Bishop of the Devil

Richard frowned, briefly suspecting that he heard wrongly...

"Mr. Davidson, are you telling us to let this game go and go back to the Palace of Auburn Hills to win the championship?"

"That's right, Lee, you must make the final decision on this matter. If you think you can, then go back to the Palace of Auburn Hills and win the championship."

"If you think this might cost us the championship, then just kill them at Staples Center."

Old Davidson repeated his words again.

Richard could roughly guess what old Davidson meant...

Returning to your home court to win the championship will naturally bring many benefits.

The money from selling one more tickets is just a small amount, a small amount that is insignificant. The real money comes from the sales of peripherals on the night of winning the championship.

For example, players' jerseys, team mascot dolls, championship souvenirs, etc. Seeing the team win the championship, even the stingiest fans may forget to spend money...

Of course, for old Davidson at this age, money is definitely not his focus. What he actually hopes most is to experience the thrill of winning a championship on his own turf.

Richard has not forgotten that the last time the Pistons won the championship, old Davidson poured tons of champagne...

…

The meaning of Old Davidson's words was obvious, it was up to Richard to make the decision.

Richard became amused. It was really interesting that he was the head coach. There was actually a boss who wanted to win the championship later.

However, with Malone missing the rest of the schedule due to injury, Richard is already 100% sure of killing the Lakers, so even if he gives up one game to the Lakers, it actually doesn't hurt.

I am about to leave the Pistons, so I can satisfy the old man Davidson's wish.

After all, old Davidson didn't have much left in his life.

In G4 of the Finals, surprisingly, Yao and Ke from the Pistons only played for less than thirty minutes.

But even so, the Lakers didn't win by many points, and in the end they only won by a mere five points.

This was already a very obvious betrayal. For a while, many fans were quite dissatisfied. They thought that the finals could be solved quickly, so why should they be so obvious? This goes against the ethics of competitive sports.

Because of this incident, many fans also joined the feuding camp to discuss whether this behavior is considered against the ethics of competitive sportsmanship.

Richard also heard the fans' discussions, and he had his own ideas about competitive sports.

In Richard's view, the NBA is no longer a truly competitive sport. To say it is entirely a business would not be accurate.

This is an alliance that combines competition and business!

In terms of competition, it is obvious that the NBA has the biggest feature of competitive sports, the winner takes all.

The business aspect is also very obvious. For profit reasons, the league will deliberately introduce some rules and favor certain people, which will promote the formation of certain strong teams and also restrict the formation of certain strong teams...

Not only the league, but also some sponsors will actually get involved, affecting the tendency of some players to choose teams.

As the players always say, business is business.

Therefore, under the nature of this alliance, it does not make much sense to talk about competitive ethics. At least Richard never talks about competitive ethics.

…

The Palace of Auburn Hills, the fan base tonight, truly explains what it means to be a huge crowd.

Everyone knows that this is the last season for Richard to coach the Pistons. No one can say whether the Pistons can maintain such a strong strength in the future...

In other words, no one knows whether this is the Pistons' last championship!

Under such circumstances, how could fans miss such an opportunity, especially in Detroit, a city with a large number of black people...

Many fans even borrowed money to buy tickets, just to have something to brag about in the future.

You see, I witnessed the award ceremony for the Pistons' last championship.

Before the last game, Stern went to Los Angeles to prepare to present an award to the Pistons.

As a result, the Pistons failed and failed to win the championship in G4. In desperation, Stern flew from Los Angeles to Detroit again tonight...

This continuous running around made a trace of fatigue appear on his old face.

The referee blew the whistle. Although the Lakers won G4, it did not give them any confidence in winning the championship.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see the Pistons' purpose. They are letting things go so that they can hold the award ceremony in the Palace of Auburn Hills.

When the referee blew the whistle to end the game, the championship belonged to the Detroit Pistons.

The Pistons defeated the Lakers at their home court with a score of 98:76 and defended their championship.

Since then, Richard has also won his fifth championship trophy!

Five championships in eight years, what a great achievement, the entire Auburn Hills Palace Arena echoes Richard's name.

After five games, Yao Ming is still the most stable output point in the Pistons. Although his statistics are definitely not as good as O'Neal, Yao Ming also takes the greatest credit for the Pistons being able to kill the Lakers so easily.

Needless to say, this year's finals MVP is definitely Yao Ming's.

After the Eastern Conference semifinals started, various regular season honors were released, but the Pistons' award-winning situation was not particularly satisfactory.

The Pistons have not received at least a few high-value honors.

The regular season MVP was taken away by Garnett, who had the best record in the Western Conference.

The honor of Defensive Player of the Year went to Artest of the Pacers.

The best coach was won by Grizzlies head coach Hubie Brown.

Although the Grizzlies led by Hubie Brown are far behind the Pistons this year, their record has improved significantly. This year, they have reached the Western Conference playoffs for the first time in team history, which is quite difficult...

This COY was taken away by Hubie Brown, and Richard was absolutely convinced.

As for the regular season MVP and DPOY being taken away by other teams, Richard can't accept it even if he doesn't accept it...

…

But now that the Pistons have won the championship, Richard doesn't care much about the regular season honors.

No matter how valuable the regular season honors are, they are not as valuable as the championship honors!

The temporary podium was set up, and as usual, Stern took the stage to speak, rambled for a few minutes, and handed over the O'Brien Trophy.

Richard is extremely familiar with this ceremony. The previous few times when the championship was awarded, he was a little excited, but now he basically treats it with a normal mind.

Next, the list of Finals MVPs was given, and it was still Yao Ming, who won the Finals MVP for the second consecutive time. This is definitely an amazing honor.

Just relying on his performance in the first two years of his rookie season, Richard thought that Yao Ming was already qualified enough to enter the Hall of Fame.

I am afraid that in the future, domestic fans will no longer discuss whether Yao Ming is qualified to enter the Hall of Fame...

He is about to leave the Pistons, so Yao Ming naturally has to stay and play in the Pistons. He still has two years left on his rookie contract.

Of course, the Pistons must renew Yao Ming's contract in advance. By then, we don't know whether Yao Ming will choose to stay with the Pistons.

Richard thought about these future things for a while and stopped paying attention to them. He had more important things to do next.

The expansion draft and draft will be held this month.

When this month is over, July 7th will be my wedding again...

After the wedding is over and Tiana is taken on a honeymoon, it will be August.

On August 13, the Athens Olympics officially started, which was another thing that Richard had to be busy with.

In addition, Richard must still be involved in the recruitment of the new army's coaching staff.

Anyway, this offseason, Richard will definitely be busy without touching the ground. There are too many things that need to be dealt with by him.

Just when Richard had a headache, the system beep sounded.

What makes Richard a little disappointed is that the rewards from the system this time are quite shabby. They only have a primary injury scroll and some full attributes of the coach!

What makes Richard most uncomfortable is that all the attributes of the coach are not considered lucky...

"What a bastard. Is the champion already so worthless? He is only rewarded with such a small thing?!" Richard was unable to complain.

Although he also led the team to the All-Stars this season and won the championship, the items available to him were very few.

Nothing of real value at all...

When you think about last season, it’s simply incomparable.

…

"Cough cough, cough cough..."

While Richard was frowning and dissatisfied, Old Davidson took the microphone from Stern's hand, coughed a few times, and signaled that the audience should be quiet and he had something to say.

The scene suddenly became silent, and some people had already guessed what Davidson was going to do next.

"Dear fans, tonight is a very happy night, our Detroit Pistons defend our championship!"

"To be honest, three years ago, even in my dreams, I couldn't believe that I would be able to see the Pistons defending their title in my lifetime!"

"When I wanted Richard to join the Pistons, many people actually advised me because Richard's salary was too high..."

"But I still invited Richard without hesitation. Now it seems that my original choice was so wise. Never doubt the wisdom of an old man!"

"Do you think Richard is worth his salary?!" Old Davidson asked the fans at the scene angrily.

"It's worth it!" Tens of thousands of fans at the scene responded crazily to Davidson.

Richard stood aside, extremely moved in his heart. If nothing else, just because of the recognition given to him by the Pistons fans, his two championships were not in vain!

"That's right! It's worth it! It's quite worth it!"

"Even if Richard's salary doubles again, I, Davidson, will sign him without hesitation, because he is so amazing. With him, the championship is guaranteed!"

Speaking of this, the old Davidson smiled all over his face.

"I remember when Richard left the Pistons, he said something called "Everything in the world is a banquet. I always remember this sentence."

"I will also use this sentence now. All feasts in the world must come to an end. It may be time for Richard to leave us."

"I know that many fans will be very disappointed and even angry. In fact, there is no need. Richard has brought us enough glory!"

"Now that Richard is about to become the owner of the Charlotte Pirates, let us use our applause and shouts to wish Richard a bright future!"

"Of course, I would also like to take this opportunity to wish Richard a happy wedding!"

The scene was filled with applause and cheers.

In fact, most Pistons fans know that Richard will leave at the end of this season, so it is not too difficult for them to accept this reality at the moment.

Richard was able to help the Pistons defend their title before leaving, and also left the Pistons with such a perfect championship lineup. All fans were quite satisfied.

Amid the cheers of the fans, Davidson pressed down his hands to signal the fans to quiet down.

"Okay, now it's our turn for the serious stuff tonight, I'm afraid everyone can guess it!"

After that, the old Davidson waved his hand, and a jersey without a number dropped from the sky at the Palace Arena in Auburn Hills.

"Yes, tonight is Richard's jersey retirement ceremony!"

"Thank you Richard for your contribution to the Pistons. Detroit will never forget you!"

The jersey with Chard-Lee written on it slowly fell down.

The previous jersey retirement ceremony in the Trail Blazers aroused exclamations from the fans and the media, but there were no exclamations tonight. Obviously this incident was not unexpected.

Richard looked at the slowly falling jerseys above the arena with mixed feelings in his heart. He was now definitely an indelible part of NBA history.

Five championships in eight years!

Six finals and five championships!

Defending the championship, a championship dynasty!

Two teams retired their jerseys!

Countless win records...

Thinking of this, Richard couldn't help but feel satisfied. He was already on the way to becoming a myth.

Maybe decades later, the NBA will still have its own legend circulating.

Richard didn't know where the road to becoming a myth would end.

What he knows is that he will keep working hard, get more honors, and eventually become a monument that no one can surpass.

Now my journey with the Pistons has come to an end, and I am about to start my journey with the Charlotte Pirates, which is bound to be another exciting journey.

Now, it's time to say goodbye.

Richard picked up the microphone and spoke softly to the tens of thousands of fans present.

"Thank you for your support and care in the past three years."

"Then it's time to say goodbye..."

"Bye Detroit!"