Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Chapter 1009 1009 584 The Gap in Coaching Really_2

?Chapter 1009: Chapter 584: The Gap in Coaching, Really_2 Chapter 1009: Chapter 584: The Gap in Coaching, Really_2 Last season’s team, which had only 34 wins, saw a dramatic increase of 28 wins after Yu Fei joined.

The last player who brought such a significant improvement to a team but failed to win the MVP was Larry Bird in his rookie season.

Rookies make way for veterans; it’s an unwritten rule of the League.

James wasn’t a rookie, but his performance this season wasn’t enough to surpass Yu Fei, nor could it reach the heights that would make the media abandon the GOAT.

Yu Fei not only increased the Clippers’ wins by 28, but he also transformed them from a so-called “cursed team” into the most popular team. Coupled with his accumulated years of media relations, James’s best performance in a decade had become known as the “best supporting act.”

Yu Fei lifted his seventh MVP trophy of his career, tying Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the player with the most MVPs in NBA history.

“I don’t like ties. For me, a small award like MVP, five times is enough,” Yu Fei boasted proudly on Twitter, “You know, too many of these niche honors actually devalue it.”

By contrast, James’s mentality in Cleveland was affected.

“I think I’m never going to pour the same energy into these @!# again!” James said, “I was leading in contributions in every aspect, but look what I ended up with? Nothing!”

James definitely had a right to complain.

Losing the MVP to Yu Fei was understandable, but missing out on the Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY) was truly disappointing.

This season, James devoted tremendous energy to the defensive end, arguably his most focused year defensively. The media recognized his defensive performances, hence they selected him for the first team All-Defense.

But the media messed up big time with their DPOY voting.

They recognized James’s defense, but that was it; not enough for the Defensive Player of the Year.

So, they ranked James as the second-best defensive player of the year, while the first position went to Marc Gasol, who was on the second defensive team.

First-team defender James losing to the second-team defender Little Gasol in the DPOY votes was a sad story.

LeBron fans went berserk, wanting to expose those in the media who played dirty with their votes.

Kwame Brown, always eager for attention, saw this and showed no sympathy, adding salt to the wounds of James’s camp: “If Frye had Chris Bosh and Kevin Garnett by his side, he definitely could have gotten the DPOY.”

An enraged LeBron superfan directly questioned on Twitter: “Are you saying Frye can only compete for the DPOY if he relies on strong defenders?”

“Basketball is a sport for five people, you know?” Brown replied quickly, “You might not believe it, but I was once the League’s top interior, and during those years, I helped Frye make it into the All-Defensive Team multiple times…”

However, the controversies over the awards didn’t end there.

Another controversy came from Blake Griffin, who according to team records and personal stats, was the League’s top power forward.

But he wasn’t selected for the first team.

Because of the absurd categorization of the best teams, there was only a division into guards, forwards, and centers.

Such allocation meant that two point guards could occupy the spots for guard in the first team, two small forwards would take up the forwards spots, and then another forward could register as a center to snag a spot in the first team.

This year, Yu Fei registered as a forward.

So Yu Fei was bound to take one of the forward spots.

As someone who had been selected for the first team for eleven consecutive seasons, his registration would greatly influence the final team lineup.

Yu Fei registering as a small forward complicated matters.

This meant that either Durant or James had to fall to the second team.

In the end, the more comprehensive stats and better team performance pushed James ahead of Durant.

The two guard spots went to Wade and Kobe, while the center spot was once again occupied by Yao Ming.

The second team lineup was quite spectacular: Curry, Harden, Durant, Griffin, and Howard, all stars of the League.

But Griffin might have been the most wronged since his forward spot was taken by two untouchable players.

This prompted the media to reflect on the division of positions for the best teams.

However, as thought-provoking as it was, they only reflected for a moment.

After all, registering for the best teams is indeed a job that requires some brainpower.

Those unbeatable in strength, stats, and records could register anywhere, but for someone like Griffin, if he had thick-skinned attempted to register as a center, he might have made it into the first team.

Controversies often peak on the day the awards are announced and then become topics of discussion among fans.

Most of this is the product of media antics, and the most illusory thing about the fourth estate is their belief that they can defend all justice in the world, but when they face the same issues, don’t expect them to stand up against themselves.

Plus, the playoffs were still going on, the fourth estate might lack the power to purify themselves, but they certainly have the energy to shift public focus using the playoffs.

At the start of the season, Yu Fei set the goal to lead his team to the Western Conference Finals.

To achieve this goal, their biggest obstacle was the Golden State Warriors, ranked third in the Western Conference.

The team was strong and full of youthful energy.

This young team showed their potential in the first game of the semifinals with the enthusiasm of youth.