The men's basketball competition at the London Olympics ended in a shocking final battle, and the miracle victory of the Chinese team seemed to mean that a new era of Chinese basketball had begun. But as long as anyone who has watched all the games of the Chinese team carefully knows that this cannot be regarded as a victory for Chinese basketball, but only a victory for Ye Feng alone.

In the history of basketball development, a player like Ye Feng can be said to be unique. He is only 24 years old this year, he has already worn two championship rings, and he has won the MVP of the finals for two consecutive years, plus an Olympic gold medal that created the history of Chinese men's basketball, he has become the first Chinese basketball player after Yao Ming.

It's true that he hasn't been named the regular season MVP yet, but with his outstanding performances over the past few seasons, this award will be in his pocket sooner or later. And for him, these personal honors are dispensable, and he cares more about helping the Trailblazers win the championship, or helping the Chinese men's basketball team win the World Championship and Olympic gold medal. Neither the Trailblazers management nor the Chinese Basketball Association will make the decision to give up on him, because he is the guarantee of the championship. Without Ye Feng, neither team would have been able to reach such heights.

……

Time flies, NBA players have changed one after another, many young talents will join in the draft every year, and 30 teams will also make targeted reinforcements every summer, but it has always been the pioneer led by Ye Feng who stands at the top of the league pyramid. His teammates have changed a lot of new faces, and even the management has undergone a lot of personnel changes, but no one will propose to trade Ye Feng, giving up the core of a championship team is a stupid thing that no general manager would do, and owner Paul Allen will not allow the team to trade Ye Feng, no matter what the reason.

Under Ye Feng's leadership, the Trail Blazers have repeated their myth every season, and their nine consecutive championships have also broken the Celtics' seemingly unattainable record that year. At the age of 27, Ye Feng completed the Grand Slam of his career, integrating NBA championships, world championships, Asian championships and Olympic gold medals.

But just when countless fans were expecting Ye Feng to continue to create brilliance, Ye Feng chose to retire bravely when he was just 30 years old and directly announced his retirement. When he released the news to the world, everyone was stunned, and no one knew why he had made such a choice. It stands to reason that Ye Feng is still in the prime of his career, and as long as he is willing, the championship is completely guaranteed.

However, soon Ye Feng posted a handwritten farewell letter entitled "Lonely" on the player forum website, which also made everyone understand why he made such a choice:

"All the fans who like me and support me, all the people who have helped me, all the comrades who have fought side by side with me, I am grateful for your company for so many years, but I must say now that I am leaving ......"

"Basketball has always been one of the most important things in my life, at least one of them, and for me, it's a necessity of life, and I'll never forget my clumsiness when I learned to dribble, my frustration when I practiced shooting, and the sweat and tears I shed when I lost a game. Thankfully, I succeeded, and I can say without humility that I was more successful than the vast majority of basketball players on the planet, because I won almost all the team and individual awards a player could get......"

"The NBA-breaking record nine in a row is mine, and I'm proud of all the Chinese fans and Portland fans, but I don't have much interest in getting to the top of the championship again. To put it mildly, the championship is within reach for me now, and the foundation I laid at the Trail Blazers has given the team management the opportunity to recruit stronger players to play with me every year, even if my teammates are old or unable to regain their former form due to injury, as the defending champions, the Trail Blazers have never been weaker, and even so strong that basically no team can pose a real threat to us. ”

"As for the Chinese men's basketball team, I have helped this team become one of the strongest teams in the world, although it still loses more than wins against the United States, but at least it can stay firmly in the top three positions in the world, such a result has always been unimaginable for Chinese fans, but we did it. Now the atmosphere of basketball in China is very good, there are many talents that even I see, coupled with the continuous reform and improvement of the CUBA and CBA leagues, I believe that one day Chinese basketball can be completely on par with American basketball, but I don't think I can last until then......"

"I've always believed that the fun of basketball is that it's always challenging, and you can keep pushing up the ranks to players and teams that are better than you. But what if you're the one standing at the top of the pyramid? What if your top is empty and you don't have any other goals to challenge? I think this kind of basketball should be lonely, so lonely that I don't want to touch the sport anymore because it would be a blasphemy against my faith. ”

"So I chose to leave, not because I didn't love basketball, on the contrary, I loved it too much to accept that my faith was close to collapsing. I don't have anything in front of me to challenge, and leaving the basketball court that I love so much is my final choice......"

……

More than a decade later, one summer, a middle-aged man walked slowly past a school's basketball court, when suddenly a basketball flew straight towards him. Before the teenagers on the basketball court could remind him, the middle-aged uncle in their eyes suddenly stretched out his hand to grab the basketball, without looking at it, and threw the ball directly into his hand, and the basketball flew into the basket like an eye, arousing an exclamation.

The middle-aged man smiled slightly, took out his mobile phone, dialed a transatlantic phone, and said lightly: "Yes, I'm Ye Feng, that's right, I promise you, I will fly to Los Angeles in mid-August, and we will meet and discuss it when the time comes......" He smiled low and said: "Originally, I wasn't interested, but I suddenly felt that my blood was starting to burn, so leave the position of UCLA head coach to me, and you can help me recruit players in advance......"

Ye Feng put down the phone and looked in the direction of the other side of the ocean, another legend was about to set off......