The rest is just noise

At first, Louis was not used to flying to Washington every Tuesday to attend a lunch meeting composed of middle-aged and elderly people over 50 years old.

When he found out that the adults who came to the luncheon were either rich or noble, he used it as a social place to broaden his network.

Soon, he discovered that he could really talk freely here.

For example, the director of a Secret Service branch publicly expressed his disgust at gays at a luncheon without worrying that anyone would tell him what he said.

Moreover, Louis quickly used his social status to become a core member of the luncheon party.

The guys are headed by Auerbach, whose opinions and stories are the most worth listening to, followed closely by Louis.

If the conversation involves basketball, Louis' priority will even be ranked first.

Especially when Auerbach talks about the second dynasty of the Celtics in the 1980s, Louis' figure is almost everywhere.

Everyone learned from this that the 18-year-old Louis discovered John Long as a stepping stone to enter the Celtics scouting department. The next year, he found Bill Laimbeer from the University of Notre Dame who was not optimistic at all at the time.

Then, through the famous M.L. Carr compensation deal, the Pistons' operational loopholes were discovered, allowing Auerbach to take the opportunity to hit the opponent hard, forcing the Pistons to give away more draft picks.

Those two draft picks eventually evolved into Ralph Sampson and Isiah Thomas.

It was only after Louis lobbied that Sampson decided to participate in the 1981 draft.

History credits Auerbach with the credit, but everyone at the luncheon knew that Louis was the one who played a decisive role.

Auerbach has never shied away from this, nor does he need to claim credit to flaunt his greatness.

Louis found a feeling at the luncheon similar to the cleansing of the soul during meditation.

He can relax and express his opinions freely here, and he has made many friends because of this.

Moreover, after Louis got on the private plane, he was no longer exclusive about lunch meetings.

Every Tuesday, he can arrive in Dole, China as quickly as possible.

Recently, Louis discovered a problem.

Paul Gaston seems to have become a regular at the luncheon.

At the end of every lunch meeting, Gaston would go out of his way to find Louis to say a few words, and the solicitation in his words was obvious.

Louis has never been moved by the other party so far.

It was not that Louis had not considered coming back, but he quickly gave it up.

What to do when you come back?

Many retired celebrities will come up with the idea of ​​comeback again and again due to boring daily life in their retirement life.

Louis has no worries in this regard, because basketball has given him enough satisfaction, and he doesn't even know what else he can get from basketball.

Since officially taking over as the coach in the summer of 1983, he has built the best defensive team in history and introduced professional basketball into the defensive era. Later, he built the invincible Galaxy Battleship in Los Angeles and passed "Beautiful Basketball"

John Wooden established his status as a master. Although he failed to change the era from advocating defense to pursuing offense (the rules did not support it), the creativity and ideas of beautiful basketball have been studied and imitated by the majority of teams, and have far-reaching influence.

The seeds are still sown, and when they mature, Louis' footprints will be everywhere in the NBA.

Finally, last summer, he led the Chinese team to defeat the US team, which was in full swing, and incredibly won the Olympic men's basketball gold medal.

Louis really doesn't know what else he can get out of basketball.

Moreover, TNT's loose work arrangements made him increasingly tired of the intensity of NBA coaching work.

Every year, the training camp starts in mid-September and ends in mid-June of the next year.

As a godfather, Louis certainly can't rest at the end of the season, so he has to continue working, participate in the team's draft, and make plans for the offseason to see what reinforcements and signings the team needs, which is the Lakers.

He was too strong in the last few years, and he had the idea of ​​​​leaving when the time was up, so he didn't worry too much about this aspect.

But the work of the national team has doubled his workload.

He was tired of thinking about the next game day and night.

Sometimes he couldn't help but think that it would be great if he could introduce an agent to replace him in coaching for a long time.

When playing against a weak team, let the opponent take command. Before playing against a strong team, check the opponent's quality. If it's worth taking seriously, take action personally. If it's not worth taking seriously, you can also leave it to an agent for training.

And this kind of thing is destined to be impossible to achieve.

As a coach, if you can't be on the front line for a long time, how can you keep the players focused and establish your prestige? If you don't have these two things, how can you talk about coaching?

Although Louis's mind was filled with thoughts of dying and lying down, he never thought of announcing his retirement.

Because he doesn't know when he will suddenly get tired of his ordinary life and want to find some excitement for himself.

In this kind of thing, you have to step into two boats and leave yourself a way out, so that you can have no worries.

Therefore, it can be said that Louis has no interest in Gaston's invitation.

However, this guy seemed possessed by a demon, just like those licking dogs who were given the good guy card but still retreated without hesitation, and started to stalk him.

At the end of January, James Dolan called.

The Miami Heat want to acquire John Stockton through a trade, and to do so, they are willing to give away two unprotected first-round picks.

With Stockton's current strength, it would be difficult to trade for even one first-round pick, let alone two.

The Heat want Stockton simply because of his ability to organize and connect.

A good point guard can make scoring inside more difficult.

Tim Duncan is the hope of all Miami Beach right now, and the Heat are willing to do anything to lighten his burden.

Louis doesn't think this is a good idea.

The reason for not trading Stockton is the same as Ewing, which is to leave a good name for the club.

Stockton is the oldest player on the team and the all-time assist leader in NBA history. He has been working hard for the team for many years, but he has only had a few good seasons now. Trading him is really a loss of character.

Dolan Jr. accepted Louis' suggestion, and the Knicks stayed put.

Subsequently, the NBA ushered in this year's All-Star Weekend.

This year's All-Star roster is dominated by the new and mesozoic generations.

Except for Wilson and Sampson, almost all the older generation players are out.

Patrick Ewing's omission from the All-Star roster is very symbolic.

Prior to this, he had been selected to the All-Star Game for 15 consecutive years. Now, he has reached the age of being abandoned by the fans.

According to the voting, Sampson would have lost the election.

But the league couldn't miss this opportunity to use the legendary superstar's final All-Star Game as a publicity opportunity.

Sampson was selected for the All-Star Game, and under the influence of force majeure, Shaquille O'Neal announced that he was "willing" to give up the starting spot for this "living legend."

This year's All-Star Game is called the most intense All-Star Game ever.

Mainly because of the sparks between Kobe, Bodilloga, Garnett, Duncan, O'Neal, and Wilson, it affected the minds of the star players who originally came here to play.

If someone is playing hard on the court and you are walking there, you will look very dull.

Affected, the Eastern and Western All-Stars began to devote themselves seriously to the game.

In the end, due to the conflict between Chris Webber and Shaquille O'Neal, as well as Bodilloga's wonderful series, the Eastern All-Stars lost the game with a score of 122 to 126.

Bodiloga, who scored 24 points, 15 rebounds and 11 assists, won the AMVP trophy.

Louis said happily: "Dejan proved tonight that he is the best player in the Miracle Generation."

As soon as Louis finished speaking, someone came out to object.

"If I didn't give him rebounds, would he have a chance to have a triple-double?"

"If I hadn't grasped the pass, how could he have so many assists?"

This is the protest of Garnett and Kobe.

Duncan heard Louis's evaluation of Bodiloga and said lightly: "The coach may be right, but Dejan can't defend. Hmm."

As for Steve Nash, although he was also selected as an All-Star, he was basically transparent and was ignored as always.

The competition in the All-Star Game shows one thing. The competition between Generation M is heating up rapidly, and many people are already looking forward to their meeting in the playoffs.

Tuesday

As usual, Louis took his private jet to Washington, and then called a taxi to take him to Chinatown.

Today's story atmosphere is far stronger than in the past. As soon as Louis arrived, he heard Auerbach encouraging veteran Hemi to tell his story.

"People often talk about heroic moments in sports, but I think the ones they should talk about most are people like Jaime, who can show you what true heroism is."