Chapter 432: I hate loneliness

Although the NBA season has ended, the marketing around Yu Fei has only just begun.

In the first week of July, Sports Illustrated predicted that Yu Fei would surpass Michael Phelps, Tiger Woods, Tom Brady and others as the Athlete of the Year.

Jack McCallum previewed his autobiography of Yu Fei, which will be published next summer, with a long article "Running Wild with Frye Yu."

The souvenirs sold by Supersonic in connection with Yu Fei are the best-selling items in the sports world.

Sponsors followed.

Even Hollywood directors want to rub off on his limelight and want to arrange a face-showing role for him in their own movies.

"I don't have time, I still have a big mission in Las Vegas."

Just a few days after Yu Fei clarified to gossip reporters that he was about to enter Hollywood, the paparazzi at the casino first photographed him having an intimate relationship with a Canadian actress named Rachelle Lefevre.

"We're still getting to know each other," Rachel said. ”

This seems to imply that they could move on to the next step at any time.

A week later, Yu Fei and the well-known star Diora Baird (Diora Baird) entered the hotel together and were photographed by the paparazzi.

"This is my private matter, and I have no comment."

Regarding the fact that he spent the night with Diola, Yu Fei responded like this.

"Is Frye's so-called big mission to change a girlfriend every day in the casino?"

The media banter was not met with any response.

A few days later, SuperSonics announced that they had agreed to a three-year contract extension with Yu Fei and Kwame Brown.

Both Yu Fei and Brown's new contracts have a detail, and that is the final year option for the player.

That meant they could become free agents again in the summer of 2010.

But Yu Fei did this just to seek flexibility, and Brown really rejected a five-year, $40 million contract and signed a three-year, $21 million big middle contract.

Although he lost a little salary, Brown and Yu Fei got too close.

In order to get close to Yu Fei, some sponsors will take the initiative to curry favor with Brown, so as to open up a channel to contact Yu Fei.

Brown has a number of sponsorship contracts through Yu Fei's connections, and his endorsement fee income alone has exceeded his salary for playing.

Therefore, he knows very well how important it is to be bound to Yu Fei for his career.

Of course, all this is with the acquiescence of Yu Fei.

Yu Fei's stay in Seattle caused some waves in the basketball world, but it was not surprising. However, the media still sang the praises of his loyalty to his hometown.

Now, his name is literally everywhere.

The entertainment version has him, and the serious version has him.

On the field, he is the ultimate winner of invincibility, came to the national team, and is a recognized leader, and formed the "Night Hi League" with Anthony, but although they go to nightclubs together, Anthony and they are only entwined with flesh and blood, and Yu Fei is entangled not only by Hollywood stars, but by celebrities of peach magazines.

Anthony said with envy: "You can only know how true the saying that there is a class gap between stars can you know that there is a class gap between celebrities." I don't think I'm worse than anyone else, but in the eyes of others, Dafei is a hundred times more attractive than me. ”

Yu Fei's presence and influence have the rest of the U.S. team have to adapt to their new role — a shrouded support role.

Old K said that the Dream Team doesn't have a core, but that's wrong.

Yu Fei is the core.

Bryant had wanted to continue the fight for the Western Conference Finals in Las Vegas, but he didn't have many helpers on his own.

Yu Fei's position has become more and more stable and unshakable.

This left Bryant with a single-minded focus on training.

When Yu Fei and they went to the nightclub to have fun, Kobe Bryant practiced alone, but this kind of bitter days seemed to have no end, and it would not change the status quo.

Then, LeBron James, who was far away in Cleveland, extended an invitation to Kobe.

In Croatia, James has a bicycle manufacturing company under his name, and in order to promote the company, he holds a bicycle marathon in the city every year, and invites many NBA players for this purpose.

This year, he invited Kobe Bryant, as Nike wanted.

This is a place where Kobe Bryant can take a break from his troubles, and he directly asked Lao K for two days off.

Old K agreed.

The contact between James and Kobe Bryant symbolizes that Nike's marketing strategy of "the king does not see the king" has been changed.

In the past, because Kobe Bryant and James were both very popular, in order to prevent the two sides from clashing in popularity, Nike would not only oppose the two in terms of hype, but also lead fans to attack each other.

However, after Yu Fei's success, the fan market was unified, and now basketball fans are only divided into Yu Fei's fans and other fans.

Seeing that James's popularity is getting farther and farther away, Nike can only change its strategy, since the individual can't compare, just compare the quantity, and through the superposition of popularity, it can also generate enough fans to confront Yu Fei.

When Kobe Bryant came, there was a bunch of things going on around James.

He has commercials to shoot and co-authored an autobiography of his high school years with Buzz Bissinger, a writer contracted to Vanity Fair.

The autobiographies of sports stars have always followed the same pattern, with writers interviewing a large number of relevant people and taking so-called first-hand accounts and incorporating them into books.

Bryant's arrival gave Bissinger an unusual perspective.

Bissinger wanted to know what James looked like in Kobe's eyes.

"Great people." Kobe Bryant actually doesn't know much about James, "Needless to say. ”

Bisinger also tried interviewing Jan's mother. But although Zhan's mother agreed in front of her son, she was very uncooperative during the interview and could not provide valuable clues at all.

As James happily rode his bike with Kobe Bryant in downtown Cleveland, Bissinger had a picture in his head.

The greatest No. 23 and No. 24 in basketball at the moment have come together, and if they join forces, can they fight against the one-of-a-kind No. 44?

But when you think about it, it's almost impossible for this to happen.

James is a self-proclaimed king, which shows that he wants to be the protagonist wherever he goes. In fact, in the eyes of the writers represented by Bissinger, this is exactly why James broke off with his dear big brother En.

A king cannot prostrate forever at the feet of the Chosen One.

If this is the plan of the Chosen One, then the fight will be bloody.

And what about Kobe? He is the most famous "venomous snake" of our time. When a person is complacent with the nickname Black Mamba, you know that he is not easy to get along with. In fact, everyone with common sense knows that Kobe Bryant will stay in the big man position until he retires. This is the honor he earned by personally forcing O'Neill away.

Of course, if someone wants to believe that Kobe Bryant forced O'Neal away not to be the boss, but because he couldn't get used to the other party's style, that's okay. However, as long as he is a normal person, he should know that Kobe Bryant forced O'Neal away at the cost of disrepute, and finally sat in that position for himself, rather than kneeling down and licking the king's shoes a few years later.

Just as James and Kobe Bryant were happily pedaling their bikes, the famous "Four Horsemen" around James also came.

Maverick Carter, Randy Meems, and Rich Paul.

They are the closest people in the world other than James's mother, wife and children.

If Bissinger wants to write a convincing history of James' high school upbringing, they are the ones he can't miss.

"You know, even without our help, LeBron would have succeeded, there's no doubt about that, but do you know why we're still here?" Marverick Carter, the eldest of the Four Horsemen, said, "Because LeBron hates loneliness." ”

It was an answer that shocked Bissinger.

It exposes some of James' weaknesses and explains many of James' behaviors.

Bissinger looked back at James, who had already ridden far away.

He must really want to have a good helper like Kobe Bryant by his side, like the help that the Four Cavaliers give off the court.

Bissinger suddenly remembered the current Cavaliers.

It's James' one-man team, the Cavaliers' signings haven't helped in any way, and five years later, LeBron is still fighting alone.

For Cleveland, the king's judgment is imminent.

The 2008-09 season will be James' contract year.

Will he leave?

Before today, Bissinger didn't know the answer.

But now, he had a definite answer in his mind.

Las Vegas, Marriott Hotel

Yu Fei sat on the bed shirtless, looking at the woman in front of him who was gradually getting dressed.

"You don't seem happy with me."

The woman said.

"No, I'm just a little bored."

Yu Fei replied.

"Bored?" The other party sneered, "After I forgive you for going behind my back to Bichi of Peach Magazine, you said you were bored?" ”

"Rachel, you know I didn't mean that."

The woman asked, "How can you not get bored?" ”

"When it's time to play." To be exact, when the opponent is completely defeated, even if there is only one person prostrate in front of him, Yu Fei will not feel bored. "It's good, though, I mean, it's a great night."

After a while, she left, and Yu Fei's mind flew out of the sky again, as if the woman named Rachel Lefèvre had never been here.

(End of chapter)