basketball boulder

Chapter 277 Putting Pressure on David Stern
So didn't Duffy think about the Dynasty thing last summer?

Of course!
But the situation was different then.

Last season, O'Neal was the MVP of the regular season. Although his state has declined, he is still on the tail of his peak.

As for Li Lei, a second-year star, he has great potential, but it's not certain how much he can achieve in the future.

So by trading away Li Lei and leaving O'Neal and Wade, the Heat still have a high probability of winning the championship.

But this season is different.

O'Neal suffered frequent injuries, his playing time dropped sharply, his state was up and down, his attitude became more and more lazy, and he did not obey Riley's discipline.

Where's Li Lei?
One season, two 50+, this is the 50+ at the beginning of the century!
The single-core team defeated the Bucks and completed a great historical record of 34 consecutive victories.

The development of the three threats, although still in its infancy, has begun to have a taste of incomprehensibility.

In addition, Li Lei played 80 times in the regular season, and the 2 games he missed were suspended for helping Wade.

In his three-year professional career, Li Lei has been almost full-time.

what is this?
Resistant to injuries, durable!
This is the most valuable attribute of an NBA player.

The NBA's talented monsters are crawling all over the ground, but they have been ruined countless times by injuries.

Grant Hill, Chris Webber, Hardaway, Bill Wharton... and later generations of Yao Ming, McGrady, Okafor, O'Neal, Rose, Griffin, Jabari Parker...all of them are like this.

In addition, Li Lei's defense has also improved a lot, and he has truly embarked on the road of integrating offense and defense.

It was this season that the positions of O'Neill and Li Lei were adjusted.

Now, Li Lei is the cornerstone of the Heat, and O'Neal seems to be the icing on the cake.

After all, in the days when O'Neal was away, the Heat still played well relying on Li Lei and Wade.

Now, some people dare to say that if Li Lei is sent away and O'Neal is left, can the Heat still win the championship with a high probability?

On the contrary, most people think: Send O'Neal away, keep Li Lei and Wade, the Heat will be a favorite to win the championship in the next ten years, or even 15 years.

But as I said before, Li Lei and Wade are here, and no other team will take over O'Neal unless the Heat give it away for nothing.

and so……

"So there's a good chance Riley will sign you now."

Bill Duffy came to a conclusion.

"but……"

"You should also see that Popovich, Old Buss and other guys are bragging about the Heat and leading the rhythm among the fans. Do you think these old and cunning guys are really singing praises for the Heat?"

of course not.

These guys are all old foxes, how could they do something thankless, and they just happened to meet together.

This is where the mystery lies.

These old foxes who want the Heat to collapse are singing the praises of the Heat.

Are they big-hearted?
of course not!

Li Lei thought of a word that Duffy mentioned "to kill".

These old guys are going to hold the Heat high and then fall to death.

Of course, this is not enough.

They also have a deeper purpose.

That's why Duffy came to Miami in a hurry to talk to Li Lei.

Bill Duffy took a sip of coffee, cleared his throat, and his face gradually became serious: "These guys are provoking David Stern!"

Li Lei: "..."

Yao Ming: "..."

Yi Jianlian and Zhu Fangyu: "..."

The four guys were at a loss.

Duffy explained slowly: "On the way here, I checked a piece of data."

In the past three years, Miami's ball market has skyrocketed, becoming the NBA's third largest ball market, only after New York and Los Angeles.

In the past two years, the attention of the Heat has skyrocketed, and they are the most popular team in the NBA, even surpassing the Lakers, Bulls, Mavericks, Houston...

For example, in the recent playoffs, the ratings of the Heat's games have repeatedly broken records.

This is of course a good thing.

But at the same time, the ratings of the other 29 teams in the NBA are all down.

Simply put, the Heat are getting hotter and hotter, but the entire NBA is cooling down.

When the four of Li Lei heard this, they all fell silent.

They haven't really paid attention to this.

"Do you know? Even in Jordan's two dynasties, this did not happen. Because in those years, the Bulls were very powerful, but not invincible."

"But right now, the Heat are too strong, hopelessly strong."

"Look at last year's playoffs. The champion Spurs in 03 and the champion Pistons in 04 were top teams, but they were all swept away by you."

"Look at this year, your regular season record is only 67 wins and 15 losses. Only... huh! But you have achieved a record 34 consecutive victories. You and Wade have improved a lot. You look stronger than last year. The first two In the first round of the playoffs, the Bucks and Cavaliers lost about 30 points per game. In the first game of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Pistons played so well, but they still lost badly..."

"You guys are so disappointing!"

"This is the only family!"

"Stern may allow a superteam like the Bulls to exist, but not an invincible team like yours."

"A game that loses its suspense will only lose most of the fans."

"After all the results are known, what charm does competitive sports have?"

"Your existence brought the NBA finale!"

The place was silent.

The four of Li Lei were silent, they only heard that the team was too weak to survive.

But now, the Heat are being feared because they are too strong.

"David Stern, he will not allow the Heat to continue to dominate the league. But this guy has a bottom line and will not mess around. He may wait a year. After all, in another year, O'Neal is older Now, Mourning is almost retired, Wade and you must have left, and the Heat will collapse."

But Popovich, Bass and the others couldn't wait any longer.

They sang praises for the Heat in front of the media, which was actually a funeral.

They are stimulating Stern, forcing Stern to do it this summer.

"You see, Popovich mentioned retirement. He was telling Stern: If he can't disband the Heat, he will have no confidence and he will retire."

This is a threat!
And Stern can't vent his anger on Popovich, because the Heat are the public enemy of the NBA.

"I can guarantee that more people will speak out in the recent period."

It's just as Daffydo said.

In the next few days, Mavericks owner Cuban, Warriors head coach Nelson, Houston owner Alexander, Knicks owner Dolan...

While these people sang praises for the Heat, they also expressed that they have lost interest in the league, may leave their jobs, or engage in other careers.

Here's the NBA's titans coming together to put pressure on David Stern.

After all, the Heat took away everyone's interests, which really affected their money.

(End of this chapter)