The rest is just noise

On the evening of June 13, the trading market, which had been silent for many days, was like a thunder striking the city's buildings, arousing the admiration of countless people.

The league office announced: "A transaction has been completed between the New York Knicks and the Philadelphia 76ers."

The Knicks sent A.C. Green, Gerald Wilkins, Mario Eli, the 1990 first rounder and $700,000 in cash to the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for the second pick in the 1986 first round.

As soon as the news of the transaction came out, sports reporters from all over the country couldn't help but work overtime, using their own connections to find out the news.

Only two media outlets got the inside scoop.

They are both from New York, the Times and the Post respectively.

The relationship between The Times and Louis has always been bad, but their top reporter Dave Anderson was a Knicks team reporter last year and was friends with Louis. The other Post is the media in the New York area that has the best relationship with the Knicks.

, every one of their sports reporters knew Louis.

Louis' messages to the two families varied.

The information he gave to the Times was the inside story of the transaction, their initial preparation process and the mid- and late-stage bargaining.

The omission of Louis' series of trouble-making operations creates the image of a management that will do anything to get the second pick.

The information given to the Post may be the most valuable.

Louis revealed to his friend Selvin Haley at the Post: "We won't necessarily keep the second pick, because we already have the first pick, and the second pick is for us, although it is also

It’s a very good choice, but I’d rather do some trading with it.”

On June 14, when two media outlets reported the inside story of the transaction, the news revealed by the Post caused the aftermath of the transaction to ripple fiercely.

No one expected that the Knicks sent three young players with promising futures and US$700,000 in cash, but they did not want to use the second pick to select someone, but continued to trade?

A bidding war for the No. 2 pick had just ended, and the Knicks immediately launched another bidding war for the No. 2 pick.

Almost all the teams that have chased the 76ers are now chasing the No. 2 pick in the hands of the Knicks.

Except one.

The Cleveland Cavaliers seem to have given up on treatment and have shifted from pursuing a team-building strategy with the No. 2 pick to spending big money to sign players in the free market.

Moreover, their management and coaching staff have changed.

Harry Weltman stepped down and George Karl was fired.

Cavaliers owner Gund was an outspoken critic of the work of these two men: "They didn't satisfy me. I want to see a new look."

The Cavaliers' successor as general manager is Wayne Mobley, and the head coach is last season's SuperSonics general manager Lenny Wilkens.

After Wilkens made some moves, the Sonics got out of the dilemma of sending the Celtics the first seven picks in the bottom ranking, but they still sent the Celtics the eighth pick in the first round.

Wilkens, tired of his job as a manager, decided to go back to what he did best.

However, the Knicks still have the right to exchange draft picks with the Cavaliers next year, and they only have one first-round pick from the Knicks.

There were still two days before the draft started, and the phone at the Blue Palace office in New York kept ringing.

Four teams have shown strong interest in the second pick.

Portland Trail Blazers, Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics and Chicago Bulls.

They have all launched a passionate pursuit of the 76ers before, but failed due to various reasons.

Baylor basically answered the calls from these people.

Louis asked Baylor to stabilize and show off that he wanted to be traded, but he would not easily get involved too deeply with any team.

You must trade, but you must be calm.

Currently, the most attractive offer comes from the Lakers.

Jerry West personally called Louis' home and offered any player except Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic, and Wilkins + first-round picks in the next two years and the option of two first-round pick exchanges and 40

Thousands of dollars in cash.

This kind of offer was so harsh that Louis couldn't even be polite.

"Jerry, this...I have to say this is the most sincere offer I've heard in the past few days."

"But you still wouldn't agree, would you?"

"This is actually like 'Back to the Future' and 'First Blood.' Although the former is a very good movie and the box office champion of the year, I prefer the latter." West's quote was simple and crude.

, Louis’ answer to him was also direct, “Your offer is the best so far, but it’s not that good to me.”

"I see."

The Lakers' madness is understandable. They have fallen to the Celtics for three consecutive years.

In the 1960s, they lost to the Celtics five times in the finals.

Now, they have lost three more times.

These losses all have one thing in common: They were Jerry West's teams.

"Hating green" is West's label. Building a team that can defeat the Celtics is his personal revenge.

But for three consecutive years, the Celtics of the 1960s seem to have returned to the present day.

After completing three consecutive championships, Earvin Johnson's most famous nickname was not "Magician" but "Tragedy".

Even though his performance in the 1985 and 1986 finals was remarkable, fans still regarded him as a tragedy.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a has-been old man.

Wilkins received even harsher reviews - a dunker who only knew how to dunk.

Pat Riley is good at math, has a good aesthetic, and knows how to dress himself up, but he just can't lead the team to beat the Celtics.

Jerry Buss, a fool with too much money.

West, from the stage to behind the scenes, he is a loser.

What has changed for the Celtics?

After winning the championship this year, Bird has been hailed by the media as the best in history with four regular season MVPs and three finals MVPs.

Although Bird said that he is not as good as Bill Russell, because the latter's 11 championships in 13 years are unprecedented.

But the media has their reasons. There were few teams in the 1960s, the level of professionalism was not high, Russell was not the first offensive option in his team, etc. Anyway, Bird is the best in history, there is no doubt about it.

Ralph Sampson, since 1984, has been in double teams for three consecutive years, won DPOY for two consecutive years, and won the Finals MVP alone against Kyrie in the 1985 Finals. His current achievements have made him history.

One of the five best centers in the world.

Isiah Thomas was the one who sacrificed the most to fame.

He is known as the top five in the league, but because of the monster Magician, he cannot enter the first team as a defender.

There are two people on the team who are stealing the limelight, so he can only wait for the opportunity.

This is all the impact Louis had after 1977. He completely changed the pattern of the 1980s.

He put down the phone and was about to put his work aside and go flirt with Lorraine.

As a result, someone called again.

He didn't know why these people knew his home phone number, he only knew that he was very unhappy.

"Coach Lu, I hope I didn't disturb your rest."

The tone was unpleasant, and Louis could imagine how ugly the person who said this looked.

"You've already disturbed me."

The caller was Bulls general manager Jerry Krause.

"Coach Lu, I know you may have taken a break, but I want to negotiate a deal with you that is beneficial to both parties."

Usually when Louis hears that the other party wants to negotiate a mutually beneficial deal with him, he will directly understand that it is good for him and bad for me.

"You have one minute."

But now Louis' mind was filled with Lorraine, and he didn't want to waste his time with a guy who took off his pants to pee but couldn't see the peeing tool.

"Coach Lu, as far as I know, you don't want to acquire two newcomers who will take a long time to develop at the same time, so you prefer to use the second pick in exchange for immediate combat power, right?"

"You still have half a minute."

"Coach Lu, we hope to exchange Orlando Ulrich, Sidney Green, Kyle Macy and the 1987 first-round pick for your second overall pick. What do you think?"

"goodbye."

Louis hung up the phone harshly.

"What's the matter, so angry?" Lorraine walked in and asked.

"There's a fool who thinks I'm even more stupid than him. I did this to make him realize his mistake." Louis didn't pull out the phone line because he knew Klaus would call again.

Before Lorraine could ask who the fool was, the phone rang again.

"say!"

"Coach Lu, I don't know why you hung up on me..."

"Why? That's a good question. When you negotiated the deal with Philadelphia, you even brought out Kevin McHale, but now you only give me Ulrich, Green, Messi and the like?" Louis sneered, "

Mr. Claus, do you think I would like bread crumbs that even Philadelphia can’t stand?”

"This... is a big misunderstanding, Coach Lu, I didn't mean it at all!"

"You have disturbed my rest, but you can't give me an offer that satisfies me. Unfortunately, Jerry, you may be out of the game, so let's do it tonight." Louis did not give Klaus a chance to further increase the price.

"I'm going to rest."

Louis hung up again and this time unplugged the phone line.

Lorraine came to Louis with a smile and hugged him: "My dear, you are so domineering."

"Like it?"

"like."

"Then do you want to see me in a more domineering form?"

Lorraine's cheeks flashed red, "Yeah."

"Okay, tonight I will do justice to God and accept you as a monster!" Louis decided to release the pressure accumulated in the past few days of negotiations.

He took action directly and picked up Lorraine by the waist.

That night, Louis took an active and bold frontal attack, leading his second brother to bombard them wildly. The offensive was so powerful that it could even be inferior to the Lakers' Show Time and Denver's Passing Game.

When Louis woke up the next day, Lorraine had already made breakfast.

Today is June 16th, and there is still one day left before the draft.