Chapter 152: The Miami Triumvirate (Medium)
"Good evening spectators, this is ESPN One, and the next game is the Los Angeles Lakers at home against the Miami Heat. Nix. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ο½iqugeγ ο½ο½foβ
"Isaiah. Good evening, Thomas. β
"Hi~ I'm Jeff. Van Gundy. β
"Both, tonight's game, I'm sure you all have your own expectations, Isaiah, can you give your opinion first?"
"Okay, I like the Lakers a lot, and I like Kobe Bryant. Bryant, but tonight's clashes, I'm. sorry, I pick the Miami Heat. "Isaiah. After Thomas retired for many years, he was already very accustomed to guest commentators, so he expressed his opinion without ambiguity.
"Oh, why?" Rachel asked.
"Why?" Isaiah. Thomas said: "With a team with James, Wade, Bosh, what else can I say? Maybe moving Michael out can take on them. β
Is this a kind of irony? Isaiah? Rachel said.
"Sarcasm?" Isaiah. "I don't know, but I can't imagine Michael teaming up with Bird and Johnson so that our Pistons can't win a championship, and in fact if that happens, the rest of the league won't have to play," Thomas said. β
"Do you think it's wrong for the Heat to huddle?" Rachel continued.
"From a player's point of view, there's nothing wrong with fighting for a championship ring, but from a league's point of view, it's really against the spirit of competitive sportsmanship. If all three of them are over 35 years old, then I can understand that, but how old are they? Each is at the peak of their careers, and this kind of teaming up hurts the fair nature of the league too much. "Isaiah. Thomas said: "I'm going to use Barkley's words here, the stars are in their prime, and it is easy to make the management dissatisfied, last year's shutdown. It's a wake-up call. β
"Are you afraid that the NBA will become a baseball league, where there are so many teams rotating every year?" Rachel Dao.
βbingoοΌβ Isaiah. "As someone who has been trained by this league, I can say that without the NBA, I wouldn't be where I am now, so the collective bargaining situation is not good," Thomas said. is the last thing I want to see. β
"You mean, you don't like LeBron doing that?"
"Yes, I don't like it, believe me, LeBron has the strongest body and ball skills in the world right now. With his conditions, he is completely the savior of saving a city, and he can choose to hold at the peak, which I really can't understand. Rachel, do you know why so many people only say LeBron and not Wade? The answer is simple, because it was he who ran to Miami to find Wade, not Wade who ran to Cleveland to find him, and if it was Wade who showed up in Cleveland today, then I can guarantee it. He's not going to have a LeBron. β
"But LeBron also made a statement in "Sports Illustrated", there is a precedent for huddles, Jordan also hugged the group back then, and even said the number of people in 7 groups in one breath, what do you think about this?" Rachel seems to have done her homework ahead of time for tonight's game, and most of the questions are fascinating and controversial.
For this "saliva" question, Isaiah. Thomas blurted out: "I've seen this interview, indeed. LeBron has a very good memory, and the Big Three model or even the Multi-Big model is not uncommon in the history of the league. For example, Jerry. West + Elgin. Baylor + Wilt. Chamberlain, also like Larry. Bird + Kevin. McHale + Robert. Parish, and Michael. Jordan + Pippen + Rodman and so on, and most recently Kobe Bryant of the Lakers. Bryant + Shaq. O'Neill + Gary. Peyton + Carr. Malone, but there is one point here that he is confused, and that is the question of age and who takes the initiative to hold whom. "Isaiah. Thomas went on to say in a coherent manner: "The 1968-1969 season. The Lakers formed a big three, Chamberlain was 32 years old, Baylor was 34 years old, and the youngest West was also 30 years old, compared to the Heat's big three, James was 25 years old, Wade was 28 years old, and Bosh was 26 years old. And the most important point is that Baylor and West have always been from the Lakers, and the two have never changed teams, so if you want to talk about huddles, you can only say Wilt. Chamberlain. Let's talk about the next group, Larry. Bird was drafted by Boston himself. Before Parrish came to Boston, he didn't have any big honors, neither was he selected for a first-team defense, nor was he selected for an All-Star, but after coming to Boston, he was selected as an All-Star for the first time and was selected for the best team for the first time, which is too different from the honor when the Miami Big Three were combined, and he was not a star at all. As for McHale, he has the same experience as Bird, and they are both players drafted by Boston, so there is no problem with this group. And then it's Michael + Pippen + Rodman, I'm more familiar with this combination, Michael and Pippen needless to say, they have always grown up in Chicago, there is no huddle, as for Rodman, he is 34 years old when he comes to the Bulls, if you insist on me to say, it is also Rodman who comes to huddle, and Michael has nothing to do with Pippen. Finally, there's the recent Lakers' The Four Heavenly Kings', these four people are indeed All-Stars and future Hall of Famers, but it's a pity that everyone is over 30 years old except for Kobe, including O'Neal 31 years old, Payton 35 years old, Malone 40, everyone knows that superstars are also people, as soon as they are 35 years old, their state is immediately greatly reduced, this is already an out-and-out veteran age, everyone has a certain respect for veterans, so the tolerance is different, if LeBron struggles to 35 in the Cavaliers and has no ring, then he goes to join other teams, no one will definitely accuse him, but will be like Salt Lake City treated Malone, admiring him to leaveγ β
"Having said all this, the main thing is that the term huddle is only used for superstars or supergiants, and ordinary players are not qualified to use this word. If the captain is looking forward to it, or the player who has been staying, then there is no qualification to huddle, the so-called huddle will only blame the person who took the initiative to hug, look at Wade, it is not difficult to understand. Finally, everyone's tolerance for the age of the group, based on the comments of fans on the Internet, it is not difficult to see that everyone seems to be not disgusted with veterans hugging their thighs, so the Miami Big Three are too young. It is also a cause of public attack and dissatisfaction. To be clear, I personally didn't dislike LeBron, but when I was with the Cavaliers, I loved this guy a lot. But even so, I have to say that a young genius who was only 25 years old at the time, a two-time regular season MVP winner, has countless honors for a while. Such a person, his career is just on the right track, he really has no need to huddle, if Michael was intercepted by us a few times and ran over to Johnson or Bird at a young age, that scene would definitely be no worse than last year's LeBron 'decision'. β
"It seems that Isaiah, you were prepared before you came, and you blurted out such a long sentence, and you didn't sleep last night, right?" Rachel interspersed the atmosphere. Deliberately quipped.
Isaiah. Thomas was also very good, and immediately smiled cooperatively: "Yes, in order to cope with the live broadcast in the United States, I didn't close my eyes all night." β
"Jeff, is there anything else you'd like to add to this?" Rachel turned to Jeff on the other side. Van Gundy asked.
"I thought you had forgotten about me." Jeff. Van Gundy "complained" and then said: "Isaiah's statement, I basically agree, but I would like to add here why the huddle model causes the labor negotiations to break down. β
"Please."
"In fact, the so-called peak group in modern times should start with the old three in 2007. As we all know, the term 'Big Three' is derived from Garnett and Ray. Allen joined the Celtics and became popular. Garnett was 31 years old that year. Aaron was 32 years old. Pierce is 30 years old, but even so, the sensationality of 2007, I think everyone remembers it, right? Last season was at the bottom of the East, and before the new season started, the title of 'Hulk' was hanging over Boston. And the facts have also proved that the 'Hulk' is powerful. Straight from the bottom of the East last season, their record jumped to the first place in the league, and they were also the only team to win more than 60+ games in the regular season that year. Not to mention the playoffs, winning the O'Brien Cup is the best proof of this. Starting from that Celtic, the power and allure of the boss group were instantly revealed. Before joining the Green Army, Ray. Allen's stats are 26+4+4, Garnett's stats are 22+12+4, plus a 25+5+4 Paul. Pierce, and they all have one thing in common, that is, last season, they were the bosses of each team. In the years since, the Green Army has been a strong contender for the NBA championship. In fact, since the beginning of this season, the owners of various teams have been unhappy, especially Seattle and Minnesota, which have lost their respective bosses, ticket sales have plummeted in the second season, the city's influence has shrunk significantly, and the large financial losses have made the bosses angry. "Jeff. Van Gundy said, laughing at himself and saying, "Fortunately, I didn't become the head coach in 2007, otherwise I would have to complain a few times in this situation." β
Then, when the Green Army grew old, the owners thought they could finally breathe a sigh of relief, who knew that LeBron and Bosh were going to Miami to join Wade to form a younger and more impactful 'new Big Three', so that the bosses' anger exploded, after all, they didn't buy the team to make the team lose money in vain. When the eyes of the world are focused on a few teams, it is actually very disadvantageous for most teams, and the lack of attention will further shrink the teams in small cities, and in the long run, the disadvantages of the league are self-evident. This is why, in this session of labor negotiations, the management strongly demanded to add a hard salary cap, imitating the NFL model, is indeed a good way to restrict superstars from getting together, because the soft salary cap, the strength of the restriction, many bosses think that it is not strong enough, because of the luxury tax, many big city teams, do not care about paying at all, so this time the main disagreement is stuck at this point. "Jeff. Van Gundy said: "Unfortunately, in the end, the proposal didn't pass, so in that respect, it was the players and the stars who won. But it is foreseeable that if the stars continue to push and push in the future, then by the time of the 2017 collective negotiations, the topic will be restarted, because no boss wants to be a supporting role only for a big city team. β
"Jeff is a good supplement to this, for the healthy development of the league in the future, I personally recommend that the stars should not push the group in their heyday, otherwise every season shutdown, the damage caused to the league will be difficult to recover, and in the long run, it will actually be a kind of damage to the interests of the players themselves." Isaiah. Thomas nodded in agreement.
"Okay, let's get down to business, Isiah chose Miami tonight, what about you, Jeff? What are your options? Rachel readjusted the subject in due course.
"I don't think Isaiah has the same opinion, I'm going to choose Los Angeles tonight." Jeff. Van Gundy said.
"Oh? Can you tell us why? Rachel asked.
"Because I received a text message from Kobe Bryant before I came today, and he told me that the Lakers will definitely win against Miami tonight." Jeff. Van Gundy smiled and said, "That's why I chose to trust him." β
"Is this true? Did Kobe Bryant really text you? "Isaiah. Thomas said.
"Of course it's true, I don't believe you can come and see for yourself." Jeff. Van Gundy shook his phone.
"Looks like Kobe Bryant's going crazy tonight, um, Rachel, can I still change my choice?"
"I'm sorry, gentlemen are responsible for their own choices, aren't they?" Rachel said: "The players from both sides are starting to warm up, so let's take a look at the starting line-ups from both sides. β
PS: Xiaozi personally has no opinion on Emperor Zhan, after all, after winning the championship, all problems will not be a problem, but the book is still in March 2012, and Emperor Zhan is still zero champion, so it is common to be talked about and ridiculed, and the general environment at that time is like this, everyone should not have forgotten, right?
This is the second update, and there will be a third update later~ (To be continued.) )