Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

"... because in a few years, you'll see me on TV, and you'll remember how you got sent home by me today!"

Jeffrey Dai said with an air of arrogance, making Yu Fei wonder if there was any clutz in the NBA with that name.

He thought hard about it.

One thing was for sure, there was no such person in the NBA after 2016.

What about before then?

He wasn't familiar with the NBA before 2016; one could say it was a blind spot in his knowledge.

But, he had definitely never heard of a basketball star named Jeffrey Dai in the NBA.

So it was certain that even if this guy had made it to the NBA, he hadn't made much of a name for himself.

Moreover, as a fellow interior player, Jeffrey Dai's registered height was the same as Yu Fei, both at 6 feet 9 inches, but a closer comparison revealed that the other guy was obviously a bit shorter.

So, the height the other guy reported was most likely in shoes.

While the height Yu Fei reported was his barefoot height, and according to the way American basketball players report their height, even if he reported 6 feet 10 inches, it wouldn't be a problem.

Yu Fei didn't say much to Dai and went back to warming up after listening to the other's trash talk.

Instead, it was Hank Sylvan who told Yu Fei to pay more attention to Jeffrey Dai.

"Fulai, the Starfish Team's roster is similar to ours," Sylvan said, "Jeffrey Dai is the only one worth noting."

Typically, stars who choose to join mediocre teams are looking to amass a large volume of ball possession in order to produce eye-catching stats and make a name for themselves.

"Is that guy really that good?" Yu Fei asked.

Sylvan smiled and said, "Seattle Prep High School is this year's 3A state champion in Washington, and Jeffrey Dai is their core interior player."

Hearing that, Yu Fei smiled.

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He came from Kent Meridian High School in Kent School District, which couldn't even make it past the prelims, while the other guy was the core interior player for the state champions of Washington. It was normal for him not to consider Yu Fei important.

Yu Fei watched Dai's pre-game warm-up.

He found that Dai was a rather traditional interior player, with virtually no ability to handle the ball at high post—just receiving the ball at the low post to back in, then using his decent physical quality for high school level to dominate the paint.

"I think I can handle him," Yu Fei said.

"You have to handle him," Sylvan stressed, pointing to the sidelines. "See those people over there?"

Yu Fei saw a group of professionals gathered for the new star as Sylvan had directed.

"Among those people are college scouts and coaches, as well as star scouts from various sports goods companies, and sports writers from the Washington area. The only reason they're paying attention to this game is they want to see if Jeffrey Dai has grown compared to two months ago's state championship, because he's a talent who might play in the NBA in the future." Sylvan laughed a little, "If you defeat him, no one will pay attention to Dai anymore. You'll replace him and become the star of hope for Washington State!"

Yu Fei listened, excited.

"Is Jeffrey Dai the top high school player in Washington State?"

"Not exactly, there is no definitive number one high school player in Washington State. People like Jeffrey Dai, Aaron Fitzgerald from Kennedy High School (Aaron Fitzgerald SF), Errol Knight from Chief Sealth High School (Erroll Knight SF), Mike Bethea from Rainier Beach High School (Mike Bethea C), and Brandon Roy from Garfield High School (Brandon Roy PG/SG/SF). If I had to pick a number one high school player from Washington State among these, I would choose Brandon Roy," Sylvan smiled, "He's the only one unanimously selected to the Washington State first team among these players."

The names and schools mentioned earlier seemed like a spell to Yu Fei.

They didn't ring a bell for him.

But when Brandon Roy's name came up, Yu Fei couldn't help but open his mouth to say something.

Brandon Roy, a famous shooting star player of the new century, rose and fell as rapidly, and judging from the years he was active, Yu Fei would have had a hard time recognizing him if not by chance.

In Roy's Trail Blazers lineage, there was a player named Damian Lillard, the one-man-one-city league champion as of the summer of 2023.

In the first round of 2019 Game 5, Lillard sank an unbelievable long-distance three-pointer to defeat the Thunder, ending the brotherhood basketball of Paul George and Russell Westbrook. George, who had spent a month making fun of the Lakers and even planned a documentary about why he decided to stay in Oklahoma City, finally understood the profound truth Tong Dawei expressed in "American Dreams in China": Never start a business with a good brother.

However, Lillard is not Curry. With a super-long three-pointer just like Curry's, his was more difficult, occurring in the do-or-die playoff game, yet he couldn't captivate the opposing key player like Curry did.

This was one of the NBA's underrated "I am not him" potential cases in the 2010s.

Yu Fei got to know of Roy starting from the Shot that Lillard used to end Westbrook's era at the Thunder.

It was unintentional.

Just like Lillard's 0.8-second clutch three-pointer against the Rockets in the 2014 playoffs, every time he did something like that, people would remember Roy's Shot over the Rockets.

Yu Fei had watched a highlight reel of Roy's three-pointer, but he felt that shot should have counted as after the buzzer.

But the NBA is a league of stars, where stars enjoy privileges, and you can't rewind time to disrupt their great moments.

Now, hearing the name Roy again, Yu Fei couldn't help but ask, "Is Brandon Roy also here?"

"The Nike Regional Invitational is one of the most influential AAU events in the State of Washington. I think he's likely to come, but if you can't get past Jeffrey Dai, even if he's here, what use would that be?"

So, after all is said and done, the first thing is to win the game.

Yu Fei's fighting spirit soared. He started by dribbling, then tried several wildly inaccurate shots before ending the warm-up with a dunk.

The Royal Team's starting lineup was Bobby Jonas, Quinn Thomas, Andre Moore, Anthony Lawson, and Yu Fei.

When Jeffrey Dai saw a female player on the Royal Team, he laughed and asked, "Do you guys think this is an exhibition game?"

"If your skill is less than half of what your confidence implies, this might indeed turn into an exhibition game," Yu Fei responded calmly.

"Then let's give it a try!"

Dai was determined to prove himself.

During the jump ball phase, having no real experience as an insider, Yu Fei failed to catch the right timing to jump, and Dai won the ball for the Starfish Team.

"Give me the ball!" Dai yelled, sticking close to Yu Fei, "I'm going to knock this chopstick person down!"

Obviously, no one on the Starfish Team was going to go against Dai's will.

Even though Dai hadn't fully established his position, they still passed him the ball.

This was a big taboo for insiders.

It seemed that Yu Fei, forced to defend against Dai, suddenly exerted strength, slapping the ball away from behind him with her wingspan.

Jonas picked up the ball, and the Royal Team launched a three-line fast break, and then Yu Fei understood why Jonas was so good at scoring but unable to lead K-M out of the Kent School District's preliminaries.

He was the kind of player that once he got the ball, all he saw was the basket.

In a three-on-two fast break, he insisted on taking on two defenders by himself and got blocked.

"It was just luck you had last time!" Dai shouted arrogantly, "I'm the protagonist of the game, and you're just a pathetic side character. Get ready to witness my strength!"

Finally learning his lesson, Dai used his strong body to secure his position, caught the pass from his teammate, leaned in hard, then turned with the ball.

In Seattle, few insiders could withstand this move of his.

Just as he was sure that Yu Fei was like those he had easily crushed, the ball he pushed up was fiercely blocked by a wide palm.

???

Dai's mind went blank, while Yu Fei, right after blocking Dai, sprinted forward at full speed.

Quinn Thomas, the only female player on the court, made a beautiful pass to Yu Fei.

Yu Fei dribbled, encountered interception from the opposing guard, and in less than half a second, stopped abruptly, spun around, and like a guard, shook off the defender.

The scouts who came specifically for Jeffrey Dai shifted their attention to him.

Yu Fei charged into the open frontcourt paint, leapt powerfully to receive the ball, and then connected with a windmill dunk that ignited the crowd.

"Excellent defensive habits, impressive athleticism, the combination of height and guard-like ball-handling, and an extremely quick first step and jump..." A college scout from Southern California wrote this down in his notes, "Compared to him, Jeffrey Dai pales significantly."

"What's his name?"

"Who is he?"

"The Royal Team? From Kent Meridian High School?"

"Who has heard of this school?"

It only took one round for Jeffrey Dai to go from protagonist to side character.

Talent cannot be hidden.

Especially on the basketball court, where mediocre talents can be spotted at a glance, while the seeds of greatness, even if yet to sprout, shine brightly, beyond measurement.

Yu Fei returned to the backcourt and said to Dai, who was still dazed, "Hey, your lead role aura was really dazzling just now. Let me take another good look at it."

For Jeffrey Dai, this would become the longest day of his life.

PS: Starting tomorrow, two chapters a day