The rest is just noise

First of all, if Louis remembers correctly, the Bulls got Pippen through a trade.

Although Jerry Krause searches for players' contracts, he will always use the safest way to get the players he wants, and never take the risk of waiting for the other party to drop the contract and give it to him.

Therefore, it is no surprise that the Bulls will choose to trade to get Pippen.

Louis is not interested in Pippen. It may be too crazy to say that. After all, the opponent is one of the ten best small forwards in history. He is also one of the three best defensive small forwards in history. He is the best assistant of G.O.A.T., history.

Top 30 superstar, then Louis said he was not interested in him.

It sounds incomprehensible, but it is easy to understand.

The Knicks already have an ace on the wing (Wilson), and the second position will also be locked up by Ellis or Miller in the future.

Simply put, the Knicks have no room for Pippen.

If they forcefully choose Pippen, it will inevitably expand the talent in the team, and it is likely to collapse because many players cannot get enough playing time.

The Trail Blazers in the early 21st century are an example. They had too many famous players, and everyone wanted to play. Mike Dunleavy could not satisfy them, and the chemical reaction within the team collapsed.

Therefore, the most beneficial outcome for the Knicks is not that they select Pippen, but that Pippen is not selected by the Bulls.

After all, the Knicks hold the Bulls' two future first-round picks. As long as they are not allowed to select Pippen, they can prevent them from rebuilding. This is a typical self-interest at the expense of others.

So Louis contacted his media friends.

Dave Anderson of the New York Times and Selvin Haley of the New York Post, whom Louie wanted to write a feature on Pippen to make him famous.

Anderson asked Louis: "Why do you do this?"

"To make the future of the Knicks better."

Well, if you don't write this article, you don't want to make the future of the Knicks better.

Louis' request was not excessive. The Times and the Post published special articles on Pippen with the themes of "Possible Selections for the Knicks in this Year's Draft" and "Those Future Stars Who Desperately Need More Attention" respectively.

There is no doubt about the influence of these two media.

Fans immediately learned about such a player.

Pippen was the youngest of 12 children born to Preston and Ethel Pippen over 24 years, where he and his brothers would often play together for hours.

His father worked most days as a paper mill manager until one day seven years ago, when he came home and suffered a severe stroke. Since then, Preston has been in a wheelchair until he saw

He watched his youngest son Scotty play basketball after a videotape of a Bulls game.

For a long time, almost no one watched Pippen play.

As a sophomore at Hamburg High, Pippen had very little playing time, so before his senior year he decided to skip the basketball team's offseason training and become the football team's equipment manager.

Pippin was frustrated because at age 15, he was still shorter than his mother, even though she was 6 feet tall.

Pippen's family is a long-term family, but because of his height, he never thought that he would play professional basketball in the future. Because the football and basketball seasons overlapped, Pippen missed physical training, and high school coach Donald Wayne

Initially he didn't want to add him to the roster. Eventually, Wayne changed his mind, only because the players on the team voted that Pippen should return.

During Pippen's senior year, he became the point guard for Hamburg. However, the 6-foot-1, 150-pound figure generated little excitement among college recruiters. If Weiwei

En did not recommend Pippen to Central Arkansas coach Don Dell. As an unheralded high school prospect, Pippen likely would have ended up working in a factory, like his father and his brothers.

At that time, Pippen had no interest in playing basketball anymore, but his college coach Don Dell saw this as an opportunity for him to receive an education. Therefore, when Pippen came to the University of Arkansas, he came as an assistant.

By the time school started, Pippen had grown to 6-foot-3, so Dell allowed him to practice with the team, and Pippen quickly proved he had a spot on the Central Arkansas roster as a sophomore.

At that time, he was 6 feet 5 inches tall and the best player on the team. Dell began to play him at guard, forward, center, any position.

In his senior season, he averaged 23.6 points, 10 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game, shooting 59% from the field and 58% from three-point range.

These stories greatly increased Pippen's popularity.

Therefore, in early June, Pippen was invited to attend the Portsmouth training camp in Virginia. This is a training camp officially organized by the NBA, mainly to give professional scouts the opportunity to carefully examine rookies.

The most surprising thing is that Knicks head coach and general manager Louis and deputy general manager Elgin Baylor actually came to the training camp.

This caused a lot of speculation.

Louis' vision has been recognized by the professional basketball circle. So far, none of the players he has selected are parallel imports. They are either potential stars or reliable role players.

"Who did little Lu fall in love with this time?"

Pippen played in several games during the training camp. Under the arrangements of several different coaches, he served as point guard, shooting guard, small forward and power forward.

He is able to play every position with ease. If you want to say where he performs best, it has to be point guard and small forward.

His defensive and dribbling abilities are surprising, and although his ball feel is a bit stiff, he has the potential to become a point forward like Paul Price.

Pippen was selected to the All-Star team of the training camp. Although he was not the MVP of the training camp, he got Louis' vote.

Louie was the only voter who thought he was the best in training camp.

The media asked him why he voted for Pippen because there was another draft pick in the training camp, Horace Grant.

"I see the shadow of Paul Price and Moncrief in Scottie. Give him some time, maybe he will become an all-round player with outstanding defensive ability like Moncrief."

The media asked sensitively: "So, will the Knicks select him in the draft?"

"I can't tell you the Knicks' draft plan, but if we can get Scottie, we will try our best to get it."

Louis' pursuit of Pippen attracted the attention of the entire circle.

Many people have focused on this kid from the second-tier league.

Some thought Louis was bluffing.

For example, former Cavaliers general manager and current Nets general manager Harry Weltman said: "Little Lu is just bluffing when he says this. He is deliberately raising the reputation of that Arkansas kid so that he can profit from the chaos."

However, there are also many people who believe in Louis.

Louis doesn't care about other people's reactions, he only cares about Klaus's reaction.

It's a pity that Louis doesn't have clairvoyance and can't see what's going on in the Bulls offices in Chicago.

Krause has been worried recently. Last year's Bias almost destroyed his career. Fortunately, boss Reinsdorf was magnanimous and willing to give him a few more years to prove himself. If he can't get the Bulls out of happiness in the next few years,

If the zone is penetrated, his career will be over.

Pippen had already been targeted by him. In order to find out the truth about this kid, he secretly went to the University of Arkansas game several times to watch the game.

He saw many surprising things in Pippen's game.

It is difficult to see a young player as flexible as Pippen, with excellent athletic ability, able to play the one position, and full of power on the defensive end.

He was determined to get this person.

I thought things would go smoothly, but in the end, another Lu Yao Jin came out halfway.

It’s him again! Little Lu!!

"Damn it, I don't believe he can trade up for Scotty!" Klaus was secretly worried.

Now that Pippen's exposure has increased, Klaus is starting to get scared.

Is Pippen's talent invisible to the naked eye? Apparently not.

If it wasn't visible to the naked eye, Krause wouldn't have traded a higher lottery pick to select him.

Because Pippen's talent is visible to the naked eye, once everyone's attention comes to him and once he performs excitingly in trials, teams with high draft picks will not care whether he is

Born in the second level alliance.

The Knicks' Oakley and Rodman are both from second-level leagues, which has not affected their foothold in the NBA.

There are more and more examples that prove that lower leagues may have errors in evaluating players' strength, but their potential and talent are the same no matter which league they are in.

One day later, Pippen was invited to Hawaii to participate in another college all-star event, where the competition was even more intense. This time Pippen not only made the All-NBA team, but also won the dunk contest.

Next, the most disturbing thing happened to Klaus.

The Knicks announced that they will hold a one-day individual workout with Pippen.

What specifications are these?

During the Louis era, the Knicks have only conducted strict individual workouts with one player.

That player's name was Patrick Ewing. At that time, Ewing was the most watched and anticipated college student in history.

The Knicks gave him the treatment of a separate trial, not because they don't believe in his ability, but precisely because of his fame and strength, which makes people feel that others should not participate in trial training with him.

Now, Pippen becomes the second player to win this award.

The moment Klaus learned the news, his heart almost stopped.

The Knicks are serious!

Moreover, if Louis really wants Pippen, he can definitely trade for a high draft pick.

They have coveted young players and a huge number of future draft picks.

As long as there is any disturbance in the league, as long as they want any players or draft picks, no club can compete with them unless the target is their enemy.

Klaus's scalp began to tingle.

"Jerry, what do we do next?"

Bulls assistant general manager Billy McKinney asked.

"The transaction must start immediately!" Klaus said seriously, "Let's strike first to gain the upper hand!"