The rest is just noise

Ewing didn't understand Louis' decision. When he learned that Louis' next stop was Los Angeles, he guessed it was because of Benj.

Louis denies the incident, but can Ewing believe him?

Maybe this doesn't matter.

The important thing is that the done deal is a done deal, things are a foregone conclusion, some are destined to be lost, some will never come back, and some they must remember and eventually take to the grave together.

When the other players learned that Louie was leaving, the birthday party became extremely sad.

Kemp said he hasn't become the best power forward yet.

Miller thought, he was just about to rise, why did the coach leave?

Stevens thought about that day, the voice message he sent to Louis on the night of his layoff that changed his fate.

There was no retention, because they knew that Louis was a person who would never look back after making a decision.

They finally blessed each other.

Ewing and his teammates wish Louis all the best in Los Angeles, and Louis also encourages them to continue to compete for the championship next season.

On August 6, 1994, a piece of news swept the North American sports world from New York.

"Leader Lu plans to sign with the Los Angeles Lakers."

There is a saying that the shorter the news, the bigger the matter.

After the news broke out, the New York sports world fell into chaos.

Fans sent blades to msg management, enthusiastic fans took to the streets to demonstrate, and reporters began to write the inside story of Louis signing with the Lakers.

Knicks general manager Elgin Baylor had to hold a press conference to comfort the fans: "We have tried our best, but Lu believes that he has lost the challenge in New York. In order to continue his career, he chose to leave.

I hope fans understand."

Fans don't understand, will Auerbach leave Boston? How could the Messiah leave behind his Jerusalem?

Baylor's explanation was viewed as incompetent wording by MSG executives.

Louis accepted an exclusive interview with Jack McCallum and answered the fans' questions in detail.

His answer to the fans was the same as Baylor's: he wanted to seek more challenges.

When McCollum asked what role Louis would play in Los Angeles, Louis smiled mysteriously.

"You will find out soon enough."

On August 10, the Lakers officially announced: "Louie will become the team's new president of operations."

The news resounded like thunder.

This means that Louis becomes the first non-owner president in the history of the Lakers.

Whether it's Buss, his predecessor Jack Cook, or Cook's predecessor, Bob Short, who moved the Lakers from Minneapolis to Los Angeles, they all chose to let themselves

Serve as the president of the team to have the final decision-making power.

Short made the decision to move the Lakers to Los Angeles and drafted Jerry West against all odds. Cook became the first owner in the history of the Lakers who spent money like water and had a penchant for collecting legendary centers.

Under his leadership, two legendary figures, Chamberlain and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, were introduced in succession. The story of Buss is well known and does not need to be repeated.

Although the owner of the Lakers has a dictatorial side, he rarely makes mistakes.

Buss is an owner who completely regards himself as a member of the team. For him, serving as president is a gesture of fighting side by side with the team. Now, in order to let Louis join, he gave up this identity and lost his interest in the team.

With the dominance, he can only spend and make money through the Lakers.

Some sportswriters who are close friends with West couldn't help but lament the logo man.

West has been working as a bully for the Lakers for decades, but in the end he can only be the vice president. This is too unfair.

But think about the person who parachuted into the position of president, what can West say?

Louis' achievements in New York were enough to clear away all doubts.

Then came the apocalyptic emotional reaction in New York.

Half of Knicks fans have Louis paint on their homes.

These people formed a huge force and marched on Madison Avenue to try to change this.

But they didn't get any response.

The media in New York published articles one after another about Louis' series of achievements during his ten years in charge of the Knicks.

"Since the 1984-85 season, up to today, nine seasons, the Knicks have averaged 69 wins per season. If you don't know what that means, the Knicks have won seven consecutive championships in these nine seasons.

championship, and cultivated superstars such as Patrick Ewing, Benjamin Wilson, Kevin McHale, Shawn Kemp, etc. The Knicks have transformed from a joke in the city to a totem of New York and the pride of the Midwest, with players like

Generations of fans like the Yankees. The team's market value has increased nearly ten times compared to 1984. It is not only the most commercially valuable team in the league, but also one of the most commercially valuable, famous and outstanding clubs in the world.

——You know what? If there hadn’t been leader Lu, if the great Messiah hadn’t come to New York that wonderful summer, none of this would have happened.”——The New York Times.

The fans were helpless to save it, and the media began to review Louis' achievements to evaluate his status in the world, and then...

On August 11, Louis signed a four-year, $20 million president contract with the Lakers.

The Lakers coaching contract was pushed back by him because he decided to wait and see for one year.

So who will be the Lakers' coach for the new season?

West wants "Silver Fox" Del Harris to take the role. Although Louis respects the old coach, he must fight for opportunities for his cronies.

For the first time, Louie and West disagreed about work, and it happened sooner than expected.

Just like Bass said, when the two have different opinions, he will support Louis unconditionally.

But now, Louis doesn't need anyone's support. He is the president and he can make whatever decisions he wants.

So the Lakers offered Zhao Yuanzheng a one-year, US$1.5 million coaching contract, and Zhao Yuanzheng happily accepted it.

Also this summer, the contracts of Jeff Hornacek and Sam Perkins of the Lakers expired at the same time.

Hornacek wants a four-year, $28 million contract extension.

Perkins thinks he's worth the price, too.

Regarding the contract renewal of these two people, West's suggestion to Louis was to keep Hornacek and give up Perkins.

Space 5 like Perkins is too different. Although it is very functional, it is not worth 7 million a year.

Hornacek has been the Lakers' top attacker in recent years and is also Louis' old subordinate in New York. He will definitely be easy to use.

Louis thought so too, but Phoenix took advantage of the salary cap increase and the space created by Brad Doherty's retirement to offer Hornacek 54 million for six years, and satisfied Perkins' 7 million per year.

annual salary requirements.

Considering Hornacek's age and his own strength, Louis does not want to spend 9 million per year to obtain the right to use him for 6 years.

"Jeff, the sunshine in Phoenix should be very suitable for a veteran like you." Louis said tactfully on the phone that the Lakers would not follow up on the offer.

In this way, both Hornacek and Perkins went to Phoenix.

The Lakers' lineup has been further weakened. The players on the current roster still include powerful players such as Robinson, Pippen, Wilson, Green, and Divac.

The five of them guarantee the Lakers' lower limit and become a playoff team with at least 50 wins in the new season.

But compared to the reinforcements of other teams, the Lakers are a bit inferior.

On August 14, Lewis Shafir completed the ultimate operation of becoming a god in one summer.

The Heat sent Hank Gathers, Antonio Davis, first-round picks in 1996, 1998, and 2000 to Indiana in exchange for Danny Manning.

The subtext of this transaction is that if Gathers wants to exchange Manning, in addition to his own value, he must also bring Antonio Davis and three future first-round draft picks, which is barely enough.

This was even when Manning was determined to leave and determined to go to Miami.

If Manning didn't want to leave and Shafir went to Donnie Walsh (Pacers general manager) with this offer, they wouldn't even dump him.

For the recruitment work after the offseason, Louis has given full authority to Jerry West.

Because the entire management knew that Louis wanted to take action on the lineup.

But except for Wilson, the entire lineup is the work of West, especially Robinson and Pippen. If you really want to change this lineup, you have to completely prove that they are useless.

Louis was not a dictatorial person, so he gave West a year.

If the Lakers' record next season still fails to meet expectations, then when he personally takes over (coaches) the team, no matter who he wants to move, it will be appropriate.

Zhao Yuanzheng was walking on thin ice when he became the head coach because he knew that this coaching job was only temporary.

Just like Teemo's character line: "I'll go ahead and explore the way."

He is responsible for exploring the path for Louis, so he has to find ways to test the limits of this team.

At the same time, he also has to form a new coaching staff for himself, ah no, for Louis.

Except for Zhao Yuanzheng, all of Louis' old subordinates in New York chose to stay.

This is normal, the Knicks are in good shape and they have no reason to leave.

Louis and Zhao Yuanzheng need to start from scratch in Los Angeles.

The first thing Zhao Yuanzheng secured was the inside assistant coach, also Lakers star Kareem Jabbar. He accepted Zhao Yuanzheng's—or Louis—invitation to serve as the Lakers' inside development coach with an annual salary of US$500,000.

.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar initially wanted to work as an interior coach in Philadelphia, but the Lakers offered him too much money and it was his old club. Where else could he go to work that wasn't a part-time job?

Afterwards, Louis selected two more people from a large number of applicants. One was future NBA head coach Mike Budenholzer.

Louis' impression of Budenholzer is not the time he coached with the Hawks or Bucks, but when he was an assistant coach to Popovich with the Spurs, betting on his career like jkl's forward move.

Career suggested that the team trade George Hill, who had already been drafted at the time, in exchange for draft picks to select Kawhi Leonard.

This incident shows that he can make a difference both as a management and as a coach. Such talents are what the Lakers coaching staff, who are currently short of major generals, need most.

Although Zhao Yuanzheng couldn't see what was extraordinary about Budenholzer, Louis said he was a talent, so he was.

The other is former player Rick Carlisle who has been actively engaged in coaching since retiring from the league.

There is no need to say much about what achievements this person can make in the future.

Louis is very reluctant to part with the coaching staff in New York. In addition to being his good friends, those people are also first-class talents.

But now, seeing talents joining the Lakers coaching staff one after another, Louis feels that Los Angeles has a bright future.

Now, they also need video analysts, physical trainers, special trainers, offensive coaches, guard development coaches and forward development coaches...

Thinking of so many openings, Louis couldn't help but pick up the list of talents currently scattered on the free market.

－－－－－－Digression－－－－－

This chapter doesn't mean anything, I'm taking a day off today.

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