Chapter 153 The Arrival of Chris Paul

If Su Feng remembered correctly, in his original timeline, James and Paul had met during their high school years.

However, Su Feng couldn't recall exactly which year they became buddies.

After all, Su Feng's brain wasn't a supercomputer; he couldn't remember everything.

Well...

Except for Kobe's taunts!

And Stephen Curry's rebellious remarks from those years.

As well as the acts of disrespect from Pierce and others...

See!

That was how magnanimous Su Feng was. He not only never held grudges but was also generous to others.

At the Iron House, after asking James, Su Feng learned that he and Paul had met at an interstate high school all-star game.

As everyone knew, American high school basketball leagues were organized by state. However, to promote interaction among these geniuses, all-star invitationals were held between states every year.

It was at one of these all-star invitationals that James and Paul became acquainted.

As a result, upon learning that James could go to Toronto every summer to receive special training from Su Feng, Paul was extremely envious and jealous.

Because even though they were both high school students, why was it that James could find the current number one player in the NBA to be his sparring partner?

And as a high EQ monster raised under Su Feng's influence...

James, sensing that Paul would definitely be extraordinary in the future, how could he possibly watch his good brother suffer from hunger and cold?

Therefore, after obtaining Su Feng's approval, James brought Paul to Toronto this time.

But...

Su Feng welcomed Paul's arrival, but...

Why did Paul have a look of disappointment on his face from the moment he walked in?

Hey, Chris, open your eyes and take a good look!

At this moment, standing in front of you...

Was the strongest perimeter player in the NBA for the past five hundred years and the next five hundred years!

"Steve Nash... isn't here?" Paul asked James with some regret, looking up at him.

At this moment...

Su Feng, who had originally planned to hold back a bit against Paul, had already decided to ruthlessly beat him during the one-on-one session later.

"What? You... you're willing to coach me one-on-one?"

On the court, Paul said, flattered, looking at Su Feng, who had suddenly issued a one-on-one invitation to him.

And at this moment...

Enjoying the feeling of seniority once again, Su Feng patted Paul on the shoulder and said, "Yes, LeBron mentioned you to me, Chris.

Come on! Let me see what level a future NBA superstar point guard is at right now!"

Hearing this, Paul glanced gratefully at James on the court. Encouraged by Su Feng, he prepared to receive Su Feng's guidance carefully, just like a student.

However...

You're too young, Chris!

Back then, Su Feng used about 30% of his strength to beat the 12-year-old James. So now, against the 16-year-old Chris Paul...

Su Feng naturally used his full strength.

On the court, because Su Feng wanted to fully enjoy bullying... ah, no, to have ample time to coach Paul, he and Paul were playing "one-ball" rules, where both two-pointers and three-pointers only counted as one point.

In addition, there was no upper limit to their score. This one-on-one session would be stopped by Su Feng.

As a result...

1-0, 2-0... 7-0, 8-0... 21-0, 22-0...

It wasn't until Su Feng scored his 35th point that Paul finally made his first shot on the court.

And that shot was deliberately let in by Su Feng so that he would still have the courage to fight him...

There was no choice. The 16-year-old Paul hadn't fully developed physically yet, so even if his skills were good, he couldn't use them against Su Feng.

"Too strong! Is this the current number one player in the NBA?"

However, Paul was indeed a tough guy.

Because even though he couldn't defend against Su Feng, he never gave up on his defense while going one-on-one with Su Feng.

Moreover, even...

He would use some "black tech" that only professional players would use to harass Su Feng.

It was just a pity that the gap between Paul and Su Feng's strength was too great at this time. In the end, after the score reached 59-1, Su Feng decisively called a stop to the game.

"Chris, you have to work hard!

Back then, when I went one-on-one with the 12-year-old LeBron, he had the same score against me."

After the one-on-one session, Su Feng didn't forget to encourage Paul as a senior who was good at understanding rookies.

At this time, James, who was happily filming Su Feng's game, was instantly petrified on the spot.

No...

Great "the.king," why are you bringing up those old stories from so long ago?

"Then... um, senior, what areas do you think I need to improve?" Paul looked up at Su Feng and asked earnestly.

And now...

Su Feng suddenly felt that his behavior just now was a bit inhumane...

However, after only feeling guilty for 0.1 seconds, Su Feng, who had originally wanted to use the system's ability values to check Paul's current abilities, quickly lost his composure.

Because...

Why were Paul's passing, vision, ball-handling, and dribbling attributes so high at the age of 16?

Although in the system, Paul's abilities hadn't yet been converted into NBA-level abilities...

But...

For Su Feng, his heart was truly pierced by the system just now.

"Well, let's leave that to the professional trainers.

Trust me, after this summer, when you return to your school, you'll feel that your previous opponents are not worth mentioning." Su Feng smiled, patting Paul on the shoulder.

Because James and Paul were still growing at this time, Mancias and others were designing training programs that focused more on strengthening their basic skills.

And it was worth mentioning that...

Looking at James, whose basic skills far exceeded those of his peers in this life...

Su Feng always felt that when Anthony's Oak Hill Academy and James had that famous "genius duel" in the future...

Wasn't 'Melo going to get ambushed by this James, who was half a year younger than him?

Oh!

Poor "Sweet Melon."

It couldn't be blamed on James for not playing fair.

If you had to blame someone, you'd have to blame Su Feng for running into James at the 1997 Cleveland All-Star Game.

Therefore...

Go blame God, Carmelo!

After all, as the saying goes in the beautiful country, it was all God's guidance!

...

In July, while Su Feng was happily playing with Yao, Carter, James, Paul, and others...

In San Antonio, as Su Feng had predicted, the Spurs were indeed preparing to trade Billups.

As the future big brother that even "Social Melo" would respect, it was clear that Popovich no longer wanted to coach this "flounder" who always liked to cause trouble off the court.

However, what made Popovich feel disheartened again was...

When he was preparing to trade Billups, there were very few teams interested in him.

In Su Feng's previous life, if it weren't for his personality and his unwillingness to pad his stats, Billups wouldn't have been earning a mid-level contract while playing for the Pistons.

So, reluctantly, because he didn't want the pile of chips that the Pistons had sent him, Popovich had no choice but to pull in the Hawks for a three-way trade.

In this trade, the Spurs would send Billups to the Pistons, while the Pistons would send Anfernee Hardaway and Chucky Atkins to the Hawks.

As for the Spurs, after this trade, they would get Dikembe Mutombo, the "African Mountain," from the Hawks.

Looking at this three-way trade, all three teams could be said to be getting what they wanted.

The Pistons valued Billups' leadership on the court.

The Hawks, on the other hand, wanted Mutombo to be able to strive upward during the final peak of his career. So, with a touch of humanity, they took on "Penny"'s bad contract and acquired a good starting point guard.

But...

Looking at the current Spurs...

Honestly, even if Mutombo still had the ambition of an old horse in the stable, he would probably only be able to experience the playoffs.

Of course, the one with the hardest life was Popovich.

Because Parker was gone, Duncan was also gone...

Who could Popovich count on after Robinson retired?

At the end of July, NBA free agents successively signed with their favorite teams.

Compared to previous years, there weren't many big fish in this year's free agent market.

And what was different from Su Feng's memory was that since his departure from Miami, because Riley had planned for the future of the Heat in advance, Eddie Jones, whose contract with the Lakers had expired, hadn't been recruited by Riley.

After all, at this moment, clearing the team's salary cap had become Riley's number one task.

In the end, this "Lakers Son," who had won a championship with O'Neal last season, accepted a contract from the Grizzlies with a total term of 5 years and a total value of 50 million.

This contract was slightly smaller than the one in Su Feng's memory, but considering that Jones had a ring in hand in this life, it was hard to say whether Jones had lost or gained.

After getting Jones...

The Grizzlies...

Were really going to rise in Su Feng's eyes.

Because Jones' arrival could not only give the Grizzlies the experience they lacked most, but also the wing duo of him and Battier, could you say that their defensive ability wasn't top-notch?

The only pity was that after 9/11, "Baron" Davis would be ostracized because of his image.

Therefore, even if the Grizzlies played well, they would only be villains in the eyes of neutral fans.

Also, in July, a major event happened internationally.

That was:

Beijing's Olympic bid was successful.

Since then, the people of the Rabbit family had been completely immersed in a sea of joy.

It was a pity that the joys and sorrows between people were destined not to be shared.

Because on September 11th of this year...

The famous "9/11" incident happened.

On the morning of September 11, 2001, two hijacked civilian airliners crashed into the North Tower and South Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City, respectively.

The two buildings collapsed one after another after being attacked, and the World Trade Center and the remaining 5 buildings were also collapsed and damaged by the shock.

In addition, at about 9 o'clock, another hijacked plane crashed into the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

After the "9/11" incident, as in Su Feng's memory, American shareholders began to panic sell stocks, causing the stock market to plummet.

Within a week, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the NASDAQ Composite Index, and the S&P 500 Index fell by 14.3%, 16.1%, and 11.6%, respectively, for a total loss of 1.4 trillion US dollars.

Although the US government then injected a large amount of funds into the stock market...

However, after reopening on September 17, panic selling was still unavoidable, and major stock indexes continued to fall to their lowest point in three years.

For the NBA, the outbreak of the "9/11" incident also made North American fans, who had been happily discussing the new season, begin to care more about their own lives.

At this critical moment, on September 25...

After a brief meeting with Stern...

Michael Jordan officially announced that he would give up all his shares in the Wizards and instead sign a two-year contract with the Wizards, officially making his comeback.

Previously, many American fans who thought Jordan shouldn't come back also turned into simps at this time.

Because for American fans who were severely frustrated at this time, Jordan's comeback was more effective than the words of their politicians.

In addition, after the outbreak of the "9/11" incident, McGrady and Kobe, who had been traveling in Europe, immediately returned to the country.

All Raptors players, including Su Feng and others, also received a notice to reduce unnecessary gatherings.

"So, the question now is...

Since the beautiful country has not experienced such a critical moment, why would they be so anti-intellectual in the future?"

To be honest, Su Feng felt that even if he had lived in North America for so many years, he hadn't fully understood the values of the people in the beautiful country.

In short, the "9/11" incident had a profound impact on the entire United States.

Stern, who had been fantasizing about the hot scenes of the NBA next season...

Could only accept this magical reality.

...

At the end of September, the NBA teams began to assemble one after another.

To ensure that the new season could proceed smoothly, each team upgraded the security of their arenas to varying degrees before the start of the new season.

At this time...

Su Feng, who hadn't been harassed by Britney for the past three months, realized that this girl was sulking with herself...

This day, looking at a picture that Britney's best friend, Lily, had sent to him online, Su Feng almost spat out a mouthful of old blood from his chest.

It turned out that the photo of him running into Shen Shiyu in Miami had been taken by a small New York tabloid and hyped up with this as the headline.

But...

The influence of this tabloid was really limited, so how could Su Feng, who was far away in Toronto, know that Britney was so resourceful?

But...

If Su Feng remembered correctly, he and Shen Shiyu had only exchanged contact information at the time, so this Britney...

"Sure enough, all the women in the world are jealous."

This day, after learning the truth from Lily, Su Feng smiled wryly.

But you couldn't say that maybe it was because he had been preconceived that this girl was too silly when he ran into Shen Shiyu before, but as a result, when he looked at the photo this time, Su Feng actually thought Shen Shiyu was quite good-looking.

In Toronto, as the Raptors also entered the preparation stage for the new season, the Iron House was officially disbanded.

Paul and James returned to their respective schools to continue their studies.

Yao returned to Philadelphia to reunite with the Philadelphia gang.

At this time, after a summer of hard training, Su Feng and Carter both felt that their current strength was at least twice that of last season.

Without Britney's interference, Su Feng had made rapid progress over the past summer.

In addition to increasing the two key attributes of dribbling and ball control from 84 to 86, Su Feng's current fancy dribbling ability value had also reached a terrifying 88.

In terms of passing, Su Feng had made a qualitative leap.

First of all, in terms of vision, Su Feng's vision ability value had skyrocketed from 73 to the current 78.

In addition, Su Feng had also increased his passing and fancy passing ability values by 2 points each!

And most importantly, after increasing his weight to 108 kilograms, through Mancias and Grover's devil training, Su Feng had also successfully maintained his speed rating at 95.

In Grover's words...

The current Su Feng was so outrageously strong!

"Except for passing and dribbling, I have nothing else to teach him." Grover said with emotion at the end of Su Feng's devil training.

"I'm really looking forward to the breakthroughs he trained in the summer, because I've been against his passing from the very beginning..."

And aside, Mancias, who had originally wanted to follow in Grover's footsteps and summarize the results of Su Feng's special training in the summer, immediately shut his mouth obediently after noticing the look Su Feng gave him.

"I think you're all too harsh.

In my opinion, Su's current passing ability is no weaker than Steve's." And aside, Frazier, who had always known how to read the room, suddenly said.

And now...

Su Feng was comfortable.

Because it wasn't that he couldn't hear the truth...

But some truths, because he knew them himself, he didn't want to hear them.

Therefore, Frazier, who knew Su Feng's character well, was just saying a "big truth" according to Su Feng's wishes.

...

In September, in addition to the NBA teams starting to sound the assembly call, Wang Zhizhi and Battier also brought good news from the Asian Championships, leading the Chinese men's basketball team.

This year, under the premise that the Rabbit family retained three mushroom bombs, the men's basketball team was still cutting vegetables like melons on the Asian arena.

On the one hand, after winning an Olympic medal, the mentality of this men's basketball team had changed greatly.

On the other hand, it was because the Asian teams at this time were really not good enough to watch.

In Su Feng's memory, if it weren't for the Busan Asian Games next year being blown into the "Black Mountain Asian Games" by the Koreans...

Then even if the Koreans were more accurate, it would be difficult for them to reverse the Chinese men's basketball team in that Asian Games.

And it was worth mentioning that Zhu Fangyu, a young player who was promoted from the national youth team by the men's basketball coach Zhang Bin this time, became famous in this Asian Championship.

At that time, in the group match between the Chinese men's basketball team and Lebanon, Zhu Fangyu was like he was in no man's land. After charging in and out seven times, he used a set of "Zhu Ba Boxing" to directly beat the opposite Lebanese team to "turn enemies into friends."

In October, the Raptors and Barkley officially reached a two-year minimum salary renewal agreement.

Old Curry also renewed with the team for two years.

In addition, in August of this year, the Raptors also completed an early renewal with the team's star player Carter.

Although Carter had been suffering from injuries in the second half of last season...

But after recovering from his injury, Carter's overall performance wasn't bad, coupled with his popularity second only to Su Feng, so the Raptors offered him a five-year, $63 million early renewal contract this time.

According to regulations, starting from the 02/03 season, Carter's renewal contract would be officially included in the Raptors' salary cap.

And by then, based on the Raptors' current salary structure, to maintain the existing lineup, the Raptors would have to spend at least about 20 million in luxury tax.

For Raptors owner Chad, Su Feng knew that it would be an unbearable pain for him.

Therefore, Su Feng had already made a contingency plan for this.

After all, before his contract with the Raptors expired, Su Feng didn't want the Raptors' lineup depth to decline, which would lead to him being killed by O'Neal in the game.

In short, in the 01/02 season, the Raptors could still enjoy the benefits of Carter's rookie contract.

After that, in the last year of his Raptors career, if Chad was unwilling to pay this money for himself, then Su Feng might have to start his "Decision One" early.

In October, after the Raptors completed their assembly, Su Feng also signed Parker to his company.

However, because Parker wasn't worthy of having his own signature shoes at this time, he was just a spokesperson.

After experiencing the failure of last season, Su Feng found that the overall state of the Raptors players was significantly better than last year when they assembled this year.

Little O'Neal, who had fully recovered from the torment of Jones' fracture, was so fierce in training that Su Feng couldn't describe it in words.

In this life, Little O'Neal, who had developed a three-point range, was originally stronger than Su Feng's previous life in terms of functionality, and now, after accumulating nearly a year of anger, where was his previous silly look?

In Su Feng's opinion, he was completely worthy of the name Iron-Blooded Bubble Dragon.

As for Nash?

Su Feng didn't need to worry about "Nash" even more.

Nash mainly improved his shooting speed over the past summer.

Old Curry, who had grown up taking care of children, also had an outrageously accurate open shot percentage during the team's joint training.

Only Barkley...

Just when everyone else on the team was busy finding chemistry...

To help him lose weight quickly, the Raptors' assistant coaches had no choice but to bring out the treadmill that he had used last year.

And it was worth mentioning that the Raptors' coaching staff also suffered a poaching this summer.

After learning from Davis for two years, Rivers, who had received an invitation from the Pistons, would become the Pistons' head coach in the new season.

As for the Suns...

Because Skiles had a conflict with the Suns' owner in the summer, after asking McGrady's opinion, the Suns decisively poached D'Antoni.

Got it...

Now, Davis' former "Hidden Dragon" and "Phoenix Chick," Jason and Rick, had to return to their old jobs.

In addition, many unemployed coaches also got new jobs this summer.

Van Gundy, who was thinking about how to argue with people online, received an invitation from the Grizzlies.

As soon as he arrived in Memphis, Van Gundy felt the world's love for him...

Because Jones and Battier were both his favorite defensive players, plus the Grizzlies had Gasol, a versatile big man...

Not blowing it up, if he, Van Gundy, couldn't lead the Grizzlies into the playoffs in the 01/02 season...

Then he would run to Los Angeles and bite off O'Neal's head and chew it!

Larry Brown, who had been whitewashed by Su Feng, received an invitation from the New York Knicks.

As a team that had been showing crazy favor to Su Feng since last season, no one knew if James Dolan's head had been kicked by a donkey or if he was a donkey's head himself...

You might not believe it, but Dolan's reason for offering Larry Brown a sky-high annual salary and inviting him to join the team was that he believed that this way, the Knicks would become the most attractive team for Su Feng in the future.

Because in his eyes, after Su Feng and Larry Brown reconciled, Su Feng had expressed his desire to cooperate with Larry Brown on several public occasions...

So...

This wave, you could only blame Dolan for not understanding Su Feng's subtext.

As soon as he arrived in New York, Larry Brown started his first training class with a straight face.

Alan Houston, who had just escaped from Van Gundy's clutches, was in trouble this time...

Because on the first day of the team's assembly, he was told by Larry Brown that he had to reduce his shots outside the three-point line to do well here in Brown.

"Is this the legendary world line convergence? Houston is destined to be the 'Mid-Range King'?"

This day, after learning about Houston's recent situation from his mole in New York, Su Feng sighed silently.

But anyway, with the current Knicks lineup, letting Brown do whatever he wanted, there was still a certain hope of making the playoffs.

Therefore...

Come on, Larry!

To be able to play against you in the Olympics in the future, do you know how many lies I've been telling against my conscience this past year?

According to the schedule, the NBA's new season preseason would start on October 17.

This day, Su Feng, who hadn't contacted Kobe for the whole summer, suddenly received a call from Kobe from Los Angeles.

"Hello, is this the phone of Su Feng, who was eliminated by the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals last season?"

Seriously...

If it weren't for the fact that he had forgotten this guy's 23rd birthday this year, Su Feng really wanted to hang up the phone directly.

"Yes, that's right, I'm Su Feng!

So, may I ask, are you Kobe, who didn't even make the All-Defensive First Team last season?" On the phone, Su Feng directly countered Kobe, enduring the resentment in his heart.

And now...

Kobe suddenly felt that if they really hurt each other, it seemed that he was really not Su Feng's opponent right now.

Therefore, after adjusting his tone, Kobe said to Su Feng: "Okay, I don't have any other purpose for calling this time...

I just want to ask you, are you ready to be crushed by the great Kobe Bryant in the new season?"

"Oh? Are you talking about Kobe Bryant, who is still Shaq O'Neal's little brother?

Sorry, as the head of the Raptors, I only want to talk to the person in charge of your team." Su Feng smiled on the phone.

Kobe: "..."

Little brother?

You're the little brother!

Your whole family are little brothers!

And so, this mutual harm competition between good brothers ended with Su Feng breaking Kobe's defense with a critical hit.

In Los Angeles.

For the Lakers, who had just won the championship last season, the whole team was still immersed in the joy of successfully winning the championship last season.

Especially O'Neal.

When he hadn't won the championship last year, O'Neal could still control his mouth and move his legs...

But as soon as he won the championship this year, he couldn't help it in the summer.

Phil Jackson also adopted a one-eye-open, one-eye-closed approach to this.

After all, the new season was about to start...

He couldn't force O'Neal to do a wave of surprise training, and then before the new season started, he would have to wait for the news of O'Neal's season-ending injury, right?

But...

Although Jackson's operation was to protect O'Neal, in Kobe's opinion, it wasn't the same thing.

Because usually, O'Neal and Kidd had a better relationship in the team...

So after talking to Su Feng on the phone yesterday, Kobe always felt that he was being isolated in the Lakers team.

And as a fanatic...

What Kobe couldn't stand the most was someone slacking off on the training ground.

"Jason, aren't you going to practice a little more?"

This day, looking at Kidd, who was about to slip away as soon as he arrived, Kobe asked.

"No, my right foot hasn't healed yet, so I'll stop here today.

And Kobe, don't practice too hard, in case you get injured, the new season is about to start."

Looking back at Kobe, Kidd smiled.

Originally, Kidd's good-intentioned reminder was a good starting point...

But in Kobe's ears, it was a completely different matter.

Because in Kobe's eyes, this Kidd just felt that he had caught O'Neal's thigh, so he wanted to take the opportunity to slack off.

And O'Neal...

As the leader of the Lakers, he didn't come to training as much as possible...

What was this all about?

But fortunately, in this life, after being in contact with Su Feng for a long time, Kobe had also become slightly more rounded.

Therefore, usually, the team atmosphere of the Lakers was still okay.

However...

Dark thunder had already been buried, just waiting for the time node for it to explode.

To better control the team, Jackson played his hand again before the start of the new season.

First, after telling the other Lakers players not to oppose O'Neal on the court, he turned around and told the other Lakers players that they were not allowed to oppose Kobe on the court.

And then, he emphasized again that the other players of the Lakers could not oppose Kidd either.

So now the question was.

In the event that O'Neal, Kobe, and Kidd disagreed, who would the Lakers players listen to?

Alas...

The answer was naturally that after saying a bunch of nonsense, the Lakers players would definitely have to find Jackson at that time!

And once there was a problem between O'Neal and Kobe, Kidd, would the Lakers players have to rely on Jackson to mediate?

In Su Feng's previous life, Jackson's management model, while successfully helping OK win three championships, actually promoted the contradiction between OK invisibly.

After all, the gifts of fate had already been marked with prices in the dark.

In this world, there was no such thing as a perfect art of controlling people.

For the head coach, if you can't control a team, then this team will eventually get out of control, and at that time, you will lose your original role.

But, on some issues, especially in handling the relationship between OK, Jackson's approach was indeed too simple and even not very authentic...

On the Raptors side, in contrast, Davis was now more like a mascot in most cases.

In October, at the team's media open day, when asked how the Raptors would arrange the lineup and what tactics they would adopt in the new season...

Davis, with a face full of fat, said happily at the time: "Actually, I don't know either."

Hearing this, the reporters at the scene immediately felt like they had been screwed over.

Because as the head coach of the Raptors, and the publicly recognized "famous coach of a generation," how could you say that you don't know?

But, how could these reporters know that Davis was just telling the truth...

"It doesn't matter to me what kind of tactics we will play and what kind of lineup we will arrange.

Because as long as the players are happy on the court."

Looking at a group of stunned reporters, Davis added.

On the other side, Su Feng, who was taking core group photos with Ben, Carter, Nash, Little O'Neal, and other four "second in command" players, said in an interview:

"I think Coach John is right, as long as we are happy on the court."

Reporters: "..."

No, are you going to learn from the Hawks and play "happy basketball"?

Uh...

Sorry, this happy basketball is not that "happy basketball."

It was because the Raptors players had felt the strength of their teammates during the joint training before, so...

In the new season, everyone just wanted to happily complete the revenge on the other 28 teams in the NBA.

Look out, trash fish!

Your Raptors were back!

The Raptors' 15-man roster for the 01/02 season was as follows:

Center: Ben, Collins, Spandiinia, Marx.

Power Forward: Little O'Neal, Barkley, Croen.

Small Forward: Su Feng, Jackson.

Shooting Guard: Carter, Old Curry, Williams.

Point Guard: Nash, Parker, Yarich.

...

ps: The first update of 8700 words is here! Continue to beg for double monthly tickets!

In addition, from now until January 7, every 1500 starting coins of rewards will also be counted as one monthly ticket, and during the double period, it will be two monthly tickets, so, are there any readers who want Qiao to promise herself to you? Chu Mi!