Before the training began, one of the suggestions offered by Aidan Strong, a trainer hired by Yu Fei, was to focus on a healthy diet.

"If you want to be a great player, you should say no to all carbonated drinks, fried foods, red meats."

Yu Fei's question was: "What happens if I don't refuse?" ”

"It's hard to train to build a perfect body, and when you reach a certain age, you show a more pronounced decline than your peers."

"How old?"

"About 30 years old." "With the exception of Karl Malone, no one in NBA history has been able to remain at the top of their game beyond the age of 35, and that has to do with Karl's ascetic life," Slante said. ”

In this case, Yu Fei decided to be obedient and try to touch these as little as possible, but it is impossible to completely cut off, he is not a person like Ma Long who is self-disciplined to the point of perversion.

From late July to early September, Yu Fei stayed in the multi-sports complex in D.C.'s affluent neighborhood, where there were other athletes, but none trained as hard as he did.

Yu Fei trains three times a day.

3 hours of training with the ball in the morning, 2 hours of strength training in the afternoon, and continuing with the ball in the evening.

Even the much-criticized three from one big in Chinese sports is nothing more than that.

On the team side, after the draft, management fell into a lull.

Last season, Jordan sent away the highly-paid and incompetent Juwan Howard and Rod Strickland, only to see the Wizards fall into the lottery and get the top pick.

At the moment, the strongest player on the team is Richard Hamilton, followed by Christian Leitner, who was traded back in the Juwan Howard trade.

However, no matter how bad Juwan Howard is, he is not comparable to the current Lightner.

The current roster is not competitive, so can we expect two high school rookies to cash in on their talent as soon as they enter the league?

Or is Jordan confident in his comeback performance?

No one knows why, and after the draft, the Wizards did only one thing — sign Tyronn Lue with a base salary.

Jordan disappeared after the draft.

The outside world doesn't know what he's doing, will he still make a comeback, and has the two ribs broken by Artest changed his comeback plans?

The answer is no.

Breaking two ribs didn't extinguish Jordan's desire to make a comeback, but instead gave him a sense of urgency.

Long before being injured by Artest, Jordan had been secretly training for three months, and this collision forced him to rest for a month.

For a person who has a three-year gap, the result of three months of special training and one month of rest is that the three months of special training are invalid.

Mitsui's ability to become the nation's top shooter after two years of high school abandonment doesn't mean Jordan, who is about to turn 38, will recover in just three months after three years of retirement.

After recovering from a rib injury, Jordan ramped up his workout.

Tim Grover, a veteran trainer who has worked with Jordan for a long time, realized that training at such an intense level of intensity came with many risks.

"Mike, I know you're in a hurry, but now is not the time to be anxious, the more you are like this, the more your body will be unable to bear it, if you suffer from tenosynovitis..."

Jordan didn't want to follow advice, "Leave that alone. ”

Grover and Jordan have been working together for 12 years, and their relationship has long gone beyond the average employer-employee relationship. When Jordan was frustrated in front of the Bad Boys, Grover came up with the famous "Breakfast Club" program to help him build muscle. On the way to help Jordan finish off the bad boy army, Grover is the one who has contributed the most indirectly. Their relationship is so close that Grover can even criticize Jordan to his face – believe me, there are no more than a handful of people in this world who have this right.

Now, Grover finds himself in an awkward position, and he doesn't know how to convince Icarus (1) not to fly too high.

Fast forward to September, and more than two months of hard training allowed Jordan to regain some of his strength and fitness as a player, but his health concerns were unfortunately reported by Grover.

Around mid-August, Jordan developed tenosynovitis in his knee.

As a result, Grover revealed a little bit of information to the outside world and expressed his opinion: "I don't think Mike will be back next season. ”

This made reporters think that Jordan's comeback plan was in vain.

This made Jordan furious, and his own mouthpiece said that he had a little knee problem and that it was uncertain if he would return, but if he did, it would be out of love of basketball.

Grover rarely has a moment when he doesn't understand Jordan at all.

In his opinion, tenosynovitis has blocked Jordan's comeback path, an injury that needs to be recuperated, and this is what Jordan is currently struggling with. If you rest, more than two months of hard training will be in vain, and if you don't rest, tenosynovitis will get worse and worse, and sooner or later it will lead to greater injuries.

Even if Jordan is destined to play a season with tenosynovitis and not suffer a major injury, but you are almost 40 years old after all, can you play well with an uncomfortable knee?

Journalists who like to lick Jordan's ass have quoted the mouthpiece's statement, touting Jordan's love for basketball, as if fans don't know that this is a man who left basketball twice in his prime.

He didn't love basketball that much, at least not as much as he said he did.

What does he love? It is a lofty position as the sole god of American sports. He once thought he was looking for a job of sitting in the office after retirement, but now he found that the control and satisfaction of sitting in the office was no match for the Michael Jordan who was running on the field.

That's the difference between craving someone and getting back to someone, and for Jordan, being president of the Wizards isn't as happy as he's half as a player.

Jordan's assistant Rod Higgins comforted Grover with this: "As long as Mike gets over this, everything will be fine, and there's nothing better than him getting back in the ring." ”

Grover smiled bitterly, and he felt a sense of loss, like watching the Titanic go to sea.

Lost in Jordan's camp is a bad word; Loss carries with it an image of emptiness, implying some kind of despair. Instead, Jordan and his advocacy team are talking about his love — "the love of basketball," which sounds more pleasant, as if he's answering a call rather than escaping the emptiness of the office. Passion gave his return an aura of vocation, with only a slight addiction – what he called a desire to be satisfied.

The pain of tenosynovitis gradually exceeded the limits of the player's reach, and Jordan half-pushed and half-pushed Grover's suggestion to reduce the intensity of training slightly.

Then, in late September, Jordan's agent, David Falck, announced to the world in a simple press release: That man, he's back!

Think about what kind of earthquake happened in the esports world when UZI made his comeback at EDG, and this is Jordan, as a real YYDS, his second return is given a noble value - in order to give Americans who lived through 911 the confidence to face life again.

This is God.

He still stands on the highest vantage point overlooking all beings, and doing anything is cranky, and as long as you don't accidentally think that he is almost 40 years old, you will be full of anticipation for it.

On Sept. 23, Jordan sold his stake in the Wizards, stepped down as president, and signed a contract with the Wizards.

At this time, the Wizards' management and coaching staff are preparing for the upcoming preseason training camp in Wilmington, North Carolina.

When the news of Jordan's comeback broke, Susan O'Marie, who was in charge of the team's marketing and commercial partnerships, flew back to D.C. as soon as Jordan was training at the Verizon Center in his training uniform.

Omarie said to Jordan, who had just stepped down as president, in an unquestioning tone: "Michael, we need to have a big press conference, there are a lot of activities, and the gimmick of 'Jordan's return' will definitely be..."

"I'll hold the press conference myself, so I don't have to worry about it." Jordan said in a nonchalant tone, "As for promoting the team, no, I've done enough. ”

O'Marie frowned and didn't intend to back down, "Every player has a responsibility to promote the team. ”

Jordan asked the Wizards to use his name and image for marketing without charging a penny, and he felt that was enough, and that the Wizards shouldn't expect more, and O'Marie didn't see it that way.

Yes, the 40-year-old blonde white woman, who is still single, only cares about helping Pauline's dwarf earn money.

"Listen, I'll say it one last time, I don't want to do that shit thing!" Jordan raised his voice, "I'm coming back, it's the best commercial, you guys just have to catch that, I'm not going to do anything else." I'm not going to be like a liar to promise the people in Washington big things for the new season, you know how bad we were last season, and if we make a splash and we lose the new season, what will the people who listen to the hype and come to watch the game live? They'll think I'm a liar! I'm telling you, as soon as we start winning, there will be people buying your unsightly merch without publicity, and as soon as we start winning, every home stadium will be full of spectators! ”

At this moment, Susan Omarie recognized reality.

Jordan was not an employee in her mind, and even in Jordan's opinion, he was not an employee, he was Pauline's collaborator.

Pauline wants O'Marie to use his work ability to force Jordan to do some extra work to help the team, but Jordan will define what he will do as a collaborator, and he will not do anything beyond that.

Omarie walked out of the court with a gloomy face, and when she reached the hallway, she violently knocked down the trash can on the side.

Then, the assistant quickly followed, didn't say much, just said for the record: "Maybe someone else can do today's activities." ”

"Who?"

"Frye Yu." The assistant said, "He was unexpectedly popular at D.C. ”

(1) Icarus was the son of Daedalus in Greek mythology, and when he and Daedalus escaped Crete using wings made of wax and feathers, he was buried on an island because he flew too high because the wax on his wings melted by the sun and fell into the water.