Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Chapter 907 907 550 World of Important Figures

?Chapter 907: Chapter 550: World of Important Figures Chapter 907: Chapter 550: World of Important Figures Although the team had clearly defined roles like core, starters, main rotation, substitutes, and fringe players, aside from these roles based on team status, many derivative roles appeared due to different team conditions.

Just like Matt Bonner for the Spurs and Haslem for the Miami Heat, each team has one or two individuals who stand out and define the team’s temperament.

Patrick Beverley might have been one of the lowest in status within the SuperSonics, but he was also one of the most arrogant players in the League.

Although he entered the NBA through the draft, the Lakers, who selected him, did not recognize his abilities, forcing him to go overseas to compete. Then, fortunately, during a lockout period, he caught Fei’s eye and thus knocked on the NBA’s door.

Beverley knew why Fei appreciated him.

Thus, even after joining the top team of the league, Beverley continued to behave rebelliously, selling face to no one but Fei.

He was the most diligent and the most desperate one, which was not surprising, as Alonzo Gee shared similar traits. However, compared to Gee’s kind, optimistic nature, Beverley was the opposite; he was crude and proud, ready to compete with anyone, and always pointed out anything he found disagreeable.

If those enforcer-type players who had disappeared from the courts were hated by their opponents but loved by their teammates, then someone like Beverley equally annoyed everyone.

Beverley knew his role.

In situations that called for positive action, it was his role to lead, speaking out things that Fei might not find appropriate to say.

So, after seeing Durant ignoring his teammates and going solo for several minutes, Beverley couldn’t help but raise an objection.

For Durant, this was novel.

This season, Durant’s stats had significantly improved. Since he became a full-time small forward, his average field goal attempts had increased to 18 per game, scoring an average of 26 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists.

His average scoring was only 2 points less than Fei’s.

He believed that when Fei and Roy were not on the court, he had unlimited firing rights, as it had always been.

But today, Beverley suddenly challenged this, as he had been overdoing it tonight, not letting other teammates take shots for several minutes.

This was a situation in the game where “even if he was wrong, you couldn’t say it,” because of Durant’s unusual status, but Beverley bluntly questioned Durant’s offensive choices nonetheless.

Suddenly, the temperature on the court dropped.

The most anxious person was Tyronn Lue.

Fei’s follower openly questioned Durant. Was this Beverley’s spontaneous action or was it instigated by Fei? If it was spontaneous, how should it be handled? If it was instructed by Fei, what did that imply? Did the Greatest of All Time not want to play power forward anymore? So, was he deliberately using this method to dismiss Durant, allowing himself to return to the small forward position?

Though Lue thought the likelihood was low, as someone who had experienced the internal conflicts within the OK, he considered the darkest possibilities about what was happening on the court.

He glanced at Fei, looking for his opinion.

“Don’t bother about them.”

The Greatest of All Time had given his directive.

So, ignore it.

After all, such matters were inherently outside the coaching staff’s purview.

This left Coach Lue feeling somewhat despondent.

Back then, Phil Jackson was a significant figure in the OK conflicts, yet he hardly had a say in the SuperSonics.

Fei decided with a single statement.

In the final thirty seconds of the first quarter, Beverley continued to pass the ball to Durant.

But Durant seemed to take the advice, dribbling a few times and then returning the ball to Beverley.

Finally, the SuperSonics played a well-organized offensive play at the end of the first quarter.

Durant set a screen, Beverley broke through, and Anthony Morrow received the ball for a three-pointer on the outside.

It looked smooth, but what had happened a minute earlier would not be forgotten.

At the end of the first quarter, the SuperSonics led by 6 points.

Coming to the sideline, Fei said to Beverley, “Pat, you need to apologize to KD.”

Beverley didn’t even ask why, immediately apologizing in front of everyone for the incident.

The matter was considered settled.

There were no complicated hidden agendas, no special implications; Beverley was just such a person. He had gone too far just now, and this was the point Fei wanted to make.

Then, Durant could not just stand there accepting the apology.

He had his own persona.

His persona was the “most absolutely wonderful” son of the United States, a man who couldn’t afford flaws. His earlier behavior had been selfish, and being questioned by a teammate was appropriate, but did he really have to sarcastically call Beverley a “passer”?

So he too admitted, he had made mistakes. Only, while apologizing, a voice roared inside him: I don’t need to apologize!

The reason he apologized was merely to maintain his image, not because he truly felt he was at fault.

Look at how much trouble this damn hypocritical image had brought him.

He didn’t receive respect from the media, nor from his opponents, and now not even from Fei’s supposedly subservient dog.

He envied Fei’s ability to display his true character to the world unreservedly. When the world praised his humility and kindness, he would force a smile because that wasn’t the real him.

Now, he realized this image wouldn’t bring him much substantial help,
but rather, it restrained him everywhere because of this image.