noveldrama
Chapter 1003 1003 582 The End of an Era_2
Chapter 1003 1003 582 The End of an Era_2
?Chapter 1003: Chapter 582: The End of an Era_2 Chapter 1003: Chapter 582: The End of an Era_2 Dunking to entertain the audience was originally a classic NBA gimmick, but over time, players like Griffin began to feel like monkeys in a circus, wanting to be remembered by fans in another way.
What he never considered was, without those eye-catching dunking abilities, his status in Clippers history might not surpass Elton Brand.
Griffin could still rely on his star status to change his playing style, but once he truly lost the attention of the fans, trying to win back their hearts with dunks would be too late.
Yu Fei didn’t stop him because they no longer needed to attract traffic in this way. For someone who saw himself as a superstar, constantly using the prestige of the GOAT to force him to do things he didn’t want to do wasn’t necessarily a good thing.
Since Griffin had made his decision, it was time to look ahead.
From that day on, Griffin increased the frequency of post-up and weak side isolation plays, and the results were fairly decent. However, as the number of easy baskets decreased and the frequency of attacking the hoop declined, his efficiency also fell to the level of an ordinary player.
At the end of January, the league announced the roster for the 2014 NBA All-Star Weekend.
Unsurprisingly, only Yu Fei and Griffin were selected from the Clippers. Giannis Antetokounmpo, who was already making a name for himself in the league, was selected for the Rising Stars Challenge and signed up for the Skills Competition. That was the entire participation list for the Clippers.
Yu Fei was indifferent to this. After all, he was selected for the All-Star roster every year. If one day he missed out on the All-Star selection, that would be something truly unforgettable.
The public reacted similarly. Compared to the All-Star weekend roster, people were more concerned with David Stern’s formal announcement of his retirement in early February, which of course was a major event in basketball history.
Over the past thirty years, Stern turned the NBA into a worldwide beloved hot commodity through the fast-spreading channel of television.
In the words of “USA Today”, “The NBA is like a massive economy where trades are everything. Stern provided the best products to the world, which in return gave the league hefty profits.”
Since Stern took over as commissioner, the value of NBA teams increased from the initial $3 million to $5 million to the current at least $300 million per team of the super sports league. This achievement alone was enough to make him one of the most important commissioners in NBA history.
Stern’s retirement ceremony would be held during the All-Star weekend, with countless stars in attendance.
Yu Fei didn’t have strong feelings about Stern, although he entered the league while Stern was in charge, he always saw the same face of Stern over the years, as opposed to the variety of images of the legendary Stern.
However, the Stern at hand clearly seemed more fulfilled than the one from the primary timeline. The NBA system had been reformed according to his ideal direction, and there emerged a star like Yu Fei, who completely surpassed Jordan in his era.
Once upon a time, Stern thought he would not see someone surpass Jordan before he closed his eyes, but that person appeared during his tenure as commissioner.
His only regret, or the last controversy, was not being able to introduce sports betting to the NBA. From the perspective of the owners, this held huge potential benefits, and the job of the commissioner, frankly, was to help the owners make money. He believed that sports gambling would become legalized in all 50 states in the United States, including all sports and the NBA.
But this task would have to be left to his successor.
This year, the NBA All-Star Weekend was held in New Orleans.
Now, the Hornets had been renamed the Pelicans, and the superstar Anthony Davis had made significant progress in his sophomore year, making him selected for the Western All-Star team.
For Yu Fei, the All-Star Weekend was never a holiday every year.
Due to intensive commercial activities, he was often busier during these few days than in regular-season periods. Socializing with all sorts of people was more draining than the game itself.
In the Rising Stars Challenge, the rookie team with Giannis Antetokounmpo narrowly lost to the sophomore elites. The Greek Freak performed well, and compared to his comical performance in the Skills Challenge, this was the focus of public attention.
Then, after a series of preliminary games, the 2014 All-Star game was about to begin. This year’s All-Star game had an air of twilight of the gods.
In the All-Star lineup, there was an increase in younger players, while the veterans were notably fewer.
If the 1995, 1996, and 1997 drafts are called the broad 96 golden generation, then in this All-Star game, of those players who once shaped the league landscape of the 2000s, only Kobe was still selected for the All-Star game.
If expanded to the 1998 and 1999 drafts, only Kobe and Nowitzki were selected.
When the Western All-Star starters were introduced, Yu Fei felt he was truly getting old.
Aside from himself and Kobe, the starting lineup was all young players who had entered the league in recent years.
Anthony Davis, as the host, edged out Griffin to be selected as a starter for the All-Star game, along with Kyrie Irving, who after becoming the core in the fully-developed market of Seattle, quickly rose to superstardom with his flashy playing style, earning him a starting position without question.
Additionally, James Harden of the Rockets, though not favored by the media, was also part of the starting lineup due to Texas’s local support and an average of 27+7+7 stats.