Bishop of the Devil

Richard also went to watch the Masters Game and Rookie Challenge on Friday evening.

The Masters Tournament is not much to watch, but this year Richard's former boss Paul Allen is participating again, so Richard went to the scene to cheer for his former boss.

Then in the Rookie Challenge, many Richard disciples participated. In the end, the honor of MVP of the Rookie Challenge was won by the second-year player Richardson.

Richard was not very interested in Saturday's miscellaneous games and did not go to watch them. This was mainly because no one from the Pistons team participated in today's event.

…

The All-Star Game on Sunday night is the biggest feast of the All-Star Weekend, and countless fans are waiting for this game tonight.

The head coaches of both teams have a close relationship. Trail Blazers head coach Zhang Weiping had played under Richard for many years. With Richard's departure, he took the position of head coach of the Trail Blazers.

After leading the Trail Blazers for a season and a half, Zhang Weiping's performance can still satisfy Trail Blazers fans, and he has achieved nothing.

As for the head coach of the Eastern Conference, it is undoubtedly Richard. Among the All-Stars participating this time, two-thirds of the stars bear the Richard label.

This is terrifying. It's no wonder that Richard now has a considerable say in the league.

This group of stars all support Richard, representing two-thirds of the league's high-end combat power on Richard's side. It's strange that he has no say.

…

Players from both sides began to warm up, triggering a burst of screams from the fans at the scene.

What is more embarrassing is that as the host nation, no one from this year's Eagles team was selected as an All-Star...

During the warm-up session, some reporters began to interview the players.

Jordan was naturally the favorite to be interviewed. Countless reporters surrounded Jordan, wanting to get first-hand information from Jordan.

"Michael, after this season, will you continue to play in the league?" A reporter asked the question that everyone is most concerned about.

That is whether Jordan will retire after finishing this season.

This retirement has a completely different meaning than Jordan’s two previous retirements...

Jordan is now 40 years old. Coincidentally, tonight is Jordan's 40th birthday.

Jordan was born on February 17, 1963. Tonight happens to be February 17, 2003, which is not his 40th birthday...

If he really retires this time, then there will be no possibility of Jordan coming back, and he will probably say goodbye to the court forever.

Jordan waved his hand, "I really don't know about this kind of thing."

"I may retire after this season, or I may continue to play for two years, trying to bring the Wizards into the playoffs before I retire this time."

Perhaps the playoffs are Jordan's only complaint now. After his comeback last season, he did not lead the Wizards into the playoffs, and this season is also quite uncertain.

The Wizards' record is currently ranked ninth in the Eastern Conference. Although the gap from eighth is not big, no one can say for sure. They may end up outside the playoffs.

Seeing that Jordan's expression was quite depressed, the reporters were very sensible and did not pursue the topic further.

"Tonight is your birthday, Michael. Have you ever thought about winning the All-Star MVP tonight and giving yourself a birthday gift?" The reporter asked another topic that is very relevant to the fans.

What they didn't expect was that Jordan simply shook his head.

"No, I have no such intention at all. Man, do you think I still care about a little All-Star MVP?"

"Now is the era of young people. I would rather hope that young players in the Eastern Conference can win this MVP, such as Yao Ming..."

"If Yao Ming can win this MVP, I think he will definitely deserve it. I admire this young player very much. In my opinion, he may be as good as O'Neal as a center."

"Give him some time and he will definitely dominate this league!"

Jordan was not stingy with his words of praise and praised Yao Ming mercilessly...

Many reporters looked at each other, what do you mean? Jordan is so optimistic about Yao Ming?

Could it be that Jordan knew that Richard might deduct his playing time, and then deliberately made this excuse to avoid losing face later?

"Michael, the reason you don't want to win the MVP is because of Richard?" a reporter asked with a frown.

"Are you kidding? Richard and I are very good friends. In fact, he called me before and asked me if I wanted to win this MVP."

"I told him simply that I didn't want to..."

"I feel like you may have some misunderstanding about Richard. He may be the most successful young coach in this league. Maybe in a few years, he may become the most successful head coach in the entire NBA history."

"He is a head coach with a good personality. Otherwise, he wouldn't be such a good friend with me."

"I, Jordan, am very accurate in judging people, and Richard is a good man..."

Maybe Jordan couldn't keep boasting anymore and stopped here.

A bunch of reporters complained in their hearts, but screw it, Richard has a good personality? !

What a little mushroom...

This guy is recognized as a hot-tempered maniac. As a head coach, he can go on the field and fight with others. How can you tell that he has a good character?

And you, Jordan, have a good eye for people? Are you sure this isn't a joke...

Seeing the reporters rolling their eyes, Jordan smiled awkwardly, accidentally exaggerating a little too much.

…

A long blast sounded over the arena, indicating that the game was about to begin.

The starting lineups of both sides came on stage, and at the referee's whistle, the All-Star Game officially began.

Western O'Neal jumped the ball and got the first ball.

Then Baron Davis assisted Kobe and scored a mid-range shot.

When it was the Eastern Conference's turn to attack, McGrady dribbled to the frontcourt and took a direct shot. However, he missed and the rebound was grabbed by Clark, who passed the ball directly to Yao Ming.

Facing O'Neal's one-on-one defense, Yao Ming was not afraid, and took a shot with a sky hook, scoring two points.

O'Neal looked a little ugly. This was his first match against Yao Ming. In the previous regular season, the Pistons had not played against the Lakers.

This sky hook made O'Neal feel that the Chinese boy in front of him was a bit difficult to deal with.

He originally wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to give Yao Ming a good beating, so that he would not have people saying that Yao Ming wanted to surpass him every day...

This year's All-Star votes really shocked O'Neal.

Yao Ming's vote count is almost twice that of O'Neal. If the Chinese boy were in the West, he would probably be able to squeeze out his All-Star starting position.

Thinking about playing in the All-Star Game as a substitute, O'Neal felt nervous.

Yao Ming's strength is good, even O'Neal has to admit this, but he feels that if Yao Ming really wants to face him, he will definitely be beaten.

The current All-Star game is the best opportunity to prove that he can beat Yao Ming!

…

But what makes O'Neal very distressed is that Kobe is a fucking lunatic here in the West and does not give him a chance to take action at all.

After a few minutes of playing in the first quarter, Yao Ming got help from his teammates on the court, and his scoring increased steadily.

On the other hand, O'Neal didn't get much offensive possession, that is, he grabbed an offensive rebound and made it a second offense.

It can be said that no matter how powerful the center is, if the backcourt does not pass him the ball, he can only be reduced to a blue-collar player.

O'Neal is in such a miserable situation right now. He has no strength, but no chance to show it.

In just a few minutes, Yao Ming made 5 of 8 shots and scored ten points.

"Dudududu!"

The referee blew the timeout whistle, and the Western Conference made a substitution. O'Neal was taken off the court and replaced by Kevin Garnett.

Under normal circumstances, the MVP of this All-Star Game was won by Garnett.

Duncan was also substituted and replaced by Ben.

What makes O'Neal very distressed is that Ben seemed to be like a wandering ghost after he came on the stage, and his betrayal of Yao Ming was so obvious...

Yao Ming scored four points in a row again.

Richard also made substitutions here to give other All-Stars some opportunities to perform.

Yao Ming scored 14 points in the first quarter. If this momentum continues, as long as the Eastern Conference wins tonight, Yao Ming will almost certainly win the All-Star MVP.

"Li, do you have any plans to invest in the team?" The second quarter of the game had already begun, and Jordan was too lazy to go on the court. He was sitting off the court chatting with Richard.

"Huh? Michael, why do you ask this?" Richard frowned and looked at Jordan.

"I have now sold all my shares in the Wizards, and I estimate that I will retire completely after this season."

"But I still can't bear to leave this stadium. If possible, I would like to start a team."

Richard was surprised. Did Jordan get some inside information?

Is it difficult to say that the Charlotte Bobcats have already begun to form?

The initial owner of the Charlotte Bobcats was naturally not Jordan. He became a shareholder later.

Speaking of which, the formation of the Bobcats team is also quite interesting. Their boss is named Robert Johnson, who is a black man.

The reason why he was chosen to build the NBA's 30th team was entirely due to pressure from public opinion.

Currently, there is not a single black owner among the twenty-nine teams in the league...

You must know that in the NBA league, black people are the absolute protagonists, but there are no black people among the owners, which makes people wonder whether the NBA league is racist.

Under this circumstance, the league management committee had no choice but to choose Johnson to build the Charlotte Bobcats.

"Michael, what news do you know?" Richard asked with his eyes wide open.

Jordan nodded, "Yes, I did get the news that the NBA will expand, and the location of this expansion will be in Charlotte."

"However, the expansion of the army will definitely take a lot of time. It is estimated that the news will not be made public until the year after next."

Richard was surprised, it turned out to be the Charlotte Bobcats.