The Way of Basketball: Never Talk Shit to Him!
Chapter 33 - 32: Could He Be Pippen?

Chapter 33: Chapter 32: Could He Be Pippen?

Su Wan was also asked about his argument with LeBron James.

Indeed, rather than the process of winning, people prefer to watch the minor incidents during the game, especially the confrontations and altercations between a strong rookie and the team leader.

Su Wan replied very directly, "When I see something happening that makes me uncomfortable, I will speak up. This isn’t targeted at LeBron, but at every teammate. Of course, they can do the same to me. If I ever have a moment where my mind isn’t clear, they can wake me up with their words!"

The host’s expression immediately became animated.

Because it seemed like Su Wan was saying:

My argument with LeBron was because his mind wasn’t clear!

To directly name and even insult LeBron James like this, this rookie...

Isn’t that a bit too impulsive?

He knew Su Wan was brave, but he didn’t realize Su Wan was this brave! freeωebnovēl.c૦m

Su Wan didn’t think his words were too excessive.

Times have changed.

When he joined the Cavaliers, he fantasized about everything based on one point:

His opponent was LeBron James.

To perform against someone like that, Su wanted to avoid direct confrontation, to grow steadily, and to wait until his "zone" value enhanced his potential. After cashing in on that potential, he would shine brightly.

But plans don’t always keep up with changes.

His performance in the summer league, his performance in the Olympics, greatly increased Cleveland’s expectations of him.

Bozer’s "rebellious" behavior caused Danny Ferri to feel a crisis, and his attitude toward Su Wan became more serious.

Moreover, before the preseason started, Su Wan had won the battle of public opinion and became the most dazzling "star" of the 2004 class in the preseason.

Tonight, he had a perfect debut.

He believed that among the numerous congratulatory messages now laying in his phone, there must surely be one from Danny Ferri.

As for the current LeBron, he was merely a "supernova"—he had neither team achievements, regular season MVP, nor a championship ring. What he had—age and potential—was similar to Su Wan.

In a nutshell:

The present Su Wan fully had the capital to contend with him and therefore didn’t need to overthink.

Now, this rising "new star" only needed to express what he wanted. As for the subsequent repercussions, how to ease the relationship with LeBron, how to make LeBron further tolerate his actions—that was all something the general manager needed to consider.

After all, the worst outcome he faced was being traded.

But given the potential he was showing now, he believed that any team lacking a main outside player would be interested in him.

He wouldn’t go to those cities to make a name for himself, and stay in the small city of Cleveland to be a discontented second-in-command?

Don’t be ridiculous!

Moreover, all these events happened under the cameras, so right and wrong were clear. Even if the media was bought and did not tell the truth, those general managers wanting their teams to rise certainly wouldn’t be blind to the facts.

The next morning, unsurprisingly, Su Wan topped the headlines of major media outlets.

Domestic media mainly reported his debut stats: 25 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 block.

The newly released third issue of the "Basketball Pioneer" described Su Wan’s first professional game as "perfect":

Not only were his stats impressive, but his role in the game was crucial.

Furthermore, Yao’s NBA debut only resulted in 0 points, 2 rebounds, 2 turnovers, and 3 fouls; Bartel’s debut was a dismal 0 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, and 5 fouls; Wang Zhizhi fared slightly better, with just 6 points and 3 rebounds. The three of them combined didn’t match up to one Su Wan.

Originally, the most outstanding debut performance among Huaxia players in the NBA was by Yi Jianlian, who hadn’t even entered the NBA yet.

In his first game with the Bucks, he scored 9 points, 3 rebounds, 2 blocks, 1 steal, 3 turnovers, and 6 fouls.

It was these underwhelming debuts that made domestic commentators not optimistic about Su Wan’s performance, constantly giving fans a "heads-up": "The debut is just a game, it doesn’t represent anything, Yao’s initial data was so bad that everyone called him a bust, but that didn’t stop him from becoming a top NBA center later. Su Wan is the same, everyone has a process."

It turned out that commentators were just commentators; they knew nothing!

Once Su Wan delivered a performance, they all had to eat their words.

Su Qun blabbered every day: "Now it looks like, Su is already adapting to the NBA’s physicality. You see how he handled Artest a few times, although he didn’t hold out, he really was tough!"

Zhang Weiping said: "Wan is really something. His skills may not be that great, but his physical fitness is excellent, even considered good in America. That’s the biggest difference between him and Yao, so he’s more adaptable to this environment!"

Yu Jia: "Tonight, facing last season’s regular-season first Pacers, facing the championship-honored Stephen Jackson, facing the league’s best defensive player Ron Artest, the 19-year-old Su Wan presented a perfect pledge. As the train of time slowly starts, and a thorny road lies ahead, what challenges await him are still unknown. But now, we have more confidence that he will play more beautiful games in the future. Now, let’s congratulate Su Wan on winning his first NBA regular-season game!"

The American media focused more on LeBron James and Su Wan’s post-game interviews, and their dialogues during the game break were all dug up.

Although LeBron explained all this as a "normal phenomenon during the adjustment phase" in the post-game interview, all media knew that LeBron always acted mature in front of the media. For that maturity, sometimes, he inevitably said some insincere words.

Compared to him, Su Wan’s personality was much more genuine; from his brief remarks, the media could clearly feel that he had some opinions about LeBron.

"The Cleveland-version of Jordan and Pippen faced their first test without having proved themselves yet!"

This was ESPN’s headline.

Seeing this headline, Cleveland fans couldn’t help but worry.

They had waited so long and finally got two immensely talented rookies who were quickly realizing their potential. They hadn’t even started imagining a bright future when signs of discord between the two rookies appeared.

What pained them even more was:

When the Cavaliers finished their opening game, they really didn’t want the team to give up Su Wan for LeBron!

Most Cavaliers fans felt that if the Cavaliers wanted to win a championship in the 2000s, they needed LeBron, and Su Wan was indispensable too.

Not just them, Danny Ferry felt the same.

In fact, after the opening game, the Cavaliers management had already sounded the "red alert."

The management, highly sensitive to the locker room atmosphere at this stage, realized there were emerging rifts between LeBron and Su Wan, and they needed to mend these rifts.

Also sparking discussions were Barkley and Kenny Smith’s reviews of their debut performances.

"He’s a watered-down version of Jordan, and I’m an enhanced version of Pippen? What nonsense are these guys talking about?"

LeBron saw this news the next afternoon.

The start of the new season for the Cavaliers was harsh; facing the regular season’s top Pacers at home was one thing, but after that, they had to immediately head to Miami to face back-to-back challenges from this summer’s Miami Heat, now boasting Shaquille O’Neal.

This schedule was just...

With LeBron’s physical condition, when he woke up in Miami the next morning, he felt both tired and weak. But seeing the news, he instantly became furious. He wasn’t pleased to be called an "enhanced version of Pippen".

An enhanced Pippen was still just Pippen, and a diluted Jordan was still Jordan!

Did these guys really understand?

Uncle, a rookie should just think about how to get the ball into the basket.

He had to consider much more!

Besides scoring himself, he had to energize his teammates, possess a strong will to win, and make Cleveland’s tomorrow even brighter!

All these things...

Could he really be Pippen?

The source of this c𝐨ntent is freewe(b)nov𝒆l

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