Clay Bennett believes he is a lifelong Oklahomanian.

This sentence sounds strange, isn't every Oklahomana a lifelong Oklahomanian?

But it's not the same. As one of the top 40 markets in the country, Oklahomans are not rural, but they certainly can't compare to world-famous cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, and Washington. Those who want to develop better, will always go outside.

Then, once a year, they would come back and eventually die outside, but the epitaph wouldn't necessarily say "From Oklahoma."

Bennett was sure he would die here, just like his family.

Before this summer, the supersonic relocation seemed to be a doomed thing in the industry, but Yu Fei's transfer brought huge suspense, and people were eager to know whether the influence of the current first person could change his life.

Such questions often annoyed Bennett.

It's his team.

He was the one in charge of the "car keys", and the fate of hypersound was decided long before he had it.

But he couldn't refuse Yu Fei, because this was the first person on active duty. SuperSonic's market value increased by 30% after he joined, and once he starts winning, the business value he can bring is uncountable.

This made Bennett willing to convince himself that he didn't want to take the supersonic away, to pretend that he was willing to work with Yu Fei to find a solution to keep the supersonic behind, but when they failed, the tears he shed about it were by no means pretended. He wept over that Oklahoma City would finally have a major league sports team.

Today is a normal day, and Bennett is taking care of his other business.

Suddenly, the assistant said, "Frye is calling. ”

"Is something wrong?" Bennett asked.

"As far as I know, everything is normal." "Frye just came back from China, and our training camp hasn't started yet," the assistant said.

Bennett immediately beckoned and picked up Yu Fei's phone.

To Bennett's surprise, Yu Fei called to get the team to recall Jack Hickma and Lenny Wilkens.

The former is an excellent interior coach and a rare professional for the team, while the latter, despite his age, has been an iconic figure in Seattle basketball.

"Hikma can come back." "But Lenny is older, I mean, he's a little bit old-fashioned. ”

Yu Fei retorted: "Reed Auerbach was the chairman of the Boston Celtics team until his death, and for fans, it doesn't matter if their professional ability is outdated, the important thing is that they are still part of the team. Lenny is a figure who can connect the team with the fans. ”

For Bennett, keeping in touch with the fans is already unnecessary, and it's even less necessary to pay a premium for an old antique for it.

"Fry, we've restructured management." Bennett insisted, "We don't have a good fit for Lenny. ”

Yu Fei insisted on this matter to the end: "The important thing is not where Lenny sits, the important thing is that he can still represent supersound." ”

"I really don't care if this old man can still represent hypersound in the future." Bennett said, "The most important thing for me is the future, Fry, and I want you to replace Lenny as the representative of Seattle basketball." ”

Yu Fei has long been desensitized to this kind of speech and has become the representative of Seattle basketball? It's a matter of time.

But leaving a spot for a respected veteran like Wilkens could keep fans optimistic about the future of the SuperSonics in Seattle.

Only when the supersonic are determined to leave will they sever all ties with the past.

Yu Fei wanted to believe that Bennett made this decision out of the idea of saving money, but now he couldn't help but think elsewhere.

"If I'm going to be the representative of Seattle basketball, I hope I can carry the torch from someone like Lenny."

When Bennett bought the team from Schultz Howard, he joked, "I envy you for not having to deal with someone like Gary Payton." ”

However, the deterioration of relations with Payton is just a microcosm of Schultz's messing up everything at supersonics.

Bennett believes that Payton is definitely better than Yu Fei.

Because Yu Fei does not treat him with the humility of his boss, on the contrary, he faces himself as a collaborator.

In a very short time, Bennett came to grips with the highest law of professional basketball: God says there must be light, and the world must have light.

They want what they want, they don't want to listen to your reasons and excuses, they just want you to cooperate.

Generations of owners have not been accustomed to this since the 1964 NBA All-Star Uprising, which was the foundation of the modern NBA, until Jordan made them a lot of money, and they decided "okay, as long as it makes me money, even if you want to ride on my head, I'll take it with a smile."

Whether this kind of relationship ecology is healthy remains to be tested, because Jordan was very successful in Chicago, and Yu Fei also established a dynasty in Milwaukee, and he came to Seattle with the majesty of the dynasty's founder, threatening to leave the supersonic here, and before he could complete it, he would dominate everything.

Bennett was willing to conform to this law because Yu Fei could bring him substantial benefits, and they still had time, and he could show complete obedience until then.

Jack Hikma? Lenny Wilkens? They can all stay, as long as Yu Fei is happy.

"Okay, I'll get Lenny back." "I'm going to put him back in management, I'm going to make him president of the team and I can put him on the coaching staff if you want." ”

Is God satisfied?

Yu Fei looked relieved, and said in a friendly tone: "Great, I thought you really didn't want the favor of supersonic fans at all." Looks like I misunderstood you, Clay. ”

"The fans are the foundation of the city, so how could I not think about their feelings?" Bennett responded.

"Yes, it's not just about winning but also about building the culture of the team and, most importantly, about the connection between the team and the community."

It's probably one of the most ridiculous things that have ever happened in the NBA.

One player gushed about how to bring the team closer to the local fans.

Community activities are usually the most annoying thing for players, as they spend a lot of time doing a variety of charity acts on behalf of the team.

For themselves, this can certainly increase their own fans, but what difference does it make if they have one more fan or one less fan other than a star player?

Bennett listened absent-mindedly and finally just said, "Okay, I'll let someone do that." ”

A few days later, SuperSonics' preseason training camp began.

This is destined to be a special season.

In addition to Lawson, Kevin Lin and Tim Grover, Yu Fei also had several accompanying writers and film crews.

In Jordan's final season with the Bulls, the NBA entertainment department sent a film crew to accompany the team throughout the season, filming tens of thousands of hours of game footage to prepare for future documentaries.

This year, Yu Fei returned to Seattle in the name of salvation, and although the decision-makers of NBA Entertainment did not know what would happen in the future, the gimmick of the matter was big enough that they sent a film crew again.

In addition to the league's film crew, Yu Fei is accompanied by Jack McCallum, a writer from Sports Illustrated, who has received permission from Yu Fei to publish an autobiography of Yu Fei in the next two years.

In order to facilitate interviews with Yu Fei and the people around him, McCallum applied to join the team, and the supersonic side simply agreed.

These changes make Yu Fei feel like he is living in a drama.

Because there are people around you who are filming, everyone will unconsciously "enter the play". Everyone knows that some people shoot, and their words and deeds may appear in the documentary, so some people began to recite celebrity quotes, and some people deliberately did some stupid things to attract attention.

The most typical is the fourth-year forward Josh Childries on the SuperSonics.

Childis, a 2004 lottery pick, has had a tepid past three seasons and, unlike the rest of the NBA, comes from Stanford, a school that doesn't look like it can produce NBA players.

Coming from the world's top universities, Childis has always regarded himself as a thinker, and he is also a rare young man who dares to challenge Yu Fei.

On the first day of the camp, Childris noticed that the camera crew was always focused on Yu Fei, so he proposed a bullfight to Yu Fei.

"Da Fei, I trained to attack with the ball in the past summer, can you please give me some advice?"

Childis has a retro blast head and looks like someone who has traveled back in time from the 70s.

"What do you want me to do?" Yu Fei asked.

Childis said confidently, "1 against 1." ”

Durant, who was originally absent-minded, suddenly looked at it seriously.

Roy, who was lying on the side and receiving a massage from the trainer, smiled and said, "JC, Da Fei can't release water." ”

"You don't need to put water." Childis said astonishingly, "I'm not going to lose. ”

Yu Fei had no reason to refuse.

The two decided the opening ball by shooting, Yu Fei won without suspense, and Childis's shot looked like a rough version of Sean Marion. The difference is that Marion can score despite his ugly posture, while Childis doesn't look like he can score.

Childis clapped his hands and said, "Da Fei, come on, you may not be able to score on my head!" ”

However, Childres' defense shattered faster than he could on the spot.

Yu Fei took a step back to tear apart his defense, only dribbled to collect the ball, strode into the basket and scored a dunk.

"I don't think so." Yu Fei turned around and just aimed at the camera, "As long as you can prevent a ball, even if I lose." ”

In any case, Yu Fei is glad that there are still young players who dare to challenge him, which shows that he has initially gotten rid of the image of a bad guy.

But this does not affect him to clean up a meal of Childris, after all, there is a film crew on the scene, if he makes a fool of himself in public, is it possible that he will confiscate the film crew's machine?

Well, it doesn't seem impossible.

(End of chapter)

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