Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Chapter 846 846 530 Coronation

?Chapter 846: Chapter 530: Coronation Chapter 846: Chapter 530: Coronation From a statistical standpoint, compared to the Western Conference Finals, Yu Fei might be the player who “regressed” the most on the SuperSonics.

In the Western Finals, he delivered an average of 47 points per near triple-double, an unprecedented performance in terms of both average scoring and scoring 50 points in three consecutive games.

In the Finals, due to the Celtics’ lack of competitiveness, Yu Fei easily clinched the win.

But this wouldn’t affect the FMVP award.

Yu Fei still lifted his seventh FMVP trophy with an average of 26 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists per game.

As Yu Fei was being presented with the award on-site, the broadcasters received news from Seattle.

The financing plan for the SuperSonics had been approved by the Seattle city government.

This also meant that the SuperSonics were truly staying.

In the summer of 2007, Yu Fei returned to Seattle under the banner of saving the SuperSonics, and today he officially completed his mission.

This would become one of the key footnotes in his bid for the Greatest of All Time.

Greatest of All Time.

This is the greatest significance of this championship for Yu Fei.

Before this, his total number of championships was on par with Jordan’s, and even though he won four consecutive years, it was hard to say that was greater than Jordan’s two three-peats.

But now, he has his own three-peat, and is a champion for five consecutive years, seven times in eight years in terms of continuity.

Jordan joined the League in 1984 and ascended the throne in 1998, after fourteen years.

Even if we discount his baseball sabbatical, it still took him twelve and a half years.

He claimed the title of the best in history after twelve and a half years, and if Yu Fei took longer than him to surpass his achievements, it would still be questionable.

Of course, he could also market himself as the longest river, but what would be the point?

Competitive sports is about the dominance of the strongest, the height of their peaks compared.

Yu Fei surpassed Jordan’s NBA honors in just nine years; even without considering other aspects, just based on that, he is already the GOAT of modern basketball.

So when the FMVP trophy was presented to him on-site, the host asked, “Do you think you’re the greatest basketball player of all time?”

“I would never say that.”

Holding the FMVP trophy, Yu Fei said to the elderly man who had the naming rights to the trophy, “Russell has more championships than I do; if you base it on the number of championships, then he is the best basketball player in history.”

This is Boston, and Russell is their hero.

Yu Fei twice dashed the Bostonians’ championship dreams, but his speech won the support of the fans present.

At that moment, they gave Yu Fei their applause and cheers.

Then, Yu Fei said, “However, I wouldn’t mind if others say I am a more outstanding basketball player than number 23.”

“!@?!@#?”
The reaction onsite was intense, and the host jokingly asked, “The number 23 you’re referring to isn’t LeBron, right?”

“Of course not, and I think number 23 himself probably doesn’t want to see him continue wearing 23 anymore.”

And with that, the SuperSonics’ crowning ceremony concluded in a relatively friendly atmosphere.

Next up was “settlement time.”

Reebok wouldn’t miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity; with his seventh championship, Yu Fei would dispel the Chicago Ghosts and officially ascend as a “living GOAT.”

To set this tone required very strong media relations.

Fortunately, it wasn’t just Reebok that needed Yu Fei to rise to the top.

It could be said that every force related to professional basketball under this sky needed Yu Fei to take the top.

Yu Fei had been the face of the League for over five years, and Stern hoped to create another Giant God before he retired.

The era of Jordan had passed, and the new era would be led by Yu Fei.

So the League would help create the momentum.

The media related to Yu Fei, and even stakeholders actively cooperating with him, felt the time was ripe.

Then there were those righteous neutrals.

The positive impact of Yu Fei’s team crushing the Lakers in the Western Finals cannot be overstated.

There’s a reason the Lakers are called the Evil Empire.

Even on the most unruly street courts, amateur players adhere to the unspoken rule that those who play well shouldn’t team up, yet Kobe and Jordan’s proactive grouping shattered that accord.

Particularly for the owners, they saw how Gilbert fawned over James, only to be discarded like a dog in the end. Not only that, James abandoned him and then turned this heartbreaking decision into a show for the whole world to know he was moving.

Such behavior stirred widespread disdain among the ownership group. They didn’t show it, but they all cheered for Yu Fei when they saw the Lakers’ downfall.

Thus, the most powerful people in the NBA were also willing to let Yu Fei become the GOAT.

It was a convergence of forces, a resonance of the universe, something Jordan felt in 1998. He thought his Bulls would reign supreme until Reinsdorf decided to end it.

So, he retired.

It was the most perfect ending a superstar could have, but it was perfect because Jordan did not want to retire.

And so, he would come back in D.C.

Jordan could never have imagined that he would become a bridge for the next generation in D.C., and that Yu Fei, whom he had personally traded, would replace his position in the realm after eight years.

Thus, the promotion of the new divine figure began.

“Time Magazine” selected Yu Fei as one of the most influential people of our era.

Yu Fei was the only person from the sports world on the list.

New York Times’ conservative columnist David Brooks wrote in his “Mid-year Review” column, “Stanford University’s senior guard, Jeremy Lin, says ‘Frye is their Ali, Jackie, and MJ.’ In the past, Asians have never been the main characters in sports. But today, the protagonist of our era is an Asian. However, this era started five years ago, it’s only today that we realize how far he has gone. The sooner you realize to whom this era belongs, the more you can enjoy the splendor of this era.”