The rest is just noise

Chapter 1,134 The Lakers stopped operating, but summer just started

After repeated weighings, Bird decided to join Louis' coaching staff, but he wanted to keep a low profile.

"How low-key do you want to be?"

"No one knew about it before the season started."

"Hehe, I promise you."

Bird was dissatisfied with Louis' attitude, but what could he do?

As long as he agrees to join the Lakers coaching staff, starting from today, Louis will be his immediate boss. This is a very direct level gap.

Remember when he was with the Celtics, although Louis was the coach in name and had a higher status than him, the game was not played by the players?

If Bill Fitch causes people to betray him, players will have their own ways to tell him to get out.

This is not the case between the head coach and assistant coaches.

Louis promised to keep Bird a secret, but signing Bird had to go through the hands of many people. Can everyone's mouths be blocked?

This is of course impossible.

The "Los Angeles Daily News", which has exclusive internal news channels, first exposed the matter after Bird signed the contract.

Lakers fans have mixed emotions.

The media is very happy that Louis poached the Celtics.

Auerbach also called to inquire.

Louis blocked the old man's mouth with two questions.

"Does Larry still have a contract with the Celtics?"

"No."

"Then what does it have to do with you if I sign him?"

So Auerbach was speechless.

However, the public's attention was quickly diverted by another piece of news.

That was the comeback plan that the tragedy master had been preparing for many days.

On July 25, the tragedy director and agent held a press conference.

"That night, I walked out of the forum," the tragedy man said of the night he announced his retirement in 1991, "and people told me they had never seen anything like this in their decades of life - and they meant,

A star was forced to retire due to a certain disease. My wife cried and thanked me. She thanked me for supporting the family with the money I earned with both hands. I also cried. That was the happiest time in my life.

I feel that that is what God wants me to do. I will spread the knowledge of HIV to the world. This is the mission that I must complete for the rest of my life. It has nothing to do with victory, it is a kind of love, and this love can last until

The day I died, I thought, this is it, I'll never come back."

This is a well-prepared comeback show.

Unlike that hasty comeback in the fall of 1992, the Tragedy Warriors are in a different world. Americans are more aware of HIV now, and players are less afraid.

When his comeback speech was about spreading love, to returning to the court with love and the mission of defeating HIV to prove that he can still play, the emotional transition was very natural.

Louis believed that he must have practiced on the draft hundreds of times.

Then, the Tragedian's journalist friends are left with just one question.

"Erwin, which team do you want to come back to?"

"You know the answer."

Yes, except for the Lakers, the tragedy maker is not going anywhere.

What's even more cruel is that, except for the Lakers, no other team is willing to accommodate a has-been superstar who is carrying the HIV virus.

The Lakers' coaching staff has mixed opinions on Johnson's return.

Kareem Jabbar is very loyal, and he clearly supports the tragedy: "The latest research has proven that the HIV virus will not infect others through means other than sexual contact. I think there is nothing to worry about."

"We're not worried about that," Carlisle said bluntly, "What we're worried about is his competitive level. Except for the 1992 Olympics, Irvine has been away from the league for four years."

Nelson laughed and said, "In my era, no matter who you were, as long as you didn't play for four years, you would never be able to play again."

Boozer Holden had no comment.

Bird listened to everyone's opinions before saying: "This will not end well."

"Oh?" Louis teased, "Don't you actually want your half-brother to come back?"

Bird said seriously: "I don't think HIV is a problem, and I have never doubted Irvin's competitive ability at this stage. I mean, his existence will be a problem for the Lakers. He was a super player before retiring.

A superstar, even after retiring, he has never left the spotlight. If he comes back here, he will still be the leader, but after four years, no one will be willing to accept his leadership."

What Bird was worried about was also what Louis was worried about.

Although the Tragedian admits that Benj is the leader of this team, wouldn't he act like a superstar when facing others?

Except for Robinson, who is recuperating from injury, there are no longer any of his old subordinates on the Lakers team.

Louis did not believe that any of these young people thought highly of the tragedian.

Can he accept this sense of gap from the top of the clouds to the mortal world?

"What you are saying now is just speculation." Louis did not expect that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar would be so supportive of the tragedy master. "Can Buck (nickname/referring to the tragedy master) accept his position? Or should he wait until the end of the preseason training camp?"

Let’s make a final decision.”

Louis doesn't want to make a decision now either.

This can be regarded as an exploration of the coaching staff.

Except for Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who clearly supported the tragedy, everyone else disagreed.

Louis also had doubts, but no matter what, he had to give the tragedy master a chance.

Otherwise, wouldn’t it be a failure to live up to that perfect comeback show?

In August, Louis fell in love with veteran general Derek Harper (Derek Harper PG).

This man was considered a very capable defender in the 1980s, but because he spent his peak years with the uncompetitive Mavericks, his reputation is mediocre.

At that time, the Knicks also wanted him.

But the Knicks are only willing to provide a basic salary and a 50% chance of winning the championship.

Harper asked rhetorically: "Is a 50 percent chance of winning the championship worth $2 million?"

He said this because the Lakers used the mid-level exception for Harper.

Championships are important, but not everyone values ​​them.

Harper prefers money.

Therefore, he accepted 2 years and 6 million from the Lakers.

Subsequently, the Lakers used the minimum salary exception to sign the homeless Joe Klein (joe kleine c)

Klein was a lottery pick in the same year as Ewing, and he is also a typical example of white insiders. Fortunately, he has a good personality and is an excellent locker room coordinator. He also won a ring with Louis in New York a few years ago.

The signing of the Lakers was at this point, but Louis stopped it.

There are currently 11 players on the roster, with 4 spots short of being filled.

Louis hopes to save the remaining spots for preseason training camp.

West is also happy and relaxed. Ever since Louis asked him to sign free agents full-time, he has been very uncomfortable.

On the surface, this was a big job assigned to him.

But in reality? He still doesn’t have the right to operate freely!

After all, the management has to communicate with the coach if they want to sign someone. Who is the coach of the Lakers? Isn't it Louis?

Going around and around and back again, as long as Louis shakes his head, West has to let go of the person he has chosen.

For a whole month, West's only recommendation accepted by Louis was Klein.

But Louis only accepted this person because he had played in New York.

If he wasn't an acquaintance, Louis would definitely shake his head again.

Now that the signing is on hold, West is happy to be at ease and just waiting for preseason training camp.

However, the Lakers stopped their actions, but other teams continued to operate.

Such as pioneers.

Owner Paul Allen first asked Riley to fire the team's coach, and then pretended to hire him for a long time. As a result, those who applied for the coach either lacked experience, lacked real materials, or had no achievements.

Anyway, if you want to find something wrong, you can always find it.

After Allen eliminated those candidates one by one, he found that the Blazers would be without a coach in the new season if the situation continued, so he set his sights again on Riley.

Allen's trust in Riley was running low. In fact, he wanted to fire Riley as early as the end of the 1993 Finals. The Blazers, who seemed like they shouldn't lose the Finals, squandered two games in a row.

A 25-point lead was lost and the coaching staff should be held responsible for the loss.

But Jordan was a Paulist, which caused friction between him and Allen. However, Allen could not offend Jordan to death in order to fire Riley, so he promoted Riley to management.

However, Riley's successor was completely unable to meet the standards of a championship team. Allen gritted his teeth and decided to let Riley be the coach again.

In line with the fearless spirit of "If I don't go to hell, who will go to hell", Riley serves as the general manager and also serves as the coach.

This is godfather-level authority, and Paul Allen has no objection. However, he made ugly remarks in front of him and only gave Riley two years.

Within two years, if the Trail Blazers can't end their nightmare of consecutive runner-up finishes, Riley will have to pack up and leave.

This leaves Riley with no choice, whether reasonable or not, he must strengthen the team at all costs.

When a reporter from The Oregonian asked him if he had woken up from the Barkley nightmare, Riley shook his head seriously: "I said, I'm the fire captain, which means I won't stay in this position for a long time.

, because coaching has long been no longer fun for me.”

In this way, Riley became the coach of the Trail Blazers again.

He's putting Sabonis on the shelf while recruiting players in the free market.

Soon, Riley split the mid-level exception into two parts, signing Tyrone Corbin and veteran Russell Thompson (Lasalle Thompson C).

Riley no longer wants to set the trend, following the trend is the most important thing.

The Knicks used defense to win seven consecutive championships. The Heat copied the answer and won the championship. Riley wanted to form a defensive team that surpassed the Knicks to help the Trail Blazers reach the top.

To achieve his goals, he needs more talents.

Immediately afterwards, Philadelphia was preparing to put this cornerstone insider on the shelf due to the difficulty in renewing the contract of Alonzo Mourning.

The phone calls to the 76ers general manager's office were quickly buzzing with requests from team executives eager for talent.

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