Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

Yu Fei had thought that Tim Grover would set up a devilish training regimen for him.

Just as Japanese sports manga would arrange special training during the off-season, and then the team would make obvious progress. In fact, Grover's training was neither devilish nor complicated, and it was very reasonable.

Before Grover arrived, Yu Fei trained every day.

When Grover learned about Yu Fei's previous training plan, he was a bit surprised, "Have you really stuck with this for two years, and then never got injured?"

Yu Fei said, "I got the flu right after All-Star weekend last year, does that count as being injured?"

Grover was speechless for a moment.

"You're really lucky to have not suffered any major injuries until now."

After that, Grover took over Yu Fei's training regimen, and Lawson turned from the main trainer into purely a training partner.

Grover assigned Yu Fei a 4+3 plan, four days of the week were for strength training, with two days each for upper and lower body, and the other three days were set as recovery.

Recovery days didn't mean no training, but that he would only need to do regular on-ball training during those three days.

Grover's professionalism made Yu Fei feel like he had been playing with fire in the past, and yet still making progress while doing so. Grover's view was that his methods were not wrong in essence, they were just unreasonable and could inevitably lead to burnout in the long run.

Truly scientific and high-quality training is often about quality assurance, achieving the purpose of training without causing excessive fatigue.

Yu Fei started to accept Jordan-style training.

During the training period, Yu Fei asked Grover if he could make himself as agile as a black panther, like Jordan.

Grover shook his head seriously, "Considering your physique, your goal should be to become an invincible lion."

"The kind that can bite a black panther to death?"

Grover was at a loss for words; he hadn't quite gotten used to this kind of humor yet.

Besides training needs, Yu Fei has also been busy looking for the third generation of Chosen Girl.

The director responsible for shooting the Chosen third-generation sneakers ad is called Rick Cummins, who is quite an old friend of Yu Fei's, as he had shot the ads for the first and second generations.

Cummins is not a man of great creativity, unlikely to shoot a nation-sweeping, phenomenal ad like Spike Lee did in his time, but he does click with Yu Fei in one aspect – he is very vulgar – he believes that few boys can resist a cool athlete like Yu Fei, wearing nice sneakers and accompanied by beautiful girls.

Yu Fei is also vulgar – otherwise, he wouldn't have come to personally interview for the Chosen Girl role.

However, the models who recently came for auditions were either members of other teams' cheerleading squads, dismissed to avoid conflicts of interest, or they just weren't dazzling enough, directly eliminated on the spot.

After three days with no progress, Yu Fei couldn't help but lament, "Are there so few beauties in LA?"

"Actually, there were a few good ones..." Cummins meant that Master Yu's standards were just too high.

Yu Fei wasn't so much having high standards; he just preferred pretty girls with a shapely figure – which man doesn't?

Later, Yu Fei looked through the list of models auditioning today, and a particular name caught his attention – Christina Hendricks.

"Let's see how this one is," Yu Fei said.

Cummins then made arrangements.

Soon, a woman with auburn short hair walked in, and in an instant, Yu Fei's eyes lit up – could it really be her?

Yu Fei hadn't seen "Mad Men," but if you asked him who was on his "freebie list," Christina Hendricks would definitely be one of them. Her looks might not stand out in Hollywood, but combined with her hourglass figure, if she dressed a bit more liberally, she could capture the attention of everyone in the room.

Now it's 2003, four years before Christina would star in "Mad Men." She seemed to lack the polish of time in her demeanor but was already a ripe cherry.

Cummins, going through the motions, asked about Christina's resume, which yielded results they already knew.

Christina was a small-time actress, having appeared in low-budget films and guest-starred in some TV shows, but none made a splash – otherwise, she wouldn't be auditioning for this ad role.

After asking his questions, Cummins turned to Yu Fei.

"She's the one," said Yu Fei decisively.

"Uh..." Cummins was a bit worried, muttering quietly, "Compared to the others, Christina is older."

Yu Fei asked, "She is?"

"Yeah... She'll look like a sister, not a... you know," Cummins said excitedly.

"No, you don't understand, Christina is great," Yu Fei took another look at Christina, accidentally meeting her gaze.

The woman, who was seven years older than Yu Fei, seemed to find it difficult to hold his gaze, subtly shifting her eyes away.

Yu Fei then realized Christina's figure was already comparable to her time shooting "Mad Men," what was she lacking?

A 4-year age difference? It wasn't that simple.

Yu Fei said to Cummins, "Prepare clothes for her that are a few sizes larger than usual, and also, considering her hair color, prepare a wavy wig."

Then, Yu Fei stood up and walked up to Christina, "It's a pleasure to work with you, we'll definitely make a great advertisement."

Christina didn't expect to get the opportunity so smoothly and reacted with a touch of surprise, "This... this is my honor."

Cummins finally saw the light.

Yu Fei did not "choose" Christina, he "fancied" Christina.

And he could be sure it was love at first sight.

That gave him a direct insight into Yu Fei's taste. Armed with this experience, he would know how to select the Chosen Girl for next year's fourth-generation advertisement.

The next day's shoot went smoothly. When Christina learned that the production team had prepared a plethora of outfits and an expensive brownish-red wavy wig for her, she was flattered and astonished.

This was a significant issue she encountered when auditioning for various roles.

Most drama teams provide standard-sized clothes for actresses, and her figure did not conform to the norm. They wouldn't make extra clothes just for her. Therefore, Christina often lost opportunities without even getting the chance to audition.

When Yu Fei voluntarily brought up the issue of body image with her, she expressed strong dissatisfaction with Hollywood's rigid aesthetic standards: "Everyone is advising me to lose weight, but I'm happy with my current state. I won't accept their prejudice."

"Exactly, they're blind," Yu Fei said bluntly. "From the moment I first saw you, I knew that this generation's Chosen Girl had to be you!"

With a coquettish look, Christina asked, "Why?"

Yu Fei replied proudly, "In this world, there are countless jewels, but a diamond like you is truly one-of-a-kind. I'm glad to be the first to discover it."

At that time, Cummins was present on the scene. He swore to everyone that sweet talk really worked; Christina was practically melting under Yu Fei's gaze.

After the shoot was over, Yu Fei treated the production team to a meal, and naturally got Christina's contact information upon learning that she was currently single.

By then, Yu Fei's main work for the off-season was essentially finished, with only training left to do. He would start his Asia tour in August, according to the company's arrangements.

Meanwhile, several significant events occurred within and outside of the league.

The most notable Eagle County incident had a new development; the plaintiff provided neck bruises as evidence of Kobe's coercion, and Kobe appeared in court for the first time with his wife. Vanessa emphasized in court that she did not believe Kobe would commit a crime. The only mistake Kobe made was cheating, a problem they would resolve themselves, but slander was unacceptable. Moreover, she stressed that she still loved Kobe deeply.

Would Vanessa still love Kobe if he hadn't given her a $4 million diamond ring after the incident? That question is hard to answer, but realists would acknowledge that the diamond ring definitely had some effect.

The Lakers could only wait and see, continuing their work. Once the free agency period started, they signed Gary Payton for 2 years and $10 million and Karl Malone for 2 years and $3.15 million — both bargain deals. The original F4 of the new century was officially formed.

Larry Bird, acting President of the Indiana Pacers, dismissed Isaiah Thomas as his first order of business and brought in his old pal Rick Carlisle.

On the other side, the Dream Team unsurprisingly won the championship at the Americas Tournament with no suspense. However, Larry Brown was unable to forgive Yu Fei's absence even after the summer's national team games.

In his view, the honor of representing one's country was of supreme importance. Yu Fei was vigorous and lively during the league games; how then could he be injured during the off-season?

Even Duncan, who lost in the finals, was willing to join the Dream Team and beat the U.S. Virgin Islands team for the U.S. What sort of magnanimity was that? How moving was that display of patriotism?

After the national team games, Brown reiterated his opinion of Yu Fei and Duncan in an interview.

"Maybe Frye is currently the most popular player, maybe also the most influential player in the league, but in my view, the best player is still Tim Duncan. No matter how popular you are, how influential you are, if you can't fight for the country, if you can't make the whole nation proud of you, then no matter what, you shine only for yourself and not for the greatness of universalism. In this regard, TD is far stronger than Frye."

While Brown went from loving to hating Yu Fei, riding the media frenzy at that time, Yu Fei himself was not in the United States.

He was indulging in a land of soft whispers and affection.

This year, Reebok added the Philippines to Yu Fei's Asian tour. Basketball is passionately adored in the Philippines, and the influence and appeal of an Asian basketball superstar with a good image and extraordinary talent like Yu Fei were so strong that even he couldn't believe it.

Not to mention the tide of enthusiasm, nor the generous treatment provided by the event organizers, just the scene after returning to the hotel after each day's events reminded Yu Fei of a story he heard back in Los Angeles.

Legend has it that during the showtime era, when the Lakers returned to the hotel after games, a throng of women would queue and wait. Then Magic Johnson, as the leader, would have the privilege of choosing his bedmate first, followed by his teammates selecting in order of their status.

And Yu Fei was treated even more ceremoniously in the Philippines.

Lawson and Clark, who had come with him, just wanted to stay there until the pre-season training camp began.

They didn't even want to go to Korea anymore.

"Frye, do you know Larry Brown said again you're not as good as Tim Duncan?"

One day, Yu Fei was enjoying a massage with his friends.

When Lawson said this, Yu Fei nodded vigorously, "Indeed, he can give up his holiday to play for the national team, while me? This decadent life! "

"That's not the way to put it, Frye, you've worked hard all year, what's wrong with enjoying now?"

"Exactly, what's wrong with enjoying a bit? Larry Brown is just a piece of shit!"

While Yu Fei appeared remorseful on the surface, he also marked Brown and his current team — the Detroit Pistons — in his heart.

They would need a proper rebuttal when they met next season.

As for now, Lawson was right, after all the battles I've fought, what's wrong with a little enjoyment?