Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters-Chapter 413 - 272 I Insist on Nitpicking with a Fool
Chapter 413: Chapter 272 I Insist on Nitpicking with a Fool
Before I transversed time, the only Bell I knew was one who did mukbangs in the wild.
I had no idea there was a Raja Bell in the NBA, but I clearly remember Kobe being floored by some Phoenix player with a classic clothesline foul in certain highlights.
Bell’s face matched that of the player who took Kobe down.
So, before facing off with Bell, I assumed he was a watered-down version of Bowen, a player with poor defensive skills but who played dirty. But I was wrong; Bell’s defensive skills were not bad, and he played dirty—then again, how many staunch defenders don’t play dirty?—yet he had never been selected for the All-Defensive Team.
My favorite joke to make at the club about Bell was, “Even I’ve made the All-Defensive Team, yet you’re still unnoticed. This world is truly crazy.”
In the past two seasons, Bell played for the Jazz, and the rebuilding Jazz gave Bell an opportunity to showcase his talent, which suited Jerry Sloan’s system well.
Bell not only gained Sloan’s approval in defense but also increased his three-point shooting percentage to 40%.
Defensively talented players didn’t attract me much, but what if they were also great shooters? Wouldn’t that make them the perfect players for me?
These days, I’ve been actively recruiting Bell.
My competitor is Kobe.
Kobe was furious when he heard that I used personal relationships to “lure” Kwame Brown to Milwaukee, declaring, “I’ll tell you, Raja will come to play in Los Angeles, he’s already suffered enough in Utah, he definitely won’t choose another trash city to play in!”
I retorted, “With similar money on the table, I don’t think the Lakers are that attractive. We’re a championship-contending team; how about you make it back to the playoffs before talking.”
This kind of argument happens every day, and Bell actually has another choice—the Phoenix Suns.
However, the Suns didn’t go out of their way to recruit him with star players like the Lakers and Bucks did.
But one thing is clear, Bell has no intention of joining the Lakers.
If my reputation smelled like stinky tofu, smellily aromatic, then Kobe’s is like a can of surströmming, seemingly innocuous at a distance but once opened, the smell would make a house unlivable.
Bell, who went undrafted, knew all too well that the only things important to him were the team environment, core compatibility, and competitiveness.
In these three areas, the Lakers couldn’t compare to either the Suns or the Bucks.
So, what Bell really needed to consider was whether he wanted to play with me, or with Nash.
I told him, “The Suns could let Joe Johnson walk away for free just to save money; please think it over.”
“And how good are the Bucks?” Bell asked back.
“Not that good either, just two championships in the past three seasons,” I said “modestly.”
Bell asked playfully, “For such a good team, why did you only sign a two-year contract with them?”
It seems that everyone assumes that I will definitely opt out of my contract in the third year.
I didn’t shy away from this topic, saying directly, “It’s a protective measure for myself.”
Bell understood me.
Last season’s performance had proven that given a bunch of so-so teammates, I could lead a team to the conference finals.
For teams without ambition, that achievement is enough.
But if the team has no ambition, does it mean the players lack it too? How could such a powerful player not want to win a championship?
I could take the Bucks to the Eastern finals last season, so I could lead any team in the Eastern Conference to the Eastern finals.
If you put me in the Suns, under Sarver’s vampire-like clutches, I might just settle for maintaining the status quo.
When players give their all and stay loyal to the team without second-guessing the management… those most basic rules were shaken by my 2+1 contract renewal.
Players can give their all, but they don’t have to stay loyal to the team if the management doesn’t work as hard as they do. Naturally, others will start pointing fingers; and if you really don’t want to put in the effort, then a split is the inevitable outcome.
I brought fear to dysfunctional managements across the industry, ringing alarm bells everywhere. That’s why I have a bad reputation.
Bell thought it would be more certain to achieve success by his side in a beautiful, advanced system like the Suns than with me.
July 24th
The Bucks reached a three-year $15 million contract with Raja Bell using the mid-level exception, with the third year being a player option.
A day later, the Bucks re-signed Dikembe Mutombo for two years at a veteran’s minimum of $4 million.
With that, the Bucks’ offseason moves were essentially over, with all their available money spent and their strengthening nearly complete, one could say they did the best within their capabilities.
The Bucks’ roster depth for the new season would be the best since the 2002-03 season.
They have Ye Fei, Sprewell, Martin, Barry, Bell, Ariza, Granger, Lou Williams, (Devean) George on the perimeter, and Brown, Pachulia, Haslem, Mutombo, and Horry in the post.
They have a wide variety of player types, ready to face any team; the only issue is they lack a secondary star like Ray Allen.
But I have confidence in Kevin Martin.
After the NBA’s hand-checking ban, Martin should be able to take off without any issues.
Although he may not reach the level of Ray Allen, if he could perform like last season’s Mobley, he would be a great help to me.
After signing the contract, Bell returned to Los Angeles for training.
Kobe is a practical man; once he saw Bell was taken, he stopped coming to the club for training.
Yu Fei took the opportunity to make a trip to Las Vegas.
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This year’s summer league was held here, with a total of 16 teams participating. Las Vegas’ business prospects made the league ecstatic, as the owners of teams like the Knight, Knicks, Celtics, Hornets, Kings, Trail Blazers, and Supersonics all came here to promote their teams.
Yu Fei was representing the Bucks.
Quentin DiMio had arranged many promotional activities for Yu Fei, making him the most popular NBA player in Las Vegas during the summer league.
Walking around a lot, he heard many rumors.
The most unusual rumor was that Howard Schultz, owner of the Seattle SuperSonics, was looking for a buyer for the team.
Since the new millennium, changes in NBA ownership have not been as frequent as they were in the 70s and 80s of the last century.
Because the NBA had turned from a money-losing venture into a blue-chip enterprise, team valuations were expected to rise steadily in the foreseeable future.
Did Schultz’s desire to sell the team indicate he had no confidence in the SuperSonics’ future in Seattle?
This made Yu Fei suddenly think of the fact that in the future, the Oklahoma City Thunder Team was the former SuperSonics.
Yu Fei didn’t know much about this history, but he believed that the departure of the SuperSonics from Seattle had a lot to do with Schultz.
He had thought about playing in Seattle in the future, but would the SuperSonics simply cease to exist in a few years?
Yu Fei could only wait and see.
This year’s Bucks were one of the strong teams in the summer league, not only because they had top college talents like Danny Granger and Salim Stoudamire but also because they had Kevin Martin and Trevor Ariza, who had already played a year in the NBA.
With the “no handchecking” rule now in effect for the summer league, Kevin Martin thrived and delivered the best performance of the tournament. The Bucks, buoyant with victory, reached the finals. Danny Granger exploded, scoring a game-high 36 points to lead his team to its first summer league championship in history.
With the younger players being so fierce, Yu Fei held even higher hopes for the new season.
On the last night in Las Vegas, Dwyane Wade got some information from who-knows-where and somehow called Yu Fei in his hotel room, inviting him out to play cards.
“I don’t play cards.”
“Man, you’re in Las Vegas and you don’t play cards?”
“Dwyane, we can have dinner together, but let’s skip the cards,” Yu Fei said, “I’m not interested in that.”
“Alright, we’ll do it your way,” Wade said, “I’ll treat.”
Since Wade was inviting, naturally he also got to pick the place.
However, when Yu Fei arrived at the scene, all he wanted to do was turn around and leave.
Because there was not only Wade, but also Shaquille O’Neal.
Obviously, Shaq didn’t expect Yu Fei to show up, and his face became a bit unnatural.
Yu Fei said, “Did I come to the wrong place? I was only invited by Dwyane, not by the damn racist Big Fatty.”
Shaq didn’t mince words with his little brother and said, “If I have to dine with this guy, then I’m afraid I’ll have to pass.”
“Shaq, wait…”
Wade originally wanted to ease the relationship between Yu Fei and O’Neal, but he didn’t expect the grudge between the two to be so deep that they couldn’t even stand to be around each other for a minute.
As O’Neal was about to leave, Yu Fei stopped him: “Hold it!”
Shaq turned, his face full of anger, “What do you want?”
“No way. Why can you act like you don’t even want to breathe the same air as me?” Yu Fei sneered, “Did I racially discriminate against you?”
“Dammit!” Shaq was furious, “I’ve already apologized for that incident! Yao accepted my apology; I’m not a racist!”
Shaq had indeed publicly apologized, but his attitude gave Yu Fei and other Asian individuals with strong self-esteem a sense of arrogance, as if to say “I’ve already apologized, what more do you want?”
“Just because you apologized, I have to accept it?” Yu Fei retorted, “Who do you think you are? Do you want me to be racist against you too? I can apologize, I can hold a press conference and play dumb, would you accept my apology then?”
Faced with Yu Fei, Shaq had at least three dilemmas.
On the court, he was pummeled every time they met; he had never gained the upper hand.
Morally, Yu Fei had never accepted his apology from the beginning.
Regarding honor, initially Shaq had three championship rings, and now Yu Fei had two; at the very least, their status was equal.
Unable to offer a rebuttal, Shaq could only tell reporters that there are fools in this world, and that he was one of them. You can’t take a fool’s words seriously.
But Yu Fei’s stance was: I’m an absolute dumbass for bothering with you, I should’ve slapped your stupid ass first.
In the end, Shaq still left.
Yu Fei looked towards Wade with a smile, “Sorry for the trouble, but he and I just don’t get along.”
Wade said helplessly, “This will be the last time I do this.”
“Best that it is,” Yu Fei replied, “You should know I’ve already lost my appetite after seeing that racist Big Fatty, so you better order some good food tonight. I need some comfort for my soul.”
“Whatever you want, man. It’s on me,” Wade said generously.
Although Wade had good intentions that backfired tonight, Yu Fei would give him a 9 out of 10. The missing point was the deduction for Aaron Gordon’s sake.
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