When pride still matters

Chapter 386 Riley is so old and confused
Yu Fei's 50+ quasi-triple-double against the Celtics greatly improved the SuperSonics' morale, which allowed them to get out of the quagmire where internal problems broke out before.

One day later, in back-to-back games against the Kings, Yu Fei scored 35 points, Roy had 22 points and 11 assists, Durant scored 20 points, and the SuperSonics beat their opponents by 25 points.

After that, he returned to home to face the upstart Hornets in the Western Conference this season. Even though Paul scored 30 points and 10 assists, he was not defeated by Fei Fei's 30-point triple-double and Rashard Lewis's 35 points.

After the game, Lewis said: "I would be disappointed if I missed the All-Star Game."

Although Lewis worked hard to drum up votes for himself, once the fan popularity is gone, it is very difficult to regain it.

Moreover, as a forward who wants to be selected as an All-Star in the Western Conference, his opponents are Yu Fei, the popular favorite, Anthony, the dominant player, Duncan and Nowitzki, and then Boozer, Marion and others.

This year, Yu Fei is destined to occupy a starting spot, and the competition is more intense. Fortunately, the relationship between Marion and the Suns has dropped to a freezing point. He wants to be traded, and the enthusiasm of Suns fans to vote has been severely dampened.

But Lewis still had Boozer in front of him.

Boozer is the touchstone for the All-Stars. Anyone who gets more votes than him will definitely get in, and anyone who gets less votes than him will not get in.

As the second-ranked attacker among the top four players in the Western Conference, Lewis has been ignored by fans.

He watched the SuperSonics' away game against the Celtics. Yu Fei defended his reputation as the best player in the league and captured the North Shore Garden with absolute dominance.

Lewis' resentment did not affect the Supersonics because Yu Fei's presence suppressed all evil thoughts.

Presti is willing to put his wealth on Yu Fei and make a bet with anyone: Give him a championship-level team, and he can win the championship.

Bennett needs to give the league an explanation. He was obviously going to play the role of the evil boss who moved the Sonics from Seattle. Why did he change his mind? At the same time, he also needs to give an explanation to his investment partners. Although Bennett is the majority shareholder of the team, more than 40% of the Sonics' shares are scattered among several other Oklahoma City businessmen.

They want to use the feat of bringing an NBA team to their hometown to strengthen the influence of their respective brands in their hometowns. Why are you, Bennett, so fascinated by Da Fei? Do you really believe that he can defy the odds?
These are certainly not Presti’s worries, but Bennett’s worries translate into Presti’s worries.

So how to consolidate the SuperSonics' record? That's Presti's job.

However, the SuperSonics' internal hidden dangers could not be more obvious.

In the end, only Yu Fei on the SuperSonics team was selected as a Western Conference All-Star.

Although Yu Fei used his huge influence to force the SuperSonics out of the pit, if this problem is not resolved, the SuperSonics' prospects of winning the championship will be slim.

However, the impact of P.J. Brown's choice to sign with the Celtics is still felt.

If you put it on a mediocre management, you may place your hope on Fei's super power, but Sam Presti did not leave the Spurs management, which is as warm as a family, to become such a GM.

They went from a rebuilding team to a championship contender in just a few months.

Roy lost to Paul with a total of 54 votes, and Lewis lost to Boozer by 10 votes.

Klay Thompson's original plan was to use Yu Fei to make money, and the Sonics would definitely have to move anyway. However, it only took Yu Fei a few months to change Bennett's mind.

Suddenly, Lewis felt resentful. He didn't know why he only got 40 votes, but Roy was able to get 54 votes in the Western Conference guard zone. If the votes are given to him, he will enter.

At the end of January, the SuperSonics entered February with a winning streak, and the league also announced the 2008 New Orleans All-Star Weekend roster.

Now Bennett has decided to keep the team, causing more problems.

Yu Fei has completely disrupted Presti's plan for the team's first five years.

In order to change the Sonics' poor management problems since the Schultz Howard era, the Sonics need to show a convincing record to change the hearts of the people in Seattle, then achieve profitability, and convince the league as a profitable large-market team. Let the team stay.

why? He worked so hard to stay with the Sonics in order to save the Sonics. Even if the fans doubt his motives, they still have to give him a hard-earned ticket because he has played for the Sonics for 10 seasons, right?

Once the Sonics reach this point, the huge profits will be enough to give Bennett a reason to convince his fellow countrymen.

It was originally thought that the arrival of PJ Brown could alleviate some of the problems. Who would have thought that the old Biden ignored Gary Payton's lessons and actually let Da Fei go.

This is what older men do, they react calmly to stimulation and calmly analyze the pros and cons. Old Brown doesn't believe that Yu Fei can continue to perform like that. The Celtics' hard power is still the strongest in the league. So he made this choice.

What can Presti do? Flying pigeons is a common thing.

Now, he wants to trade Rashard Lewis again.

Especially after the All-Star roster was released, Lewis publicly expressed his dissatisfaction. He asked why Seattleites ignored his ten years of hard work and would rather vote for some up-and-coming newcomers than him?

Is it possible that fans supported him and then were heartbroken by him?
That was 2005, and Lewis made his only All-Star appearance to date. Since then, his life has been about three things: scoring 20 points a game and then clamoring to leave. It's understandable that he wants to go to a competitive team. So after Yu Fei came, he took the initiative to stay.

However, he shouldn't expect to piece the fans back together in half a season. Fans' love is limited. They can give it to Yu Fei, who is risking his own life for his hometown, or to Roy, a native son of Seattle, but they will not give it to Lewis.

Lewis doesn't seem to understand this. Does he really think that his past harm to fans will be forgotten? Or does he think household registration is not important?

Lewis' reaction made Presti seriously consider trading him. Moreover, this is the only option to strengthen the inside line.

Only Lewis's contract can match the big deals on the market.

Jermaine O'Neal looks worse than before, and the contract is too big. Shaquille O'Neal may cost Presti his job, so it is not considered.

Therefore, there are only two choices left in front of Presti, one is Ben Wallace and the other is Shawn Marion.

Presti made the decision easily.

They don't need a big book.

Although Kwame Brown is not strong enough as the starting five, he is better because of his perfect tacit understanding with Yu Fei.

They need a backup at the five, not a limited premium luxury player who is better than Brown.

If Lewis is to be traded, Presti hopes to get a starter at the fourth position who is more suitable for the playoffs.

Marion is the best as far as the eye can see.

Although Marion's outside shooting is not as good as Lewis's, his fixed-point three-pointers and cut-out catch-and-shoot shots are okay. As a stocky fourth position, Marion is a top off-ball player, and his pie-eating ability is among the best in the league. He is also one of the best help defenders since the new century. He has averaged 2 steals and 1.5 blocks per game for the last four consecutive seasons.

If such a wing with rich playoff experience and integrated offense and defense can join, the SuperSonics' internal defensive problem will be solved.

However, the Suns were unwilling to give Marion to their Western Conference rivals.

In early February, the Suns shockingly traded Marion to Miami in exchange for Shaquille O'Neal, who had become a negative asset.

The Suns publicly stated that they made this trade to find a better defender - and then they traded the best wing defender in the West for O'Neal, who had been idle for several years.

Steve Kerr, then general manager of the Suns, aptly said of the trade: "If it works out, I'm a genius. If it doesn't work out, I guess I'm an idiot."

Presti refused to give up, so he had no choice but to find Pat Riley.

When Riley got the offer for Marion from the Sonics, he was intrigued. Since being beaten by the Bucks in 2006, Riley has always wanted to replicate the Bucks' style of play.

Rashard Lewis is that team’s dream 4.

And Marion? Although good, he is already an outdated product in Riley's eyes. His only role is to help the Heat get rid of O'Neal. What the Heat need is advanced talents who can play small ball. Marion may be more suitable as a center in small ball, but Riley would rather the center is Rashard Lewis.

Now that he heard that the Sonics were going to trade Lewis for Marion, Riley naturally got into trouble with Presti.

When both parties are interested in moving forward with a deal, things tend to happen quickly.

Presti informed Yu Fei of the news when the deal was basically finalized.

When he heard that the team was going to trade Lewis, Yu Fei's attitude was not to object, but to ask: "Who will we get?"

"Shawn Marion." Presti answered truthfully.

Lewis may be the most suitable fourth position among active players-but the problem is that he is no longer a ball-handling core in SuperSonics. Lewis was more of a pick-and-roll for Roy during the game. This made Lewis feel that Roy's performance was half of his credit.

Unexpectedly, this second-year All-Star who rose up on his own would actually get more votes than himself, so his mentality naturally changed.

In this matter, Yu Fei will only side with Roy, so when he heard that Presti wanted to trade Lewis, he had no objection.

I just didn't expect that Lewis could be exchanged for Marion.

"Is Pat Riley confused?"

Yu Fei couldn't help but ask.

"Do you like this deal?"

"I'm ready to say goodbye to Rashad."

"There's no rush," Presti said. "We still haven't agreed on some details, but it's coming soon."

Yu Fei has no ill feelings toward Lewis, and the man respects him full of respect. Moreover, it was because of him that Lewis chose to stay. However, the SuperSonics are different from the Bucks. The transformed Yu Fei will only switch to a big-core style of play when the team cannot open up. Therefore, Lewis is destined not to be able to unleash the light of the strongest space four in the contemporary era next to Yu Fei.

Perhaps Yu Fei should be grateful to Presti, who lives up to his name. He decided to solve Lewis's problem before it amplified, and saved him the trouble of repairing the relationship between Lewis and Roy.

Now, Yu Fei only needs to think about how to say goodbye gracefully.

(End of this chapter)