When pride still matters

Chapter 611 It’s not my time anymore

One benefit of holding a small personal training camp before the team's pre-season training camp officially begins is that you can quickly build relationships with your teammates.

It’s a bit like when Jordan came back from baseball vacation and was beaten by the Magic in the playoffs, and then started “The Breakfast Club.”

Although Jordan's relationship with his teammates may not have improved as a result, more contact did improve his understanding with his teammates. After all, he had been away from the Bulls for a season and a half at that time.

Yu Fei is different. He did not need to go through the training camp to get to know his teammates again because he had left the team before. Jokic joined voluntarily, and the relationship between the two was elevated from ordinary colleagues to pure friendship.

Yu Fei was surprised by Jokic's speed of improvement.

Last season, although Jokic showed a lot of talent, he still retained the immaturity of a rookie team in many aspects.

Things are very different now.

Yu Fei believes that Jokic's technical framework has initially taken on the appearance of the future "Jokic" that he is familiar with.

The only thing he lacks now is time.

Only a large amount of practical experience can enable him to truly cross the barriers and achieve a leap in personal strength.

The day before Yu Fei's personal short-term training camp ended, Jokic invited him to his home, and Yu Fei gladly accepted the invitation.

Unlike other NBA players, Jokic did not choose a big mansion in an expensive area. He just chose a wealthy community with good security and rented a three-bedroom apartment.

In addition to him and his girlfriend Talia, his two brothers Nemanja and Strahinja also live here.

Yu Fei often saw them cheering for Jokic on the sidelines, but after getting up close, he realized how majestic these two men were, like typical mafia bodyguards in Hollywood movies.

In addition, there is a strange rule in their house:

People who live here and guests who visit are required to wear black slippers. If the guest does not have a pair, the family will provide a pair.

"These are Talia's rules, and everyone has to follow them," Jokic explained.

Yu Fei smiled and said, "It sounds like you listen to her?"

Jokic answered without hesitation: "Of course. She is responsible for our food and daily life. She takes care of such a big house by herself. She is the hostess here."

Afterwards, Yu Fei met the "hostess".

He had thought Talia would be a strong woman, but she turned out to be unexpectedly gentle and demure, not at all like someone who would force guests to wear black slippers.

When Jokic opened the refrigerator and was about to take out a bottle of Coke, Talia glared at him: "Baby, you've already drunk three liters of Coke today!"

“Definitely not that much!” Jokic shouted. “Two liters at most!”

"Frye is right here, and you always say it has no effect on you, so let's ask Frye, does Coke have any effect on athletes?"

Yu Fei has formed the perception over the years that "carbonated drinks are not good for athletes", but he has not deeply understood why specifically they are bad.

In response to Talia's question, he simply said: "Whether you are an athlete or not, drinking too much is always bad."

"Did you hear that? If you don't listen to me, you have to listen to the GOAT!" Talia said with a smile, and Jokic gave in helplessly.

Yu Fei only felt his face burning.

This is the situation he least wants to face, that a word he said unintentionally is regarded as the Bible, and the other party even emphasizes that "this is what the GOAT said."

It was as if what he said had some validity.

After Talia took away Jokic's Coke, Jokic looked at Yu Fei unwillingly: "Would your wife be like this?"

Yu Fei joked, "I usually don't consume two liters of Coke in a day."

"It makes me happy," Jokic said. "Happiness is the best thing."

"Like horse racing?"

"That's different," Jokic said. "Horse racing is the most important thing in the world."

So, basketball is just a secondary interest for Jokic to have fun and let his horse racing career take off.

It's just that Jokic has been wildly successful in this secondary interest.

The food that Jokic's family used to entertain guests that day was Serbian barbecue.

But for Fei, barbecue is nothing special.

Apart from the differences in ingredients and seasoning, barbecue around the world should be similar.

They chatted while eating Serbian sausage.

Jokic talked about his teenage years.

"In elementary school, every teacher liked me because I was always funny," he said. "I was taller than most boys and girls and the fattest. I liked a few subjects — math and history, but that was about it. I didn't like sports. By high school, I couldn't even do a push-up."

To be honest, Jokic's life is more "full" than most players.

This kind of "fulfillment" is more reflected on the spiritual level.

Although he was playing in a foreign country, his girlfriend and brother were by his side.

However, he suddenly sighed: "I miss home. I am the youngest child in the family, and maybe because of this, my relationship with my parents is closer. I really miss them."

At this time, Jokic's brother Nemanja joked: "That's because he is spoiled!"

Jokic immediately said dissatisfiedly: "No!"

Yu Fei asked: "You could have taken this time to go back, why didn't you do it?"

He was referring to the time when Jokic participated in the short training camp. Jokic had just recovered from the hard special training in the summer, but immediately joined Yu Fei's short training camp. Now that the preseason training camp is about to start, he really can't get away.

Jokic replied: "Because there are more important things."

He needs to go through a short training camp to test the effectiveness of his special training in the summer.

It turned out that his strength had been significantly improved.

It's like a player whose rating in NBA 2K is only 75 goes up to 85 in just one summer.

This makes him truly qualified to compete for the starting position.

"It depends on how much you are willing to sacrifice for this 'important thing'," Yu Fei said. "Our season will last until June next year. If you can stick with it, then you have taken the first step."

Jokic smiled and said, "So, I decided to let my parents come to Los Angeles to live for a while. This is easier and more effective than going home."

Yu Fei believed that he had been prepared to do this for a long time, and he had laid so much groundwork just to show himself that he would compete with Yao Ming for the starting position.

Because Yu Fei and Yao Ming have a good relationship, Jokic hopes that Yu Fei will be neutral about this matter.

But he never expected that Yu Fei would wholeheartedly support him in doing so.

Two days later, pre-season training camp began.

The Clippers assembled in Los Angeles.

Doc Rivers can be said to be in high spirits. After winning the championship last season, he not only made up for his career without a championship, but also saved his job.

When Rivers was traded to Ainge, he had two years left on his contract.

The Clippers carried out business as usual without any changes.

If there are no results in the next two years, Narefus should leave.

As a result, the team set a new best record in its history in the first year and won the championship in the second year.

Although most of the praise went to Yu Fei, Rivers received the most tangible reward.

With Yu Fei's tacit approval, the wealthy Steve Ballmer gave Rivers a five-year, $5 million contract.

This makes Rivers the highest-paid coach in the league.

In the new season, their goal is to defend the title.

Whether this goal can be achieved will be clear in the training camp.

Except for those veterans who don't seek to get better but just want to stay the same, the young people who the team has high hopes for have changed a lot.

The one who has changed most obviously is Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Using the summer for special training for 100 days is already Jokic's limit.

But this has been Antetokounmpo's life since 2013.

That's how he spent last summer, and this summer as well.

In just two summers, he got rid of the refugee body he had at the beginning of the draft, and what followed was a strong physique that seemed to be covered with muscle armor.

Just looking at his physical condition, he already has the foundation to play the power forward position.

Then there was Jokic. When Rivers first saw him, he thought he had seen the wrong person.

Where is the Serbian fat boy who is as big as him? Who is this Serbian spirited boy?

It took Rivers a while to accept the fact that Jokic had successfully lost weight.

On the first day of the training camp, Yu Fei was still stretching his muscles when two ambitious young European men began to compete with each other.

Antetokounmpo took the initiative to move to the inside and face off against Jokic.

This was the first time he showed off his incredible athleticism in a confrontational game - with such a huge body, combined with excellent ball-handling offense, the destructive power he brought was quite amazing.

He just changed direction, received the ball, and then made a sharp turn, almost leaving Jokic behind, and then jumped up and dunked.

In today's era of miniaturized basketball, it is almost impossible to defend Antetokounmpo one-on-one in open space.

He doesn't need to completely get rid of his opponent. He just needs to dribble the ball, collect the ball and turn around, and then use the inertia of his body to knock his opponent away. Then it's his dunk performance.

Therefore, the Eastern Conference teams on the main timeline have formed "anti-Antetokounmpo armor". This defensive lineup is usually composed of an inside player with outstanding rim protection ability and a wing who can run and jump to deal with the impact of Antetokounmpo.

"Is it time, Frye?" Rivers asked, referring to the "time" for Antetokounmpo to play the four.

Yu Fei believes that Antetokounmpo is indeed ready.

But it wasn't enough for him to be ready alone.

Although Antetokounmpo has retained his shooting posture and muscle memory from his rookie period with the help of Yu Fei, he is still not a qualified outside shooter in essence.

If he plays the power forward position, his positioning will be like in the main timeline, as a power forward who relies on the inside on offense but has outside coverage on defense. This style of play can give full play to his destructive power in the restricted area and his amazing sweeping range.

Therefore, the center who partners with him should preferably be a player like Brook Lopez after his successful transformation.

In theory, Yao Ming would be a perfect partner.

But Yu Fei knew that Yao Ming was already 36 years old and could not accompany Antetokounmpo for too long.

The one who truly fought side by side with the Greek for many years and reached the peak with him is the opponent he most wants to defeat on the court today - Jokic.

Jokic's playing style is not as visually impactful as Antetokounmpo's, his style is more like using softness to overcome hardness.

In the low post, he kept turning with exquisite footwork until he shook off Antetokounmpo, and then scored easily with a hook shot; he would also make a fake move in the low post, and when his opponent was not prepared, he would throw out a no-look behind-the-back pass that would be one of the top ten plays in the careers of most centers.

The most amazing thing is his shooting rhythm. When a player is forced into a situation where there is no space to shoot, he either passes the ball or forces a shot. Although Jokic also forces a shot, his shooting method is extremely unique.

It was a Nowitzki-style one-legged stand, but with a step-back. Unlike most players who step back with their dominant hand, Jokic's step-back was with his right foot and his left foot. The whole move looked awkward, but the ball went in.

This moment made Antetokounmpo very annoyed.

He simply couldn't understand how anyone could score in that way.

Seeing this scene, Yu Fei smiled and said, “I think Nikola is ready.”

This confused Rivers. Wasn't he asking about the Greeks? Why did he mention the Serbs?
Yu Fei did not give any explanation.

Over the next few days, the situation in the training camp remained the same.

Antetokounmpo is eager to prove that he is the strongest player after Yu Fei, but Jokic has no such pursuit. He just doesn't want to lose.

The two were evenly matched on the court.

But off the court, Antetokounmpo is clearly more adapted to the rhythm of Los Angeles than Jokic.

Jokic doesn't like being in the media's spotlight 24/7, and doesn't know how to please the media. For him, dealing with the media is just part of the job.

And Antetokounmpo not only accepts the media, but even enjoys interacting with them.

During his rookie season, the media once asked him: "Do you know what Magic Johnson's greatest trait is?"

Antetokounmpo certainly didn't know.

The reporter smiled and said, "It's not his dribbling, it's not his passing, it's not even his championship, it's his smile. Giannis, you have that sunny smile, keep it."

So, no matter where he goes, Antetokounmpo will always have a smiling face, which really brings him a lot of benefits.

Some media began to be willing to continue tracking Antetokounmpo and give him enough exposure, and he was extremely friendly to these media.

As Antetokounmpo continued to improve in his second season, the media already saw that this was a future star.

From that point on, Antetokounmpo's star began to emerge.

Starlight is a word that Hollywood likes to use, and it is also the word most frequently quoted to Hollywood stars. Generally speaking, starlight is the combined influence of a star's fame, appeal, and pay (if it is an actor).

NBA players have similar star power.

Usually, the word "star power" is only used for star players.

However, the second-year Antetokounmpo has already made it to the All-Star ranks, and coupled with Los Angeles' unique geographical advantages, he has quickly become a new generation of media darling.

The day before media day, Yao Ming officially returned to the team.

This summer, Yao Ming once again led the Chinese men's basketball team to win the Asian Championships and successfully qualified for the Rio Olympics.

For Yao Ming, this may be the last big event before 2019.

Yao Ming's career plan is very clear - the Rio Olympics will be his last Olympic trip, and he plans to officially retire after the World Cup held in his home country.

Considering the pressure and expectations of playing at home, the World Cup results may be more important than the Olympics. To achieve this goal, Yao Ming must first ensure that he stays healthy.

Therefore, Yao Ming, who had just returned to the team, immediately found Yu Fei and asked what the previously mentioned "method that would allow him to play until 2019" was.

"You just came back, why are you in such a hurry?" Yu Fei said with a smile, "Take some pictures first, we still have a lot of things to do today."

Yu Fei's advice to Yao Ming was simple - accept the role of substitute.

However, rather than being a substitute, he is more like the sixth man.

This is the role that suits Yao Ming best at the moment: he can give his all within the limited playing time while avoiding physical exhaustion; more importantly, if he plays in off-peak games he won't encounter the opponent's strongest lineup, so he can easily rack up good stats.

But this means Yao Ming must give up his former star status.

For a star player who is approaching the end of his career, this is not a difficult decision to make.

That day, Yu Fei was still the focus of the whole stadium. However, he found that some media people who used to follow him to report began to turn their attention to young players.

Antetokounmpo was also surrounded by reporters, and Jokic also attracted a lot of attention.

However, similar to Yao Ming, the media surrounding Jokic mainly comes from his home country.

That afternoon, Yu Fei heard a reporter from New York ask, "Frye, what kind of players do you think Giannis and Nikola will develop into in an ideal situation?"

Yu Fei responded with a smile: "This is not a hypothesis. I can tell you a fact that is bound to happen - one day, you will argue about who is the best player in the league, Giannis or Nikola."

This sentence immediately ignited the media's attention to the two young players.

Jokic was a little uncomfortable with this and secretly glanced at Yu Fei while taking the photo.

As for Antetokounmpo, he made a "joke."

When reporters were taking pictures of him, he took the initiative to take them into the gym, lying on the bench press and said: "Do you like this? I suggest you practice more like me, so that you will have perfect biceps, ladies like this!"

Then he began to bench press in front of everyone, shouting, "Bench press for the ladies! Bench press for the ladies!"

This is just one of his many anecdotes that has set social media on fire.

On the media day, ESPN commented on Antetokounmpo: "Giannis's innocence and honesty make him a miracle in the sports world."

Seeing the young players so popular, Yao Ming couldn't help but recall the huge sensation he caused when he entered the NBA as an "exotic behemoth".

Yu Fei also clearly remembers the scene of that year.

To be honest, it was like a warm-up before Wenban Yama entered the NBA.

"What a pity," Yao Ming said with emotion, "It's not my era anymore."

Yu Fei smiled and said, "Now is not the time to say that."

A few days later, in an intra-team competition, Jokic faced Yao Ming and made several exaggerated step-back three-pointers in a row, and also grabbed 8 rebounds and made 5 assists, which shocked everyone.

After the game, Yu Fei said to Yao Ming: "Now is really not your time."

Yao Ming's performance in that game was not bad, but he knew that Yu Fei was right - his era had passed.

He is a relic of the previous era, the one who has not yet set sail.

He persisted, but this was no longer his time.

(End of this chapter)