When pride still matters

Chapter 71 People without awe
The 2001-02 NBA season had many major storylines that attracted attention, such as Toronto finally keeping the popular Vince Carter in Canada and acquiring top-five center Hakeem Olajuwon in history;
Orlando's Grant Hill is about to return, and the combination of him and Tracy McGrady is exciting;
Chris Webber almost left Sacramento in the summer, but under the media narrative, the process is not important, the result is important, Webber stayed and signed a well-paid contract;

It is widely believed that Tim Duncan's relationship with the Spurs only has two seasons left, because David Robinson is basically certain to retire in 2003. That summer, Orlando has enough space to welcome Stone, who has always been fond of the Orange City. Buddha.However, Duncan still needs to do something in the Holy City, such as winning another championship to prove that the 1999 lockout season championship was not an accident.

In addition, are Utah's Malone and Stockton and Phoenix's Marbury and Hardaway the most suitable and least suitable combinations in the NBA?Could Nowitzki be better?Will he struggle on a bad team like Garnett in Minneapolis?
The most eye-catching is the turmoil between the Lakers and Wizards, OK and Jordan's second return. However, in last night's opening game, a rookie successfully attracted the attention of the media and dominated the news.

"Gary Smith says Frye is the Chosen One, and that might be true," The Washington Post's Steve Wyche wrote the next day.

Yu Fei, who contributed a quasi-win in his career debut, attracted enough attention.

Reebok, which had previously had doubts about Fei, began to hype Yu Fei's performance.

But Yu Fei didn't spend much thought on these things.

The Wizards' season starts on the road, and the next stop is also on the road.

On November 11, they will challenge the Hawks in Atlanta.

However, during this period, they can return to DC to rest for a day.

Verizon Center

Yu Fei got off the plane and returned to the team's training base with the team bus.

He decided to start training directly.

The outstanding performance in the first show convinced Yu Fei that hard training will pay off. Of course, he can desert, but that will have to be after he has established his position.

In the Wizards, as long as Jordan doesn't collapse, nothing is guaranteed.

Kwame Brown joined Yu Fei's queue.

The popularity Yu Fei received made Brown envious and jealous. He was the number one pick. These praises should have been given to him, but who made him have such a bad debut?

Brown wanted to train according to Yu Fei's standards, but found that he couldn't understand it at all.

Yu Fei's training was too boring.

"Fry, what on earth do I do?" Brown sat on the ground frustrated.

Seeing that Brown was only enthusiastic about training for three minutes, Yu Fei could only lament that his water was a result from the inside out.

First of all, he himself is not good, then the people who trained him are not good, and finally the people who coach him are not good. The result of "you, me and him" is that Brown cannot realize his talent.

"You can put aside the training first. The important thing now is to familiarize yourself with the running positions." Yu Fei called Brown, then called Anthony Lawson, and the three of them simulated actual combat.

Lawson serves as a defender to guard Yu Fei and Brown's pick-and-roll cooperation.

Yu Fei wants Brown to be familiar with the feeling of picking up and finishing after picking up the ball.

However, Lawson's defense is really not a threat. Yu Fei can pass all kinds of bad balls, and Brown can catch them.

But in actual combat, most of these balls will slip out of his hands.

Although the quality of the practice is average, this can at least let Brown understand what he can do on the offensive end.

As the afternoon practice time approaches, many players have arrived at the Verizon Center.

Richard Hamilton always arrives on time and leaves on time. He won't be late, but don't expect him to stay for extra practice.
He was in a good mood today because he won the opening game yesterday, and not many reporters asked him how to cooperate with Jordan. The focus was all on Flying.Can you complete the winning goal in the first game of your career?What a lucky rookie!

When Hamilton walked into the dressing room, he thought he had made a mistake.

Jordan sat in a folding chair in front of the locker room, no socks and North Carolina blue shower slippers on, but otherwise wearing his jersey and another ice pack on his left knee.Grover sat in a booth next to him.That was Tyrone Naseby's cubicle.Naseby bought the spot from Laettner for $10000.

Now, this is Tim Grover's cubicle.

Why can trainers have their own cubicle in the players' locker room at the training base?This is the player's territory, so what right does Grover have to have his own cubicle?

"Rip, you're one minute late."

Hamilton may be one of the few players on the team who can often see Jordan's smiling face.

Jordan regarded Hamilton as the second Pippen, a very powerful "Robin" who could bring him a lot of help.

Hamilton never thought of himself as Robin, nor did he want to be Batman.

In Philadelphia, his AAU team with Kobe Bryant took the country by storm, and in college, he led Connecticut to a national championship win over Elton Brand's Duke. He never failed anywhere and couldn't imagine himself. will fail.This kind of mental precocity and calmness is the reason why he quickly grew into the team's starter after entering the NBA.Last season, after the team traded Juwan Howard, Hamilton legitimately became the core of the team. However, after just one summer, he lost his leadership position because Jordan came.

Hamilton is willing to obey Jordan's leadership. After all, his generation grew up watching Jordan's games and has no problem following their idol.Hamilton trained hard in the training camp and tried his best to please Jordan, but he was still repeatedly reprimanded by the Flyers. His defense was not good, he was not active sometimes, his body was too thin, and he failed to defend. Hamilton admitted that Jordan was a leader, but he did not feel They have a superior-to-subordinate relationship.

Unfortunately, that's what Jordan thinks.

So when Hamilton jokingly asked him if he had a chance to endorse AJ, Jordan said he was not qualified to wear AJ.

You know, Jordan has always had a lot of respect for Pippen. He would even be the first to thank Pippen in his future Hall of Fame speech. However, Jordan did not show any respect to Hamilton.

In this case, how could Hamilton be willing to be Robin?
Look at Kobe. The Lakers have won two consecutive championships, but O'Neal had toe surgery before the start of the training camp on the grounds that "I won't recover from a work injury during the holidays", which made Kobe very angry.For this reason, the fat man who is sophisticated and thick-skinned even told everyone on media day that Kobe Bryant should be elected as the MVP.At this point, Kobe doesn't want to be Robin anymore. After all, he and Hamilton once teamed up with Kobe to sweep high school basketball. How can he continue to accept Jordan's unreasonable bullying?

Hamilton wanted to resist, but he didn't have the guts.

Then, Yu Fei descended from the sky like a magic weapon, allowing Hamilton to see the dawn of breaking away from Jordan's hegemony.

Now, back in the locker room, Jordan's joke was not met with a joke from Hamilton.

"Oh, really?"

Hamilton responded lightly and quickly changed into a University of Connecticut Huskies sports uniform.

Just like Jordan always wears North Carolina basketball bottoms for training and games, everyone likes to use various ceremonial items to reminisce about the good times of college.

Hamilton left without even saying hello.

"There's something wrong with Rip," Grover said.

"Can't you see that he is very dissatisfied with you?" Jordan looked at his old partner jokingly.

Grover smiled lightly and said, "I can tell."

"But it doesn't matter. He is the kind of person who only hides his dissatisfaction in his heart." Jordan habitually touched his lips with his tongue, looking like he was pouting. "What we should be wary of are those who have no respect at all." A man of heart.”

(End of this chapter)