Focusing on the joint tryouts of the rookies, Richard's purpose is naturally not to pick out any good seedlings......

It's the job of the scouts, and Richard is no stranger to the '96 draft!

In fact, any fan will be no stranger to the '96 draft, which is the largest number of stars in NBA history, even Jordan's diamond generation and the '03 platinum generation, they produced fewer stars than the '96 golden generation.

Bring in a random fan and ask him to talk about the stars of the 96 generation, I am afraid that he can easily name at least five......

Kobe, Iverson, Nash, Ray Allen, Marbury, Camby, Big Ben......

Richard is no exception, and he knows that the reason why he pays attention to the joint tryout is actually to see how his four proud disciples who participated in the draft are doing......

Iverson, Big Ben, Miller and Raheem!

After the joint tryout, each team will start their own tryout, which will continue until the draft begins!

The Trail Blazers, as a team ready to tear down and rebuild, certainly can't afford to remain indifferent before the draft begins......

Because the day before the draft opens, the door to the trade market opens, Richard must start cleaning up the team of players who are not needed, using this as a bargaining chip in exchange for draft picks, or strong newcomers!

It can be said that Richard will definitely be busy for some time to come......

The coaching staff, tryouts, trades, drafts, none of them can be done in a day or two!

It was only at this point that Richard realized the difference between the NBA and the NCAA......

Before the start of each new season, there aren't really many things that NCAA head coaches need to do, and most of the work revolves around recruiting new people......

NBA coaches don't have to deal with more!

The key salary is not necessarily higher than that of any NCAA coach, so it's no wonder that the top coaches are reluctant to come to the NBA......

Only a fool would be willing to do this kind of work with less money and more work!

……

At half past nine the next day, Richard set off from the hotel that the team had rented for him, taking Stevens with him, to attend the press conference at 10 a.m.

When local reporters in Portland met Richard, the "legendary" coach, they exclaimed......

He really looks too young, and compared to those old coaches who seem to be on the verge of death, Richard is undoubtedly a little fresh meat level.

Coupled with Richard's heroic but melancholy face, some female reporters in the audience turned their heads and laughed from time to time.

At 10 o'clock, the press conference officially began.

"Journalist friends, I'm sure you've all guessed it, today is the day when Coach Richard is inaugurated as the head coach of our Trail Blazers!" Huggins, the team's CMO, said to the reporters in the audience with a smile at the beginning.

Reporters were not surprised by the news, in fact, when Richard arrived in Portland yesterday, it was already rumored that Richard would sign with the Trail Blazers.

"It's question time, please raise your hand and ask ......"

……

"Mr. Richard, as far as I know, many teams in the league have invited you, what is your purpose in choosing the Trail Blazers?" A reporter stood up and asked a question that all the reporters were curious about.

When the NCAA Black March ended, the management of at least 10 teams visited Richard, which was news at the time......

But until yesterday, there has been no further news.

Just when reporters thought Richard would continue to work in the NCAA, in the blink of an eye, Richard signed with the Trail Blazers......

"Sincerity, the sincerity of the pioneers touched me!"

"Mr. Richard, as far as we know you, does your joining the Trail Blazers mean that the Trail Blazers are ready to start rebuilding?" Another reporter stood up and asked a question.

Richard only nodded slightly at this question, but did not give a specific answer.

Next, reporters asked some more questions about what changes Richard would make to the Trail Blazers, but Richard prevaricated......

"Mr. Richard, may I ask if you entered the NBA because of Larry Brown? Like you once said, after entering the NBA, will Larry Brown not win a championship in his entire coaching career? A reporter asked extremely pointed questions.

Huggins had wanted to get up and block the reporter's further questioning.

However, he was stopped by Richard, and in his opinion, this kind of question is relatively easy to answer......

At least it's easier to answer than those questions about the team-building plan!

Can I tell someone about the team building plan? Definitely can't ......

Tell the media all your plans, that's not a fool......

"First of all, I want to clarify that I didn't get into the NBA because of Larry Brown, in fact, if you don't mention that name, I'm almost forgetting that this person exists......"

"Ah, by the way, I remember, it seems that in the first round of the playoffs that just ended, the Pacers he led lost to the Hawks who are sixth in the East, right?"

"It's really exciting, the third to be eliminated in the sixth first round, it's just amazing, and to be honest, if I were him, I would have resigned as head coach immediately......"

"Also, what I said at the beginning is still valid, although I didn't enter the NBA because of Larry Brown, but I won't let him win a championship either!"

"However, in the current situation, I am a bit redundant because he has no chance of winning the championship in the first place......"

Richard jokingly said that he has no respect for a coach like Larry Brown!

The relationship with Larry Brown has already been settled, and it has reached the point of irreconcilability, in this case, even if Richard shows a little favor to Larry Brown, it will definitely be interpreted by the outside world as he is admitting it!

A manager is the spiritual leader of a team, a recognizable manager?! Let's not say that others can't look down on you, but the players under your own hands probably look down on you......

So Richard will definitely continue to be tough, even if he provokes a bunch of enemies, even if he will become a public enemy of the alliance!

……

The reporters in the audience looked at Richard in surprise, they thought that Richard would show favor to Larry Brown, after all, they are in the same league, and they don't look up and look down......

But Richard's toughness obviously exceeded the expectations of reporters!

Richard's attitude has made it clear that he will definitely fight Larry Brown to the end, and the reporters did not continue to dwell on the issue and turned to other questions.

"Mr. Richard, it's been nearly a year since the high school paper of "Violent Black" was completed, is it time for the college paper to come out?"

Richard was stunned, but he didn't expect that someone would ask this question at his inaugural press conference......

What I didn't expect was that Portland actually had its own readers?!

Apparently Richard underestimated the impact of "Violent Black", and now the novel has taken the United States by storm, ranking in the top 50 bestsellers every month for the past year!

Seeing Richard's strange face, the reporter who asked the question couldn't help but ask: "Mr. Richard, don't tell me, it's been almost a year, and you haven't finished writing your college papers......"

"No, of course I did, I just didn't expect I to have ......readers in Portland," Richard said with a laugh.

The reporters in the audience looked at Richard in surprise......

Doesn't this guy know how popular his "Violent Black" is?! Not to mention Portland, as long as there is basketball in the whole country, there are people reading this book!

"Mr. Richard, this joke is not funny, don't you know how well this book is selling? Even if you don't know, won't the dollars in your account tell you? The reporter said with a smile......

Richard was even more confused, the dollars in the account?!

Because there are no bank cards in this era, and there are no SMS notifications of bank balances, only passbook accounts, so Richard went to the bank two months ago to take a look, and he didn't pay much attention to it later......

He clearly remembered that he had about $3.5 million in his account at that time.

The money included Richard's salary of $800,000 for a year at Purdue, plus the copyright income from hundreds of thousands of high school papers......

Of course, the total amount must be more than that, these are all after-tax income, taxes paid directly by the publishing house.