Chapter 548: Chapter 386 Riley Really Got Confused

Yu Fei’s 50+ near-triple-double against The Celtics greatly boosted the morale of the SuperSonics, pulling them out of the quagmire caused by the recent outbreak of issues in their interior line.

The day after, back-to-back against the King, Yu Fei dropped 35 points, Roy added 22 points and 11 assists to his account, and Durant snagged 20 points, with the SuperSonics trouncing their opponents by 25 points.

Afterwards, back home facing the up-and-coming Western power Hornets, even though Paul got 30 points and 10 assists, he couldn’t outdo Yu Fei’s 30-point triple-double and Rashard Lewis’s 35 points.

After the game, Lewis said, “If I miss the All-Star game, I will be very disappointed.”

Although Lewis campaigned hard for himself, once fan favor had disappeared, it was very difficult to regain it.

Moreover, as a forward wanting to be selected for the Western All-Star team, his competition included the leading vote-receiver Yu Fei, the popular Anthony, the dominating Duncan and Nowitzki, followed by the likes of Boozer and Marion.

This year, Yu Fei was destined to occupy a starter spot, making the competition even fiercer, thankfully Marion’s relationship with the Suns had hit rock bottom, he wanted to be traded, and the voting enthusiasm of Suns fans was severely impacted.

But still, Lewis had Boozer in front of him.

Boozer was the litmus test for the All-Star game; those who got more votes than him were in, those with fewer were out.

As the number two offensive option for a team in the top four of the West, Lewis nevertheless felt the cold shoulder from fans.

At the end of January, the SuperSonics marched into February on a winning streak, and the League consequently announced the big roster for the 2008 New Orleans All-Star weekend.

In the end, Yu Fei was the only SuperSonics player selected for the Western All-Star team.

Roy, with a total of 540,000 votes, narrowly lost to Paul, while Lewis lost to Boozer by a margin of 100,000 votes.

Suddenly, Lewis was filled with resentment. He didn’t understand why he had only received 400,000 votes while Roy was able to get 540,000 votes in the competitive guard section of the Western conference. If he had that number of votes, he would have made it in.

Why? He worked so hard, even stayed with the SuperSonics to save the team, even if fans doubted his motives, couldn’t they throw a sympathy vote for his decade of service to the SuperSonics?

Lewis’s grievances did not affect the SuperSonics internally, as the presence of Yu Fei suppressed all malevolent thoughts.

However, the impact of PJ Brown’s decision to sign with The Celtics was still spreading.

Even though Yu Fei, with the influence of a superstar, forcefully pulled the SuperSonics out of the pit, if this issue was not resolved, the prospects for the SuperSonics to win the championship were very slim.

If left to a mediocre management, they might have pinned their hopes on the power of a superstar like Yu Fei, but Sam Presti didn’t leave the comforting Spurs management to become that kind of GM.

Yu Fei had completely disrupted Presti’s plans for the team for the next five years.

They had gone from a rebuilding team to a championship contender in just a few months.

Clay Thompson’s original plan was to use Yu Fei to make money, anyway, the SuperSonics were definitely going to move. Yet, in just a few months, Yu Fei had changed Bennett’s mind.

Now Bennett had decided to keep the team, leading to more problems.

Bennett needed to explain to the League. He was supposed to play the role of the villainous owner moving the SuperSonics out of Seattle, so why the change of heart? At the same time, he needed to justify this to his investment partners. Although Bennett was the majority shareholder of the team, more than 40% of the SuperSonics’ shares were still distributed among several businessmen from Oklahoma City.

They were hoping to strengthen their respective brands at home by bringing an NBA team to their hometown. So how could Bennett be so enchanted by Big Fei? Did he really believe he could achieve miracles?

Of course, these were not Presti’s worries, but Bennett’s worries would translate into Presti’s concerns.

For the SuperSonics to resolve their poor management issues since the Schultz Howard era, they needed to deliver convincing results to sway the people of Seattle and ultimately make a profit, convincing the League to keep the team in a profitable large market.

Once the SuperSonics got to that point, the substantial profits would be enough reason for Bennett to persuade his fellow townspeople.

So, how to consolidate the SuperSonics’ results? That was Presti’s job now.

He watched the SuperSonics’ away game against The Celtics, where Yu Fei defended his reputation as the first in the league, conquering the North Shore Garden with absolute dominance.

Presti was willing to stake his fortune on Yu Fei and bet against anyone: give him a championship-level team, and he could win the title.

However, the obvious issue in the SuperSonics’ interior line could not be more apparent.

It was initially thought that PJ Brown’s arrival could alleviate some of the problems, but unexpectedly, Brown, heedless of Gary Payton’s previous example, actually stood up Big Fei.

This was characteristic of older men; they responded to excitement calmly, analyzing pros and cons coolly. Brown didn’t believe that Yu Fei could continue to deliver such performances, The Celtics’ solid strength was still the strongest in the league. And so, he made his choice.

What could Presti do? Being stood up was a common occurrence.

Now, he was considering trading Rashard Lewis.

Especially after the All-Star roster was announced, Lewis openly expressed his discontent. He questioned why the people of Seattle ignored his decade of hard work, preferring to vote for some rising newcomers rather than him?

Was it possible that fans once supported him and then he broke their hearts?

That was in 2005, when Lewis was selected for his only All-Star appearance to date. Since then, his life had been about three things: scoring 20 points per game and then clamoring to leave. He wanted to go to a competitive team, which was understandable. So when Yu Fei arrived, he took the initiative to stay.

But he shouldn’t expect to piece together fan affection in just half a season. Fans’ love was limited; they could give it to Yu Fei, who fought selflessly for his hometown, to Roy, the native son of Seattle, but they wouldn’t give it to Lewis.

Lewis seemed not to understand the situation. Did he really think his past actions that hurt the fans would be forgotten? Or did he think nationality was not important?

Lewis’s reaction made Presti seriously consider trading him.

Moreover, it was the only option to strengthen their inside line.

Only Lewis’s contract could match those big names on the market.

Jermaine O’Neal seemed a shadow of his former self, not to mention his contract was huge, and acquiring Shaquille O’Neal could possibly cost Presti his job, so he wasn’t considered.

Thus, Presti had only two options left: one was Ben Wallace and the other was Shawn Marion.

Presti easily made the decision.

They didn’t need Big Ben.

While Kwame Brown might not have been strong as the starting center, he had excellent chemistry with Fei.

They needed a backup for the center position, not a slightly better-but-still-limited luxury brand over Brown.

If he was going to trade Lewis, Presti hoped to get a starting power forward better suited for the playoffs.

Marion was the best choice within sight.

Although Marion’s outside shooting wasn’t as exceptional as Lewis’s, his spot-up threes and catch-and-shoot were still okay. As a short but robust power forward, Marion was a top-notch off-ball player, with elite finishing ability in the league and also one of the best help defenders since the new century, recently averaging 2 steals and 1.5 blocks per game over four consecutive seasons.

With such a well-experienced playoff player who was versatile on offense and defense, the SuperSonics’ interior defense problems would be resolved.

However, the Suns were not willing to send Marion to a Western competitor.

At the beginning of February, the Suns shockingly traded Marion to Miami, in exchange for Shaquille O’Neal, who had become a negative asset.

The Suns publicly stated they made this trade for a better defender–then they traded the best wing defender in the West for O’Neal who had not been defensively minded for years.

Steve Kerr, the Suns’ general manager at the time, aptly commented on the trade: “If it works, I’m a genius. If it doesn’t, I guess I’m an idiot.”

Presti wasn’t disheartened; he could only turn to Pat Riley.

When Riley received the offer for Marion from the SuperSonics, he was tempted. Since their blowout by the Bucks in 2006, Riley had been wanting to replicate the Bucks’ playing style.

Rashard Lewis was the power forward of that team’s dreams.

Marion? Although good, appeared to be an outdated product in Riley’s eyes, his only purpose being to help the Heat get rid of O’Neal. The Heat needed advanced talents adept at playing a smaller ball game. Marion might have been more suitable as a center in a small-ball lineup, but Riley would prefer that center to be Rashard Lewis.

Now hearing that the SuperSonics were willing to exchange Lewis for Marion, it was only natural for Riley to start negotiating with Presti.

When both sides were keen to push the trade forward, things always happened quickly.

Presti informed Fei when the trade was almost finalized.

Upon hearing the team was trading Lewis, Fei didn’t oppose but asked, “Who will we get?”

“Shawn Marion,” Presti answered truthfully.

Lewis might be the active power forward most suitable for Fei–however, the problem was, in the SuperSonics, he was no longer the main player with the ball. Lewis was setting more screens for Roy in games. This made Lewis feel that Roy’s performance owed half its success to him.

Naturally, his attitude changed when the sophomore All-Star, who rose on his own, got more votes than him.

In this matter, Fei would only stand with Roy, so he was not opposed to Presti’s decision to trade Lewis.

But he did not expect that they could get Marion for Lewis.

“Has Pat Riley gone senile?”

Fei couldn’t help but ask.

“Do you like this trade?”

“I’m ready to say goodbye to Rashard.”

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“Not so fast,” Presti said. “There are still some details we haven’t agreed on, but we’re close.”

Fei bore no resentment towards Lewis, who had always treated him with respect. Moreover, it was for Fei that Lewis had chosen to stay in the first place. However, unlike with the Bucks, Fei only reverted to being the main player when the team was struggling, so Lewis was doomed not to be able to shine as the strongest space-creating power forward of his era alongside Fei.

Perhaps Fei should have been grateful to Presti, who truly lived up to his reputation. He decided to tackle the issue before it escalated, sparing Fei the effort of mending the relationship between Lewis and Roy.

Now, Fei only needed to consider how to say goodbye gracefully.

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