The rest is just noise

On September 14, Rudy Tomjanovich officially became the acting coach of the Knicks.

Zhao Yuanzheng gave up his assistant coaching job and focused on the scouting department and assistant to the president.

Except for Zhao Yuanzheng, Louis' team was basically succeeded by Rudy.

Doug Moe is still in charge of the Knicks' offense, and Tom Thibodeau is in charge of the defense.

Rudy also promoted interior coach Quin Snyder to assistant coach.

On the opening day of training camp, everyone on the coaching staff was nervous.

The reason for the tension is the uncertainty of the players' status and size.

Fortunately, except for McHale, no one's body shape has changed significantly.

McHale made a high-profile announcement before the start of the season that the 1993-94 season would be his last. As he gets older and the young players on the team rise, his existence becomes more and more symbolic rather than practical.

With the arrival of Mahon and the signing of Toni Kukoc, McHale will most likely buy a house in the DNP position.

If you think about it carefully, this is not bad.

He doesn't have to bear any competition pressure, can still rely on his old skills on the training field, paddle freely, and finally have the opportunity to retire with seven championship rings.

Is there anything happier than this?

Rodman's new haircut sparked widespread discussion.

He had a bun, but his hair was golden, so it looked like he had a freshly baked bun on his head.

The three rookies, Sam Cassell, Alan Houston and Kukoc, were trembling.

Because there doesn't seem to be a good guy on this team.

Mahon got into his role very quickly and knew what the team wanted him to do.

He announced as soon as he came that no matter how good John Salley's previous performance was, he would be better than the other person because he just wanted to win a ring of his own.

And Louis was sitting in his office, listening to Zhao Yuanzheng's report.

"Hakeem and Drexler chose to renew their contracts with the Clippers. They will still be the first-tier team in the Western Conference in the next few years."

"Robert Parish transferred to Denver. This signing will basically not have a substantial impact on the league structure."

"James Worthy traded to Philadelphia in sign-and-trade."

"Is Detroit going to be rebuilt?"

"Yes, they have turned on tank mode."

"Jose Hawkins, Eddie Johnson join Phoenix."

"Indiana trades Horace Grant from Dallas for German Schrempf."

After Zhao Yuanzheng’s report, the changes during this offseason are consistent with Louis’ views.

There are a lot of small moves, but there are basically no large-scale transactions, and no new championship-level team has been produced. Not surprisingly, the Knicks' biggest opponent for the seventh consecutive championship is the Portland Trail Blazers.

"How is Rudy doing now?"

Louis really wanted to go downstairs and have a look, but today is Rudy's first day on the job. Whether the rookie coach can fully control the team depends on the first few days.

Not only does the coach want to establish his authority, but the players are also observing the coach. They want to know whether this person is trustworthy and whether they want to work hard for him.

"He looks like he is 15 years younger." Zhao Yuanzheng said.

Well, 15 years younger, isn't that the age when he was punched out of his brains by Kermit Washington?

Tomjanovich took over the team faster than Louis expected.

It's not that the old players change their minds quickly, but Rudy is half a Louis standing on the training ground.

For more than ten years, Louis and Rudy have become a well-known golden partner in the industry.

On the training ground, Rudy is everyone's head coach, while Louis has little sense of presence.

However, whether Rudy really took over the team will have to wait until the start of the season to make a conclusion.

When Louis was still a coach, he rarely went downstairs, and now he almost never goes downstairs.

As long as the training is not over, he will stay in the office.

Because even if he just walks downstairs, he will give people the feeling that Rudy is not the coach.

Although he is in the office, Louis can also receive information from downstairs at any time.

His focus was on the current relationship between Ewing and Wilson, as well as the integration of several newcomers.

In last year's finals, Wilson and Ewing seemed to open up, but Louis has been troubled by this incident for many years and always felt that it would not end like this.

Judging from Zhao Yuanzheng's report, Ewing has completely dominated the team.

In the past, Ewing was strict off the court, while Wilson was strict on the court.

In this way, leadership is distributed.

Ewing is a leader off the court, and Wilson is a leader on the court.

Zhao Yuanzheng said that Ewing has shown a sense of responsibility in many things this year.

He cares about his teammates, is more willing to communicate, and becomes more patient when facing rookies.

The most important thing is that there was no conflict or quarrel with Wilson, and the two respected each other as guests.

"It seems that Benj has fully recognized Patrick."

Judging from the results, this is the case.

Zhao Yuanzheng asked: "Isn't this bad?"

"This is the best news for Rudy."

But does Wilson look like second-in-command material?

Will he become Pippen next to Ewing? Obviously, he has understood that a team can only have one boss. No matter how he tolerates it, as long as he wants to do something like the boss, he will conflict with Ewing.

There is no such thing as a perfect solution, as the past six years have proven.

Now Ewing dominates the team, he is a good leader, Wilson obeys his leadership and recognizes that the Knicks are his team.

This means that Rudy will not encounter the same problems that Louis encountered in the new season.

The Knicks have been reborn.

However, Louis thought that Benj might not stay in New York when his contract expires next summer.

As for the newcomers, Ma Hong is a veteran who has been playing professional games for more than ten years and knows what to do.

He just needs some time to blend in with Murderous Press.

Cassel, Houston and Kukoc have their own problems.

Cassell's character is too out-of-touch and his playing style is casual. Although his style of play meets the requirements, it is not suitable for the Knicks overall.

Houston needs to adapt to the NBA's three-point line. The mid-range jump shot he is proud of is difficult to perform in New York because there is not so much ball possession.

In addition to language issues, Kukoc also had to find his right position.

He is 210 centimeters tall, but has a clever ball-handling ability, and can play the three and four positions at the same time. And these two positions are the most popular positions in the Knicks. How can he be among the most popular positions in the Knicks?

Finding his role is not only a test for him, but also a test for the coaching staff.

On October 20, the Knicks went to Las Vegas to play a preseason game.

Rudy continued Louis' coaching style, rotating 13 players in the game and winning all five games.

This year's preseason player is Shawn Kemp.

In these five games, Kemp averaged 26 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks in 24 minutes per game.

"Sports Illustrated" writer Jack McCollum believes that it was the intensity of the preseason that led to Kemp's god-like performance.

But he also admitted that Kemp's strength has improved in all aspects.

His skills have become more refined, and he has developed a high-post left-hand ball attack. In addition to turning around for layups in the paint area, he also mastered emergency stop half baskets and floaters. It is like a physical enhancement.

Danny Manning.

Someone asked Kemp if he was confident that he would be selected to the All-NBA First Team in the new season.

Kemp asked, "Why not? That's my goal."

Then he was asked what the difference was between playing under Tomjanovich and Louis.

"Rudy is Coach Lu, and Coach Lu is Rudy, so there's no difference."

Then, Rodman, who claimed to have decided to change his mind in order to bring Louis back, was arrested for beating a fan who was rude to him off the court and was suspended by the league for 4 games.

Afterward, Rodman said he had no regrets because he was a Trail Blazers fan.

"He can insult me, but he can't insult my team," Rodman said.

Regardless, Rodman is destined to miss the opening game on November 5.

It was the first game of the new season. The Knicks would face the Boston Celtics at home, and a ring presentation ceremony and championship flag-raising ceremony would be held.

The Celtics' lineup in the new season is slightly weak.

Although they extended Sampson's contract for two years in the summer (including player options), the retirement of Bird and Laimbeer made this team a substantial one-man team.

Just like Shohoku when Takenori Akagi was a freshman and sophomore in high school.

Of the Celtics' entire lineup, except for Sampson, only Billy Owens is somewhat famous. The rest of the lineup raises a lot of questions, like cats and dogs.

The worst part is that they were unable to select good players in the draft and failed miserably in the free market.

They originally wanted to acquire Moses Malone in the free market, but even though the prophet had entered the twilight years of his career, Dave Gavitt offered him a higher-than-market price of 14 million over three years.

As a result, Malone would rather get New Jersey's three-year, 10 million offer than Boston's three-year, 14 million offer.

From this point we can see how disadvantaged the Celtics are.

They had money but couldn't spend it. The first-round picks in 1994 and 1996 (top-20 protected picks) were in the hands of the Knicks.

Although there is no hope of competing for the championship, Mr. One can at least take them into the playoffs as long as he stays healthy.

Louis attended the game.

He received his seventh championship ring from Stern, and then watched the ninth championship flag in the history of the Knicks go up to the ceiling.

The fans are very excited.

But Louis didn't have so many feelings. To them, these superficial forms were just smoke after the fact.

The time for real excitement has long passed.

Before the game started, Ewing called his teammates, "We want to win another ring!"

"Is one enough?" Kemp asked with a smile.

Ewing, however, looked serious: "Don't be so ambitious, Sean."

"Yes, our goal now is to win another ring, so let's crush the Boston people first!" Miller said arrogantly, "Kill them!"

It's painful to watch the 33-year-old Sampson single-handedly support the team.

If you were a fan of his, you would want him to run away from this team right now.

This summer, he has a chance to leave.

But after months of negotiations, he chose to sign a short-term contract.

It's like giving myself and the Celtics another chance.

If it doesn't work, just leave.

The results prove that it really doesn't work.

Today, Sampson is no longer able to exert force on both offense and defense at the same time. He can only output selectively.

But the Knicks didn't give the Celtics a chance to breathe.

Kemp outplayed Doug Smith, the lottery pick who came to the team with Owens that year, at the fourth position.

Owens is a C-*** with bankrupt potential and strength but cannot reach the level of hype he had before entering the league, so Smith is a standard parallel import.

He has talent and potential, but he just can't make it.

The Celtics have decided that this man's potential will always remain on paper. But so what? They still have to put this man on the roster in the first season after Bird and Laimbeer retire, and

Expect a miracle to happen and see if this person will turn around.

As a result, he allowed Kemp to score 42 points and 8 rebounds on his head.

At the end, 127 to 89, the Knicks defeated the Celtics with a huge advantage of 38 points.

Sampson played 39 minutes and scored 29 points, 13 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 blocks. His performance was comprehensive, but it was of no use.

In the words of his teammate and NBC commentator Laimbeer: "Judging from the scene, Boston has no chance from beginning to end. Unless Ralph can multiply his data by two, even if he plays another hundred games,

The Knicks will win."

Ewing couldn't remember how many times he had played against Sampson.

The opponent won the data and lost the ball as before.

Although Ewing also scored 19 points, 15 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 blocks, he was basically at a disadvantage whenever he faced Sampson.

"Ralph is still the number one center in the league." Ewing said, "It would be great if he had a good team."

The Knicks' acting coach, Rudy Tomjanovich, won the sixth game of his career.

Why not Game 1?

Because he has also coached several games in Louis' absence over the years.

However, this was the first game he officially won as the team's head coach.

A good start is half the battle.

"I definitely don't want the consecutive championship to end in my hands." Tomjanovich joked to reporters, "So, I will do whatever it takes to win."