From mid-July to mid-August, Yu Fei has been participating in the filming of "Iron Man 2", however, before filming, he asked Marvel to prepare a court for him, and it is impossible for him not to play for a month.

For Marvel, that's not a problem.

Yu Fei even held a small training camp in addition to filming.

Kwame Brown, Jermaine O'Neal and SuperSonics' second-round pick Alonzo Key have all been added.

Brown also rubbed the light of Yu Fei, and played a passerby with one or two lines in "Iron Man 2".

If the July theme in sports was James' "decisions" and the aftermath of "decisions", in August, basketball returned to the "main line".

In the past year, the theme of the basketball world was "44 VS 23", and now, with Yu Fei winning his sixth championship in seven years, two consecutive championships and four consecutive championships, his top honor has equaled Jordan's.

Yu Fei's mouthpiece, Mark Stein, said bluntly when talking about the GOAT controversy: "Everyone has their own GOAT in their hearts, but for those fans who regard No. 23 as the unshakable first person, Frye is already on par with No. 23 in honor as a basketball player." ”

Sam Smith, a Chicago journalist who wrote "Jordan's Rule" to make Jordan himself break his defenses, took the initiative to stand up against Stein as a member of the traditional forces.

"Is it really comparable, Mark? Yes, both Frye and Michael won six championships in the same decade, but as a player, Michael won more scoring titles and was named to more All-Defensive Team. Their top honors are tial, but as a player, Michael is the better presence on both ends of the floor. ”

Smith looks impartial.

He called Yu Fei "Fry" instead of being a member of Jordan's camp and called him "No. 44" hostilely.

However, the way he defended Jordan exposed the fact that conservative forces preferred Jordan relatively well.

As a media man in his heyday, Stein doesn't back down: "Sam, you're playing a game of 'big cards playing small cards'. The scoring title is just a statistic, and even if Frye doesn't win that many scoring titles, no one will question his scoring ability, and in the playoffs, which symbolizes the highest stage, Frye once scored 71 points in a single game that No. 23 never did. I want to remind you that this broke the record for the 'God Wears No. 23' race, but no one ever said 'God wore No. 44'. It's true that you said the No. 23 was selected more of the All-Defensive Team, but you said the No. 23 was better on both ends of the floor? We'll never know, but I have no qualms about saying that Frye is a more well-rounded player than No. 23, with a landslide lead over No. 23 in triple-doubles per game, rebounds per game, and assists per game. ”

When a topic cannot be conclusively concluded, it needs to be expressed in a different way.

"If the scoring champion is just a statistic, then a triple-double in a single game is just a statistic." Smith responded, "It's not a great statistic, Michael had 10 triple-doubles in 11 games, and he could have hundreds of triple-doubles if he wanted to." That's why Michael was able to beat Frye with the current narrative. He left too many 'possibilities'. He won two consecutive triples in the '90s, but he retired at the expense of his competitiveness. If he hadn't retired, maybe we'd see the Bulls win eight in a row. ”

Smith turned the controversy to story and legend.

Jordan's famous retirement and winning three consecutive championships is also a legend that is talked about.

It has to be said that this is indeed a strong argument.

The 1994 Bulls led the team to the semifinals with Pippen as the core and was regarded by many as Jordan's black spot, but if you think about it differently, if Jordan is still on the team, what are the chances that they will achieve four consecutive championships?

"'Possibility'? Is this what the supporters of number 23 rely on? Stein retorted ruthlessly, "You know what, there's too much chance that the 23rd will stay. If he hadn't made a comeback, Frye's career might have been completely different. If he hadn't traded Frye, he might have retired with seven rings. Frye doesn't need 'ifs', but Frye is good at making people 'if', and that's what a real winner looks like. By the way, the 2000s are not over yet. Six wins in 10 years is the limit of number 23, but not Fry's. ”

The debate between Mark Stein and Sam Smith can be said to be the beginning of the second season of "44 VS 23".

Only this time, Yu Fei has changed from a shaker of the pattern to a real GOAT candidate.

More than 60% of the younger generation think Yu Fei is the GOAT.

If you put it into the whole age group, this debate is infinitely close to five or five.

Reebok was keenly aware of Yu Fei's signs of ascending the throne, so he named the upcoming Chosen One, the ninth generation, "GOAT".

At the same time, it also derived a "SoleImperium" (One Empire) series of sports equipment closely related to Yu Fei around the Chosen One brand, which is also very popular.

Reebok at this time had the Nike mentality of the 90s.

They knew that Yu Fei was changing the status quo, but before Yu Fei took that step, they had to go further.

Last season, Mark Stein came up with the concept of "empire".

This is mainly to compete for the right to define the winning streak of the Yu Fei team.

If the same team wins consecutive championships, it is called a dynasty, what if someone still wins the championship after changing teams?

That's the Empire.

Stein used "SoleImperium" to emphasize Yu Fei's personal authority, aiming to emphasize that the Bucks and SuperSonics won the championship because of Yu Fei's existence.

This greatly weakens the traditional dynastic narrative.

However, this is the same as the propaganda around Jordan back then, that is, the so-called noble will to win on the 23rd, just like the embodiment of the American military myth, Nike desperately promoted Jordan's legend, glorified the violence of the 23rd as a spur on the winner to his teammates, and defined the domineering and arrogance of the superior as a move that must be done in pursuit of victory.

For more than a decade, Nike has developed a dependence on this path.

They have shaped their stars into winners in pursuit of victory, but have elevated their individual status while winning as a team.

It's just that Reebok has gone one step further in this regard.

The concept of "SoleImperium" was born with the aim of emphasizing the individual of Yu Fei and weakening, or even ignoring, the contribution of others to hypersound.

Such marketing and publicity are indeed more aggressive and incendiary than Nike, but in turn, for some of the SuperSonics, their contributions as part of the team are erased.

Men like Kwame Brown would happily be servants of the Empire.

But for 21-year-old Kevin Durant, the situation is much more complicated.

Nike treats James as a scrap number, so they are willing to let Gianco join forces to fight against No. 44 through a 1+1 approach.

But there are deeper expectations for Durant and Nike.

Durant debuted with the title of Yu Fei II, and Nike gave him an endorsement contract second only to James before he entered the NBA. After that, Yu Fei returned to Seattle, which greatly surprised Nike.

Then, Nike will plan to let Durant learn from Yufei's side, and quietly eat away at some of Reebok's popularity, and they deliberately designed a clever character for Durant: the boy next door.

is different from Jordan's tyrant, Yu Fei's monopoly, James's king and Kobe's black mamba image, these characters all have a kind of power to reject others.

However, Durant is different.

He has no tattoos on his body, is friendly to anyone, carries a school bag with him, and speaks beautiful words.

But recently, Nike discovered that instead of encroaching on Reebok's market, Durant has become a foil to Yu Fei.

The Seattlemen will buy Durant's jersey, but if they were given a choice between Yu Fei and Durant, the answer would be quite realistic.

Because Durant is still the No. 3 player for the SuperSonics.

He is not Yu Fei's deputy, he is the person after Yu Fei and Roy.

As the Yu Fei camp began to emphasize the concept of "SoleImperium", the most unbearable thing for Nike happened.

No matter how many championships Supersonic wins, no matter how good his teammates around Yu Fei are, this empire always belongs to Yu Fei alone.

Emotions on Nike's side naturally affected Durant.

So in July, when Bosh waged his tail and reached a verbal agreement with the SuperSonics without engaging with other teams, and James "decided" to follow, Durant tweeted innocently: "Why does everyone want to play in Seattle and Los Angeles now? Let's regain our competitiveness and fight like a real competitor! ”

Kwame Brown, who seems to live on Twitter, quickly replied: "Don't let Chris see this. ”

Then, Yu Fei's poisonous only people were like they had been stepped on their tails.

In their view, Durant is equating Bosh's move to the SuperSonics with James' decision to defect to Los Angeles on public air.

"KD, what crazy are you talking about, it's not the same thing at all!"

"Chris is Frye's brother, they just want to play brother basketball, why are you using such tweets to create internal conflicts?"

"Delete this, boy, you're nothing without 'SoleImperium'!"

Durant wanted to respond to Brown, but then he saw Yu Fei's poison agents educate him with the "SoleImperium" theory.

In his heart, a fire of rebellion was ignited.

He responded to the fan: "What is 'SoleImperium'? ”

"You're also part of the 'SoleImperium', you don't even know what that means? Let me be clear, you're nothing without Fry, Chris just wants to be a part of 'SoleImperium' just like you! ”

Calm down

KD, be calm.

That's what Durant said to himself.

He decided not to respond.

However, for the next ten minutes, the words kept echoing in his mind.

You're nothing without Fry.

This is a great humiliation.

Frye is certainly the most important player for the SuperSonics, but is he nothing? Frye wouldn't have said that himself!

Why did these fans create a so-called "SoleImperium" concept to erase their contributions?

In the end, Durant didn't hold back and responded to the poison again: "You like Frye, I don't ask you to like the rest of our team, but you have to at least respect us." We're also NBA players, and with or without Frye we're all NBA players. What this means is that with or without Frye, I can average 20 points per game in the NBA! ”

Although Durant's words are true, he has already lost from the moment he decides to reason with a poison only (1).

One poison only was responded, and hundreds of poison weiwei stood up.

"Do you think you're better than LeBron?"

"If you weren't a teammate of Frye, you wouldn't even be as good as LeBron!"

"You should feel honored when you have the privilege of following such great people early in your career, but sadly, I don't see the slightest gratitude in you."

Durant was almost set on fire.

Just as his dark souls were about to erupt and prepare to take to Twitter for a battle of words, Sam Presti called.

Presti briefly offered his condolences to Durant and then asked about Twitter.

"It's nothing, I just met a bunch of irrational fans."

This is the current Durant, who has completely entered the role, and even when he is provoked, he only calls Poison Wei an "irrational fan".

Despite Durant's high ground, the advice he received was more difficult to accept than when he was poisoned.

"KD, I know you have no malicious intent, you are a competitor, everyone in our team knows it, however, if this tweet is maliciously interpreted by someone with a heart, it may have a bad impact on you. You'd better delete it. ”

What if it is maliciously interpreted by someone with a heart?

Durant was so angry that there was almost smoke on the top of his head.

There are thousands of people under his push who are doing malicious interpretation.

He just lamented that the NBA world is declining, and even leading stars like James and Bosh have no face to compete for the championship on the fast train, but as a result, fans of No. 44 don't know what stimulated him to bark in his push.

"I can handle it."

Durant is not Yu Fei, and his status on the court is not as good as Roy.

But he knows his true place in the team.

At least in the eyes of the management, he is second only to Yu Fei.

It made him feel like he didn't have to accept every suggestion.

It's his tweets, his tweets, his casual exclamations, why care what some people think?

Shortly after Presti called, Durant's agent, Rob Pelinka, called.

"KD, you just tweeted?"

"Hmm." Durant replied, "I feel some of the phenomena in the league. ”

"Man, you're going to have to delete that tweet."

For some unobstructed reason, Presti and Pelinka's suggestion that he delete Twitter made Durant angrier more than No. 44's poison.

"Why are you all making such a fuss?"

Durant couldn't understand it, he just tweeted without naming names, just wanted to awaken people to the competitive nature of the sports world, but was misinterpreted by a group of people and opposed by those around him.

"KD, it's not a fuss, you've got to delete this tweet before Fry sees it." Pelinka said, "Given where you are, you can't have any conflict with Frye right now. ”

Durant found it hard to breathe.

He knew now why he was so upset.

He had known it all along, but Presti didn't say it and he couldn't verify the conjecture, but Pelinka's words made it clear.

The poison weirs besieged him because the tweet could adversely affect No. 44.

Presti suggested that he delete Twitter because he foresaw something might happen.

Pelinka's direct suggestion suggests that that will happen.

"What does this have to do with Fry?" Durant said dissatisfied, "I didn't mention anyone's name!" ”

Pelinka said sensibly, "You may not realize that you are slightly sarcastic about LeBron and Chris. You know, LeBron is still the main star of Nike, you are colleagues, and you shouldn't fall into the trap at this time. And Chris will be your teammate in the new season. IMHO, he and Frye are much closer than you, they were inseparable during the Olympics, and it's a semi-public fact that Chris will join the supersonics. Your tweets will embarrass Chris. But that's not the worst, the worst thing is that Frye might be upset with you. ”

"What if I don't delete this tweet?"

In recent years, Nike has stepped up its marketing to Durant.

After two consecutive championships with the team, Durant is already a hot star.

Although it is not as divided into the supersonic market as Nike thinks, it is definitely the most popular NBA newcomer at the moment.

Last season, Durant was the SuperSonic's No. 2 scorer.

He goes head-to-head with Yu Fei every day, and although the other party is very harsh on him, this difference just proves that he is special.

Durant never imagined that he would provoke Fei with a random tweet.

"I don't know, KD, maybe nothing will happen, maybe anything will happen." Pelinka advised, "You can't bet that someone like Frye would be forgiving. You know, Shaq O'Neill, Kenyon Martin, Richard Hamilton, they're still paying for the mistakes they made seven or eight years ago. ”

"I'm not going to delete that tweet, Rob." Durant concluded, "I didn't do anything wrong. ”

Durant looked at the computer, and the number of tweets, retweets, and replies to that tweet was increasing every second.

Normally, one of his tweets is only a three-digit tweet at most, but now the number of tweets has reached four figures.

When a person decides to rebel, he is not fearless. In fact, he will also be afraid, but with the psychology of "I'm not wrong".

However, a call from Nike's PR department penetrated Durant's defenses.

"KD, it's taken you two years to prove to the world what kind of person you are, but there's a good chance your efforts will be destroyed by a short tweet. A bad person can do a hundred evil things, but a good person is considered a bad person if he does one evil thing. Nike's publicist said on the phone, "It's not worth it." ”

Is Durant a good guy?

He himself no longer knows.

When Nike asked him to play a good guy from today when he signed the contract, he asked rhetorically, "Don't you think I'm not a good guy?" ”

Nike people say, "You're good, but we need you to take 'good' to a whole new standard." ”

Durant clearly remembers that Nike wanted him to "play".

This shows that Nike doesn't think he's as friendly as he seems.

This tweet is proof of that.

But Nike knew about it, but it didn't want the outside world to know.

Today, NBA stars are already commodities, and they have to be one and the same. They must show the good side to the outside world, so that they can bring goods, so that parents and fans can let their children follow the example of these stinky players.

What could be more appealing to parent fans than the image of a good-natured person?

This is Nike's vision, and they made a good move against Durant.

Therefore, they cannot watch this chess piece explode willfully.

Moreover, Nike seems to know where Durant's sensitive points are, and the reason they asked him to delete the tweet was not for fear of angering Yu Fei, but because of his public image.

That's a reason Durant can't refuse.

After the call, Durant silently deleted the tweet.

Then, he quickly sent a new tweet: "I apologize to everyone who was offended by my unintentional words. ”

What happened today gave Durant a new perspective on the world.

The man who never appeared, relying on influence alone, launched an offensive against him from four directions: fans, management, agents and endorsement companies.

Durant lost without even a single face.

In mid-August, Yu Fei finished filming and started his Asian tour with Reebok's newly signed Stephen Curry and Kwame Brown.

When they arrived in Japan, Yu Fei was treated to an oversized reception.

Japanese reporters asked Yu Fei for his opinion on Durant's Twitter incident.

"I don't have a opinion." Yu Fei said arrogantly, "Every family has a naughty child, and our child is even better, and he has cleaned up the troubles." ”

(1) I feel that there are more straight men watching the ball, and I don't know the meaning of poison Wei, so let's explain it simply: only one person who likes the team, that is, "only" one, and on the basis of only there is "poison".

PS: Today is also one. The main thing is that I recently started to write together, but when I divided the chapters, I fell into a difficult choice, and I didn't know how to divide them, so I simply sent them together.

(End of chapter)

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