```
The 2001-02 NBA season had many major storylines that captivated attention, such as Toronto ultimately keeping hot commodity Vince Carter in Canada and acquiring historically top-five center Hakeem Olajuwon;
Orlando's Grant Hill was set to make a comeback, and his pairing with McGrady stirred the imagination;
Chris Webber nearly left Sacramento during the summer, but in media narratives, the process isn't important, the outcome is. Webber stayed and signed a lucrative contract;
The widespread belief was that Tim Duncan and the Spurs' romance was down to the last two seasons because David Robinson was almost certain to retire in 2003. That summer, Orlando would have enough space to welcome The Stone Buddha, who always had a soft spot for Orange City. However, Duncan still had things to do in Saint City, like picking up another championship to prove that the 1999 lockout season championship wasn't a fluke.
Besides, were Utah's Malone and Stockton and Phoenix's Marbury and Hardaway the most and least compatible pairings in the NBA? Could Nowitzki get any better, or would he struggle in a lousy team like Garnett did in Minneapolis?
But the most eye-catching were the Lakers and Wizards, the turmoil within OK and Jordan's second comeback. However, in last night's opener, a rookie successfully caught the media's attention and made the headlines.
"Gary Smith said Frye is 'The Chosen One', and that might be true," wrote The Washington Post's Steve Wyche in his report the next day.
In his career debut, Yu Fei drew plenty of attention with an almost game-winning shot.
Reebok, which previously harbored doubts about Fei, started heavily promoting his performance.
Yet Fei didn't spend much thought on these matters.
The Wizards' season began on the road, and their next stop was also away.
On November 1st, they would challenge the Atlanta Hawks in Atlanta.
But in the meantime, they had a day to rest back in D.C.
Verizon Center
Fei returned with the team bus to the training facility as soon as he got off the plane.
He decided to start training immediately.
The solid performance in his debut convinced Fei that hard training pays off. Of course, he could slack off, but only after he had established his position.
On the Wizards Team, nothing is guaranteed as long as Jordan doesn't fall from power.
Kwame Brown joined Fei's camp.
The praise received by Fei made Brown envious; he was the number one draft pick, those compliments were supposed to be for him, but who could blame the media when his debut performance was so poor?
Hamilton was likely one of the few on the team who frequently saw Jordan's smile.
Jordan treated Hamilton as his second Pippen, a powerful "Robin" who could bring a lot of help to himself.
Hamilton never saw himself as a Robin, nor did he want to be Batman.
In Philadelphia, the AAU Team he formed with Kobe swept the nation, and in college, he led the University of Connecticut to defeat Elton Brand's Duke and win the national championship. He had never failed anywhere, nor could he imagine failing. This maturity and steadiness of mind was why he rapidly grew to be a starter in the NBA after entering. Last season, after the team traded Juwan Howard, Hamilton rightfully became the core of the team, but then, just one summer later, he lost his leadership position because of Jordan's arrival.
Hamilton was willing to follow Jordan's lead; after all, his generation grew up watching Jordan play, and following an idol was fine. During training camp, Hamilton trained hard, trying as much as possible to please Jordan, yet he was still repeatedly scolded by His Airness. His defense was poor, he sometimes wasn't aggressive, his body was too skinny, he had no defense... Hamilton acknowledged Jordan as the leader but didn't think their relationship was that of a superior to a subordinate.
Unfortunately, that's how Jordan saw it.
So when Hamilton jokingly asked if he'd ever get to endorse AJ, Jordan said he wasn't qualified to wear them.
Keep in mind, Jordan always showed respect to Pippen, even planning to thank him first in his future Hall of Fame speech, but he showed no such respect to Hamilton.
Under these circumstances, how could Hamilton willingly play Robin?
Look at Kobe. The Lakers had won back-to-back championships, yet Shaquille O'Neal decided to have toe surgery just before training camp started, claiming "I'm not going to miss my summer recovering from injury" which greatly annoyed Kobe. For this, the wily and thick-skinned big man still told everyone on media day that Kobe should be voted MVP. Even with that, Kobe didn't want to be a Robin anymore. Hamilton himself had teamed up with Kobe to sweep through high school basketball; how could he continually accept Jordan's unemotional bullying?
Hamilton wanted to rebel, but he lacked the courage.
Then Yu Fei appeared like a deus ex machina, showing Hamilton a glimmer of hope to break free from Jordan's domination.
Now, back in the locker room, Jordan's joke didn't elicit a playful response from Hamilton.
"Oh, is that so?"
Hamilton casually responded, swiftly changing into the University of Connecticut Huskies track suit.
Just like Jordan always trained and played in North Carolina basketball shorts, everyone liked to use various ceremonial items to reminisce about the good old days in college.
Hamilton left without even a greeting.
Grover said, "Rip seems off."
"Can't you see he's very unhappy with you?" Jordan teased his old partner with a playful look.
Grover smiled faintly, "I can tell."
"But it doesn't matter, he's the kind who only keeps the dissatisfaction to himself." Jordan habitually pushed his tongue against his lips, making a pouting gesture, "It's those who have no sense of awe that should be watched out for."