the rest, only noise

Chapter 1498 Patrick Ewing Night
Just after the draft, a major event happened in the NBA.

The Cavaliers' core center Alonzo Mourning announced his retirement because his kidney function could no longer support high-intensity events.

Mourning's retirement is a sign of the Cavaliers' decision to end an era.

In the summer of 1997, because the Blazers were unable to pay the huge luxury tax brought by the contract renewal of Mourning, they let go of the first-line center in exchange for four first-round picks, indirectly cutting off Jordan's last hope of winning the championship.

That year, Mourning switched to the Cleveland Cavaliers with a seven-year $7 million contract. In the following six seasons, the Cavaliers have always been a strong team in the Eastern Conference, reaching the playoffs year after year.

Unfortunately, the Cavaliers were out of luck.

They reached the semi-finals at most, and they were never able to take a step forward.

Mourning's retirement indirectly pushed them to make another choice.

In July, the free market officially opened, and the Cavaliers put Kang Chengbiao, the soul of the team, on the shelves.

Although the core of the Cavaliers is not Kang Chengbiao, he is always the driver of the team and the spiritual leader of the team.

Now that the team is going to be bad, it doesn't make sense to keep Kang Chengbiao.

Moreover, the Cavaliers fully respected Kang Chengbiao's wishes, and he wanted to go to a championship team.

The heat came with a smell.

There are two Chinese players in their team, which can help Kang Chengbiao adapt to the team quickly, but they have no trading assets that can be sold.

The Heat tentatively reported the price of Jason Caffey and the first-round pick and the exchange of the first-round pick.

The knight asked Kang Chengbiao for his opinion.

Kang Chengbiao nodded, and the deal was done.

The Heat exchanged a mediocre power forward plus a first-round pick in 2003 and a first-round pick in 2004, and got a comprehensive player who can play in five positions in a sense and can do everything.

"My biggest wish is to come back to play here again one day." Kang Chengbiao's farewell press conference moved many Kecheng media, "I love every plant and tree here."

The addition of Kang Chengbiao is of great significance to the Heat.

When they won the championship the year before last, what they lacked most were reliable scorers other than Duncan.Now, with Stephen Jackson and Gilbert Arenas overflowing their offensive firepower, how to distribute the ball has become a new issue.While the offense is overflowing, the decline on the defensive end and the lack of versatile players who can serve as a transfer station for the ball are their major flaws.

Kang Chengbiao can perfectly solve these problems.

In addition, the defending champion Lakers also had some problems.

Ben Wallace's second contract expired this summer.

Last season, Daben was selected as the sixth man in DPOY. As the league's leading rim protector and unparalleled switcher, his worth was hyped wildly.

The four-year $4 million contract extension proposed by the Lakers is like waste paper in front of the five-year $2400 million offer.

Under the pressure of the super luxury tax, the Lakers cannot afford a big contract with big money.

Moreover, the general underestimation of players who specialize in defense has also deterred the Lakers from negotiating.

For them, Daben is just the sixth man. Without the Lakers as a whole, would he still be DPOY?
Who will give a center with a real height of less than two meters, who only plays defense on the field and has close to zero offensive creativity with an annual salary of tens of millions?

Next door, the Dallas Mavericks are waiting.

They lack a defensive champion like Ben. Unfortunately, the salary of the Big Three in the team has already filled the team. They don't have the conditions to sign Ben. Otherwise, not long after he bought the team, Mark Cuban, who is keen to use 2K and other basketball games to build his team, must use his money ability.

However, for those teams who really have pursuit, this is not a problem.

Another traditional strong team in the East, the Indiana Pacers, has undergone internal adjustments to create the conditions for signing Big Ben.

The Pacers' captain, team leader and interior core Hank Geithers chose to opt out of the contract, allowing the team to have enough space to sign people.

The Pacers sent Big Ben a five-year $5 million contract. Although there is a gap from the five-year $6000 million, this is the highest offer they have received, and there is no reason not to accept it.

After poaching Big Ben from the Lakers, the Pacers then signed a 35-year, $3 million mid-level contract with the 1500-year-old Gaithers.

Although Gaethes declined last season, he is still a first-line power forward who averaged 17 points, 10 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game. In addition, he has worked hard for many years in the Pacers, so it is reasonable to give him a decent pension contract.

However, in the last few years of his career, Gaithers didn't want to do nothing. He gave up a lot of money in exchange for Da Ben's joining, so that the Pacers could have a defensive ability that stifled the league's top players.

The Lakers sent away a strong defensive sixth man.

This is their opinion.

Louie's idea is that some people don't realize their full value until they're lost.

Last season's Lakers can have that kind of dominance in the playoffs, and the only defense is the most critical.

And this pressure is not brought by Garnett and Malone, but when Ben sits in the center and cooperates with Kobe and Artest's defense, the superimposed effect will produce a 1+1+1>3 effect.

It is true that Kobe and Artest's wing defense is very important, but it is always the inside that determines the upper limit of the defensive system.

Garnett has the ability to support the defensive system, but until now, he is still not ready for the transition to a full-time center.

Without the center position, his potential on the defensive end cannot be fully realized. Before he had Da Ben, he did not need to switch to a center. Now, Da Ben's departure will force him out of his comfort zone.In the long run, this can allow Garnett to become a complete body earlier, and in the short term, the price the Lakers have to bear may be one or two championships.

Louis watched from a distance, and the various stories during the offseason had nothing to do with the Celtics.

On July 2002, 7, Louis was invited to New York to attend the grand event held in Madison Garden that night.

Tonight's meeting has a rather archaic title - Patrick Ewing Night.

The last retirement night to be named after a player was Larry Bird.

Such and such a night is a tradition left over 50 years ago. The first player to hold a retirement night in his own name was George McCann. In the late 70s, Havlicek's retirement made this form of retirement ceremony a tradition. After that, Dr. J, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bird, and Magic all followed suit.

Now it's Ewing's turn.

There were no competitions, and no other major programs. Except for a few pop singers who came to sing spontaneously, the only theme of the night was to have Ewing attend in formal attire and give a retirement speech in front of everyone.

At this point, New Yorkers still accepted three times the price of the ticket and filled every corner of MSG.

Members of the Knicks dynasty, including Louie and Wilson, were all present.

Louie, Benjamin Wilson, Rudy Tomjanovich, John Thompson, John Stockton, and others were invited to take the stage to sit behind Ewing's podium.

If it is more than ten years later, maybe Louis should pick up his smartphone and take a video from behind.

Tonight was Ewing's big day, and it was rare for Louis not to mock Ewing in good faith.

Ewing was also respectful.

In fact, Louis has known him for nearly 20 years, and he has never heard Ewing call himself a "coach" with full respect.Tonight, he heard it.

Louie was mentioned in the first sentence of Ewing's speech.

"Messiah, godfather, 'coach, my coach,' Little Lu, Leader Lu, Legend Lu whatever you want to call him, for me, he's 'the guy.' I always call him that behind his back." Ewing's deadpan humor has never garnered so many laughs. "About 20 years ago, I won the national title at Georgetown, and that was the proudest night of my life, and as a Jamaican-American, I think I won the most valuable trophy of my life that night. And then that guy, your respected coach, came up to me and disavowed everything I'd done and warned me that if I didn't get drafted that year, I'd be screwed."

Speaking of this, Ewing glanced at Louis with a smile on his face, "He should feel lucky, if I listened to him, I really don't know how he won so many championships in New York."

Does this gorilla have such a sense of humor?

Even Louie was amused.

"I would like to thank my mother. Although she cannot sit here, I believe that she sat on the moon and witnessed every successful moment of my career. I believe she will be proud of me." Ewing continued, "I would like to thank Coach John Thompson. When I was walking on the streets of Boston as confused as a duckweed, he made me understand what I should really care about in the world of life."

"I also want to thank that man." Whenever Ewing said "that man", there was always a lot of laughter at the scene. "He is the meanest person I have ever met, and he is also the smartest person I have ever met. He was the person I hated the most and is now the person I am most grateful for. Without him, you will not see me today. I will be forgotten in history like Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson, Brad Doherty. I don’t like Charles Barkley , but I agree with what he said, what matters is not how you play, but who you play for.”

"Without him, I won't win anything. No matter what I do, I can't repay what he has done for me. At this special moment today, I have to say to that person." Ewing turned sideways and looked directly at Louis, "Coach, thank you, I hope... I didn't let you down in the end."

(End of this chapter)