It is no exaggeration to say that if Larry Bird wants to be safe now, in fact, he will definitely make money by selling the draft picks in his hand......

For this reason, he also made a special call to thank Richard.

patted his chest and promised that no matter what happened to Richard in the future, he Larry Bird would be on Richard's side as soon as possible......

Although the draft picks are in hand, Bird is also unsure of his heart, if he looks away, or his luck is really bad, maybe all four draft picks will be lost!

When the draft begins, I still have to beg Richard to help him palm the eye......

Even if Richard only helps him eliminate one or two target players, it will be a big profit.

……

Richard naturally won't help Larry Bird pick someone, that is, help him eliminate one or two options, this kind of trivial thing is enough for Richard to gain Larry Bird's strongest friendship.

Now, after what happened last time, Richard has realized the importance of allies.

With his temperament, he will definitely make enemies in this alliance, and since he has made enemies, it is unlikely that Richard will sue for peace, so he can only defeat them and convince the other party who tortures him......

Fight a group, win over a group, this is Richard's plan, the plan that can make him completely gain a foothold in this alliance.

……

At the end of February, Richard led the team to San Antonio to take on the Spurs on the road.

In the previous schedule, the Trail Blazers have played against the Spurs three times, and the wins and losses are a bit bad, with only a 1-2 record!

However, one of these defeats was at the beginning of the season, when Richard and the main players of the team were banned, so the real record of the two teams was a draw, one win and one loss.

The next match is the last meeting between the two sides this season, and Richard naturally takes it very seriously.

Seeing that the Bulls dynasty is about to collapse, and in the next ten years, basically most of the championships will be won by the Spurs and Lakers, Richard will naturally have to get over the Spurs if he wants to get a piece of the pie.

……

There is no doubt that the Spurs should be one of the most shabby teams in the league, not that their roster is not good, but that the market is too small and the owners are poor......

The Spurs owner is now worth only $200 million, which is not as high as the value of some players.

But it is this shabby team, but in the next ten years, it will be quite difficult to compete with the giants Lakers.

This can also show Popovich's ability, and if he were a different manager, it would be difficult to achieve such an achievement as Popovich.

Although Richard has led the team to play against the Spurs many times, there is actually no communication between him and Popovich.

Richard himself is not the kind of person who likes to recruit people, and Popovich may not have a good impression of Richard because of Larry Brown.

……

"We're still in the same lineup as last time, Ben, you remember, defend Tim Duncan, that's the most important task I've given you!"

"If you can limit Duncan's offense, then we'll be the last winners of the game!"

Richard said to Big Ben with a solemn face.

In Richard's view, this is the wisest choice to defend Duncan......

The two played each other in the Finals seven times, creating the lowest ratings in the NBA Finals, which is not known as the most constipated Finals since the introduction of the 24-second rule......

Duncan was quite uncomfortable in this round of constipation war, with an average shooting rate of only an embarrassing 41% per game, and an average score of only 20 points per game.

You must know that when Duncan entered the Finals for the first time in his career, he averaged a terrifying 27 points per game and a shooting rate of nearly 54 percent......

Big Ben defends O'Neal, there is no overwhelming advantage in strength, and the tonnage disadvantage is too big, and the height disadvantage is also big, so it is naturally difficult to limit O'Neal.

But Duncan is different, Big Ben's strength has a good advantage over Duncan, although it is not as good as Duncan in terms of tonnage, but the strength can be easily made up, plus the height disadvantage is not as big as facing O'Neal, so Big Ben can naturally exert all his defensive strength, without any discount at all.

"Don't worry, coach, I won't let him ravage our penalty area this time!" Big Ben nodded and said to Richard.

The last time the Trail Blazers lost to the Spurs, it was because of Duncan's outburst, he scored 32 points and 14 rebounds......

If it weren't for Duncan's outstanding performance, the Spurs might not have won that game.

"Jermaine, you're playing against David, remember, be smart on the defensive end and don't let yourself get into foul trouble!" Richard reminded Xiao Ao again......

Admiral David Robinson is arguably one of the best interior players in NBA history, averaging 8.3 free throws per game in his career.

O'Neal, on the other hand, had 9.3 and looked to have fewer free throws than O'Neal......

But O'Neal's free throws were partly chopped, and the Admiral's free throw shooting rate of about 70% was that no one would use the shark slashing tactic against him.

In the three duels with the Spurs, Xiao Ao suffered losses in this regard, and in all three games, he ended up with more than five fouls, and even left the court with six fouls in one game.

At the moment, Richard naturally wants to remind him well, don't leave the game before the half of the game is finished......

……

Because the sports car and the demon knife have not yet joined the Spurs, the Trail Blazers only need to take care of the Spurs' inner twin towers, as long as they can prevent the Spurs twin towers, then basically this game will be won.

The only players in the Spurs lineup who scored 20 points were David Robinson and Duncan, and the highest scorer for the rest was junior general Avery Johnson, who averaged 10 points per game......

The little general is actually quite legendary, and like Bowen, his No. 6 jersey was retired by the Spurs, which is a great honor for a role player......

From this point of view, the Spurs are actually quite humane, and it is basically impossible for other teams to retire the jerseys of role players like Bowen or the Junior General, even if they have played on this team for many years.

After his playing career, the young general also devoted himself to the coaching industry and contributed to the coaching of the Spurs.

In the 05-06 season, he led the Mavericks to a good regular season record and was named the best head coach of the season, but he was unable to lead the Mavericks to make a breakthrough in the playoffs.

Later, he was fired by the evil capitalist Kuban......

Rick Carlisle took over his class and led the Mavericks to a championship.