NBA: Warrior godfather.

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Bogotá, Colombia.

Luis Zárate couldn't count how many times he had skillfully scaled the wall and reached the outer network.

The new NBA season was about to begin, but when he saw the news about the Warriors, he didn't click on it as usual. He hesitated, scrolling past. This summer, his mood had been a real rollercoaster of emotions.

The reason was simple: Liam González was simply too capable.

Liam had traded the Warriors' top three players from last season in exchange for contract fillers and a slew of draft picks. Looking at the lineup, it was full of rookies and undrafted players.

Colombian fans had mixed feelings about Liam's decisions, but as the first Colombian head coach in the NBA, he still had a lot of support. Even if some disagreed with his decisions, they preferred not to speak out.

That was the case with Luis.

He thought the Warriors' trades were a big loss, so he wrote a long, detailed article and sent it to ESPN Colombia. The response was just a short phrase: "Did you really criticize Coach Liam? As a Colombian?" Luis quietly deleted his article.

However, when he saw foreigners criticizing Liam online, he couldn't help analyzing the reasoning behind the trades and sometimes even defended him.

Over time, he didn't know what side he was on, so he stopped following Warriors news altogether. Out of sight, out of mind.

Yet, when he opened various pages without direction, Luis felt like something was missing without checking in on the Warriors. Suddenly, he saw a video from a program by ESPN and TNT.

The cover featured Barkley's bald head, and Luis eagerly clicked on it.

This video was a clip from the program. Once it loaded, Kenny Smith asked:

"… Let's talk about the Warriors. They have 2 wins and 5 losses in the preseason. The situation seems tricky. What do you think?"

Luis winced. More bad news about the Warriors, it seemed.

He was about to close the video but hesitated and decided to watch it. After all, it was just one loss, right? He thought of Yao Ming injured and the Rockets, who had also struggled in the preseason, and he felt a bit sad.

Could it be that once Colombians are involved, the team just can't win?

While Luis was lost in thought, Barkley spoke up:

"This is totally predictable. With a lineup full of second-round picks and undrafted players, the Warriors can't even hope to win! When they sent Monta Ellis and Stephen Jackson to the Cavaliers, they were already doomed to fail this season."

"Look at the Cavaliers; they won all their preseason games, and Ellis and Jackson are in great shape. They're strong contenders for the championship, all thanks to Coach Liam's absurd decisions that made the Cavaliers so powerful…"

"Charles, I have to remind you that in the preseason, none of the Warriors' starters played more than 15 minutes. The one who played the most was Danny Green, averaging 34 minutes as a bench player," Bill Simmons interrupted.

"So? The Cavaliers' starters didn't play long either. That's not why the Warriors lost!"

"The Cavaliers' bench is full of experienced veterans, while the Warriors have young players. They're not playing badly, but they lack experience," Simmons argued.

Reggie Miller shrugged:

"Charles, I'm with Bill this time. Curry didn't take many shots but still scored almost 10 points per game. He seems very relaxed, and he doesn't look like a rookie at all. I'm very optimistic about Curry's performance this season."

Barkley sneered, "All I saw was panic on the Warriors' players' faces on the court. They made frequent mistakes on offense and lost track of people on defense. They didn't look like an NBA team. The NCAA would welcome them—they're pretty young!"

"That's just a learning phase that young teams inevitably go through. There's nothing to worry about. Once they find their rhythm, the Warriors will win. You're biased against them!" Simmons replied.

"No, they lost. They have an inexperienced head coach, and I'm just telling the truth."

"Ha, I knew you were targeting Coach Liam!"

"No, I wasn't."

"Yes, you were."

"… Bill, I'm not as naive as you. Basketball doesn't lie. There are only two days left until the regular season. I bet the Warriors' record this season will be even worse than last season's. Then you'll see Coach Liam's true level!"

Luis was furious hearing Barkley rant against Liam, and he turned off the video. But then he sighed.

Though he didn't want to admit it, he and Barkley shared the same opinion: the Warriors' season would be tough.

The team was full of rookies, including second-round picks and undrafted players. Moreover, Liam had traded Ellis and Jackson. Although the Warriors didn't always win with them, at least they had experience.

Now, there were no veterans left, and the team was filled with young players, from the head coach to the waterboy.

Luis didn't think Liam could work miracles in this situation.

As he continued venting, he opened Twitter and saw a message from Liam:

"Charles Barkley, I heard you want to make a bet, right? Let's make it easy: if the Warriors make the playoffs next season and Curry wins Rookie of the Year, you'll wear Curry's jersey on every show next year. If we don't make it, I'll wear yours. Sound good?"

Soon enough, comments flooded the tweet:

"Coach Liam, I support you. A man never backs down. Barkley has been irritating me for so long!"

"Playoffs? We only won 26 games last season! The Warriors owner must have gone crazy!"

"Just wait to lose. The Warriors will never make the playoffs. Barkley is always right!"

Luis commented:

"Coach Liam, even though I think the playoffs are impossible, I'll always support you!"

News spread fast, and half an hour later, Barkley responded:

"No problem, I'll definitely send you my jerseys so you can wear a different one every day."

Liam, clearly following the exchange, replied immediately:

"Sorry, Steph only has one jersey, but I'll send you a replica. Remember to pair it with your flashy pants; you're too weird to fit in with the Warriors!"

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End of this chapter

Garbage chapter and extremely boring to translate would have left the Chinese name and nationality :C

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