When pride still matters

Chapter 48 The person who got the promise
This is Yu Fei's first time coming to Cleveland, and it feels like Kent City to him.

Their generation could not imagine that Cleveland was one of America's most important cities a half-century ago.

When Yu Fei and Dimeo took taxis through one street after another, the old shops on the street would always play Ian Hunter's "Cleveland Rocks".

This is a song written in the 70s, the golden age of rock music.

But to Fei, this song is no different from noise. Neither the melody nor the key sounds good, and the lyrics are quite strange.

"Mom knows but she doesn't care,

She also has her own troubles,

Seven children and a fake affair,
The rent is due.

All the little girls wearing crimson lipstick are growing up,

Cleveland rock, Cleveland rock,"

The puzzling lyrics are paired with a ghostly chorus - the phrase "Cleveland Rocks" is repeated 58 times, if not a hundred times.

The trial training for the Cavaliers was scheduled early, but neither Yu Fei's agent nor Yu Fei himself had any expectations for the trip to the Cavaliers.

Although the Cavaliers have this year's No. [-] pick.

Is the No. [-] pick special?It is very special for Fei.

In the recent mock drafts of several major newspapers, Yu Fei was basically selected by the Cavaliers with the eighth overall pick.

But the current mock draft can be called a player prospect ranking. It does not consider the actual needs of the team, but ranks the players based on their development prospects.

As a high school student who has become famous quickly, has a weak foundation, and has a huge gap between the upper and lower limits, the eighth pick is the position most suitable for flying in the eyes of experts.

However, the Cavaliers are not so eager for players like Fei.

Yu Fei has the potential to become a tall point guard, but the Cavaliers don't need a point guard. They have a player named Andre Miller in their formation, and his court control skills are as stable as an old dog.

Yu Fei can play inside, but since he participated in the trial training, he has always played the position of small forward, because he cannot play center in the NBA, and power forward is currently the most talented position in the NBA. With his physical maturity, Entering the league must start from a small forward.

It just so happened that the Cavaliers needed a small forward, which was why they tried out Yu Fei.

However, what the Cavaliers need is a small forward who can score points.

Yu Fei was quite good at scoring points in high school. Scoring 20 points per game was as easy as drinking water. However, for NBA teams, high school data is just a passing display and has no reference value.

So, how can Yu Fei prove that he is the kind of player the Cavaliers need?

Yu Fei didn't know because the Cavaliers arranged a separate trial for him.

Yu Fei met their coach Randy Wittman at the Cavaliers' training base.

Whitman showed no enthusiasm for flying. For him, this workout was just one of the many official duties he had to do during the offseason.

The Cavaliers don't expect the No. [-] pick to change the team's current predicament.

Rather than believing that they can select Mr. Right with the eighth pick, they should hope that LeBron James becomes eligible for the 2002 NBA Draft, and then the Cavaliers can mess around for this once-in-a-decade super talent.

The Cavaliers' trial training is very interesting, starting with the physical test.

Although Yu Fei had brought previous physical test data, the Cavaliers insisted on taking the test again.

Yu Fei had no choice but to obey his orders.

After the physical test, we came to the technical test session. Today, Yu Fei didn't feel good shooting. Fortunately, he improved his impression score during the movement control session.

Finally comes the interview.

The interview that Yu Fei hates the most.

Yu Fei originally thought that the Cavaliers' interview questions would be as mindless as the Rockets', but as a result, they mainly asked game questions.

Whitman would use a tactical board to describe a situation in front of Yu Fei, and then let Yu Fei make the decision on behalf of the ball holder.

This kind of interview feels like armchair talk, but it's much better than the Rockets' fake questions.

Yu Fei considers himself a player with a fair football intelligence. Although the questions raised by Whitman are mind-numbing to him, they are not difficult to answer.

As long as you put yourself in that scene, it is not difficult to come up with the optimal solution.

Therefore, Yu Fei got high marks in the interview.

Whitman considers him an extremely smart player who can make the right improvisations based on any issues that arise on the field.

But, he is a tall small forward.

He even wants to play point guard in the NBA.

If NBA scouts believe that Yu Fei is talented enough to play point guard in the NBA, then his draft price will surpass that of others in his class and he will easily be selected as the No. [-] pick.

The problem is, scouts are not that confident about Fei.

He became famous too quickly, rising as fast as a rocket.

This time last year, he was still unknown, just a taller-than-average 11th grader at Kent Meridian High School. Now, he is the fifth high school student in the United States in the class of 2001.

NBA scouts didn't hear about his exploits at ABCD training camp until last month.There were many people present at the time, but not many NBA scouts witnessed Yu Fei's performance.

Therefore, although Yu Fei was ranked fifth in the United States, NBA scouts did not understand him. They did not observe and track Yu Fei's games for a long time. They were not sure whether Yu Fei was another D'Angelo Collins. This suspicion directly affected his prospects.

The Cavaliers, hungry for scorers, were pleased with Fei's workout.

However, Yu Fei is not a scorer.

He is too young and needs time to grow.

When he grows up and puts on enough muscle, will he still be able to serve as a small forward in the NBA?If he can't play small forward, can he play power forward?

The Cavaliers don't know any of this.

Therefore, they want the safest option, a scorer, or a center if they can't.

Anyway, no one in this era would think they have too many insiders.

At the end of the day's trial, Whitman gave Yu Fei a special promise.

"Fry, you're the best rookie in workouts in a while and I really like your style."

Yu Fei could almost guess what he was going to say next.

"But you're not the type we need most," Whitman said.

Is it too direct?You are great, we want you very much, but this matter needs long-term consideration, please wait for our news.Isn’t that good to say?
"I understand."

Yu Fei looked at Whitman in confusion. He didn't know why Whitman said this.

Whitman hesitated, as if he didn't know whether to go on.

Soon, he decided to speak out: "If you are willing to stop working out, I can promise you that we will trade for additional lottery picks to draft you."

Yu Fei has heard such a story.

That’s about the Lakers’ biggest surprise in 2023, Austin Rivers. After the team established a foothold, this guy participated in someone’s blog and said that he had a second-round commitment that year, but he wanted to play for the Lakers too much, so he would rather Don't sign a two-way contract with the Lakers and be selected in the second round in glory.

Well, let's believe that Rivers is really a born Laker, even if doing so will cost him millions of dollars in the early stages of his career.

But why did Yu Fei do this?

Whitman asked him to stop the trial training, just because he wanted to use a late lottery pick to select him. The problem was that he already had draft commitments from the Rockets and Celtics.

He's nothing short of a late-lottery draft prospect.

Whitman made this suggestion because the Cavaliers were unwilling to select him with the eighth pick.

Yu Fei rejected Whitman and wanted to continue the trial training.

He is not Kwame Brown and Tyson Chandler. These two have been talents that have attracted national attention since the tenth grade. Professional scouts fully believe that they can make a career in the NBA. Yu Fei must fight for a higher pick. After all, Struggle has already stolen James' nickname. How rude would it be if he took over his hometown again?

In mid-June, Arn Tellem personally took Yu to Detroit and New Jersey (for the second time) to complete the last two trials.

The Nets and Pistons have the seventh and ninth picks in the first round respectively.

Yu Fei had already come to the Nets to participate in a trial training before. His coach Byron Scott admired Fei very much and expressed on the spot that he wanted to invite Yu Fei for a private trial. However, soon after, Yu Fei and Eddie Griffin's fight put the workouts on hold until now.

The Nets are also very satisfied with Fei's performance in his second trial, but are skeptical about whether to select him with the seventh pick.Therefore, they did not give Yu Fei a draft commitment.

But Yu Fei's agent Arne Traim said, "I wouldn't be surprised if the Nets select you with the seventh pick in the end."

The Pistons marveled at Fei's workout performance.

It can be said that Yu Fei meets their needs in all aspects.

What they want is a tall, two-way forward who can dribble, shoot, and defend. After gaining weight, he can swing the fourth position.

Previously, they had locked Rodney White, but the emergence of Yu Fei made them easily abandon White.

At the end of the last trial, Yu Fei received a commitment from Detroit with the ninth overall pick, which is the highest commitment he has received so far.

Since the teams with the top six picks sent invitations to Yu Fei, Yu Fei, who had tried out all the teams that could be tried out, ended his trial.

The next step, in addition to waiting for the draft to come, is to make some commercial signings.

If nothing unexpected happens, he will become a member of the Detroit Pistons.

But there's no stage in professional basketball more unpredictable than the draft.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

"There are indications that the Wizards will select Kwame Brown with the No. [-] pick." - "Washington Post"

“Detroit is ecstatic about Frye Yu’s workout performance.” —The Seattle Times

"The Gold Club trial reaches its climax, with many NBA players, including Patrick Ewing, admitting that they have received 'preferential treatment.'" - The New York Times

"Survey shows Frye Yu has become one of Asian Americans' favorite sports stars." - "Associated Press"

(End of this chapter)