Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

To achieve this, he first needed the support of Ray Allen.

Or, at the very least, make sure he didn't stand in his way.
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"Rey-ray, I genuinely don't know much about this place."

"Don't call me that!"

"That's not the point," Yu Fei said, "Since you know this place, since you know the problems here, why don't you step up and lead us in solving them, instead of sulking alone?"

Ray Allen said as a matter of course, "The one who inherited locker 13 (Big Dog's number) isn't me, so why should I resolve the issues here?"

"If you really think you know this place better, why do you care who inherited locker 13?" Yu Fei used his own logic against him, "If you can solve the problems, does it really matter who has locker 13? Lockers are inanimate, the person who can resolve issues is the real leader."

Yu Fei convinced him using Ray Allen's own logic.

Allan brooded for a long while, "It's not as easy as you think!"

Great, after spitting out all this spiel, there was finally progress. Let's first dismiss that fat pig George Karl's stinky mouth!

"What's the difficult part?" Yu Fei asked.

"George Karl!" Allen's answer didn't surprise Mr. Yu at all, "He is the root of all our problems!"

Damn it! Why him? Isn't he our dear coach? How could he be the root of the problem? Should I act surprised?

"Jesus Christ!" the non-believer Yu Fei exclaimed in amazement, "What's up with George?"

It seemed that having finally found someone to confide in, Ray Allen poured out the troubles that had been on his mind for some time.

Back in February 2001, long before Yu Fei entered the NBA, when he was preparing for that year's ABCD Camp, the Bucks were entering the peak of the "Three Musketeers" era. It was then that "Sports Illustrated" published a feature article on Ray Allen.

As Allen's beloved coach, George Karl naturally had to accept an interview from the magazine to provide some material for the article.

Whether Karl had his own unique views on "providing material," he told people, "I call Ray 'Barbie Doll' because he likes to dress up nicely. He's a great player, but he always cares too much about his style, appearance, and looking cool. These things have nothing to do with basketball; a good look won't help him in a game. This is a tough, highly competitive sport. What we need are players who strive to win. You have to be fierce; you must have a Jordan-style killer instinct, and that's not Ray."

Clearly, this was the bias of a rough man who didn't care about appearance toward a refined man who did.

But Yu Fei had to agree with some of Karl's points; demanding Ray Allen to have a killer mentality like Jordan or Kobe was unfair, because that would not be him.

"I must admit," he said it right on, "George is a bit too much."

Ray Allen said, "That's our life, you have to perform in every game, or our coach won't hesitate to criticize you publicly. And when he led Team USA to a fiasco in the world championship, did you ever hear him criticizing his own coaching? That's our coach, the source of all the Milwaukee Bucks' problems, an absolute jerk, an irresponsible critic, a fatso with terrible taste in clothes, a racist scumbag!"

Who was it again, that sports journalist who said if every black player were as genteel and agreeable as Ray Allen, racial prejudice against blacks would disappear? Listen to this, isn't he a smooth talker when it comes to cussing people out?

PS: There will be extra updates from the adorable author tomorrow, don't worry, I can't manage five hundred chapters, but two should be doable, right? (tactical fadeaway)