The rest is just noise

Chapter 956 Survival or Perish

The "Garden of Eden" incident left Louis mentally and physically exhausted. After the game against the Spurs, the Knicks left San Antonio overnight and returned to New York.

When Louis returned home, he felt like something was stuck in his heart. He wanted to find someone to chat with, so he flipped through the phone book and saw Jones's name.

He called and told the other party about the problems the Knicks were currently facing and wanted to know what he thought.

When Louis heard the suggestion that he replace Wilson and Ewing with Bird and Thomas, he wanted to just hang up.

Isn’t this bullshit? If they could be replaced, who would replace Bird, who is about to retire, and Thomas, the leg-hugging king?

I would definitely trade Ewing for Sampson.

Then, deny that you are joking.

According to him, this situation can only be broken by replacing the players with Bird and Thomas.

Louis originally thought that the other party was making fun of him.

After a while, he understood.

It's not really asking him to replace Wilson and Ewing with Bird and Thomas.

What he means is that, except for Bird and Thomas, other stars in the league have a hard time getting along after achieving success together.

Even Bird and Thomas are not in absolute harmony.

"So what did you do to them? Why have they been able to work together for ten years without ever having a major conflict?"

Hearing this, he laughed happily.

For him, this thing is so interesting. He has always believed that he was influenced by Louis. When Louis took over the Celtics in 1983, he threatened to turn this team into what it should be.

Louis kept his word and turned the Celtics into a perfect team.

Louis once believed that the perfect team is a flash-in-the-pan in professional basketball that can only appear in the short term and then wither due to reality.

There are only two long-lasting perfect teams in history.

That is the Celtics of the Russell era and the Celtics of 1984-1988.

Why are they all Celtic? This is the mystery in Louis' eyes.

Even for him, it is not easy to explain the so-called Celtic mystery.

Perhaps deep in the soul of this team, there really is a power that resonates with people, which can suppress the selfish side of people's hearts.

But in my eyes, this team was created by Louis.

After he took over, what he did was nothing more than three things.

Straighten Sampson, indulge Bird, and treat Thomas with the utmost kindness.

Bird is indeed the great hope of white people, but he is not a natural star like Dr. J and The Tragedian. He is not used to being in the spotlight.

After the media realized this fact, they only respected Bird and no longer regarded him as a god.

Because this person has flaws that are visibly visible to the naked eye.

This eliminates one of the biggest hidden dangers within the Celtics - the media's endless praise of Bird while ignoring the contributions of other players, especially black players.

Who is the biggest beneficiary?

The answer is Sampson.

Larry is said to be cold and unkind, but Mr. One is an incomprehensible player on the court and a moral role model off the court. He is not as uncomfortable facing the media as Bird was. He is also a black player, and Thomas has no problem with this.

Sampson is the league's recognized inside leader, and it is natural for him to enjoy the highest honor.

Bird lost some of his spotlight, Sampson gained endless fame, and what did Thomas gain?

The answer is the respect of the whole team.

Bird is the boss, Sampson is the face, and Thomas is the leader.

He was the lone hero who constantly set an example, inspired his teammates, stood up to end the game at critical moments, and almost killed the Knicks with one leg in 1988.

Thomas's motivation to fight for this was once explored.

If he maintains this state, he will not gain much fame and fortune except winning.

The media and fans prefer Sampson. Even though players think Thomas is the league's number one point guard, in terms of award selection, Thomas has never been selected for the first team due to the presence of Tragedy and others.

Therefore, the championships he won with the Celtics can be combined with the title of the third championship.

Without fame or fortune, what is he doing for?

The truth once made me feel incredible.

In the 1988 Eastern Conference Finals, Thomas dragged his injured leg to start the unparalleled mode, confirming what has supported the Smiling Assassin for so many years.

It's the hatred for Louis.

Thomas hated Louis, that was an obvious fact.

Thomas hated Louis for never looking at him, hated Louis for being mean, hated Louis for leaving, and hated Louis for never looking down on him.

He knew very well that everything he did with the Celtics was something Louis didn't think he could do. Because Louis regarded him as a time bomb for the Celtics and put a bomb that he couldn't handle on himself.

What does it mean to be around?

Thomas really believed that Louis left Boston because of him.

Because Louis never believed that Isiah Thomas could let go of those obsessions and become a selfless player.

Louis did not want selfish Thomas, he wanted Saint Thomas.

I don’t know if Thomas wants Louis to leave deep down in his heart, but he is certain that there is only one reason why he can stick to Boston for ten years and only choose to leave after confirming that the future of this team is uncertain. He wants to prove Louis is wrong.

Already.

In fact he did, didn't he?

Louis really misjudged him.

Louis had no idea how far someone like Thomas could distort his psychology just to get angry with him.

Thomas' selection is the most important factor, followed by Bird's indisputability.

The butterfly effect caused by Louis made Bird a goat. At the same time, it also brought him better teammates.

Compared with Sampson, Parrish is as small as the light of a firefly, no bigger than the bright moon in the sky.

Thomas, on the other hand, is a ruthless person who will train and compete desperately without the encouragement of Bird.

In this case, Bird only has the opportunity to display his leadership ability during the game.

In daily training, he is not the kind of person like Ewing who would say, "This is my fucking team."

As long as you train as hard as him, he won't care about you.

Even in this regard, it was Thomas who took care of Bird. Bird did not compromise on his training, but he had extremely poor self-control in life. He loved drinking beer and eating sweets, and often gained weight, but Thomas had never gained weight.

Off the court, Thomas is the team's role model and leader.

Therefore, I think only Bird and Thomas can avoid this situation from happening.

Let go of the obsessive Thomas and the uncontested Bird, this is the answer to the perfect team 1.

The words left Louis silent for a long time.

Compared with these two people, Wilson and Ewing are pure opposites.

If you compare Ewing to Bird, it's like looking at antonyms.

Why Bird didn't fight, Louis didn't know.

Maybe he is this kind of person, or maybe he is a country bumpkin with great wisdom hidden in his stupid brain.

Ewing's approach is to fight to the end, not only to fight, but also to fight vigorously, so that everyone knows it, so that teammates have to choose sides between the two.

He has to compete for the highest salary in the team, the boss of the team, and the first scoring point in the team... He has to compete for everything that can be competed. He doesn't like catering to the media and sponsors, but seeing Wilson being so upset

Welcome, he is also jealous and wants to fight.

His desire to fight was not because of any personal grudge against Wilson, but because he felt that he was the boss of the team, and everything Wilson did challenged this, so he wanted to stand up and fight him upside down.

He wants to establish his status again and again, just like cats and canines like to urinate to mark their territory.

Compared with Ewing, Wilson did a lot to maintain stability.

He claimed many times that Ewing was the team's boss, and when Ewing declared his dominance, he had no objection.

For the sake of internal harmony, Wilson even created an amiable persona for himself. In other words, this was an unintentional and unexpected result of the team behind him.

Because Ewing resembled the traditional angry black man and made the media and fans who interviewed and contacted him uncomfortable, Wilson wanted to do the opposite.

As anti-human as Ewing's temperament is, Wilson must be pro-human.

This image carries Wilson from the sidelines to the team.

Even Louis was deceived.

It wasn't until Louis saw how Wilson fell in love with torture king Jordan on the court that he realized that the Wilsons he saw on weekdays were all wearing masks.

Although that is a persona, Wilson does not need to maintain this image within the team, just like Jordan is an idol who makes the general public dream "I want to be like Mike" to the outside world, but is a ruthless devil internally.

But Wilson brought the character to life, and he got a little stuck in it.

Looking at it this way, Benj is also a bit psychopathic.

Even if he has no intention of competing with Ewing for position, his talent and charisma cannot be concealed. No matter how much he restrains himself, many people still regard him as the core and boss of the Knicks.

This is an irresolvable contradiction.

Bird and Thomas are irreproducible.

"Are you still listening?" asked.

"Well." Louis said bitterly, "I suddenly felt that many things I did were meaningless. I pride myself on being cautious and not doing anything uncertain, but I found that I was not like this when I was young. I have achieved

The greatest successes I’ve ever had are precisely those things I wasn’t sure about.”

"I'm not sure about my future in professional basketball."

"There's no way I'm lobbying for Ralph to enter the draft."

"I promised Reid that there was no way to transform the Celtics."

"I left Boston and came to New York determined to defeat the Celtics, but I was not sure."

"I'm becoming more and more cautious, just maintaining a delicate balance, as if as long as we continue to win, the cracks inside will not get bigger..."

Looking back now, Louis seems to have had his edges smoothed out in New York.

If it were ten years ago, Selly would have been directly terminated from his contract, but he did not do that because the team might still need Selly at some point;

He would scold Ewing for hours, but he didn't do it because... no, he had no excuse for this. He should have scolded Ewing, but he didn't.

That was the most disappointing time for Louis in all the years he had known Ewing.

He didn't even have the energy to scold Ewing at that time.

Louis should scold all the players who talk nonsense in private interviews, but he doesn't.

He just let the players digest it.

There is no excuse, this is a dereliction of duty on his part.

Looking back now, Louis realizes that he made many mistakes.

This knowledge did not cheer him up, he just felt weak.

Both physically and mentally.

"What would you do if it were you?"

Louis asked finally.

"Pretend to be confused." He smiled, "Sometimes, we should be confused once in a while, and great teams will find a way out."