The Rest, Only Noise

"Coach, please."

Zhao Yuanzheng gave Louis a bottle of Coke.

Louis performed the unique skill of twisting the easy-release button with one hand on the spot, and then drank a coke, a symbol of victory, in the forum.

The Knicks defended their title.

Has defeated the two biggest winners of the 1980s, the Lakers and the Celtics.

This is a series without suspense. Ewing won the FMVP with his outstanding performance and became another Knicks center with all-inclusive first-team, first-defense, and M/FMVP after Willis Reed.

And, this is Ewing's second FMVP trophy.

As of today, he officially surpassed Bill Walton, joined Wilt Chamberlain, and moved toward Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's third crown. That day may come soon, and then, only the ultimate winner Bill Russell's legendary 11 crowns stands in his way.

That night, the Knicks returned to New York holding the Champions Cup.

The city is already boiling.

Louie wasn't quite as excited about this title as last year's maiden, because the series had no suspense from the start.

But for fans, the heart is always hanging until the team takes home the championship.

Now it's time to cheer.

The next day, Louie was named Head Coach of the Year.

This is the second time in his career that he has received this honor.

But coach of the year, like rookie of the year, is something that few people care about.

Even Mike Brown and the like have been coach of the year.

Right now, the top priority for the Knicks this offseason is the draft.

But before the draft, an expansion draft will be held.

The Timberwolves and Magic will join the league this summer.

So Louie needs to discuss with the coaching team which eight players to protect this year.

Losing Dale Ellis and Michael Cooper in vain last year was heart-wrenching for Tomjanovich.

"I really don't understand, why do you want to expand so many teams!" Tomjanovich was full of grievances, "With so many bad teams, will the ratings become better? The substitutes of the strong teams are lost. Now, won't the quality of the game decline?"

"okay."

Like last year, Louie first locks down five players who must never be taken away.

Ewing, Wilson, Miller, McHale, and Stockton are on the list that must be kept.

Then, Rodman, whose importance was no different from the starter, was also put on the list by Louis.

This time, there are only two left on the Knicks' eight-person protection list.

In addition to the protection list, there are Hornacek, John Salley, Dan Marley, Ronnie Sekali, Alex Stevens, Angie, Song Tao, Brad Rohos, Joe Klein.

The good news is that the Knicks have four players that Louie doesn't worry about getting drafted.

Song Tao, Luo Haos, Klein, Stevens, they are basically safe. Moreover, even if they are drafted, it will not have any impact on the strength of the Knicks.

So, the remaining two spots are actually a choice between Hornacek, Ainge, John Salley, Dan Marley, and Ronnie Sekali.

Of the three who are not selected, two of them will be elected.

"We can't lose Honey." Zhao Yuanzheng affirmed, "He is the best combo guard in the team and can bring high-quality rotation to the two starting positions."

Hornacek was selected as the seventh man without any suspense.

It's not difficult to make this decision, but it is the eighth person that is difficult.

Had to choose between Selly, Sekali, Marley, and Ainge.

In terms of importance, Sally is the most important. At this time last year, Louie was ready to lose Selly this year, so he made a move on Selly's contract extension.

In the next two years, Salley's annual salary will reach 2 million. This has little effect on the Knicks, whose salary cap is already inflated, but it is hard to say whether the expansion team is willing to give him 2 million per year.

But even so, Louis remained reluctant to take risks.

Like Hornacek, he's a high-quality 4-5 backup.

For a team that likes to play long rotations, the more swingmen, the better.

Also, Sally is a selfless player.

As long as the money is in place, he is willing to accept the bench arrangement, does not care about the data, and contributes to the team wholeheartedly.

Marley and Sekali are both rookies, and although there are not many opportunities in the first season, they played well.

And Louie's draft is well-known in the industry.

And Angie, who was in the same situation as last year's Michael Cooper.

As a very strong veteran, choosing him can enhance the team's immediate combat power, and by the way, bring young people to infuse a new team with the blood of a champion.

But without some behind-the-scenes work, the Magic and Timberwolves probably wouldn't pick Ainge.

The eighth protected list still belongs to John Seley.

The Knicks' protection list is exactly the same as last year. Outside the protection list, only Ainge, Sekaly and Marley may be selected.

Louie is ready to lose two of those players, and the one he most wants to keep is Marley, and to that end, some work is bound to be done.

"What is the preferred team in the expansion draft?" Louie hadn't paid much attention to the expansion draft before.

Zhao Yuanzheng has always been sensitive to this kind of thing, he replied without hesitation: "Minnesota."

"Who is Orlando's general manager?" Louie asked.

Zhao Yuanzheng replied: "Pat Williams."

"Yo, isn't this my old friend?" Louie's old friend was without quotation marks.

Before the 1986 draft, New York won the bidding war, and the No. 2 overall pick from Philadelphia shocked the league.

After that, Louie took the No. 2 pick for McHale + two first-round picks from Chicago, and the Bulls finally got a corpse.

Because Louie is sincere enough in the deal with Philadelphia.

So Pat Williams sighed after the trade: "Coach Lu is really loyal."

After that, he talked about this past with others at the NBA's annual meeting. In this way, the management of the whole league knew that Louie was a loyal person.

As for whether Jerry Krause, Harry Weltman and the like have bitten their teeth when they heard this comment, it is impossible to test.

"Give me the number of the Magic head coach's office."

The reason why Louie didn't contact the Timberwolves was because they would have a high probability of picking Ronnie Sekali.

If the level of the two players is similar, the inside line is preferred.

This is true whether it is the draft or the expansion draft.

Unsurprisingly, Sekali should be picked by the Timberwolves as the number one choice.

Louis got the phone number and called.

"Hello," Williams said softly, "who?"

"Pat, congratulations on your reinstatement in Orlando." Louis came up with a standard flattery, "You are the best general manager I've ever met."

"Thank you, who are you?"

"No, don't you remember me? I'm Louis."

"Oh my god, it turned out to be Coach Lu, I didn't expect you to call me at this time, I'm sorry." Williams' voice became more gentle, "Coach Lu, you didn't call me just to tell me Shall I congratulate you?"

Louis took the phone and sat down from the chair to the table, and then pointed to the vending machine not far away.

Zhao Yuanzheng wisely went over and took out a bottle of Coke and a pack of quiche.

"Pat, the main reason I'm calling is to congratulate you, it's great to see you back, we need more professionals in this league." Louie complained, "You don't know how to deal with that group of laymen. How difficult, once they lose money in the transaction, they will find a way to throw dirty water on others to cover up their incompetence."

"Ha...Thank you for looking down on me so much, Coach Lu, I'd love to chat with you a little longer, but we're going to have an expansion draft soon, and there's a lot of work to do, so..."

Louie tried to translate the real meaning of Williams's words: let your fart go, you are very busy, and you don't have time to talk nonsense with you?

"Actually, I really just wanted to congratulate you on your return to the league, but when you mentioned the expansion draft, it reminded me of something. Yes, I do have something to look for you, look at my brain, and I am happy for you. , I almost forgot about the business, this industry is really not for people, it is easy to forget important things when you are older, sigh..."

Pat Williams would love to run to the Blue House to give Louie a hammer.

"Old age"? You are less than 30 years old, why are you pretending to be old!

Williams wisely chose not to answer, letting Louie continue.

"Our protection list this year is the same as last year," Louie said clearly.

"So, Ronnie Sekali and Dan Marley aren't on the protected list?"

Sure enough, the Williams guy was staring at the two.

It is no wonder that the introduction of the standard rookie contract proposed by Louis at the annual meeting last year was passed in the new round of labor-management agreement, so Marly and Sekali are not only good players, but also very cheap, and Ainge has reached the upper limit, The old man with a million-dollar contract is different.

"Yes, Pat, who will you choose?"

"Ronnie Sekali."

"What if you can't choose?"

"It can only be Dan Marley," Williams said.

"That's what I want to discuss with you." Louie's tone was almost pleading. "Pat, why don't you choose Dan Marley?"

Williams' way of responding to Louis was humbling, "Coach Lu, if it wasn't for helplessness..."

"Pat, I won't make you embarrassed." Louie knows that the opponent will never let Marley go without a little blood, "If you don't choose Marley, I can take the 25th pick in this year's first round (from the Pistons) )For you guys."

Williams isn't just a smart general manager, he's a pompous general manager.

He would rather get Angie + a first-rounder than trust Louie's vision.

So he simply agreed to Louis' plan.

"make a deal."

After finishing the magic work, Louie has to test the depth of the Timberwolves.

Billy McKinney, the first general manager in the history of the Timberwolves, is a former NBA player who has been working in the marketing department of the Bulls since retiring in 1985. He is Krause's favorite.

I didn't expect to be the general manager of a job hopping.

Finding out that he had a relationship with Klaus, Louis felt that the exchange would not go smoothly.

Louie called ~www.readwn.com~ mainly to show affection, but McKinney didn't want to have any connection with him.

"Coach Lu, I won't tell you what I want to do, and you can never hear anything from me."

"Billy, I wonder if your attitude towards a warm stranger is because of something Jerry Krause told you?"

"It's none of your business!"

After all, he hung up the phone.

Louie stayed on the phone for half a minute.

"Looks like we have to plan for the worst." Louie gradually realized that the expansion draft might not go as he expected.

Not every general manager knows the trade-offs like Pat Williams, and not every general manager realizes that "Louis is a loyal guy" like Lewis Shafir. Occasionally, you'll run into a silly guy.

But if it's just a simple stupid comparison, it's fine, don't get sick.

Luckily, Louis met a idiot who was malicious to him and had a serious illness today.