[Old General Record] Legend of instant noodles! The Little Emperor’s Loyalty Gate!

When it comes to the encounter between the Knight and Valaijo, it is a complete coincidence of fate.

In the summer of 2004, due to the temporary negligence of the Knights management and Boozer's temporary choice to join the Jazz, the Knights had to make temporary remedies. They used Tony Barty to add Magic to trade chips, and exchanged Magic for power forward Drew Gooden. And in the accompanying terms of this deal, the 22-year-old new forward: Anderson Valaijo stepped onto the NBA stage.

"I can't even tell the difference between 'Hello' and 'What's wrong'!"

Valezzo is from Barcelona and speaks Spanish, but does not understand English at all.

When he first arrived at the Cavaliers, his team was in the spotlight brought by James, and was surrounded by senior veterans. After getting out of the haze of foot injury, he was invited to eat sushi with Big Z for the first time. During the ordering stage, the two encountered a language barrier. One of them did not understand Spanish and the other could not speak English. Finally, they ordered two glasses of beer. With the intention of drinking, the communication between the party members was unexpectedly smooth.

Gurden had already averaged 12 points and 6.5 rebounds per game before joining the Cavaliers, plus seven playoff experience. Brazil's Valaijo needs to polish his skills if he wants to gain a foothold in the NBA.

As a big man, Valejo has average franchise protection ability. He has only one season in his career and has no outstanding physical fitness and bounce ability. But even so, he became the only teammate who spanned the James Cavaliers era.

Looking back at Valaijo's foundation, there are two skills:

, one is to commit a foul.

In the 2005-06 season, Valecho made 32 offensive fouls, ranking 30th in the league. Although he missed 34 games due to shoulder surgery that year, the efficiency of fouls being committed every 23 minutes made him the top foul player in the league. In the 2006-07 season, he committed 18 offensive fouls in 17 games.

Borrow his own evaluation: "The key is position. You have to predict the opponent's movement and arrive one step earlier."

The second is pick-and-roll defense.

Valejo has limited ability to protect the frame, but his judgment and flexibility are excellent. After switching defense, he can keep an eye on the opponent's defender, interfere with the passing route, and physical confrontation disrupts the offensive rhythm. On the offensive end, he can provide efficient screening and off-ball bottom line running, creating greater space for James. During the Cavaliers era, James's partners came and went, and Valaijo was the only one who could leave his name with his fighting spirit. Year after year, as long as he is present, the overall vitality of the Knight can be improved to a higher level. Noah of the Bulls publicly called him a tough guy:

"You ask me if I like to fight Valaijo? Of course I don't like it. He will never give up any goal. It is worthy of respect on and off the court. The Brazilian is usually cool, but he is even more special."

The Cavaliers' early lineup was mostly veterans. Big Z is steady and mature, and the second in command, Larry Hughes, is silent and introverted, and the outgoing and active Valaijo became James' most talked about and trusted partner at that time. Especially the iconic instant noodles head, he gained a lot of fans, and many even wrote letters to ask him about his hair care secrets.

In the process of the Cavaliers' starting point to glory and then to trough, the first highlight was that they reached the finals in 2007, but due to their limited team's combat effectiveness, they were eventually swept by the Spurs four games. After a few years of darkness, James chose to go away from Miami, and Valaijo behind him was affected by constant injuries of all sizes and major times, and his attendance rate was affected year by year.

In 2013, head coach Mike Brown returned to the Cavaliers. When he first met, he smiled and joked with Valaijo:

"You were young three years ago, but now you are old, hehe."

Later, James returned to the Cavaliers, and his evaluation of this old teammate was still the same:

"He has seen countless big scenes and knew how to deal with them. This is also the reason why he won the favor of coaches. Cooperating with him is as natural as riding a bicycle."

Fate is awesome. This inside gate that crossed the James Cavaliers era finally left the team at the most critical moment, and even appeared on the finals stage as an opposition.

Due to injury deterioration, and David Griffin, then general manager of the team, was determined to pursue the firepower of the external high-tech turret, in the middle of the 2016 season, the Cavaliers instigated a three-party transaction to send Valaijo away in exchange for Channing Fry. Although this decision once caused dissatisfaction among fans, the reality is that Channing Fry did provide more direct help for the Cavaliers.

And when he left, Valejo left a long letter of thanks to the Cavaliers fans:

"Nothing is as good as walking on the cold streets, hearing the fans call your name, stopping and chatting with them. There is nothing like 20,000 spectators in the arena, wearing wigs to cheer for you. I will remember this feeling forever."

On the battlefield of the finals, Valejo wore a Warriors jersey and became the first player in the history of the league to play for two finals teams in the same season. After James left, the old Cavaliers scattered, but the Brazilian Grand Gate's basketball journey was much more than that. After returning to Brazil for a year, the national men's basketball team called again to participate in the World Cup for the fifth time. When he chose to retire in 2018, Valejo returned to the Cavaliers' home court as a special guest:

"I miss Cleveland and my teammates in the NBA for 13 years."