The Best Point Guard

"The biggest difference between the Knicks and other rebuilding teams is that we can win, and they can’t."

"Little Sheep Su Xi? It’s Goat Su Xi, sir."

"Goat Su Xi will conquer every arena. You all had better get used to it."

"..."

Isaiah Thomas had a sharp tongue, practically forged from pure titanium alloy.

It was no wonder his words in Charlotte were so sharp; he’d been holding it in for too long. Ever since Jordan’s apotheosis, he had been cast as the number one villain in all of Jordan’s biographies. They made him out to be some irredeemable scoundrel, and he’d been bottling up his frustration for years.

Furthermore, he had always seen himself as the king who ended the reign of the Black and White Duo, but Jordan’s rise to dominance made everyone completely forget about his own short-lived dynasty.

Coupled with the infamous backstory of being excluded from the Dream Team, his reputation was in tatters for many years.

It was a good thing he ran into Su Xi. First, he won that long-coveted Olympic gold medal in Athens, and now, having recruited Su Xi, he was on a tear.

As far as he was concerned, this was just the beginning. If the Knicks actually won the championship...

He would unleash every last grievance he had suffered over the years.

He’d rub it in all their faces.

Jordan was miserable, and he felt a profound sense of powerlessness. It was more painful than when the Pistons had kept him down for five years.

Because back then, he was the one on the court. He knew how to fight back.

But now, how could his current squad of scrubs possibly compete with the Knicks?

The Knicks might have been a bunch of scrubs too, but this season, it was as if they’d all taken some kind of miracle pill. Every single one of them played like their lives were on the line, whether they were old, young, fat, or "washed up."

Even Hardaway managed a dunk in garbage time, hammering the ball in with one hand.

At this rate, was Alan Houston going to make a comeback too?

Alan Houston had actually considered it. While he was inactive, he hadn’t officially retired. He was even still collecting twenty million USD from the Knicks every year. It was just that the league took pity on the Knicks. They felt the team was being taken for such a ride that they granted them an amnesty clause—meaning they could pay Alan Houston’s salary, but it wouldn’t count toward the luxury tax.

If that salary had counted toward the luxury tax, the Knicks’ expenditures this season would have been astronomical.

In reality, they were already astronomical.

Isaiah Thomas’s comments in Charlotte stirred up a firestorm. They then traveled to New Orleans, where a young Chris Paul was itching to go at Su Xi, a look of pure, naive audacity in his eyes.

Su Xi immediately schooled him in the post for three straight possessions. After that, he backed down.

The kid really did have a knack for orchestrating an offense. He played smart and was pretty cunning, too.

He was just a bit dirty. While defending Su Xi in the post, he actually tried to throw a cheap shot with his elbow. Su Xi just spun and shrugged him off, sending him sprawling to the floor.

After scoring, Su Xi admonished him like a veteran, "Try learning something decent."

It was hard to say if the message got through.

In any case, he didn’t try any more cheap shots on Su Xi for the rest of the game.

After the game, Hu Su Bao Tony Battie told Su Xi, "I told that Southern Little Potato that if he dared to pull any dirty tricks, I’d bash his head in."

"...I don’t know what that rookie was thinking. We’re the guys who’ve squared off against bastards like Ben Wallace and given *them* concussions. And he wants to pull that crap on us? Is he insane?!"

Batty struck the pose of a seasoned veteran.

And he’d certainly earned the right to talk like that.

When Pierce was stabbed 13 times in thirty-five seconds, he was there—he was the one who carried him to the hospital. The brawl at the Auburn Hills Palace? He was there and had a hand in giving Ben Wallace a concussion. Knocking Bruce Bowen to the ground during the Finals was his handiwork as well.

The media was already calling him the modern-day Oakley.

Oakley himself was actually a big fan of Su Xi, but the former Knicks legend was no longer allowed in Madison Square Garden Arena by James Dolan.

New king, new council.

James Dolan didn’t care for any of the players his father had liked.

Moreover, he refused to listen to any advice, which was the main reason for his bad reputation.

After dispatching the young Hornets, the Knicks took their winning streak to face another team with a notorious reputation: the Portland Trail Blazers, colloquially known as the Portland Prison Team.

...