The rest is just noise

After Louis returned to the locker room, he informed the players of the incident in the media room, letting them understand the seriousness of the situation and thus unifying everyone's voice.

No matter who is interviewed, there can only be one response to this matter: "I need to know more about the situation before I can make an evaluation."

This is a mature answer.

Just like when James was forced to express his stance on the African incident in 2007, when a tweet from Mo Laogou pushed the basketball relationship between China and the United States into an abyss of destruction, he always responded in this way. Although this answer seems

He won't offend anyone, but the Chinese are not grateful to him for standing in an objective position and remaining neutral, while the Americans regard him as a bastard because he doesn't take sides.

"Mohammed has not been doing this for a day or two. It is not convincing at all to say that we do not know the inside story of this matter."

Stockton is still the same Patriot.

"I didn't ask you to support MAR, and we can't convince anyone." Louis looked at the confrontation in Stockton's eyes and said forcefully, "Indeed, no one will believe that you don't understand this matter, but you have a long mouth.

Within ourselves, everyone is waiting for our downfall, which means that no matter what we say, the outside world will not believe it unless "

Louis paused, not confident in what he was going to say next.

"Unless we give up on MAR, we openly oppose what he does, don't agree with his values, and deny everything about him, then the Knicks will be preserved, and the only one who will be affected is MAR, and all of you will be fine.

We will still be a team that looks very united." Louis looked directly at Stockton, "The premise is that we refuse to admit that MAR is one of us."

Wilson stood up in time to take over Louis' words.

"Mohammed is free to love this country or not," Wilson said. "I only know that he is still one of us. Even if we cannot support him on this matter, we should not openly oppose him."

"I don't know what he's doing."

Wilson said loudly.

"That's the only thing I would say in front of reporters."

Then there is Rodman, who has long been dissatisfied with some hypocritical temporary patriots: "Before his accident, I have never seen any patriot on the team oppose MAR. Now that something happened, he wants to

To put it aside, why, do some people's patriotic feelings change with changes in the environment? If so, then I can only give these people a thumbs up. They are always patriotic when they should be patriotic.

, in this way they will always be a noble patriot."

Afterwards, even Stockton changed his opposition to Rauf.

Everyone adopted Louis' rhetoric and did Tai Chi in front of reporters.

However, the interview mishap caused by Rauf was enough to land Knicks on CBS's "60 Minutes."

The next day, except for the local media in New York, all other major media criticized the Knicks and Rauf.

Rauf's collapse in front of reporters unexpectedly became a major media event in the 1990s.

This incident alarmed Knicks headquarters.

Jack Krueger called himself to inquire.

After Louis explained the whole story clearly, Kruger said in a serious tone: "The matter has become serious and must be resolved as soon as possible."

"It can't be solved."

"Is there any difficulty?"

"There are two difficulties. We need Rauf very much, and the transaction window has been closed. Moreover, after he caused these things, there is not much transaction value left, and we cannot exchange him for valuable assets."

In fact, Kruger's idea is that as long as Rauf can be traded, it will be worth it even if he sells it.

He just wanted to put things to rest.

As for Louis's style of not calculating losses without making profits, how could Raouf be given away in vain after he had finally mastered it?

Louis ignored Kruger's desire to clean up Rauf.

Because it really can’t be cleaned up now.

Kruger's words contained the idea of ​​​​terminating Rauf's contract, and Louis naturally took out the collective bargaining agreement to let him know that this matter was not feasible.

Therefore, Kruger could only pretend to be concerned about the Knicks' playoffs and then hang up the phone.

There are plans to sell the team, so any negative impact that may devalue the team must be found to minimize it.

The Knicks have continued to appreciate in value over the years.

But suddenly, Rauf did something big.

No NBA team has ever been forced to the forefront like them and been criticized by people across the country.

It was also out of this consideration that Kruger wanted to clean up Rauf.

This is both the Knicks' luck and the Knicks' misfortune.

They are destined to move forward with the pressure that Rauf carries with him.

After Louis hung up the phone with Krueger, he asked himself a question.

If the trade window hadn't closed now, would he have traded Rauf?

He didn't answer.

Probably not, because Rauf is unable to carry out equivalent exchanges at this stage.

However, pressure from the outside world and pressure from above may force him to make a deal just for the sake of peace.

This is what makes Louis suffer so much inside.

Over the years in New York, he seemed to have gone so smoothly that he forgot how complicated a team he came from.

His smooth career had slowed down his reaction, so that he did not deal with such emergencies in the best way. Now he closed his eyes and looked back on the past. Many things had been revealed as early as last year, but he did not invest too much.

s concern.

He was busy negotiating with Kemp's agent and ignored potential problems.

But what he failed to handle at the time was not just Rauf's radical tendency?

Ewing's insecurities, his turbulent relationship with Wilson, and even Stockton's dislike of him. After Stockton missed the Olympics due to injury, Louis did not specifically talk to him.

Losing the draft due to injury is a natural result, because Stockton's competitor is Pippen, and the Dream Team does not really need a pure point guard like him.

If Stockton had not been injured, Louis would have used his connections to force his selection.

His injury was like God's will. Louis could not make the selection committee ignore the decathlon Pippen and let the injured Stockton become the team's 12th man.

Maybe it's too late now, but Louis hopes to sit down and talk with Stockton.

On this day, people across the United States were denouncing the Knicks.

Louis chose to isolate these sounds, drove to the Blue Palace, and asked Stockton to come to the office for a conversation between men.

After a while, Stockton came.

The atmosphere in the office is dull, but it's the kind of dull that makes people feel embarrassed.

Louis looked at Stockton's poker face and just wanted to make a joke, but now was not the time to joke.

"John, have you been in New York for almost ten years?" Louis asked.

Stockton corrected: "Eight years and 11 months, to be exact."

"You even came a few months before me." Louis said slowly, "I have always regarded you as an indispensable member, and you have repaid my trust with your outstanding performance."

Stockton wisely chose not to answer, letting Louis continue.

"But recently, I found that we have some small problems." Louis asked knowingly, "Do you have any problem with me?"

Stockton didn't hide it: "Yes."

"Why?"

"Because you don't trust me."

Stockton's answer surprised Louis.

"I often have to sit on the sidelines and watch the game at the decisive moment."

"This has nothing to do with trust. If you are suitable to stay on the court, I will let you stay on the court." Louis said disappointedly, "I always thought you only cared about winning. Now it seems I was wrong?"

"No, you're right."

"I do care."

"If we can win, it doesn't matter who plays at the critical moment." Stockton paused, "But why is it Muhammad?"

Louis said calmly; "Because he is more suitable than you in some situations."

Louis' answer didn't surprise Stockton.

"What I'm most disappointed with is," Stockton changed his tone and became a little more excited than before, "You didn't make more efforts for me to compete for the Dream Team roster. I had no chance to be selected.

, it was you who gave me hope and cheered me up all summer, but in the end I passed it by, which was the most painful experience in my life."

Now, Louis knows where Stockton's resentment towards him comes from.

He kept asking himself when he started losing absolute control over the team.

Now he knows that it was these seemingly inconspicuous things that derailed the Knicks.

The team has changed, and so has he.

The players became more selfish, and Louis became more cautious.

"If you have a problem with me because of these things, then I can tell you that I don't care." Louis raised his voice, "I don't care what you think, I don't care if you are hurt, if you are jealous of Muhammad, just find a way

Practice your shooting ability even better than him; if you hate me because I didn’t let you be selected for the Dream Team despite your injury, I can also tell you clearly that you are not worthy of being injured. You can only blame me.

You're out of luck."

Louis sneered indifferently: "John, are you waiting for me to apologize to you?"