"You know what? If it weren't for you, Lao Tzu would have been an All-Star player. ”

"Now the Trail Blazers have given me an offer for a two-year contract, eight and a half million for two years, and the most important thing is that I can play as a starter here."

"I know you're not bad for money, but you should also know that I'm Chinese New Year's Eve three years old today, and as a basketball player, my career is at the end of my life, and it seems that you really like collecting veterans, and it's said that there is a forty-year-old man?"

"But I'm a little curious, you actually came to me in person, I don't think I have that much ability, I can't do anything for you, and you can't do anything for me."

A tall, strong black man sat on his sofa, crossed Erlang's legs, and said to the Chinese man opposite, half complaining, half mocking.

The Chinese man sitting opposite sat there and seemed to be a few points taller than him, looking at the black man with a smile on his face, listening quietly, after the black man finished speaking, the Chinese man stretched out two fingers and said: "First, your rebounding, especially offensive rebounding, is what we need most, you know, I can't rebound; Second, the Chinese man leaned his upper body forward, almost touching his face to the black man opposite, and he continued to speak slowly, "We can give you the championship." ”

As the words fell, the Chinese man also sat down.

For a while, there seemed to be a vacuum between the two people, and there was no sound transmission at all.

After a long time, the black man stretched out three fingers and said, "I want a three-year contract, and maybe I will retire directly from you when the time comes." ”

The Chinese man smiled, got up and hugged the black man gently, and said: "Then I'll go first, someone will send the contract over in a while, and in two weeks, the Knicks' training camp will begin, of course, you can also choose to come earlier, and I will start formal training in three days." ”

The person who came was Mo Xi, this trip he came to Portland from New York, just for one person, Dale Davis of the Pacers back then, as an old rival for many years, when the team needs someone to sit on the bench, when he is asked to grab rebounds, he can immediately grab three or four people for you, Mo Xi's first thought is that he robbed the All-Star bench Pacers forward Dale Davis.

As the person who once shook Joe's gang leader head-on with the Pacers, and then double-killed the Knicks, Dale Davis has always been an indispensable ammunition provider in the Pacers' lineup. Dale Davis's frontcourt rebounds even reached 3.3, even after coming to the Trail Blazers, Dale Davis's level did not show any downward trend, but Dale Davis himself knew in his heart that compared to the 32 who defended his dignity under Indiana's basket, he has regressed a lot, and now, he relies more on rebounding smell, according to the current development of the Knicks, the Knicks will return to the tactical style of the Ewing period, with the interior as the core, supplemented by a dry shooter and defensive knife, the Knicks seem to return to the era of reinforced concrete, which means, They need a lot of rebounds as a guarantee, the Ewing + Oakley + Mason combination back then, and now it has become a combination of Moxi + Brand + Davis, the Knicks have gone through this round of reincarnation, and I don't know whether it is progress or regression.

After adding Dale Davis, the Knicks' interior rotation has almost been finalized, but in order to avoid injury risks for several veterans, the Knicks still kept Tyrese Knight at the base salary.

After being busy with the inside line, Van Gundy began to integrate the outside players, the Knicks' outside line has always been considered a weak point, and in the finals, there was a situation where Kobe Bryant collapsed alone, if it wasn't for Sprewell's forced support, coupled with Houston's key wave of outbreaks, the Knicks' outside line would have been full of holes.

But now, intentionally or unintentionally, the Knicks' outside line has gathered a group of living forces.

Needless to say, the three people in the No. 1 position have their own characteristics, Van Gundy can make appropriate adjustments according to the opponent's situation, the main force on the No. 2 position is Houston and Sprewell, the two swing people, the real problem is in the Knicks' No. 3 position, Sprewell has always been booked to the No. 3 position, although Sprewell played well in the No. 3 position, but it is difficult to hide his height problem, meeting a big shooter like Peja is his nightmare, And Clarence Witherspoon, who chose to renew his contract, is also a small No. 3 position, no more than two meters tall, and is a good rebounder, but defensively ......

After filling the hole on the inside, the Knicks were surprised to find that they still had such a small weakness at the No. 3 position. New rookie Matt Barnes doesn't see any technical characteristics yet, but Knicks executives look at his thin body and are the first to doubt him, and the Knicks have to embark on another free market search.

At this time, another difficulty for them appeared, good defensive players were snatched away early, and the rest of the people were either not suitable, or they were the ones who wanted the starting position, the starting lineup of the Knicks basically will not fluctuate, after all, last season was won by these people, if the players were taken down from the starting lineup without authorization, presumably the fans would not agree.

This little thing dragged on for a long time, the Knicks went up to the manager and down to the scouts, and no one came up with a suitable idea, the Knicks were a little panicked, although they were the champions last season, and their hearts were a little inflated, but there was still a little leeway.

The Knicks' criticized management didn't come up with a satisfactory plan in the end, and in the end, they had to hastily sign a few base-salary players to put together the 15-man roster.

In the 2002-2003 season, the Knicks' opening roster was released in a hurry.

Mo Xi No. 30 center

Eldon Brand Striker No. 42

Ratril Sprewell No. 8 small forward/shooting guard

Alan Houston No. 20 shooting guard/small forward

Gilbert Arenas 0 point guard

Mark Jackson is the No. 13 point guard

Charlie Ward is the No. 21 point guard

Dale Davis No. 34 power forward/center

Clarence Witherspoon No. 35 small forward

Tyrese Knight Center 44

Tony Kukoc, No. 7 striker

Wang Zhizhi is the No. 16 striker

Dan Gazuric Center 50

Matt Barnes Striker No. 9

Kevin Willis is the No. 41 center

Looking at the final list, Mo Xi behaved calmly, making it impossible to see what he thought about this lineup, this lineup is definitely luxurious from a certain point of view, but at this moment, there are only six or seven people who are old and young, and they are really in the age of fighting.

However, what no one noticed was that Mo Xi had two player lists in his hands, and one was from the Spurs.