When pride still matters

Chapter 619: Not That Regret
"I will not give you this trophy unless you promise me to give us another three years like this."

After the 2016 Finals, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver took the microphone and made a joke about Fei.

"Three years like this" meant leading the Clippers, a recognized perennially bad team, to the Western Conference Finals and then winning the championship for two consecutive years.

This impossible task can only be accomplished by the best player in history.

There were sparse laughter at the scene. After all, it was an away game, and it was hard for New Yorkers to accept that their team was defeated by the Clippers in this way.

But this scene is truly extraordinary.

Ten championships in fifteen years, tenth FMVP.

Yu Fei smiled and said nothing.

Then Bill Russell presented him with the trophy.

"How many times do I need to do this for you?" Russell joked.

Yu Fei said: "At least one more time."

Russell may be the only person in the world who knows how to fly.

"From now on, the most difficult time begins," Russell said.

Afterwards, the Clippers returned to the locker room and began a familiar celebration.

Most young people have already experienced this once.

The veterans showed more calmness.

Yu Fei was bathed in champagne, constantly wiping the wine off his face.

Such moments are a dream for some people, and many people will never experience them once in their lifetime.

But Yu Fei has gotten used to it.

He was thinking about Russell's words.

Now is the hard part?

He is right.

As a player, Yu Fei has no regrets.

Chasing Russell's number of championships is just a gimmick. Is it really necessary?
Jordan surpassed Russell with only six championships, while Yu Fei has already won ten. He has no reason to aim to surpass Russell. This is not his motivation.

His previous motivation was to lead the Clippers to success and have a great ending to the last part of his career.

Now, the Clippers have gotten rid of their "cursed" reputation, won two consecutive championships, and are at the top of the league, putting the Lakers in the same city under great pressure.

If possible, the Buss family might invite some wizards to perform rituals to pray that something bad happens to the Clippers.

Because if they continue like this, the Clippers may really surpass the Lakers and become the totem of the city.

But this is not something Yu Fei should care about.

What he has to deal with is the gradual deterioration of his physical functions, the pressure he begins to feel when facing the challenges of young and strong opponents, and the decline in his motivation for the game.

As a player, he no longer has much motivation to move forward.

Back then, Jordan exhausted his energy after only three championships in a commercialized league, and Russell reached the end of his career in just thirteen years in a less commercialized era. Yu Fei has been on this journey for 15 years.

So, this is a real hidden danger. Yu Fei has no time to celebrate his tenth championship. He has to suppress his fatigue and think about where his journey will end.

The next day, the Clippers flew back to Los Angeles.

Los Angeles held a grand event to celebrate the Clippers' championship.

However, Yu Fei informed the Clippers management through Christian Laettner that he would exercise his player option this summer and opt out of his contract.

Arne Tellem was shocked: "Bid out of the contract? Is Frye leaving?"

“No, Frye just needs some time to think about the future,” Laettner said.

Then, Tellem remembered that Yu Fei had said that he planned to retire at the age of 35.

However, Yu Fei's performance this year has dispelled many people's doubts.

It seems likely that he will be able to maintain his status as a top player for a long time like Karl Malone.

If a superstar can maintain top competitiveness, why would he choose to leave?
Jordan's story is gone.

Malone will not tell them that he has been fighting for so many years without retiring because he wants to win a championship, but this matter is not worth mentioning for the GOAT who has won championships for 2/3 of his career.

Yu Fei's notice made Trem confused.

The team had just won two consecutive championships, and it was time to look to the future and strive for a three-peat.

The draft is approaching, which is supposed to be the busiest period for the management, but Tellem handed the work over to his deputy and took the initiative to visit Yu Fei at home.

On June 6, a full week before the draft, Trem arrived at Yu Fei's home early.

He didn't see Yu Fei in the living room, nor did he see him on the golf course. He heard that Yu Fei was working out in the gym.

Yu Fei's training team was with him.

"Frye, what you need to do most now is to lose weight." The nutritionist said, "Excessive weight will bring extra stress to the body. If you want to play for a few more seasons, you must lose at least 10 pounds (close to 10 kilograms)."

"If I lose 10 pounds, I won't be able to stand inside!" said Yu Fei.

The nutritionist knew the GOAT would say this, "From what I've seen, even if you lose 10 pounds, you'll still have a physical advantage over most big men today."

"Is there any other method?"

"No, it's the only way to stay healthy."

Trem gradually felt relieved.

If Yu Fei wanted to retire, he would not continue training after the end of the season, nor would he lose weight for the future.

He didn't even think that losing weight would affect his playing inside.

After a while, Yu Fei finally noticed Trem and wondered, "As the general manager, you should be very busy now. How can you have the leisure to spy on me?"

"If Robert Downey Jr.'s agent called Kevin Feige out of the blue and said he was considering retiring, do you think Feige would go to Downey's house?"

Yu Fei understood Trem's concerns, but it was not entirely true to say that he wanted to retire right now.

He still has dominance on the court and can still defeat his opponents on the court. The problem is desire.

After all these years, winning a championship has become a requirement for him, not a goal.

It was as if he would have failed if he didn't win.

The resulting pressure, as well as the physical and mental toll of the long schedule, made him reluctant to have "another season".

But he knew in his heart that now was not the time to retire.

So he gave Tellem a shot of reassurance: "According to the salary space in the new season, I can get a contract of more than 3300 million US dollars per year, which is why I chose to exercise the player option."

"How many years of contract do you want?"

This time, Tellem was not testing the waters, but being straightforward. He needed a clear answer.

"Three years, the second year is a team option, and the third year is a player option."

As we all know, Yu Fei is known as the "player GM", so what does it mean that there is a team option in his contract? Did he give himself the option?

This was just a clever move by the most powerful player in the league, who got himself a contract with options in the second and third years.

Although this result is not satisfactory, Tellem can't ask for more. At least, the GOAT will play another season. This is crucial for the Clippers.

Although Giannis Antetokounmpo has already touched the threshold of superstardom, he still needs a season to truly leap forward; Nikola Jokic has not yet fully unleashed his full potential.

These two young players are already the future of the team, and they still need the protection of the GOAT. Only when they grow up completely, the GOAT retires successfully, and the power of the team is smoothly transferred, this is the most ideal outcome.

But things are not always as we wish.

After confirming that the GOAT would play for another year, Tellem began to focus on business: "Do you have any youngsters you like in this year's draft?"

Yu Fei is of course paying attention to this year's draft, but not because of the Clippers' selection, but because the scholarship recipient he sponsors, Hu Jinqiu, who is living in the United States, decided to try out this year's draft.

Hu Jinqiu was born in 1997. He is still young and can continue to hone himself in college. However, this year is considered a weak year for the draft, while next year and the year after are considered strong years for the draft by scouts. If he wants to enter the NBA through the draft, this year may be the best opportunity. If not, he may have to wait until 2019 for a better opportunity.

But by that time, the variables will be too great.

This year, Hu Jinqiu averaged 11 points, 7 rebounds and 1 block per game in the NCAA. What is remarkable is that his three-point shooting percentage is 37%. His movement speed is fast considering his height of 210 cm. Therefore, all major draft prediction lists ranked him at the end of the second round.

Yu Fei originally wanted the team to keep an eye on Hu Jinqiu with the 30th pick in the second round, and if he had not been selected by then, they would take him.

But then I thought, forget it, doing this will put an unnecessary burden on the child.

With his current combat effectiveness and draft stock, and the support of the Chinese market, he should have no problem being selected in the second round in this weak draft year.

Yu Fei thought about it and made up his mind, and said to Tellem: "I like Pascal Siakam from New Mexico State University."

"I like this kid, too," Tellem said. "The problem is, he's a little older, but he's expected to be in the middle to late first round, and we only have the 30th pick in the first round."

Yu Fei said: "This year's first-round pick is not worth much."

Tellem emphasized that his team's draft pick was not high, not because he was really troubled by the signing position, but because he wanted to test Yu Fei's true attitude towards Siakam.

If the GOAT was just saying it casually, then he could just put the suggestion aside.

Now, Tellem knows they must get Siakam.

Moreover, it is very simple.

Although the Clippers have a lot of players who are not for sale, the rookies they have selected in recent years have a high gold-bombing rate.

Josh Richardson, the rookie selected last year, averaged 6 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist per game in his rookie season, which was quite efficient. If he had not played for a championship team, his data would have been even more impressive.

The Clippers' Thompson is still young, and the team has limited resources, so they can't give Richardson more opportunities. Since Richardson has already proven his worth, and the team needs to trade him, they can only reluctantly give up this potential new star.

A few days before the draft, the Clippers sent Josh Richardson and this year's second-round pick No. 30 to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for the No. 26 pick in the first round.

However, the deal was not announced immediately because Richardson needed to participate in the team's championship celebration. He remained a member of the team until the celebration was over.

On June 6, the draft day arrives.

This year's draft had almost no suspense long before. Ben Simmons established his dominance in the youth competition early on, and like Durant back then, he was dubbed the "Yu Fei Template".

However, Durant is considered to have the offensive talent of Yu Fei, while Simmons is seen as a Yu Fei who is not good at shooting.

Yu Fei felt helpless about this - there were so many similar players in history, why did he always have to be involved with them?
But for young players, it is undoubtedly an honor to be linked with superstars.

Simmons' status as the No. 1 pick was established as soon as he played his first NCAA game.

Ingram, known as the Little Durant, never came close.

There are too many uncertainties about the mysterious European genius Dragan Bender.

None of the remaining players can challenge Simmons by selling their talents. As for immediate combat effectiveness? There is no need to consider it. The reason why Simmons' No. 1 position is stable is that he is invincible in combat effectiveness among his peers and has high talent.

The Philadelphia 76ers' unbridled efforts resulted in a 15-win season and the No. pick in the draft.

The price of doing so was that Sam Hinkie, the chief architect of "Trust the Process," was boycotted by the league and was fired after the 76ers won the No. pick this year.

Of course, this has never been acknowledged.

Hinkie also completely avoided the issue in his resignation letter.

But the 76ers fans who once scolded Hinkie will never forget that if it weren't for that man's endurance and humiliation, they wouldn't have gotten the Australian Yu Weifei.

After that, the draft proceeded in an orderly manner.

The 76ers selected Ben Simmons with the first pick.

The Nuggets selected Brandon Ingram (from the Nets) with the second pick.

⑴ In 2011, the Nets sent three first-round picks to get Anthony.

The Phoenix Suns selected Dragan Bender with the third pick.

The Celtics selected Jaylen Brown with the fourth pick.

The Nuggets then selected Jamal Murray with the sixth pick.

After that, everyone is not worth mentioning.

When the draft reached the 26th pick in the first round, the Memphis Grizzlies' draft operations room contacted the Clippers and asked who to choose.

Trem then gave the name that Yu Fei had ordered.

Pascal Siakam, an inconspicuous older rookie was selected by the Clippers.

No one thinks this choice will bring about any changes.

Just as the Clippers made their selection, the draft operations room of the Toronto Raptors far away fell into chaos.

Just when Tellem was about to use the 30th pick to choose his favorite player, Yu Fei suddenly found that the team's first-round pick was still there, so he took the initiative to call the draft war room.

Perhaps because the GOAT is getting older, he now prefers to choose older rookies who can bring immediate combat effectiveness.

As if it wasn't enough to select Siakam, who was born in 1994, he suggested that the team use the No. 30 pick to select Malcolm Brogdon from the University of Virginia. Brogdon is two years older than Siakam. He was born in 1992 and is one of the oldest players in this draft.

"Are there any other possibilities?" Trem was a little allergic to this old show.

"No." Yu Fei answered decisively, "Choose him."

Tellem was powerless to resist the orders of the player GM.

In the end, as Yu Fei wished, the Clippers first selected Siakam and then Brogdon.

This is a perfectly normal decision in the eyes of the outside world. After all, the Clippers want to compete for the championship. If they want to compete for the championship, they can't always choose seedlings that need time to grow. Decisive selection of these veterans with strong combat effectiveness is the best choice to maintain combat effectiveness.

The Clippers' draft is over.

After entering the second round, this draft has actually entered garbage time. Due to the low overall talent, NBA teams do not have high expectations for the second-round players in this draft.

But for Chinese basketball, the 2016 NBA Draft is a year worth remembering.

This year, three Chinese players were selected, namely Zhou Qi (Rockets) with the 10th pick in the second round, Hu Jinqiu (Warriors) with the 27th pick in the second round, and Wang Zhelin (Grizzlies) with the 30th pick in the second round.

What's more interesting is that Wang Zhelin claimed that he was selected by the NBA in his sleep. Before that, he had no preparation for this matter. After being selected, he wore the jersey sent by the Grizzlies and shot a short video to say hello to the Grizzlies fans across the ocean, as if he was really preparing to enter the NBA.

But in the end, that was the only NBA-related thing he did in his life as a prospective NBA player.

For a long time, he did not try to challenge the NBA.

Until one day, fans realized he was never going to be there again.

This is not an uncommon story. Many selected players, like Wang Zhelin, have had contact with the NBA but have never tried to challenge this level of league. At first, their excuse was that they were still young and needed experience. Ten years later, they felt that they had matured and began to openly admit that they could not play in the NBA. This is a manifestation of sobriety. What is more valuable than recognizing oneself?
Ultimately, an athlete who was drafted by the NBA but never had a mediocre career ending in the NBA will leave a fruitless regret for sports fans in this country.

However, Yu Fei was very happy that Hu Jinqiu was chosen.

He won't be the one with the regret.

(End of this chapter)