Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Collins didn't arrange for Yu Fei to play the power forward position as a punishment.

This was because the Knicks' power forward, Kurt Thomas, belonged to the lighter category in his era, weighing just 230 pounds, which was not much more than Yu Fei's 227 pounds (103KG). However, Yu Fei did not think that his confrontational ability was on the same level just because the opponent's weight was similar to his own.

Yes, strength is related to weight, but every weight has a theoretical maximum strength.

Yu Fei's focus this summer was to gain weight, while Thomas, a veteran who had played for many years, spent most of his training keeping his weight steady and doing lots of bench presses and deadlifts to push his maximum strength and core power to their limits.

This was something that Yu Fei couldn't compare with yet, and it was also the reason why Thomas would definitely have the advantage in their confrontation.

But Yu Fei did not plan to play against Thomas like an inside player.

Since Collins had asked Yu Fei to gain an advantage in his position, there must have been good reasons for it.

If previously Yu Fei had some doubts about the intensity of the NBA, by now, he had none.

After a hard summer of training, he had completely reached the NBA level.

Under Doug Collins's system, the power forward was a tactical fulcrum, perhaps not the most important, but an indispensable part of the system's operation.

So, arranging Yu Fei to play as a power forward essentially meant that Collins had acknowledged Yu Fei's abilities.

This was also related to the Wizards' meager lineup. If Ratner, because of his ulterior motives, could not fully play the role of the power forward fulcrum, who else could he rely on? Collins had no choice but to see if Yu Fei could be effective in the power forward position.

Yu Fei got the ball, faced up to Thomas at the high post, and raised his hand to signal for Popeye Jones to come up for the screen and roll.

Thomas knew little about Yu Fei, so when the screen came, he still didn't think Yu Fei had the ability to break through the Knicks' defense.

But in the blink of an eye, Yu Fei used Popeye's screen to get rid of Thomas, accelerate past Felton Spencer who was helping on defense, and charged into the basket to complete the dunk.

"Frye Yu, another dunk!"

"This young man's first and second baskets in the NBA were both dunks."

"Does this suggest that his shooting is not stable?"

Yu Fei somehow felt like he was Ben Simmons. His shooting was actually not bad, although not stable enough yet, it could serve as a regular means of offense. But Yu Fei's role in the team was currently very ambiguous, on the one hand as Jordan's substitute, and on the other, Collins wanted to give him opportunities but was also considering Jordan. If Ratner hadn't let personal grievances affect his decision-making, Collins might not have thought of making Yu Fei the power forward, indirectly giving him a central position.

And Yu Fei wouldn't play as he wished just because he temporarily became the focus of the set offense, so he tried to finish offensively in the most certain way possible.

Under such circumstances, unstable shooting was Yu Fei's last choice.

That's why he played like Ben Simmons.

Back on defense, Kurt Thomas wanted to use his strength advantage to rough up Yu Fei.

However, Yu Fei firmly remembered Collins's instructions that Thomas only had a mid-range shot on the left side of the paint, so Yu Fei didn't care about Thomas's right-side offense at all and decisively prevented him from going left.

Thomas didn't want to show weakness in front of the rookie, so he dribbled with his right hand, went strong to the basket, gathered the ball, and took a fadeaway shot over the defense.

"Bang!"

Popeye Jones grabbed the rebound and passed it to Yu Fei.

The moment Yu Fei got the ball, he spotted Richard Hamilton breaking fast, so he immediately made a long pass.

In less than four seconds, Hamilton scored on the fastbreak.

"It's the team's loss that you're not starting," Hamilton liked Yu Fei's passing.

Knowing how to send a comfortable pass to your teammates is both an art and a technique, requiring the passer to fully understand the teammates' preferences.

Yu Fei didn't know why he could make comfortable passes; for him, the only passer he needed to consider carefully was Kwame Brown. For the others, as long as he saw their movement, he knew what kind of pass to give.

Then, the Knicks' counterattack came.

Latrell Sprewell easily broke through Tyrone Nesby and charged under the basket, drawing a foul on Jones.

Sprewell's style of play gave Yu Fei a strong sense of dissonance.
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Why? Though he clearly grew up in an era of "watching Jordan play in the basement," his style of play wasn't even a bit like Jordan's. The long mid-range shots, a step inside the three-point line which Richard Hamilton was obsessed with, was something he would never do. Sprewell played no differently than players of the small-ball era.

Three-pointers and drives, resolutely no mid-range.

That's why he dared to take pull-up threes in a numbered fastbreak; that's just how he played.

Sprewell made both free throws.

After Chris Whitney brought the ball past half court, he passed it to Yu Fei, who was at the high post.

Yu Fei called for another screen from Jones.

The Knicks' defense strategy had changed, and to prevent Yu Fei from driving directly to the basket, Kurt Thomas and Felton Spencer chose to double-team him high up on the court.

Yu Fei didn't understand why they were doing this.

Although Popeye Jones was ugly and had an ugly shooting motion, he had the ability to shoot.

Was leaving Jones so open a gamble that he wouldn't find his wide-open teammate so close by?

It made no sense!

Yu Fei lifted the ball high and passed it, Jones received the ball in an open position and shot.

"Swoosh!"

"Autobots," Yu Fei said with a smile, "they're really showing you no respect by leaving you so open!"

"That's right, I'm very angry."

Jones replied to Yu Fei with a serious face, then in the next defensive round, he demonstrated just how bad it was to make him angry with his actions.

Sprewell was addicted to flopping, and Nesby, who was moonlighting as a power forward, simply didn't have the ability to stop him.

The Madman's first step, something Yu Fei had experienced, was so fast it caught people off guard.

When you face someone like that, you really have to back off the defense a little to show some respect.

Nesby seemed to have no idea how to guard the perimeter, he was beaten off the step in one round and continued in the next.

As a result, Sprewell happily exploited his defensive flaws, driving in again towards Jones, and this time, Jones didn't let the Madman flop, making a strong block that slapped the ball to the ground.

Yu Fei grabbed the loose basketball and was about to break away when Thomas harshly slapped at the ball, successfully breaking the game's rhythm with a tactical foul.

"This is a tactical foul?" Yu Fei asked as he held up his stingingly slapped hand.

The referee didn't want to deal with it, while Thomas took on the air of a veteran and taunted, "Yes, kid, this is a tactical foul in an adult game, don't like it then roll back to your high school basketball!"

"Frye, don't mind it." Whitney said, worried that Yu Fei would lose his temper.

They had seen what it looked like when the teenager lost his cool.

After that day, Ratner never again looked for trouble with Yu Fei on the practice court.

Moreover, aside from Jordan, no other veteran messed with Yu Fei again.

Everyone knew that Yu Fei was a person with a very low "threshold."

"I'm fine." Having said that, Yu Fei ran towards the front court.

Really fine?

Whitney didn't believe that Yu Fei would let things go, and when he dribbled past half court, he saw Yu Fei, disregarding the tactical arrangement, actively asking for the ball in the low post.

Yu Fei's positioning seemed simple, Thomas's counter was very strong and with Yu Fei's skills in posting up, core strength, and weight, it was impossible for him to fully secure that position.

Whitney gestured for Yu Fei to come to the high post to get the ball.

But Yu Fei shouted at the top of his lungs, "Pass the ball over here!"

Although risky, Whitney was a veteran and had the experience to know how to pass the ball in such a situation.

Whitney's pass was on target.

The moment Yu Fei caught the ball, his head turned left but his body pivoted the ball to the right. These two movements were almost simultaneous, and Thomas was fooled by the first move; his defensive center of gravity shifted left, completely collapsing his defense.

Yu Fei pivoted to the right and cut inside, not only leaving Thomas's body behind but also advancing further to the interior. Felton Spencer attempted to cover, but he was too bulky to be in the best position in time.

Most big men who end up as poster dunks are a split second too late, and Spencer was just a beat slow. Yu Fei, rocketing into the air like a rocket, lifted the ball high over his head and completed his third dunk of the night.

With a thunderous roar, Spencer, who could neither stop nor maintain his center of gravity, lost balance and fell backward after failing to prevent Yu Fei's smash.

Yu Fei gripped the rim tightly, not falling to the ground, and looked back at Thomas, "This is the defense in an adult game? Letting your teammate pay for your incompetence?"

Thomas naturally couldn't tolerate a rookie insulting him like this and immediately fired back, but Yu Fei, always ready to dominate when he had the advantage, kept mocking Thomas for causing his teammate to get posterized, resulting in the referee losing patience and calling technical fouls on both players.

Doug Collins watched Jordan with an expression caught between laughter and tears.

Seeing Yu Fei like this, Jordan felt a bit better, realizing that "Anti-Mike" wasn't targeted at him alone; he was like this with everyone.

"Let him come down and cool off." Jordan looked towards Kwame Brown, longing for Yu Fei's brilliant performance, "I think Kwame has sat on the sidelines long enough."

PS: My understanding of the launch remained two years ago when a book that launched needed to wait until twelve noon the next day to upload VIP chapters, but now it has changed, you can start from zero... um, so let's start now, ten updates today.