decided to test the free market.

Nash's peak period is basically over. Although the Suns still made it to the playoffs last season, they only ended up in the first round.

For Nash, there are now two options.

Either spend the rest of his life with the Suns or go out and take a chance like Karl Malone did back then.

But the problem is that without Durant, the Supersonics are no longer invincible and competitive. If Stoudemire's recovery is not as good as expected, they may not even make it to the Western Conference. Apart from the Supersonics, which team has absolute strength?

The Heat could be an option.

But they don't need Nash because they have a younger version of Nash.

Therefore, it was difficult for Nash to make a choice.

In addition, there are a number of small players who become free agents. They all want to get big contracts and join good teams, but no matter how you look at it, there are only two big news this summer.

One is Durant leaving the team, and the other is James' next home.

Now that the first suspense has been revealed, only the second suspense remains.

James does not seem to be in a hurry to make a decision. He first indicated that he would enter the free market, and then announced that he would represent the US team in the London Olympics.

This immediately reminds people of Las Vegas in 2007.

Yu Fei is also on the US team's call-up list. Will he participate?

The media is too eager to watch the fun.

When Yu Fei crushed James in Las Vegas, social media was still in its infancy. People today can only recall the incident through the news and the oral accounts of eyewitnesses. But now, if Yu Fei does that to James again, even the video may be leaked.

The topics, gimmicks and traffic are too huge.

The outside world expects Yu Fei and James to confront each other.

But GOAT doesn't have the time to spare.

"I have rejected the invitation of the US team." This is actually the reason why James decided to join the US team. Only when he confirmed that Yu Fei would not participate, his patriotism would be fully aroused. "Because my child will be born this summer, this is the only important thing for me this summer. I don't want to be disturbed by anything. For the US team, I can only wish them good luck."

"Good luck? Including LeBron James?"

This is the reply that received the most likes under Yu Fei’s tweet.

Yu Fei simply responded with an Internet buzzword, “LOL” (which means the same as “2333”).

Summer has arrived.

The first thing Sam Presti has to do is sign Irving and Crowder to rookie contracts.

These things are a natural progression.

NBA has been around for so many years, rookie contracts are customized, there is no room for wrangling. Second-round picks will have extra considerations, but they don't have a second-round pick this year, Irving and Crowder are both first-round picks, so they just follow the rules.

What surprised Presti was Irving's relationship with his father.

Since Presti is a Spurs player, he cares about the physical and mental health of young players just like a Spurs scout, and he will turn away players who are obviously mentally retarded.

Judging from all the information about Irving since his birth, Presti believes that Irving is a professional basketball player of high character.

The biggest difference between him and many black players raised by single mothers is that the person who played the role of single parent in his life was his father.

Irving's mother died of organ failure and sepsis syndrome when he was still a child, and the future that Irving's father Dred and his wife had planned was destroyed. From then on, there was only one important thing in Dred's life, which was to let his son realize his dream and become an NBA player.

At this moment, the dream has come true.

Dredd educated Owen very well. Whether it was dealing with people or some basic etiquette, he was like a good young man from a middle-class white family.

"Sir, when can I see Frye?" Irving asked innocently. "Will he play in the summer league?"

Presti asked with a smile: "Kyrie, do you still want to go back to play in the high school league now?"

"I see," Owen said. "So when can I see Frye?"

Frye is also Presti's main job this summer.

"It should be soon," Presti said. "You'll meet him sooner or later."

"Well, we'll take our leave now." Irving said politely, "I'm honored to join the team!"

Presti had never been so sure he had chosen the right person.

Years later, this will become a question that Presti will ask himself in a more serious tone: When did you go blind?
Two days later, on June 6, the SuperSonics celebrated their fourth consecutive championship.

In attendance at the celebration were hundreds of thousands of Seattle residents who were enthusiastic but a little sad, city government dignitaries, world-class business leaders from Redmond, and of course, the protagonists of the celebration - most of the players of the SuperSonics.

Yes, the majority.

Durant, who has already been traded, and Bosh, who decided to enter the free market, are not among them.

They are not here now and they will never be here, and that is why Sonics fans are sad.

Despite such sad events, the Sonics' fourth consecutive championship celebration was still very exciting.

Especially when Yu Fei came to the front desk to give a speech, the applause and screams from the audience continued for a long time.

Yu Fei specially thanked Durant and Bosh, and also praised other teammates. Those who pay attention can find that he did not thank Clay Bennett, nor did he mention much about the future.

The core of his speech was to let fans enjoy the present moment.

The present moment is happy, but happy times are always short.

After the celebration, Yu Fei met the team's newly selected second pick.

"Frye, I've always been a fan of yours," Irving said. "I've watched your games since I was a kid."

Yu Fei looked at Irving deeply. In his memory, with his limited knowledge of NBA history, Kyrie Irving was the most rebellious player he had ever seen.

But now, he looked nothing like the man he remembered.

At least his eyes were clear.

"I've seen your games, too."

Yu Fei said in a nostalgic tone.

Of course, Owen couldn't understand the different emotions in it: "It's my honor."

Then, Yu Fei noticed the eye-catching Reebok logo on Irving.

“You signed with Reebok too?”

Owen smiled and said, "Yes, they are very sincere."

It is true that Nike's appeal to the new generation of players has declined. This may cause Reebok a headache as three of its stars are on the same team at the same time. Roy relies on the label of "Son of Seattle" to avoid being completely overshadowed by the GOAT's star power.

No matter how cool Irving's playing style is, he is not competitive in front of GOAT and Hukou Book.

He will most likely encounter a Durant-like embarrassment: he has the ability and is popular across the country, but his popularity is completely suppressed locally.

But this is not something Yu Fei needs to consider.

That night, the team held a party.

Presti took the opportunity to ask Yu Fei to renew his contract.

Yu Fei's contract still has one season left. If he renews it now, everyone will feel at ease.

Yu Fei didn't respond to his words, but just used the excuse that the future shouldn't be considered now.

July
Yu Fei, who wanted to keep a low profile, unexpectedly became the focus of news.

Arn Tellem, the agent he had worked with for many years, decided to step out of his comfort zone and transform from an agent into an NBA management figure.

For this reason, the Clippers, who had been in a slump for many years, extended an invitation to him.

Donald Sterling hired him as the team's president of operations and general manager. This was a brand new challenge for Tellem, and he was willing to work for a bad guy like Sterling.

To enter the management level, you must first clean up your agency contract.

Tellem has been deeply involved in the agent industry for many years and has already established his own agency. The company has many sports agents, and the most popular one recently is former NBA player Christian Laettner.

Laettner has many young stars under his command, including Stephen Curry, James Harden, DeMar DeRozan, etc.

This made Lightner the designated successor of Tellem, and he decided to "recommend" Lightner to Yu Fei.

GOAT is a nostalgic person. He certainly doesn't want to break up with Tellem, but everyone has his own way to go. Instead of trying to keep him, it is better to help him. He accepted Tellem's advice and chose to sign with Laettner.

Within a few days, the GOAT spokesperson was replaced by Laettner, who caused headaches for NBA management.

Although Laettner is a relatively inexperienced agent, his negotiation style is terrible. Not only does he put pressure on the team without any bottom line, he can even collude with other teams to play double game in order to help his players get big contracts. Over the years, his reputation has become terrible.

Now that GOAT has signed a contract with him, it inevitably makes people feel that "you are a beautiful woman, but you follow a thief."

However, real insiders know that this is just a public performance by Yu Fei's camp.

Tellem is going to be a manager, but his relationships and influence as an agent will not be lost. As Laettner is a famous henchman of GOAT, it must be Yu Fei's own wish to sign a contract with him.

It was obvious that he wanted to strengthen his control over the agency team by making Lightner his agent, but the outside world reported that he chose a young agent with mediocre qualifications because of old friendship.

Fei Mi cried to death after hearing this, GOAT is great, no need to say more.

The management of the Supersonics was also crying. They could have chosen anyone, why Laettner?
Although Laettner has only been in the industry for a short time, he has already dealt with most of the teams. During the lockout last year, Laettner stood up and cursed Clay Bennett by name when he supported the small-market team. This upstart who was holding on to the GOAT and making a fortune.

This made Bennett very unhappy for a while, and he claimed that he would buy out all the people in the Supersonics who had a relationship with Laettner.

Then, Bennett was told that the person on the Supersonics who had the closest relationship with Laettner was the GOAT, and the matter was dropped.

Now that Laettner has become GOAT's agent, many things that Tellem couldn't do or say in the past can now be done. The signal sent by this change is obvious: GOAT has given up on Bennett and no longer cares about his feelings.

There is only one year left in the contract between the two parties. With the Sonics' combat effectiveness constantly weakening, coupled with this incident, Presti no longer dares to imagine what will happen next summer.

As the saying goes, when a country is about to fall, there must be evil. If a dynasty is about to come to an end, there must be irreparable wounds.

Last season, the wound had already been torn, but the GOAT suppressed the internal disputes with his transcendent prestige and personal charm. However, the glory is a thing of the past, and the glory of four consecutive championships is just a short period of glory in the history of the NBA for more than half a century.

GOAT is willing to wait and start over, but what is the motivation for him to wait and start over? Seattle is worth waiting for, but Bennett is not. Seattle is worth starting over, but Bennett is not. He has done everything he can for Seattle, and now it's time to think about himself.

Presti's concerns are correct. A lot of things will happen next summer. However, his thoughts are still too conservative. The gears of fate have already started turning. The most terrible changes are often not sudden. The signs will appear this summer. What happens next summer is just the result of all this.

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"Kevin Durant is excited about New York and looking forward to the new season." - The New York Times

"Chris Bosh is interested in a four-year, $4 million, long-term contract with Cleveland." - The Cleveland Plain Dealer

"The 'go home' option appears in LeBron's selection for the first time." - ESPN: NBA Insider

"The New York Knicks offered DeAndre Jordan a four-year, $4 million contract, and the Seattle SuperSonics have the first right to match the contract." - New York Post

"The SuperSonics did not exercise their right of first re-signing, and DeAndre Jordan will go to New York to renew his relationship with Kevin Durant." - The Seattle Times

(End of this chapter)