(Year-end settlement, late, sorry) Leon arrived in Sydney when it was already half past nine in the morning Sydney time, in the northern hemisphere is still a hot summer, the southern hemisphere of Australia is cold winter, fortunately Sydney is close to the sea, from the equator from the east Australian warm current to make the climate here is more suitable.

Even so, Leon put on a cotton coat and took a taxi as fast as he could to his destination, the North Sydney Seaview Hotel.

Leon ran into some trouble when it came to leaving his visa, because of his previous prison record, Australian visa officers were always reluctant to stamp his passport, and it took more than an hour for him to finally get permission to board a flight to Australia.

This was Leon's second solo trip to the Celtics after his arrival, the first time he went to Chicago alone, when he went to Chicago to join the large army; There was no one to pick him up in Sydney this time, and he had the odd task of making sure Rodman would be reporting to Boston in mid-July before the start of the Celtics' training camp for the new season.

There is only a player like Rodman in the league who would make the team worry that he won't report before the start of the new season, after all, his performances with the Mavericks were impressive just over three months ago.

After being "taken in" by Mavericks owner Cuban in February, Rodman played his first game in his hometown of Dallas and expressed his surprise at the enthusiasm of the local fans in Dallas, before being sent off for two technical fouls in the second game.

Then in the game against the Utah Jazz, he was sent off for two technical fouls again against veteran Karl Malone, and took off his jersey and threw it to the fans as he left the court.

In a month from Feb. 9 to March 9, Rodman was ejected three times, twice for consecutive technical fouls, one for six fouls, and repeatedly made wild comments in post-game news interviews. For example, claiming to be going to compete with David Stern in the ring, such as being disrespectful to the owner who signed him, Mark Cuban.

It's fair to say that the Mavericks and their new owner, Cuban, have done their best to the big bug, and he can arrive later than anyone else during the team's training, even as long as he doesn't delay the game and doesn't participate in training.

Rodman can also live in Cuban's luxury villa on weekdays, and his private life is completely unfettered by the team's rules, and after the game, he likes to play and make trouble, and only needs to pay Cuban $3,000 a month for accommodation.

Rodman was treated like a VIP with the Mavericks compared to the strict rules of his time with the Lakers, and Cuban hopes that laissez-faire freedom will satisfy the seasoned veteran and become a leader for the young team of the Dallas Mavericks, leading them to the playoffs and allowing young players to learn from the rich experience of Finals players.

But obviously, Cuban, the young NBA owner, was too naïve, he overestimated his understanding of Rodman, and also misestimated Rodman's needs, and in the end the two sides broke up, and Cuban learned the first big lesson after entering the NBA, because this was his first free agent signing; Rodman almost completely blocked his NBA path, and no one was willing to accept this lawless flower Tai Sui anymore.

It wasn't until Pitino decided to negotiate with the Mavericks to bring Rodman to Boston, which was incompatible with him, in a sign-and-trade manner, which had the same effect in Boston as Auerbach's signing of Bill Wharton that year - the evaluation of the two sides went to two extremes completely.

On the day Leon left Boston for Sydney, sports newspapers across the Boston area were in a state of turmoil, with criticism of Pitino being one-sided, with many die-hard Celtics fans calling Celtics headquarters, hoping that the Celtics would fire Rick Pitino immediately and not bring Rodman back to Boston.

Some of the more extreme Celtics fans even claimed that if Rodman wore the Celtics' green jersey to TD North Shore Garden Arena, they would disappear into the stands of North Shore Garden Arena forever.

This kind of public opinion has put Pitino under tremendous pressure, but now he is in debt, not to mention that this pressure has also been transmitted to Auerbach, and people keep calling Auerbach in the hope that he will come forward to solve the problem, but at this time Auerbach still secretly supports Pitino, it can be said that he is also a little embarrassed by Auerbach.

So, the key to solving the problem seems to come to Leon, because he will be the first Celtic staff member to contact Rodman, and of course, the first difficulty he will face after arriving at the North Sydney Seaview Hotel is to find Rodman first.

Leon did not have Rodman's contact information, but he had the phone number of Rodman's agent, Darren Prince, and after arriving at his residence and settling in, Leon quickly contacted Prince, and the two made an appointment to meet at a café in the hotel.

Prince is a very shrewd broker, he looks like a harmless man with a round head and a round brain, but he is actually a ghost, as early as the age of 20, he sold the company he founded for a million dollars and made his first pot of gold, and then opened a new brokerage company.

Some of his athletes are controversial but truly great, such as Mohamed Ali, Magic Johnson, and of course, basketball genius like Dennis Rodman.

Even Playboy cover girls like Carmen Electra are Prince's clients, which is enough to see how "educated" Prince is when it comes to choosing a clientele.

Leon didn't know the agent before, but just by glancing at him, especially at his sly smile and sparkling eyes, Leon knew that this was a tough guy to deal with.

Sure enough, Prince was very polite to Leon, but he kept playing with him, and was always reluctant to talk to Leon about Rodman going to play with the Celtics, claiming that Rodman is now a wrestler and his goal is to enter the entertainment industry.

As early as 1996, Rodman filmed the movie Coach Madness, and since then Rodman has been in the entertainment industry, and Prince took a fancy to Rodman's point, so he took over Rodman's agency after leaving the Bulls in 1998.

Because after the Bulls won three consecutive championships, Rodman has reached the age of 37, and at the end of his professional career, Prince can't sign him for basketball reasons.

Negotiations with Prince were ineffective, but the only progress Leon got was that Prince was willing to arrange for Leon and Rodman to meet. In fact, the re-signing of the Mavericks to the Celtics was approved by Rodman himself, otherwise according to Prince, he would not want to let Rodman return to the NBA, because he was ready to make Rodman an entertainment star, and the purpose of bringing Rodman to Sydney was to let him participate in a tournament called the Generation I Superstar Wrestling Tournament, just like the wrestling stars of WWE, to complete an entertaining match according to the established script.

But Rodman, who is difficult to consider with ordinary people's brains, accepted the sign-and-trade conditions, and came to Sydney to start preparing for the wrestling match, Leon knew that this meeting would be his only chance to complete the mission, and if he could not persuade Rodman to return to Boston to report, it would be basically impossible in the future.

……………………

"I don't know why I would convince you to play in Boston, but you're pretty good here." Leon sat on a stool and looked at Dennis Rodman, who was lying on the couch opposite.

Leon hadn't actually seen Rodman before, not even the pictures in the games or posters on TV, so when he saw a big black man with dyed green hair, tattoos, a fancy beach shirt and red shorts, and a pair of sunglasses on his head, reclining on the sofa and blowing the heater, his heart was still a little shocked.

Especially when he wears sunglasses, this makes Leon a little embarrassed because he can't see the other person's eyes, which makes Leon very unaccustomed, and he likes to read useful things from the other person's eyes.

Listening to Leon's words, Rodman lay motionless, neither speaking nor moving, like a sea iguana lying on a rock basking in the sun.

It's a terrible silence, and it's enough to drive a wise guy crazy, because in the face of a silent opponent, no matter how clever the words are, they will seem weak, not to mention that Leon's opening words are not brilliant, and even a little bad.

Leon observed Rodman for a moment, and then suddenly said, "You just had a big fight with a blonde and a black girl with black hair, and you are old, a little tired, and feel empty. Why don't you make a bet with me for some excitement? ”

Leon could feel Rodman's gaze looking at him through his sunglasses, and though he couldn't see his eyes, he could feel it.

"What bet?" Rodman spoke, his voice hoarse and tired.

Leon pulled a coin out of his pocket and said, "Let God decide what to do next." Guess one, guess right, I'm out of here, guess wrong, you need to give me a chance. ”

Rodman thought that Leon would say that he had guessed wrong and that he would go back to Boston, and he wanted to scoff at this boring trick, but Leon said "give him a chance", and he became curious again.

"What a chance for you." Rodman asked.

"Give me a chance to fight with you." Leon replied, then added, "I want to prove that you're not fit for wrestling. ”