warrior godfather

Chapter 309 Butler's past

Ten minutes later, Leonard and Butler ended their heads-up, sat in folding chairs, and chatted.

Butler straightened his legs, with ice packs on them to relax his leg muscles. He took a bottle of pure water with a little salt, sipped it, and said with some emotion:

"Kawhi, I'm really envious of your wingspan and those big hands. Many times I predict the opponent's movements, but I can't reach the ball. Unlike you, you can steal as soon as you reach out."

Just now, Leonard stole Butler twice. This was even after the two had played many heads-ups, and Butler had already taken precautions.

Leonard wiped his sweat slowly with a towel, and said in a muffled voice:
"What's the use, I still can't beat you, your shots are too accurate, I can't defend at all."

He lost badly in the heads-up and was beaten 10:4 by Butler. He scored several goals with a pair of long-armed strong shots, and Butler used various scoring in front of him. The methods, such as emergency stop jumpers, breakthrough layups, fadeaway jumpers, and even step-back three-pointers, made Leonard completely unable to parry.

Butler heard the depression in Leonard's voice, chuckled and said:
"Do you know what I thought when I saw you?"

"what?"

"Thinking of myself."

Leonard's expression changed, and he looked at Butler.

Butler raised his eyes slightly, looked at the other teammates who were training, and said softly:
"Two years ago, when I first entered the league, I was just like you. I didn't perform well in the training camp. I could only shoot one open three-pointer. The defense was not as good as yours. At least you still have a pair of big hands to steal. , I can't do it, my arms are very short and my hands are small."

He raised his right hand, straightened his arm, smiled wryly, and continued:

"I was singled out with Stephen at the time, and I almost never won. Well, in fact, I didn't win against him in college... And I, like you, don't like to talk. Except for Stephen, I rarely communicate with other people. At that time, I was very nervous. Frustrated, feeling like I can't do anything well, wondering if the boss took me with the first round pick because he took pity on me."

Butler laughed at himself, Leonard's interest was aroused by him, and he asked:
"and after?"

"I changed a lot after that." Butler's face showed reminiscence, "The boss gave me a lot of encouragement, and the veterans of the team gave me a lot of help. Ilgauskas, Ronny Turiaf ... and Stephen, who was the biggest influence on me."

"Stephen?" Leonard asked puzzled.

"If it weren't for him, I would be a much more withdrawn person than I am now. I might not sit here and chat with you at all, but just train by myself, and then go back to the hotel gym to continue training without talking to anyone else. Communication, this is how I lived when I first went to college. Stephen accepted me, and we became good friends. Under his influence, I gradually became more cheerful and talked more... Heh, just Like now."

Leonard nodded thoughtfully, and Butler organized his words and said:
"Uh, I just want to tell you that your career has just begun and you still have a long way to go. Train well and obey the coaching staff's arrangements. You will learn a lot of skills and become stronger and stronger. Just like me, even stronger than me, um... After all, your talent is better than mine."

He stumbled a little, obviously not doing this often. After listening to Leonard, he nodded slowly. He felt Butler's kindness and knew that Butler sincerely wanted to help him.

"Thank you, I will work hard." Leonard nodded seriously.

A gratified smile appeared on Butler's face, he took off the ice pack on his leg, and patted Leonard on the shoulder:

"come on."

……

The training in the morning ended soon, and everyone went back to the locker room one after another, took a shower and changed clothes, packed their belongings, gathered together in twos and threes, chatting and playing.

Because Leonard spent 10 minutes in the heads-up with Butler, he took the initiative to practice for half an hour, and finally walked into the locker room silently, picked up a change of clothes silently, and went into the bathroom to take a shower.

A few minutes later, he walked out of the bathroom, returned to his seat silently, quietly packed his things, and did not participate in the chatting and laughing of his teammates.

Not far from him, Curry was discussing something with Jeremy Lin with great interest. Suddenly, the two burst out laughing, and then Curry came to the crowd and said loudly:

"Hey guys, how about a drink at noon? My treat!"

"Great proposal, I agree!" Jeremy Lin immediately agreed.

"Stephen, don't you want to invite us to eat popcorn and wine?" Green asked loudly.

"Hahaha……"

There was a burst of laughter in the locker room, everyone looked very relaxed, Whiteside grinned, Danny Green and Isaiah Thomas were relatively restrained, and they didn't dare to make a sound, but they also smiled lowly, and the room was filled with joy atmosphere of.

Curry laughed:

"How is it possible! After today, we are going to rest for a week, and everyone is tired, so we just have a get-together, um... Let's go to the Stone Crab Restaurant. Jimmy and I went there once. The Miami Stone Crab there is very delicious. It is a century-old restaurant. Dining room."

"You mean Joe`s Stone Crab? Yi and I have already been there, but it's worth going there a second time." Jeremy Lin said.

Yi Jianlian shook his head:

"To tell you the truth, Jeremy, the crabs in that restaurant are indeed very fresh, but the way of making them is relatively ordinary. When I get back to the Bay Area, I'll take you to a Cantonese-style restaurant to eat crabs, such as cheat crabs, fried crabs in typhoon shelters, and salt-baked cream crabs. All delicious."

Green decided:
"Okay, since Lian Yi has approved Joe`s Stone Crab, let's go there for lunch!"

Everyone laughed again, Yi Jianlian scratched his head and smiled embarrassedly.

He usually complains about the monotony of American cuisine, but he never forgets Cantonese cuisine, and his teammates often joke about it.

"Yi, are you only taking Jeremy and not us?" Curry asked with a smile.

"Yi, do any of the bosses cook delicious dishes you mentioned? I like to eat his tomato eggs." Butler asked curiously.

Yi Jianlian laughed and said:

"Tomato eggs? Are you kidding me? That's nothing compared to Cantonese food! And he made it salty, so it's inedible!"

"Oh——Yi, you dare to slander the boss's cooking skills. I will tell the boss when I go back, you are finished!" Curry pointed at Yi Jianlian, pretending to be surprised.

Others also booed one after another. Jeremy Lin hugged Yi Jianlian and laughed loudly:
"Yi, give me five hundred dollars, and I can consider perjury for you!"

"Give me a thousand, or I'll be on Stephen's side..."

"I only need eight hundred..."

Yi Jianlian raised his hand as a sign of surrender, and said with a smile:
"After I go back, I invite you to eat authentic Cantonese food, is that okay? But if you are not used to it, don't blame me."

"Do you have Tso's chicken? I've had Tso's chicken a few times and it's pretty good," Chandler Parsons asked.

Yi Jianlian stared:
"Tso's chicken? That's a stitch monster created by Americans! Chandler, don't mention that name, it's an insult to Cantonese cuisine!"

"OK, Yi, I get it, haha, but I think General Tso's chicken is really good..."

"It must be something wrong with your sense of taste, Chandler, let me introduce you to an old Chinese doctor in Chinatown..."

Leonard sat on his seat, packing his things silently, with a subtle smile on the corner of his mouth, watching his teammates make a fuss.

But he just watched quietly, without any intention of getting involved.

"Hey, Kawhi, let's go to Joe`s Stone Crab for dinner?" Suddenly, Curry walked towards him and asked with a smile.

"Uh..." Leonard hesitated for a moment, shook his head slightly, and said, "I won't go, you guys go."

Curry froze for a moment, then said:

"You are not satisfied with that restaurant? Then change to another restaurant. Is there any place you want to go?"

Leonard shook his head again, and said:
"That's not what I mean, I'm just not used to this kind of occasion."

At this time, Butler also came over, he directly pulled Leonard up, and said in a slightly arrogant tone:

"Let's go, Kawhi, haven't you ever been to a party? Come together, you'll get used to it slowly."

Leonard was dragged up by him, a little overwhelmed, but his teammates all looked at him, so he could only agree, and walked out of the locker room with everyone.

Curry and Butler fell at the back of the line. Curry pulled Butler down and asked in a low voice:

"Hey, Jimmy, if Kawhi really doesn't want to go, don't let him go. Wouldn't it be nice if you just drag him?"

Butler laughed:
"Don't worry, I know Kawhi's current state very well. He seems to be withdrawn like me before. It's just that he doesn't know how to integrate into the team. As long as he is guided, he can learn how to get along with his teammates. , I went through this process, Yi went through this process, and now it's Kawhi's turn."

Curry nodded thoughtfully, then smiled and said:

"At the beginning, you were much more withdrawn than him, and you were very difficult to get along with. At that time, I thought to myself, why did the boss find such a thorn? Then you went to college for two years before you became normal."

Butler smiled embarrassedly:
"You have to understand that my upbringing environment is different from yours. I experienced too much suffering when I was a child, and I inevitably had a lot of hostility in my heart... But fortunately, the boss dragged me out of the slums, otherwise I really wouldn't know I'm going to be what I'm going to be thanks to you too, Stephen, you're the nicest guy I've ever met, no, the second best guy, you're the first friend I've ever had besides Leslie."

"Number two? Who's better than me?" Curry "questioned".

Butler said:
"Of course it's the boss! One thing I haven't told others is that after the boss brought me from Tomball to Indiana, I practiced a lot every day, needed supplements, and my shoes were very worn. But Aunt Leslie couldn’t give me much living expenses, and the boss sent me money every month, so that I don’t have to eat junk food to satisfy my hunger, and I can also buy high-quality sneakers.”

Curry's eyes widened in surprise:

"The boss sent you money? This is illegal recruitment!"

Butler nodded with emotion and said:
"Yeah, this is illegal recruitment, but I was only a two-star high school student in high school, and I was not in a well-known basketball high school. Only then did I realize that this is against the rules, and it’s an unspoken rule that almost every gifted high school student will receive money, and they will go to the university that pays the most.”

He spread his hands and said:

"But I was not a genius at the time. It can be said that I was not worthy of the boss, but he was willing to take the risk of being reported and send me money. He chose to trust someone who had been around since childhood. A kid who grew up on the street, a kid surrounded by gangsters and drug dealers... Since then, I have never slacked off for a minute, and I know that I must not live up to the trust of my boss."

Butler's voice wasn't too loud, but it was enough for the people in front to hear. When he finished speaking, the people who were joking in front of him quieted down and looked back at the two of them.

Curry murmured:
"I said, when you reported on the team last year, how did you tell the boss that I had money to pay you back..."

Butler laughed:
"You have a pretty good memory. You still remember things after such a long time. That's right. After the first payday, I returned the money to the boss. In fact, I know that the money is nothing to the boss. The boss also said no, but I had to pay it back. I wrote down the money the boss sent me one by one, and the total was [-] U.S. dollars for the two years of college.”

The crowd became even more silent. They didn't know that there was such a story between Zhang Yu and Butler.

They now finally understand why Butler quietly served as Matthews' substitute for half a season after he improved so much last season.

Green suddenly said:

"Let's go, go to dinner early, there is still a plane in the afternoon."

"That's right, let's go..."

"Hey, are those stone crabs unique to summer..."

Everyone suddenly came back to their senses, changed the subject, walked out of the arena talking and laughing.

Leonard walked among the crowd, watching Butler silently chatting and laughing with his teammates, and suddenly a sense of curiosity welled up in his heart.

What kind of person is his head coach?
……

When everyone walked out of the arena, in Silas's office, Silas, Payne and Bruce gathered together, each with a stack of thick A4 papers in hand.

"They're all gone?" Silas asked.

Payne replied:
"Yes, Stephen invited them to the Stone Crab Restaurant for dinner."

Silas nodded:

"Stephen is getting more and more mature... Now that they are gone, let's finish work as soon as possible and go home to rest."

Hearing this, both Payne and Bruce smiled.

Later, Silas said seriously:
"Today is September 9th, exactly two months have passed since the start of the training camp. Judging from the current situation, even if the new season is not cancelled, it will definitely be postponed. Therefore, we have given the players a It’s a week off, today, we’re going to sum up the training of the players and prepare for the next phase of the training plan!”

(End of this chapter)