Chapter 595: Chapter 429 The Top Privileged Player on the Ground Chapter 595: Chapter 429 The Top Privileged Player on the Ground In every corner of Seattle, from First Avenue to Fifth Avenue, from Pioneer Square to Belltown and Cherry Hill, fans were jubilant. In Pioneer Square, crowds flooded the streets, hugging each other, high-fiving, and even clinking beer cans together to celebrate. Alcohol flowed down the streets, and everyone’s faces were alight with smiles. A local auto parts chain store spent $50,000 to print full-color posters that read “Seattle SuperSonics — NBA World Champions” and hired a truck to distribute these in the chaos, hoping to reach as many people as possible.

Mayor Greg Nichols officially declared June 18th as SuperSonics Day.

Many elderly veteran SuperSonics fans said, “I never thought I’d live to see the day the SuperSonics won the championship again.”

When these old folks were interviewed on the street, they did not display the frivolity of those excited young people; they were extraordinarily serious and solemn.

But considering what Seattle had been through in the past year, it wasn’t hard to understand.

Less than a year ago, the SuperSonics had lost the city’s hearts, and it seemed the team could relocate at any time. The most famous basketball team in the Pacific Northwest was about to turn into a basketball wasteland; professional basketball in Seattle was dead.

Since the turn of the century, the situation for the SuperSonics had worsened, with years of mismanagement and the instability of franchise ownership causing a continuous loss of local popularity. These old fans had actually braced themselves for the possibility that the team might leave.

One diehard fan named Joe Kennedy claimed Yu Fei had once given him three SuperSonics souvenirs, and during the interview, he showcased his season ticket and Bob Rule’s jersey.

“It’s been twenty years since the last championship. In those twenty years, I’ve renewed my season ticket every year. Even though we’ve had some bright moments, more often, what I’ve experienced was disappointment rather than hope. My family once didn’t understand why I kept supporting a team that couldn’t bring me joy. But now, they understand. I just wanted to see the shadow of that 1979 team reappear. Now, they have finally done it, and this team is even greater than the 1979 SuperSonics,” Kennedy finally got excited at this moment, “because they defeated The Celtics, Bill Russell’s team!”

Then Kennedy’s son appeared, followed by his grandson, with three generations of the family all wearing SuperSonics jerseys.

Like the other fans on the streets, they were choked up with excitement.

John Davis, a columnist from The Seattle Times, walked into a bar called “Fraser’s” to celebrate the victory with a group of overjoyed SuperSonics fans. He had several celebratory drinks, accepted about twenty-five invitations from strangers to drink together, and had a series of exhilarating conversations with everyone in the bar. The conversations all revolved around “Can you believe it?” No one really knew what to say; they were too overwhelmed with emotion.

This kind of conversation was happening everywhere in Seattle’s streets and alleys.

“Are you a world champion?”

“I am a world champion!”

“Baby, we are world champions!”

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At noon the next day, the SuperSonics returned to Seattle.

And of course, there was a long line of fans waiting to greet them at the airport.

The players of the SuperSonics looked tired because they had celebrated the night away in Boston.

Many people had stayed up all night.

In the end, it was Yu Fei who stepped forward to accept the fans’ enthusiasm.

The Seattle media swarmed in.

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

The Seattle media fired the first shot hailing Yu Fei as the “GOAT.”

The media asked a few routine questions.

The most important being the issue of Yu Fei’s contract renewal.

Last summer, to ensure flexibility, Yu Fei signed a 1+1 two-year contract with the SuperSonics. He could opt out of the contract this summer.

“No matter how my contract is handled, I will eventually stay,” Yu Fei reassured the media and the fans, “Some say, a true king never abandons his kingdom. But I am not a king, I am just a person returning home. Over this past year, I’ve found that I’m more homesick than I thought, so everyone please be assured, there will be no problem with the renewal. No matter how much money the boss offers me, I will sign the contract.”

Yu Fei’s statement excited the Seattle media immensely; they knew what his promise to stay meant.

As long as Yu Fei was there, the SuperSonics would be a favorite to contend for the championship.

With Roy and Durant to help him, they would be major contenders in professional basketball for the next decade.

What followed was massive marketing and promotion.

The Seattle Times insisted on recognizing Yu Fei as the GOAT, starting a debate with the Chicago Tribune, a battlefield without gunpowder, but that’s a story for another time.

Before the grand celebration of the SuperSonics’ championship began, there was important business to attend to — preparing for the 2008 NBA Draft.

The SuperSonics had finished the season ranked third in the league, so they held the 28th pick in the first round and the 28th pick in the second round.

Although the 2008 NBA Draft was considered deep, finding a useful talent at these pick positions would need not only vision but good luck as well.

As soon as the season ended, Presti was buried in work.

Even though the team had a sweet ending to the season, Presti felt the weight on his shoulders was heavier.

Yu Fei and Kwame Brown both needed to renew their contracts.

Josh Childress’s rookie contract was expiring, and he was resolute in his desire for a big contract.

The next season would be Shawn Marion’s contract year.

Considering that Roy was about to enter his third season and Durant would need a second contract in the future, if the SuperSonics didn’t want to explode their salary space, they had to be very cautious with every step.

Presti had set his sights on Syracuse University’s freshman center Donte Greene for their first-round pick.

Although this man was seven feet tall, he was thin and liked to shoot. In his first year at Syracuse University in the NCAA, he averaged 17 points and 7 rebounds per game, with a three-point shooting percentage of 35%. However, since the three-point line in college games is shorter, his three-point shooting ability would definitely be discounted in the NBA.

But, Channing Frye was about to enter his fourth season.

Championships can cover up all problems, but the reality is, they also bring about all sorts of problems.

Everyone felt they had contributed to the championship, so they would ask for more money in their next contract.

This was the case for Childress, and Frye would be no exception.

Considering the possibility of not being able to retain Frye in the future, having a backup center who could also shoot threes was a viable option.

That was Presti’s thought.

He wasn’t worried about Green’s level.

Because he believed in Fei’s ability to lead the frontcourt. If Big Fei could convince people that Kwame Brown was a top-tier center in the league–to the point where Brown actually made it onto the Dream Team–then would there be any problem with him mentoring Donte Greene like he did with Frye?

Presti wasn’t in the mindset of picking out the best prospects now; he was trying to identify and fill the gaps.

Even though he trusted Fei, he was still not completely at ease with this decision.

Suddenly, he remembered some rumors.

There were always whispers in the league that the Bucks’ rapid rise after the disastruous fight at The Palace of Auburn Hills was because Fei had played a significant role in the draft work.

Some reporters close to Fei even solemnly claimed that Kevin Martin and Danny Granger were both drafted at Fei’s insistence.

Presti couldn’t help but wonder, should he listen to Fei’s advice?

The idea seemed absurd to him.

When it came to drafting talent, not to be arrogant, but Presti truly felt he had no rivals in the league.

He had once staked his future on convincing the Spurs to select Tony Parker, ultimately establishing his reputation as a managerial genius.

And now he was contemplating consulting a player’s opinion?

No, if he went to ask Fei, it would seem unprofessional of him, and more importantly, it would set a terrible precedent within the team, making it seem as if he were merely Fei’s puppet, just like the Bucks’ management, utterly lacking the capability and qualification to make independent decisions.

Just as Presti was preparing to take a closer look at Donte Greene, Fei proactively made the call.

Presti thought that he was on vacation and probably not in the mood to worry about the team’s draft.

But he was wrong.

Fei was very concerned about it.

“Sam, have you settled on a draft target?”

Presti naturally responded, “Not yet, do you have any good recommendations?”

“I do.”

Presti’s eyelid twitched at that. Here it came, the world’s number one privileged player, waving the privilege of “you must listen to me, or start looking for another job.”

“Let’s hear it.”

“DeAndre Jordan from Texas A&M University,” Fei said. “He is the most physically gifted player in this draft class. If we can acquire him, our frontcourt depth will no longer be a problem.”

Presti laughed.

There weren’t many quality centers in this draft, one was Brook Lopez, locked into the top ten, and the other was DeAndre Jordan. He was a certain lottery pick, not someone that could be reached with the 28th pick in the first round.

At this point, Presti was pretty sure Fei was joking with him.

“Alright, Frye, I’ll send a workout invitation to DeAndre Jordan, although he might find it insulting,” Presti said with a laugh, “since we only have the 28th pick in the first round.”

“Why would that be?”

Fei remembered that DeAndre Jordan was a second-round pick by the Clippers, a missed gem; would he really look down on a 28th first-round pick?

Presti was busy and had no mood for humor with this privileged individual who obviously paid no attention to the draft.

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In his opinion, the less Fei cared about the draft, the better. Not that he feared Fei would make a mess, but he was worried about his own authority as general manager being infringed upon.

So, rather than explaining the confusion to Fei, Presti simply ended the call with “Alright, Frye, I have another call coming in, enjoy your vacation,”
Fei was baffled as he stared at his phone.

Vacation? What vacation? If it weren’t for caring about the draft and having to attend the championship celebration, he would have been off to Las Vegas for Team USA’s training camp already.

Given the SuperSonics’ salary cap space, their competitiveness on the free agent market was limited. If they wanted to strengthen their frontcourt quickly, they couldn’t afford to miss out on DeAndre Jordan.

Fei remained concerned and decided to keep a close watch on the team’s draft before diving into his next major mission.