The Rest, Only Noise: Chapter 1542 Ragnarok
Latest URL: Jordan wasn't the only former superstar to say goodbye to the game this summer.
Scott Pippen, 38, is a free agent this summer.
He has entered the end of his career and is an unpopular veteran. Most importantly, he has no root.
Since being traded to New York by Louis in the summer of 1995, he has embarked on a road of no roots. All the teams he played for were at odds with each other. This annoying ability can only be compared with Kyrie and Irving twenty years later.
Now, Pippen wants to find a place to retire, but the only big contract he got is a lucrative contract from the CBA League of a big eastern country. With Pippen's character, it is naturally impossible for him to surrender his status to play in some CBA.
Pippen, who had no team to accommodate, chose to retire.
Despite the rough ending, Pippen will still be remembered as one of the all-time top all-around wings. In the first half of his career, as a deputy assisting the magician, he reached the finals several times but encountered the Knicks dynasty in its heyday, so he failed. But he did not fail like Jordan. In the 1995-96 season, he won the championship with the Knicks and became a member of the championship club.
It never occurred to Louis that Pippen in this life would make the words of the brainless black Jordan in his previous life come true—Jordan can't win anything without Pippen. Another former super giant who bid farewell to the game is Hakeem Olajuwon who fulfilled his wish.
Olajuwon's fulfilled wish is not the championship, but the total blocked shots record. The year before last, Ewing announced his retirement after breaking Sampson's total blocks record. But Olajuwon accepted the basic salary and fought for another year.
He used this year to overtake Ewing.
When Olajuwon broke Ewing's record, the orangutan who broke the record said very proudly: "If I care about basic statistics, I will play until I am 45 and then retire."
When Louie attended the lunch meeting, he made a sharp comment on Ewing's words: "If he doesn't care, he should ignore this matter instead of telling everyone that he doesn't care."
Olajuwon succeeded anyway.
He topped the block king and wrote a record that no one has come close to until 2023, which is known to later generations.
However, Olajuwon and Jordan, the pair of pride in the 1984 draft, have become championship-less players in this world. People have to feel how strong the effect of a certain loyal butterfly is.
The most ironic thing is that the representatives of the 1984 championship club became Stockton and Barkley. The former is the chief guard of the Knicks dynasty, and the latter is the best sixth man of the Lakers dynasty.
Another star player who said goodbye to fans was Karl Malone, who successfully hugged his legs with the Lakers.
With the Lakers' failure in the 2003 playoffs, Malone, whose dream of consecutive championships was broken, had no pursuit. Then there was John Stockton, who directly announced his retirement after helping the team acquire Wilson through a signing.
In addition to Jordan, Pippen, Olajuwon, Malone, and Stockton, two other stars who no one cares about have also retired. They are Spurs center David Robinson and Timberwolves power forward Danny Manning.
Needless to say the former, the latter is entirely due to losing control of his body shape at the end of his career, his strength has plummeted, and his popularity is poor. Like Pippen, there is no team to see him, and he can only retire if he can't get along.
The faces of the older generation have gradually changed.
The few who are still playing are basically semi-retired.
There is no second one like Benjamin Wilson who can still win the championship. Even Wilson, the plan for the future is very clear.
Before the new season started, Benj released an obvious signal through his agent: next season will be his last season. Now 36, Wilson is no longer young.
Back in New York, his goal is to win another championship.
Regardless of success or failure next season, he will choose to leave.
As he gets older, he can clearly feel his own degradation and inability to deal with the game. The Knicks have excellent competitiveness. If he can't lead this team to win the championship, it can only show that he is not strong enough and should retire.
If he succeeds, he
Will shed tears of contentment and call it quits with the most grace ever. It is not advisable to play until the age of 40 like Sampson, Ewing, and Jordan.
At that age, the pride of youth has become a slave to the accumulation of statistics, as if it is something more important than the championship. If Jordan can resist the temptation to win the total scoring title, Wilson will not be attracted by that kind of thing.
He just wanted to use a championship to make himself a perfect curtain call. Ewing has been in frequent contact with Louis recently.
Louie and Ewing hadn't been this close since Louie left New York.
It wasn't that Ewing suddenly realized that Louis was fine, but that he had more important things to ask Louis for advice. After retiring, Ewing, unwilling to be lonely, took a media job for ESPN.
He wants to make sure his name doesn't disappear from the circle. And his goal is to become the owner of an NBA team. The problem is, he doesn't have enough money.
Although he has dominated New York for many years, he does not know how to use his success to fill his pockets like Wilson. In the early and mid-term of Ewing's career, he even took the initiative to reject those sponsors who wanted to give him money with a straight face.
It wasn't until Wilson made a lot of money through New York, one of the best big markets, by virtue of his performance and achievements on the court, that he became jealous and wanted to follow suit.
But at that time, the money-making opportunities that belonged to Ewing had passed. So he had no choice but to accept all comers, even accepting the endorsement of Pepsi.
Of course, Pepsi is not bad, but Ewing is very aware of Louis' admiration for Coke and contempt for Pepsi, and he was often laughed at by Louis because of this.
But in the final analysis, who can have trouble with money?
Even if Ewing's later performance was recognized by some sponsors, the commercial value of a center player will never be comparable to that of a striker like Wilson.
What's more, he has a double-digit illegitimate child.
After retiring, he insisted on being self-sufficient in profits and losses, ensured that his assets did not shrink, and even had spare money to consider buying an NBA team, which is already quite remarkable.
However, although he is rich, it is almost impossible to own an NBA team with Ewing's financial resources. He can at most become a minority shareholder of a certain team.
Next summer, the NBA will expand with a new team in Charlotte. This is Ewing's goal.
He is thinking about bringing in a few old brothers to run the team together.
"You'd better not think about that new Charlotte team," Louie reminded him. Ewing was puzzled: "Why?"
"Because you have no money and no qualifications to run a team, the league will not allow someone like you to own a team." Louie laughed. Rice race?"
"Where do I learn to walk?" "To Boston." "Boston?"
"The Gaston family has financial problems, and they are going to cash out the team's shares to plug the business hole." Ewing hesitated.
The value of an expansion team is less than half that of the Celtics.
With Ewing's financial resources, he can hold at least 30% of the shares of the expansion team. If he votes for the Celtics, his shares may only be in the early 10%.
"But... Celtic shares are expensive..."
Louis snorted, "I didn't ask you to invest all your money in~www.mtlnovel.com~ I mean, you invest some money in the Celtics first, become a minority shareholder, and then consider other things. You You don’t know anything now, even if you become the owner of the team, you can’t run the team well.”
Anyway, Ewing was finally moved. Louis does not have to Ewing.
It's just that Ewing just happened to have this idea now, so he pulled him over. If it doesn't work, wait until Benj retires next year and let him occupy a hole. The reason why Louie wants an influential celebrity like Ewing to be a minority shareholder of the team is entirely for the future.
Although Louie's plan is close to bankruptcy, if Wade unfortunately encounters an injury such as season reimbursement in the future, then Louis has a window period to form a black-free team.
At that time, if someone accuses him of racism, he will take advantage of the trend to play Ewing's card
, Shut up the little boys.
President Lu can accept others saying that he is racist, after all, he really has a little bit, but can Ewing still be racist about his own ethnicity? With him, the former NBA super giant, the first center in history who is also adaptive, and the proud heavyweight of the black community, he can at least earn Louis a window period of one season.