Xu Yong smiled.

He is a relatively optimistic person, so he thinks that although it is theoretically impossible, it is not impossible for Green not to beat James.

But thinking that it is not impossible and thinking that it is very likely are two different meanings. After all, James is not comparable to Pu'er.

Unexpectedly, it actually happened, which surprised him and fully satisfied his mentality as a spectator.

He was even curious about Curry's mentality at this moment.

"Boss, what do you think Stephen will do?" Anderson seemed like a worm in Xu Yong's stomach.

Xu Yong shook his head.

He doesn't know.

This kind of thing is very troublesome to deal with. Even if James' status has declined, he is still among the top five in the league and Adidas' top star. Green's punch can be said to be very impulsive, and he directly put himself on the trading shelf.

If Curry speaks up for Green at this time, he is simply treating James as an outsider, and the relationship between him and James is bound to become strained. But if he does not speak up for Green, his identity as the leader of the Bay Area will also be shaken. He is really caught in a dilemma.

So what is the best way? The best thing is to keep silent.

At this time, fans on social media were already going wild.

"Damn Green, he doesn't deserve to be a basketball player!"

"Fuck, how dare he do that? Beat up his teammates? Did his head get caught in the door?!"

"Fuck his cousin, he's submissive to Xu Yong but punches the king hard, he's really a playboy!"

"Green is the bad apple of the Warriors. He has become a complete garbage after losing an egg. Now he is taking it out on his teammates. He should just get out!"

…

There was a chorus of criticism on social media.

James' reputation in recent years is indeed not very good, but everything has a relative basis. Since Green started chasing eggs, he has basically been all negative news.

Even Bay Area fans are ashamed of what he did.

What they like is the [Draymond] Green who became the team's organizational core from the second round, not the current [Chasing Egg] Green.

"I think what Draymond did was wrong, but I don't think he did it on purpose. He has been working hard and sacrificing for the team, and we need him."

But Curry's statement in front of reporters was unexpected to everyone.

Even Xu Yong was a little surprised. Curry didn't even give an ambiguous answer and directly chose to defend Green.

But if you think about it carefully, this seems to be the choice Curry will definitely make.

Because when people make choices, not everyone will just weigh the pros and cons, it also depends on their personality.

What kind of personality does Curry have?

Gentle and good-tempered? Indifferent to fame and wealth? Frank and childish?

Xu Yong had a lot of contact with Curry, but it was not as deep as Harden's. However, he could still feel some of it from the contact.

To sum up these personality traits, he is an idealist who values ​​loyalty and sincerity.

In Xu Yong's opinion, this is probably the same type as Jia Baoyu, Liu Bei, and Lu Zhishen.

Therefore, it is destined that he will make direct choices when encountering such things.

This is not necessarily a good choice, but it is foreseeable that Green will be moved to pieces, while the Warriors' base is still there.

As for James, he might be angry, but it seems that there is nothing he can do. After all, he had a scene in the Heat. If he is traded by the Warriors in the end, he would be like a dead rat in the sewer, stinking to high heaven.

However, at this time, no matter what the purpose is, Xu Yong still admires Curry's approach, because he is under tremendous public pressure.

In fact, just after Curry spoke out, he was rarely cyber-bullied on social media.

"You just ignore the facts and protect your own shortcomings, right? Is such a person qualified to be a leader?"

"The leader of the Warriors is not Curry, but Green. The leader is being questioned, so shouldn't I support him?"

"Of course Brother Gongming will protect Brother Tieniu. Isn't this reasonable?"

…

In the face of these voices, Curry chose to remain silent. This silence actually shows that he insisted on his previous views and continued to choose to defend Green.

His resolute attitude basically determined the direction of this incident.

Although Curry's personality is not suitable for being a team leader, he is the leader of the Warriors. The Warriors team is built on him and this absolute core. The management cannot ignore his firm statement.

Or in other words, the Warriors can afford the risk of losing James, but they definitely can't afford the risk of losing Curry.

James is eating like crazy. He is usually self-disciplined, but now he is overeating.

Just as Xu Yong thought, Curry's unexpected determination meant that all his efforts over the past six months had been in vain, and there was nothing he could do now.

He was embarking on the most difficult path, and the most difficult meant there was no way out, and that also meant... the punch he took was in vain.

That damn guy Fu Baoluo came back and offered him a plan, but now he's disappeared again. It's so hateful!

In the end, this incident, like the previous conflict between Green and James in the player tunnel, ended up in nothing.

Is this a good thing?

Xu Yong doesn't think so.

He admires Curry's approach, but this result is by no means a good thing for the Warriors.

Now it is no longer a matter of a thorn, but a time bomb with a clearly visible fuse.

He now expects the Warriors to make it to the finals in the Western Conference.

Time flies and it’s the All-Star Weekend.

This year's All-Star Game is held in New Orleans. This is the third time the league has held the All-Star Game here and the first time in the Silver era.

The Pelicans failed to make the playoffs last year, which was not a successful season, but they got the No. 1 pick and the All-Star Game in the new season, which was not a loss at all.

For Xu Yong, since he broke the single-game scoring record of the All-Star Game last year, and he needs to reduce consumption in the regular season in order to impact the dynasty this season, he can be said to have no desires this year.

However, his lack of desire does not mean that this year's All-Star Game will be boring.

Adam Silver had already decided before the season that this year's All-Star Game system has been revised again, and it is a major revision. The East-West confrontation will be cancelled, and instead the captains of the East and West teams will select players to compete against each other.

Xu Yong was deeply impressed by this thing, which was mainly based on two points.

One is that Harden was the last one left in several selections, so much so that for quite a long time Harden was regarded by fans as the least popular star player in the NBA.

Secondly, this competition system is quite interesting at the beginning, but after playing it for a long time, the All-Star Game has completely lost its meaning due to the lack of competitiveness. After all, it is a competition between the East and the West. You are fighting for the honor of your own division. When selecting players, are you fighting for the captain?

However, this year is the first year, and the captains of the East and West are Xu Yong and Durant respectively. They will be directly invited to the TNT program site for the live selection, which will attract full attention.

In fact, before the selection process began, Xu Yong and Durant were asked relevant questions by reporters one after another. The most concerned question was who they would choose first, and various speculations emerged one after another.

On the draft day, Xu Yong and Durant both appeared on the TNT show in suits.

In order to maximize the effect, this program was completely live broadcast. Because it was full of uncertainty, it also attracted unprecedented attention.

According to TNT's real-time data, this episode set a new ratings record for TNT that season as soon as it aired.

"I have a question, who will you choose first?" After the live broadcast officially started, Barkley asked the question that fans were most concerned about.

Xu Yong and Durant looked at each other, and Xu Yong gentlemanly gestured for Durant to speak first.

"I will choose my teammates." Durant gave a positive answer.

This answer can be said to be very direct, which made Barkley look surprised. After all, this kind of thing has to be left in suspense.

Xu Yong smiled. Durant is not such a simple person.

"I wouldn't choose Jimmy because he and I played together too many times." When he was asked this question, he chose to rule out one answer.

Butler has very little desire to play in the All-Star Game, and for a game of this nature that is entertainment-oriented, naturally the show should be done in any way that makes sense.

Now things get interesting, because judging from their answers alone, the two people have completely different ways of selecting people.

After asking the questions, Kenny Smith, as the host, introduced some basic rules for selecting people.

The rules are very simple. Two people toss a coin to decide the order, and the selection of players is divided into starting lineup and substitutes. The starting lineup can only be selected from those selected for the starting lineup, and the same applies to substitutes.

This year's starting lineup (excluding the captain): Irving, Butler, George, Antetokounmpo, Curry, Harden, James, Griffin;

Substitutes: Paul, Wall, DeRozan, Anthony, Love, Anthony Davis, Drummond, Westbrook, Lillard, Klay Thompson, Gordon Hayward, Gasol Jr., Cousins, and Jordan Jr.

In the coin tossing session, Durant guessed correctly and got the chance to choose first.

This instantly attracted the attention of other people in the live broadcast room and the fans in front of the TV. They really wanted to know whether Durant would choose Harden.

“Stephen Curry.”

"Stephen is your teammate?!" When Durant gave the answer, Barkley's eyes widened, while Xu Yong had an expression of "as expected".

"I think what Xu said makes sense." Durant explained to Dong'an with a smile. As the GOAT of keyboard warriors, he also understands the show effect very well.

Barkley didn't know how to refute for a moment.

Next is Xu Yong.

"I would be very surprised if you picked LeBron." Barkley is certainly better at creating a show effect.

"James...Harden." Xu Yong smiled and gave an answer.

"He is my former teammate." And before Barkley asked, he gave his own explanation.

This show was a perfect success.

"Jimmy Butler." Durant made his second choice.

"I want to experience what it's like to play with Jimmy." Durant then looked at Xu Yong and said.

So Xu Yong chose Durant's current teammates, and Durant chose Xu Yong's. It was really interesting to choose them as the captain in the first year.

"Paul George, I know he is a very strong guy." Xu Yong gave his second choice to his fanboy George.

Barkley and O'Neal both nodded in approval this time. George is now one of the best forward-guard swingmen in the Eastern Conference. As the leader of the team, he can even be said to be second only to Xu Yong.

Durant then selected Antetokounmpo, as the Western team still lacked a big man. Xu Yong also selected Griffin for the same reason.

Now there are only two people left in the starting lineup, Irving and James.

Theoretically, the Western team already has Curry and Butler, and they will need James more.

"Kyrie Irving." But Durant chose Irving without much hesitation.

Xu Yong smiled and shook his head. This result was expected, because based on Durant's complaints about James on social media over the past year or so, it was impossible for him to choose James.

When the coin toss ended, he and James were destined to continue being teammates.

Of course, in fact, the moment the captain was selected, James was destined to be the one left over in the first year, because it was even less likely that Xu Yong would take the initiative to choose James.

Then when it came to the substitute phase, the two people swapped the order of selecting players.

Xu Yong chose DeRozan first. In fact, he had planned to reunite the Devil's Three Musketeers from the beginning.

Durant chose Westbrook.

When Xu Yong heard this, he looked at Durant for a second longer. To be honest, the relationship between Durant and Westbrook now is very different from what it was in history.

With such a relationship, he wouldn't be surprised if the two of them teamed up to play basketball together again one day.

In this year's All-Star Game, the selection process attracted a lot of attention, but when it came to the main competition, both sides were basically playing an exhibition match.

On the one hand, as mentioned before, the sense of honor of fighting for the captain is too weak, and on the other hand, these two captains themselves have no desire to compete.

Xu Yong explained that as for Durant, he didn't even go to the Olympics for this season, so he definitely wouldn't be committed to this kind of exhibition game.

The two protagonists of this exhibition game are Westbrook from the West. He is good at this kind of play. In addition, he is playing at home this time, so his teammates will pass the ball to him. James from the East is the undisputed leader. He finally gets the chance to play when Xu Yong doesn't play much.

So, it became a duel between the king (triple-double king) and the king (king).

In the end, the winner was the triple-double king.

Westbrook scored 51 points and led Durant's team to a 192-182 victory over Xu Yong's team. He was also elected All-Star Game MVP for the first time in his career, truly reaching a new height.

In comparison, although James also scored 41 points, it was a pity that it was in vain.

A week later, the 2017 NBA trade deadline came to an end, and the Bulls had been trying to trade Diaw for someone else, but without success.

In the end, they and Dio chose to buy out their contracts, and the vacated spot was used to sign another player, Deron Williams, who also reached a buyout contract with his parent team.

How much skill does Deron have left? Probably not much. This season, he has been frequently tortured by knee and foot injuries. He played on and off, averaging only 13.1 points and 6.9 assists per game, with a shooting percentage of only 43%.

This time, Deron sought a buyout himself because he knew he didn't have much time left in his career and wanted to take one last gamble.

The Bulls' idea is very simple. It is unrealistic to expect Murray to play in the playoffs now, so signing Deron to play as the third guard is equivalent to adding an extra insurance to the original lineup.

When he saw Delong, Xu Yong was a little dazed. Was this fat man in front of him still the Delong he knew?

However, it is not unexplainable. The nutritional intake of professional athletes is not comparable to that of ordinary people. Because of injuries and reduced training volume, they will naturally gain weight.

Not to mention that Deron himself is a relatively large and heavy point guard.

Xu Yong took the initiative to give Delong a big hug to express his welcome.

After the buyout deadline, there are only two months left in the regular season.

There have been significant changes within the Bulls in the past two months.

First of all, there is Jokic. His condition is getting better and better. He even made all 10 shots in a single game. This once again made the outside world call for Jokic to start.

Thibodeau's attitude this time was more resolute, and he completely ignored those voices.

It is a basically confirmed fact that as long as Thibodeau is still the head coach of the Bulls, Jokic will never be the starting center of the Bulls.

Of course, with Malone's encouragement, Thibodeau still managed to increase Jokic's playing time by playing in a double tower lineup during specific periods of time.

In this new twin-tower lineup, Jokic plays four on offense and five on defense, while Adams plays five on offense and four on defense.

Although Adams' assist defense ability is not excellent, at least this is much better than the previous method.

Of course, everyone can see that this is just a stopgap measure. As Jokic's abilities continue to improve, this irreconcilable contradiction will eventually need to be completely resolved.

Next is Deron.

It may sound unbelievable, but Deron is in very good shape after joining the Bulls.

How good was he? He pushed Stephenson out of the rotation.

Stephenson is characterized by his courage and energy, while Deron is stable. When in good shape, Deron is obviously the point guard that Thibodeau prefers. Even if Deron's defense is not very poor now, Thibodeau would be happy to let him start.

This was actually something Xu Yong had not expected. In his impression, after Deron joined the Cavaliers, the Cavaliers fans criticized him for being useless, as if if Cleveland had not taken him in, Deron would have nowhere else to go.

Then, just after playing for the Cavaliers for half a season, Deron suddenly disappeared from the NBA at the age of 32. When he was known by fans again, he was already the boxer in the ring.

This can only mean one thing, Deron should be the victim of [teammates' CBA remarks].

It’s a pity that Xu Yong’s brain is not a computer, so he can’t find out how Deron played on the Cavaliers.

But at least now he is playing quite well for the Bulls, averaging about 20 minutes per game, with a shooting percentage of nearly 47%, a 3-point shooting percentage of 41%, and a performance of 7.5 points and 3.6 assists.

This is another surprise for the Bulls this season after Jokic, and it came out of nowhere.

Of course, just like Jokic's case, Deron's entry into the rotation also brought negative effects, and Stephenson began to show his troublemaking nature and cause trouble.

He first showed up late for practice, argued with Malone, and then started rambling in the locker room.

"Why can some people get into the rotation just by relying on their fame? Are we a team that plays based on fame?" He was even close to mentioning the names.

Deron's face flushed. Like James, he was an outsider.

Even after James was beaten, Curry still protected him, not to mention that he is basically about to fade out of the league now.

"Shut your mouth, Lance." But at this moment, Xu Yong directly scolded Stephenson.

"In Chicago, everything is about strength. You have to work hard to win back what you lose."

Xu Yong's words made Stephenson's face turn red. He didn't expect Xu Yong to say this to him in public. You know, he made great contributions to the Bulls' defense last season, while Deron was just an outsider who might even retire after this season.

But he still shut up obediently. The biggest difference between Xu Yong and Curry is their personality, which also determines their completely different control over the locker room.

"Xu, are you free? I'll buy you a cup of coffee." When the training session was over and Xu Yong was about to go back to rest, Deron caught up with him.

Xu Yong looked at the time and nodded.

"Thank you so much today. If it weren't for you, I really don't know how to solve this problem." After sitting down, Deron said gratefully.

Xu Yong was still a little dazed. His impression of Deron was that he was a rebellious guy who contradicted Sloan. He was completely different from the man in front of him.

But this may be the result of the passage of time. Years of injuries have made Deron no longer the impulsive young man he used to be.

"I'm not helping you, I'm telling the truth." Xu Yong told the truth.

It's true that he admires Curry, but if he were in Curry's position, he would do things differently.

He will not favor Green because fairness is the foundation of maintaining a team's atmosphere.

But he will not sit idly by and watch Green being forced away, just like Rose did.

So this time we will discuss the matter at hand.

People cannot just sit back and wait for death based on their achievements, because the achievements are recorded in the history, and the glory of history has already been given.

"Anyway, I regret not being able to come here earlier." Deron's words came from the bottom of his heart.

Xu Yong laughed when he heard this.

Deron is really late.

When he first entered the league, he coveted Deron's drag step technique. If Deron had come earlier, he would not only be able to master it earlier, but also would not have to make that bet with Durant. To be honest, he was really worried that Durant would choose Scarlett.

"Dejounte is a good kid. He will be an All-Star player in the future." The two chatted while drinking coffee. After they got closer, Deron talked about Murray.

"Oh?" Xu Yong was a little surprised, because Delong didn't have the third eye.

"Xu, you know that children are very easy to be bewitched. If there is no noble person to help them at that time, their lives may be ruined." Delong suddenly sighed.

The noble person he is talking about here is a real noble person, not the kneeling person.

Xu Yong nodded. Although he had not experienced this, what he said was not wrong, especially in the environment of Emily, especially black people, there are really only a few who can be sober in the world, and most of them need such a noble person to guide them.

"I know Jamal, and Jamal told me about this kid." Then Deron's next words surprised Xu Yong a little.

Although it doesn't sound too strange that Deron and Crawford know each other, is Crawford Murray's benefactor?

Xu Yong has not deliberately tried to get to know Murray. His impression of Murray is still that of a problem teenager as Foreman described him, albeit a hard-working one.

"His benefactor is his uncle Terry Thompson. I heard from Jamal that when Dejounte was 15 years old, he was already addicted to alcohol and marijuana, just like those street thugs. It was Terry who guided him and became his role model."

Xu Yong was a little surprised that it was not Crawford.

"After that, Dejounte's life was reshaped and Terry helped him get into Lennar Beach High School."

"Lena Beach?" Xu Yong confirmed.

"What's wrong?" Delong didn't expect Xu Yong to ask here.

“I also played high school in Seattle,” Xu Yong explained, saying he had played against Lena Beach High School.

And it was at this time that he understood, because the high school he remembered was the high school where Crawford had attended.

"You know, what others say is just what they say, but after getting to know him for some time, I feel that he is indeed very mature and hardworking. His past experience made him mature precociously and he knows what he wants. He will become an All-Star player." Deron repeated what he had just said.

"I know." Xu Yong nodded.

"I'm serious, Xu. If he can get the opportunity, I think the Bulls may have another dynasty." Deron thought Xu Yong was being polite.

"I'm serious too." Xu Yong replied with a smile.