Because most of those in the NBA would first react, "What the hell does that have to do with me?"
They actually only care about one thing, "If you’re better than me, then I’m willing to listen to you."
That’s the simplest rule of the competitive jungle.
And displaying that strength is even simpler, just American-style one-on-one, blow everyone else away.
This was actually a key reason why James couldn’t suppress Irving back then.
Don’t even talk about challenging everyone, you wouldn’t even dare to do one-on-one and used excuses like "basketball isn’t about one-on-one," which would have made anyone not accept it.
The one-on-one started going very well, Hansen’s abilities now were almost to the point where he didn’t need to use his full power to smash most people.
But there was a little episode when he got to JR.
JR attacked first, his hands were hot, and he scored a three-pointer right off the bat.
Then, under Hansen’s defense, he made a quick stop, turned, and made a jump shot.
Lastly, his step-back three-pointer after a breakthrough got in too, scoring 8 points consecutively against Hansen’s defense.
After hitting the second three-pointer, JR was also very excited, shouting at the top of his lungs,
This made the surrounding teammates astonished, JR was even more brainless than Guy.
But he calmed down quickly, as Hansen got serious and responded with a 15-0, ending the game.
First, he blocked JR straightforwardly, then after a powerful breakthrough that pushed JR aside, he dunked.
Breakthrough, footwork, mid-range back-to-body, fadeaway, three-pointer... Hansen began to show off his offensive skills in a variety of ways.
And he kept trash-talking JR while attacking.
This directly fired up the teammates, and whistles resonated throughout the gym. Follow current ɴᴏᴠᴇʟs on 𝚗𝚘𝚟𝚎𝚕·𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚎·𝚗𝚎𝚝
The Cavaliers’ team this season not only had many rookies, but the players’ strength was not very formidable; there was a notable lack of confidence.
But Hansen had already declared the goal of winning the championship, and with his overwhelming display of strength, it was hard not to get fired up.
After ending the one-on-one, the players started heading back to the locker room.
It was at this moment that Mo Williams pulled Hansen aside.
"They brought me back, said they wanted to prove something, but honestly, I don’t care, I came back just because they gave me the best offer."
Williams was one of the old Knights, but during his time with the Cavaliers, his relationship with James was apparently better than with Hansen.
After all, he was relatively unknown during his time with the Bucks, only gaining fame after becoming an All-Star as James’ teammate.
"But now I am glad about my decision before, compared to LeBron, you have a better chance of leading us to achieve what seems impossible."
After hearing this, Hansen also extended his fist toward Williams, and the two of them bumped fists.
He hadn’t had much interaction with Williams before, but it was clear that Williams was a rather pragmatic person.
The kind of personality that, in fact, made him the easiest to get along with.
Back in the locker room, Hansen sat down at his spot and looked around.
Irving was discussing ball-handling skills with Williams, both looking very engaged;
Hawes was designing a hairstyle for Bargnani, even pulling out paper to sketch, but apparently his drawing was not very good, making Bargnani laugh loudly;
Tucker was showing off a pair of sealed, limited-edition sneakers he’d brought all the way to Cleveland in a whole box;
TT was fiddling with a camera, with Kalashov peeking over with curiosity.
This was a common locker room scene, but Hansen felt a sense of vitality he hadn’t felt in a long time.