Champions Creed

Chapter 30: Pippen successfully helped Roger establish his prestige through unremitting efforts

Pippen originally wanted to emulate Jordan and make an example of him on the first day of training camp in the new season.

This is what Jordan does every year before the new season.

The list of his victims is so long that it could circle the Berto Center, and Pippen himself was one of them.

On the first day of every season, Jordan would use this method to let the whole team know: I have the final say here. If you have any opinions, you can come up and confront me. The loser will shut up.

That’s how he runs the team.

Pippen thought he could do it too, and as a result, in front of everyone, he helped a high school student score an extremely wonderful goal.

At this point, Kukoc shouted, "Well done, Luo!"

Pippen turned his head and glared at Kukoc fiercely, and Kukoc immediately hid behind Cartwright.

Being humiliated by the two rookies he hated the most at the same time, Pippen picked up the basketball angrily and said, "Not bad, rookie, but I'm going to be serious next time."

Roger took the ball, and this time, Pippen instantly stuck close to him.

The best way to deal with high school students is to use physical force. Once you use physical force, they will be confused.

Indeed, Roger admitted that Pippen's confrontation put a lot of pressure on him.

No matter how hard Roger tries to gain weight, he can't go on a rampage in his first year in the NBA.

But Roger has never been a player who relies on his body to play. He dribbled the ball and took a step back to make room for a sprint.

Pippen continued to press, his center of gravity moving forward recklessly. So when Roger suddenly changed direction and went left, Pippen had no time to block him.

Since Pippen won his third ring in the finals last season, he has not had regular training. In the past few months, the only part he has exercised is his long legs.

As a result, Pippen's body functions have not recovered at all, and his bones are creaking as if they are rusted.

Roger was completely different from Pippen. He never relaxed in training and his body entered competitive state early on.

The result on the court is that his speed is completely different from Pippen's.

In this situation, Pippen still played pressure defense, which was completely asking for trouble.

One of the league's best perimeter defenders thought he could easily destroy a high school player, so he dived too casually.

He couldn't be more wrong.

Seeing Roger about to pass by him, Pippen hurriedly grabbed the ball, and this time his timing was very accurate.

But Roger blocked Pippen with his assisting hand, then squeezed past Pippen.

The 90kg Roger can’t rush around recklessly, but he won’t stop at the slightest push either.

After successfully breaking through Pippen's defense, Roger scored a one-handed dunk.

The basketball hoop made a loud "bang" sound, followed by silence.

The practice field at the Beto Center has never been so quiet.

You can imagine the atmosphere. The core player of the team couldn't wait to establish his authority, so he picked the youngest player to play one-on-one with him. As a result, the core player was scored two goals by the young kid, one of which was a slam dunk.

So, is he here to establish his authority or to be a clown?

Should others cheer or pretend not to see it?
Phil Jackson, who was standing on the sidelines with his arms crossed over his chest, couldn't believe his eyes. He turned his head to his assistant coach, Tex Winter, the founder of the triangle offense, and said, "What the hell is this 18 years old?"

Winter disagreed: "You and I can see that the guy standing here is at most 50% of his form."

"But that was also Scott Pippen! If Roger could score like that on Pippen's head when he was 50% healthy, then he could score like that on % of the defenders in the league! And, this was his first time playing against a professional player!"

Winter didn't answer as the third round began.

Pippen admitted that he never expected this high school rookie to be so strong.

He handles the ball at will and has good athletic ability.

When defending him, you must not take any chances.

We have to treat him like a real NBA player!

In the third round, Pippen adjusted his mentality, controlled the defensive distance just right, and his eyes became focused.

This is the first time Pippen has played so seriously in four months.

Roger dribbled, faked, accelerated, and Pippen followed perfectly without losing his position. His pace was like a hound, biting Roger tightly.

A floater? A step-back jumper?

Under NBA-level defense, these are not the scoring methods that Roger is good at.

Roger forced his way to the baseline, but Pippen blocked Roger's inside and prevented Roger from getting close to the basket. He forced Roger into a narrow bottom corner, making Roger like a trapped beast.

Roger could only stop suddenly, make a half-turn fake, and then turn around and jump shot.

But Pippen was not fooled at all, and the half-turn fake move was completely useless to him.

You can question whether Pippen's offense is top-notch, but you can only praise his defense.

After Roger jumped up, the basketball was tightly covered by Pippen's long arms and big hands. In this situation, even if the shot was not blocked, it would be impossible to find the aim.

Winter shrugged: "It's going to be a 'Welcome to the NBA' moment."

Even the Zen Master felt that Roger's attack had failed.

However, after turning over and jumping up, Roger found himself being tightly covered by Pippen, but he took the ball down, passed his arm under Pippen's armpit, and picked it up with his low hand!
Phil Jackson has seen a lot of outrageous moves. After all, Michael Jordan is simply an outrageous move machine.

But Roger had never done this even in Jordan.

The most important thing is that Roger's unreasonable turn and pick made the basketball obediently hit the backboard and go into the net!
Roger breathed a sigh of relief. Pippen was indeed the strongest partner of Jordan. If Roger was just an ordinary player, he would have been completely locked down by Pippen.

But fortunately, he has the hidden skill of layup.

The basketball went in again, 3-0.

Phil Jackson had seen Roger's highlights before, and had seen Roger defy the opponent's defense with his magical long-distance layups. But he believed that such an outrageous layup occurred because his opponent was just a high school student.

But that shot just now made the Zen Master realize how unique Roger's layup was.

Could he be the second Iceman? You know what, that guy is really like an Iceman, he doesn't sweat much.

There was no "welcome to the NBA" moment, and Winter Sr.'s attitude did a 180-degree turn: "Damn, this kid is a one-on-one talent!"

On the court, Pippen's morale was like a leaky girlfriend, completely deflated.

Following the parking lot incident, Pippen was beaten again on the basketball court. In one day, he was beaten twice by a rookie!
Roger deliberately asked softly: "You said it's hard for me to get 2 points here, but I've already got 6 points. So are you still coming, Scott?"

Pippen was in a dilemma. What could he do? Should he admit defeat in front of so many people?
But if he continued to fight, he was really afraid that he would lose all face.

Thank God, the Zen Master saved him.

"The fun time is over, sports boys, we don't have time to waste on street acrobatics. Come on, everyone, get back to training!" Phil Jackson clapped his hands and shouted.

The Zen Master also doesn't want chaos in the team's locker room next season. Pippen is the only leader. If he loses to a rookie, who will obey his leadership?
Pippen immediately took advantage of the situation: "You did a good job, rookie. But everyone can see that I was just kidding with you. Don't be proud and practice seriously, OK?"

Pippen walked off the court, and Kukoc excitedly ran up and hugged Roger's shoulders: "Unbelievable, man! You just taught Scott a lesson!"

Roger waved his hand: "It's not a lesson. He's very strong. He almost stopped me just now. It was a close call."

Kukoc: ???

Buddy, we are all rookies, why am I just a rookie but you are so awesome?

At this moment, Kukoc really felt sorry for Roger's opponents in the past season. As high school students, they had to fight against such a monster.

The first day of training ended smoothly. Under Pippen's careful planning, Roger successfully established his initial prestige in the Bulls.

After this duel, the veterans basically stopped teasing Roger. Even if they couldn't help but tease the rookie, the target was Kukoc.

This one-on-one match was deliberately organized to help Roger integrate into the locker room. With Pippen as the second-in-command, Roger was really crying.

Although Pippen pretended that he was just joking with Roger, everyone knew what was going on.

Cartwright chatted with veteran guard John Paxson while taking a shower after practice: "I began to understand why the Crumbs paid such a high price to get Roger. That kid is simply great. He is worth a fourth pick and such a big contract."

Paxson smiled: "It was more than great, he was facing Scott. There was no one else on the team who could score like that against Scott. Poor Scott, we all know he wanted to prove himself as a leader. But God, I love Scott, but that one-on-one match was really embarrassing, luckily Phil came to the rescue."

"Having said that, if it was Michael, what happened today wouldn't have happened. The kid was right, Scott is not MJ after all. He wanted to prove something, but he backfired."

Pippen, who happened to be walking to the bathroom door, heard the entire conversation and turned away silently.

In the following media session, the Zen Master spent a lot of time praising Roger:
"I know you all doubt whether Roger can adapt to the NBA, but don't forget that Roger has stood firm in the failures you have given him time and time again. This time, he can do the same thing."

"He has perfect one-on-one skills, and we have even started to arrange singles tactics for him, believe it or not,"

"Many people compare us to a train about to enter a dark tunnel, but with excellent new players such as Roger and Kukoc, we should be able to get out of the darkness quickly."

The Zen Master talked freely, while Pippen was left out.

Combined with the conversation between Cartwright and Paxson, Pippen realized that no one regarded him as the protagonist of this Bulls team!
If Danzi hadn’t retired, I wouldn’t be the protagonist. If he had retired, I’d still not be the protagonist. Then wouldn’t Danzi’s retirement have been in vain? ?

Pippen gritted his teeth. Since the method of establishing authority through singles didn't work, he decided to try a tougher approach!

There is always a way to successfully establish your prestige!
Michael is right, there is no veteran in this world who can be fooled by rookies!

(End of this chapter)