Chapter 701: Chapter 488: They are all right (combined) Chapter 701: Chapter 488: They are all right (combined) The first day of 2010 brought the Supersonics an unpleasant New Year’s gift.

It was discovered that Brandon Roy had a meniscal tear after being examined, and moreover, the knee that was injured this time was not the same one that had undergone ACL surgery in the past.

If there was anything fortunate, it was that the current environment for Roy was better than in his previous life.

In his previous life, Roy had suffered the meniscal tear during the playoffs. He mistakenly believed in the heroic tales of playing through an injury, forgetting that there was only one Willis Reed. Even Reed, after the “Reed’s Return” battle, was never the same again.

Roy opted for conservative treatment and returned to the playoffs eight days later, eventually exacerbating his injury. Both knees had their menisci removed, and by 2012, he had ended his professional career.

Now, Roy was important to the Supersonics.

He was the key to Yu Fei’s transformation.

But was he irreplaceable?

No. Yu Fei’s ability to transition into a traditional all-around small forward didn’t mean he couldn’t revert to his old self during the Bucks period. Now with Roy injured, if he underwent surgery, he was conservatively estimated to need 6-8 weeks to recover. If the recovery didn’t go well, there was even a risk of missing the entire season.

Therefore, starting from the next game, Fei returned to the point guard position.

Naturally, the person who felt happiest about this was Durant.

With Fei playing point guard, Durant could play his favorite position at small forward.

Moreover, Durant felt complicated emotions; he knew that Roy’s injury was a significant weakening of the team’s strength, but on a personal level, the injury had reshuffled the Supersonics’ main rotation.

Sharpshooter Anthony Moro moved up from the bench to the starting lineup, veteran Michael Finley went from backup’s backup to main rotation, and rookie Alonzo Gee, who previously only got garbage time, saw a few more minutes on the court.

This was the “A single whale falls, myriad creatures rise” situation on the basketball court.

An absolute core player’s fall would have his tactical position and playing time devoured by his teammates.

The New Year’s first battle, the Supersonics versus the Bucks.

Fei didn’t seem very aggressive on offense.

It was Durant who could be described as overjoyed.

Durant took over Fei’s former position, repeatedly calling for the ball to attack and finding success with every attempt.

As a historical-level offensive powerhouse, Durant was now showing his potential, and on the Bucks side, Danny Granger dueled with him and was bested.

The inside line of Pau Gasol and LaMarcus Aldridge had the advantage, but whatever edge they created was nullified by the Supersonics’ three-point barrage.

Durant, in his first official game playing small forward, scored 34 points with 5 rebounds.

“I told Brandon that I would get his points too!” Durant told the reporters, “No matter who’s down, the rest of us will fight for them. That’s my mindset!”

Unsurprisingly, Durant spent a few more minutes talking about the mindset of “fighting for teammates.”

It was his standard routine for every game day.

The media always gave him topics to showcase his eloquence.

Durant just needed to repeat those politically correct platitudes to make his image stick in people’s minds.

Fei, on the other hand, didn’t have that same sense of commitment to fighting for his teammates.

When a reporter asked him whether Roy would return for the playoffs, Fei answered, “The doctor told me that if we’re lucky, he could come back in the last month of the regular season.”

The next day, this statement became headline in the Seattle Times: “Frye believes Brandon will return before the playoffs.”

Did they intentionally misinterpret Fei’s words? Not really.

The core of journalism is to spread what journalists believe must be conveyed.

What matters is what they want you to learn from the news.

If they wanted to instill optimism in the Supersonics’ fans through Fei’s comments, then even a benevolent distortion of his words was considered viable.

A few days later, Roy successfully underwent surgery, and Presti’s recruitment of Roy’s replacement arrived belatedly–the Supersonics signed free agent Shaun Livingston.

By then, Livingston had already recovered from one of the most dreadful injuries in NBA history, but many still doubted whether he could withstand the rigors of the NBA.

So he became a journeyman.

Wherever there was an opportunity, he would go there to play basketball.

Did the Supersonics need a guard who could organize and attack? He seemed to fit a bit of both, meeting all the criteria except for not shooting threes.

And so, he came.

However, Livingston’s arrival was not well-timed.

This period was one of Fei’s most emotionally down times in several years.

Roy’s injury had ignited an unspeakable rage in his heart; he might be losing his biggest aide and his best friend in life.

Livingston joined the team at this wrong time, as Roy’s replacement.

Then came the second battle with the Lakers.

Despite being at home, Fei’s emotional state caused his performance to fluctuate.

In the beginning, rage inspired a divine performance.

He was nearly bursting James.

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But when the referees called a few balance-maintaining fouls, that frustration triggered Fei.

He suddenly felt as if the entire world was against him, and he roared at the referees.

That earned him a technical foul.

On the other end, Phil Jackson summed up the failure of the Christmas battle and began to divide up Artest’s responsibilities.

Officially, Artest was still a power forward.