When pride still matters

Chapter 571: Already in the Shape of a Genius Pill
Trading Larry Sanders doesn’t sadden Arn Tellem because it’s essentially his predecessor’s legacy.

The reason why he persuaded Yu Fei to keep Sanders was that there were too few positive resources within the Clippers, and Sanders was one of the few players who could be considered outstanding.

As long as the Clippers are willing to trade Saunders, they can call any team.

However, who to bring back in exchange for Sanders becomes a problem.

Meanwhile, the Celtics, determined to rebuild, have put Paul Pierce on the shelf for some time.

However, few teams can make an offer that satisfies Ainge.

Even though Pierce will turn 36 in two months and his average output is no longer enough to qualify him as a star forward, Ainge still feels he can sell Pierce for a high price.

Because he is willing to accept junk contracts from other teams, as long as the other party is willing to give him draft picks, he will consider any junk contract.

However, this year is a slow year for the free market.

Apart from Yu Fei's transfer, the only operation worth mentioning is the Knicks signing Iguodala. The rest are all irrelevant.

Angie put Pierce on the shelf, and all she got was indifference.

This is an era where even a team built with three All-Star players is not sure of winning the championship, and an aging Pierce is really not attractive to a championship-contending team.

Then, the Clippers showed up like Santa Claus.

They inexplicably put the youngest positive asset on the shelf, claiming that they would not trade him for anyone other than an All-Star.

This stunned the other teams.

No one expected that the first thing Yu Fei would do after becoming captain was to trade Sanders.

Is there any grudge between the two of them?

There is no way to know this.

Although Tellem claimed that GOAT was unaware of the transaction, this statement was basically regarded as a joke.

WOJ wrote in its report on Yu Fei's signing with the Clippers: "Ballmer impressed Frye with his unprecedented delegation of power. From that moment on, the most powerful figures in professional basketball were no longer Gregg Popovich and Pat Riley, because they did not have the power to make decisions without informing their boss, but Frye did."

If Tellem wants to trade the team’s best young asset and “the most powerful man in professional basketball” doesn’t know about it, then he might be a little concerned about keeping his job.

This is simply not possible.

It is a consensus among the outside world that trading Sanders was obviously Yu Fei's idea.

Yu Fei himself doesn't mind being known about this, after all, any decision of the Clippers cannot be circumvented by him. If you insist on saying that it has nothing to do with him, then you are treating others as fools.

However, everyone speculated that Sanders might have offended Yu Fei somewhere. Only Ainge had a clearer idea. He directly judged that there must be something wrong with Sanders, otherwise would the Clippers be willing to trade him?
However, Ainge asked around but couldn't find out what was wrong with Sanders, so he tentatively asked the Clippers for an offer through Pierce.

The news that Ainge recently tried to trade Pierce all over the league has reached Tellem's ears. Tellem does not think that the trade value of veteran Pierce can be compared with Sanders, but Pierce has a significant advantage - his contract will expire next summer, which can free up $1500 million in salary space for the team.

Therefore, Tellem didn't mind chatting with Angie.

Tellem was determined to get the Celtics another first-round pick in addition to Pierce.

Ainge naturally refused. How could a team preparing to rebuild send out a first-round pick at will? After all, reconstruction itself is an uncertain cyclical process.

Generally speaking, a team will have a four-year rebuilding cycle, and by playing badly, they will get a high draft pick. If they pick a superstar, they can naturally turn things around in one fell swoop; if they don't, they will have to start all over again after four years.

Because of randomness, some teams fail again and again, and the Clippers are one of the most experienced rebuilding teams in history.

Ainge's goal is to try to trade Pierce and Sanders for one, and if he can also extort a first-round pick from the opponent, it would be a huge profit.

However, Tellem's attitude was even more resolute than his.

One-for-one is fine, but adding a first-round pick? Goodbye.

Just as Ainge was ready for a protracted battle, another unexpected situation occurred for the Celtics.

Doc Rivers, who has coached the Celtics for nearly a decade, is unwilling to accompany the team in rebuilding. He believes that he is fully capable of coaching a strong team.

This gave Ainge an idea. The Clippers don't have a coach right now, so why not trade Rivers?
As the "king of reversals" in the coaching world, Rivers has only experienced one reversal so far, and cannot be called a true "king." Although he failed to lead the Celtics' "Big Three" to the championship, Rivers still won a high-paying contract extension from the Celtics with his outstanding reputation. His annual salary now reaches $700 million, which is considered the highest salary in the coaching world.

Ainge decided to buy one get one free, trading Pierce and giving away Rivers at the same time. As long as the Clippers gave an extra first-round draft pick, the deal could be done.

This left Trem dumbfounded.

Ainge is crazy to trade even the coach for the first round.

He didn't know whether this complied with the regulations, and needed to ask Yu Fei's opinion first.

When Yu Fei heard that Ainge wanted to trade Rivers, his eyes went dark. He was indeed a ruthless person who could sell Gobert five first-round picks.

"Is this in line with the CBA agreement?" Yu Fei asked.

"It doesn't comply in principle," Tellem said. "It seems there's a loophole in the details."

Since Trem said so, there must be a loophole, so now it depends on how Yu Fei views this deal.

Yu Fei is considered to be relatively "lucky". When he started paying attention to the NBA in his previous life, it was the "peak period" when Rivers achieved the title of the king of reversals.

As for Rivers, Yu Fei, after understanding him in past and present lives, believes that he is a grassroots coach who has neither the rigor and system of the academic school nor the talent of those natural coaches who are self-taught.

He has excellent eloquence, high emotional intelligence and extensive network of contacts.

As a result, he became a popular commentator as soon as he retired, and soon earned the reputation of a "natural head coach" and was directly hired by the Magic as head coach.

This made George Karl, who had worked hard at the bottom for many years before finally becoming an NBA coach, say sarcastically: "He is such a lucky guy. This is a coaching position given by God. In the future, we will see more black coaches receive such a gift."

He is an excellent speaker, so he is good at boosting morale; he has a very high emotional intelligence and is deeply loved by the players; he has a wide network of contacts, so he never has to worry about being unemployed, and there is always a good job waiting for him.

Such a person naturally won't spend too much time and energy on improving his professional ability. After all, the players like him, the media doesn't pick on him, and his colleagues all say he is a good person. Only when he is reversed again and again will the fans question his coaching ability and wonder why such a mediocre person can still keep his job.

Yu Fei once considered inviting Carl to be a coach.

But Carr is old and in poor physical condition, and he does not have outstanding young assistant coaches.

This is also Carl's shortcoming in competing to become the GOAT in the coaching world.

Like Jackson, he did not create the system that made him successful. Jackson's triangle offense came from Tex Winter, while Karl's "carnival basketball" originated from Yu Fei.

Jackson's success was due to the combination of Jordan and OK under him, while Karl's success depended on flying.

Their assistant coaches never get the chance to coach them. Often, these assistant coaches are eliminated by the cruel competition rules of the NBA before they can prove themselves.

Therefore, the Clippers' head coach position has been vacant. Ainge suddenly proposed to trade his own head coach, which gave the Clippers a chance to kill two birds with one stone.

They can trade away Sanders, a potential hidden danger, and get a coach with a good reputation to temporarily take over the team.

"You decide for yourself," Yu Fei said to Tellem, "As long as you don't give away an extra first-round draft pick, I have no objection."

Following Yu Fei's instructions, Trem continued to negotiate with Angie.

This made Ainge very annoyed. After all, they were willing to trade the highly acclaimed head coach, so why was the other side still reluctant to give in?

Let me ask you, is there any better trading partner than our Celtics?

We offer a solid veteran with an expiring contract, and a coach with zero negative reviews, all you need is an extra first-round pick. Why is it so difficult? But Tellem remained unmoved: "Larry Sanders is one of the best young assets in the league, and that's all I can give you. I don't think you can pick a young player as good as Larry with your first-round pick next year."

Ainge was extremely annoyed: "If you like Larry so much, why did you trade him? If he has no problems at all, why would you give up a young player who signed a maximum salary with you for nothing?"

"He has a problem," Tellem said. "He can't shoot, which prevents him from becoming an inside player who is in line with the development of the times!"

Ainge shouted: "This is a well-known fact, but his defensive value is still great! This can't be the reason for you to trade him!"

How can Ainge be convinced that this is really the reason why Frye wants to trade Sanders?
Although Tellem suspected there might be other reasons behind it, the fact is that Yu Fei decided to trade Sanders that day simply because he had no shooting ability and took up the team's salary space.

This reason was simply unbelievable to Angie.

Perhaps they would rather believe some unfounded speculation.

"That's certainly not the only reason," Tellem said. "Larry's biggest mistake was that Fry didn't like him."

"Why doesn't Fry like him?"

"I don't know," Tellem replied, "but it was enough for us to decide to trade him."

Angie was so angry that she laughed.

How strong and domineering! He had just joined the team and hadn't played a single game for the Clippers, but he was about to send away the team's youngest and most valuable asset.

The reason is just because you “don’t like it”?
How did professional basketball become like this?
At this point, Angie knew she could no longer profit from it.

The Clippers seemed very confident. They traded Sanders not because he had a serious injury, but simply because he was not in the eyes of the GOAT.

Such an unreliable reason actually ruined his future with the Clippers.

What else can Ainge do? If he delays until the start of the season, what he is selling is no longer Pierce's fighting ability, but the value of his expiring contract. This is certainly not bad, but by then he will definitely only get a garbage contract and unpredictable future draft picks.

If there wasn't a high-quality young man like Sanders in front of him, Ainge might choose to wait.

But Sanders looked too tempting.

Young, excellent at defense, he is the kind of cornerstone player who can improve the team's defensive ceiling. Although the team cannot expect him to contribute too much on the offensive end, his defense is absolutely reliable. Moreover, he is still young, who knows if he will develop better offensive skills in the future?

The most attractive thing is Sanders' contract, which is good value for money.

He still has one year left on his rookie contract, and then he signed a four-year, $4 million contract, so the team can have him without any worries until the summer of 4400. This will undoubtedly be a high-quality and cost-effective contract.

With Angie's character of "if you don't take advantage, you will suffer a loss", he was dazzled by Sanders this time.

In August, after many days of negotiations, the Celtics finally gave up their demand for the first-round pick. At the same time, they also announced the deal in the name of "fulfilling Pierce's dream of winning the championship" and "letting Rivers bring his talent to a strong team."

This is destined to be one of the strangest trades in NBA history. The Los Angeles Clippers sent Larry Sanders to the Boston Celtics in exchange for head coach Doc Rivers and Paul Pierce.

When the trade happened, Celtics diehard Bill Simmons couldn't help but express his complicated emotions on social media with a series of crying and laughing emojis.

He was sad that Pierce left the team. How could it not be sad that a generation of Celtics soul could not spend the rest of his life with the team like his predecessors? But he was also happy that Rivers was traded.

That’s right, he was traded!
The feud between him and Rivers can be traced back to the early 2000s. As soon as Rivers took office, he followed Ainge's plan and played badly. Simmons wrote articles criticizing him almost every once in a while. Later, Rivers couldn't stand it anymore and called Simmons a "clown" in an interview, and the feud between the two began.

What Simmons didn't expect was that the first thing Yu Fei did after coming to the Clippers was to trade Sanders.

This prompted Simmons to tweet: "I am increasingly convinced that the Clippers are a cursed team. Look, 30-year-old Frye is already acting like 40-year-old Jordan. I bet this is just the beginning!"

Simmons' remarks naturally attracted attacks from fans, but he was already used to it.

This deal has indeed caused a lot of heated discussion in the outside world. The consensus of many topics is that no one thinks this deal is good for the Clippers.

What’s more interesting is that people are discussing more about Yu Fei’s role in this transaction.

Some people think that Yu Fei was the leader, while others think that he was just the one who nodded in agreement. However, Mark Stein, Yu Fei's personal reporter, suddenly fell silent. He knew that the truth was not favorable to Yu Fei, so he claimed to be sick and said that he would not release any NBA news in the near future.

This attitude of avoiding talking about it has intensified the speculation from the outside world. After all, if someone like Stein had good news about Yu Fei, he would definitely be eager to release it. Doesn't choosing silence now mean something?

Stein was also helpless because Yu Fei wouldn't let him clarify, as if allowing outside speculation would be good for the GOAT's reputation.

Larry Sanders, who was traded, took it in stride.

"It's no big deal," Sanders said. "It's the same wherever you play."

People couldn't help but give him thumbs up. He was traded from Los Angeles to Boston but he was still able to act so calmly. He really has the demeanor of a great general.

"GOAT is destined to pay the price for his arrogance this time!"

"That's right, Fry has now become another Prodigy Dan, he has forgotten who he is!"

"There is no source proving that this has anything to do with Frye, can you haters please stop it?"

Similar remarks frequently appear on social media.

Yu Fei knew very well that there must be someone behind this one-sided public opinion, but he didn't care.

Back then, he also fought back from being hated by everyone.

When he signed a short-term contract with the Bucks, the outside world almost regarded him as a heretic. Compared with the public opinion offensive at that time, the negative public opinion now is just a drop in the bucket for him.

When Sanders' problems are exposed, these remarks will disappear.

Moreover, he enjoys being accused of having the final say. It would be best if he could really have the final say.

He really has the final say over the current Clippers, and he has nothing to hide about that.

After the trade is completed, what needs to be sorted out now is the team's basic lineup.

After Sanders was traded, the Clippers' center position became a no-man's land, and the team did not have a reliable center. Moreover, there were few players left in the trading market, and Yu Fei had no hope of strengthening the center position in the free market, so he was ready to let Griffin take turns to play the center position in the new season.

Considering Griffin's slightly short wingspan, his rim protection ability cannot be said to be flawless, but it at least makes people feel intimidated.

Therefore, Yu Fei believes that his average number of blocks per game will reach a career high in the new season.

In addition to the inside, they also have the Greek Freak to develop.

The training model for Antetokounmpo has already been demonstrated by the Bucks in their previous life, so they just need to copy it.

Pierce will also take a starting position. Based on his impression of playing against Pierce last season, Yu Fei estimated that this veteran is still at the starting level, and coupled with the big heart he has developed as the core of the team for many years, he will definitely be better at playing key shots than ordinary starting players.

Looking at it this way, four of the five starters are fixed, and it doesn't matter who gets the remaining spot.

If there is no subsequent reinforcement, then this will be the core framework of the Clippers' new season.

Yu Fei hasn't fought such a poor battle since his rookie season.

Judging from the lineup alone, they can only strive to reach the semifinals. Whether they can make it to the Western Conference Finals to face the legendary 14 Spurs depends on luck.

Fortunately, the Clippers were a rotten team to begin with, and leading this team that was still competing for the lottery last season to the conference semifinals will never be a stain on Fei's resume.

He and Griffin need to get used to each other, and Antetokounmpo needs to grow. They also need to use the salary space vacated by Pierce to sign a star player next summer. Before that, what he needs most is patience.

(End of this chapter)