Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters Chapter 480: 330: This is an Illegal Recruitment

Chapter 480: Chapter 330: This is an Illegal Recruitnt

When the draft ended, Brandon Roy was saddled with many missions and tasks.

Yu Fei had planned to leave directly, but Roy called him aside to talk for a while.

“Do you want to congratulate you once more?” Yu Fei asked, “How does it feel to play for your hotown?”

Roy replied, “Next year, you can beco a free agent, right? Then you can co back and see for yourself.”

Yu Fei had t many who wanted to recruit him, but this was the first ti soone had done so without following the proper procedures.

“Brandon, you’re tampering,” Yu Fei said, “I’m still under contract.”

Roy gave a dismissive look, “Co on, you care about that?”

“Why should I co back?” said Yu Fei, insincerely, “Milwaukee is quite good.”

But Roy countered, “Milwaukee doesn’t have an owner who plans to sell the team to outsiders.”

It seed that Roy wasn’t just a pretty face; he knew his situation.

Yu Fei asked, “What do you think I can change?”

“I don’t know,” Roy admitted, “but I’m sure I can’t do it alone.”

Yu Fei remained noncommittal.

Expecting Roy to keep the Supersonics in Seattle was unrealistic; in terms of influence, he and Yu Fei were not in the sa league.

Yu Fei didn’t give Roy an imdiate answer.

He simply said, “Let’s wait and see.”

Afterward, as this year’s number five pick, Roy was going to represent the Supersonics at various events, while Yu Fei left the venue.

The day after the draft, the League announced news that insiders had known for so ti.

The Milwaukee Bucks traded Trevor Ariza, Zaza Pachulia, Anfernee Hardaway, and a 2007 first-round draft pick (from the Knicks) to Chicago for the signing rights to LaMarcus Aldridge.

With Aldridge on board, the Bucks changed their draft strategy and selected P.J. Tucker with their own number thirty pick in the first round.

For Ariza, a simple start to his career suddenly spiraled into unpredictability.

The Bulls were touted as the most promising young team in the League, but youth teams are known for their uncertainty and instability.

The forr can lead to dashed hopes, while the latter ans they could make the playoffs one season and flounder the next.

Ariza had never considered he would be traded.

Because, as everyone said, he was “Frye’s guy.”

If he was traded, it could an only one thing: the trade had Frye’s approval.

So when Yu Fei called, Ariza had already accepted the reality: “Frye, you don’t have to say anything, I know it’s all business.”

“It’s not just business, Trevor,” Yu Fei said, “You made significant progress last season, but if you stay in Milwaukee, you might have reached your ceiling because it would be hard for you to move up the ranks.”

Ariza accepted that this was true.

With Yu Fei and Martin securing the starting lineup, Ariza was actually competing with Bell, Granger, and Sprewell for another starting position.

But no matter how hard he competed, his 3D qualities couldn’t surpass Bell’s, nor could he rotate to the power forward spot or shoot as well as Granger; the only one he could realistically compete with was a rusty Sprewell.

“So you’re saying, the trade might be a good thing for ,” Ariza said, sowhat self-deprecatingly.

“Not necessarily, because we don’t know the situation in Chicago,” Yu Fei said, “But I can assure you, Chicago is a far better basketball city than Milwaukee.”

Finally, Ariza found his hook, “That’s for sure! You know, Big Fei, I love Michael Jordan!”

Yu Fei: “…”

“What’s wrong, Big Fei?”

“I should have had them trade you to the Clippers,” he said.

Although Ariza and others had been traded, they still participated in the Bucks’ championship celebration.

Anfernee Hardaway announced his retirent at the celebration, which ant he wouldn’t be reporting to Chicago.

The Bulls didn’t mind.

After all, Anfernee was just a sweetener in the trade.

On the day of the celebration, the basketball atmosphere in Milwaukee surpassed that of football for once.

The Bucks logo was everywhere.

Players and coaches of the Bucks gave speeches.

When Yu Fei promised they would bring back a fourth championship next year, the crowd erupted.

Yet, beneath the festive atmosphere were many uncertainties.

Yu Fei skirted the topic of contract renewal, offering no guarantees that he would “stay in Milwaukee.”

Instead of no guarantees, his promise of championship victory next year seed more like a hint of “this is the last thing I’ll do for you.”

But whether or not he could bring a fourth championship, he had already surpassed Lou Alcindor and others to beco the top player in Bucks history.

Perhaps that was Milwaukee’s tragedy—both their previous and current best players were ambiguous about staying in Milwaukee.

In the end, Alcindor requested a trade because “it wasn’t green enough here,” and what about Yu Fei? It seed players of his caliber were simply not ant for Milwaukee.

He would leave sooner or later.

That was the consensus.

Yu Fei completely disregarded how the outside world viewed his remarks.

After the celebration ended, Yu Fei signed up for Olajuwon’s “Dream Factory” low-post training class.

There, he encountered Howard and a bunch of rugged guys.

Yu Fei doubted that he was supposed to train here at all.

Because Olajuwon didn’t teach any insights; he just demonstrated once the classic footwork he used to make David Robinson look like a monkey in the highlights and then had the students recreate it on the spot.

Howard confidently replicated Olajuwon’s moves.

Olajuwon said, “Very good, you have found the feel.”

Yu Fei questioned, “What’s the point of practicing these steps? If the interaction is regular, how could the opponent be fooled?”

A gleam shone in Olajuwon’s eyes, surprised that soone dared to question him.

Didn’t these people who didn’t even understand low-post footwork co here specifically to learn the legendary steps?

Olajuwon didn’t hold back; he taught everything, then waited for these folks to imitate him on the court and realize that compared to the original, making defenders look foolish, their poor imitations just looked sillier.

In response to Yu Fei’s skepticism, Olajuwon said, “Footwork has universality.”

Although Yu Fei didn’t understand low-post offense, he did not believe that by learning a few moves from these Jordan supporters, he could improve.

“If that’s the case, then we don’t need to practice the basics anymore. To beat opponents, just copy the moves from the highlights. Hakeem, don’t take for a fool… I am…”

Olajuwon knew very well that allowing Yu Fei to go out and speak ill of him would bring negative publicity to his Dream Workshop.

This was his retirent insurance; he could not afford to be careless.

So, he decided to dish out so real tricks.

“Alright, Frye, you might have so misunderstanding, I can clarify it for you, let’s switch places.”

Olajuwon started to train Yu Fei one-on-one.

Moreover, his training thod was unique.

He didn’t make Yu Fei replicate his own moves anymore, but allowed Yu Fei to play defense against his low-post offense.

After Olajuwon easily scored over Yu Fei’s defense, he said, “Now, it’s your turn to attack.”

Yu Fei asked, “Should I imitate you?”

Olajuwon replied, “As you wish.”

Yu Fei recalled Olajuwon’s previous offense, which wasn’t complicated – just a backdown turn and hook shot.

Yu Fei could do it too, but his hook shot lacked stability.

Moreover, Olajuwon’s low-post one-on-one was the type used by big n. Usual wing players wouldn’t use hook shots to finish because they didn’t have the height advantage.

Yu Fei was different.

A 206 220 cm body allowed him to lean more towards an inside ga in his playing style.

Now, Yu Fei finally understood why his low-post backdowns had always felt awkward throughout the season.

At least in the low post, Yu Fei began to see himself as an inside player.

From that day on, Yu Fei hardly trained with those rugged guys who only learned the steps but were not willing to put in the hard work for the fundantals.

Yu Fei focused on hook shot training, from close-range hooks to large hooks in the paint, followed by turns, step backs, and fadeaway jump shots from various angles.

At the sa ti, Olajuwon played dozens of one-on-one gas with him every day.

Through these one-on-ones, Yu Fei understood why Olajuwon’s low-post footwork was unstoppable.

It was simple; his offensive skills were too comprehensive.

Even though Duncan was known for his fundantals, his left-handed offense was awkward, while Olajuwon was proficient with either hand, as long as he was within the range of the inside offense.

Olajuwon’s comprehensive offensive skills ant that any move he made put great pressure on the defender, and after a series of moves, the defender, under the high pressure of nurous offensive threats, naturally beca confused.

After a few days of special training at the Dream Workshop, Yu Fei’s low-post offense didn’t improve substantively, but Olajuwon’s special attention indeed awakened Yu Fei.

This would be the direction of his efforts for the coming years.

“I’ll keep an eye on you,” Olajuwon said on the closing day. “Call anyti if you have any questions.”

Yu Fei asked, “Why are you taking such care of ?”

“Now everyone knows you signed up with . If your low-post offense doesn’t improve, it would reflect poorly on .”

Yu Fei had thought it was because Olajuwon found him to be quick-witted, but he was overthinking it. The man was simply worried about Yu Fei tarnishing the reputation of his Dream Workshop.

Afterward, Yu Fei started a series of off-season activities.

In addition to public comrcial activities, Yu Fei also found ti for his radio show.

Recently, the radio show had received many calls from Seattle.

The demands of these calls could be sumd up in one sentence: “Frye, please keep the Supersonics in Seattle.”

Yu Fei thought to himself, if his words had power, Jordan would have been dead a million tis by now.

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