Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Chapter 913 913 552 Hell is a Playground

?Chapter 913: Chapter 552: Hell is a Playground Chapter 913: Chapter 552: Hell is a Playground The 2012 All-Star Weekend was held in Orlando.

If Dwight Howard had not left, it should have been their carnival, but the big baby who muttered about loyalty and love had decisively left his own team last summer.

On the surface, it was because Orlando was not competitive; in reality, Howard just wanted to go to a bigger city.

As the league’s foremost center and a second-generation Superman, he could have easily influenced the league’s dynamics, so why constrain himself to struggling in Orlando?

Look at what LeBron did, and although he failed, he staked his reputation to pave the way for everyone.

Since then, other superstars who have done similar things haven’t faced as much criticism.

So ultimately, it was the city of Orlando that was hurt.

After Howard left, they still had veterans like Ray Allen and Vince Carter on their team, but both were past their prime and had lost the ability to lead a team, naturally sending the Magic plummeting toward the lottery, now ranking third from last in the Eastern Conference.

Naturally, as hosts, they did not have any players chosen for the All-Star weekend roster.

This prompted Yu Fei to put forward a proposal that the league should consider granting a favor to the cities hosting the All-Star weekend; for example, if no one from the Magic Team was selected this year, they should pick one player from their team to represent them during All-Star weekend.

This wasn’t because the GOAT suddenly cared about weaker teams, but seeing two old friends suffer in Orlando was a bit much for him to bear.

His friendship with Ray Allen had been set in stone since 2005, and thereafter, they could only meet during the regular season and All-Star Weekend.

The camaraderie built during their back-to-back championship wins didn’t extend into their lives.

During the holidays, they wouldn’t get in touch with each other, but when Yu Fei announced his engagement to Elizabeth Olsen, Ray Allen called him to say congratulations.

This let Yu Fei know that the man was still the same as before.

As for Carter, his and Yu Fei’s styles matched, both on and off the court, having exchanged glances for many years without a chance to team up.

Now Yu Fei was the GOAT, and Carter had aged; the half-human, half-god UFO now hardly dunked but instead heavily capitalized on the era of space basketball.

He was the best among the big four shooting guards in terms of outside shooting, not only producing high volume but also shooting from a distance, having prepared early for the transition.

Yu Fei visited Carter as soon as he arrived in Orlando.

“Frye, you know this year is my contract year, right?” Carter said at the dinner table.

Yu Fei raised an eyebrow, “What, thinking of coming to Seattle?”

“I had that plan before,” Carter said, “but after seeing what happened to Chris Bosh, I don’t know if I want to play for that kind of owner.”

“It’s not just you…”

Yu Fei left it at that.

The way the SuperSonics treated Chris Bosh left an extremely negative impression in the players’ hearts.

Its impact was broad and profound, affecting even someone who was no longer a star like Carter, making him reconsider if chasing a championship would demean himself.

The longer it went on, the deeper Yu Fei’s resentment towards Bennett grew.

Even today, Bennett had not offered him an explanation.

Actually, everyone knew the reason — it was money. But after making that decision, Bennett had not communicated with Yu Fei at all, as if it wouldn’t harm the GOAT’s interests.

After all, the loss was Bennett’s profit. As for the source of that profit, just don’t ask.

Last summer, Yu Fei had just signed a three-year contract with the SuperSonics, but he could opt out in the summer of the second year, which was next year.

Seattle was his intended final stop. From a perfect career perspective, being traded to Milwaukee right after his rookie season lost him the one-city-one-man status. Even disregarding the rookie year, the moment he left Milwaukee, he was no longer a one-city-one-man figure.

He arrived in Seattle as a Savior.

Although he was at most half a Seattleite, he undeniably saved the SuperSonics, not only keeping the team in the Emerald City, expediting the construction of a new arena, and within a few years, bringing the hottest basketball market.

One could say, as a half-Seattleite, his mission had been accomplished; he had conquered territories, now it was time to defend them.

But with changes in the times, and with inherently short-sighted and profit-seeking figures like Bennett, conflicts with Yu Fei’s principles were bound to arise.

Staying here, Yu Fei would always be the King of Seattle; the misfortunes in D.C. and leaving Milwaukee would just be footnotes to his story.

Leaving, on the other hand, would forcibly divide Yu Fei’s career into four stages.

The failures in D.C. would make Milwaukee’s rise seem all the more thrilling, and leaving Milwaukee at its peak to return home as a savior peaked his reputation. Once leaving, given his age, the next move would certainly be his last stop. If he didn’t want to end his legacy in disgrace as Jordan did in D.C., he had to succeed a third time.

But where to go? No matter where, he would have a boss over him.

What difference did other bosses make from Clay Bennett?

This question hovered in Yu Fei’s mind until a bold idea surfaced.

As soon as the All-Star Weekend activities started, Yu Fei became a very busy man.