Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Yu Fei was holding the No. 44, which is one of the most unlucky numbers in NBA history. Jerry West's unfortunate childhood (domestic violence), Pete Maravich's cursed life (an obsessive father creating a twisted personality, successfully predicting his death from heart disease), David Thompson's downfall (drug abuse), and Drazen Petrovic's tragic accident (killed in a car crash).

This was what the Celtics' equipment manager wanted to express, that the misfortune represented by this number was almost the same as everything the Celtics had encountered since 1986.

Len Bias, considered by Red Auerbach as Bird's successor, died of a drug overdose less than two days after being selected by the Celtics. Another successor to Bird, Reggie Lewis, died of heart problems on the court. Rick Pitino, who came to Boston with the aura of a savior, intending to make a big impact and erase Auerbach's mark, shamefully left after three seasons with his eternally memorable "that door" speech. The team's leader, Paul Pierce, was nearly stabbed to death in a nightclub last year...

Yu Fei was not interested in the history of the Celtics' misfortunes since the mid-1980s.

If he knew the details, being half a resident of Seattle, he would say good riddance to the Celtics.

As the saying goes, you reap what you sow. Auerbach, with all his scheming, had managed to swindle the No. 2 draft pick from the Supersonics in 1986 and, unfortunately, selected Len Bias, hence cursing the Celtics.

Putting on the White Team's jersey, Yu Fei began to mesh with his teammates.

Since there was no point guard in the team, Yu Fei decided to take turns playing point guard with Roy, Joe Johnson would play small forward, Gerald Wallace would play power forward, and Jack Dawson would play center.

Through the pre-game tests, Yu Fei found that Gerald Wallace had no ability to initiate offense on his own.

Although Wallace claimed that his college three-point shooting percentage was close to 30%.

But Yu Fei didn't believe it, because even during normal shooting practice, his accuracy was less than 50%.

If this is the accuracy during practice, can you really expect to shoot nearly 30% in actual games?

Yu Fei had no data to verify his judgment, but he was right.

In Gerald Wallace's freshman season, he averaged 1.8 three-point attempts per game, making 0.3, with a terrifying accuracy of 17%, which multiplied by two is close to the NBA average.

With that level of accuracy, expecting him to create spacing was a pipe dream.

Luckily, the White Team had Roy and Johnson, two shooters with perimeter capabilities, and Yu Fei was also capable of taking shots, although not as accurate as them, but still far better than Wallace.

After the warm-up, the scrimmage began.

The Black and White Teams lined up around the center circle, and the Black Team seemed to have more momentum as they had three potential lottery picks.

They were Eddie Griffin, Kedrick Brown (SG/SF), and Rodney White (SF).

According to various mock drafts, these three were solid top-ten picks.

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Especially Griffin, who was listed in the top five in many rankings.

The news that Griffin had declined the Houston Rockets' workout invitation surprised many, showing extreme confidence in his draft prospects.

Therefore, it was unexpected for many that he accepted the Celtics' workout invitation,

since the Celtics, even with two lottery picks, were not much better off than the Rockets, with the tenth and eleventh picks in the first round.

"You're not jumping for the ball?"

Seeing Yu Fei standing on the side like a guard, Griffin was surprised.

"Do you really want to jump with me?" Yu Fei could see Griffin's hostility.

To be honest, his hostility towards Griffin was even greater.

Ever since Yu Fei was named MVP of the ABCD Camp, people kept comparing him to Griffin, and those comparisons always came from the stance that "Griffin is better."

Who would like to be constantly compared and then forcibly argued as inferior?

The two had never faced each other, so why say he was inferior?

Today finally gave Yu Fei a chance.

In fact, that's also why Eddie Griffin "condescended" to come to Boston for the workout. He wanted to face Yu Fei and subtly tell everyone not to compare him with Yu Fei. Yu Fei didn't deserve it.

Griffin heard that Yu Fei played center in high school but now didn't dare to jump with him. Isn't this showing weakness?

"Hmph, keep running away. When I dunk over you, I hope you find a proper angle to dodge!"

Gerald Wallace was responsible for jumping for Yu Fei's side; the bona fide center, Jack Dawson, was not only short in stature but also poor at jumping.

In his own words, he was good at boxing out, setting screens, mid-range shooting, and low post defense.

At first, Yu Fei thought he might be someone like Hayes, but when he heard Dawson came from Division II, he concluded that he was at best a Hayes with a jump shot but bankrupt in other areas.

As expected, Griffin won the ball for the Black Team, aggressively opted for a low post position.

Dawson's defensive stance looked alright, but once Griffin got the ball, he simply stepped back and shot over the top.

2-0

Dawson was helpless; his talent was overwhelmed.

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"After this game, I won't have to listen to anyone say you're the yellow version of me anymore," Griffin boasted. "I'm sick of that bullshit!"

What kind of twisted victim-blaming is this?

Yu Fei is the one who's truly troubled. What's there for Griffin? He's still seen by many as a top-five pick, regardless of whether Yu Fei exists or not. That's the market for his position.

But it's Yu Fei who gets underrated because of Griffin's presence. Why? Just because this jerk with a problematic character scored 18 points and 11 rebounds on 42% shooting at some mediocre college with a .500 win rate?

It's infuriating!

Yu Fei brought the ball up himself and, before reaching half court, he called Dawson out for a pick and roll.

The biggest difference between Griffin and the big men Yu had military training with before is that Griffin's athleticism and agility allow him to step out and guard perimeter players.

Just as Griffin was using a switch to deal with Yu Fei and wanted to initiate a one-on-one, Yu Fei made a no-look pass, sending the ball to Dawson at the free-throw line.

Yu Fei was confident in Dawson's shooting; during the warm-up, he hadn't missed a single shot from the free-throw line.

Now, he's at the free-throw line.

Dawson caught the ball and released it.

"Swish!"

"Do you think that defense will make The Celtics' coaches doubt your defensive IQ?" Yu Fei teased.

Griffin cursed, "Just a softie who can only pass!"

"Getting upset? Don't be in a hurry, it's just the beginning." Yu Fei chuckled and fell back to defend.

Then, Yu Fei suddenly opened up his stance, leaving his man, Rodney White, wide open.

This time, it was Yu Fei's insufficient understanding of White's technical characteristics.

Griffin, seeing Yu Fei set to double-team, passed the ball out.

White got the ball on the perimeter, rose for the shot, and scored a hollow shot.

White was considered the safe bet of the draft. He wasn't likely to make the top five, nor fall out of the top ten. Therefore, he actively participated in all team workouts, and as long as he performed steadily, there would be no problems.

At this level of competition, White could play inside, shoot from outside, had the height and wingspan, and his defensive impact was significant.

Yu Fei had decided before the game started that he would switch defense with Dawson.

But now it looked like, if Dawson guarded White, could he stop him?

It might end up even worse.

Unless they could identify some of White's technical weaknesses for Dawson to exploit on the court, this defensive matchup would be quite challenging to switch.

So, Yu Fei chose to engage in more off-ball skirmishes with White and handed the ball-handling duties to Roy.

As the most underestimated player on the court, Roy's adept left-handed dribbling made The Celtics' coaching staff mistakenly think he was a lefty, until he shook his defender with a creative behind-the-back move and scored with a right-handed jumper. Then everyone realized.

He wasn't a lefty; his left hand was simply so skilled it was almost indistinguishable from his dominant hand.

"Frye and Eddie Griffin are players out of our reach, but..." Jim O'Brien, focusing on Roy, said, "What's the young man's market value?"

The scout shook his head, "No market value at all. He's a high school student from the State of Washington who wasn't ranked in the top 100 nationally before graduation."

O'Brien couldn't help but wonder, was it just a flash of brilliance from him just now?

Subsequently, another player from the Black Team started to exert his strength.

Kendrick Brown went one-on-one against Joe Johnson. Both were players The Celtics were interested in, and now they were directly confronting each other on the court. Brown, leveraging his athletic superiority, blew past Johnson's defense and scored under the basket.

Then came Yu Fei's second highlight since the start of the game.

He first called for a pick and roll with Joe Johnson, then slowed down his drive to lure the defenders into a trap.

The moment the double-team formed, the ball had already left Yu Fei's fingertips, rolling into Johnson's palms.

Joe Johnson, deeply inspired, responded with an open three-pointer.

"That young man feels completely different from Lamar Odom," O'Brien said. "Lamar is like a miniature of Magic, maybe at 30% of Magic's level. But Frye, he doesn't have that Magic vibe."

The assistant coaches and scouts remained silent, well aware of O'Brien's quirky style.

When Yu Fei blocked Kendrick Brown's drive-to-basket layup 11 seconds later, O'Brien said, "This kid is too special. I don't think there's a template in NBA history that would fit his development."

"He is the future."

(1) Rick Pitino's infamous "that door" speech: "Larry Bird is not walking through that door, fans. Kevin McHale is not walking through that door, and Robert Parish is not walking through that door. And if they do, they'll be old and grey. We are a team that's young, passionate, striving; we're going to get better. People don't realize this. Once you realize those three are not walking back through that door, this town will start improving."

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