Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Rick Pitino started again, congratulating Jerry Krause for the success of his smoke grenade, which fooled some dumbass into picking Gasol with the third pick. Otherwise, how could the Bulls possibly get their hands on the Little Shark with the fourth pick?

As a benchmark for failures among the NBA management, Pitino's praise for Krause seemed to Jordan like someone had thrown a black cat onto Krause's big fat belly.

That fat pig...

Jordan cursed in his mind, his brain working even faster.

The consequence of the Grizzlies "snatching" Gasol was that the teams with the first to tenth pick in the first round were now presented with better choices than before.

Certain targets that had previously seemed unattainable could now fall within reach.

Jordan's gaze shifted towards Yu Fei in the green room, who looked listless and dissatisfied with the slow pace of the draft.

"Kwame, what do you think of Frye?"

Jordan, in the honeymoon phase with Brown, asked as gently as if he were his uncle.

As the happiest person in the world, Brown spoke all the good words he could for Yu Fei: "Frye is a great player, he's my brother, he's even better than Eddie Griffin, better than everyone else, the second best player in this draft."

Brown's attitude towards Fei fueled a certain desire in Jordan, "Do you want to play with him?"

"If that's possible, that would be awesome!"

Jordan smiled and said no more.

Then, the second draft gambler appeared at the draft.

If you Grizzlies can take the risk of wasting a third pick on a European nobody, then we, the Warriors, can ignore the best college basketball player in America, Shane Battier, and choose Jason Richardson with the fifth pick, a player with greater talent but far less maturity than Battier.

Two players considered top five locks (Battier and Griffin) dropped out of the top five.

Unless the Grizzlies went crazy (since the sixth pick was their own), they would definitely use it to select either Battier or Griffin.

And the Nets, with the seventh pick, would definitely not pass up on whoever fell to them.

According to the information Jordan got, the Nets, having learned that Griffin's stock was solidly in the top five, were originally set on using their seventh pick on Yu Fei.

The Wizards didn't have any players the Nets were interested in, so Jordan couldn't make a trade.

But with the arrival of the "draft masters" from the Grizzlies and the Warriors, the chance of picking Yu Fei suddenly increased.

Jordan was waiting for the decision from the Grizzlies.

The Grizzlies were the biggest wild card of the draft, and since they could be insane enough to choose a European nobody with the third pick, it wouldn't be impossible for them to make another absurd choice with the sixth.

At 8:10 PM, Stern returned to the podium to announce that the Grizzlies had selected Shane Battier with the sixth pick in the first round.

This meant that the Grizzlies' madness had been contained.

Jordan immediately got up and quickly walked into the aisle to make a phone call.

"Rod, call Cleveland right now," Jordan said decisively, "As we've discussed beforehand, Courtney Alexander, our 2002 first-round pick (top-five protected), 2004 first-round pick (lottery protected) in exchange for their eighth pick. As long as the draft reaches this point and the guy I want is still there, the trade is on!"

A moment later, Higgins called back: "Cleveland is asking us to make the 2002 first-round pick unprotected..."

Jordan's brown eyes seemed to congeal blood, he hated those who went back on their word, but this was the norm in trading.

Getting the best interest for one's team was something everybody did.

It was part of the game, and he had to accept it.

An unprotected 2002 draft pick? If you want it, you can have it, as the Wizards led by me won't possibly give you a high draft pick anyway. And Frye Yu, he will become the biggest "what if" in the trade history of the Cleveland Cavaliers, we'll see!

Jordan brewed a storm inside, but on the surface, he was calm.

"Tell them I can accept the price increase, but only this once. If they want more, they can go fuck themselves!"

At 8:15 PM, Eddie Griffin's name popped out of Stern's mouth; he was selected by the Brooklyn Nets.

However, Yu Fei noticed that there was no smile on Griffin's face; he wasn't happy at all.

For someone unanimously recognized as a top-five pick to drop to the seventh was an utter disgrace. It was impressive that he hadn't listed all the names of the players selected before him like Draymond Green had done. Of course, Yu Fei suspected that Griffin's intelligence was too low to remember so many names.

But he remembered them.

As the ninth pick in the draft, he only needed to remember eight names, much simpler than what Green had to remember. It wasn't because he was competitive; he just thought it was cool to remember the names of everyone picked before him and then surpass them in the NBA. A story like that shouldn't belong to someone like Green, who was an erratic, vampire-like cancer.

The Chosen One deserved it, after all!

Having already stolen James' nickname, what was the big deal about stealing one more anecdote from Green?

"Is it your turn yet?" Yu Fenglin nervously asked.

Yu Fei remembered that the eighth pick belonged to the Cavaliers, but he hadn't received a draft promise from them.

"They'll probably pick Desagana Diop," Yu Fei said sarcastically. "They like big centers with big feet and health risks."

At that moment, agent Arne Trem hurried over and handed a phone to Yu Fei. "It's for you."

Before taking the phone, Yu Fei wondered if the Detroit Pistons were really so ceremonial as to actually call to notify their ninth pick.

"Frye, we just made a trade; you are ultimately going to play in D.C. But, you have to pretend you know nothing about the trade until it is announced," Jordan said seriously. "Any questions?"

"None," Yu Fei replied without emotion, "I'm honored."

Yu Fei handed the phone back to Trem.

Everyone was looking at him, wanting to know what had happened.

"Looks like I have one less name to remember now," Yu Fei said.

At 8:20 PM, David Stern returned to the podium, opened the envelope, and his eyes narrowed slightly. This name wasn't special to him, but the surname was—he had heard of this kid.

"In the 2001 NBA draft," Stern said, "the Cleveland Cavaliers select... Frye Yu, from Kent Meridian High School, with the eighth pick in the first round!"

Everyone but Yu Fei and Trem were surprised.

Lawson and DiMio gave Yu Fei a big hug, and Yu Fenglin was so moved she couldn't speak, only cry.

Yu Fei gently hugged her. "Mom, I will buy you a mansion, a luxury car, open up your shop all over the country, fulfill all your dreams, I love you."

As if complaining that his mother wasn't crying enough, Yu Fei's words caused Yu Fenglin's tears to completely break through.

Then, Yu Fei turned and walked towards the stage.

On this night, no matter which pick they were selected as, for the young people participating in the 2001 draft, being able to leave their seat for the stage was a success.

This would be the most beautiful night of their lives.

As the news that the Cavaliers might trade Yu Fei's signing rights spread, TNT had just entered a commercial break. Every year on draft day, TNT would play a short special program called "NBA Historic Trades" during the commercial breaks.

Today, TNT took people back to the trade when the Mavericks got Dirk Nowitzki from the Bucks.

At the end of the program, Ernie Johnson said in a clear and distinguishable voice: "Years have gone by, and Dallas and Milwaukee have turned real life into two types of tragedies as written by Shaw⑵. You would sigh at Dallas's fortune and marvel at Milwaukee's misfortune, yet it's a story that happens every year at the draft. What NBA teams want to avoid is becoming the next Milwaukee."

⑴ The first travesty in FIBA history was when the Soviet Union won the Olympic gold in Munich with an infamous blown call.

⑵ Life's two tragedies are, one is despair, and the other is insatiable ambition.—Shaw

Thanks to these pseudonyms, A Hint of Autumn, One Flower Signals Spring, rx78, The Issue of Names Requires Caution, Reminiscing The Storied Past, Feather Blade, Playing the Pig to Eat the Tiger, Dream Enters the Misty Evening, Sorrowfully, I Lament, Spartan Bus 2, Cat's Eye, Removed from the Clouds by the Moon, Book Friend 20190921035212234, Hand-to-Hand Fight with a Big Eggplant, Little Bear With Hands Spread 7777777, gsk_32 for your rewards.

PS: You can't say that I was brief today, can you?