The rest is just noise

Louis' passion for basketball began in his childhood, in the late 1960s. At that time, no one in Cleveland knew they were about to own an NBA team.

Long before the NBA team settled in Cleveland, the Cincinnati Royals played four home games in Cleveland, and the tickets were $5, $4, and $3 respectively. The reason he remembered it so clearly was that these four games,

His father even took him to the scene to see it.

He has reason to believe it was his father who bought the $5 seats - although he may have gotten free tickets from his boss and good friend, as they had the players' autographs on them.

In 1968, Nick Mileti, a Cleveland businessman who was not very wealthy, got an opportunity. Initially, he wanted to get a share of the NHL expansion. But the NHL franchise fee was US$6 million, which greatly exceeded his budget.

, therefore, he chose the NBA that he preferred.

Another thing emerged when Mileti spoke to the NBA about Cleveland. It was a war between the NBA and the ABA. The NBA was rushing to expand the league just to keep the ABA out of some cities. Cleveland was

One of them. On January 20, 1970, the NBA announced that it would expand from 14 teams to 17 teams. Think about it. Why add three teams? Who wants a league with only an odd number of teams? This will

causing difficulties in scheduling.

But the NBA was worried that the ABA would expand into heavy industrial cities such as Cleveland, Buffalo and Portland. Therefore, the NBA granted franchises to these cities.

In 1970, Portland didn't have a major league team. Buffalo was rich enough to add a team of their own, the Buffalo Sabres, to the National Hockey League expansion. At the time,

Cleveland is the only true "sports city". They already have the Indianapolis (MLB) and Browns (NFL). The NBA hopes to expand its territory into these cities before the ABA.

Mileti raised $5 million in capital with less than $2 million in original capital and then brought professional basketball to Cleveland.

Louis remembers that before the start of the Cavaliers' first season, the team also collected names from fans through newspapers. Among them, "Lighthouse", "Forester", "President", and "Knights" received the most support, and the Cavaliers' support rate ranked first.

In fourth place. In the end, they chose the Cavaliers.

It's a pity that the Cavaliers' first five seasons after entering the NBA all ended dismally, with the highest number being only 40 wins. Without results, naturally no one paid attention.

In the 1975-76 season, the team moved its home court to the Ridgefield Stadium, which was built at a high cost.

A magical thing happened. They won 49 games in the regular season, successfully entered the playoffs, and eliminated the rival Washington Bullets in the first round of the playoffs. You know, the Bullets have Wes Unseld and Evan

·Two superstars in Hayes. However, the Cavaliers do not have a player who can be called a star. They are better because they have many players and everyone is a soldier. A total of seven players scored in double figures.

Their magical journey in the new arena was romantically called the "Miracle of Ridgefield."

But in the Eastern Conference finals, they faced the Boston Celtics, a veteran team in the Eastern Conference. In the Battle of Tianwangshan, they lost Jim Jones, the team's leading scorer and the only center who could compete with Cowens.

(Jim Chones C), lost in the sixth game, ending this magical season.

Before LeBron James single-handedly led the team that did not belong to the Finals to the Finals in 2007, this year was generally considered by Cavaliers fans to be the greatest year in team history.

It was during this year that Louis developed an unbreakable Cavaliers complex in his heart. Not long after his father passed away in a car accident, the Cavaliers' magnificent season saved his broken heart.

However, the NBA merged with the ABA the following year, and a large amount of new blood poured into the league, changing the NBA's landscape. In the 1976-77 season, although the Cavaliers made the playoffs again, they were eliminated in the first round.

In the 1977-78 season, this year, they repeated the same process.

Many old Cavaliers fans do not admit it, but facts speak louder than words. The NBA in 1976 was one of the least competitive years in history. In 1977, the ABA merged into the NBA, suddenly adding at least 30 competitive players to the league.

players, including many superstars led by Dr. J, and the number of teams increased from 18 to 22.

The Suns, who also reached the Finals in the 1975-76 season and played endlessly against the Celtics, had only 34 wins in the 1976-77 season while retaining all their elite players and suffering no major injuries.

Times have really changed.

The merger of the league and the Oscar Robinson case brought ground-breaking effects, and the prototype of the modern NBA was born. However, in the first few years, they were still in the dark cellar and could be crushed at any time.

Cavaliers scouting interviews take place at the Cleveland Coliseum.

Even though the interviews were with secondary scouts, there were a lot of procedures.

First, they have to go through a round of body searches, making it look like there are terrorists targeting the Cavaliers coaching staff;

Then submit your resume.

However, Louis' resume is not pretty, because he is only a college student. Although he has participated in the school team, he has not achieved anything. He is now 18 years old and cannot legally drink. Although the 1870s was an era without rules, an 18-year-old

A 6-year-old kid took a big vacation and came here to apply for professional scouts instead of having fun. If Louis were the censor, he would also suspect that this person was here to cause trouble.

"If I'm not wrong, you should still be in school, kid?" The reviewer was a middle-aged white man, with stereotyped prejudice and arrogance written all over his face.

"I was ready to put my studies on hold for this job," Louis said.

"Stop making trouble and go home." He didn't even look at Louis' resume, which he spent several hours writing.

"It won't take long for you to understand that holidays are rare. This is a rare opportunity in your life. You should do something young people should do." The other party regarded Louis as a brat who only had a few minutes of enthusiasm.

He had obviously considered in advance that he would be looked down upon because of his age, but when the situation actually happened, Louis' own dissatisfaction still replaced his will and appeared on his face.

"I wrote a resume, but you didn't even read it. I also prepared a detailed scouting report and wanted to show it to Coach Bill Fitch." Louis took out a copy of the scouting report, "There are a lot of things today.

The scouts came to interview, we all want a chance, and, in your recruitment advertisement, I did not see any age limit for this job."

Apart from those unemployed young people who have no hope of pursuing a career in professional basketball but don’t want to leave the sport completely, what other 18-year-old kids have ideas about this job?

The censor lost his patience, and the prejudice against Asians appeared on his face: "Don't use the tone of an Oriental guy to argue with me. It's meaningless. I don't know what your purpose is, but my job is to prohibit the wrong people from going to waste."

Coach Fitch’s time.”

Louis thought his plan was well thought out, but it failed before the first step was even implemented.

He thought he would fail due to the lack of rigorous scouting plan and lack of celebrity recommendation letters. Of course, his young age was also a factor - but he did not expect that what prevented him from entering professional basketball was a so-called bullshit who probably didn't understand the sport at all.

Reviewer.

"If you still don't leave, I may ask the security guard to ask you out." The censor has no patience.

Louis could only put away his completely useless scouting report and turned to leave.

Suddenly, he stopped and asked: "What is your name yet?"

"Dick Noddy."

"He lives up to his name." Louis scolded with a mean smile, "You are such a short-sighted bastard."

⑴At that time, except for teams like the Lakers, which have been rich since ancient times, most teams did not have a stable home court. Therefore, neutral venues were often used as home courts.