When pride still matters

Chapter 615 Tomorrow will be better

The 2016 All-Star Weekend was the first time in NBA history that the format was set in Toronto.

This is not easy, considering that the Toronto Weather Station reported not long ago that this year's All-Star Weekend will be the coldest weekend in Toronto in decades, which adds many challenges to the NBA stars who come from afar.

If nothing goes wrong, Yu Fei's second child will be born this month.

This made Yu Fei look absent-minded.

At the airport, a Toronto reporter asked, "Frye, how do you feel about being the third-oldest All-Star?"

This is another thing that annoys Yu Fei. As the older generation of stars gradually fades away, Kobe is the only player from the 90s who can still be selected for the All-Star roster. Yu Fei is the only player from the 2001 draft who can still be selected for the All-Star Game, followed by Yao Ming. The three of them are the three oldest players in Toronto's All-Star Weekend.

When asked by reporters, "Where has the time gone?", Yu Fei simply responded, "This shows that I have been playing for a very long time."

Sitting on the special car arranged by the league, the invited star players were able to see the scenery of the North Country from the car. Antetokounmpo came to Toronto with his family, and his younger brother Alex sat next to him. Suddenly, Alex asked, "Is it easy to be selected for the All-Star Weekend for two consecutive years?"

He felt that his brother seemed to do this with ease. Antetokounmpo smiled helplessly and finally replied: "Listen, nothing is easy here."

Likewise, becoming an NBA city that's eligible to host All-Star Weekend isn't easy, as those who were involved in the process of founding the Toronto Raptors in 1994 know all too well. However, the rewards are huge. Only during All-Star Weekend do you get the chance to ride in an elevator with a Hall of Fame player, hang out with the NBA's power brokers, or witness moments that will be talked about for years.

Basketball itself is effortless. Even at the fan festival at the NBA Center, where corporate sponsorship logos were everywhere, the pure joy that kids found in dribbling and shooting hoops was palpable.

The true meaning of the All-Star Weekend in Toronto has long surpassed the game itself, and this is more obvious than ever. Canada is a country dominated by ice hockey. Although it is often jokingly called the backyard of the United States, in the field of ice hockey, they have their own God. For many years, the professional basketball world in the United States has been hoping to break into this vast market, and for this reason, two NBA teams were radically expanded to Canada in the 90s.

However, the Vancouver Grizzlies eventually moved back to the United States to survive. But the Toronto Raptors survived, despite many twists and turns, the team was once built on two core players with questionable loyalty, and achieved little in the two decades since its establishment. However, the Raptors' survival in Toronto and making basketball a fashionable sport in the city is a great achievement beyond the results on the court.

As the face of the league, it was natural for Yu Fei to support the global promotion of the NBA. Therefore, on his first day in Toronto, he held a photography exhibition called "Basketball Moments" on the 68th floor of the First Canada Building. From here, you can overlook the magnificent view of Toronto and Lake Ontario through the windows. The exhibition displays replicas of old photos of basketball founder James Naismith and the original basketball rules he formulated, as well as photos depicting classic matchups, such as Bill Russell vs. Wilt Chamberlain, Magic Johnson vs. Larry Bird, as well as Michael Jordan's dominant moments in the 90s and Yu Fei's great moments since 2002.

Durant was also on hand, overseeing another exhibit that featured a special photo that local Toronto media and fans were drawn to, taken in the 1966 NCAA tournament final, showing Kentucky coach Adolph Rupp and his players as they lost to Texas Western, which became the first team to win a March Madness tournament with an all-Black starting lineup.

Durant showed a rare expression of pride: "You'll find that this is not just the result of a game, this is a moment when America is changing, and everyone later realized it."

Then, Yao Ming also came, and surrounded by not only Chinese media but also a large number of Canadian media.

Although Yao Ming cannot be considered a superstar in the NBA, he has become popular as a global face.

"When we were young, we didn't know much about the outside world... America, the Hall of Fame, that kind of stuff. We didn't know about it until the late '90s. And now, it feels like time has moved forward several light years. And here we are, I'm standing here. I feel like this is not the end, but the beginning of a new generation."

Everyone was talking about "grand narratives" to the point that Yu Fei felt like they were just people on the Internet who used keyboards to discuss current affairs.

Is it really that significant?
Eventually, he stopped talking about it.

Until Antetokounmpo's brother Alex asked him: "Frye, what is harder, to be selected as an All-Star for 18 consecutive years or to win 10 championships?"

He is a little kid, and judging by the talent he has shown, it is highly likely that he will not be as successful in professional basketball as his brother.

However, his brother will take him under his wing, so he won't have to live the life of a refugee again.

Yu Fei replied: "For me, it is more difficult to be selected as an All-Star for 18 consecutive years."

Fifteen-year-old Alex didn’t know that eighteen consecutive All-Star selections meant four more seasons for Fei.

A few days later, the All-Star Weekend officially began.

After taking office, Silver has reformed many things. At present, the two most discussed things are: one is the promotion of short-sleeved jerseys - basically, this is the point that Silver is criticized for. Whenever a player has a bad shooting touch that night, people will blame the short-sleeved jerseys. James even tore his cuffs on the court because his shooting was so bad.

Another is the fancy transformation of the All-Star Weekend.

The celebrity game has become more varied. The Rookie Challenge has changed from the traditional first-year vs. second-year to the American team vs. the American team. This is also in line with the great success of NBA globalization today, and a concentrated display of the world's basketball talents. The reform of the skills competition is also in line with the development of the times. In the past, this was the private domain of guards. Now, the league has forced backcourt and frontcourt players to compete in groups.

Due to this change, Antetokounmpo, who has always been known as a seven-foot-tall magician, naturally signed up for this year's skills competition.

At the same time, Thompson signed up for the three-point contest.

Yu Fei suggested that Jokic sign up for the dunk contest.

Jokic angrily refused and said the only thing he was interested in participating in was the Coke drinking contest.

Lakers sophomore star Zach LaVine shined in the Rookie Challenge, scoring 30 points in a single game and leading the US team to a 3-point victory over the international team.

This made reporters wonder whether LaVine would have enough energy to handle the dunk contest tomorrow?

LaVine said: "It's no big deal."

What he didn't expect was that fate would give him the greatest opponent.

Yu Fei knew what would happen on the day of the dunk contest, so he pulled his teammates to the best position in advance.

LaVine won last year effortlessly, so it is generally believed that as long as he does not make mistakes, he will be invincible in this game as well.

However, Aaron Gordon came up and stunned the audience with a dunk, bringing people back to the good old days when Jordan and Wilkins competed in the dunk contest.

The atmosphere at the scene reached a climax with Gordon's hip-under dunk.

Judging from what happened later, Yu Fei felt that the battle for the championship should end here.

Afterwards, Gordon ran out of inspiration, while LaVine showed off his dunks from the free throw line. In the end, he won two consecutive championships with a dunk between the legs from the free throw line. The greatest dunk contest in history ended amid the amazement of the world.

The Lakers are definitely the big winners so far.

The second-year LaVine earned a Kobe-like reputation tonight.

Whenever there is such a moment, reporters will ask Yu Fei why he never participates in the dunk contest.

Yu Fei never shied away from this question: "My dunks are like Amare Stoudemire's. You can see that I have great dunks in the game, but in the dunk contest, it's hard for me to do better than them."

This is an answer that is both sincere and not explosive.

But Yu Fei is very real about this issue.

If he was confident of winning the championship, he would have participated long ago. The fact that he did not participate shows that he is aware that his dunking style is not suitable for a performance-based dunking contest.

Whenever he says that, the media gives him a pass.

When there is another exciting dunk contest, they will make a comeback.

That night, Xiao Hua laughed happily.

Because the NBA seems to be thriving under his leadership. LaVine and Gordon are both new stars who entered the NBA after he took over the league. In a few years, there will be more and more such people.

Lao Deng will be eliminated eventually.

Then, old Deng and others seemed to sense the president's little thoughts, or they were too cold in Toronto to perform. The All-Star Game, which should have been the highlight, became a place for young people to play.

Old Dengs strolled around the field without any energy.

Westbrook, who has struggled in a cold and miserable place for many years, actually feels at home in Toronto.

He was the MVP of the All-Star Game last year, and this year, he wants to defend his title, which may be the only bright spot for the Timberwolves during the season. After McGrady retired, the entire burden of the Timberwolves fell on Westbrook. Even if he worked hard like a cow or a horse in every game, he could only lead the team to a 50% winning rate.

However, this winning rate is not enough to make the playoffs in the Western Conference, so he needs to work harder.

Westbrook, who was in a depressed mood, could only vent his anger at the All-Star Game.

When he received an assist from Yu Fei and dunked the ball with great strides, he couldn't help but scream and yelled at Yu Fei: "Old man, work harder! If I had nine championships, I would definitely be the most energetic person in the world!"

Yu Fei sneered, "So you don't have nine championships."

"!￥!￥" Westbrook said extremely, "Winning one championship is enough for my life!"

Hearing this, Kobe laughed sarcastically.

Just win a championship?
In the age of flying, this is a luxury.

The Spurs reaped the benefits of crushing the Bucks at the Palace of Auburn Hills in 2005, and the Heat reaped the benefits of Yu Fei's team not having the strength to compete for the championship in previous years, but this kind of benefits is no longer available.

Just like in the past, whenever people thought Yu Fei was finished, his team would quickly improve and his teammates would grow rapidly. There was still traceable evidence for Durant's rise back then, but how can we explain the rise of Antetokounmpo and Jokic of the Clippers?
A high-talented rough draft pick, a low-draft missed gem, both were picked up by the Clippers. Moreover, the Clippers were criticized to the point of breaking apart when they picked them up, but in the end, they were slapped in the face by the outside public opinion.

With the assistance of these two players, plus Thompson and Yao Ming, GOAT can fully expect a glorious ending like Bill Russell.

Kobe believes that he had many opportunities to win another championship, but they were all blocked by Yu Fei.

Now I hear Westbrook brazenly saying that he would die without regrets as long as he wins a championship, as if this is a very small goal.

But he was too lazy to undermine the young man's confidence.

People only realize that the goals they think are neither big nor small may be forever out of reach after being beaten by life.

Although Yu Fei likes to tease Westbrook, he has become more motivated after being inspired by him.

His enthusiasm is mainly reflected in defense.

He succeeded in becoming the kind of idiot that Barkley described as someone who played serious defense in the All-Star Game.

This change had minimal impact on the game, and ultimately, the Western Conference All-Stars won and Westbrook retained his AMVP title.

After the game, Yu Fei accepted the interview in a businesslike manner. After finishing everything, he rushed back to Los Angeles.

A few days later, Yu Fei's second child was born, a girl.

Yu Fei shared the news on social media, and immediately countless people sent their blessings.

While Yu Fei was enjoying the joy of family, the NBA trading market was not calm.

After only one and a half seasons, the Rockets announced that their plan to bring in Howard had failed. He and Harden did not match, so they had to send away this aging center whose style was obviously outdated and who had back, shoulder and knee problems.

The team that fired the first shot on the trade deadline was the Spurs.

They sent Pau Gasol to the New Orleans Pelicans in exchange for Ryan Anderson and Lou Mbah a Moute, and then signed Paul George and Kemba Walker to four-year maximum contracts, respectively.

On paper, this is definitely a self-destructive operation, but this is the helplessness of small-market teams. For the team's long-term planning, they must ensure the health and controllability of the salary space.

Then, also in an effort to cut costs, the Mavericks announced the buyout of veteran Monta Ellis' contract.

Although his personal ability is not as good as it used to be, Ellis is still a reliable substitute scorer and a good addition to a strong team.

Ellis did not give other teams a chance to compete and quickly announced his next home.

He will join the Clippers with a one-year minimum salary.

Ellis's joining means that the Clippers' bench is deeper than in the past, and at the same time, their average age has risen again.

Interestingly, Ellis also comes from the 2001 draft class.

Including him, the Clippers already have four members from the 2001 draft class on their roster.

Except for Yu Fei, most of their players have lost their ability to serve as starters.

This is the Clippers' only move in their recent wave of trades.

It can also be said that this is the most rational choice.

Take action when there is an opportunity, and do nothing when there is no opportunity. The Clippers are not afraid of no one coming, but are only afraid of destroying the team's good chemistry.

This is an eventful season.

Many teams that see no hope want to give up, and some dissatisfied teams are eager to make themselves better through trades, but there are no players who can turn stones into gold in the trading market.

Therefore, team GMs are complaining that there are no good trades available right now.

Players who wanted to change teams complained that the team was moving too slowly.

Teams aiming to win the championship must consider one question: what can they do to compete with the Clippers?

Maybe what they should really be asking is is there still a chance this season?
They dare not ask.

Because someone like Durant won't allow any peak season to be given up.

But for some people, even if they don't want to give up, God will take the initiative to help you make decisions, even if you are a king who has been deprived of his luck and lost everything.

After the All-Star Weekend, James looked at the team's record and thought that if he traded for another good player, he might be able to make it to the finals.

However, after returning to the team, he immediately felt like the sky had fallen.

Woj of Yahoo Sports broke the news: "Chris Bosh, the star power forward of the Cleveland Cavaliers, is facing pressure from doctors and team management and may miss all the remaining games of this season due to health problems. This may be another tragic season for Bosh. In the next 24 hours, Bosh will meet with Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, general manager Adrian Griffin and other senior executives to discuss whether to choose to be reimbursed for the season."

At the same time, Clippers second-year star Nikola Jokic seemed to be a prescient philosopher. Before the All-Star Weekend, he scored a triple-double in a single game. When reporters asked him what he thought, he just said lightly: "I think tomorrow will be better."

"Tomorrow will be better", there is no simpler wish than this. The Cavaliers have been relying on this message from last year to now, they believe that Bosh will get better and tomorrow will be better.

However, now all the beautiful illusions and hopes will be shattered. The Cavaliers have lost their most important pillar, and James' "journey home" has been going on for four years. If the team is in a desperate situation and there is little hope, won't the person who once left make the same choice again?
In the first game after the All-Stars Weekend, the Clippers faced the Heat at home. With a 22-game winning streak, they did not lose their form at all because of the holiday. Although Curry led the Heat to fight tenaciously and persisted for four quarters, the Clippers finally defeated their opponents with their huge advantage in the interior, and the Heat became their 23rd victim.

Tonight, Jokic scored a triple-double again.

The reporter asked him with a smile: "Nikola, do you think today is better than yesterday?"

Jokic replied expressionlessly: "Not at all!"

After that, he left angrily.

When the reporter turned to Yu Fei and asked why Jokic was so unhappy after winning, Yu Fei smiled and explained: "He was too relaxed during the All-Star Weekend and neglected training. As a result, he ranked last in the team's intra-squad shooting competition. As a punishment, the coach asked him not to violate the diet regulations for a month. I think this is probably why he is unhappy."

(End of this chapter)