The No.1 Anti-Fans in Basketball-Chapter 129 - 101 Summer of 2010

As Hansen had analyzed before, the style of the Grizzlies was a perfect counter to James.

Or rather, it effectively countered the Heat’s Three Giants.

If James really went to the Heat and they managed to break out of the West, facing the Heat would be like a father beating his son, not a peep from the beaten.

Optimistically speaking, a three-peat wouldn’t be a dream.

But all this assumed they could break out of the West.

This was, after all, last season’s Western Conference where 50 wins still meant only an eighth-place finish, totally a different world compared to the East.

Plus, Wallace had already given him a heads-up, so Hansen, who originally planned to provoke controversy with dynasty talks to gather hate, decided to play it safe.

Yeah, that’s what Hansen thought.

But both on and off the stage, chaos had erupted.

The Grizzlies winning the championship?!

The Grizzlies had never won a championship in their history!

No, forget the championship talk, the Grizzlies hadn’t even made it to the Western Conference Finals!

Hansen’s remarks weren’t as outrageous as his previous ones in Cleveland marked with ’77’, but they were close!

Wallace facepalmed, clearly, he should’ve clarified the team’s new season goals with Hansen earlier.

Now that the news was out, the Grizzlies were directly positioned as the target of public criticism, even becoming the league’s laughingstock.

Hansen was good in all other aspects, but really, his mouth was sometimes unbearable.

However, as the commotion gradually quieted down, Hansen continued speaking into the microphone, his speech apparently not yet finished. freēwēbnovel.com

"Although we didn’t make the playoffs last season, we improved by 16 wins from the previous season, showing we’re on the right path.

Plus, after I came to Memphis, I studied the team’s footage; we lost many games at the last moment due to perimeter defense and critical plays.

Those are my strengths, and they are the reason the team traded heavily to bring me here.

In fact, after I was traded here, we’ve already been a playoff-caliber team, so that’s not our goal.

Our goal, after some fine-tuning, is to chase the championship, and I believe we can achieve it."

His words were logical, but the reporters weren’t paying attention.

Their minds were buzzing, still echoing with Hansen’s initial championship claim.

Many had already started jotting down outlines for their articles, prepared to break the news first.

Wallace, having regained his composure from a state of speechlessness, reflected.

Although Hansen’s statement was grandiose, his analysis seemed spot on.

Hansen’s ability to compete and excel in the rough environment of the Cavaliers was no fluke.

Jerry West’s judgment was indeed sharp.

After the press conference, Wallace had Tois lead West and Vasquez ahead while he and Hansen trailed behind.

"How’s your knee?" The only thing Wallace was still worried about at the moment was Hansen’s injury.

This was also one of the reasons he hesitated during the trade.

It wasn’t to say that Asians weren’t durable, but looking at the NBA’s current samples, Yao Ming and Yi Jianlian had both faced injury woes.

"It’s fine now; I’ll continue to strengthen my body this summer and avoid last season’s issues," Hansen reassured Wallace.

Wallace smiled and nodded in response.

This trade was his firm decision, fraught with risks and opportunities, and based on what had been shown so far, Hansen was worth the risk he took.

Hansen’s statements ignited heated discussions among fans that night, or rather, a frenzy among his detractors.

Grizzlies trading for Hansen had already been highly scrutinized; his championship statements only fueled the fire. Who cares about analysis?

Hansen watched his ’hate value’ skyrocketing; it was initially 600,000 but had surged close to 800,000.

This truly was a profit.

However, due to the timing of this press conference, his remarks didn’t spread further.

With the 2010 free agency just around the corner, discussions about the free agents swirled, heavily overshadowing him.

Let’s glance at this year’s free-agent list; it’s definitely one for the history books, or even exaggeratedly, the best ever.

James, Wade, Nowitzki, Bosh, Joe Johnson, Pierce, Stademeyer, Rudy Guy, Ray Allen, Yao Ming, David Lee, Bozer, Little O’Neal, O’Neal, Big Z...

Just the All-Stars alone were more than a dozen, and it included several of the league’s current top ten players.

Particularly, James’s destination was the most scrutinized.

Especially now that James was still unreachable, and all news related to him came from his team and was underwhelming.

Hansen also browsed the news, aware that James was likely headed to the Heat, but he wasn’t looking forward to suddenly being informed James was staying with the Cavaliers or moving to another team.

Just browsing rumors, he suddenly stumbled upon real news.

The Brooklyn Nets and Wizards had made a trade, sending Yi Jianlian to the Wizards for Quinton Ross.

This was Yi Jianlian’s third team change within his first four rookie years.

Last season he peaked at the Nets but yet again was sidelined by an injury when he was in top form, and conflicts over team roles with another key insider, Brook Lopez, made his departure expected.