The moment Yu Fei openly expressed to Jordan that he wanted to seize power, the atmosphere in the locker room was deadly.

No one, including Richard Hamilton, made a sound, and everyone pretended not to hear.

Jordan, on the other hand, just looked at Yu Fei coldly, and then walked away.

There was nothing left between them.

Currently, the Wizards are 29-31 and ninth in the East.

However, there is no win gap between them and the Raptors in eighth place in the East and the Pacers in seventh place in the East, and the record of the three teams is the same, only because of the win-loss relationship, they are ranked ninth.

Before that, the Wizards were still in the top four teams in the East, but after the All-Star Weekend, Yu Fei's flu (which declined slightly after his return) and Jordan's stubborn confrontation after the injury worsened, a lot of playing time, a lot of shots, made the Wizards keep losing, and now they are back to the ranks of those who need to work hard for playoff qualification.

Jordan's season reimbursement freed up a starting spot and more than 38 minutes per game.

Richard Hamilton is the one who has profited the most from this, and he no longer has to play the No. 3 position for Jordan.

Then, Tyrone Nesby, who is Jordan's loyal licker but has been repeatedly sarcastically ridiculed by the former, will also have a much longer appearance.

One of the biggest changes for the Wizards is that Yu Fei has returned from the No. 1 position to the No. 3 position.

This is what he asked for himself.

Although it is cool to control the ball as the No. 1 position, it is also physically exhausting, and now that Jordan is reimbursed, they are free to play fast-paced basketball, so that he can play better at the No. 3 position, because the Wizards have Tyronn Lue in the No. 1 position.

After Jordan was reimbursed, it stands to reason that the boss of the Wizards should be Richard Hamilton.

But everyone knows what Yu Fei said before Jordan left.

Go in peace, and I will finish your unfinished business.

I swear, I'll lead them to the playoffs.

At that point, the team is no longer yours.

So, who will it belong to?

It doesn't belong to Yu Fei, everyone doesn't know, but it certainly doesn't belong to Hamilton, who never dared to disobey Jordan.

This is also the reason for the strange atmosphere between Yu Fei and Hamilton.

Although Doug Collins is worried about Jordan's health, he also has an indescribable relief.

Suddenly, the shackles that had been placed on him were gone.

He seemed to regain the full authority of the manager, and then, just two days later, he knew that his ordeal had just begun.

The opponent in the first game without the Wizards was the Orlando Magic.

The Magic are currently just one win ahead of the Wizards, and if they lose this game, they will drop directly to eighth place in the East, depending on the win-loss relationship.

It can be said that the two sides are real competitors.

Yu Fei blew up Mike Miller and Pat Garriti, but Hamilton was completely crushed by Maddie.

Or rather, Maddie crushed everyone on the Wizards.

Recognized as the best player in the East and the only outside player in the league's top five, Maddy slashed 50 points, 10 rebounds and 3 assists in this game, shooting 66% from the field.

To the world, he is like a young version of Jordan, except that there are not enough helpers.

But what does that matter? Jordan will also struggle to lead the team through the second round until his helpers have grown, and Maddie is young enough that as long as he is patient, the helpers will come sooner or later. Sooner or later.

Yu Fei, who scored 21 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists, found coach Collins after the game: "I think Kwame should be in the starting lineup." ”

Jordan was reimbursed, but does this mean that Yu Fei will become what Collins imagined?

No, Jordan is gone, and he's going to be the new Jordan.

"Kwame isn't ready." That's Collins' rhetoric.

'If we don't get him on the pitch, he's never going to be ready.' Yu Fei said, "We don't have vitality on the inside, and no one can provide enough energy and athleticism like Kwamei. ”

Collins asked rhetorically: "What if he doesn't play well after starting?" ”

"Then he should be allowed to play, only the game can make people grow, he is the champion, why not give him the opportunity to make mistakes on the field?" Now Yu Fei is like a vicious tiger, and Collins does not see the awe of the manager's authority in his face.

This is the man who dared to openly break with Jordan when he was at his strongest, and when Jordan went down with an injury, could Collins expect the young man under 20 to suddenly become an obedient and sensible player?

Collins could only take a step back: "I'll consider your suggestion." ”

This sentence is already a clear indication that he is ready to do this.

But Yu Fei doesn't like this vague statement, he emphasized: "It's not that it's a consideration, it's that we have to do it." ”

Collins looked at Yu Fei and felt weak in his heart.

"No problem," he gave up resistance, "you can do whatever you want." ”

Are you sure? Then I want to organize the retirement ceremony of the dog, can I? Although he was preparing for surgery, I felt that these two things could be done at the same time.

Yu Fei nodded with a smile on his face and said, "You are indeed the most enlightened coach in the whole league. ”

Doug Collins, who feels like the humblest head coach of all time, quipped: "You're also the most disciplined rookie in the league." ”

"Haha, then we are really a golden match!"

Subsequently, the Wizards ushered in their fourth meeting with the Celtics.

Tonight, Kwame Brown was in the starting lineup.

Doug Collins said in his pre-match interview: "Michael's injury has affected us a lot and now we have to try to find other winning strategies and I will look at all combinations and everyone has a chance. ”

In order to make Brown's starting game look worthy of the name, Yu Fei will call Brown out to block every time he gets the ball tonight.

Celtics' center Vitaly Potapanko and power forward Antoine Walker each have their own defensive problems, and pick-and-roll defense is one of their weaknesses.

Brown paid off every time he blocked and picked up.

Yu Fei's leadership began to show.

When Jordan was there, although Yu Fei was at odds with him, he probably had to play around the other party, unless Jordan played very badly and the hit rate was not high, he would completely leave the other party alone.

And now, Jordan is not there, and Yu Fei has become the loudest person on the field.

Richard Hamilton is a player who only knows how to run in attack and doesn't like to play against defense. This kind of person may be a sharp knife on the offensive end, but he can't be a leader on the court.

The so-called leader, either irreplaceable on the offensive end like Iverson, or as intimidating as Ben Wallace on the defensive end, can also dominate the offense and defense like Duncan when he is at the extreme, Hamilton's own quality does not meet the standards of a leader.

He calls himself the leader of the "new master", but after most of the season, the name exists in name only, and the real leader of the young players is Yu Fei.

With Jordan's season reimbursed, Yu Fei is becoming the team's new leader.

Yu Fei fed Brown a series of points by feeding the cake, and loudly corrected Tyronn Lue's habit of being led by Jordan on the court.

Speed itself is Lu's biggest strength, and before joining the Wizards, Collins also convinced Lue that he would play a fast-paced offense with the Wizards. But after Jordan returned, in order to adapt to his game habits, the Wizards were forced to play a slow-paced game.

And Collins is the kind of coach who enjoys coaching point guards on the sidelines, and that outside distraction has had an impact as well.

Coach Lu suddenly came to basketball hell.

When the Celtics hit the iron again and again in the game, and when the Celtics completed the positional battle but did not retreat in time, Yu Fei hoped that the team could seize these opportunities to carry out a fast attack.

And Director Lu has been poisoned by Jordan for too long, as if he has lost this instinct.

So during a timeout, Yu Fei walked up to Coach Lu and said, "Taryn, you should be yourself on the court!" Don't listen to people on the sidelines, know what you can do. Don't slow down, run as fast as you can! Don't let anyone else influence your judgment, now we're going to play our own game, it's time to overthrow the rule of the old man! ”

99 to 91

The Wizards ended a four-game losing streak, and Yu Fei finished with 17 points, 11 rebounds and 14 assists, his sixth triple-double in his rookie season.

And Kwame Brown is undoubtedly the biggest beneficiary of Yu Fei's triple-double.

Half of Yu Fei's assists were fed on Brown.

With 18 points and 6 rebounds, Brown set a new scoring high.

"I have to thank Fulai, I wouldn't have gotten so many points without him! He's my forever brother and we're going to make the playoffs together. ”

So, what about Michael?

"I wish him a long life."

Brown's expression and tone basically expressed his dissatisfaction with Jordan.

Yu Fei really wants to criticize him, how can he express his heart directly to the media?

Take a look at the speeches of the "new leaders".

"We all wish Michael could be here, we really need him." Well, it's time for Collins to put you in a dozen threes, "but you know, we're a young team, and five years later, we're still here, and Michael you know." We all know about it, so, during this time of Michael's absence, we need to grow and we should grow, not just for ourselves, but for the team. ”

If Yu Fei said such a thing, Jordan would be very happy.

But Yu Fei never.

And, no matter how well Hamilton disguised, he still revealed his true thoughts because of the last sentence: "I'm proud that we won [this race] without Michael, we proved ourselves." ”

That night, Yu Fei was absent from the postgame press conference because he was interviewed by ESPN columnist Bill Walton, who is also the NBA's top 50 superstar.

Wharton, who has worked in the media since retiring with the Celtics in the late '80s, stutters and has a strong catchment in the NBA with his exaggerated and flamboyant tropes of the game.

Moreover, Wharton does not ask a lot of questions about Jordan like other reporters.

He knew that Jordan's question was the most important, so he prepared only one and saved it for last.

The question goes something like: "If Michael retires from the sport, do you think the best half of the season with him would be memorable?" ”

"Of course, because everything is memorable, even if you step on a piece of shit on the side of the road today, you will remember it, and we want to make sure we don't make the same mistake again."

Yu Fei replied several sentences, none of which seemed to have substance, but both Wharton and the audience found a problem.

Yu Fei compares Jordan to shit?

Well.

(End of chapter)