The Way of Basketball: Never Talk Shit to Him!
Chapter 45 - 44 Even if he only scored 13 points, it doesn’t prevent the Cavaliers from winning the game

Chapter 45: Chapter 44 Even if he only scored 13 points, it doesn’t prevent the Cavaliers from winning the game

After playing the Hornets, the Cavaliers’ next game was a "back-to-back" away challenge against the New York Knicks.

On the bus to the airport, LeBron James nearly crushed his phone:

"Talking shit about me like that and claiming it’s for my own good, how can he have the face to go so far? I don’t care what place he holds in Danny Ferry’s heart, I want him gone, right now!"

Unfortunately, even as LeBron boarded the plane, he hadn’t received a reply from his agent.

The idea of changing his agent was growing stronger in his mind.

The next morning, unsurprisingly, Su Wan’s words became the top news in the sports sections of all major media outlets.

After all, his words were explosive.

Some media criticized him for being too flamboyant and showing too much disrespect towards LeBron; others believed that Su Wan may not have been wrong, as he cursed out LeBron harshly, but the team did win the game.

Nothing was more convincing than a victory!

Barkley had a discussion program with Kenny Smith that day and TNT, keeping up with current events, actually arranged a debate titled "Do High School Players Need Guidance from Teammates?"

When Barkley got the "Pro" card, his huge mouth immediately grinned into an "Abyss Giant Mouth."

The ensuing debate time turned into his one-man "show time": "Starting with Kevin Garnett entering the league, high school player drafts have become a craze. Undeniably, even skipping the NCAA didn’t prevent the exceptionally talented high school players from becoming superstars in the league—Kevin Garnett, Kobe, Jermaine, Tracy... they all did!"

"But their experiences also show that high schoolers do need more time to realize their potential! At least a year, up to three to five years!"

"Moreover, they have strict requirements for their growth environment. Jermaine sat on the Blazers’ bench for three years, Tracy didn’t get as much attention in Toronto as Vince, and the Three Musketeers from the 2001 high school draft prove that to be successful, high school rookies need good soil for their transformation!"

"If Kwame Brown had better mentors in the paint, he would not have been the biggest ’watered-down No.1 Pick’ in NBA history! Everyone knows his talent, he scored 106 points in the combine workout, a score that only a genius among geniuses could achieve!"

"This year’s draft also proves this point. Dwight is not as good as Emeka, J.R. Smith is not as good as his uncle, Shawn Livingston. His ability is unique among the rookies, but he is far from reaching one-tenth of his draft comparison to Magic."

"I know you want to mention LeBron, I admit that averaging 20+5+5 is impressive, but for those stats, the Cavaliers let go of Ricky Davis, and they didn’t make the playoffs when last season, they had the potential to make it in the Eastern Conference—don’t forget, their five position was an All-Star! On the contrary, LeBron proves that the growth of high schoolers requires absolute cooperation and sacrifice from the team!"

Charles won the debate.

Which also amounted to their belief that high schoolers like LeBron need someone to tell them what to do.

The evidence for this viewpoint continued...

On the evening of the 22nd, the Cavaliers’ away game against the New York Knicks began.

Knicks’ head coach Lanny Wilkins was the NBA coach with the most regular-season victories, and his defensive philosophy was to throw the toughest defense at the opposing team’s ace player.

Speaking of the current Cavaliers, naturally, the first person that comes to mind is LeBron James, known as the "Cleveland King."

Although the Knicks lacked a heavy center to block LeBron’s breakthrough space.

But the Knicks had the "99 New York Black Eight Miracle main force" Kurt Thomas, Muhammad, Tim Thomas, and "Trash Dog" Jerome Williams, a bunch of tough frontrunners. Each of LeBron’s assaults on the inside came at a severe cost.

From LeBron James’s shooting percentage in this game, it was evident, with only 5 successful shots out of 15 attempts, a shooting percentage of 33.3%!

"Enough, LeBron, stop hurting the team with your rough and raw breakthroughs, can you just pass the damn ball with honesty?"

"LeBron, why do I feel that the team benefits the most when you sit on the bench, even such a pass gets intercepted!"

"Can you wait for your teammates to get into position before going in, are you in such a rush to find your... Damn it, pass me the ball!"

...

His terrible performance naturally received another round of "friendly advice" from Su Wan.

LeBron was really going crazy!

Because...

This damn game, they had actually won again!

"See, I’ve always said that LeBron needs someone to tell him what to do. Only then can he be clear-headed. Even if he just scores 13 points, it doesn’t prevent the Cavaliers from winning, even on a back-to-back."

Su Wan had actually figured out how to win games a while ago: team up with LeBron and let him rack up stats.

As long as he didn’t butt heads with LeBron, the Cavaliers making the playoffs this season was no problem at all.

But why should he sacrifice himself?

So, even though he knew how to win games, he still made his personal performance a priority, firstly for the zone value; secondly to establish his own worth.

Now it was time to show his hand.

Winning games had become critical.

He wanted the outside world to have this impression:

The harsher he criticized LeBron, the more the Cavaliers could win!

Although this meant he inevitably had to cooperate with LeBron at times.

But...

With such a publicity stunt, who would care about how he played the game.

Everyone would only pay attention to how fiercely he criticized LeBron!

And with the team winning under such circumstances, LeBron’s team’s touted "beyond-age immediate combat effectiveness" became a joke. Instead, his image as the "team leader" jumped off the page. - He couldn’t possibly be LeBron’s best "second-in-command" after berating him like that, right?

What was more important:

This was a situation LeBron’s team couldn’t turn around.

After playing the New York Knicks, the Cavaliers’ next game was two days later against the defending champion Pistons.

With Ben Wallace still not back, the original Cavaliers had won big with a score of 92-76.

As long as Su Wan maintained his current play style, winning against them was not a problem at all.

His tirade against LeBron actually led to the Cavaliers to "three consecutive victories". Even if LeBron’s team were experts at manipulating public opinion in the NBA, they couldn’t turn the tables quickly.

And once public perception took root, it could easily leave deep-seated impressions.

He believed that LeBron’s team would soon be unable to restrain themselves and have to confront Danny Ferry.

Su Wan made a phone call to Bill Duffy, "Be ready. As soon as there’s any news of LeBron’s team making a move, have the media release the article immediately."

He also had a special gift prepared for LeBron’s team.

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