The rest is just noise

Chapter 1516 Death of Old Nick

Just when Louis was preparing wholeheartedly for the 2003 draft, bad news came from New York.

Louis' old friend and former colleague, New York Knicks legend Dave DeBusschere, suffered a heart attack on a street in lower Manhattan and died at New York University Hospital.

Louis was blinded when he heard the news.

He doesn't believe it.

DeBusschere was so strong, how could such a man die of a heart attack?

However, great people like Chamberlain eventually died of complications caused by toothache. Faced with death, everyone is the same.

DeBusschere is one of the old Nicks whom Louis respects the most. Without his full cooperation back then, Louis would not have been able to quickly establish a foothold in New York.

When he carefully recalled the time when he worked with DeBusschere, he suddenly discovered that the latter's heart disease had manifested itself when he first worked with him.

Louis clearly remembers that during the 1985 draft, DeBusschere clutched his chest (or heart) several times to express discomfort. It was also that summer that he left the Knicks management.

However, Szczerbiak had just averaged 20 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists per game with the Jazz in four years. Sloan relied heavily on him, unless Louis took out the No. 3 pick or Yao Yueban, Gasol or any of them.

, otherwise there is no chance.

That summer, although Louis joined the Knicks as a championship coach, many people were not optimistic about his development in New York.

Afterwards, everyone went back to their homes.

Not to mention that he wants Rasheed Wallace to be useless, he covets the Jazz's No. 6 pick and wants to use him to select Kirk Hinrich. Why choose Hinrich? Because he has a good boy next to him.

Someone needs to protect him, but Sloan actually wants to take the No. 3 pick? Without the No. 3 pick, why should he choose the older one?

However, Louis is very interested in Wally Szczerbiak, the white sharpshooter of the Jazz.

He has witnessed almost all the major moments of the Knicks dynasty.

And now may be Turkoglu's most valuable moment.

"From this point of view, Dave is the foundation of the Knicks dynasty. Without him, nothing would have happened."

This handsome white shooter is very suitable to play next to the ball-carrying core.

Detroit Pistons general manager Earl Monroe is a rare friend and foe of the old Knicks and Baltimore Bullets.

Of course Louis couldn't agree.

After the funeral, Louis had a meal with Cowens, Monroe and other old friends in New York.

There are no non-black lottery picks outside the first seven picks worth selecting.

Louis first contacted the Utah Jazz and wanted to know if their No. 6 pick could be traded.

Today, Monroe is attending as a Baltimore Bullets legend, and he represents Gus Johnson (PF/C) who was unable to attend, who died of brain cancer 16 years ago.

According to the new regulations reached between labor and management in 2000, rookie contracts are unified for five years.

This incident did not affect Havlicek's relationship with DeBusschere. In his words, the latter's death devastated him, because DeBusschere seemed like he should be among the old guys.

The longest-lived.

However, among the top seven favorites are Milicic, Lu Wuxia and Hinrich.

While Louis was thinking about it, he assigned the task to Dumars and Chris Wallace, asking them to help him do some research to see if any of the teams with the top ten picks had the idea of ​​​​selling the draft pick.

Moreover, Louis has locked in flawless.

The people who were least optimistic about him at that time were the New York media who now regard him as a god.

In terms of flawless potential, there is a high probability that he will not become an excellent defender in the future. He needs someone like Hinrich who can do the dirty work next to him, just like Michael Cooper next to Magic.

Therefore, Turkoglu must be sent away.

However, Hinrich has the prospect of being one of the top seven picks, and is destined to be unable to get among the top ten picks. It is still very difficult to rely on Turkoglu to get the top ten picks.

The first player Louis is ready to send away is Hedo Turkoglu.

Mourners fill St. Joseph's Roman Catholic Church on May 19, 2003.

Jerry Sloan said that it is possible to trade, but you have to trade with the No. 3 pick.

Louis had no interest in this.

Turkoglu entered the league in 2000 and has two years left on his rookie contract, which can be said to be quite cheap.

Louis rarely encountered such a sad funeral in America.

After that, although DeBusschere never participated in front-line work again, as a Knicks legend, he would always rush to the scene to cheer for the team every time there was a big game.

One of the first things Louie hammered out with the team before heading to New York was that they needed to mess up.

Louis' focus returned to work.

Louis was still very interested in Hinrich.

Although Turkey Agent has the ability to serve as the second team leader and the core of the wing for the division championship in the future, his ceiling is still not enough.

Louis offended many people when he was just starting out, and the one he offended the most was New York. Because of his controversial use of Bernard King in the All-Star Game and his speech after the game, the New York media was hostile to him.

.

Without DeBusschere, Louie's first season with the Knicks will be much more difficult, and Boston's crusade against Isiah Thomas will appear on him this year.

Roaring God + No. 6 pick for No. 3 pick.

However, Louis took a look at this year's lottery favorites.

Everyone was saddened by DeBusschere's passing, and no one even had an interesting story to lighten the mood.

If you want to fail, you can't spend a lot of money in signings and rebuilding in the offseason. It is obviously unacceptable to the media to fail immediately. In order to minimize the impact of negative public opinion, Louis' signing was postponed for several months until the offseason.

He signed with the team only after the season was almost over.

Sloan then increased the price and said: "We are willing to add Rasheed Wallace to the deal."

Bill Bradley, who made the funeral so solemn, said: "This is not a question of whether Dave wants it or not. I think he deserves the respect and love."

During this period, the Knicks management did not make any operations, so the media cannot ask Louis to achieve anything with that lineup.

He is now studying the roster and each team's needs to see if he can finalize a few trades before the draft begins.

As soon as Wu Xia arrived, Turkoglu's functionality overlapped with his.

That's how much this year's top five picks are worth.

DeBusschere took all the blame and allowed Louis to spend his first year smoothly.

Another Celtics player who came to pay his respects was Dave Cowens, along with the Pistons' Dave Bing, the 76ers' Billy Cunningham, the Royals' Oscar Robertson and

Most of the star players who were active during the 1970s.

Willis Reed, sad and happy, said through tears that DeBusschere may have been an incurable snorer, but once he woke up, there was no friend more loyal and no friend more loyal than him.

A trustworthy person.

During DeBusschere's lifetime, he told his wife many times that if he died, don't make a big fuss, just secretly find him a tombstone and hold a simple funeral.

With his immediate combat ability, rookie contract bonus and potential, he can definitely be traded for a lottery pick.

When Louis stepped forward to give his speech, he told the story of the summer of 1984.

He just had a season in which he averaged 13 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists per game, and he is still in the rookie bonus period.

Celtics great John Havlicek, one of the speakers and pallbearers, told the funeral how DeBusschere bruised his shoulder in 1973, causing him to miss that year.

The story of a championship.

The No. 1 pick is priceless, and the higher the other four draft picks are, the higher their value is.

Louis is not in a hurry. He remembers that Szczerbiak is a relatively glassy shooter. In this era when the NBA does not yet know how to arrange regular rest and maintenance for those glassy men, the careers of players who are prone to injury often do not last long.

Louis can wait. When Szczerbiak is injured, the value will decrease, and Sloan may change his mind by then.

Moreover, it would be really troublesome to trade Szczerbiak now.

Szczerbiak is in his prime, and he has no injuries or illnesses. When the Celtics come, they will compete with Sprewell and Ginobili for the starting spot. There is a high probability that they will not be able to grab the starting spot. What will happen to people when the time comes?

manage?

Therefore, Louis temporarily gave up the idea of ​​getting Szczerbiak.

(End of chapter)