Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

After the preseason training camp ended, the Supersonics immediately threw themselves into preparing for the preseason games. According to the League's original plan, the Supersonics weren't scheduled to play in the China games this year. However, Yu Fei's popularity in China changed the League's plans. With the "Magic Johnson" of China, Sun Yue, joining the Lakers this season, the NBA once again had three Chinese players, just like in the start of the new millennium. Together with Yu Fei's Supersonics, they could put together four teams to play a series of cross matches in China during the preseason. Returning to the Wukesong Sports Centre after more than a month was nothing new for Fei, as he had become accustomed to the venue during the Olympics. The most important thing for the Supersonics right now was to use the preseason games to test the team. Kevin Durant shone brightly in the China games. In addition to enhancing his ball-handling skills, Durant had spent a lot of time training his three-point shot over the summer. In the three preseason games in China, Durant posted a 60% three-point shooting percentage. Although the intensity of preseason games isn't enough to draw a conclusion, it was a promising improvement compared to his rookie year's slightly over 30%. Yu Fei didn't play much in the preseason. His main focus was on dealing with reporters. Chinese media tirelessly asked Yu Fei about Yao Ming, Space Easy, and Sun Yue. For the latter, Fei responded in a rather official tone. But for Yao, Fei was heartfelt. When asked by the media what he thought of Yao Ming and the Houston Rockets' prospects for the season, Fei replied, "It depends on his health status. If he can stay healthy, I think the Rockets will be a very competitive team." It was at that moment Yu Fei suddenly realized that the injury which ended Yao Ming's career was caused by that collision with Kobe in the 2009 semifinals, wasn't it? Looking at the entire season, that year was actually Yao's healthiest since 2005, but the violent collision in the playoffs was an uncontrollable factor. If the Supersonics could replace the Lakers' position this season and face off against the Rockets in the playoffs, could that accident have been avoided? Yu Fei didn't know; it was hard to say. It was just like the time he accidentally prevented the brawl at The Palace of Auburn Hills between the Pacers and the Detroit Pistons, but in the end, it was he and the Bucks who ended up being the main characters of a brawl. Yu Fei's thoughts only extended that far, because that was a matter for the future. After the China games ended, the Supersonics returned to the United States to play another two preseason games. Durant continued to dominate beyond the three-point line. This made George Karl begin to think that perhaps the best position for Durant was small forward rather than shooting guard. Last season, Durant was shifted to shooting guard because of concerns over his ability to handle physical play. Now, his ability to handle physical play was still weak, but he could barely deal with the NBA's level of physical confrontation. But this needed to be discussed with Yu Fei. Because Fei was doing well at small forward, would he agree to change his position all of a sudden? After sharing his thoughts with Yu Fei, Carl was shocked by his answer. "George, what era are we in that you still think in terms of traditional positions?" Carl, with a look of confusion, then asked, "Big Fei, what do you mean?" "George, first tell me, when were the five positions on the basketball court born?" After thinking, Carl said, "In basketball history, the first four defined positions were a point guard, shooting guard, forward, and center. At the end of the 1960s, a wave of athletic modern forwards like Connie Hawkins emerged, so we differentiated between power forwards and small forwards. That's the origin of the five modern positions in basketball." "But is our carnival basketball traditional?" Fei said, "Have we ever had a proper point guard? There's a saying on the court that he who controls the center, controls the game, but our inside players have never been the best. George, we are not traditional at all, or rather, we've changed what is traditional in basketball." "Five years ago, only three teams in the NBA made more than 20 three-point attempts per game, but last season, nearly half of the teams were taking 20 or more threes per game." "Times have changed, the game has changed, and positions should also change," Fei said. "I don't need to switch positions, nor is there any need to use labels like 'X position' to define our roles. For our games, there are only three positions needed on the court: a ball handler like Brandon, wings like me and KD, and big men like Kwame and DJ (DeAndre Jordan). That's enough." On hearing this, Carl trembled. For a long time, he always felt that his team was not quite proper, although they could win games, the lineup didn't look like those classic teams in history which could serve as a standard template for victory. He understood now. It wasn't that they couldn't become a classic, it was that from a traditional perspective, they were unconventional. Once he accepted that there were only "ball handlers," "wings," and "big men" on the court, then the positions of carnival basketball became very clear. If carnival basketball was a philosophical revolution in gameplay, then completely changing the differentiation of positions was a root-and-branch change, a paradigm shift in philosophy. Karl felt a twinge of fear, he could foresee being furiously criticized by conservatives, but what if he succeeded? He would be qualified to join the ranks of the masters. "I've understood, let's do it this way!" Karl said, "Starting today, in our team there are no more guards, forwards, or centers, only ball handlers, wings, and big men!" "Including our registration form!" Yu Fei hadn't expected this matter to have such a significant impact on Karl. The positional distinctions he mentioned were already consensus in the era of small ball in his past life. He had assumed that Karl had already understood this, not realizing until today that Karl had been fixating on it. He was simply controlling carnival basketball with old concepts. But now, his ideas had been overturned. What changes this would bring about were still unknown, but a few days later, at the season opener, many basketball experts were puzzled by the Supersonics' registration form. They didn't see any clear positions. "Ball-handler? Wing? Big man?" Jeff Van Gundy was critical of the Supersonics' approach, "What is Coach Karl doing? Does he want to challenge the established consensus about positions?" But the criticism was mild. Most people just thought Karl was trying to attract attention without thinking deeply about it. Then came the evening's game. The Supersonics' opening game of the new season was against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Moreover, it was an away game. That meant they wouldn't get to see the championship banner rise at their home court in the first game of the season. The league's arrangement was clearly intentional. Durant and Greg Oden, this topic at the time of the draft was comparable to "Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo" before Messi lifted the World Cup. It was the biggest controversy in NBA draft history. The Supersonics were questioned for picking Durant as the top draft choice, but Durant silenced doubters with his outstanding rookie season performance. With Oden out for the season due to injury, the contention for Rookie of the Year became a one-man show for Durant. Arranging for the two to face each other in the season opener was obviously intentional. The dual alpha struggle between Yu Fei and James was old news. Yu Fei was indeed an alpha of his era, but James had the tendency to become a nonfactor. Therefore, the league wanted to stir up discussions among the most promising young stars. "Kevin, go say some trash talk to Greg," said Yu Fei, "That's your first task for tonight." Durant hesitated, "Is there a second task?" "There is," Yu Fei said, "Tonight, you're going to shut up those who like to compare you two." Yu Fei wanted to see that side of Durant. The sharp-tongued, curt, selfish Durant who was completely self-centered. But Durant occasionally exhibited one of said traits and never unleashed them in full. Whether he was concealing them well enough, or because he was as pure as he seemed was a mystery. Yu Fei asked Durant to trash talk, but when Durant approached Oden, all he said was, "Greg, pleased to see you've recovered, let's have a good game." Russell Westbrook, another key player in the Timberwolves' rebuild, seemed to sense a calling that went against fate when he brushed by Durant, pausing to watch him for a while. Then, he approached the dazzling No. 44. "You're my favorite player," Westbrook said to Yu Fei, "but I'm going to defeat you." Yu Fei smiled gently, "If you're talking in your sleep, I suggest you wake up immediately and apologize to me." "I never talk in my sleep," Westbrook stated resolutely, "I live in the real world." This perhaps explained why Westbrook was such a unique player, and also explained why, after Durant's nice-guy image collapsed, he seemed as unsettling as a venomous snake. If you don't live in the real world, all you think you possess are illusions. In the opening game of the 2008-09 season, the Supersonics entered the competition with a structure of ball-handler, wing, and big man, meaning they had no traditional guards. But they had always been like this, only this time, they had a systematic positional theory to back it up. Oden wanted to prove himself in front of Durant, but his every bit of body language screamed "My body isn't at its best," and he ended with a horrible performance of zero points, six rebounds, and five fouls. Durant performed excellently, scoring 26 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists in the season opener, fundamentally dismantling the "Oden or Durant" debate. Westbrook, full of enthusiasm, ran back and forth across the court, earning 8 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists, but fouled out in the end. Notably, each of his fouls was on Yu Fei, or perhaps it was Yu Fei who intentionally induced all six fouls. When Westbrook fouled out, Yu Fei whistled nonchalantly and said, "Welcome to the NBA."