The rest is just noise

Don Nelson waited for Louis' call back, but things didn't go as he thought.

Louie called back to inform him that the deal was off and they had decided to keep Dale Ellis.

"Lou, this is no child's play!" Nelson thought about Louis' betrayal and abandoning Ellis to the higher bidder.

If Louis really did this, there was nothing he could do. The one with the highest price is an iron law that never changes in the trading market.

He never imagined that Louis' final decision was not to sell Ellis to a third party with a higher bid, but to keep it for himself.

Is this a joke?

The Knicks have been preparing to trade Ellis since December last year, and have been delaying it until now, until after his crazy performance in January. The time is ripe for the trade, and Ellis can bring the maximum return if he plays for his worth.

But, Louis suddenly doesn’t want to trade?

How to appease people's hearts? How can Ellis make sense? Will he still play for the Knicks with all his heart?

"Lu, let me tell you straight away, doing this will do more harm than good to the Knicks!" Nelson didn't want to watch the cooked duck fly away, "Dell Ellis must be no longer willing to play for you now, I know you

I'm reluctant to part with him, but I'm ready to send him off, and you still have Reggie Miller and Jeff Hornacek."

Nelson asked himself whether his speech was absolutely selfless and he considered the issue from the perspective of Ellis and the Knicks.

According to common sense, when trade rumors have reached this level, it is impossible for both parties to accommodate each other.

However, the relationship between Ellis and Knicks is such a strange one.

Louis created a unique bond in the middle, making Ellis would rather be a substitute than leave the team.

"Nelly, after all, I have also been the general manager for several years. Can I not understand what you are saying?"

Louis didn't mind letting Nelson know the truth.

He understands the annoyance of seeing a GIF on the Internet that makes the second brother stand up but not getting the license plate.

"Dale told me personally in front of me that as long as he can stay, he is willing to be everyone's substitute."

"What else could I do? Trade him? I can't, Nellie."

What a good player, why is he so troublesome off the court?

Nelson believed that Louis had no reason to deceive him, and the Knicks definitely wanted to trade Ellis.

"Well, good luck to you."

Nelson also didn't forget to remind Louis what it meant to keep Ellis.

"Even if what he said is true, he wants to play for you, but after the end of this season, two new teams will join the league. At that time, we will hold an expansion draft. According to past regulations, each team has only

Eight players can be protected, and I don't think Dale Ellis is going to be on your protected list."

Ewing, Oakley, McHale, Wilson, Stockton, Miller, Hornacek... these seven people are definitely going to be on the protection list.

On the unprotected list, there will be Cooper, Rodman, Selley, Song Tao, Ellis, Stevens, Luo Haos and others competing for the eighth spot.

That is to say, only one of Rodman, Cooper, Selley, and Ellisri, who are coveted by many teams, will be on the protected list, while two of the other three will almost certainly be selected by the new team.

.

This was Nelson's last ditch effort.

He wants Louis to understand that if he doesn't make a deal now, he may get nothing by the end of the season.

From the moment Louis decided to keep Ellis, he had thought about these things.

"Goodbye, Nellie," said Louis.

Nelson would never have imagined that Ellis was right in front of Louis when he was talking about this phone call with Louis.

Louis asked: "Can you rest assured now?"

"Um…"

"The deal won't happen, but your future is still uncertain."

"I understand, coach."

"Go ahead and ask Reggie to come to my office."

Ellis asked strangely: "Do you want me to inform him?"

Louis smiled kindly and asked: "How about I go and you rest here for a while?"

"I'm going, I'm going!"

Looking at the boy's leaving figure, Louis murmured, "Louis, you are indeed the most loyal person in the alliance. This is really your shortcoming. You are kind-hearted, you are too kind-hearted, and this is not good."

Louis decided to keep Ellis until the end of the season.

He will definitely be taken away by then, which will be equivalent to giving it to the expansion team for free.

Louis is already prepared for this. Keeping Ellis will increase the Knicks' championship hopes. Miller needs time to grow. Fixed-point shooters like Hornacek can easily get confused in high-intensity games.

If you don’t believe it, ask Nets fans what they think of Joe Harris, or ask Warriors fans what they think of Barnes in the 2016 Finals.

Of course, they are just confused, not sick. In the final analysis, this is a problem of ability. If like J.R. in 2018 or Ben Simmons in the 2021 semifinals, he makes empty baskets and does not deduct points to his teammates, resulting in being blocked and missing key balls, then that can give

It was a mistake that left a psychological shadow on the star player, making fans wish he would disappear from the world.

The Knicks need a key player who is willing to make sacrifices.

In Louis' impression, teams that dominate the league always have people who make selfless sacrifices.

In the first dynasty of the Bulls, Jordan gave up the ball, allowing Pippen to complete the leap from becoming an All-Star in the 1990-91 season. If Jordan is unwilling to give up the ball, or is impatient to wait for Pippen to grow, let the management take Pippen.

Peng's trade in exchange for immediate combat power is another story, and the ending of the story will definitely not satisfy Jordan;

Kukoc, who was in the second dynasty of the Bulls, could play on most teams, but he was willing to play as the sixth man for three years;

Wade during the Heat's Big Three era, Iguodala during the 15-year-old Warriors, Curry during the Universe Warriors era... In a winning team, only one person can steal the show, and among the rest, there must be a guy who takes the lead in making sacrifices.

, set an example for others.

Louis is naturally very happy that Ellis is willing to be this role model. But he also knows that this kind of selfless dedication can only last for one season at most and cannot last long.

Ellis himself is a young man. He is not the kind of veteran who has experienced the glitz and understands the world. He is just grateful to Louis and wants to play for him, even as a substitute.

His feelings for Louis must be sincere and simple, Louis had no doubt.

However, in the salary cap era, everyone's salary is based on team status and on-field performance. Players like Ellis, who can compete for sub-maximum contracts in the future, will see their statistics and performance decline if they are on the bench for a long time, so what?

Go get yourself a big contract?

By then, will he still be willing to be a substitute?

This is the reality. The salary cap era makes it difficult for strong teams to maintain their lineups. If there is no salary cap, the only way to retain these substitutes is to increase winning bonuses, which was Auerbach's specialty back then.

To put it bluntly, even if Ellis was determined to serve as a substitute for the Knicks until his old age, Louis would not let him do so.

The other party is sincere and takes him to win the championship this season and then sends him away, which is the best result.

This season will be Ellis' last shift in New York.

As long as he can finish his job, no matter what his future is, Louis will recognize him as one of his own.

If he wins this championship, even if Ellis is given away to the expansion team for free, he will never complain.

After Miller arrived, Louis informed him that the team would use him as their leader for most of the regular season.

Only when he is in bad condition will he let Ellis.

Miller was shocked. He originally thought Ellis had been traded. Later, Louis said that Ellis would be in bad shape, which made him understand what happened.

"Coach, I will try my best to play every game!"

He said seriously.

Louis didn't doubt Miller's attitude. The guy had always been energetic and eager.

As of February, the Knicks' record is 30 wins and 13 losses.

Compared with last season, the record during the same period has dropped significantly.

But the Knicks have become more calm. Louis doesn't care about the Celtics' luxurious record. They were defeated by the Celtics last year when they were first in the Eastern Conference.

The regular season record is just a step up.

The top eight teams can step over that step and enter the playoffs, but once they enter the playoffs, everything is completely different.

In early February, the Knicks had to play two games before the holidays.

One of the opponents was the Washington Bullets, and this game completely turned into an exhibition game for the Knicks.

In the past few seasons, the Bullets have had a tendency to become the Knicks' nemesis. However, they have not defeated the Knicks this season, and they have been beaten badly every time. It is obvious that the Knicks' condition is obviously not as good as last season.

Tonight was another shocking massacre.

146 to 99

Throughout the game, Louie didn't call a timeout. The Knicks were feeling great, no matter how hard they shot, the Bullets called all their own timeouts, but it didn't help.

You said Louis didn't call a timeout, what was he doing?

He keeps counting.

At the end of the count, he was surprised. He had achieved this level of virtue and actually won by 47 points.

Grandpa St. Paul, how do you always lose by 58 points in the playoffs?

If Coach Chen is free, many Mavericks fans will tell him the story of their 81-point loss to the Celtics at home.