Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

At the end of August, Yu Fei returned to the United States from China, concluding his 2004 Asian tour.

But Yu Fei didn't give himself a vacation. As soon as he came back, he immediately made his way to Reebok Headquarters and met up with his good friend of three years, Quint DiMio.

Over the years, DiMio had always been the bridge between Yu Fei and Reebok.

Whenever the company was preparing an event or a promotional act, or there were holiday arrangements, they would inform Yu Fei through DiMio.

DiMio thought that Yu Fei today was just taking some time to see him, but at the dinner table, Yu Fei talked about his past two seasons.

In his second season, he led his team to a championship with near triple-double stats, achieving his revenge against Jordan.

In the recently concluded season, he became the League's scoring champion and led his team to defend their title.

If he retired now, Yu Fei would already be one of the greatest in history, but he had higher expectations for himself, like erasing the "one of."

But on-court achievements are his own affair, something DiMio couldn't help with.

What Yu Fei cared about was his off-court career.

"The time is right, Quint," Yu Fei said. "I believe you can do bigger things than being a runner at Reebok."

DiMio immediately realized that Yu Fei was about to discuss something significant.

For Yu Fei, he needed to remain highly focused on the court, undistracted by external affairs. But when one is in the arena, one inevitably faces controversies, and he was someone who liked to create minor troubles for himself. In the past few years, his reputation could be described as notorious, with as many people hating him as those loving him.

Reebok's publicity machine was still a notch below Nike's, and his agent Arne Trem had too many players under his wing, and even though he was in daily contact with Yu Fei now, he still couldn't achieve the best in off-court image marketing and public opinion control.

What is good marketing? If Yu Fei at 39 got his head shaved after a playoff game, he would release news about considering retirement to divert attention.

Then, no one would discuss his playoff sweep anymore.

This is good marketing, but Yu Fei still gets criticized for not playing for the national team to this day, clearly exposing the dysfunctionality of Arne Trem in this area.

After returning from China, Yu Fei planned to establish his own company to manage his off-court marketing and business projects. But he needed someone he trusted and who was capable of managing this company.

So, he turned to DiMio.

Over the years, DiMio's work at Reebok had been praised by everyone. Even if he failed to complete his tasks, Reebok would keep him in the company for the sake of Yu Fei, but he still strove to excel and set several goals for himself periodically. If, after a while, his goals weren't met, he would feel like a failure.

Considering professional ethics and loyalty to a friend, DiMio was the only choice for Yu Fei.

Upon hearing Yu Fei's words, DiMio took a deep breath.

He already had the job of his dreams. Here everything was exquisitely taken care of: there was a generous salary and the opportunity to work with talented marketing geniuses who lived to promote the Reebok brand. Most importantly, DiMio had fallen in love with life here; if he spent the rest of his life here, he would be immensely content.

However, DiMio couldn't ignore the excitement and thrill deep inside him. What Yu Fei pursued was unprecedented in the NBA—cutting off the agent's power, controlling off-court publicity himself, image marketing, and business collaborations.

DiMio told himself that he must give it a try, he must see what he can do.

"What are you planning to do about Arne (agent)?" DiMio asked. "Will he refuse...?"

"He might be a little unhappy, but in the end, he'll agree," Yu Fei said as he cut into the fried pork chop on his plate and forked a big piece. "He just lost Kobe last year; he probably doesn't want to lose me so soon."

Trem felt that Yu Fei had changed a lot.

In the past, the only thing Yu Fei cared about was the game. Now, he wanted to control everything around him.

"How much time do I have?" DiMio asked.

Yu Fei said indifferently, "My contract with Arne ends at the end of June next year; we'll renegotiate then."

DiMio suddenly had an idea.

Since Big Fei has nearly severed the agent's power, why not just hire one of our own as the agent?

DiMio didn't voice this idea because he had no suitable candidate, and it would be too cruel to Trem.

After all, Big Fei probably wouldn't have the heart for that either.

In fact, DiMio and Yu Fei were on the same wavelength.

He had considered changing to someone from his own circle as the agent, but there was no one like Rich Paul around him.

Lawson could be a half-assistant and a practice player on the court, but Yu Fei thought he was not smart enough to be an agent.

"So, I have some time, I'll find a few reliable people here at Reebok to join the new company before I leave," DiMio asked, "Who will take over my job at Reebok?"

Yu Fei said, "Alex (assistant)."

Once the discussion was over, Yu Fei and DiMio chatted about Reebok's plans for the coming days.

Not mentioning it would have been fine, but once it came up, Reebok really did arrange a job for him.

However, this job was tailored specifically for Yu Fei. In fact, this shouldn't be called a job; it was Reebok's way of dealing with the public criticism about Yu Fei not playing for the national team. They contacted GQ Magazine to do a feature on Yu Fei.

The feature meant Yu Fei would appear on the cover of the next issue of GQ Magazine.

For GQ, a magazine that mainly reports on Hollywood stars, an athlete like Yu Fei was a rare guest.

Fortunately, GQ's editor-in-chief was a basketball fan, and Yu Fei had become an increasingly prominent sports figure over the years, with his influence beginning to extend beyond the NBA.

Yu Fei accepted the interview and, after flying to Los Angeles to shoot a few commercials, he was interviewed by GQ before the start of the new season, accompanied by Lawson and Clark.

To keep it professional, GQ brought in Gary Smith, the chief writer from Sports Illustrated.

When Yu Fei was still an unknown, it was Smith's "The Chosen One" feature in Sports Illustrated that had rapidly made him famous.

Three years had passed, and Yu Fei's race to the top was faster than Smith could have imagined.

"Gary, long time no see,"

Yu Fei greeted him warmly.

Smith looked at Yu Fei with complex emotions. He clearly remembered the intro to the article "The Chosen One" he wrote about Yu Fei—"His destiny was not just to become the greatest basketball player in the State of Washington but to change the world. Would the pressure of fame crush him?"

So, did the pressure of fame ultimately crush him?

Smith couldn't see any signs of that, but he could feel that Yu Fei was on an unimaginable path to legend.

"Frye, back then, many people said I had exaggerated your talent," Smith said with a smile, "but in the end, you surpassed even my wildest dreams. You were even better than that."

Yu Fei smiled subtly without responding.

Smith looked at the questions he had carefully prepared and found he couldn't ask any of them in front of Yu Fei.

When GQ invited him to interview Yu Fei and write a feature article, he had happily accepted. In that instant, he had the outline for the article all figured out: How would Frye return the League to the promised land?

It had been a cursed year for professional basketball; hardly anything good had happened.

Jordan had failed in his retirement;

Kobe had a carefree moment in Eagle County, then was charged with rape, with the lawsuit dragging on for half a year and ultimately being dismissed because the accuser refused to testify. Kobe was innocent, but the negative impact of the lawsuit was enough to turn an angel into a devil;

OK broke up, which was the most reliable and entertaining combination in NBA history;

And there was the Dream Team's humiliating defeat in Athens, continuing the disgrace from the previous World Championship. American basketball had hit rock bottom, and it seemed that Frye, who could have been the savior, actually refused to play that role.

"If you were given another chance, would you accept the call-up to change the outcome in Athens?"

Smith asked.

"No," Yu Fei added, "because I am too young. Coach Brown would treat me the same way he did LeBron. If I only played for 3 minutes a game, I wouldn't be able to change anything."

Smith also laughed after hearing this.

He knew Yu Fei was using humor to hide his real thoughts, but he was successful; it was a good joke.

Smith didn't linger on the national team issue and continued down his list of prepared questions, "Has your relationship with Michael eased at all?"

"Are you referring to after he traded me, or after I personally sent him into retirement in Washington?" Yu Fei said indifferently, "I will never forgive him. There are only two ways this relationship could ever ease."

Smith looked at Yu Fei, obviously wanting to know what those two ways were.

"As long as he's dead, my hatred will disappear," Yu Fei said with a light smile, "Of course, there's another way. When I'm in my seventies or eighties with Alzheimer's, then the relationship will also soften. But considering he might already be dead by then, the ultimate solution to easing this relationship is still the first one."

Let him die, and then I can let bygones be bygones.
Explore stories at My Virtual Library Empire

Smith began to doubt whether he should abandon his article outline.

If the trend continued, the title of the article shouldn't be "How Will Frye Lead the League Back to the Promised Land?" but perhaps "How Frye Used His Mouth Like a Machine Gun to Spray Everyone in the Interview" might be more appropriate.

Smith decided to ask a question that would give Yu Fei no opportunity to attack anyone.

"An outlet started a poll about whether your team could win the championship next season and achieve back-to-back-to-back dynasties like OK did, but 90% of participants think you can't complete the three-peat. What do you think?"

Smith expected Yu Fei to make a vow to take the three-peat.

But Yu Fei chose the most entertaining response, "I think those who are so pessimistic about our team must have been injured by us. So, the media outlet is either from San Antonio or Los Angeles. But it's been over a year since we beat the Spurs, and considering they have the highest obesity rate in the nation, I believe their magnanimity probably matches their average weight. Therefore, the poll must be from a Los Angeles media outlet; am I right?"

Smith looked at Yu Fei in astonishment and subconsciously nodded.

"Excellent, not only did I defeat the city with the highest obesity rate, but I also beat the city with the smallest minds in history," Yu Fei laughed, "Now I can't help but feel proud of myself."