The Way of Basketball: Never Talk Shit to Him!
Chapter 87 - 85 The Person LeBron Least Wants to See (Seventh Update)

Chapter 87: Chapter 85 The Person LeBron Least Wants to See (Seventh Update)

January 31, the League announced the final All-Star voting list.

The Western starting lineup consisted of Kobe, McGrady, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, and Yao Ming;

among them, Yao Ming was the "All-Star Ticket King" for this year’s Denver All-Star Weekend, garnering a total of 2.43 million votes.

The Eastern starting lineup consisted of Su Wan, Allen Iverson, Vince Carter, Grant Hill, and Shaquille O’Neal;

Su Wan received 2.13 million votes, ranking second in the Eastern Conference and fourth in the entire League.

LeBron’s Team, despite their vigorous campaigning, still lost to Allen Iverson by 130,000 votes, finishing third among the Eastern guards and missing out on this year’s Eastern starting lineup.

Seeing the final vote rankings, LeBron’s Team really wanted to slap themselves:

If only they had switched to small forward sooner!

LeBron James ended up with 1.56 million votes, higher than forward Grant Hill’s 1.42 million votes...

Before the new season started, they originally wanted LeBron to play as a small forward, but considering that at this stage LeBron needed to handle the ball to continue growing, and the competition for the forward position was too intense, while the guard line was less so—after McGrady left, only Allen Iverson remained a serious competitor—choosing Point Guard seemed more likely to make the All-Star starting lineup.

In the end, they abandoned the position change and continued with the Point Guard.

From their original plan, their calculations weren’t wrong.

LeBron James became the first of the ’03 generation to be an "All-Star starter."

But this time, Su Wan’s sudden rise broke their well-laid plans.

"We should have gotten on good terms with that rookie from the start!"

The Goodman Brothers were sighing heavily, but their words fell harshly on LeBron’s ears, as he thought the Goodman Brothers were blaming him for not handling his relationship with Su Wan well.

Two jerks!

They really deserve to die!

Recently, he had been contacting a friend named Richie Paul.

They met two years ago at the airport, where Richie Paul wore an official Warren Moon NFL quarterback jersey while LeBron wore a counterfeit Michael Vick NFL quarterback jersey. Know that awkward feeling? LeBron quickly went to buy an official jersey and struck up a brief conversation with Richie, finding they got along well, and they became friends.

Although the guy was just a jersey vendor, LeBron thought he was sharp and could make a good agent if sent to a major agency for further training,

definitely better than the Goodman Brothers.

Just as his mom was about to ditch Goodman.

The "Little Emperor" was contemplating changing his agent, completely unaware that a sorrowful event was waiting for him.

The time came to February 1.

The day after Su Wan officially secured his All-Star starting position, the streets of Indiana were overnight plastered with countless posters related to him.

Excited Pacers fans flocked to the plaza outside Conseco Arena, holding various activities to celebrate this historic moment:

Su Wan had become the first player in Pacers history to be an All-Star starter in his rookie season!

He was really starting to fulfill his promise and change this city!

"Man, can you really not see how excited those fans are? And you’re still here practicing?"

The arena was noisy, but inside the training court, only heavy breathing and sounds of a bullfight could be heard.

Artest’s admiration for Su Wan had increased a thousandfold.

They were chanting his name to that extent outside, and yet here he was, still so focused on the training court.

If it were him...

He would have gone out and partied with the fans long ago!

"Even if our next game is against Cleveland, you don’t need to work this hard, right?"

After a round of training, Su Wan walked towards the bench on the outside of the court, and Artest’s words made him roll his eyes, too lazy to respond.

LeBron James?

Our goal is the stars and the sea, alright!

Su Wan could confidently say that his hard work right now wasn’t because he had to face his former team at home for the first time tomorrow—although, given his petty nature, that was definitely a part of it—but it definitely didn’t make up more than 80%, no, I mean, no more than 10%!

He was striving for a better tomorrow! freewёbn૦νeɭ.com

At the same time, at Indianapolis International Airport, a brand new private jet had slowly landed, resting on the tarmac.

This was the Cavaliers’ private jet.

Speaking of this aircraft, there were some interesting stories behind it:

Last year, the aircraft serving the Cavaliers was an "old wreck," older than LeBron’s mother, which had deeply worried LeBron about potential accidents. Once, they indeed encountered severe turbulence, and the moment LeBron got off the plane, he immediately complained to the media, "I thought I’d never make it back to the ground."

That incident had led to the acquisition of this brand new jet.

Moreover, with the renovations to Quicken Loans Arena, Gilbert had spent no less than 200 million in the last two years enhancing the facilities for the Cavaliers.

Everything was done to better serve LeBron and the Cleveland fans.

Everyone firmly believed that LeBron would bring a bright future to Cleveland.

However, the trust of the fans needed to be continually earned and solidified with performances and results.

Originally, LeBron’s team had planned for him to win "Rookie of the Year" in the first year, becoming the standout of the ’03 class; the second year to join the All-Star starters, proving LeBron was among the top ten in NBA popularity; the third year, after LeBron had fully developed and the management had bolstered the team during the summer league, the Cavaliers would leap to become a powerhouse in the Eastern Conference; and then, in the fourth year, win the championship—followed by not just one, not two, not three or four...

For the "Chosen One," such plans were already moving quite slowly.

But let them take their time, as long as they were solid.

Who had anticipated that the first year’s "Rookie of the Year" would be won in a stumbling fashion, and the second year didn’t even meet the "established goals."

Now they could only hope that the league’s coaches would elect LeBron as an Eastern All-Star reserve.

By rights, LeBron’s average of 26 points, 6 rebounds, and 6 assists should have ensured his position.

Yet previously, during the power struggle with Su Wan, LeBron had been relegated to being a "high school student needing guidance," and lately Su Wan had pointed out that though LeBron James had impressive personal statistics, the Cavaliers had not made it to the Eastern Conference playoffs, which also cast a shadow on LeBron’s prospect of entering the Eastern All-Star reserve.

The Goodman Brothers knew they needed Nike’s backing to exert some influence, and they had been communicating with Nike’s representatives about this matter recently.

If you asked LeBron whom he least wanted to see recently, Su Wan would be at the top of the list.

However, in the first game of February, he was to face Su Wan.

The media also hyped up this game to the maximum.

This was Su Wan’s first confrontation with his former team after leaving the Cavaliers and his first on-court encounter with LeBron as an opponent.

Various rumors and discord had made their conversations a focal point full of spectacle.

The fans felt like they were watching a rehash of the "OK" duo.

Before the game, when Su Wan was interviewed by the media about his feelings on facing LeBron, he said, "For me, it’s just a regular-season game, at most to see if that high school kid has the ability to fend for himself now."

His answer was full of sarcasm.

But the media was used to it and didn’t think it was a fault.

Su Wan’s charismatic personality made them subconsciously overlook that trait.

This was quite common in sports circles, especially in the predominantly black NBA.

Setting aside basketball, Michael Jordan was just a hot-tempered, controlling, disrespectful to teammates, irresponsible father, but his accomplishments on the court made him a representative of American blacks, radiant in front of the media;

Kobe, aside from his "Mamba mentality," couldn’t keep his zipper up, was petty, had low EQ, held grudges—if you encountered such a person in real life, most would choose to stay away;

LeBron, even more, was duplicitous, an extreme "self-serving businessman," liked to manipulate teammates, set up facades he believed in, treated useful people with constant allusions to brotherhood, but discarded and unfollowed those who ceased to be of use on Twitter;

Yet, these people had their own die-hard fans.

The reason lay in their incomparable brilliance on the court. (Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, you can’t say LeBron isn’t a radiant King in Bronny’s eyes.)

Compared to them, Su Wan’s bad temper and sharp tongue were minor faults.

LeBron also consistently maintained his media persona: "I’m looking forward to meeting Su on the court, I miss our days as teammates, it was a great experience, and I’m glad to see he has adjusted quickly to his days with the Pacers."

Erin was among the reporters interviewing him, she asked, "What do you have to say about Su becoming an All-Star starter?"

LeBron almost slipped up, and after a brief silence, he uttered the short words: "...Congratulations to him!"

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