Fans rejoiced all over Seattle, from First Avenue to Fifth Avenue, from Pioneer Square to Belltown and Cherry Hill. In Pioneer Square, crowds poured into the streets, hugging each other, high-five each other and even clinking beer cans in celebration. Alcohol was running through the streets, and everyone had a smile on their faces. A local auto parts chain spent $50,000 to print full-color posters that read "Seattle SuperSonics – NBA World Champions" and hired a van to deliver the posters in the chaos in hopes of being seen by more people.

Mayor Greg Nichols has officially established June 18 as Supersonic Day.

Many older veteran supersonic fans said: "I never expected to see the superSonics win the championship again in my lifetime." ”

When interviewed on the streets, these old people do not show frivolity like the excited young people, they are unusually serious and serious.

But it's not hard to understand what Seattle has been like this year.

Less than a year ago, the SuperSonics had lost popularity in Seattle, the team looked likely to move away at any moment, the most famous basketball team in the Great Northwest was about to become a basketball desert, and Seattle's professional basketball was dead.

Since the dawn of the new century, the supersonic situation has deteriorated, with years of poor management and turbulent franchises that have caused the local population to continue to lose. These old men are actually ready for the team to leave.

One of the die-hard fans, Joe Kennedy, claimed that Yu Fei had given him three supersonic memorabilia in which he showed off his season ticket and Bob Ruhr's jersey in the interview.

"It's been 20 years since we last won the title. In those twenty years, I renewed my season pass every year. While we've had some moments of glory, more often than not, I've experienced disappointment rather than hope. My family used to wonder why I should keep supporting a team that didn't bring me joy. But now, they get it. I just want to see a reappearance of that team from 1979. Now, at last, they have appeared, and this team is even greater than the superSonics of 1979. Kennedy finally got excited at the moment, "Because they beat the Celtics, and that's Bill Russell's team!" ”

Subsequently, Kennedy's son appeared, and then his grandson, who wore supersonic jerseys for three generations.

They choked with excitement just like the rest of the fans on the street.

John Davis, a columnist for the Seattle Times, walked into a bar called "Fraser" to celebrate the victory with a group of jubilant supersonic fans. He sipped a few celebratory beers, accepted about 25 invitations from strangers to drink together, and had a series of excited conversations with everyone in the bar, all revolving around "Can you believe this?" "No one really knew what to say, and they all seemed incoherent with excitement.

The streets of Seattle are having conversations like this everywhere.

"You're a world champion?"

"I'm a World Champion!"

"Baby, we're world champions!"

At twelve o'clock the next morning, the SuperSonics returned to Seattle.

Not surprisingly, there was a long queue of fans who were picked up outside the airport.

The SuperSonics players looked tired as they celebrated a bit in Boston last night.

There are a lot of people who stay up late.

In the end, it was Yu Fei, who stood up and accepted the enthusiasm of the fans.

The Seattle-area media rushed to the front.

In just one night, they went from being supporters of Yu Fei to becoming believers.

The first shot of Yu Fei's "GOAT" momentum was fired by the Seattle-area media.

The media asked a few regular questions.

The most important issue is Yu Fei's contract renewal.

Last summer, in order to ensure flexibility, Yu Fei signed a two-year contract with SuperSonics for 1+1. He could jump out of his contract this summer.

"No matter what happens to my contract, I'm going to stay in the end." Yu Fei reassured the media and fans, "Some people say that the real king will not abandon his kingdom. But I'm not a king, I'm just a homecoming. At the end of the year, I found that I was more homesick than I had imagined, so please rest assured that there is no problem with renewing my contract. No matter how much money my boss gives me, I will sign the contract. ”

Yu Fei's statement made the Seattle media very excited, and they certainly knew what it meant for Yu Fei to promise to stay.

As long as there is Yu Fei, supersonic is the favorite to win the championship.

With Roy and Durant in their side, they will be the main contenders for professional basketball for the next decade.

After that, it was a grand marketing and hype.

The Seattle Times insisted that Yu Fei was the GOAT, and for this reason, it launched a debate with the Chicago Tribune.

They still have one important job to do before the SuperSonics' championship celebration begins, and that is to prepare for the 2008 draft.

The SuperSonics finished the season third in the league, so they have a 28th pick in the first round and a 28th pick in the second round.

While the depth of the 2008 draft was good, it took not only vision but also luck to select the available talent in this pick.

As soon as the season ended, Presti was in a state of hustle and bustle.

Obviously, the team's ending was sweet, but Presti felt that the burden on her body was heavier.

Both Yu Fei and Kwame Brown need to renew their contracts.

Josh Childres' rookie contract expires, and he wants a big contract with a resolute and unshakable attitude.

Next season is Sean Marion's contract year.

Considering Roy's upcoming third-year season and Durant's second contract in the future, if the SuperSonics don't want to explode in salary space, then be cautious every step of the way.

Presti has targeted his first-round pick to Syracuse's first-year center Donte Greene C.

Although he is seven feet tall, he is thin and likes to shoot, averaging 17 points and seven rebounds per game in his first year at Syracuse University in the NCAA, while shooting 35 percent from three-point range. Since the three-point line is shorter in college games, this person's outside shooting ability will definitely be reduced in the NBA.

However, Channing Frye is about to make his fourth season.

Champions can cover up all problems, but the essence of the problem is that champions can also bring all problems.

Everyone feels like they've contributed to the championship, so they're asking for more money to their next contract.

That's true of Childis, and so will Channing Frye.

In case Frye can't be left in the future, it's feasible to stock up on a space five that can also shoot threes.

This is Presti's idea.

He's not worried about Green's level.

Because he believes in Yu Fei's ability to bring the inside line. If Big Fly can convince people that Kwame Brown is the league's top interior player — to the point that Brown actually made it to the Dream Team — is there a problem with flying Dent Green like he did with Fly Frye?

Presti is not in the mentality of picking good seedlings now, what he has to do is to check and fill in the gaps.

Although he believed in Yu Fei, he was always at ease with this decision.

Suddenly, he remembered some legend.

There have been rumors in the league that the Bucks were able to rise quickly after a devastating event like the Auburn Hills Palace Brawl because Yu Fei played a major role in the draft.

Some reporters close to Yu Fei even took the trouble to say that Kevin Martin and Danny Granger were all selected by Yu Feili.

Presti couldn't help but wonder, should I listen to Yu Fei's advice?

The idea struck him as ridiculous.

In terms of the draft alone, it's not that Presti is arrogant, he really feels like he has no opponent in the league.

He dared to put his future as a guarantee and let the Spurs select Tony Parker, which eventually established his reputation as a managerial genius.

And now you want to ask the players' opinions?

No, if he asks Yu Fei, it will appear that he is unprofessional, and more importantly, it will set a bad precedent in the team, that is, it will make people think that he is Yu Fei's marionette, just like the management of the Bucks, completely incapable of making decisions on their own.

Just as Presti was about to investigate Dante Green in depth, Yu Fei actually took the initiative to call.

Preston thought he was on vacation right now and shouldn't be in the mood to care about the team's draft.

But he was wrong.

Yu Fei was very concerned about this matter.

"Sam, is the draft target decided?"

Presti went along with the flow and said, "Not yet, do you have any good recommendations?" ”

"I do."

Presti only felt his eyelids jump, and here he came, the number one privileged player on the planet brandished the privilege of "you must listen to me, or you will be ready to change jobs".

"Tell me about it."

"DeAndrew Jordan, Texas A&M University." Yu Fei said: "He is the most physical player in this draft, and if we can get him, our interior depth will no longer be a problem." ”

Presti smiled.

There aren't many high-quality interior players in this draft, one is Brook Lopez, who is locked in the top ten, and the other is DeAndre Jordan. He is destined to be a lottery show, and he is not at all a first-round No. 28 lottery can be touched.

At this point, Presti was basically sure that Yu Fei was joking with herself.

"Okay, Fry, I'll extend a tryout offer to DeAndre Jordan, although he might find it an insult." Presti laughed, "Because we only had the 28th pick in the first round. ”

"How so?"

Yu Fei remembers that Jordan Jr. was selected by the Clippers in the second round, will he not be able to look down on the 28th pick in the first round?

Presti was busy and in no mood to amuse this privileged man who didn't care about the draft at all.

In his opinion, the less Yu Fei cares about the draft, the better. It's not that I'm afraid that he will cause trouble, but I'm worried that my power as a general manager will be encroached upon.

So, without explaining Fei's confusion, Presti ended the call with a sentence of "Okay, Fry, I have a call to come in, I wish you a great holiday," and ended the call.

Yu Fei wondered at his phone.

Holiday? Where do you get the holidays? If he didn't care about the draft and participate in the championship celebration, he would have gone to Las Vegas to participate in the training camp of the American team.

With supersonic salary space, their competitiveness in the free market is limited, and if they want to strengthen the interior in a short period of time, Jordan Jr. is not to be missed.

Yu Fei was relieved and decided to keep an eye on the team's draft before committing to his next major mission.

Thank you for the tips from Feather Blade, Bosstang, Most Water, and Book Friends 20190525002548537

(End of chapter)