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Chapter 966 966 570 Godfather of Players
Chapter 966 966 570 Godfather of Players
?Chapter 966: Chapter 570: Godfather of Players Chapter 966: Chapter 570: Godfather of Players This summer, the free agency market shouldn’t have been making any waves if it weren’t for Yu Fei’s decision to leave Seattle; the biggest name in free agency would have been Andre Iguodala and Joakim Noah.
Iguodala contacted the GOAT as soon as Yu Fei announced he would test free agency.
Yu Fei and Iguodala were old friends.
They first met at Adidas’s ABCD Camp. At that time, Yu Fei was about to graduate from high school and was preparing for the draft, while Iguodala was still relatively unknown. Yu Fei invited him to join his temporary team, and they ultimately shone bright at the camp.
After entering the NBA, they kept in touch, always greeting each other during regular-season meetings.
However, Iguodala’s NBA journey had been quite tumultuous. His prime was with the Spurs, but he had the misfortune of encountering the on-the-rise SuperSonics. Subsequently, he began a nomadic career with a contract that was regarded as an overpay.
This summer, Iguodala’s contract expired, finally giving him the chance to control his own destiny. He reached out to Yu Fei, expressing a desire to join forces.
Yu Fei readily said, “No problem, but the team I’m fond of is the Clippers, interested?”
That caught Iguodala by surprise.
After all, Yu Fei’s favorite joke was to “exile” people to the Clippers. Who would have thought that one day he would willingly “banish” himself there?
However, the Clippers’ long-standing position at the bottom of the NBA disdain chain was entirely due to an owner like Sterling. Now with Sterling toppled and the Clippers’ sale in process, the future of the team would be completely different with Ballmer as the new owner and the addition of Yu Fei.
Iguodala began to seriously consider the opportunity.
Yu Fei had to wait for Ballmer to complete the acquisition of the Clippers. Before that, he still had to go through the motions of meeting with various teams.
The first to see him was the Lakers.
After all, Yu Fei was currently in Los Angeles, and the Lakers had the advantage of proximity.
What was surprising was that Kobe was the one who came to recruit Yu Fei. This scenario felt very strange to Yu Fei because he had always been the Lakers’ biggest adversary in the new century. Yet now, the Lakers wanted to recruit him, making him wonder: If you can’t beat me, do you just want to sign me instead?
When Kobe spoke about how well Yu Fei’s style fit with the Lakers, Yu Fei asked, “Is this how you recruited LeBron too?”
The day of “The Decision” seemed like just yesterday, but that “decision” hadn’t brought any success.
Kobe smiled and said, “More or less the same.”
“You know I won’t go to the Lakers,” Yu Fei said, “I’m freeing myself from a place I can’t control, not to join an even more complicated team and help out a hopeless old man into retirement.”
Yu Fei didn’t think any star players in their prime would consider joining the Lakers.
With a chaotic management, lack of team resources, plus a Kobe, what would normal star players really gain by coming here?
Yu Fei certainly had the confidence to replace Kobe on the Lakers, but he didn’t need to trouble himself, especially since he had already made a commitment.
The Lakers eventually failed.
Next were the Knicks, but Yu Fei didn’t see Durant during the negotiations, nor did he receive a recruiting call from Durant beforehand.
So, he was very clear about Durant’s thoughts.
Durant was absolutely the last person in the world who would want to see him go to New York.
It was surprising that the Knicks would actively recruit him without Durant’s support, under such management, Durant’s future really looked promising.
Yu Fei turned down the Knicks.
Then came a bunch of self-perceived good teams.
They offered what they thought were great terms, only to be casually rejected by Yu Fei.
As the free agency market opened on July 6th, players started signing contracts.
Iguodala didn’t end up joining the Clippers with Yu Fei, but rather went to New York to team up with Durant.
Yu Fei rejected every team that came to recruit him while the free agents on the market dwindled rapidly.
Days went by, and Yu Fei still hadn’t made up his mind.
He didn’t seem to be choosing a team but rather looked like he was preparing to retire.
Until a signing that had the air of an omen awakened the media pundits who were exploring Yu Fei’s next move.
On July 16, ten days after the opening of the free agency market, the Clippers announced the signing of Kwame Brown for 2 years and $3 million.
Who was Yu Fei’s most loyal follower?
This question had always been a matter of debate. During his time with the Bucks, the controversy was between Kwame Brown and Trevor Ariza; when he moved to the SuperSonics, the focus shifted to Kwame Brown, DeAndre Jordan, and Patrick Beverley.
Some who liked mixing and matching found that, no matter the comparison, Brown was always present. Without a doubt, Brown was the most loyal follower.
Brown and Yu Fei became free agents at the same time, but with increasing age — although 30 wasn’t considered old, for undisciplined role players, the decline usually came earlier than for stars — and his preference for staying in his comfort zone, Brown gradually became less suited for modern basketball. Before the era of space basketball, Brown was still a versatile, blue-collar center capable of setting screens, boxing out, switching, and defending in the low post – as long as you didn’t rely on his “skillful hands” for anything, he could definitely do the basic work of a blue-collar player.