Old Zhang Was Thinking of Retiring?

As the team's top option, Butler seemed both a little too well-rounded and not well-rounded enough.

Butler had a solid scoring foundation, excellent playmaking ability, elite willpower, and sound judgment on the court.

But like Tutu, he didn't have a single skill that could, beyond all doubt, seal the deal.

It seemed to be a common weakness among team-oriented, versatile forwards...

From Chen's limited perspective, for this type of player, the best way to win a championship really was to copy Old Zhang's playbook~~

During the regular season, rely on his all-around game to carry the team and pad his stats along the way...

Then drag a few weaker teams into the crucial moments of the biggest games, and leave the deciding plays to an elite closer like Kyrie Irving or the bubble-era Brow at his superhuman best.

In fact, Butler had already done something like that in 2017.

That 2017 Thunder team had exactly that setup. For most of their games, the Thunder relied on Westbrook and Butler's tremendous ability to keep the team afloat and push it forward, while Chen Xi mostly played the role of a decoy point during the regular stretches. Now and then, when the offense stalled, he'd come out and call for a mismatch a couple of times.

When the game reached its decisive moments, Westbrook and Butler would willingly hand over the reins and set Chen Xi up, then Old Chen would rely on his powerful, consistent clutch scoring to put the game away.

There were plenty of similar examples, like the 2007 Celtics.

Even someone as versatile as Garnett would hand the ball to Pierce or Ray Allen in the final moments.

And more than a decade later, with Tatum leading the 2025 Celtics, whenever they reached a critical juncture, it was