Champions Creed

Chapter 145 Chapter 144: Our respective futures (asking for monthly tickets!)

Roger and O'Neal enjoyed their champagne in the locker room. While celebrating, they held cigars in their mouths, put on ice-blue championship commemorative jackets, stepped proudly on two championship trophies, and were photographed by reporters on the scene.

There is no doubt that this scene will appear on the front pages of major newspapers tomorrow.

At the same time, the Sonics players on the other side were already being interviewed.

Gary Payton's eyes were red, and he insisted that shampoo accidentally got into his eyes while he was taking a shower.

"Gary, do you doubt yourself? I mean, this round of the finals was undoubtedly a very, very complete loss."

"This is competitive sports, this is basketball. Sometimes you succeed, sometimes you fail, and there is no point in wasting time doubting yourself. If you win, great, wake up the next day and start the journey again. If you lose, bad, but you still have to wake up the next day and start the journey again. I won't waste time doubting myself, I only control the part that I can control, and I will keep working hard."

"Roger won the FMVP. What do you think of his performance in this round of the series?"

"What else can I say about this!?" Payton was a little angry and got angry at the reporter.

Well, his response answered everything, better than a thousand words.

It looked like Roger had really beaten him up pretty badly.

George Karl was also interviewed by the media. Before this season, he once thought about retiring because the unexpected playoff losses in the previous few seasons were too torturous and gradually wore away his enthusiasm.

But this season he finally made it to the finals, and he saw what the players under his command could do, which made him regain his confidence.

He told reporters with some excitement: "Although we lost, I am proud of every one of my players. It was them who restored my confidence when I once wanted to give up my coaching career. We will come back, we will definitely come back."

Well, George Karl certainly couldn't have imagined that he would not only want to continue to be a coach now, but he would actually want to take up the coaching job in Los Angeles again in 28, 2024 years later.

George Karl took the responsibility for Roger's defeat in DPOY: "Gary's DPOY is genuine, no one can question it. Maybe I was wrong, maybe I shouldn't have used that defensive strategy, we gave Roger easy space to shoot. But Gary, he is the best defensive guard I have ever seen."

"So George, do you think the Magic can dominate the league like the Chicago Bulls did? As of now, Orlando is simply unstoppable."

George Karl thought about this question seriously, then smiled slightly, his mouth curled up slightly:

“Was the 1985 Lotto Draw Rigged?
Did Wilt Chamberlain deliberately emphasize that he had affairs with 20000 women in order to cover up the fact that he was actually gay?
Do you know the answers to these questions? Whether the Magic can become the Bulls is just like those questions. I am not a prophet. How can I know whether the Magic can dominate the league?

but
No team can escape the championship curse. How many more FMVP trophies would Shaq be willing to watch Roger win? How many more years would Roger be willing to put up with Shaq's childish temper? And how many more years would Roger be willing to put up with his frequent absences from games?
There is no eternal champion. After your fingers touch the trophy, the double fatigue of body and mind will make your legs feel heavy. After tasting the wine of the champion, how many people are willing to live like an ascetic? "

When George Karl said this, the faint smile on his face made him look like a witch casting a spell.

He seemed to be cursing the Magic to explode quickly.

George Karl is really looking forward to the day when the Orlando Magic explode. He is not a generous person. He can continue to criticize Melo even after Carmelo Anthony retires. The 4-0 sweep in this year's finals naturally made him hate the Magic.

That's why he wants to see this team fall, and he won't wish Roger and Shaq and those bastards the best.

George Karl had already seen the signs tonight. O'Neal's sudden outburst in the third quarter was just the beginning, indicating that the countdown of the time bomb had already started ticking.

If that day really comes, George Karl will definitely open a bottle of red wine to celebrate that wonderful night.

No team can escape the championship curse, no!
On the Magic side, the crazy celebration is coming to an end.

Roger and O'Neal each held a championship trophy and sat exhaustedly in front of their lockers.

O'Neal thought of his grandmother and couldn't help shedding two lines of tears: "A lot has really happened this season."

"But we persevered and got the perfect ending, Shaq."

"Yeah, perfect ending," O'Neal said, looking at the FMVP trophy in Roger's locker.

At this time, Sports Illustrated reporter Andrew Sharp came over and took a photo of Roger and the shark.

"Hey FMVP, can you accept an exclusive interview?" Sharp and Roger were already quite familiar with each other, so there was no beating around the bush.

"Of course, let's find a quieter place, it's all crazy here." Roger said, looking at Saroo who was lying on the ground singing drunkenly.

Afterwards, Roger took his FMVP trophy, walked into the empty physical therapy room, and accepted an exclusive interview with Sports Illustrated.

O'Neal stared at the door of the physical therapy room in a daze. This is the privilege of FMVP, huh?
"You're not even the best player on your team," the devilish voice appeared in O'Neal's mind again. O'Neal angrily took a gulp of champagne, and the voice disappeared completely.

O'Neill shook his head and said, "No, I can't drink anymore."

If I drink any more, I’m afraid I won’t be able to handle the 165cm tall 36D lady tonight.

If you drink it just right, it will have the added effect of overtime, but if you drink too much, you may not even be able to enter the combat state.

After the championship celebration, Roger organized a party in the rented villa as previously arranged.

The reason for not going to the nightclub was that Roger never wanted to go to that kind of place again and only be able to drink juice.

This is probably the trouble of winning the championship at too young a age.

In addition to teammates, Cindy Crawford and her friends also participated.

At that moment, there was no doubt that Roger's status in the team was higher.

Because if you can call a bunch of hot girls out when you go out with your brothers, believe me, your brothers will call you daddy.

A typical American party always ends with everyone going back to their own rooms in the second half of the night.

Roger was no exception. Cindy Crawford held a glass of wine and pulled Roger into an empty room.

Cindy Crawford has always been bold. The 30-year-old woman has lost her girlish shyness.

She left a lip print on the glass and then put it to Roger's mouth: "You drank a lot of wine today, but this will be the most fragrant one."

As she spoke, she was already practicing ball control with Roger's hand.

This 690-year-old woman, one of the top five supermodels in the world, worth $30 million and known as the dream lover of all American men, pulled Roger and slowly fell on the bed.

She held Roger's face and asked, "How did you get the best defensive player?"

“Keep hitting.”

"Continuous impact?"

"Yeah, I'm good at this."

Cindy Crawford was not shy, but moved Roger's hand that was controlling the ball to her neck: "How about this? You can't pinch Gary's neck and charge him on the basketball court, right?"

Roger admitted that women of this age are really good at developing a person's potential.

Kidney: This is a high-end game.

On the return flight the next day, Horace Grant ordered five meals. This was a well-known quirk of his in the team. Every time he won a big victory, he would eat until he felt like vomiting.

Of course, no one would jump out to stop him, it was completely up to him. Maybe he enjoyed the feeling that no one would jump out to stop him.

The shark was in a bad mood and kept muttering: "Alcohol is the most harmful thing in the world! It wears down your will and devours your soul. Most importantly, it makes you weak! I want to quit drinking, I've decided!"

Well, Roger could probably guess what happened.

Poor 165cm 36D lady, she must have had a pretty depressing night.

While O'Neal was complaining, his teammates were teasing Roger: "Hey, did you put a DV camera in the corner last night like you did last time when you secretly filmed Michael? We are willing to raise $100 million to privately keep Cindy Crawford's Art of Truth album."

"Go away, I'm not that perverted. You know me, I only like to take pictures of men." Roger was speechless. Do you really think I'm a professional in the San Fernando Valley?
To be honest, my teammates are a little envious.

America's No. 21 supermodel, a poster in countless men's homes, had a fierce match with Roger, who was less than years old last night, and the match was initiated by the other party.

What if you say he is a superstar?
Only McKay cared about the most crucial question: "Has the chili been used?"

"Of course." "Good, you're a mature man. But you have to be careful, Cindy is a very ambitious woman. I shouldn't comment on other people's wives, but you know, she is the same type as Juanita." McKay warned.

Jordan's current wife Juanita is indeed a ruthless person. She suddenly showed up to Jordan when she was five months pregnant and asked him to marry her. After Jordan refused, she did not cry or make a fuss, and spent the pregnancy period calmly. After giving birth to the child, she directly asked her lawyer to inform Jordan that she had prepared the relevant documents and would see him in court.

This forced Jordan to hold the wedding secretly at 3:30 in the morning without inviting any relatives or friends.

If he doesn't, then perhaps the Eagle County incident will have a prequel story.

McKay was afraid that the ambitious Cindy Crawford also wanted to go down this path.

But Roger waved his hand: "Don't worry, I don't know if I will meet her again."

"what?"

"Who would fall in love after being reborn?" Roger complained in his heart.

Now Roger just wants to play basketball happily with some serious people. When will he find a regular partner? Maybe he will wait until the day when Roger really needs a soul mate.

If my uncle is not in a hurry, then I am not in a hurry either.

After arriving in Orlando, Roger listened to Eric Fleischer's general outline of the summer's plans at home.

As expected, Roger is going to be very busy this summer.

Although we did not have to participate in the 1996 Olympics, various commercial activities continued to emerge.

Regarding the Olympics, the Basketball Association had contacted Roger before.

But Roger's request is unacceptable to the Basketball Association, which is still very conservative - I will not respond to the call at any time, I will only play in the Olympics and will not participate in any other competitions.

If you knew the consequences of Wang Zhizhi's actions back then, you would understand why the Basketball Association found it difficult to accept Roger's request.

This is because there are no rubbish reporters with ulterior motives around Roger, so there is no impact on public opinion.

In the domestic market, he is still popular, but he cannot participate in the Olympics due to "physical reasons".

Well, it's just like James not participating in the dunk contest.

But Roger doesn't care about this now, the NBA is his main stage right now.

At the moment, Roger was only concerned about one thing: "Eric, how much do you know about Shaq's contract extension?"

"Not much, but my sources said that the DeVos family will have a formal talk with Shaq before the championship parade. If all goes well, Shaq will announce the results in his speech on the day of the parade."

"How can I show my support for Shaq?"

"Say it directly in front of the media."

"Is it that direct?"

"You're the boss of the team, of course you can express your opinion. And, damn, Roger, stop pretending to be a good guy. You've already done this, there's no need to hide it. The whole world knows that you and Shaq are on the same team. Anyway, you've already offended the management, right?"

"Yeah, Richie hasn't asked me to play golf for a long time."

Not only Roger, the whole world now wants to know where Shaquille O'Neal is going.

And where Michael Jordan is going.

Their future concerns everyone.

Michael Jordan was surprised that Reinsdorf had not contacted him since the season ended.

Although the contract cannot be officially signed yet, Jordan feels that the two sides will at least talk about it first.

But this did not happen. Reinsdorf and Jerry Krause seemed to have disappeared and did not have much contact with Jordan.

It's not just Jordan. Rodman, Zen Master and Dumars also didn't have much contact with management.

This team has so many guys to re-sign this summer and they're doing nothing.

David Falk told Jordan that he had made a clear requirement that the contract amount must start with 3.

In other words, Reinsdorf knew what the price would be for keeping him.

But he chose to play dead.

This shows that he hesitated.

Jordan couldn't believe that as the absolute overlord of the basketball world, his parent team would hesitate when it came to renewing his contract.

If it's just for a day or two, then maybe Reinsdorf needs to consider it.

But he had known the price for a long time, but still had no reaction.

What are they thinking?

Whatever they were planning, Jordan couldn't let Jerry Krause mess around. This team's roster was successful and they were just one step away from winning this year.

There was no way he was going to let that clueless idiot tear the team apart.

So Jordan, who had never expected to feel uneasy about renewing his contract, called Falk and asked, "How about renewing?"

"I'll talk to Jerry a few more times. Juwan, wait a minute, it's Michael!" It can be heard that Falk on the other end of the phone is very busy.

Many of Falk's clients will become free agents this summer, and several of them have the opportunity to sign big contracts.

Of course, Jordan won't worry that he will be too busy and neglect himself.

He believes Falk knows exactly who has put him in his current position.

"are you busy?"

"Not at all. I'm still negotiating the contract extension."

"What about the other people's contract extensions? Have you told Jerry that except for me, everyone else has to stay. Dennis, Old Joe, Phil, they all have to stay. We can definitely do it for another year."

Jordan didn't think there was anything wrong with it. As the basketball god of Chicago, he had the right to order the team to do so through Falk.

"Well actually, there are some problems, Michael."

Jordan frowned. He really didn't like hearing the word "problematic".

"What's going on? What kind of crap is Jerry trying to bring in? Is he going to give up Dennis, Phil, or Joe, or is he going to trade Scott for someone else?"

"He doesn't want to stay with those people you mentioned."

"What!?"

"From what I've heard, the two Jerrys are exploring the possibility of a rebuild. They feel that the Bulls dynasty has fallen."

"I knew it, damn Jerry Krause, I knew that the only one who could defeat us was that fat guy! Why didn't you tell me this earlier!?"

"I don't want to disturb your rest, and you know me, I will put the most suitable option in front of you after I have sorted out everything."

"What choice do I have now? I can only make the damn Jerry Krause give up this crazy idea!"

"No Michael, in fact, we have quite a few options. I'm planning on going to Chicago tomorrow to discuss this with you. What do you think of New York?"

(End of this chapter)