Champion, please stay!

Chapter 150, Episode 148: All-Star Weekend (6K)

After the game, Yi Shui returned to the hotel and did not go out and have fun with his teammates like he did after playing against the Heat the day before.

Unsurprisingly, not long after he returned to the hotel, most of his teammates who had gone out to have fun came back, except for two people—Harrington and Daniels.

The two got into a fight with Orlando fans at a bar and ended up in jail together.

Walsh received the news and, after consulting with his boss, went to the police station with a check to pay for the bail.

Yi Shui guessed that his teammates would have a bad time at the nightclub and come back early, but fighting... well, Harrington and Daniels are definitely not gangsters.

Both are on the South Coast, and Orlando's basketball fans, like Miami's, are known for their cold-bloodedness.

But the difference is that Miami fans treat the team and the stars equally with indifference.

Orlando fans, on the other hand, are indifferent to star players but have an exceptionally strong sense of belonging to the team, even more so than fans in redneck states... to be precise, Orlando fans have a strong desire for control.

No team's fans are more likely to dictate the team's actions than the Magic's fans, and they are easily swayed by public opinion, frequently staging "strikes" and calling for people not to attend Magic games. Unfortunately, the Magic's owner suffers from anxiety and is very worried that fans won't buy tickets...

When Yi Shui was participating in a business event, he curiously asked Bartelstein how the Magic agreed to sign Lewis to such an outrageous 6-year, $1.18 million contract. Garnett, Duncan, and Nowitzki's contracts weren't that big, making Lewis the highest-paid power forward.

When the contract was announced, it was widely believed that Lewis was worth at most $7000 million over 5 years or $8000 million over 6 years, and his value should be similar to that of Larry Hughes.

Bartelstein's answer was that Howard needs a top-tier stretch big man shooter, and Lewis is the only option in the league right now. He suggested that the Orlando Sentinel should inform the Orlando fans of this situation so that they could put pressure on the Magic's owner.

However, despite Orlando fans repeatedly becoming stumbling blocks on the Magic's path to the championship, they are also genuinely willing to spend money to support the team, as long as the team 'obeys'.

Orlando fans consistently rank among the top ten or even top five in the league in terms of home attendance and merchandise sales. For example, in the summer of 96, after the decision to remove Shaquille O'Neal from the league, believing he wasn't worth a hundred million dollars, Orlando fans used real money to boost Penny Hardaway's jersey sales to the top of the league in the 96-97 season, far ahead of Jordan, who had just won 72 wins and two MVP awards, Grant Hill, the most popular player, and the super-popular rookie Allen Iverson.

The fans' fervor was unlike that of a South Coast team. Fans throughout the city ostracized players from other teams. When the Magic won, it was fine, but when they lost, fans even harassed visiting players in nightclubs. There were even news reports of sex workers refusing to serve visiting players.

The Magic also had a management team that adopted a tough stance towards Orlando fans, and was subsequently fired in less than a season...

...

When his teammates were involved in news reports of being arrested, Yi Shui obtained all the team's data from before the All-Star Weekend from the coaching staff, and from his personal perspective, he sorted out and summarized it, and made a personal plan for the remaining 30 regular season games.

52场比赛过后，他合计拿到1446分451板283助攻93抢断103盖帽，以及143次失误和144次犯规，投进了113个三分球，场均出战35分钟，拿到27.8分8.7板5.4助攻1.7抢断1.9盖帽，2.7失误2.7犯规，场均投进2.2个三分。

His field goal percentage was 46.9%, his three-point percentage was 41.7%, and his free throw percentage was 87.3%. His field goal percentage and three-point percentage both declined compared to before Christmas, but his free throw percentage improved.

The team's average points per game have fluctuated greatly this season, directly affecting their record.

They averaged 111 points per game at the beginning of the season, but their performance began to decline after Christmas. They scored less than 100 points on several occasions, and their average score dropped to 108.8 points per game. At that time, their record also dropped to 29 wins and 15 losses.

Their offense began to recover in their last game against the Grizzlies last month, and their record took off again. Including the game against the Magic, they have a record of 7 wins and 1 loss in 8 games, ranking first in the league during that period!

Thanks to this outstanding performance, they have caught up with the Magic, who had previously fallen behind in the standings. They now have a record of 36 wins and 16 losses, trailing the Magic's 37 wins and 15 losses by only one game!
However, the Magic were able to catch up mainly because of their own problems – Nelson underwent surgery and will be out for 12-16 weeks.

Including tonight's game, the Magic have a record of 1 win and 3 losses in their last 4 games.

Yi Shui looked at the team's average points per game and felt a little regretful.

After scoring 122 points against the Heat on the road, their average score rose to 109.9 points per game. But after tonight, they were beaten by the Magic to 109.6 points per game.

However, their average points allowed per game has decreased from 106.8 to 106.5, making their third-worst defensive record very secure and unlikely to be surpassed by the Suns.

With a record of 36 wins and 16 losses, ranking fifth in the league, and an average net point differential of 3.1 points, the team is the worst among the top ten teams in the league... Yi Shui is a little helpless.

The regular season records this season are quite interesting. Four of the top five teams in the league are in the Eastern Conference. Even the fifth-ranked Hawks in the East have the same record as the second-ranked Spurs in the West. However, the seventh-ranked Mavericks in the West also have the same record as the fifth-ranked Hawks in the East. All seven teams have a record of 33 wins and 19 losses.

The Grizzlies, currently tenth in the Western Conference, have caught up with the Pacers, who are seventh in the Eastern Conference.

Yi Shui, Qi Kesi, and Du Hong have worked very hard to maintain defensive discipline, and the results can only be described as increased enthusiasm and occasional highlights on the defensive end.

Unfortunately, despite a roster worth 9500 million on paper, in reality, only players with salaries of less than 5000 million can actually play, and there isn't even a proper center.

The emphasis on defensive intensity must be maintained. Compared to last season, they can be considered a 'new team'. Defense may be temporarily lacking, but the attitude must be there. The tone of a 'not a pure offensive team' must be established.

The Nuggets have developed their "defense-counter-track style" run-and-gun offense, and Mark Jackson could potentially develop a "small-ball run-and-gun" offense in the future. Both of these strategies involve defense without affecting offense, and can even improve offense through defense. This direction is definitely the right one.

However, their focus in the second half of the season should still be on offense, which is the key to their current success.

After a night's rest, the All-Star holiday begins the next day, from today, the 12th, to the 19th, a total of 8 days.

Because Yi Shui was busy with work, he had to leave Orlando in the afternoon to return to New York for business activities, so the Knicks' 'mid-season celebration banquet' was held at noon.

Yi Shui listened to his teammates discussing how they would spend their holidays, where they would travel, and which socialite in New York they would date. He felt a little envious, but he didn't have time.

As the top rookie vote leader, he only has two days off out of his eight-day break, and he has to catch a flight during those two days... But considering the small amount of money he earns as the top rookie vote leader, it seems like it's not so bad.

Young players always have a strong desire to work; it's all about the money.

Walsh's phone suddenly rang while he was having lunch. After answering the call, he sat down next to David Lee, which startled the handsome old man!
"No, boss, don't scare me! I just made plans to go on a trip to Hawaii with a Cuban girl!"

David Lee looked at Walsh nervously, drawing the attention of his teammates as well.

During All-Star Weekend, players are terrified of receiving calls from management, and even more afraid of management directly contacting them for a chat, as that usually means something big is about to happen, which generally refers to a trade!

The teammates shared the same concerns.

Winning can not only mask internal conflicts within the team, but also foster camaraderie among the players.

The Knicks players worked together and, against all odds, surged to fifth in the league halfway through the season, shedding their "retirement home" reputation. Everyone is proud and cherishes their current achievements. Of course, they hope to improve the roster and become stronger, but they don't want anyone to be traded.

However, what Walsh said was completely different from what they expected.

"David, your vacation is over. Congratulations! You've been selected by the NBA commissioner. Get ready to go to Phoenix for the All-Star Game!"

David Lee's eyes and mouth have never been so wide open. Born into an old-money family, he received an elite education from a young age, attended private schools, and even took special etiquette courses, always paying attention to his outward appearance.

But at that moment his expression completely collapsed. Only when he heard his teammates' congratulations did David Lee react, jumping up and cheering with his teammates.

No one expected that David Lee would be selected as an All-Star!
Nelson underwent surgery and will not be able to return until May at the earliest. It is uncertain whether the Magic will be able to play until then, which basically means he will miss the entire season and will definitely miss the All-Star Game. The league commissioner has the right to designate a player as a substitute.

But nobody associated this with David Lee.

David Lee played 50 games this season, missing two, averaging 16.1 points and 9.2 rebounds. To call that an All-Star performance is definitely not enough. Even in the Eastern Conference, there are forwards like Josh Smith, Turkoglu, and Lewis who are performing better, and guards like Carter who averages 20+5+5.

In Yi Shui's memory, David Lee once averaged 20+10 to be selected for the All-Star game. After that season, he got a big contract with the Warriors, but it's definitely not this season. With his current teammate's ability, even if he feeds him the shot attempts until he's sick of them, he still can't average 20 points per game.

Media outlets predict that Lewis will be a reserve candidate, as he is Nelson's teammate.

This was a wonderful surprise, and David Lee's teammates were all happy for him.

After the congratulations, the teammates, led by a player who wished to remain anonymous (number 13), egged David Lee on to treat them to a meal.

"My treat! Let's have a party back in New York, go go go!"

David Lee would definitely treat everyone; even if the boss didn't egg him on, he would still take the initiative to treat.

Although his annual salary is only a little over 100 million, and his endorsement fees are also very low, and almost all of them are received after Yi Shui went to New York, the total amount he earns each year is less than the annual salary of Jerome James, a country bumpkin who is drinking and eating meat somewhere. However, he is the richest player on the team.

When he accompanied Yi Shui to buy a car before, he saw that Yi Shui bought a flashy red supercar and heard Yi Shui mutter something about "red and green matching something", so he also ordered the same model of green sports car.

The nearest market to Madison Square Garden was opened by his family after he joined the Knicks.

...

Originally, most of the Knicks players were not going back to New York that afternoon. Some planned to go straight back to their hometowns, while others planned to go directly to tourist destinations. Curry, for example, even planned to go directly to Los Angeles to see Ayesha. However, David Lee wanted to treat everyone, so the whole team went back to New York with him.

Although Yi Shui went back with him and it was he who egged David Lee on to treat everyone, he wasn't invited to the party that night. Instead, he was invited to attend a drama awards ceremony at Madison Square Garden as a presenter.

Ten years ago, the Knicks wouldn't have cared about these kinds of events; back then, major awards would be begging their star players to attend.

But since 05, they haven't received any invitations to major events for several years. Instead, they've been invited to the Yankees, Giants, and even the New Jersey Jets from next door. The Knicks were universally disliked, a veritable pariah during their retirement period. It wasn't until this year that they received another invitation. Dolan, wanting to revive the Knicks' local influence, approached Yi Shui.

Since the boss rarely makes any requests, Yi Shui naturally has to give him face, and participating in such activities occasionally is quite novel.

Over the next two days, Yi Shui participated in two days of commercial activities in New York and Los Angeles. He was very enthusiastic about each activity. Whether it was fans who won the lottery to participate in the event, fans who got tickets through connections, or fans who paid money to get tickets through scalpers, they all came with their love for him. In his opinion, this affection should not be desecrated. And because the fans came for him, he had a lot of fun.

The time came to the 15th, the last day before All-Star Weekend, and Yi Shui arrived in Phoenix, the city hosting this year's All-Star Carnival.

There were also commercial activities today, but he wasn't alone. Nike arranged for elementary school students selected for the Rising Stars Challenge to participate in the event with him.

The coach didn't initially value Curry highly, but Curry's All-Star votes exceeded the coach's expectations.

This year's Rising Stars Challenge has garnered significant attention, with many believing that the quality of the players in this year's competition is comparable to that of the 02 Rising Stars Challenge (comprising the 03 and 04 draft classes) and the 98 Rising Stars Challenge (comprising the 99 and 00 draft classes).

In 04, Yao Ming, Stoudemire, Nene, and Boozer, four big men, faced off against James, Wade, Anthony, and Bosh, four prodigies.

The roster of role players is also incredibly strong, with the 02 draft class featuring Ginobili, Prince, Dunleavy, and more; and the 03 draft class boasting Hinrich, Josh Howard, Kaman, and more.

That rookie game was highly anticipated, but the result was not surprising. The 02 draft class crushed the 03 rookies 142-118. At that time, LeBron James and Dwyane Wade could only drive to the basket, and Chris Bosh, who entered the NBA as a freshman, was not a good shooter. The 03 draft class could only rely on Kirk Hinrich and Carmelo Anthony to keep them alive, but in the end, they were overwhelmed by the 02 draft class's frontcourt.

In 00, the 98 draft class of Pierce, Bibby, Nowitzki, and White Chocolate battled the 99 draft class of Brand, Odom, Andre Miller, and Francis.

This year's Rising Stars Challenge is considered the pinnacle of the Rising Stars Challenge history, with player strength, tactical and technical levels, and the excitement of the game far surpassing any previous or future edition.

The two teams went into overtime, and the rookie team finally defeated the sophomore team 92-83. Brand won the MVP award.

This is a rare instance of a rookie team winning since the Rookie Challenge was changed to a rookie team challenging a second-year team... By the way, in 2002, the 2001 class also defeated the 2000 class, but when talking about 'classic Rookie Challenge matches,' no one usually mentions that year. The 2000 class can be called the 'shame of the draft.' Nine years later, the players from the 2000 class have only been selected to the All-Star team a total of 3 times.

This year's Rookie Challenge is naturally more focused on the 08 rookie team, which is now being called by the media as having ten new talents.

Curry beat Beasley to be selected for the Rookie Team and received over 100 million votes as an All-Star starter, which increased the brand's attention to him. So, when the "hook" asked Yi Shui to mentor Curry, Yi Shui was naturally willing.

Curry had participated in some commercial activities before, but they were all as part of a "mixed-up star team". This was the first time he had participated in a large-scale promotional event as a supporting star in the All-Star host city, surrounded by flashing lights, and launched a custom-designed team shoe. He was very nervous at first.

But seeing Yi Shui interacting enthusiastically with the fans and having fun, he joined in and found that there was nothing to be nervous about, and no need to worry about saying or doing the wrong thing.

After a busy morning, the commercial activities for the Yishui All-Star Weekend finally came to an end.

In the afternoon, Yi Shui and Curry arrived at the airport and picked up their parents who were transferring in Los Angeles.

His mother would definitely come to join in the fun at All-Star Weekend, an event that's been heavily promoted domestically.

This time, his father didn't disappoint. It's the weekend, so at most he can only take four days off: Thursday and Friday of this week, and Monday and Tuesday of next week. The senior class they teach finished teaching in the second year of high school, and the 'review' of the three years of courses was also completed last semester. Now they've reached the stage of doing problems and going over test papers every day. When they ask for leave, they just ask other teachers to help proctor the exams for a few days and make the students suffer by taking exams for several days in a row.

Yi Shui dropped his parents off at the hotel arranged by his agent and then left them to their own devices. His parents needed to rest after their long flight, and the couple had their own plans for the rest of their trip, which were handled by the agency. He was just a tool to secure deals.

In the evening, Yi Shui and Curry met up with David Lee and Wilson Chandler for dinner. These four are the only Knicks players participating in the All-Star Weekend this year. Some of their other teammates said they would come to watch the game, but they haven't arrived yet. They might arrive in Phoenix before the Rising Stars Challenge tomorrow, or they might just come to watch the All-Star Game itself.

After all, it's been almost five months since the training camp started, and most players want to take a break from the competition for a few days.

Even Yi Shui, apart from playing basketball with fans these past few days, hasn't done any extra training.

...

The date is the 16th, and the 2009 Phoenix NBA All-Star Carnival begins.

In the morning, there was a group interview with both teams in the rookie competition. There were clearly more reporters on the rookie team's side.

Among the players whose playing styles are beloved by fans are Westbrook and Rose, Eric Gordon, Love, and Curry from big cities, last year's number one draft pick Oden, and All-Star vote leader Yi Shui... Only Gasol received less attention, but even he was surrounded by many reporters next to Rose.

On the second-year team side, Durant, along with Brooks and Scola from the Rockets, were the mainstays of the team.

At noon, Yi Shui saw the news that a team had come out to "steal the limelight".

The Suns fired Terry Burt, who had only served a little over half a season of his four-year contract, and re-signed previously dismissed assistant coach Alvin Gentry to a five-year deal.

According to local Phoenix media reports, Kerr raised his asking price by demanding that the contract be "fully executed" starting this season in order to poach Gentry from the Spurs.

Curry, who saw the news together, said, "Kerr finally decided to fire his old teammate."

Yi Shui: "He can't take the pressure anymore. I saw the newspapers here yesterday, and they were all criticizing Cole's signing of Burt. If he doesn't fire his old teammate, he'll be fired by the Suns."

Curry: "I heard from Mike that Gentry is the assistant coach who understands him best. If he coaches the Suns, the Suns should do better, right?"

Yi Shui: "It's unlikely, unless they cut O'Neal."

“That’s true, O’Neal can only play half-court offense, he can’t run…” Curry said, refreshing the webpage and seeing a new news article, “Hey Big, look, there’s a scoop here, the Suns offered O’Neal to the Bulls, wanting to trade for… Luol Deng? They were rejected.”

Is Kerr a fool to be part of the Bulls' management? I feel Nash is doomed. O'Neal is worth $2000 million; no team would want him. O'Neal has such a high profile, and he just made the All-Star team; they can't possibly cut him.

Yi Shui recalled that O'Neal later seemed to have played alongside James on the Cavaliers, and replied, "It's hard to say. Some owners might be foolish enough to think that hard work will always be rewarded..."

In the afternoon, Yi Shui returned to the American West Arena to participate in the rookie team's team practice.

Yi Shui is very familiar with the players from the same cohort.

Curry, a teammate from the club; Rose, Westbrook, Mayo, and Love, I've known them since college; Eric Gordon, I became acquainted with him during the Combine, and we've faced each other a few times in the regular season; Gasol, we've faced each other in national team games and the regular season, so we're also acquaintances.

Yi Shui is the strongest and most famous player. The key is that he has defeated all of these temporary teammates. Suns legend and assistant coach Dan Mali, who is the head coach of the rookie team, wants to use him as the core to practice tactics and coordination, and his teammates have no objections.

Even Mayo, who had a very bad relationship with Yi Shui, had no objections.

Oh, and there are some I'm not familiar with, like last year's number one draft pick, Oden, but he has no objection to building the team around Yi Shui.

He didn't care about the game or his teammates; he was just there to participate and didn't plan to play much.

Oden wasn't interested in his temporary teammates, but Yi Shui was very interested in Oden, as it was the first time he had met this player who had also earned the nickname "The Emperor" in China.

I was busy dealing with the media this morning and didn't have time, but now Yi Shui has a chance to observe Oden properly.

Well, when he first saw LeBron James up close, he felt that King looked much older than his age, but now that he's seen Oden up close, James doesn't seem so old anymore...

James, at least, only looks old now. In ten years, when he's in his thirties, he won't look old anymore. But Oden, even among middle-aged and elderly black people, looks particularly old.

After training began, Oden's physical condition surprised even Yi Shui.

He had looked at Oden's profile. Oden was about the same height and weighed about 125 kilograms, but when he charged straight up, he was comparable to most small forwards except for a few with exceptional physical attributes!
Yi Shui, imagine if he gained weight to 125 kilograms, could he achieve this so quickly?

If he doesn't get any more physical fitness points, he's probably in big trouble!

He couldn't help but feel sorry for the center, whose physical gifts were so outstanding, both physically and mentally. It was a pity that he had legs that were too short, and his knees were probably ruined by now...

During a training break, Yi Shui, driven by her competitive spirit, approached Oden and said, "Greg, there's something I need to ask you for a favor."

Oden looked puzzled. He wasn't familiar with this guy and hadn't exchanged more than a few words with him today, but the other man had been very polite. He asked, "Of course, is there anything I can help you with?"

Yi Shui: "It's nothing troublesome... Let's have a contest to see who has the longest arms!"

"what?"

Oden's not-so-large brain was spinning and he couldn't figure out what this guy was up to, but he still stood up and followed the other guy and opened his arms.

Yi Shui went over and compared them. The other person's wingspan was about the same as Yao Ming's, but his wingspan was a little more than a finger joint longer than the other person's!
Let's look at the basically parallel lines of sight again...

Yi Shui clenched his fist: "Yay, I won! My arms are longer!"

Oden's old face was full of question marks: What on earth is this guy doing?
Curry, Rose, Westbrook, Mayo, Love, Eric Gordon, and others all started swearing. These two number one draft picks were almost the same height when they stood together! Their number one pick, who claims to be six feet seven inches tall, actually has even longer arms!

Gasol didn't resort to cursing. Instead, he opened his arms and walked towards Yi Shui, saying, "Big, let's have a match too."

Yi Shui immediately clamped her arms together: "Get away, I don't want to compete with you."

Oden watched his teammates laughing nonstop, completely bewildered: Why do I feel like I don't belong with them? The world of young people is so hard to understand... Wait, I'm one of the younger ones among them!
(End of this chapter)