the rest, only noise

Chapter 108 Nothing Has Changed
At the beginning of September, Louis received a call from the team that preparations for the new season were about to begin, asking him to return to the team as soon as possible.

This is not something Louis can control, he must obey the arrangement.

Therefore, he informed Lorraine that he was about to return to the United States that day.

Lorraine already knew what he was doing, although her knowledge of the NBA was limited to a black man beating the brains out of a white man on the court in the past few years-no way, this was the only thing in the NBA that could be featured on the "News 1983 Hours" before 24.

That night, Lorraine said that her house was empty and that she had lost the key, so she might need to spend the night in Louie's hotel room.

Louis accepted her with a tacit understanding, and didn't try to be smart enough to help her open another room.

Like a shipwreck survivor in a TV show in the 50s, Lorraine sat on the sofa for a while, then suddenly climbed into Louie's bed, insisted that he was cold, and never left.

Louis could feel her breath and heartbeat.

"Shall we meet again?" Lorraine asked.

Louis said softly: "As long as you want to see me, as long as I want to see you, we will definitely meet again."

Louie was serious about the relationship, and he didn't want to leave Italy behind when he returned to Boston.

Lorraine can speak fluent English, so she can go to school in an English-speaking country.

If she can't get into an Italian school, he can definitely win her this opportunity in the United States.

He didn't say what he thought, because the timing was not right after all.

Before leaving, Louis told Lorraine his address in Boston, his home phone number, the phone number and address of his hometown, and the way to send faxes to his office.

He was afraid that Lorraine would not find him.

Before parting, Lorraine hugged Louis tightly with tears in her eyes. If it wasn't for the fear of delaying the flight, she might have been able to hug Louis forever.

"Don't worry about the judicial examination, I will find a way for you." Louis touched Lorraine's face, "You are so smart, you should know that you have many choices besides schools in Italy."

Lorraine asked, "Are you referring to American schools?"

"Marlena, you are indeed the smartest woman in the world." Lorraine was very proud of Louis' flattery.

She smiled complacently with red eyes: "Of course, I am very smart."

"Goodbye, Marlena." Louis walked a few steps, still had something in his mind, he turned his head again, "I've been thinking of you since the first second I turned around, ti amo, ti voglio bene (Italian)."

Louis and Lorraine did not go through any confession from acquaintance to confirmation of relationship.

They naturally became a couple.

This was Louis's addition to that procedure.

Lorraine looked uncertain whether to be puzzled or delighted, but she said nothing.After a while, Louis left.

The moment he said he loved her in Italian, Louis didn't really feel the love he wanted to express too deeply.After all, it was a foreign language that he was learning and selling now. He was a little worried that he had made a mistake in the pronunciation, otherwise Lorraine's reaction should have been greater.

Louis was extremely eager to see Lorraine's response, but it might be that his Italian was too substandard, and she was both happy and confused when she saw Lorraine.

Sometimes, we overstate the truth.Sometimes we say things that aren't quite true, and secretly hope that when we say them, they will come true.This time, Louis felt different, because from the moment he boarded the plane, he began to miss Lorraine crazily.

Two months away from the US and nothing else has changed here.

The NBA still looks like it's going to burp at any time.

Louis never imagined that the Celtics could still maintain the lineup of last season.

Archibald hasn't been traded yet.

This is largely due to the impact of the window period from June to August.

At that time, the teams reached an agreement not to carry out any operations. If the 76ers hadn't broken the rules, the management shutdown might have lasted longer.

But from August to September, the Celtics had a month to deal with Archibald, without success.

The reason is that Auerbach is unwilling to easily give away Archibald, who had recovered to the All-Star level two years ago.

Last season proved that Archibald in 1980-81 was just a flashback, and he quickly returned to the half-dead state when he first came to the Celtics.

McAdoo's trade gave Auerbach a taste of too much sweetness. He wanted to do it again, but no team was willing to hand over future first-rounders for Archibald.

Therefore, Archibald is still on the team.

The Celtics' book lineup still looks luxurious.

During preseason training camp, Louie was surprised to find that Danny Ainge was getting stronger physically.

It used to be that when hitting the penalty area, it was either being knocked down or hitting the iron, but now it is possible to put the ball in after a high-quality confrontation.

Moreover, his COSCO shooting has also improved somewhat.

Sampson didn't make much progress in the past year. Originally, Louis wanted to develop his potential, but he was sent out by Fitch repeatedly. Auerbach transferred him to the office to help in order to prevent Louis from wandering around.

Sampson had a rough year with a group of assistants he didn't trust.

Although Louis gave him a special videotape to learn the positioning skills, he also learned it seriously, but there was no Louis to correct him on the spot, and no one else in the team would tell him what he did not do well, so his progress in the past year was not great.

The failure of last season made Fitch realize Louie's ability.

Maybe he doesn't have more professional knowledge than the four assistant coaches from the university, but he has a keen sense of the situation of the game and the opponent's offensive and defensive loopholes.

That is an innate ability.

Therefore, Fitch wanted to take a bite to turn around. He found Louis, hoping that he could participate in the construction of the team's offensive and defensive system in the new season.

Fitch believes this is an opportunity for both him and Louie.

Louie needs practice to test his tactics, and he needs to use Louie's tactics to break the lifeless situation.

Louie rejected him decisively: "We have so many professional coaches who are deeply involved in college basketball. If they can't solve the problem, how can I solve it?"

Fitch was very disappointed: "Lu, you and I have had a successful cooperation. This kind of bond is something that few other coaches don't have."

Louis couldn't help laughing, it turned out that he still remembered that they won the championship together.

"But we have to look forward, Bill. I appreciate your eagerness to improve. After winning the championship, you didn't stand still. Instead, you invited four assistant coaches who are more professional than me. This also benefited me a lot."

Louis wants to let Fitch know why they can't continue to cooperate now, because he broke the cooperative relationship,

Thinking in another way, he can understand what Fitch is doing;
Standard thinking, I can be super wearable.

The Celtics' preseason training camp was gloomy, and the team didn't seem to be able to integrate all the talents together.

Outside of training camp, the league consulted with Judge Kingman Brewster, who presided over the Robertson case, to enforce a salary cap.

They wondered if the league would violate the settlement reached after the Robertson case if it imposed a salary cap.

The answer given by Brewster is interesting.

He said that the fact that the league proposes a salary cap to limit salaries is in violation of relevant regulations, but if the bosses just mention it, it must not be a violation, because at best it is just a suggestion.

Once it is implemented, it is illegal, let alone enforced.

This gives the players association a strong guarantee.

But at the same time, it also gave the bosses a possibility.

Although the salary cap is illegal, if the players do not object and do not file lawsuits, the system can be implemented normally.

The problem is how to get players to agree to a salary cap.

This seemed impossible at the time, and players would not accept the salary cap.

Training camps are underway everywhere, and the league and the players' association are holding pre-season negotiation meetings again.

The atmosphere of the meeting, which was recorded throughout, was tense.

There were no polite words on both sides.Fleischer asked NBA to eliminate salary cap proposal.Stern, the league's negotiator, rejected the proposal and urged the players' association to seriously consider the matter.

Fries made a strong statement: "The players will not accept any form of salary adjustment plan."

Stern knows that the players must know the current situation of the league, and Fleischer also expressed his willingness to improve the economic situation of the league, but he needs to know the details.And Stern just reiterated that 2/3 of the teams are losing money.

Fleischer likened Stern's rhetoric to a "cry wolf" story.

Stern was very angry and asked Fleischer to come up with a charter. He wanted to know if there was a better way to improve the economic difficulties faced by the league.

Fleischer's proposal was simple and crude: "Find richer bosses and let them run the business more professionally."

With the current situation of the NBA, no other wealthy owners will be interested in investing in NBA teams.

Both sides stood firmly on the tip of their own horns, unable to come out.

The tense meeting ended without any consensus.

(End of this chapter)