The Way of Basketball: Never Talk Shit to Him!
Chapter 46 - 45 Customizing Honor Is Like This

Chapter 46: Chapter 45 Customizing Honor Is Like This

On November 24th, just as Su Wan predicted, the Cavaliers beat the Detroit Pistons 96 to 82.

Rick Carlisle had built the Pistons’ defense system around Ben Wallace. When Larry Brown arrived, trading for Rashid Wallace mid-season only enhanced the Pistons’ defensive depth, but Ben Wallace remained the core. He didn’t change the system, nor did he have the capability to do so.

After Ben Wallace left, the Pistons never made it to the finals again, which proved this point.

And it was their defense that won the Pistons the championship; without it, their insufficient scoring ability was exposed.

LeBron scored 38 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 steals, 1 block, and had 3 turnovers in the game.

This was arguably his best performance of the season.

While he was waiting to see the media praise him the next day, he found out they were actually praising Su Wan!

"Su Wan’s Law is still in effect; the Cavaliers claim their fourth consecutive victory!"

"The harsher the criticism, the easier the Cavaliers win!"

"LeBron rebounds strongly; Su Wan’s words are becoming reality!"

Only a bunch of media led by the Nike faction were honestly praising how incredible LeBron was.

But...

Who the hell wants to see that!

Barkley had just finished commentating the Cavaliers versus Pistons game yesterday, and his words also sparked a hot debate, "If Uncle’s criticism—er, guidance—can keep the Cavaliers winning, and now it has helped LeBron perform like this, then I think the team’s atmosphere can continue just like this."

He was always known for his startling comments, and Kenny Smith was used to it.

But even Smith didn’t expect such a crafty point of view from Barkley. What he didn’t expect even more was that many people, including some Clevelanders, accepted Barkley’s view.

Not all Cavs fans were die-hard LeBron fans.

Or rather, even if this group were fans of LeBron and acknowledged his status in Cleveland, they wanted to see the Cavaliers win more.

The Cavaliers were playoff regulars in the ’90s.

It’s already past the mid-2000s, and the Cavaliers haven’t made it to the playoffs even once.

The long wait had made them tired and weary. If given a choice between the "Chosen One" and a victory, they would prefer to see the team win.

Now they had both the "Chosen One" and the victories; it was just that LeBron had to endure some discomfort.

A little discomfort, big deal!

After all, he received far more in Cleveland.

Moreover, Su Wan’s prodding him in every game was indeed effective—didn’t you see the "Superstar" level performance against the Pistons?

LeBron didn’t send a message this time; he picked up the phone and dialed, nearly devouring the phone with his mouth, and yelled into the receiver, "I don’t want to wait anymore. If you guys can’t get rid of this damn Huaxia person, then let’s end our partnership here!"

Luckily, this time the Goodman Brothers shared his sentiments.

They also believed they couldn’t wait any longer and had to confront Danny Ferry immediately.

If this public opinion solidified, it might be too difficult to reverse.

After the call with LeBron, they immediately dialed Danny Ferry’s number.

About half an hour later, Bill Duffy also received a tip-off, "Half an hour ago, LeBron’s agents pressured Danny Ferry, demanding the team trade Uncle!"

Bill Duffy quickly acted as Su Wan had instructed, using the media channels he had previously set up to release the reports suggested by Su Wan.

Danny Ferry received the call at 2:30 in the morning.

He sat stunned in his chair, motionless for a long time.

After rejecting a call from the Mavericks just two days ago, he had devised a comprehensive plan to ease the relationship between Su Wan and LeBron. Before he could even implement these plans, the relationship between the two deteriorated rapidly. Just as he was coming to grips with the situation, the call from LeBron’s team came through.

This time, he completely understood the impatience of LeBron’s Team. If he had been one of them, he would have been just as anxious.

The current direction of public opinion was really too unkind to LeBron.

Ever since LeBron entered the League, no, from the moment LeBron became the "Chosen One", his public image had never been this bad.

If there weren’t some measures taken to maintain LeBron’s dignity, then how could LeBron continue to uphold the image of the "King"?

Now, he just looked like a foolish high school student who needed a teacher’s guidance!

Su Wan’s team was really ruthless. ——He didn’t believe for a second that this massive wave of public opinion was all media "freelancing" without Bill Duffy’s influence.

With a thousand thoughts running through his head, Ferri snapped back to reality and saw that it was broad daylight outside.

Did I just sit here all night?

He was rendered speechless by himself.

He stood up, feeling dizzy, and quickly grabbed the edge of the desk to steady himself, now desperately needing a cup of iced Americano to keep going. As the strong, bitter aroma of coffee began to fill the room, the door to the office opened, and Chris laid a newspaper out in front of him that made his pupils shrink:

"Averaging 22.6 points, 5.7 rebounds, 5.2 assists, 1.8 steals, 1.2 blocks, if he maintains these numbers, the Huaxia rookie will stand shoulder to shoulder with ’Big O’, Michael Jordan, and become the third player in NBA history to debut with a "22-5-5" rookie season!"

His surprise wasn’t because Su Wan’s performance was so explosive.

It was...

"This is just too damn despicable!"

In another mansion in Cleveland, the Goodman Brothers also saw the report and couldn’t help but curse out loud.

Last season, Carmelo Anthony, the other half of "The Unrivaled Duos", averaged 21 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.2 steals, and a 42.6% shooting percentage, leading his team to the playoffs.

With such forceful momentum, he was a serious threat to LeBron James for the "Rookie of the Year".

Nike’s team and their complete search throughout NBA history finally found such a statistic, forcibly drawing a parallel to "Big O" and Michael Jordan:

LeBron James, averaging 20.9 points, 5.5 rebounds, 5.9 assists, was the third rookie in NBA history, besides ’Big O’ and Jordan, to achieve average "20-5-5" stats, and he was a high school rookie.

Once such public opinion was released, there was no question about the "Rookie of the Year Award".

So why do we say they were forcibly drawing parallels?

Because ’Big O’s rookie season averaged 30.5 points, 10.1 rebounds, and 9.7 assists; Jordan averaged 28.2 points, 6.5 rebounds, 5.9 assists;

If the standards for the list were just slightly higher, LeBron James wouldn’t have been the third!

Now...

Su Wan’s team just exploited this gap.

They indeed raised the standard slightly, changing the average of 20 points to 22 points, and successfully ousted LeBron James as this "historical third" rookie!

Since last year, Nike invested a lot of promotional resources, and a rookie season averaging "20-5-5" was seen as quite an achievement, it became deeply ingrained in the fans’ minds.

This report was sure to ignite the public!

They had been outplayed!

Sure enough, related reports swamped the media, and Su Wan instantly became the hottest topic of discussion.

Even the New York Times outright declared there was no uncertainty about this season’s "Rookie of the Year": "If the final ’Rookie of the Year’ is not Su Wan, then there can only be one explanation, David Stern just wants to give last season’s Rookie of the Year award to LeBron!"

After all, everyone knew how LeBron last year, with his average "20-5-5" record, defeated Carmelo Anthony and "stole" the "Rookie of the Year." Now that Su Wan had higher "22-5-5" stats, it would be unacceptable if he didn’t win "Rookie of the Year"!

Even if Okafor was averaging 15.5 points plus 10.2 rebounds.

But in league history, rookies averaging "15-10" for the season were plenty, nowhere as extraordinary as Su Wan’s tough numbers!

Watching these reports, Su Wan gave a faint smile, as custom honors were just like this.

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