Rekindling the dream of becoming a star

Chapter 338 This is what I'm pursuing!
No one knows how the two parties spent that night, but public opinion swept in like a hurricane, with wind, rain, thunder, and lightning, crackling and relentless.

The first to fire were the media outlets that favor James.

ESPN, Fox Sports, Yahoo! Sports, Columbia Sports, The Athletic, CBS Sports, and many other North American sports portals have all spoken out in support of LeBron James.

However, this should not be taken as an official stance. Rather, these media outlets will send reporters to accompany key teams to provide real-time coverage.

While it's said that they're with the team, their core focus is on key players.

James has accumulated a large network of media contacts during his time with the Cavaliers, Heat, and Lakers. These reporters have all achieved great success by reporting on James, so as long as things don't go too badly, they will inevitably be James's henchmen.

Brian Windhorst, Dave McMenamin, Jim Gray, Windhorst, and Sam Quinn are among the most prominent figures in this field.

Dave and Brian, in particular, are known as LeBron James's personal reporters.

James even compared McMenaming to his "wife" in the media, which shows how deep their relationship was.

When LeBron James moved to Los Angeles, ESPN immediately offered McMenaming a new long-term contract and sent him to Los Angeles to report on James' news.

After hearing the news, James sent McMenaming a message: "See you in Los Angeles."

That night, Dave angrily compared Chen Fang to a murderer on his Twitter account, a first-degree criminal who had committed heinous crimes and attempted to assassinate the emperor through a despicable sneak attack.

The following day, he escalated his accusations against Chen Fang in his column.

"Without a doubt, this was a crazy assassination driven by jealousy, a vicious attempt to interrupt the great emperor's climb to become the greatest in NBA history."

"Words cannot describe this heinous assassination. I watched the video repeatedly, and what I saw in the eyes of the Chinese people was cold-bloodedness and indifference to life."

"He's not playing basketball, he's just trying to kill the best player currently in the NBA."

"That way he can win the game with a clear conscience and win in the present moment."

Brian, seemingly trying to outdo him, posted three tweets in quick succession, the gist of which is as follows:

"If James gets injured, the Lakers' chances of making the playoffs this season will be zero."

"If James suffers a serious injury and declines as a result, the league will lose its greatest star, and the most dazzling crown on the NBA's head will lose its luster."

"If James were to retire because of this, the world would lose the best athlete, and the NBA would be like Jordan after he retired, with no one watching anymore."

Finally, Brian concluded: "This is a crime. The Chinese are not trying to kill one person, but the entire alliance. I don't care about his true intentions; I only know that the consequences of his actions will be disastrous."

"He must be severely punished and give James a sincere, written, and in-person full apology. I hope he'd better kneel down, otherwise even God won't forgive him."

As a seasoned journalist, he escalated the issue, amplified public opinion, and defined the nature of the incident.

By complicating simple matters, they can gain widespread support and guide public opinion.

Chen Fang pointed at these and said to Duffy, Wenger, and Lawrence, "Look, this is what professionalism is!"

The three men looked ashen-faced. James's men were indeed very capable; they had devised a targeted countermeasure overnight.

Seeing that none of the three had any good ideas, Chen Fang sighed.

"Let me handle this. I'll provide some ideas so your men can quickly get to the fight."

"First of all, don't avoid it, but refute it head-on, that's very important."

"To refute James's exaggeration, the logic that a confrontation in a stationary state is intentional simply doesn't hold water. If someone really wanted to cripple James, they could have done it in open play."

"To refute the argument that James is the best player in the league, let's talk about dominance."

"Statistics are an inevitable result of the pursuit of honors. The significance of the number of times a player has won championships depends on the number of championships they have won. No matter how amazing a player's statistics are, if they are not commensurate with the honors they have won, it only proves that the player is a stat padder."

"As for dominance, it's simpler: beat other teams of the same era and be the undisputed core of that team."

"Follow this line of thinking to open up new battlegrounds and get everyone involved in the discussion: What exactly makes LeBron James so great over the years? What is the definition of greatness? Does he deserve the word 'great'?"

"Is LeBron James the most successful stat-padder in NBA history?"

"Does it even matter whether I'm a bad person or a killer?"

The three of them stared at Chen Fang in disbelief. At this moment, in their eyes, Chen Fang was like a god, or perhaps a demon in human skin.
"Get to work. James will regret the media frenzy he started, how outrageous it was to him," Chen Fang sneered.

With James's attack and Chen Fang's counterattack, the core of this conflict began to shift.

LeBron James' team launched a massive attack on Chen Fang, questioning his character, violent tendencies, and alleged premeditated harm. Meanwhile, online discussions began targeting James' team's media statements and questioning James' past actions.

A reporter from SB Nation asked on his social media page: "What exactly makes LeBron James so great?"

"I have no intention of commenting on the right or wrong of this conflict. I am just curious about the overwhelming amount of media coverage right now, as if an emperor had really been assassinated and everyone was worried about the emperor's safety."

"But I'm very puzzled, where did this emperor come from?"

"To be honest, I've never thought of James as an emperor. What makes him worthy of the throne? What has he done? Can anyone list them for me?"

This post was widely circulated by those with ulterior motives and quickly became a hot topic, with many fans offering their answers.

"Of course he's great. LeBron James is about to surpass Jordan in all-time points, moving into fourth place all-time, and his rebounds and assists are also on the all-time list," one fan replied.

But someone immediately retorted: "Wow, that's really amazing. He's already surpassed Jordan. I want to ask, how long did Jordan play in the league? Don't forget, Jordan's comeback at 38 was just a side project for the past two years. Also, why does someone who has played longer than Jordan and has never left the league have so few championship rings and so few other honors?"

Fans immediately corrected: "I don't disagree that Jordan is the best, but that doesn't mean James isn't great. They are the best players in this sport."

His reply immediately drew several rebuttals: "Sorry, what's so great about James? He got nothing with the Cavaliers and then formed a team to join the Heat. I don't agree with that based on that alone."

"I'm sorry, I need to correct you. James was the third party who frantically begged Wade and Bosh to form a new generation of teams. Even now, the Heat, from the official team to the players, do not consider James to be the team leader. The contribution he made to the two championships he won with the Heat is not as great as Haslem's."

"But when he returned to the Cavaliers, he had Love and Irving by his side. The Cavaliers' only championship was won with the help of others."

"In fact, none of James' three rings so far have been won as a core leader. Frankly, why call someone who disappears in the fourth quarter a great player?"

This was just a fan response. In the afternoon, on social media, some well-known basketball podcasters, influencers, and sports journalists used data to support the claim that James is great.

A self-media content creator meticulously listed LeBron James' fourth-quarter statistics in all games he played in the regular season and playoffs from 2003 to 2018. He used three criteria—being behind, tied, and leading—to illustrate James' shot selections in the final two minutes.

When leading, James's involvement in the offense is 85%; when tied, it drops to 50%; when down by one point, it's 45%; when down by two points, it's 39%; and when down by three or more points, his involvement in the offense jumps to 8%.

Furthermore, the content creator further subdivided the data, showing that in the final two minutes of a playoff game when the team was behind, this percentage was 5%.

It's all in black and white, real money, and all the data comes from screenshots of the official database.

It's as if a gold mine has been discovered in San Francisco, prompting more people to dig into the ocean of data.

Soon, someone compared the data and found that James's pass count in the final seconds of an offensive possession was significantly higher, based on the same 5-second timer. In the 1-2 second period, James made a large number of passes.

Furthermore, by using the percentage of times the ball is received and then passed out within 5 seconds of the attack time as a supplementary reference, fans discovered something very interesting.

That is, LeBron James' ability to pass the buck is the best in history.

It far exceeds the second person's 30% percentage point.

That wasn't even the most exciting part. That very evening, the most important data was released.

A team has compiled data on all of LeBron James's traveling offenses and the points he earned from those traveling offenses over the past 15 years, from 03 to 18.

This is an extremely redundant workload; heaven knows why it appeared so quickly.

Even though the team can only explain it with estimates and cannot make accurate assessments, in reality, James's traveling-related gains have reached more than 8,000 points.

This data caused an uproar. The total score was only 32,000, but 8,000 points were earned by walking. Is this how it works?

Of course, James fans immediately refuted the claim and questioned its authenticity. The team did not back down and released a ten-minute highlight reel of traveling violations from this season, which alone attracted tens of thousands of downloads.

There are many similar instances of digging up ancestral graves. On March 6, in the Lakers' home game against the Denver Nuggets, James scored 32311 points, surpassing Michael Jordan to rise to fourth place on the NBA's all-time scoring list.

This data further fuels fans' suspicions that James may have inflated his stats.

On the Black Brain Forum, a plethora of commission-based tasks sprang up like mushrooms after rain, encouraging these top basketball professionals in North America to construct chains of evidence through data analysis. What would be an extremely complex task for the average fan became a simple task that could be completed in half an hour in their hands.

These submitted tasks quickly circulated in the market, becoming a new weapon to strike at James.

Even Wenger, who was in charge of the Clippers' media center, was shocked by the power behind Chen Fang. It is certain that Chen Fang has also raised a highly professional team. These data assassins can tear any data manipulation to shreds at any time.

On March 7, public opinion began to become chaotic. The previous comments criticizing Chen Fang had been pushed to the bottom, and the hottest news circulating in the market was all about questioning whether James was a stat-padder.

That same afternoon, Chen Fang's podcast premiered.

Within five minutes of starting the broadcast, the number of online viewers surged to 50, and the number of followers was soaring at a rate of 1000 per second.

Everyone thought Chen Fang was about to start criticizing, but instead, he was promoting wrestling and fighting techniques.

"In reality, we will always face people who are stronger and more physically stronger than us. In some unavoidable emergency situations, if we know some fighting techniques that can defeat our opponents in one move, it will greatly improve our chances of survival and help us find confidence in our ability to survive."

As Chen Fang spoke, he explained and taught some fighting techniques with the help of his sparring partner. At this moment, he was not an NBA player, but a martial artist.

Wrestling is actually quite widespread, but in North America, boxing is the mainstream sport.

However, Professor Chen Fang's knowledge includes tips and tricks for human joints, and these can be learned and applied immediately, allowing one to experience their benefits right away.

So at first, the onlookers were still making a fuss, but after five minutes, they all stopped and listened attentively.

Don't assume that just because the United States is a major gun-owning country, the demand for hand-to-hand combat is even higher. After all, compared to using guns, fighting is a better way to showcase male hormones.

Chen Fang's desire to help women and the physically weak and short-statured disadvantaged groups demonstrates educational significance and a strong sense of justice.

The podcast was half an hour long, and it quickly came to an end. Chen Fang was still eager for more, but he knew he had to hold back.

He checked the number of online users, which was close to a million. This number is enormous in North America.

It's time to get down to business, after all this build-up.

Chen Fang first thanked his sparring partner, then returned to his seat, zoomed in on the camera, and created the effect of an interview.

"Three days have passed, and frankly, I have reflected on my behavior. I must apologize for and repent for this violent behavior on the field."

After speaking, Chen Fang bowed his head and put his hands together in front of everyone.

After a long silence of ten seconds, Chen Fang finally raised his head and continued, "I also hope that in future matches, if you try to provoke me with dirty tricks, I will warn you and appeal to the referee. If you escalate the situation or persist in your accusations, then fine, I will find you after the match."

"If reasoning doesn't work, I also know a little bit about martial arts!"

Chen Fang pretended to rub his hands together in anticipation.

"As for James, I also have something to say to him."

"First of all, he deserves everyone's respect and emulation for his self-discipline. He is a role model for us professional players in this regard."

"As for my understanding of basketball, I won't comment. You can't expect everyone to play and win like Jordan. That's a good wish, but it's also asking the impossible."

"Also, congratulations to him for surpassing Jordan yesterday to become fourth on the all-time scoring list. Regarding historical statistics, I personally think it's hard to find anyone who can match LeBron's consistent effort, which is truly worthy of respect."

"But as I just said, you can't expect everyone to be like Jordan, or like LeBron James, focusing on stats. Every player on the court is looking for something different."

"For me, I look for matches against the best active players on the planet, win or lose, that's the ultimate fun of playing basketball."

"As for championships, statistics, and honors, these are things that will inevitably come along the way as I pursue this enjoyment."

"If I have honors, statistics, and championships, but I'm not happy in the process, I won't continue. I'd rather stay home and watch TV than play such a boring game."

"Everyone has their own preferences. I have no intention of teaching others; I will just do my best."

"In addition, I would like to take this opportunity, via podcast, to make a statement."

"My response to this conflict between me and LeBron ends today. I don't want this topic to continue to be argued endlessly, that would make me look like a clown."

"If LeBron, you feel it's not enough, call me and we'll have a good talk."

The podcast was very successful. The public admired Chen Fang's uprightness. From beginning to end, Chen Fang responded positively and expressed his position like a man.

In contrast, James did nothing for the next two days, except for the first day. Even when pressed by reporters, he simply replied with an arrogant attitude: "I don't want to respond to this. He's just trying to ride my coattails. I believe the league will make a satisfactory punishment."

On March 8, the league's disciplinary committee issued a disciplinary decision.

Los Angeles Clippers player Chen Fang has been suspended for ten games and fined $5.

This announcement caused a huge uproar, especially among domestic media.

In this incident, relevant departments intervened, mainstream media only reported on the matter, and closed the comment section under the news.

In forums like Hupu, there is also artificial control.

On social media short video platforms, discussions about this conflict have only intensified.

Of course, Chinese people should stand on the side of Chinese people. No matter how much influence or popularity James had in China before, he could never compete with his own star player.

So when the announcement came out, domestic fans felt indignant and felt bullied.

In the United States, many of Chen Wang's fans are also complaining about the injustice and leaving numerous messages expressing their dissatisfaction, calling the league unfair and accusing it of wanton suppression.

The details are now clear: during the Lakers-Clippers game, James was caught making six small fouls, three of which were serious. In the third instance, during a rebound attempt, he appeared to be deliberately using excessive force to target the opponent.

Chen and Wang's reaction was simply an unexpected overreaction, which resulted in an overwhelming victory, thus reversing the roles of plaintiff and defendant.

But Chen Fang had already taken precautions. This time, he made his first appearance at the pre-game press conference for the home game against the Thunder on March 8.

“I respect the league’s decision. I have stated many times that my behavior set a bad example and I am willing to accept the punishment.”

Joe Dumars, the league's chief operating officer who was overseeing the situation on-site, said to Lawrence and Wenger, who were accompanying him, with great satisfaction: "Thank you for your tolerance and mediation in this conflict. On behalf of the league, I express my sincere respect."

"At the same time, we also clearly saw Chen Fang's professional attitude and the valuable qualities he showed afterwards."

"Let's put an end to this incident today."

Joe Dumars's words also indicate that the league has let Chen Fang off the hook, or at least the league will not deliberately suppress him in the future.

After sending Joe Dumars away, Lawrence and Wenger had a private conversation.

"Is it really over?" Lawrence asked.

“No, the war has only just begun,” Wenger replied.

"The third-to-last game of the playoffs is our home game against the Lakers."

"There's even a chance that the Lakers will finish eighth and become our first-round opponent."

"This is just the beginning; the future is dangerous!"

The two returned to the press conference and happened to run into Chen Fang, who was leaving the stage.

The three looked at each other. After making sure no one was around, Chen Fang said to them, "More than anyone else, I hope the Lakers can win all the remaining games. That way, I can regain all my pride this season."

"From the current perspective, James has won in terms of face but lost in terms of substance."

"No, the whole world knows that I won, and in the near future, I will win big."

Chen Fang left coldly, and as he passed the two of them, he spoke again.

"I will be the one to pull LeBron James off his throne. In this league, only I dare, and only I can do it!"

"This is what I've been pursuing!"

(End of this chapter)