Champions Creed

Chapter 268 267: My Beloved, My Blood (asking for a monthly ticket!)
Scott Pippen was frustrated.

No matter how hard he tried, he could not gain the same sense of belonging as Roger.

In Chicago, he won three championships with Michael Jordan and established the first dynasty in the context of modern basketball. Logically, Chicagoans should build a statue for him.

The result? He was involved in trade rumors more than once, even when he was on a low-budget contract.

In Atlanta, he and Roger won two championships together, created the Georgia miracle, and completely transformed a baseball city into a basketball city.

However, now, he is once again caught up in trade rumors.

This seems to be the tragedy of the second and third figures.

In the future, Pau Gasol was an irreplaceable hero during the Lakers' two consecutive championships. He was gentle and never had a bad relationship with the management. He had a good personal relationship with Kobe Bryant. But whenever it came to trading stars, the Spaniard would definitely be the first chip to be put on the shelf.

Even the Skyhook during the Showtime period was involved in trade rumors because of a period of discord with Magic Johnson.

No matter what contributions you have made, no matter who you are, as long as you are not the top player of the team, you will be thrown around like garbage without any dignity.

Scott Pippen felt very tired. He knew he was not a perfect person, he had many small flaws, and he didn't speak very smartly.

But there is one thing he can guarantee: he will do his best to assist Jordan and Roger.

In 1998, he returned to the locker room halfway through a match and used cruel electrotherapy to stimulate his injured back, gritting his teeth and persevering until the last moment.

Last season, he dragged his aging body, completely gave up the ball and data, and devoted himself to protecting Roger.

He bleeds for the Eagles and he has made contributions to the team.

Pippen was not a naive person, and he certainly knew that being traded in the sports world was a normal thing.

What really made Pippen disappointed was that the Hawks traded him in a way that showed no respect at all, and he actually learned that he was put on the shelf from rumors at a press conference.

Pippen was so depressed that he even didn't want to attend today's training.

Since he is going to be traded anyway, why should he fight for the Atlanta Hawks?
But in the end Pippen went anyway because Roger didn't tell him anything about the trade.

If there really was a deal, he believed Roger would definitely tell him in advance.

If there was anyone in Atlanta that Pippen could trust, it was Roger.

Arriving at the locker room at Emory Health, Pippen was the talk of the town.

When Pierce saw Pippen walk in, he held up the newspaper and said, "Scott, tell me these trade rumors in the newspaper are bullshit!"

Pierce and Pippen actually only played one full season together, and because Pippen was out for the season during Pierce's rookie year, the two barely worked together.

But after just one season, Pierce fell in love with Pippen.

Pippen is an excellent assistant who is willing to do the dirty work. Unless there are special circumstances, Pierce and Roger can focus more on scoring and leave the other chores to Pippen.

Pippen is the kind of person who may not be liked by opponents, but you will definitely love him as a teammate.

Pierce doesn't want such a hardworking big brother to leave.

Most importantly, Pippen has an advantage that even Roger can't match: he knows a lot of interesting fruit markets in Atlanta!

"It must be fake. Roger can't hide it. We all know his character. He won't hide this secret from us. He won't let any of us leave without knowing the reason. In this locker room, we have never been deceitful. Besides, Roger won't allow a jerk like Latrell or a stat-checker like Juwan to come to our locker room. It's all fake news. I believe Roger." said Andre Patterson.

Pippen did not participate in the discussion and just walked straight to his locker.

His locker is on Roger's left, and Pierce's is on the right. In the Eagles' locker room, the lockers of these two positions are not given randomly, which represents the status in the team.

After Steve Smith left, Roger kept his locker empty until Pierce arrived.

This means that Pierce is Roger's second hand of God.

Now, although Ben is already the core of the defense, and Marion has begun to replace Pippen in terms of tactical role, they are still not qualified to move their lockers to Roger's, which represents the irreplaceability of Pippen and Pierce.

Pippen looked at Roger's locker next to him and felt a lot more relaxed.

Yes, Patterson is right. Roger will not let the team sell itself without saying a word, absolutely not.

Even if the team really thinks he is too old and useless, Roger will say to his face, "Scott, I'm sorry, but it's better for us to go our separate ways."

But trading him away without a word? That's not Roger's style, that's not Roger's character.

"Scott, why aren't you talking? The newspapers say the team wants to trade you and Michael for Juwan Howard. Is that true?" Pierce asked. The young man wanted an immediate answer to everything.

Pippen shook his head: "I don't know, but I'm too familiar with this kind of thing. The media can't make up trade rumors without reason, so it must be someone in the team who released the news. But I only believe Roger, I don't believe any news released by anyone else."

Roger happened to walk in at this time. He looked at everyone's puzzled eyes and instantly understood what they were thinking: "Don't believe those fake news. It also said that Charles Barkley and Shaquille O'Neal have an illegitimate child."

Roger doesn't want to see this kind of trade rumor that hurts the team and makes everyone panic. No matter what, he will completely disrupt the team this time.

The "Knights of the Round Table" gave him such power and confidence, and he would definitely make Bruce Levinson face the reality.

"Illegitimate child? If you replace the Big Shark with Michael Jordan, I would believe it. After all, there is no reproductive isolation between Feizhu and his good friend Michael." Pierce put down the newspaper with a smile and started talking about other topics.

Pippen also temporarily put aside his doubts and concentrated on training and playing.

There is no need for much explanation, everyone is willing to believe what Roger says, which is a reflection of his extremely high prestige in the locker room.

The Washington Post continued to reveal that the Wizards and Hawks are close to completing the deal and are discussing other details.

But Pippen turned a deaf ear to it. In an interview after the training, Pippen also expressed his trust in Roger: "It was not The Washington Post that led me to win the championship. I only believe what Roger said in this matter. If Roger says there is no deal, then there is definitely no deal."

The reporter from Washington was very confused: "Why? Roger is just a player of the Eagles, isn't he? Theoretically, he can't control the player transaction. This is a business between the management and the management. Roger has no control."

Pippen remained emotionally stable: "You don't know Atlanta, you don't know the Atlanta Hawks, otherwise you can't say Roger is just an Hawks player."

After the training, Roger did not go home, but went to the VIP meeting room on the top floor of the Atlanta Hilton Hotel.

Today, all shareholders will be present to make a voting decision on Pippen's trade.

When Roger arrived, all 12 shareholders were present.

It must be said that these 12 shareholders are very hands-on type of bosses.

The owners of many teams basically just act as hands-off managers, leaving the management of the team to the general manager, such as the Indiana Pacers, the Houston Rockets, and the Miami Heat.

The two owners of the Pacers, the Simon brothers, neither watch nor understand basketball. They bought the team simply because they wanted to have a basketball team in their hometown.

In those places, the general manager controls everything.

But some team owners like to personally manage the game.

For example, the Lakers' old owner Buss, the Mavericks' new owner Mark Cuban, the Colangelo family in Phoenix and the current Hawks shareholder consortium.

Sometimes it is not necessarily a good thing for the boss to do everything himself. If Mark Cuban had not messed around, the Mavericks would not have put together that weird "All-Star lineup" in which each starting player had a set of one-on-one tactics.

After Ted Turner left, Roger also thought that if the consortium had less control over the team, the Eagles would be much more peaceful.

But these bosses are very good at making their presence felt.

Especially the two major shareholders.

Seeing Roger come in, Bruce Levinson shook his head in disgust.

"No disrespect to Roger, but I really don't understand why the shareholders' meeting invites players to attend? Why should we waste Roger's precious time? Is it really necessary? The Savior is very busy. If we delay Roger for one minute, we delay Atlanta, no, we delay the entire state of Georgia for one minute! Hey, you don't really think Roger is just a player, do you?"

Bruce Levinson showed Roger what it was like for a man in a suit to trash talk, and how he could be crazy and sarcastic in the most polite manner without saying a single swear word.

Roger was about to speak, but Steve Belkin spoke up for him: "Bruce, there is no need for us to discuss too much about something that has already been voted on. Roger's participation in the meeting was the decision of the majority present, and I think there should be no objection to this matter."

"Of course, of course, I just don't want to delay our savior. Roger, I won't delay him, right?"

"The savior's job also includes saving the team and not letting anyone mess it up." Roger is not like Levinson, his response is more direct.

"You save the team on the field."

"No, I will save the team from all aspects. I have the ability to do so."

Levinson laughed. He thought Roger was too arrogant.

Does this guy really think he has everything under control?

Currently, Levinson also has six people on his side, and he has already dealt with Chris Bronson, a small shareholder who was previously neutral.

As for Michael Gillen, everyone thought he would unconditionally support Roger because he was Ted Turner's friend.

ridiculous.

Ted Turner's friend was never Ted Turner himself.

Things like your best friend stealing your wife away can happen, so why should your best friend have to support the person you like?
Levinson knew Michael Gillen. The old man was a profit-seeking fence-sitter. He would stand on whichever side was more profitable. And Levinson had privately asked Michael Gillen a few days ago, and he said he would support the deal.

Besides, what's wrong with this deal? It's also for the team.

The suggestion to trade Pippen came from the team's new vice president, Billy Knight, who was originally going to be the general manager but was ruined by Roger.

He told Levinson that after Juwan Howard played the 4th position, Marion could move to the 3rd position. This would be an all-round reinforcement for the Hawks.

Well, at least it is true from the data. Whether it is Juwan Howard or Marion, their data is much better than Pippen.

Levinson believed that this move would help the team, increase his own prestige, and also dampen Roger's arrogance, telling Roger that there was nothing the owner of this team could not decide.

So he just bypassed Pete Babcock and started making the deal.

Look at it now, Pippen believes in Roger, the fans believe in Roger, it seems that no one can touch anyone in this team without his word.

Therefore, as long as this deal is reached, Roger's so-called rule over the Eagles will be completely bankrupt!
This is a scenario Levinson would like to see.

The voting began, and the first few votes were as expected, with people from both sides voting for their followers, 5 to 5.

When it was the neutral shareholder Bronson's turn, he decisively voted to trade Pippen.

This surprised Belkin a little. Bronson understood football and he should have known that the deal was worthless, but he still chose to make the deal.

This only shows that his neutral position has come to an end and he has completely sided with Levinson.

6 to 5. Considering that Roger would definitely not agree to trade Pippen, the decisive vote was on Michael Gillen.

If the vote becomes 6-6 because of him, Levinson loses.

Both Belkin and Levinson were confident that Gillen would win.

Gillen thought for a moment and finally raised his hand: "I don't agree with the deal."

"What!?" Levinson was surprised. The old man had clearly promised him privately before!
Yes, he had privately promised Levinson.

But as Levinson says, Michael Gillen is a mercenary fence-sitter.

He needs Roger to make money for the team, which is the most important thing now. At this stage, he doesn't care how much power Roger has, as long as he can make money.

Roger liked Levinson's current expression, from full of confidence to disbelief, and then to looking at him in despair. The change was simply wonderful.

He had reason to despair, because the score was now 6 to 6, and Roger's vote would definitely be the winning vote.

"I don't support trading Scott, 7 to 6. Sorry Bruce, your clever plan has come to nothing." Roger said this coldly, declaring his victory.

Bruce Levinson was so angry that he stood up and wanted to leave, but Roger stopped him: "Wait a minute, boss, the meeting is not over yet."

"what?"

Roger didn't bother to answer why. Instead, he took out a cigar box from his inner pocket and handed the cigar to the secretary in the conference room, asking her to light it.

Then Roger took back the cigar and took a puff, puffing away calmly in front of the big guys.

Today he was not just here to stop the trade, as Belkin said, he was here to let Levinson know whose team this was.

So, it's not over yet.

Just now, he was just resisting Levinson's blow.

Now, it was his turn to knock Levinson.

"I said, the meeting is not over yet. Let's move on to the next vote: whether to replace Billy Knight with Dominique Wilkins as the Hawks' assistant general manager."

"When did you propose this?!" Levinson was furious. How dare Roger?

It's fine that I didn't touch Roger's people, but now Roger is touching my people! ?

Belkin raised his hand: "I and the other five shareholders all agree that this is a topic that can be discussed. Dom is an iconic figure of the team. His entry into the management will help build the team culture. So Roger is right. Let's move on to the next topic, the issue of the deputy general manager candidate."

Levinson sat back with gritted teeth. According to the agreement, if half of the shareholders believed that a proposal was necessary, it would be discussed and voted on.

Roger had wanted to replace Billy Knight for a long time, not only because he followed Levinson, but also because he was a complete idiot.

In the original timeline, Billy Knight made a series of stupid moves after taking over the Hawks, and single-handedly led to the decline of the Hawks in the first decade of the 21st century.

In 2004, he had the sixth pick and wanted to select a forward, but he chose Josh Childress instead of future All-Star forwards Luol Deng or Andre Iguodala.

Well, maybe this is not a major mistake. After all, Childress performed very well in college, and all his strengths were except for his ugly shooting.

It is totally unreasonable that he selected North Carolina's Marvin Williams with the second pick in 2005.

Because at that time, the Hawks' main point guards Royal Ivey, Coach Lu and Salim Stoudemire were all very bad, and the forward line already had Al Harrington and Josh Smith and Childress who were just selected a year ago.

Therefore, he can choose a good point guard from Paul, Deron or even Felton to match the forward line he already has.

If the Hawks select Paul or Deron, there will be a qualitative change.

As a result, when there was no extra playing time to train a third player on the front line, he chose Marvin!

Well, he should be satisfied now that he has Marvin Williams, right?

No, in 2006 he went crazy again and selected a forward, taking Sheldon Williams, his fourth forward in three years - the guard who was picked after him was named Brandon Roy.

In the end, the Eagles gathered a group of forwards around 206 cm tall and won 06 games in the following 07-30 season!
This stupid draft strategy is simply disgusting to Atlanta fans, as if in Billy Knight's eyes, those who are shorter than 203 cm are not qualified to play basketball.

This is just the bad operation in the draft. It is only natural that Billy Knight is bad in signing and trading.

His only accomplishment was the sign-and-trade deal for Joe Johnson, who became Atlanta's signature player for a while.

But this signing is more thanks to another idiot. The owner of the Suns didn't think about strengthening the team when the Fast and Furious trend was sweeping the league, but instead wanted to save money, so he let One-Player Joe leave. Otherwise, it would never have been Billy Knight's turn to get this big bargain.

After Billy Knight left in 08, the newly appointed Rick Sander immediately traded for Mike Bibby. A year later, he drafted Jeff Teague and traded for Jamal Crawford, allowing the Hawks to firmly position themselves in the top five in the Eastern Conference.

That's why Roger said Billy Knight was a complete idiot. With the same team and the same environment, others could achieve results in one year, but he had been fiddling around for several years without making any splash.

Saying that he is stupid is definitely not biased towards him, but an objective fact.

Now he actually proposed to trade for Juwan Howard and really thought that this would help the team, which is enough to show his level.

Whether this kind of idiot follows Bruce Levinson or not, Roger will never let him stay in the team and continue to cause chaos.

This kind of stupid trade rumor must not appear again, because sometimes just rumors can hurt the team.

The final result of this round of voting was the same as before, 7 to 6, and Billy Knight's career as deputy general manager ended here.

Bruce Levinson was unhappy with the vote. Everyone knew that Billy Knight was his man, and Roger killed his man in front of all the shareholders. This was a challenge to his authority, and he succeeded!
But whether Levinson is satisfied or not, the outcome is certain. Tomorrow, all media in Atlanta will report the news that Dominique Wilkins has joined the Hawks management.

Roger smoked a cigar, leaned back in his chair and looked at his boss who looked incredulous. "OK, today's meeting ends here. Look, boss, we can work together very happily. I hope you understand that it is best for the team if we maintain this state. Thank you for participating in the vote, Bruce. It shouldn't delay you, right?"

Bruce Levinson stood up and left without saying a word. Roger's look like he was looking at garbage made him feel ashamed. As the owner of the team, he was controlled by Roger, a player, in this meeting!

Looking at the entire history of the NBA, how many players have ever had such power? The power to restrict the boss?
Not even Michael Jordan in his heyday had it!
But in any case, Levinson has to admit that at least this season, Roger and Belkin have gained actual control of the team.

In Atlanta, it really seemed like there was no one who could challenge him.

Watching Levinson leave the conference room, Belkin couldn't help but smile.

This was a complete victory for the Knights of the Round Table.

The next day, the Hawks held a press conference to officially announce that Dominique Wilkins had joined the management team.

At the press conference, the team's general manager Pete Babcock also officially clarified: "Scott's trade is purely a rumor. The team currently has no plans to sell him. Everything about Atlanta is subject to Roger."

So during the locker room interview after training today, Roger was surrounded by all the reporters.

"Roger, how many genders do you think Americans have?"

"Oh, sorry, I just came to this planet, I don't know." Roger cleverly avoided this tricky question. In the United States, if you answer that there are only two genders, you will be scolded.

"What do you think of the Scott trade rumors?"

"I told you it's fake news. Have you ever seen a king who can't control his own kingdom? Scott is my love, my blood, I won't throw him somewhere else without knowing the reason. Forget those damn rumors, you should focus on our game. You should celebrate, celebrate that we are one day closer to the Christmas game."

At this moment, Roger's privileges were even greater than those of Ted Turner.

At this moment, he ruled out someone who could have had an impact on the Atlanta Hawks' dynasty.

At this moment, Gisele Bundchen sent a text message to Roger.

"Scott is your love, your blood, huh? Next time we meet you should just stay out there, you bastard Roger!"

(End of this chapter)