NBA: Goat is actually me

Chapter 193 Meng Jin also did it and beat up Jordan
“Is this all the new guys we have this year?”

On the first day of training camp for the Chicago Bulls in the new season, Meng Jin stood in front of several new guys like an older brother, looking the three newcomers in front of him up and down.

Faced with Meng Jin's sharp eyes, the three players felt oppressed and began to introduce themselves consciously.

This year the Bulls have three new players, Dennis Hopson, Cliff Livingston and Kurt Williams.

There are no special players. A championship team like the Bulls does not need major additions. They just need to make some minor repairs on the existing framework.

Dennis Hopson is a former New Jersey Nets player. He was also the Big Ten Player of the Year the year before and a former high draft pick. His arrival is to enhance the Bulls' backcourt depth.

Cliff Livingston is a free agent of the Atlanta Hawks. He is a small forward. In the past few seasons, Meng Jin has almost been the Bulls' only candidate for the small forward position. He needs rest and rotation.

Kurt Williams is a player from the University of North Carolina, but his arrival did not make Jordan very excited, because just now, Jordan learned a piece of news: the Bulls did not sign Walter Davis, Jordan's former senior at North Carolina, as he wished.

Jordan wanted to fight alongside him and believed that Walter Davis could improve the Bulls' fighting power. For this reason, Jordan even agreed to adjust part of the contract to help the Bulls free up salary space.

The contract between the two parties was almost negotiated, but Walter Davis suddenly chose to return at this time for a ridiculous reason: his wife was reluctant to leave Denver and wanted to stay in this city.

Of course, Krause also did a lot to ruin this deal. A North Carolina player has already come this year, and Krause doesn't want a second one. If the Bulls have a "North Carolina gang", Jordan will become more difficult to deal with.

In fact, the Bulls added more than three players this summer. Krause went to Europe for inspection and then signed a Croatian boy under the age of 20 named Toni Kukoc. Meng Jin is a time traveler and he knows Kukoc's ability, but others don't know. They just think Krause has signed another useless person because the fat man often signs an inexplicable player. He habitually gambles in the draft market. Since selecting Meng Jin, he has become more and more confident in his gambling skills.

In recent years, no one in the Bulls dared to question his ability to select players, not even the owner Reinsdorf dared to say anything, because Krause had the successful case of Meng Jin.

However, Kukoc's situation was obviously different. When he met Krause, he made it clear that he could not guarantee to play for the Bulls. At that time, there was a big gap in the level of basketball in Europe and the NBA. European players were inefficient in the physically intense NBA. But Krause still resolutely chose this white big man.

On the surface, Krause chose Kukoc because he has shooting, organization and is a tall guy, but in essence it is a move to "de-Michaelize" him. He wants to equip Meng Jin with suitable teammates and then seek an opportunity to kick Jordan out. In fact, Krause has been working hard on this for the past few seasons.

Jordan had a gloomy face from the beginning of the training. He was in a bad mood to begin with, and his emotions exploded after he saw the Bulls brochure for the 1990-1991 season.

Because the cover of the Chicago Bulls 1990-1991 season was Meng Jin, not Jordan.

At this moment, Jordan felt that his status in the team was declining. He preferred the Bulls to be his own team, but he was already upset that someone said the Bulls had two cores, not to mention the act of printing Meng Jin's photo alone on the brochure.

Jordan was like a gasoline barrel in the following training game, ready to explode.

During the training match, Jordan had a direct conflict with Meng Jin, but the matter did not become a big deal. Bach blocked the news in time and prevented the conflict between the two from becoming the front-page headlines the next day.

Although the matter was kept secret from the media, the relationship between the two further deteriorated. Throughout the preseason, they hardly passed the ball to each other. Jordan would rather shoot against three people than pass the ball to Meng Jin who was in an open position. Meng Jin did much the same.

The Bulls lost the opening game of the new season to the Philadelphia 109ers 124-76.

The outside world was very surprised that the Bulls not only lost the game, but also suffered a big defeat.

The Bulls players did not find this result surprising. Meng Jin and Jordan did not play well throughout the training camp and preseason. The two were angry with each other, which resulted in other players being unable to run tactics normally and were slow to enter the new season.

Meng Jin and Jordan have reached a point where they are incompatible. In the whole month of November, the Bulls lost 11 out of 15 games. Head coach Bach made adjustments in the middle, and the Bulls' record was slightly better in December, but they still failed to show the style of the defending champions.

In addition to the poor record, the Bulls also encountered resistance in renewing Meng Jin's contract. Krause did not meet the salary requirements of Meng Jin's team throughout the summer. This is their usual trick and also an old-fashioned price-cutting trick. Krause is responsible for lowering the price. His task is to not satisfy the players and agents. Then Reinsdorf personally stepped in to finalize the deal by raising the offer.

It's not just Reinsdorf, most of the owners in the league do this. These owners are all shrewd people. If they lower the price at the beginning, they won't have to make too low concessions in the transaction in the end.

The boss puts the art of contract negotiation above all else, but this time they made a mistake. Meng Jin seems to have no intention of renewing his contract. He is disappointed with the current situation of the Bulls and makes it clear that he can no longer work with Michael Jordan.

Feeling the crisis, Krause personally sought out Meng Jin for a talk. He said that he could raise Meng Jin's annual salary to 400 million US dollars, which is the level of the best player in the league. He also agreed to Meng Jin's request to sign only four years, and Krause emphasized that if one of Meng Jin and Jordan must leave, it would definitely be Jordan.

Meng Jin did not make a decision immediately. He wanted to leave Klaus alone for a while. Now the decision was in his hands.

Meng Jin has been feeling extremely annoyed during this period. The only happy time for him is when he is with Mira Sorvino and eats the food she cooks. Although Meng Jin has many women, he only feels at home when he is with Mira Sorvino. Mira Sorvino is his safe haven.

"Mira, how are your preparations for acting going?" Meng Jin asked.

Meng Jin did not say that he was going to invest in a film and television company. Mira had previously made it clear that she did not need help for the time being and that she wanted to rely on herself. Meng Jin did not want to discourage her enthusiasm.

"I'm going to audition, starting with small parts," Mira Sorvino said.

"That's good, very good, I mean it's a good start," Meng Jin said.

"I also think that this will allow me to slowly accumulate experience," Mira Sorvino said.

"When I first entered the league, I also started as a substitute, then became a starter, an All-Star, and finally won the FMVP, and then the regular season MVP." Meng Jin wanted to tell Mira that this was all a process of tempering. Meng Jin did not invest in her to play the leading or second female role right away, as that would have put more pressure on her. If she did not perform well, or won a Golden Raspberry Award like Donald, it would have been a devastating blow to Mira Sorvino's acting career.

On the other hand, Jordan also has his own safe haven. If he wants to relax for a few days, he will go to his mother-in-law's South Side home, where he will empty his mind and watch TV while feasting on old-fashioned macaroni and cheese.

At this time, Juanita was already six months pregnant. Jordan ordered her to give birth to a son, because Meng Jin had already given birth to three sons with a 3 out of 3 result, and he could not fall behind.

Juanita felt speechless. It was already annoying enough for her to take care of Jordan's active eldest son every day with a big belly. But she became even more furious when she heard what Jordan said. Juanita was an independent woman, and she didn't like the feeling of being used as a reproductive tool, even if that person was Michael Jordan.

Juanita scolded Jordan mercilessly, which made the already depressed Jordan even more irritated. He left the South District that night and drove back to his residence. Michael Jordan called a group of friends to his house to gamble. Now gambling has become his only way to relieve stress. Only in the process of gambling can he forget his troubles and feel relaxed.

During this period, Jordan was under unprecedented pressure. Black people outside the court were scolding him, scolding him for endorsing Nike, a black-hearted manufacturer, and for not standing up for a black congressman, which led to the congressman's defeat. On the court, the conflict between him and his teammate Meng Jin became more and more intense.

Jordan's stakes were terribly high. He would play golf games worth millions and card games worth hundreds of thousands in one night. He would then fly to major casinos to gamble on game days. During this period, Jordan had to do this almost every night. It was very crazy.

The Bulls also had an eye-catching performance in December. On December 12, the Chicago Bulls played a phenomenal defensive performance, and they only scored 12 points in the first quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers. A few days later, they scored a terrifying 15 points in the first half of the game against the Golden State Warriors.

But it still can't cover up the chaos of the Bulls.

In addition, the news that Jordan frequently went to casinos and gambled large amounts of money was soon exposed by the media.

Jordan was exhausted by the media's pursuit in the following week, and finally at the end of December, he broke out.

Facing the aggressive reporters, Jordan roared: "Why are you only staring at me? Am I the only one in the league who gambles?"

The reporter pressed the issue: "Michael, answer my question, do you participate in large-scale gambling? Do you go to Las Vegas casinos to gamble on game days?"

Jordan spit at the reporter: "Meng Jin did it too. He even went to endorse the casino. Why didn't you ask him about gambling?"

One word caused a thousand ripples, and the news of "Meng Jin also did it" spread throughout the streets and alleys the next day.

Meng Jin was very annoyed by Jordan's backstabbing, and he had a big fight with Jordan in the training game the next day.

Except for the Bulls' internal staff, no one knew what happened in that training game. It was as if Coach Bach had signed a confidentiality agreement with everyone present. He asked everyone to keep silent about the matter, but people could see a Jordan with a bruised face and panda eyes.

Twenty years later, when everything had changed, Bulls player Grant dared to come out and reveal what had happened.

"We were all scared. I remember that the practice match hadn't started yet. Michael was shooting, just a normal warm-up shot, just like he usually does. Meng Jin rushed behind Michael without a word. When Michael came to his senses, Meng Jin had already knocked him down. Then Meng Jin punched and kicked Michael. I'm not sure if I heard Michael begging for mercy, but he screamed very loudly. This was the first time I saw Michael Jordan so embarrassed."

John Paxson also recalled the conflict in front of the camera many years later: "Everyone was stunned. No one dared to step forward. The scene was like a professional heavyweight boxer beating an ordinary person."

Cartwright said: "This is a secret within the team, no one dared to say it. If anyone leaked this negative news at that time, he would be a traitor and an enemy of the entire Bulls team. I was at the scene at that time, not far from the two of them, and I saw Meng's fist hit Michael hard. Meng Jin said he wanted to kill Jordan, but I think he held back because Michael only suffered some skin injuries after the game.

This incident dealt Jordan a double blow, both physically and psychologically. During the three minutes that Jordan was beaten, not a single teammate came forward to stop the fight.

Jordan said that there is no one who is loyal in the gang, and they are all ungrateful people.

Many of the Bulls players wanted to strangle Jordan, and almost no one would help Jordan in such a critical moment. It was not only because Jordan was usually very harsh on his teammates, but another reason was that Meng Jin's firepower was too strong, and these people were afraid of being injured by mistake.

“Michael, were you beaten by Meng?”

On January 1, the Bulls lost to the Houston Rockets, and a local Houston reporter asked during the post-game interview.

Although the news has not been leaked, Jordan's face is so wonderful that it makes people imagine.

The reporter's words angered Jordan, and he yelled, "Get lost!"

Then he pushed the reporter down. Jordan's action was very rude, but he still retained his rationality. If he had been irrational, Jordan would have beaten up the reporter.

Despite this, Jordan was suspended for two games by David Stern.

David Stern's purpose is simple, that is, not to allow any action that damages the image of the league to occur.

At this point, Meng Jin and Jordan broke up completely, and Jordan's words "Meng Jin did it too" later became one of the most classic memes in NBA history.

Head coach Bach also gave up on mediation. He knew that the relationship between the two had come to an end, and he didn't know whether his coaching career had come to an end. After winning the championship last year, Reinsdorf renewed Bach's contract for three years as a reward, but if he continued like this, he would probably pack up and leave early.

After the news of the conflict between the two broke out, as many as 20 NBA teams made trade inquiries about the Bulls, some asking Meng Jin and some asking Jordan.

(End of this chapter)