The rest is just noise

The 1985 playoffs began, and Louie was indifferent.

Everyone is looking forward to May 12th. This year, the NBA has created a new way of playing, lottery drawing, which is more complicated and more random than the past coin tossing game.

However, in mid-April, Ewing's coach John Thompson refuted the remarks of some bad teams that Ewing was "ambitious": "Patrick is a dignified player and he does not want to play on a mediocre team.

, if this happens, a group of lawyers will file an antitrust lawsuit against the NBA, and Patrick is willing to miss his rookie year for this."

These words, as well as the NBA's new lottery draw, are aimed at the bad teams represented by the Clippers, which lose without limit and completely trample on the spirit of sportsmanship.

Last season, in order to compete for Olajuwon, the Rockets let a veteran play for 53 minutes in a game with overtime and successfully lost.

They got their wish and finished last, got the No. 1 pick, and won Olajuwon.

Sterling was jealous and openly declared that he would make the team lose the game in order to increase the probability of getting the No. 1 pick.

The Clippers are definitely the representative of a group of bad teams with no hope.

In 1976, they were not in Los Angeles, and their name was not the Clippers (Braves), but they were lucky enough to get the signing rights of Moses Malone from Portland with a first-round pick and $230,000. Six days later, Bu

Farrow actually sent Moses to Houston in exchange for two first-round picks in 1977 and 1978. Why did they give up on Moses so quickly? The new head coach Tates Locke didn't like him.

Ten weeks after trading Moses, Lock was fired.

April 1977: The Braves went 16-56, beginning a 16-year playoff drought. Two months later, they used the No. 3 pick in a star-studded draft (Marqueen) to

Johnson) in exchange for Sven Turner and the No. 13 pick.

That September, rookie Adrian Dantley won them the Rookie of the Year award, and the Braves celebrated by trading him from Indiana for overrated scorer Billy Knight.

They repeat the same bad luck every year.

Summer of 1981: Donald Sterling bought the Clippers from Levine for $12.5 million and began to build the team into the worst team in sports history...

The most disturbing thing is that the potential new stars who come to this team will have physical problems.

Therefore, in order to prevent people like Sterling from getting Ewing, the league changed the lottery system, at least to minimize their chances of getting Griffin.

Ewing's mentor Thompson even warned directly, suggesting that the league should do something to prevent Ewing from going to those unlucky teams.

After Ewing hired David Falk as his agent, reporters asked him which city he would rather play for, Indiana or New York.

This is a funny question, but Ewing still has basic emotional intelligence.

He replied: "Whoever chooses me, I will work for him. This is the rule."

In late April, the league announced that the 1985 lottery would be the first live lottery draw in history.

As expected of Stern, Stern always finds ways to make money in various ways.

After Sampson fulfilled people's expectations and grew into the league's No. 1 center, Ewing became the most coveted lottery ticket.

To understand how coveted Ewing was in 1985, you have to forget about the small ball future and go back to a time when one big man dominated the league. Of course, there were also the oddball unsolvable do-it-alls like Larry Bird and Magic Johnson

Forward, but in most cases, the position is determined by height and size. This is the alliance of Russell and Chamberlain, Walton, Malone and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

Not only can Ewing save a bad team, he can also save the team's ticket revenue.

He is definitely the most recognized non-professional player in history before entering professional sports.

The seven teams that didn't make the playoffs all had the same 14.3% chance of landing Ewing. They ranged from the Warriors, who were truly in trouble, to those who were temporarily stumbling to a shy 31 wins, not daring to talk about physicality.

But the Eagles are very honest. The Seattle SuperSonics need a real center. Lanier is retiring. They only have power forward Jack Sikma pretending to be a center on their books, and there is nothing else.

Yes. Clippers general manager Carl Hill issued an apology letter to season-ticket holders after the season. The Pacers remain as confused as they were in the ABA, while the Kings fled Kansas City to a chorus of boos.

, moved the team to a ranch in Sacramento.

Then there's the Knicks, who are the team that least deserves to be blamed among the teams in the bottom seven.

They hired Little Lu from Boston with a lot of money, hoping that he would be the messiah to save the team. As a result, Cartwright suffered a fracture before the season even started. As the season progressed, a wave of injuries swept through the team. Many nights,

Fans cheer for the team's loss.

If you want to find a perfect place for Ewing, it would be New York, the league's largest market. Anyone who knows the history of the NBA will admit that the 1980s was the heyday of the NBA, but it is easy for people to forget that the NBA truly reached its peak.

It's not the rivalry between the black and white duo that has piqued people's interest, but it will take more dazzling new stars to keep fans paying attention.

The 1984 generation followed the trend, and in the mid-to-late 1980s, the NBA's audience grew larger and larger. Now, Jordan has made the Trail Blazers the darling of the media. Olajuwon has sold out all season tickets in Houston.

The combination of Barkley and McHale is also saving the Chicago Bulls, nicknamed the Toxic Dog Circus.

Moreover, the NBA's four-year, $91.9 million television contract with CBS will expire in the summer of 1986. A more attractive and attention-grabbing league can help them sign a larger contract.

In early May, the New York Times published an editorial: "If Ewing finally puts on a Knicks jersey, it will benefit every team in the league."

So, the time came for that day, May 12th, Mother’s Day.

Louis bought his mother a cake, flowers, and a bigger TV.

In the afternoon, their family was going to use this TV to watch CBS broadcast the first lottery draw in NBA history.

At the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in New York, representatives of the seven national teams were restless in their seats.

In order for the team to win the big prize, they did a lot of meaningless and ridiculous things.

Seattle has designated this day as St. Patrick Ewing Day, and local people hope that this holiday will bring good luck. The Clippers have arranged to open their telephone switchboard that Sunday to cope with the overwhelming demand for season tickets. Kings

A party was held at the new Sacramento Coliseum, and two psychics were invited to give them luck.

At the same time, Knicks general manager Dave DeBusschere once again received prayers from fans on the road. Later, he revealed that at 9:15 that morning in St. Paul’s near his home,

When Joseph was celebrating Mass in the church, he may have "somewhat selfishly made some requests to God" during his prayers.

When the lottery started, the playoffs between the Celtics and the 76ers were also going on at the same time.

The league deliberately chose to start live streaming the lottery at halftime of the game.

The atmosphere at the scene was extremely tense. In order to ease the scary atmosphere, Stern made a joke: "Everyone, please relax, the security guards have no weapons."

After a while, Stern left the stage and re-entered the stage.

What happened next became the most famous clip in NBA lottery history, one that will be played repeatedly on YouTube and dissected by conspiracy theorists for years to come. Stern re-explained it to representatives from seven teams.

The whole process of drawing lots.

Then, it started.

A white-haired man from the accounting firm Ernst & Young, named Jack Wagner, dropped the seven envelopes one at a time into the plastic globe, pausing briefly perhaps to adjust his special aim? before pouring in the fourth envelope

Before the letter was sent, the globe would slam against the outside of the letter, creasing the corners. Jack Joyce, the NBA's director of safety, rotated the globe eight times.

Next comes the moment to decide the grand prize.

It can be seen that Stern was extremely nervous. Before opening the globe, he looked at the letter inside carefully. Finally, he seemed to have found the target. He breathed out a breath of amnesty and began to reach out to find the first choice, the one that would determine Ewing.

Destiny's choice. Stern fumbled for a while, grabbed the envelope, flipped it over, and then took out the lucky envelope. "It happened" that there was a crease in the corner of the envelope.

Sterling then selected six more envelopes, placing them in order after the first envelope, and he began the presentation, counting down from the last selection. "The No. 7 pick in 1985," he announced in a nasal voice, "belongs to

Golden State Warriors!”

Louis in front of the TV saw the scene and turned the camera on GM Al Attles (GM Al Attles), who is the pride of the Bay Area and has a stoic face. He is the general manager and former coach of the Warriors. His team

Ending the season with the worst record, a year ago, he would have been guaranteed at least the second pick.

When he saw the results, he felt as painful as if someone had stabbed him in the heart.

"It's so pitiful. He was as disappointed as Al Pacino when he learned that his wife had deliberately aborted the child." Lorraine is an avid "The Godfather" fan and always likes to compare the plots in the movie.

Louis nodded in agreement: "Well, I'm sure, if you give him a chance, he will slap the president in the face 10 times harder than Pacino."

Next, Stern continued to open the envelope of the Kings, Hawks, SuperSonics, and Clippers. Finally, it was the Indiana Pacers and the New York Knicks: one was the Ewing Super Jackpot, and the other was Benoit...

Benjamin (BenoitBenja fans nC), or Wayman Tisdale as a consolation prize.

Stern had to choose between two letters, one was an ordinary letter and the other was dog-eared. In the end, he chose the normal letter to open, then raised his head and announced: "The No. 1 pick in the 1985 NBA draft.

The second pick belongs to the Indiana Pacers!”

The crowd, including the New York media, burst into loud cheers, and at that moment three things happened simultaneously.

Pacers owner Herb Simon, who came to the scene in person, stood up and learned that his team had passed Ewing. He collapsed as if his spinal nerve had been punctured. How desperate was he?

The camera shows DeBusschere pinching his trigeminal nerve, as if thanking God for answering his prayers.

Louis unscrewed the cap of a bottle of Coke with one hand.

"Drink again, how many bottles have you drunk today?" Li Xuanbing said unhappily.

"Mom, I have a headache, let me drink." Louis didn't realize that he was already a 25-year-old adult man, and he was acting coquettishly with his old mother.

"Okay, okay!" Although Li Xuanbing doesn't know what his son has experienced in recent years and why his temperament has changed drastically, there are very few mothers in the world who can resist their sons' coquettish behavior. "I don't want a second child."

If so, you can drink whatever you want!"

Louis drank Coke and listened to Stern's words that have been sung as bibles by New Yorkers for more than ten years.

"Friends, basketball is back in New York."

Louis was troubled, and he believed Ewing was too.

Even before it started, Louis knew that rebuilding Ewing would be a difficult project, and as for Ewing, he definitely didn't want to play for Louis.

So, let us do it again: Mr. You, all encounters in this world are reunions after a long separation.

PS: There are clips of the lottery competition on the Internet. I’ll see if I can post them in the Easter egg chapter.