Chapter 552: Chapter 390: The Overlooked Life of Shawn Marion

Chapter 390: The Overlooked Life of Shawn Marion

After the All-Star weekend concluded, the NBA experienced its most tumultuous trade deadline since the dawn of the new century.

The Atlanta Hawks acquired Mike Bibby from the Kings Team for a very low price, for this team bristling with Spiderman-like players, getting Bibby meant they finally had a trustworthy point guard.

But if we consider that they had passed over Paul, Deron, and Rondo in successive drafts, this acquisition didn’t seem so wonderful.

Next up were the Lakers Team.

Despite Kobe and Kidd leading the team to the second-best record in the League, a lack of core talent made it hard to believe they could advance further in the playoffs.

Kobe endured the pain of a finger injury to keep playing, not to be eliminated in the second or even the third round of the playoffs.

The Lakers were acutely aware of this.

Therefore, they had to make a big move.

In order to acquire a strong reinforcement while keeping Andrew Bynum, moving Lamar Odom was inevitable.

With Kidd seamlessly integrating into the Triangle Offense, the enigmatic Odom was a luxury the Lakers could hardly afford; he could protect the boards, but could not provide defense. Although he contributed 12-15 points per game, opponents could exploit him as a defensive liability to score even more.

Odom’s praiseworthy rebounding was no longer mentioned in the face of the Lakers’ pressing need to strengthen their frontline.

At this moment, the Bulls wanted to trade Ben Wallace, and the rebuilding Pacers were eager to divest themselves of Jermaine O’Neal.

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Compared to the limited utility of Big Ben, the Lakers management targeted Little O.

Compared to the inconsistent Odom, the slimmed-down O’Neal could play power forward. Although injuries had diminished his athleticism and speed, the Lakers had Kobe and Kidd on the perimeter, the League’s top defensive backcourt.

If Larry Bird had a choice, he would never send Little O to the Lakers.

However, the sad reality of Little O’s declining performance and an astonishing contract that paid him 20 million US dollars annually until the summer of 2009 forced Indiana to make a decision.

After negotiations, both sides finalized the trade.

The Lakers sent Lamar Odom, Ronnie Turiaf, Derek Fisher, and their first-round draft picks for 2009 and 2011 to the Pacers in exchange for Jermaine O’Neal and Jeff Foster.

The trade sent shockwaves through the outside world.

“Sports Guy” Bill Simmons, who idolized Bird and called him “the Basketball Jesus,” wailed in his column: “This is a ‘my mom ran over my dog with the car’ kind of trade! Can you believe it? The Bird legend has become an obstacle for the Celtics to win the championship. How can he help the Lakers? Damn it, how could he help the Lakers?”

Acquiring Little O alone was a significant risk for the Lakers.

Their urgency for a frontcourt player was due to Bynum’s injury, and with Little O’s attendance record in recent years being worrisome, who could guarantee he wouldn’t get injured upon joining the Lakers? But having Jeff Foster changed the situation.

This man was an unassuming, solid blue-collar player who for the last few seasons contributed 5-7 points and 8-9 rebounds per game for the Pacers. Capable of playing both the power forward and center positions, Foster had a tough playing style and a stable personality, making him the type of puzzle-piece player any championship contender needed.

Bird was not initially willing to let go of Foster, but the Lakers’ offer of two additional draft picks changed his mind.

Without selling Bynum, the Lakers significantly enhanced their frontcourt strength at the lowest cost.

The professional basketball circle couldn’t help but admire the Lakers’ operational capabilities. This was the Lakers, a powerhouse in its own right, situated in a metropolis, unlike that clown team from the Eastern Conference’s premier city, constantly engaged in performance art.

Then there were the Cavaliers.

They had already secured their role as the season’s runner-up champions.

When the Kings were looking to trade Mike Bibby, the Cavaliers were the first to inquire, but negotiations fell through due to a lack of bargaining chips.

Then, when the Pacers wanted to trade O’Neal, the Cavaliers expressed interest again.

As a rebuilding team, the Pacers wanted sustainable young players (Turiaf), veterans who could mentor newcomers (Fisher), and immediate contributors with trade value (Odom) — none of which the Cavaliers had or, rather, Pacerson considered valuable — unless they were willing to offer an astonishing number of draft picks. Otherwise, Bird wouldn’t even glance at them.

The Cavaliers didn’t want to go all-in for a semi-washed-up O’Neal, so they accepted the runner-up position again.

Then, James returned from New Orleans.

Although the specifics were unknown, the Cavaliers could feel their Emperor was growing restless; he wanted to see the team do something significant by the deadline.

Thus, the Cavaliers’ next moves were not purely for reinforcement; they needed to do something.

To satisfy James, they orchestrated a massive multi-team trade, sending Drew Gooden, Donyell Marshall, Ira Newble, Shannon Brown, and Rookie Challenge MVP Daniel Gibson in exchange for Ben Wallace, Szczerbiak, and Delonte West.

Acquiring Big Ben, a defender-only player, was a mismatch for James; although Ben was great at catching lobs, James’ playmaking was somewhat counterintuitive–he wasn’t good at (or maybe didn’t like) feeding the ball to the interior; he preferred to rip through the defense and then flick the ball out to the perimeter.

Thus, a player like Big Ben, who disappeared when away from the paint, was a poor fit for James.

However, at least Big Ben had a name.

He was the greatest defender of the new century, and with that alone, he could prove that the Cavaliers’ management had taken action, even if it might not be effective.

What frustrated Yu Fei was that West ended up going to the Cavaliers.

According to Yu Fei’s memory, the “Chosen One” incident occurred in James’s last year with the Cavaliers, which was the summer of 2010, but in this life, James had only re-signed with the Cavaliers until the summer of 2009. Would that malicious rumor still emerge?

All Yu Fei could do was wait, and right now, he didn’t have the leisure to care.

The SuperSonics had completed their final trade before the trade deadline.

Trading Rashard Lewis for Shawn Marion was a move Presti was convinced would take the SuperSonics one step closer to their ultimate goal.

In addition to that, there was the bonus of the Marion trade, Smush Parker.

Yu Fei’s main impression of him came from his time with the Lakers.

Fast speed, decent defense.

That was the intuitive impression Parker left on people. It wasn’t until Yu Fei personally interacted with him that he realized this guy had an unbelievably low basketball IQ.

Having a low basketball IQ isn’t actually scary, what’s terrifying is not realizing you have a low basketball IQ.

When Karl placed Parker and Yu Fei on the same team, Parker would often stubbornly drive to the basket without looking, or lead a fast break without watching his teammates.

Karl called a halt to the game and questioned Parker, “Why don’t you pass the ball?”

“How can I pass if I don’t see anyone?” Parker silenced Karl with one sentence.

He reminded Yu Fei of his former teammate, Teacher Q (Quentin Richardson).

Teacher Q often had issues with over-dribbling on the court. He claimed he was organizing the play, then, with the basketball fans’ dreaded “I, Teacher Q, think the play should go like this” in-the-moment decision, he would mess up the strategy.

However, even though Teacher Q liked to mess things up, his charismatic personality was enough to make him the joker of the Bucks team, so even if he messed up a few plays, his teammates could forgive him.

Parker was like an unlikable Teacher Q.

When he made a mistake, he didn’t think he was wrong; he just thought his teammates did not understand his intentions.

Finally, after Parker ignored Yu Fei following up on a fast break for the third time, the league’s number one player couldn’t tolerate it any longer.

He gestured the universal sign for a timeout and said to Parker, “If you still want to keep playing with me, you better perk up your ears because this is definitely the last time you’re ignoring me!”

“I didn’t see…” Parker protested, feeling wronged. He didn’t understand why someone as important as Yu Fei couldn’t be more understanding.

“And another thing!” Yu Fei snapped, “I better not hear that phrase from you ever again!”

After the practice ended, Yu Fei was still steaming, “Everyone says Kobe is an asshole, but I think the fact that Smush was able to leave Los Angeles unscathed just goes to show that Kobe is a misunderstood good guy.”

“Haha~~” Roy laughed loudly, “For everyone on earth who isn’t a hotel service attendant, Kobe is definitely a good person.”

Roy’s words were a clear jab at Kobe.

The comment successfully amused the whole team, including the SuperSonics’ other new member–Shawn Marion, who was still getting acquainted with the situation.

This was Marion’s first practice with the team, and he was well aware of why the SuperSonics traded for him.

Just as he did in Phoenix.

Defense, rebounding, fast breaks, cutting, catch-and-shoot.

Marion believed he had done all these things to the best of his ability, yet he never received the praise he deserved.

As one of the most important players for the “7 seconds or less” Suns, he was never an All-Star starter, never in the MVP discussion, overshadowed by Nash and Stoudemire. He had top-five league defense, yet never made the All-Defensive Team–the only reason being that the Suns were known for their poor defense, and being the team’s top defender, he definitely shouldn’t have made the All-Defensive Team.

He began to complain.

The Suns heard his complaints and traded him for Shaquille O’Neal, who wouldn’t make the team better but would definitely make the team money.

The Miami Heat never appreciated him; he was informed that he might be going to Seattle before ever participating in the Heat’s infamous tough training sessions.

Seattle?

The stage where Frye demonstrated to the whole world “why I am a savior”? What could he do here? Continue to be overshadowed by a superstar?

When would this neglected situation ever come to an end?

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Now, Marion discovered something even worse.

Yu Fei was putting far more attention on Smush Parker than on him.

It seemed like Yu Fei didn’t even notice him at all.

Nothing had changed; he was still being ignored.

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