When pride still matters

Chapter 608 Nothing Can Beat Time

When the Clippers returned to Los Angeles, they received a welcome unlike any they had ever received.

One major change brought about by winning the championship is that the Lakers' original dominance in the Los Angeles sports world has been completely broken.

Before yesterday, the Lakers were the only Los Angeles franchise to win a championship in a sports league since the 21st century, which is why they have long enjoyed the love of the city.

But now, the Clippers have also joined the championship club.

Although their heritage and history are far from comparable to the Lakers.

But history only has the meaning of remembrance for people today. Only when you have nothing in reality will the achievements in history become extremely important.

The outside world's confidence in whether the Lakers can win another championship in the Kobe era has become increasingly elusive.

Because no matter how you look at it, the Lakers, who are aging every year, cannot completely evolve into a championship-level team just because of Anthony's joining.

Their last chance to change the team's fate was in the summer of 2013.

If Yu Fei had chosen the Lakers at that time, the league landscape in the next few seasons would have been completely changed.

Unexpectedly, the unconventional GOAT made the most unexpected choice ever.

He joined a cursed team and faced unprecedented controversy. People like Bill Simmons were pessimistic about his future. The myth that lasted for ten consecutive years seemed to be about to fall in this notorious basketball hell.

The noise surrounding me has become a joke at this moment.

Yu Fei walked out of the airport holding the O'Brien Cup.

This was obviously a deliberately designed scene.

But the fans buy into it.

"!￥!￥"

The Clippers fans at the scene went completely crazy.

They express their love for the team in various ways.

The Clippers' changing image can be seen in various places in Los Angeles.

In the past, shopping malls, restaurants and various stores in Los Angeles would not hold events targeting the Clippers.

Because that's "not cool".

The Clippers are like clowns in Los Angeles and cannot be compared with the Lakers.

Now, every store in Los Angeles is willing to run a marketing campaign for the Clippers championship.

Clippers jerseys began to replace other jerseys and became a casual garment comparable to Lakers jerseys.

On the streets, Yu Fei's No. 44 logo can be seen everywhere.

Reebok announced last year that it would build a skyscraper in Los Angeles to move the company's US headquarters there.

This is earth-shattering news for Nike.

With Kobe as the core, they have taken root in Los Angeles for many years. Although they cannot be said to have a dominant market share, they are definitely the best-selling sports product in Los Angeles.

But now Reebok is taking advantage of Yu Fei's influence and his popularity which is ten times that of Kobe to rapidly seize the market. It is even planning to move its headquarters to Los Angeles to enter the entire California market.

With the Clippers on track to win the championship, a series of business initiatives will yield positive returns.

There is nothing Nike can do about it.

Because the Clippers really won the championship.

Now is the time for settlement of the "Only Empire".

As a person in the game, Yu Fei is not so sensitive to the changes around him.

After returning to Los Angeles, the first thing he did was to take a vacation and return home to be with his wife.

The same goes for the rest of the Clippers.

After working hard for a season, now is the time to enjoy the holiday.

The only exception is Yao Ming.

This summer, he still needs to return to China to participate in the national team training in preparation for the 2015 Changsha Men's Basketball Asian Championships.

This is the fifth consecutive year that he has not been able to get enough rest in the summer.

However, those days are coming to an end.

Because FIBA ​​has reformed the competition system.

This Asian Championship will be the last one in history. After this year, the Men's Basketball World Championship will be renamed the Men's Basketball World Cup, and the way to obtain World Cup places will change from the Asian Championship to various qualifiers in the style of the Football World Cup, and those qualifiers are basically held during the NBA season.

Therefore, what will be compared at that time is the strength of the local players of each country, and overseas players are out of reach.

Moreover, since China has already qualified to host the first Men's Basketball World Cup in 2019, after this year, as long as the men's basketball team can qualify for the Rio Olympics, they will have a whole period of time without having to worry about the quota for the world championships. Yao Ming will have plenty of rest time in the summers of the next few years.

Most of the players are resting, but the management's "season" is about to begin.

General Manager of the Year Arn Tellem looked at the draft picks on their books and began to think about how to get them.

They were originally going to have one first-round pick and three second-round picks this year, but all three second-round picks were sent away in past trades, which means they now only have their first-round pick No. 1.

After the big draft year of 2014, normally the overall quality of the draft class in the next year's draft would decline significantly, but after observing the whole year, it was found that this year is a mid-level draft year.

There is still top talent at the top of the draft class, and there are also good potential stocks in the middle and late stages.

However, most of those people have nothing to do with the Clippers.

Because the 30th pick in the first round is a very awkward position.

It's hard to find a gem at this position, and the ones picked are basically second-round prospects.

This troubles the General Manager of the Year.

Who to choose?
Looking at the current personnel situation of the Clippers, it can be said that the only position lacking is point guard.

In order to train Giannis Antetokounmpo this season, the team continues to put him at the number one position, but Yu Fei has pointed out that the Greek's final position will be the number four position, so it is necessary for the team to increase the number one position reserve.

The Argentine veteran Priginio, who was acquired at the trade deadline last season, has done an excellent job, but he is really too old and may retire in a few years, so he cannot be considered as a long-term plan for the team.

But if they want to choose a point guard, it will be difficult for the Clippers to pick a plug-and-play quality guard with their draft picks.

Arne Trem wanted to ask Yu Fei about this, but when he heard that the GOAT was on vacation, he didn't bother him.

Moreover, it is rare that the GOAT has no intention of interfering in the team's affairs. Isn't this the time for them to show their skills?

Trem gave the order that the entire management team should work overtime before the draft and conduct intensive trials for players with late first-round and second-round prospects.

However, in addition to preparing for the draft, the Clippers still have the opportunity to make a big move in the free market.

After dealing out Tyreke Evans' contract last year, they acquired Danny Granger from the Bucks.

Granger was a top player in his prime, but after being ravaged by injuries, he has lost his star power. The main value he can provide to the Clippers is to unlock a maximum salary space this summer.

Thompson still has one year of his rookie bonus, and Antetokounmpo still has two years of his rookie bonus. The Clippers' salary framework is quite healthy, and they can definitely bring in a main player from the free market in the summer.

With the Clippers' reputation as the defending champions and Los Angeles' unique geographical advantages, they will definitely have great potential this summer.

After a week of intensive workouts, the Clippers have narrowed their draft picks to Turkish forward Cedi Osman, Virginia Tech center Montrezl Harrell and Boston College's Olivier Hanlan.

In order to obtain more professional opinions, Tellem invited team consultant LOGO man Jerry West to personally observe the tryout.

However, although the Clippers take the draft very seriously, after all, this is only the 30th pick.

“I don’t see any bright spots,” West said.

What I mean is, they are all inferior, so just pick any one you like.

Just one day before the draft, Yu Fei, who had always been indifferent to worldly affairs, suddenly called Trem to ask about the team's draft.

Facing this star player who actually holds the power of the president, Tellem did not dare to neglect and explained the situation. Hearing that the team has set its sights on Cedi Osman, Yu Fei frowned.

"Any questions?"

There is no problem, it’s just that the vague memories of the previous life are impacting Yu Fei.

Yu Fei's only impression of Osman was that he staged the Turkish version of the "World Problem: Sideline Ball" at the 2019 Men's Basketball World Cup.

The consequence for Türkiye because of the sideline ball was no less than the men's basketball team's dream run failed in the match against Poland - they missed the opportunity to defeat the Dream Team on the international stage.

Apart from that, Yu Fei only knew that Osman played for the Cavaliers, but he didn't have much impression of him.

This is why Yu Fei doesn't like this choice.

Now that the timeline has come to the age where he can truly play to his strengths, even as a first-round pick No. 30, he wants to choose players who are more memorable as much as possible.

"I prefer Josh Richardson from the University of Tennessee."

Yu Fei did not have a deep impression of Richardson. He only knew that he could contribute double-digit points stably after entering the NBA and was also a point guard, which was more in line with the Clippers' current needs.

Yu Fei gave his opinion, and the name he mentioned was not on the Clippers' shortlist.

This will make the Clippers management's intensive work in recent days come to naught, and they will have to choose someone who has not been carefully examined.

Trem would not challenge Yu Fei's authority.

Because Yu Fei has proven his vision many times.

Speaking of which, Tellem was elected General Manager of the Year because Yu Fei urged the team to sign Jokic last year and successfully recruited Yao Ming through personal connections.

It can be said that Tellem had almost no room to show his personal will in that series of operations that had a profound impact on the Clippers.

His only role is to bear the brunt of the abuse that follows these operations.

But in the end, he became the General Manager of the Year.

This is what it’s like to follow the GOAT and have meat to eat.

Tellem made his decision without hesitation.

One day later, the 2015 NBA Draft.

This year's draft class can be considered a big year for inside players, with many potential inside players.

This draft prospect structure looks pretty retro.

In the 80s and 90s, a talented inside player could easily lock up a lottery spot. If this inside player had a little skill, then he would be a hot favorite for the No. pick.

This year, the talented center Karl-Anthony Towns from Kentucky achieved "overtaking on the curve".

Before this class of players went to college, Jahlil Okafor, who played in a retro style, was the undisputed No. 1 pick. However, as great centers like Yao Ming were targeted and unable to play in the finals due to style issues, and Towns showed characteristics in many aspects that were suitable for the era of space basketball, Okafor lost the title of quasi-No. 1 pick.

After the tryout, Towns' silky shooting touch was officially recognized by NBA professionals, and his potential to be the No. 1 pick was confirmed.

The team holding the No. 1 pick this year is the Celtics, who have been having trouble even drinking cold water recently.

The team formed a Big Three and ran into the peak GOAT. They gave away the cornerstone of the team for more than ten years in exchange for Larry Sanders, who thought he would be the team's inside barrier for the next ten years. However, this guy inspired his love for many hobbies during his injury and suddenly didn't want to play basketball anymore.

Ainge even traded Pierce to get him. Could he let him pursue art? So he did a lot of ideological work. As a result, Sanders got more and more injured. The more he got injured, the more he hated basketball. Under the pressure from both inside and outside, he actually suffered from depression.

Not long ago, the Celtics officially bought out Sanders' contract, declaring the Pierce deal a complete failure.

The Celtics, who were in the worst situation, got the second No. 1 pick in team history.

However, they did not trade it like they did with the first No. 1 pick.

The Celtics had no problem drafting Karl-Anthony Towns, and Ainge said, "Karl is like a combination of Kevin McHale and Larry Bird!"

It was not until many years later that people understood the profound meaning of Angie's words.

What this means is that Towns has Bird-level shooting touch and McHale-level aggressiveness.

Then, the 76ers, who had the second pick, boldly selected Krista Porzingis from Latvia.

About half of basketball experts predict that Porzingis has a 70% chance of becoming the Darko Milicic of the 2010s.

Jahlil Okafor was selected by the Magic with the third pick in the first round.

Just when commentators said that no trades had occurred so far and the draft night was a bit dull, the Lakers made a move.

Just eight years after Marc Gasol was drafted by the Lakers.

On another draft night, the Lakers sent away this representative figure who, like Yao Ming, could become a traditional center and also perform well in the era of space basketball.

The Lakers sent Gasol Jr. to the Indiana Pacers in exchange for the fourth pick, and then made a puzzling decision.

They overlooked Emmanuel Mudiay, who seemed to be a better fit with the team and had a higher development ceiling, and chose the skilled combo guard D'Angelo Russell.

The Lakers returned to the semifinals in the season that just ended.

From the outside, it seems that there will definitely be follow-up to this transaction.

It is impossible for them to trade Gasol just for Russell, because Kobe is already 37 years old and Anthony is not young either. They don't want to wait for Russell to grow up in three years and then lead the two old Dengs to achieve results.

Such a steady and cautious approach is something that only a small team like the Spurs would do. The Lakers are a wealthy team, and wealthy teams value rapid growth.

However, Lakers representatives indicated they had no subsequent trade plans when answering questions about why the team chose Russell.

Why did the Lakers choose Russell?
"Because we don't want to miss the next Michael Jordan!"

"Jim Buss, fuck you!!! We already have Kobe, no one wants a Jordan who is not even half as athletic as Jordan!"

Lakers fans roared on social media.

Obviously, the Lakers' trade triggered a chain reaction.

The Knicks then sent DeMar DeRozan to Boston in exchange for the Celtics' No. 17 pick and first-round picks in 2019 and 2020 (lottery protected).

The Knicks selected Terry Rozier with the 17th pick.

This deal shows that the Knicks have decided to get rid of the cage that Rajon Rondo's refusal to shoot has built for Durant, and to get rid of DeRozan in an almost free way in order to create enough salary space this summer.

After that, Devin Booker, another heavyweight from the 2015 draft class, chased his destiny and was picked by the destined Suns without exception.

After all this, an hour after the draft, the long-awaited defending champions came to the stage and announced that they would use the 30th pick in the first round to select Josh Richardson from the University of Tennessee.

That was the only thing they did today.

Chuck Ford, a renowned draft expert, rated the Clippers' operation on the day of the draft an "A" and said: "Josh Richardson is a versatile and athletic guard who can play both the 1st and 2nd positions. He is another dark horse in my mind. The Clippers' outside strength will be greatly improved in the new season. The General Manager of the Year did what he should do!"

Ironically, last season's General Manager of the Year himself doesn't know what is right and what is wrong in this world.

Fortunately, he also happened to know what went absolutely right in a successful organization.

That is the will of the GOAT, and following the will of the GOAT and moving forward is the political correctness of the Clippers.

After league commissioner Adam Silver announces every selection in the first round of the draft, regulations require him to hand over the stage to the vice president to complete the rest of the draft announcement work.

But Silver chose to remain on stage to pay tribute to an industry expert who had just passed away.

That man was Harvey Pollack. If you want to know more - Pollack is pretty much the godfather of modern sports statistics. If you consider yourself a fan of pro basketball analytics - then you should be saddened by Pollack's passing.

However, the most famous thing Pollack did in his career had nothing to do with sports statistics.

Pollack captured one of the most iconic photos in sports history 53 years ago on Wilt Chamberlain's 100-point night.

Half a century has passed, Chamberlain is no longer with us, people still haven't seen the video of that game, and now the person who took the 100-point photo has also passed away. That flashy era has become ancient basketball in people's eyes, and honor needs to be devalued, otherwise you cannot reasonably crown contemporary people.

However, in a few decades, contemporary people will become "ancient basketball" in the eyes of future people, so what can be preserved permanently?

"RIP. Sooner or later we all realize that ultimately nothing can beat time."

Yu Fei forwarded Harvey Porat's eulogy and wrote down his own thoughts.

(End of this chapter)