Chapter 106 A New Era

In September, when Su Feng and the others ended their happy times in Florida and returned to Philadelphia...

Looking at the cover picture of the latest issue of the *Philadelphia Evening News*, Iverson always felt that he had missed out on a billion because of attending a sneaker promotion...

In the cover picture, "Su, Kobe, and Mac" were sitting on a banana boat surfing, the smiles on their faces brighter than the last.

"The league's new generation."

That was the headline of this issue's cover story.

And the *Philadelphia Evening News* reporter in charge of taking this photo never dreamed that in the future, this photo he took would become popular in both China and the United States.

Now, the question arises.

Su Feng, Kobe, Iverson, McGrady...

When did these four players, who would later be known as the "Four Major Shooting Guards" by fans, begin to build their bond?

This photo from the *Philadelphia Evening News* provided the answer.

On September 6th, even though the weather in Philadelphia was clear and sunny, some people vaguely felt that four powerful air currents had appeared above Philadelphia's sky that day...

Honor, status, wealth, do you want them?

If you want them, then come and get them!

Although Michael Jordan had not yet relinquished his throne, the "Great Contention Era" had quietly begun.

In Philadelphia, the Four Major Shooting Guards were competing against each other.

These four young men with different styles, in addition to three of them being able to subdue McGrady, had their own wins and losses against each other.

And in Los Angeles, after eating throughout the summer, Shaquille O'Neal, who was short but powerful, had also begun his own journey on the...

...treadmill.

In Boston, after tutoring Duncan for the last time, the Celtics' legends couldn't help but sigh that this man with a呆萌(dāi méng) expression (endearing or slightly foolish look) and a smile that could conquer the world would take over the league in the future.

In Chicago, Scottie Pippen, who had finished his surgery and was recovering very well, was currently Jordan's most loyal assistant.

And after settling Rodman's续约(xùyuē) (contract renewal), now, the Bulls were only missing the piece of the puzzle that would arrive in the Windy City in five days to officially complete his contract with the Bulls...

According to the agreement with Duffy, Hu Weidong would receive a three-year, 1.5 contract.

And in Salt Lake City, Karl Malone, who had specially hired someone to tutor him for a summer in order to learn how to control his emotions, vowed in his heart that he would never see Stockton "sweating from his eyes" in front of him again.

In Houston, could Hakeem Olajuwon and Clyde Drexler sweep away their past shame?

In New York, Jeff Van Gundy's "New York Thugs" were ready to go.

Miami, Seattle, Minnesota, San Antonio...

If you were to ask what kind of season the 97/98 season would be, the truth was, it would be a season where eight NBA experts would give eight different championship predictions.

In the East, there were the Bulls, Heat, Knicks, 76ers, Hawks, Hornets, Celtics...

In the West, there were the Jazz, Rockets, Lakers, Sonics...

As well as the Spurs, with David Robinson returning, and the Timberwolves, with Kevin Garnett becoming increasingly mature.

Chaos was coming, and a storm was brewing.

…

"Su, see you in the regular season!"

After returning to Philadelphia and freeloading off Su Feng's trainer for another ten days, Kobe was ready to return to Los Angeles.

Compared to a year ago, Kobe, whose hair was getting thicker and thicker, not only had thicker elbows, but was also more convinced that passing was the right thing to do.

And despite the fact that McGrady had been beaten badly throughout the past summer, when he left Philadelphia, Su Feng and Kobe's one-on-ones with him were no longer as easy as they had been three months ago.

As for Su Feng, after the holiday, his final weight was controlled to 98.8 kilograms.

This was his weight after compressing his body fat percentage to below 9%.

In the words of Iverson, who recently liked to use his big elbows to swing on his shoulders, Su Feng's shoulders and chest, especially his butt, were becoming more and more reliable.

Just like that, after saying goodbye to Kobe and Mac, in order to prevent Iverson from making mistakes before the start of the new season, Su Feng was only a little bit away from rolling up his bedding and sleeping in Iverson's villa.

"Su, the new season is about to start. Shouldn't we throw a party to celebrate at a time like this?"

Iverson, who wanted to escape Su Feng's clutches, would always look at Su Feng with his pitiful big eyes and say.

"Allen, have you forgotten that we were only a little bit away from winning the championship last season?"

Su Feng knew that it was impossible to prevent a party animal like Iverson from having parties altogether.

However, with history running off course, what if Iverson was ruined by his "friends" before the start of the regular season? Who could Su Feng reason with then?

It was like you had worked so hard to raise your daughter, but suddenly one day, she brought a boy back to you. Even if that boy was more handsome than Su Feng, you would still feel like your daughter had been taken by a pig.

In short, before the start of the regular season, he, Iverson, shouldn't even think about leaving his sight for more than three seconds.

…

According to the team notice Su Feng received, the 76ers would hold a media day on the 23rd.

However, on the 21st, while Su Feng was working hard with Iverson to practice dribbling, he suddenly received a text message from Pat Croce, the team's boss.

"Did you receive it too?" Su Feng asked, looking at Iverson, who had taken out his phone at almost the same time as him.

"Yeah." Iverson nodded.

Before the start of the new season, in order to allow the 76ers to get through the磨合期(móhéqí) (break-in period) as soon as possible under the leadership of the new coach Larry Brown, Croce, who "didn't understand basketball," thought that he should first arrange a meeting between "Ai Feng" and Brown to get to know each other.

Therefore, Croce set the date for this meeting on the 22nd, exactly one day before the media day.

"I don't want to go..."

Just like Su Feng remembered, as soon as he received the text message from the team's boss, Iverson showed an impatient expression.

In his previous life, when Brown first coached the 76ers, he had been stood up by Iverson many times, and these incidents became one of the pieces of evidence he used to attack Iverson when he later left the 76ers.

But in fact, if you were familiar with Iverson's personality, you would know that this guy didn't have any conflicts with Brown, or was standing up for John Davis or anything like that...

Iverson simply found it troublesome.

The lazy and listless state he was in when he was inducted into the Hall of Fame was an example.

In Iverson's opinion, who "hated trouble," it would be more pleasant to continue teaching Su Feng how to dribble in the training hall than to meet with Brown.

He couldn't even have parties, and he had to be dragged to meetings. Did they really think everyone was like that "183" in the future, who liked to have meetings with people all the time?

There was no way, Su Feng couldn't do anything about Iverson in his spoiled state...

Anyway, he also wanted to test Brown's bottom line. Since Iverson didn't want to go to tomorrow's meeting, Su Feng thought that this was a good opportunity.

…

Just like that, the first round of Su Feng's battle with Brown began.

On the 22nd, Larry Brown, who had specially changed his tie and polished his shoes before going out, never expected that he would wait for "Ai Feng" all day, but he wouldn't be able to see them...

At first, when "Ai Feng" didn't come to the team's general manager's office at the agreed time, Brown wasn't too surprised.

After all, young people were prone to having fun and sleeping in, which Brown thought was a very normal thing.

However, as time passed, no matter how calm Brown's appearance was, he began to murmur in his heart.

And in the afternoon, when Pat Croce, with a helpless expression, told him that Su Feng and Iverson wouldn't be coming today, Brown...

Huh?

Did you think he would be like the characters in general novels, with veins popping out and his hair standing on end in anger?

Wake up, to be fair, Larry Brown had many problems, but if he couldn't even manage his emotions, how could he have been able to忽悠(hūyou) (coax/swindle) so many people into becoming his disciples in Su Feng's previous life?

After smiling at Croce, Brown said, "It's okay, anyway, tomorrow is the media day. Su and Allen want to have one more day of freedom. I can totally understand that."

After pausing, Brown added, "These are two kids who need a mentor to guide them. We shouldn't be too harsh on them."

Look at this kind of person, you want Su Feng to force a trade?

What he would get in return would definitely be Su Feng being misunderstood by the world.

Brown's two sentences, the first one made him seem very gentlemanly, and the second one was a subtle way of telling Croce, look, what has Davis done to these two kids?

After Larry Brown left his general manager's office, even Croce, who had previously felt guilty about Davis, began to think that Berlin伯格(Bólín Bógé) (Berg) was right.

The 76ers...

...would definitely be able to achieve glory under the leadership of Larry Brown!

…

On the other side, after receiving the text message from Pat Croce in the evening, Su Feng slightly raised the corners of his mouth.

Su Feng borrowed Iverson's娇(jiāo) (spoiled) behavior this time in order to test Brown's depth.

And obviously, Su Feng's choice to respond to all changes with the same approach was absolutely correct.

Because he, Larry Brown, was Su Feng's lifelong enemy.

The routines in novels were not applicable in reality.

The labor-management relations in the 90s, the negative public opinion brought about by forcing a trade...

Just like Su Feng had previously chosen to jump onto the bench in the game against the Bulls, it was necessary to be passionate when it was time to be passionate.

But when it was time to be calm, you ran to act tough, wouldn't this kind of routine, which even a水茄(shuǐqié) (a slang term for someone inexperienced or unskilled) couldn't write, be rubbing Brown's IQ on the ground?

In short, since he couldn't change the current situation of Brown coaching the team in the short term, Su Feng's next course of action could be clarified.

He, Su Feng, was also going to embark on the path of being unruly.

As a "humanoid AI encyclopedia," Su Feng was very clear that in the early stages of coaching the 76ers, Brown was Iverson's chief舔狗(tiǎngǒu) (sycophant).

So since he had to play under Brown, why should Su Feng be a low-key and honest Miličić?

Being arrogant and unrestrained was the script Su Feng should take next.

Because the more arrogant you were, the more Larry Brown would have to cower in front of you.

As for the character setting, you might not believe it, but Su Feng had prepared at least 58 of them for himself.

He could just change to another one after one collapsed.

…

On the morning of the 23rd, Su Feng slowly made his way to the team's training hall after adding 500 three-pointers to his practice session in his rented basketball hall.

As the saying goes, if you're going to act, you have to do it all the way. As a "veteran actor," Su Feng wasn't the kind of actor who only knew how to stare.

Because Nike would officially release the first generation of his PS shoes tomorrow, according to the agreement with Nike, Su Feng officially dropped the "Old Rogue" A cone and stepped into the 76ers' training hall in his yet-to-be-released first generation PS shoes in a carefree manner.

At that time, when Ben Wallace, Theo Ratliff, Jerry Stackhouse and others, who were being lectured by Brown, saw Su Feng's "lazy" figure, they were extremely anxious...

Big brother!

It's almost 11 o'clock, and you and Allen are just arriving now?

Oh no, why hasn't Allen arrived yet?

Are you two going to fly to the sky?

Our coach is no longer John, it's Larry Brown!

Stackhouse decided that if it was really impossible later, he would definitely have to make up a reason for Su Feng.

After all, considering that they had fought against the Bulls together last season, Stackhouse felt that he still owed Su Feng a favor.

However, just as Su Feng "sleepily" joined the team's line, Larry Brown's expression was extremely wonderful.

He first pushed his glasses up, then took them off, took out a piece of eyeglass cloth, wiped the lenses, and then put his glasses back on, carefully looking at Su Feng for several minutes.

Thump, thump, thump!

Brown felt his heart beating faster and faster.

Su Feng's perfect figure made Brown feel like he had been struck by an arrow in the chest!

He hurriedly stepped forward, pinching Su Feng's elbow and asking with concern, "Su, didn't you sleep well last night?"

Su Feng yawned and didn't answer.

"It's okay... it's okay, very good... very good!"

To be fair, English was really "profound," because after Brown said "very good" several times in a row, even the 76ers players on the side were confused.

"In the new season, I will arrange more low-post offense for you. I guarantee that you will be stronger than before."

Brown, who was good at using empty promises to deal with young players, promised Su Feng.

And when he noticed that Su Feng wasn't very interested in this suggestion, Brown pondered for a while and said:

"I have consulted the team's doctor, and I believe that you have the stamina to play 40 minutes in every game."

Yo, did he even bring out the guarantee of playing time?

Unfortunately...

...this was not what Su Feng wanted either.

Because under Davis, he had already experienced playing 48 minutes per game.

"I hope that in the new season, you can play more enthusiastically on the offensive end. In my opinion, you have the strength to compete for the scoring title."

After Su Feng threw away two promises in a row, Brown felt that Davis was really too annoying.

Such a good young man, look at what you have taught him, John?

On the court, Su Feng was still not interested in the promises that Brown threw out.

Because to be honest, with Larry Brown's team's pace, and in the situation where he had to share the ball with Iverson, let alone the fact that he didn't currently have the strength to compete for the scoring title, even if he did, Su Feng would at most be averaging around 20 points per game.

In Su Feng's previous life, Iverson was able to win the scoring title because the 76ers' shot attempts were basically all concentrated on him alone.

Brown's coaching philosophy was to pursue defense.

In the future, including that Pistons team, to be fair, if you really changed a famous coach to coach that Pistons team, then even the Spurs with Ginobili might not be able to defeat them.

Because although the Spurs' lineup was strong at that time, Duncan was plagued by plantar fasciitis that season, and his condition was not at its best, and Parker was still far from being at full level.

The way the Pistons lost to the Spurs was almost the same as the famous scene of the US men's basketball team being thrashed by Argentina in the Olympics...

Faced with the "Pampas Eagles," which rules and defense couldn't restrain at all, Brown was just sick, you know?

Since you can't defend against Ginobili, then wouldn't you think of ways to score more points?

You have to compete with Ginobili, and then directly help Ginobili become a god in the NBA.

That is, in the 90s, in Su Feng's opinion, Brown's style of play, coupled with the current 76ers, had a chance to win the championship, otherwise, even if he had to bear a worse reputation than his future successor, Su Feng would have to leave this season.

As the saying goes, this was one time and another. Because the situation and the era were different, the gameplay was different for people like Su Feng, who had countless tricks up his sleeve.

He was showing off in front of Brown because he knew that Larry Brown was, in a sense, also a 抖m(dǒu m) (masochist).

In short, this person was tough, not soft.

If you were polite to him, then he would brainwash you with his things next.

Su Feng didn't want to be transformed into Richard Hamilton or Tayshaun Prince.

He could choose to become Richard Hamilton for the sake of the team, but definitely not because of Larry Brown.

To ensure his survival environment under Brown as much as possible, and to bury pits and leave伏笔(fúbǐ) (foreshadowing) was Su Feng's way of doing two things at once.

It takes hard work to forge iron. The muscles that Su Feng had built up in the summer were his bargaining chips.

Because Brown wasn't stupid either.

If Su Feng was really the kind of player who was negligent and怠(dài) (lax), he would have criticized him long ago.

Just like Stackhouse, he had been scolded for a whole morning.

However, with Su Feng's current muscles, how could he have done it without some perseverance and willpower?

Brown had watched the Asian Championships game videos before, but watching videos wasn't as shocking as seeing it with his own eyes.

So, when Brown saw that Su Feng was still unmoved, he prepared to use his ultimate move.

And at this moment, the other truly arrogant and unrestrained player on the 76ers, Iverson, lazily stepped into the arena.

Although Iverson wasn't as diligent as Su Feng, why do you think Brown was able to "tolerate" Iverson in his previous life?

The second-year "Answer" had strengthened his core strength and upper body strength training in the summer. In addition, in September, Su Feng had also re-examined Iverson's speed, three-point and other attributes.

Although Iverson's three-pointer wasn't likely to be thrown like last season because the three-point line was changed back, but if you said that a player could really win the MVP without training, then you wouldn't see what monsters were in the same era as Iverson.

Just like the way Phil Jackson allowed Shaquille O'Neal to "not train" in the future, some people always naively thought that O'Neal was really "not training."

But in fact, it was only because the shark was too heavy, and he knew that too much training would end his career early.

In Su Feng's previous life, the end of O'Neal's career was obviously affected by his Heat career.

Well... on the 23rd, Brown "cried."

Because he felt that he was so lucky.

Oh, what kind of two treasures were these?

Su Feng and Iverson...

The赤果果(chìguǒguǒ) (naked) talent made Brown almost explode!

What if he exploded?

Brown felt that he was about to explode with happiness on the spot.

…

ps: 4/4 more! Huhu, yesterday afternoon Red Bull didn't resist the drowsiness of not sleeping for more than 30 hours, plus he was suppressed by your sister-in-law. But fortunately, the fourth update was completed, with a total of 24,000 words updated.

Then... two updates yesterday, two updates today... Okay! Open another 4-update副本(fùběn) (instance/dungeon)!

Next chapter, A Qiao (nickname for the author) gkd (gan kuai diǎn, hurry up)! Hell 4 more instances, let's go!