the rest, only noise

Chapter 996 I am very grateful, coach

The internal atmosphere of a team can be glimpsed in daily training.

The Knicks haven't had that sense of unity in a long time.

Although there are many atmosphere promoters on the training ground, it is still a little bit of a feeling.

Beating the Blazers on the road means a lot, but they still have two games to play at the Memorial Coliseum.

If the Blazers win a complete victory, they will return to New York with the match point.

If the Knicks win one of those games, that would be the best outcome.They can fight life and death in their home court.

Of course, the most ideal result is to play three consecutive games in Portland and beat the Blazers 4-1.

But even the Knicks' most fanatical believers dare not have such delusions.

Louie was prepared from the start to play the full seven games of this series.

Although the current internal chemical reaction of the Knicks has not yet reached the best level, the player's state basically meets the level required for the finals.

Louis is delighted by the touches of shooters like Miller and Rauf.

But he also felt that the internal atmosphere was too rigid, so he offered to propose a shooting contest with stakes.

The rules are simple, a total of 10 balls are shot from the basket to the LOGO position in turn, but there is one point, if you miss during the period, you will stop immediately and the score will be locked.

To participate in this competition, you have to pay $10000, and there is no No. 2, the winner takes all.

"It's interesting, are you ready to send me money?" Miller muttered.

Final entries were Wilson, Miller, Rauf, Angie, Williams, Stevens, Rodman and Louie.

However, Louis invited Wang Mukong to participate in the game as his representative on the grounds that "I haven't played for several years".

The players had no objections, and the game then began.

Rodman, the least favored contestant, got off to a tricky start.

He came to the easiest shooting spot under the basket and said with contempt: "That's it, I can make shots with my back to the basket."

Rodman's confidence in this is not without reason. After all, ordinary people can have a high shooting percentage even with their backs to the basket, such as shooting under the basket, let alone NBA players?
As a result, Rodman actually closed his eyes in order to pretend to compare, and then hooked the ball upwards, wanting to have a crisp hit on the backboard, but it hit the timer on the top of the backboard.

Westbrook called the expert!

"Dennis, you are good everywhere, but not good at all. You are too generous. You don't have to do that if you want to send money to us!" Louis teased.

Desperate, Rodman used his banknote ability on the spot to sign a check for $10000, successfully bought the resurrection coin, and resurrected on the spot—Louis found out that this was a bug. If he didn’t fix it, as long as he was willing to spend money, he could theoretically have unlimited shots. So Louis reminded: “Unless anyone of you like Dennis loses the first shot without disappointment, there will be no second chance.”

Even with a second life, Rodman only persisted until the fourth ball-that was beyond the three-point line, and he deliberately chose the top of the arc, which was his most confident position.

This time, however, his shot not only missed, but hit the top of the backboard, almost hitting the timer.

"Can we find another idiot who's willing to pay $20000 for five shots?" Reggie Williams gleefully quipped.

Rodman is not stingy, although the person being ridiculed is stupid and rich, but he knows where Williams' weakness is.

"It's okay, Russ, I'm different from you, I can just play around with my salary!"

This really stepped on Williams' tail.

Low salary and high energy are the characteristics of Williams, and he feels endless regret for this.

Hearing Rodman mention this matter at this moment, he was very annoyed: "It seems that your salary is very high, how can you be higher than me?"

"That's different. No matter how little my salary is, I still have 160 million US dollars a year. What about you? Besides, I have so many off-court endorsements, can you compare with me? I don't care about salary at all, huh, huh, huh..." Rodman became more and more proud as he talked. He didn't expect that he was so "capitalized".

In terms of annual salary, Rodman's annual salary is 160 million US dollars, due next year.

$65 per year for Williams, due in 1995.

They are all players with super high cost performance.

But Rodman is still considered a low-level salary in the league. Williams' words can be intuitively understood with a ruthless evaluation-it is not as good as a rookie contract.

However, no matter how you calculate it, Rodman jokes that Williams' salary is also half a hundred steps away.

Because under the new labor agreement, the salaries of these two should start at 300 million.

Williams, who was confused by Rodman, played abnormally.

The first point is an easy hit.

The second point was a half slam in the paint that almost missed.

The third spot was the free throw line, and he missed it.

"Woohoo~~~~Russ, your shooting is worse than mine." Rodman said disgustedly.

Williams angrily kicked the basketball that rolled in front of him.

Louis thought, he came to enliven the atmosphere in the team, why did it have the opposite effect?
However, Williams' contract is a real problem.

For an all-round player like him, the annual salary of 65 is really the price to send beggars, so it's no wonder he is unhappy.

He is different from Rodman, influenced by Georgetown University's "angry black" guiding spirit, he is indifferent to public attention such as the media, just like Ewing.

Therefore, his off-field income is not much.

Like Rodman, who can arouse the curiosity of the media just by the color of his hair in every game, and has become an all-American celebrity through his love with Madonna. As one of the most famous bad boys of the contemporary era, his endorsements and advertisements have received soft hands, and it is normal for him to look down on contract salary.

"Russ, come with me."

Based on the principle of solving a problem as soon as it can be solved, Louis called Williams to a position ten meters away.

"Coach, Dennis is such a bastard!" Williams cursed.

"You know, he didn't mean any harm." Louis smiled.

Williams said: "He is not malicious, because he treats everyone like this, because he has the privilege of not training on time and disappearing at any time!"

Louie looked straight at Williams. "Are you accusing me of taking sides with Dennis, Ruth?"

Williams asked: "What if I did what Dennis did?"

Louis said with a smile: "I will happily trade you, and then warn Dennis with this, if he still misses the spotlight in New York, if he still wants to become a jerk that attracts worldwide attention, he must do his job honestly, otherwise, I will trade him to Indiana or Sacramento."

"Honestly, I've been waiting for someone to do this, Ruth, would you 'do' me this favor?"

Williams didn't expect Louis to be so "real", and he didn't mean to fool him with a few nonsense words.

He didn't doubt the authenticity of Louis' words at all.

He also knew that Rodman was privileged because his absurdity off the court didn't carry over to it.As long as he's playing, he's a solid player.

Rodman's importance to the Knicks ranks in the top five, which is why Louie indulged him.

Williams understands this section well, he is just dissatisfied with the status quo.

"Now, let's talk about your contract."

If the conversation ends here, Louie is digging a hole for himself, which has no effect except to create a distance between Williams and himself.

What he can do is to put aside the bleak reality for the other party to see, make the other party feel ashamed, and then give some sweetness.

Williams didn't know why Louie had picked this time to negotiate a contract with him.

Because the operating window period has now passed, he cannot sign a new contract, not to mention that the Knicks' salary cap does not allow them to sign a new contract with Williams.

So, Williams kept silent, wanting to hear what Louie had to say.

"I really can't give you a new contract now, nor can I give you a new contract next season, but wait until next summer, the league will complete a new collective bargaining agreement, and the salary cap will usher in a new round of surge. At that time, I promise that I will give you a new contract, and, considering your financial losses over the years, I will give you a concession on the contract amount."

Louis drew a big pie, what will happen tomorrow?No one knows.

Just like Louis himself couldn't guarantee that he was still in New York at that time, but what people like Williams need is hope.

If you don't give him hope, he will become an unstable factor in the team.

At the end of the conversation, Williams said emotionally: "I am grateful, coach, and I apologize for my previous behavior."

(End of this chapter)