the rest, only noise

Chapter 961 Are You Waiting For Me To Apologize To You?
After Louis returned to the locker room, he informed the players of the accident in the media interview room, made them understand the seriousness of the situation, and used this to unify everyone's caliber.

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 assessment."

This is a mature answer.

Just like when James was forced to express his position on African events in 2007, when a tweet by Mo Laogou pushed the basketball relationship between China and the United States into the abyss of irreversibility, he always responded in this way.Although this answer does not seem to offend anyone, the Chinese are not grateful for his neutrality from an objective standpoint, but the Americans treat him as a middle-of-the-road because he does not stand in line.

"It's not been a day or two since Muhammad did this. It's not convincing at all to say that we don't know the inside story of this matter."

Stockton is still the 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, "It is true that no one will believe that you don't understand this matter, but the mouth is on us, and everyone is waiting for us to collapse, which means that no matter what we say, the outside world will not be trusted, unless"

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

"Unless we give up MAR, we openly oppose his actions, do not agree with his values, and deny everything about him. In this way, the Knicks will be preserved, and the only one that will be affected is MAR. All of you will be fine, and we will still be a seemingly united team." Louis looked directly at Stockton. "The premise is that we must refuse to recognize MAR as one of us."

Wilson stood up in good time and took Louis's words.

"It's Muhammad's freedom to love this country or not," Wilson said. "I just know he's still one of us, and even if we can't support him in this matter, we shouldn't openly oppose him."

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

Wilson said aloud.

"That's the only thing I'll 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 patriots in the team who opposed MAR. Now that something happened, I want to clean myself up. Why, do some people's patriotism change with the environment? If so, then I can only give these people a thumbs up. They are always patriotic when they should be patriotic, so they will always be noble patriots."

Afterwards, even Stockton changed his position against Rauf.

Everyone took Louie's rhetoric and did Tai Chi in front of the reporters.

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

The next day, except for the local media in New York, other major media attacked the Knicks and Rauf without exception.

Rauf's breakdown in front of reporters unexpectedly became a media event of the '90s.

This incident alarmed the Knicks headquarters.

Jack Kruger himself called to inquire.

After Louis clarified the whole story, Kruger said in a heavy tone: "The matter has become serious, and it 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. The other is that the trading window has been closed. Moreover, after his troubles, there is not much value left in the transaction. We cannot exchange him for valuable assets."

In fact, Kruger's idea is that as long as Rauf can be traded, it is worthwhile even if it is reversed.

He just wanted peace of mind.

And like Louis's style of not earning and counting losses, he finally trained Rauf, how could he send him away for nothing?

Louie ignored Kruger's desire to clean up Rauf.

Because it really can't be cleaned up now.

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

Therefore, Kruger can only pretend to care about the Knicks' playoffs, and then hang up the phone.

There is an intention to sell the team, so all negative impacts that may devalue the team must be minimized.

The Knicks have appreciated in value over the years.

But suddenly, Rauf made a big one.

No other NBA team has ever been pushed to the forefront and criticized by the people of the country like them.

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

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

They were doomed to carry the pressure that Rauf carried with him.

After Louie hung up on Kruger, he asked himself a question.

Would he trade Rauf if the trade window wasn't closed now?
He has no answer.

Probably not, because Rauf at this stage cannot make an equivalent exchange.

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

This is what makes Louie suffer a lot.

In these years in New York, he seemed to go so smoothly that he forgot how complicated a team he was from.

His smooth career slowed down his reaction, so that he didn't use the best way to deal with this sudden incident. Now he closes his eyes and thinks back to the past. Many things have been planned as early as last year, but he didn't pay too much attention.

He was too busy negotiating with Kemp's agent to ignore potential problems.

But it wasn't just Rauf's radical tendency that he didn't handle well at the time?

Ewing's insecurities, his turbulent relationship with Wilson, even Stockton's distaste for him -- Louie didn't specifically talk to Stockton after Stockton missed the Olympics with an injury.

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

If Stockton hadn't been injured, Louie would have used his connections to force his selection.

His injuries were like God's will. Louie couldn't 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 Louie wants to sit down and talk with Stockton.

On this day, all parts of the United States are condemning the Knicks.

Louie chose to silence the sounds, drove to the Blue Palace, and had Stockton called to the office for a man-to-man conversation.

After a while, Stockton came.

The atmosphere in the office is dull, but an embarrassing dullness.

Louie turned to Stockton's poker face and was about to crack a joke, but now wasn't the time for it.

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

Stockton corrected: "8 years and 11 months, to be exact."

"You even came a few months earlier than 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, allowing Louie to continue.

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

Stockton didn't hide: "Yes."

"why?"

"Because you don't trust me."

Stockton's answer surprised Louie.

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

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

"No, you're right."

"I do care."

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

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

Louie's answer didn't surprise Stockton.

"I'm most disappointed," Stockton's tone changed, and his tone was a little more excited than before. "You didn't make more efforts for me to compete for the Dream Team roster. I didn't have a chance to be selected. You gave me hope and inspired me throughout the summer, but in the end I passed it. This is the most painful experience in my life."

Louie now knew where Stockton's resentment against him was coming from.

He kept asking himself when did he lose absolute control over the team.

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

The team has changed and so has he.

Players become more selfish, and Louie becomes cautious.

"If you have an opinion on me because of these things, then I can tell you that I don't care." Louie raised his voice, "I don't care what you think, I don't care if you are injured, if you are jealous of Muhammad, try to improve your shooting ability better than him; if you hate me because I didn't let you be selected for the dream team with injuries, I can also tell you clearly that you are not worthy of being injured, and you can only blame your bad luck."

Louis sneered indifferently: "John, you are not waiting for me to apologize to you, are you?"

(End of this chapter)