Chapter 660: Chapter 473: Passing Master (Combined)_2 Chapter 660: Chapter 473: Passing Master (Combined)_2 Joe Dumars inexplicably believed that Rodney Stuckey was the hope for a revitalized Detroit, and Jason Maxiell had a 50% chance of becoming the next Ben Wallace of the 2010s, with a 30% chance of surpassing Big Ben. Then, Dumars, considering Stuckey and Big Ben’s lack of experience, broke the bank to bring in Ben Gordon, and re-signed the wandering Big Ben.

In other words, Stuckey was to try and be the core player alongside a major player, whereas Maxiell clearly had an 80% chance of becoming, or even surpassing, Big Ben, but Dumars still wanted him to learn how to play basketball by Big Ben’s side.

Sports observers always question why geniuses cannot fulfill their talents, but they cannot explain why some seemingly genius general managers prove themselves geniuses and then become miraculously foolish within a few years.

It’s like the director of “Ming Dynasty” somehow managing to produce crap like “Martial Movement.”

However, the upside was that the Pistons were gradually becoming the team Fei remembered.

Mediocre, terrible, always the same.

Yet, as terrible as they were, they gave the Supersonics a tough fight.

In the first half, the Pistons maintained their traditional, tough style and, relying on defense, tied with the Supersonics, 48-48.

ESPN’s Jeff Van Gundy remarked, “The last time the Supersonics scored 48 in a half was back in 2008.”

More glaring than the 48 points at the half was Fei’s 22 points.

This wasn’t to say that Fei’s performance meant the Supersonics were in trouble, but that despite having many scorers, they constantly forced their ace to create opportunities when facing a mediocre team.

George Karl saw the limitations in Roy.

Or rather, it wasn’t Roy’s limitation; it was the limitation of having only one basketball in a game.

With Fei’s ball rights already maximized, satisfying young players’ desires without marginalizing proactive players like Bosh was a challenge.

If Roy were a player like Kidd, maybe the problem could have been solved.

Bosh is not known for his non-aggressiveness for nothing.

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Kidd could go without shooting a single shot, focusing on feeding his teammates, but Roy, as a top combo guard in the league, couldn’t completely erase that tendency. The premise of performing his duties as a point guard was that he was still a threat on offense, or else his organizing ability would be an idle fancy.

Roy couldn’t stop shooting and couldn’t just ignore those who were dissatisfied, so he kept passing the ball to Fei.

That essentially shifted the problem onto Fei.

However, Durant and others dared to ask Roy for the ball, but they didn’t have the courage to put the same pressure on Fei.

So Fei kept attacking, the Pistons stuck to man-to-man defense, even if they were getting blown out.

This led to the situation in the first half.

Fei played impressively, but the Supersonics didn’t exhibit a multidimensional offensive system.

“Brandon, as our organizer, do you only know to pass the ball to the best player on the floor?” Fei asked in the locker room, “If so, your job is way too easy!”

Roy complained, “Every time I get the ball, two or three guys rush me for it, who should I give it to? Of course, I can only give it to you!”

“Brandon, it’s not that I must have the ball,” Bosh explained.

Durant hesitated.

No one wanted the ball more than he did.

After intense training over the summer, he felt he had taken his game to a new level, although he was dominated by Fei in the team scrimmages; he believed it was mainly because the scrimmage intensity was higher than in official games.

In scrimmages, Fei could freely use foul moves without anyone calling him on them, but who would do that to him in official games?

No matter what, he was a rising star the league was promoting.

“You hear that? Chris isn’t as fond of ball rights as you think; we’ve both played on the national team; you should know what kind of player Chris is!” Fei turned to Durant, “Kevin, do you have any problems?”

Durant’s issue was that he wanted to average 20 shots per game.

But he couldn’t make that demand in a world where Fei was averaging 18 shots per game.

So, he had to lower his demands; 20 shots were too many, maybe 18 would be okay?

“Of course, I have no problems,” Kevin Durant said, which he thought was the right thing to say at the moment.

Fei laughed and asked Roy, “You hear that, passing master?”

Roy, teased by Fei, was infuriated, “OK, let’s play by tactics in the second half, and whoever the tactic is on, it’s theirs!”

Kwame Brown burst out laughing.

“Kwame, what are you laughing at?” Roy looked at him discontentedly.

Brown said, “I said the same thing last month when I was coaching a bunch of middle schoolers.”

Then it was Fei’s turn to burst out laughing.

“Enough!” Roy shouted, “I’ve had enough of you assholes!”

This was the best locker room atmosphere Karl could have imagined.

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He was surprised that the Supersonics could still maintain such an internal atmosphere.

The propaganda of “Only Empire” hadn’t shredded the Supersonics as the observers had predicted, at least not yet.

The problems of the first half had been forcefully solved by Fei in the locker room.

His way of solving it wasn’t to blame Bosh and Durant but to retreat strategically, allowing them to express themselves voluntarily, thereby easing Roy’s burden.

Brown’s joke further set the tone of the atmosphere; Karl truly wondered if he had coordinated this with Fei beforehand, as it was too well-matched.