Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Chapter 948 948 564 Proof of My Existence

?Chapter 948: Chapter 564 Proof of My Existence Chapter 948: Chapter 564 Proof of My Existence After Media Day, the pre-season training camp quickly shifted into high gear.

By this time, the coaching staff had basically determined the starting lineup for the new season, and next, they would gradually clarify the order of the main rotation through preseason games.

However, even pre-season games were not sufficient to fully test the reliability of the bench. Because only in official games could the performance of the reserve players truly be tested.

Therefore, in addition to arranging daily training, Tyronn Lue’s primary task each day was to crush a few people’s NBA dreams.

Besides those with official contracts, there were many fringe players in the training camp without contracts. They didn’t have much opportunity on the SuperSonics team.

Soon, those not cut out for it were either sent to the development league or forced overseas, leaving only a few competing for the final spots.

Their “judgment day” would come during the pre-season games.

This year, the SuperSonics returned to China for pre-season games after several years, facing the Miami Heat, the last season’s runners-up in the championship finals.

Although the Heat were their rivals in the finals, nobody took the preseason too seriously.

Fei played an extra 10 minutes to entertain the audience. Eventually, the better-conditioned Miami Heat won the game.

The fans might have been the biggest winners, as star players from both teams put on a great show during the game.

These were just superficialities, though. The players’ minds were already focused on the upcoming new season.

For teams aiming for the championship, even the regular season wasn’t worth too much attention. Like Fei, who had led his team to championship success for six consecutive seasons, victory had almost become a habit.

The Heat faced a similar situation. Kevin Love’s max contract would take effect this season, and next season, Stephen Curry’s max contract would also kick in, ending their rookie contract benefits.

One could say, these two years were the best chance for the Heat to win the championship.

If they could secure the championship this season, the Heat’s owner might decide to pay a heavy luxury tax for the chance to defend the title, like Clay Bennett did last season. But if they failed to secure the championship, the owner might make more pragmatic decisions due to salary pressures.

The new season was about to begin, and scandals in the sports world, or rather jokes, never ceased.

A few years ago, Greg Oden, depressed from being ruled out for the season, took to drinking. Not only did he drink, but he also took photos of his privates with his phone and uploaded them online, ushering in the NBA’s “leak era.”

Not many wanted such incidents to happen to them; typically, they were the result of operational errors.

Recently, another person followed in Harden’s footsteps. He wasn’t an NBA player, but his online popularity was no less than that of any NBA player; it was Michael Jordan’s younger son, Marcus Jordan. He intended to send a private photo to a starlet he was infatuated with, but unfortunately, due to an operational mishap, he tweeted it instead.

This wasn’t the first time young Jordan had caused problems for old Jordan. Ever since reaching adulthood, little Jordan had been troublesome—getting into fights, sexually harassing a female bartender, getting caught in a solicitation sting, carrying banned substances… He never ran out of troubles. This incident just added to that list, and it couldn’t help but make Fei feel a bit of schadenfreude.

It made him think, if his son ever turned out like this, he’d break his legs.

Thanks to little Jordan, the fans had something to talk about, helping them get through the last stretch before the season arrived.

October 30
Seattle
The defending champions, the SuperSonics, would hold their opening game at home, during which the fifth championship banner in the team’s history would be raised at Key Arena.

Their opponent was the top team from the Western, the San Antonio Spurs.

That evening, the veteran players of the SuperSonics lined up to receive their rings.

The opposing Silver-Black Legion looked indifferent.

Duncan’s big eyes blinked without a hint of envy.

If the SuperSonics weren’t in the Western, perhaps they wouldn’t feel it as strongly, but it was the SuperSonics who had beaten them in the Western finals to snatch the finals tickets.

No, their rivalry went beyond that.

Fei and the Spurs’ story had started back in 2003.

Since 2003, Fei had let the championship slip only in 2005.

That year’s “lucky ones” were the Spurs.

Due to a brawl at the Palace of Auburn Hills, the Bucks, poised for a three-peat, fell apart, and the Spurs seized the opportunity to claim the championship.

It could have been a beautiful ending, but Fei’s long reign had since rewritten the narrative.

“The Spurs were lucky. If the GOAT hadn’t gotten caught up in that Palace of Auburn Hills brawl that year, he could have continued his championship streak until 2012,” people said.

Such statements were as annoying as when Olajuwon took advantage of Jordan’s baseball sabbatical to snatch two championships.

And the Spurs had experienced this annoyance twice.

Once was during the lockout season championship in 1999, when Phil Jackson and Shaquille O’Neal had always claimed that championship should be marked with an asterisk.

Moreover, the Spurs had no comeback to that, because the Lakers won three championships in a row afterwards.

Teams that succeed three times consecutively are called dynasties. When they say you’re lucky, that means you’re just lucky, especially when you’ve only succeeded once.

The same argument had more persuasive power in 2005.

Since Fei had won every championship since 2005, the outside world could easily say the Spurs were just lucky to have won that year.

Even today, their “lucky” label had not been torn off.