Champions Creed

Chapter 289 Chapter 288: I lied to you. I will never see you again. (Please give me a monthly ticket!)

Recent public opinion has made Michael Gillen nervous.

If he could, he really wanted to shut that bastard Bill Simmons up forever.

It is precisely because of his bullshit article that Roger's movements next summer have become unclear.

His words, "Roger doesn't need to be bullied by this stupid shareholder team because he has the ability to be the best player anywhere," were a shot in the arm for all the teams in the league.

This is equivalent to telling the entire league: Don't be in a hurry to despair. Just wait until the Atlanta Hawks' stupid ownership group screws up everything, and you will have another chance to own the greatest player in the world. Seize this opportunity, don't blame me for not warning you.

At present, it seems that the impact of letting go of Ben has far exceeded the expectations of the Hawks' shareholder team, and the glory of the dynasty is like a bunch of rotten grass.

However, things have not yet gotten completely out of control. At least for now, Roger's team has not explicitly expressed that they will leave, and the two sides have not completely fallen out. There are just some differences over whether Ben should stay or go.

Michael Gillen and other shareholders have at least one year to use various means to keep Roger loyal to Atlanta.

The Atlanta Hawks are undergoing changes that could change team history, and news about other teams in the transfer market continues.

Patrick Ewing's career continues as he signs a two-year minimum contract with the Orlando Magic.

The purpose of the Magic's move is simple, to strengthen their extremely bad inside line that is totally unworthy of their outside talent.

The Magic's lineup is like a woman with a perfect body but an extremely ugly face, completely out of balance.

Their outside line is very strong, but the inside line is hard to swallow. Therefore, strengthening the inside line has always been the focus of the Magic's work this summer.

However, if the Magic management thinks that Ewing and Hakeem can play the same role, they will probably be greatly disappointed.

The Los Angeles Lakers decided to keep the existing big3 lineup and also signed six-time All-Star guard Mitch Richmond, who was once considered by Jordan to be the person in the league most like him, with a one-year minimum salary.

If it was three or four years ago, this would definitely be a shocking signing. At that time, Mitch Richmond was still a third-team guard in the league, averaging 20 points per game.

But in these years with the Wizards, Richmond has long lost the charm he had in his time with the Kings. Continuous injuries even forced the Wizards to spend $1000 million to buy out his contract and kick him out.

From the Wizards' hope of rebuilding to being abandoned, Mitch Richmond has fallen into an abyss of no return.

So the reason why Richmond joined the Lakers is very simple, that is, he hopes to get a ring at the end of his career. In his opinion, the Hawks are no longer the strongest team in the league after losing Ben. So if he wants to get a ring, the best choice is to go to Los Angeles.

It is really sad to see these former superstars and even superstars now either receiving minimum salary or being middle class, being kicked around like a ball.

Roger hopes that there will never be such a day. No matter how glorious a player's past is, people will always remember how miserable you were when you were down and out.

In Roger's mind, the perfect ending to his career should be like that of Michael Jordan in 1993, leaving the world with an unsurpassed figure and becoming an eternal legend.

He hopes he can do it by then.

The transfer market continues to operate, and the messy relationships of divorce and second marriages continue to occur.

After failing to pursue Bowen, the San Antonio Spurs traded Steve Kerr, Derek Anderson and the 2003 second-round draft pick to the Clippers for Roger's old subordinate Steve Smith. Popovich still plans to use the veteran's experience to challenge the Lakers' unattainable talent.

But these are just minor deals; the real big deal is in New Jersey.

The New Jersey Nets traded their star player Stephen Marbury, as well as Johnny Newman and Somera Samaki, to the Phoenix Suns for Chris Dudley and the strongest point guard in active service, Jason Kidd!

The other three guys, who no one has ever heard of, are just weights to balance the salary. You can completely regard this deal as an exchange of two top names, Marbury and Kidd.

Stephen Marbury averaged a career-high 23.9 points per game last season after leaving the Timberwolves, but the Nets only won 26 games, resulting in the sixth-worst attendance in the league.

Looking at the New York Knicks across the river, whose record is extremely bad but whose lights are still shining brightly, the New Jersey Nets realized that they are not in New York after all.

So the team decided to change.

Coincidentally, Phoenix's Jason Kidd was in trouble off the court.

Because of some trivial matters, Kidd was caught up in a domestic violence scandal following the scandal of competing with his teammates for a woman.

Although Kidd claimed that "my wife Jumana has been physically and mentally abusing me, our marriage is unhappy, and she is extremely cruel to me", his behavior of domestic violence against his wife cannot be whitewashed.

Seeing that Kidd's off-court image was so bad, the Phoenix Suns decided to send him away.

So, the deal was done.

Kidd accepted an exclusive interview with ESPN on the night of the trade, during which he talked about his unhappy marriage, but the focus was still on next season.

Facing the live camera, Jason Kidd said without hesitation: "The New Jersey Nets will become a very competitive team next season, and may be able to challenge the dominance of the Hawks. After all, you know, they are no longer the Atlanta Hawks of the previous two seasons."

Roger really couldn't understand it. If the Lakers said this, Roger would have nothing to refute.

But what kind of a Kalami are you, Jason Kidd? Even without Ben, wouldn't it be easy to deal with you?

Roger swore that if the Nets could beat the Hawks in one game next season, he would retire and become a male model.

The offseason transfers were going on like crazy, and Lenny Wilkens also contacted Mike D'Antoni after receiving Roger's text message.

The two met at a tavern in Miami.

After Lenny Wilkens and Mike D'Antoni chatted for a while, their most intuitive feeling about him was: this guy with a mustache is either a liar or a lunatic.

There's a reason he's been frustrated in Portland.

His theory sounds pretty scary.

"Basketball, in the final analysis, is a game of putting the ball into the basket. So why should we distract ourselves from doing other things? As long as we put the ball into the basket more times than others, we can win! As long as we speed up, increase the number of rounds, and play before the opponent's defense is in place, we can put the ball into the basket more times than others! An offense only takes seven seconds or less, this speed is enough for us to defeat all opponents!"

"How do we speed things up? We have a 36-year-old Scottie Pippen, a 37-year-old Hakeem Olajuwon, and a Jeff Hornacek lying in a hospital bed. Should they play on roller skates?

And, seven seconds or less per possession? How are we going to run? How are we going to run? Seven seconds is just enough for Roger to get off the ball screen and catch the ball."

Lenny Wilkens felt like he was wasting his time.

Because Roger had reminded Lenny Wilkens in advance, he was mentally prepared for Mike D'Antoni's so-called "disruptiveness".

But when he heard it with his own ears, he was still shocked. Lenny Wilkens felt that this guy didn't understand basketball at all. He had an outstanding playing and coaching career in Europe, but European basketball and NBA are different. Maybe this incredible strategy works in Europe, but it may not work in the NBA. Look at him, has he achieved anything in the NBA? Almost nothing.

He briefly coached the Nuggets in that lockout-shortened season, but that coaching cost him his job and forced him to move to the Spurs as a scout. It wasn't until last season that he found a job as an assistant coach in Portland.

Faced with a series of questions from Lenny Wilkens, Mike D'Antoni answered calmly.

"I've learned about the Eagles' lineup these days. We can replace Scott with Michael as the starter, and let Kurt Thomas start at the five position. In this way, we have the conditions to speed up, and most importantly, we also have a strong three-point firepower. When Kurt is resting, Shawn Marion can play the five position! The whole team can maintain this speed throughout the game with a seven-man rotation, no problem at all!"

Lenny Wilkens could barely continue the conversation: "What about defense? How are we going to defend without Scott and Hakeem?"

"Sir, it's like I said before. As long as we put the ball in the basket more times than anyone else, we will win. Defense doesn't matter at all."

At that moment, Lenny Wilkens couldn't stand it anymore. He stood up and wanted to end the conversation.

You can imagine what it means for someone to tell an old-school coach that defense isn't important. It's simply challenging that coach's worldview.

This challenges all the basketball common sense Lenny Wilkens has accumulated since he became a coach in 1969.

As a defender of orthodox basketball, Lenny Wilkens sees Mike D'Antoni as a heretic who is completely untrustworthy.

As far as Lenny Wilkens knows, Nelson's style of play is similar to what Mike D'Antoni described.

As early as the 1970s, when Nelson coached the Bucks, he took the approach of playing fast, not letting the ball fall, and increasing the number of offensive rounds. When he coached the Warriors in the 1980s and 1990s, Nelson's small ball had become the most significant difference from traditional basketball.

But D'Antoni is even crazier. The strategies he talks about are faster than those of old Nelson, and he even says openly that there is no need for defense.

You have to understand that even Nelson's Bucks placed great emphasis on defense.

And don't forget what Nelson Sr.'s nickname was? Mad Scientist.

He was doing all kinds of crazy basketball experiments on various teams. The basketball world needed this kind of person, but Lenny Wilkens couldn't be that kind of person.

Because he has to play championship basketball, his mission is to help the Hawks win three consecutive championships, and he has no time to do any experiments.

Although he was a little angry, Lenny Wilkens still maintained his demeanor and politeness: "Mike, I benefited a lot from this conversation. I may contact you again."

D'Antoni hurriedly put away the hundreds of pages of tactics he brought on the table and smiled with joy.

"Do you really believe everything I said? We can subvert this league! Hey, Roger is very talented. We all know that he is good at scoring, but in fact he is very talented in organization. He has excellent athletic ability, enough team spirit and basketball IQ. I think he can completely control the fastest team in the league! With him as the core of this tactic, we can succeed!"

"Yeah, yeah, I hope so. I have to leave Mike, and if all goes well, we'll have to wear coats next time we see each other."

"Lanni, I'll take you there!"

Lenny Wilkens waved his hand and left the tavern.

I lied to you. I'll never see you again.

After Lenny Wilkens returned to the hotel, he sent a text message to Roger: "I agree with your statement that 'no change or death', but I'm afraid we have to change in a different direction. I have a plan, otherwise we will let Dream start next season."

At this moment, Roger couldn't receive any text messages from Lenny Wilkens.

Because he was in China watching the semi-final of the 2001 World University Games basketball game, China vs. the United States.

Roger's trip to China this time was mainly to participate in various business activities, and watching the university sports games was purely out of Roger's own interest.

The US team did not send the top NCAA players to participate this year, but it can still beat its opponents by more than 30 points per game. After all, the US men's basketball team has won the World University Games six times in a row and has remained undefeated for 6 consecutive games.

So the Americans were completely unprepared mentally when facing the Chinese team.

Then, they were taught a lesson by the 226cm tall guy.

The US team was unable to widen the gap throughout the game. Yao Ming, who had shined in the Jordan training camp and the Nike training camp and had abused this year's No. 15 pick Tyson Chandler, continued to abuse NCAA players. With 18 seconds left in the game, he had already scored 4 points and 1 blocks, leading the Chinese team to a -point lead.

The Americans' 46-game unbeaten streak is about to end, but they still have 15 seconds to defend their glory.

It was just that in the final moments, the 226-centimeter center who had terrified the American team destroyed the Americans' glory with a block and a confusing "tomato".

At the end of the game, Yao Ming blocked the American team's buzzer-beater and had 5 blocks in a single game, causing the American team to suffer its first defeat in the college games.

At the scene, Roger saw many scouts from the NBA.

After all, apart from the host country China, few people pay attention to this kind of competition.

So what else could those foreigners who watch the game and take notes in a small notebook be except scouts?

This game will undoubtedly help Yao Ming lay the foundation for becoming the No. 1 pick, because he did something Roger always wanted to see - beat up NCAA players.

After the game, Roger prepared to go to the field to shake hands and greet the players.

When he stood up, Eric Fleischer, who accompanied Roger on the China trip, smiled and said, "Do you think David Stern will make another frozen envelope and send another great center to New York?"

"New York?" Roger was a little surprised, because in his memory, the Knicks did not have any high draft picks in recent years.

But he suddenly remembered that the Knicks in this timeline had neither Alan Houston nor the madman, and they were already rotten to the point where they couldn't get any worse.

It's not like they don't have a chance to dive for the No. 1 pick next season.

Very good, what Roger is most interested in is to see how history will change.

However, while appreciating the historical changes, Roger had to cool his porridge first.

"Eric, find a way to contact Lanny for me when we get back to the hotel."

"In a hurry?"

"He should have met with Mike D'Antoni. I have to talk to him. This is about the dynasty."

(End of this chapter)