When pride still matters

Chapter 582 The end of an era
It is now 2014, and the Nets still have not traded Dwight Howard.

The league's top center has become a hot potato.

It has some value, but it won’t make the pursuer lose his mind.

The Clippers, who had already been eliminated, turned a deaf ear to what was happening outside and were focused on maintaining their third place in the league before the All-Star Weekend.

The regular season is almost halfway through, and the Clippers' strength has basically been figured out.

Yu Fei is still the invincible superstar. No matter how his opponents target him, he will never get into trouble.

On the other hand, although Griffin has the statistics of the league's top power forward, his apparent statistics and actual performance give people a sense of unreality.

At Yu Fei's request, Griffin has dunked the most this year in his career. Even in his rookie season, he didn't dunk that many times. Dunking is a good thing in itself, and there is probably no fan who would hate the world's most exciting dunker to give his all every night.

But when a person is well fed and has no worries in life, he will always start to have wild thoughts, doubt whether his diet is healthy, question the nutrition of the food, and even doubt everything. This is the so-called "Did I let you eat too much?" phenomenon.

This phenomenon also exists on the basketball court, especially for dunkers like Griffin. Except for those who only know how to eat the cake, no dunker wants to be regarded as a pure dunking machine. Griffin is no exception. In addition to dunking, he also hopes that fans can see his skills.

However, when he tried to draw fouls like a guard in the second game between the Clippers and the Knicks, he received far more bad reviews than those guards who actually benefited from this method. After the game, no one cared about the Clippers' victory over the Knicks again, and the media's attention was all focused on Griffin.

"I have no problem with Kevin Durant shooting 30-of-11 from the field, he was on Frye the whole time, who could have done better? But I have a problem with a tough dunker like Blake Griffin asking for a foul like a guard! I have a problem with one of our toughest players flopping like Manu Ginobili!"

Jalen Rose, now part of a four-man ESPN broadcast team, tweeted as the game ended.

A Griffin fan asked on Twitter: "Why can't Blake be like Manu Ginobili?"

Rose replied arrogantly: "I don't even know where Argentina is."

Yu Fei doesn't understand the attacks on Griffin. Isn't it just a flop? Everyone does it, including him. Yes, even the GOAT does it, and it's a skill that shows a player's basketball IQ. But when a violent power forward with a statuesque physique who can jump over cars uses this method, it seems more annoying than Chris Paul or Manu Ginobili.

The fact that Griffin struggled against bigger players fueled those criticisms, leaving most non-Clippers fans with the feeling that Griffin's reputation was built on his dunking talent, a talent that far outweighed his actual basketball accomplishments.

All of this criticism has led to the most annoying stereotype of the moment: that Griffin is a player with only dunking skills, no low-post skills, no basketball IQ, and is powerless when dunking is not enough to win a game.

After experiencing these things, Yu Fei felt that if he were Griffin, he would not want to dunk for these BYD audiences. However, these voices mainly came from outside Los Angeles. Clippers fans are well aware of Griffin's versatility. So Yu Fei talked to Griffin after the game, hoping that he could continue his previous playing style.

"I don't know if I can do it," Griffin said. "You see, if I dunk too often, they will think I can only dunk. I don't want to give people that impression."

"What's wrong with that?" Yu Fei asked back.

Griffin looked at Yu Fei in confusion.

"If Vince Carter retires this summer, the only thing fans will remember him for is his dunks. He will be immortalized for his dunks."

"There will be a new championship team every year, but fans will not remember all the championship teams. But when a player reaches the pinnacle of a certain skill, fans will remember him forever." This time Yu Fei did not use his personal authority to influence Griffin's will, but just said calmly, "Think about it carefully."

The season is almost halfway through, and the Clippers’ reputation as a “shocking team” has been established.

They are past the stage of attracting fans with visually stunning dunks.

In the words of Bill Simmons, Clippers games have become something people need to plan ahead on their schedules and clear out game days to enjoy because "this game is something I absolutely cannot miss."

They are already a guarantee of ratings, and even if Griffin reduces his dunks, the Greek Freak is still there to guarantee ratings.

Griffin decided to cut back on dunks.

He is a very skilled player, and dunking is just one of his ways to draw cheers. He does not want to use this as his selling point.

Yu Fei no longer objected.

The NBA's distorted star ecology provides fertile ground for these people to form a strong sense of self, and one manifestation of excessive self-awareness is overly fragile self-esteem.

Using dunks to entertain the audience was originally a classic gimmick in the NBA, but over time, it made players like Griffin feel like monkeys in a circus. He wanted fans to remember him in another way.

What he never imagined was that without those eye-catching dunks, his status in Clippers history might not have surpassed Elton Brand.

Griffin can still use his star status to change his playing style now, but when he really loses the attention of fans, it will be too late to win back their hearts with dunks.

Yu Fei did not stop him, because they no longer needed to attract traffic in this way. And for someone who regards himself as a superstar, repeatedly using the prestige of GOAT to force him to do something he does not want to do is not necessarily a good thing.

Now that Griffin has made his decision, let's move on.

From that day on, Griffin increased the number of low-post offenses and weak-side ball-handling offenses, and the effect was quite good. However, due to the decrease in the number of dunks and the decrease in the frequency of attacking the basket, his efficiency also dropped to the level of an ordinary player.

At the end of January, the league announced the roster for the 2014 NBA All-Star Weekend.

Unsurprisingly, only Yu Fei and Griffin were selected from the Clippers. Giannis Antetokounmpo, who has already made his mark in the league, was selected for the Rookie Challenge and signed up for the Skills Contest. This is the complete list of the Clippers.

Yu Fei didn't care about it. After all, he was selected for the All-Stars every year. If one day he was not selected for the All-Stars, it would be something he would never forget.

The outside world's reaction was similar. Compared to the All-Star Weekend roster, everyone was more concerned about David Stern's official retirement announcement in early February, which was undoubtedly a major event in basketball history.

Over the past three decades, Stern has packaged the NBA into a popular commodity loved by the whole world through the high-speed communication channel of television.

In the words of USA Today: "The NBA is like a huge economy, where there are only transactions. Stern provides the best goods to the world, and the world returns to the league with huge profits."

Since Stern took office as commissioner, the market value of NBA teams has grown from the initial 300 million to 500 million US dollars to a super sports league where each team is worth at least 3 million US dollars. This achievement is enough to make him famous in history and become one of the most important commissioners in NBA history.

Stern's retirement ceremony will be held during the All-Star Weekend, when countless superstars will be present.

Yu Fei does not have deep feelings for Stern. Although he entered the league under Stern's watch, over the years, the Stern he saw always had the same face, while the legendary Stern had various images. However, the Stern in front of him was obviously more satisfied than the one in the main timeline. The NBA system was reformed in the direction of his ideal, and a superstar like Yu Fei emerged who completely surpassed Jordan.

Once upon a time, Stern thought he would never see anyone surpass Jordan before he closed his eyes, but this person appeared during his tenure as president.

His only regret, or final controversy, was the failure to introduce sports betting into the NBA. From the perspective of the owners, this matter holds huge potential benefits, and the president's duty is to help the owners make money. He believes that all sports, including the NBA, will be legalized in all 50 states in the future.

But this task can only be left to his successor.

This year, the NBA's All-Star Weekend was held in New Orleans.

Today, the Hornets have been renamed the Pelicans, and superstar Anthony Davis's great progress in his sophomore year earned him a Western Conference All-Star appearance.

Every year's All-Star Weekend is not a holiday for Fei.

Due to the intensive business activities, he is often busier during these days than during the regular season. Various social activities consume more energy than the game itself.

In the Rookie Challenge, Antetokounmpo's rookie team lost to the second-year elite team. The Greek Freak performed well, which was the focus of the outside world compared to his laughable performance in the Skills Challenge.

Then, after a series of warm-up games, the 2014 All-Star Game is about to begin. This year's All-Star Game has a bit of the flavor of Ragnarok.

The proportion of young players in the All-Star lineup has increased, while the number of veterans has decreased significantly.

If the drafts of 1995, 1996 and 1997 are called the Pan-96 Golden Generation, then in this All-Star Game, among the players from these three drafts who shaped the league's landscape in the 2000s, only Kobe was selected for the All-Star Game.

If it is expanded to the 1998 and 1999 drafts, only Kobe and Nowitzki were selected.

When he made his Western Conference All-Star starter appearance, Yu Fei felt that he was really old.

Apart from him and Kobe, the starting lineup is full of young people who have entered the league in recent years.

As the host, Anthony Davis beat Blake Griffin to be selected as the All-Star starter. Kyrie Irving, after becoming the core of Seattle, where the market has been fully developed, quickly became a super popular star with his fancy style of play and was selected as the starter without any suspense.

In addition, although James Harden of the Rockets was not favored by the media, he also became a starter thanks to his local Texas vote bank and an average of 27+7+7 per game.

"I'm obviously more suitable for participating in the Senior All-Star Game." Kobe said self-deprecatingly while taking the final photos.

"If that's true, you should call me along." Yu Fei joked.

Irving yelled, "That won't do, GOAT, we can't live without you!"

Everyone started to make a fuss and followed "Uncle Drew", making the GOAT feel embarrassed for once.

"I'm really fed up with you bastards!" GOAT said with a red face, "Don't let me meet you in the playoffs!"

Hearing this, Owen said shamelessly: "Then you really won't meet me!"

Because Roy's injury has not improved, the Supersonics are led by Irving alone this season.

The Sonics dynasty, which was called the "Empire" a few years ago, is now so short of talent that it has no competitiveness at all without the support of stars.

Although Irving plays a gorgeous style, he is not the kind of core guard who can lead the team forward. He is more like a sharp knife. And a sharp knife must be held by someone.

If Roy was on the field, the situation would be better; but without Roy, Irving could only bring the fans a performance that could not win. This remark caused the stars present to laugh.

When the All-Star Game opened that night, Yu Fei finally discovered where his peers had gone - they were all starting on the Eastern Conference All-Star team.

At first glance, Wade, Durant, James, Aldridge and Yao Ming are either old rivals or old acquaintances. This is Yu Fei's favorite All-Star lineup.

Not much memorable happened in the All-Star Game that night. Only three things stood out: Irving's outburst, Howard's slump, and "the interaction between Yu Fei and James."

Irving was the only player that night who was willing to give his all and provide entertainment for the crowd.

He really played a style that can be called a ticket guarantee. With unstoppable ball control ability with both hands, a layup feeling that can find the basket from any angle, and excellent shooting ability, he is the secondary attacker that core players like Yu Fei and James dream of.

Unfortunately, Yu Fei had already left Seattle, and James didn't know that he was supposed to fight alongside Irving.

Irving was so excited on the court that he just took the ball and shot, completely forgetting that the owner of New Orleans was Anthony Davis.

The All-Star Game has always had a tradition of providing a stage for home stars, but there are occasionally cases where someone comes to ruin the show, such as Yu Fei who snatched the AMVP from O'Neal and McGrady in the Los Angeles All-Star Game and the Houston All-Star Game.

However, there were reasons for both incidents. The reason for snatching O'Neal's AMVP was because the two had a long-standing grudge, while the reason for snatching McGrady's AMVP was purely accidental.

Although Irving acted like the person who wanted the AMVP the most in the world, the sluggish state of the Western Conference All-Stars made it difficult for him to achieve his wish. By the fourth quarter, the Eastern Conference All-Stars had a 24-point lead, and Irving's performance had no practical significance except for satisfying the fans.

As an All-Star rookie, Anthony Davis lacked the ball due to his lack of experience, and fans who hoped to see him become the protagonist that night were inevitably disappointed. But this is the All-Star Game, and the protagonist of the game is often decided by chance.

Just like back then, a white player named Tom Chambers once defeated the competition and won the AMVP in the All-Star Game attended by superstars such as Jordan, Magic, Bird, and Thomas.

That night, the Eastern Conference All-Star team won and Durant won the AMVP trophy.

After the game, David Stern's retirement ceremony was held on site.

Stern gave a speech for more than ten minutes in public, and then in full view of the public, he handed over the future of the league to his successor Adam Silver.

This is the end of an era.

(End of this chapter)