Basketball Legend: When Pride Still Matters

At present, most of the Bucks' players have already arrived, with the only absentee being third-year guard Michael Redd.

Why isn't Redd here? It's because the Bucks are hesitating to bring him back.

In the year 2000, the Bucks selected Redd with the 14th pick of the second round, signing him to a two-year contract. Now, that two-year contract has concluded, and Redd averaged 11 points per game last season with a shooting percentage of 48%. Even if he doesn't improve further, he'd still be a decent scorer.

Starting this season, the league will officially implement the luxury tax policy. Although Redd, whose contract has expired, is a free agent, if any team offers him a big contract, the Bucks won't match Redd's contract "for the sake of salary health and future team considerations" (translation: in order not to pay the luxury tax).

Before Fei crossed over, he didn't know Redd. Now, having just finished his rookie season, his impression of him was that his shooting was accurate. Then, looking at Redd's stats, he found it wasn't just accurate, it was damn accurate.

Redd's three-point shooting percentage was close to 44%, nearly 5 percentage points higher than Ray Allen's, and his three-point output per game was only 0.4 fewer than the latter's.

Fei, who was tormented by the Wizards' zero-shooter lineup during his rookie season, never thought he'd have the chance to play with some of the league's top shooters.

This prompted him to inquire about Redd's situation before the training began.

General Manager Larry Harris's answer was, "The Dallas Mavericks have offered Michael a 4-year, 12 million US Dollar deal, and we're considering it."

An up-and-coming top shooter at only 3 million US dollars per year for the next four years, and you're still considering it?

"I want to play with him!" Fei said, "Did you hear? I want to play with him!"

Harris showed his difficulties: "If we match Michael's contract, our salary space will no longer be healthy..."

Fei couldn't be bothered with the official jargon, "I know I'm new here, and I'm not familiar with Milwaukee's situation, but since you've given me Glenn Robinson's locker, it shows you have some expectations of me. In that case, why not keep the people suitable to play with me?"

"You make sense, Frye. I will discuss this with Senator Kohl, and I believe he will make the right decision," Harris said.

That was the end of their conversation.

Fei returned to the court, where George Karl was organizing everyone for a tactical lesson.

Karl's style is very different from Collins's.

Collins is a tactical expert, requiring players to remember a large number of tactics during training camp, which obviously rookies like Kwame Brown, who had just left high school basketball, couldn't handle.

Karl's offensive tactics, on the other hand, are very simple.

He doesn't like to see players stop the ball for isolation plays, preferring ball movement. If the ball doesn't flow smoothly on the court, he will get angry.

This is why he couldn't get along with Carmelo Anthony in Denver.

When Sprewell showed off his triple-threat moves, Karl interrupted the game.

"Stop doing those pointless things!" Karl barked, "As soon as you receive the ball, you should dribble, shoot or pass! This is our only standard for good offense and bad offense!"

His words didn't sound like something a modern coach should say.

We're in the Big Ball Era now, where three-pointers aren't valued as much, so players won't get easy scoring opportunities because of open space. Nowadays, to break a deadlock, the most efficient way is to let a star player isolate.

Although this so-called efficient mode of offense only yields a shooting percentage of around 40%, for those teams that rely on their star's isolation plays, this is considered efficient - because as long as they can hold their opponents to below 40% shooting, a 40% shooting rate in isolation plays is beneficial. Experience tales at empire

But Karl doesn't like this?

Then Fei had something to say. Last season, he remembered a regular season game where Anthony Mason messed around on the court, and Karl remained indifferent.

Now, Anthony Mason is still on the team.

He's standing right there.

Seeing Mason up close made Fei appreciate the diversity of professional basketball players; he was incredibly strong.

Fei didn't fully agree with Karl's offensive philosophy.

He agreed that the ball needed to move, but Karl was clearly averse to ball-dominant stars. And in the last 1/3 of the season, Fei's ability to drive the other four players with his ball-handling was precisely what got the Wizards into the playoffs.

He wanted Michael Redd because he knew Redd could provide him with tremendous help on the perimeter.

Obviously, changing Karl's mindset wouldn't happen overnight, but Fei had no intention of shying away from the clash of basketball philosophies. In the end, practice would prove who was right.

When the dull tactical lessons ended, Fei looked forward to the sparring session he'd been waiting for.

He still remembered the first scrimmage he participated in when he was in Washington.

Through that game, he had earned his status.

The environment in the Bucks should not be as suffocating as it was in the Wizards, and as a second-year NBA player, Fei was confident.

It was the perfect game to test the results of his off-season special training.

Since the Bucks brought in many new players this year, Karl decided to have the veterans form one team and the new players another.

The White Team, comprised mainly of veterans, included Kevin Ollie, Ray Allen, Anthony Mason, Jason Caffey, and Dan Gadzuric.

The new players formed another White Team, consisting of Fei, Latrell Sprewell, Devean George, Christian Laettner, and Travis Knight.