Leon ran under the stands and dialed Auerbach's phone in Washington.

"We got Dennis Rodman and I think Pitino is playing tricks, maybe you should be careful." Leon always gets straight to the point and says his thoughts directly.

Judging from Pitino's behavior of adjusting the draft pick and trading directly with the Mavericks without management discussion, Leon believes that Pitino must have some personal purpose.

Now, judging from his trade choices, there is a good chance that this purpose is to disrupt the internal order of the Celtics team, and since you Auerbach put Fox Leon on the team as a scout, then I, Pitino, will bring the league's most disobedient and most disobedient guy with the most bad track record into Boston.

Even if Pitino leaves Celtic one day, it will be a time bomb for the team, and as for when it will explode, he can't care.

Leon, in particular, knew that Rodman had been released from his contract by the Mavericks in March, and that it would be difficult for Pitino to get Rodman out of free agency, as management would likely veto the offer.

Now the trade is about Reed and Thomas, and Rodman is just an add-on to match Griffin's salary, while the Celtics also get some cash.

As for why Rodman has the Mavericks' contract for balancing, it is up to Pitino and Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, judging from such an unreasonable trading operation, it will never be a temporary intention, and it must have been planned in advance.

Leon never regarded himself as a stake sent by Auerbach to the Celts, so he never reported to Auerbach about the work inside the Celts, and respected and learned from Pitino as his boss and senior.

However, if Pitino wants to go against Auerbach and wants to give Auerbach a little color, then León will not hesitate to be on Auerbach's side.

There was more than five seconds of silence on the other end of the line, and then Leon's slightly hoarse voice came from Auerbach's voice, which was the voice of the tortured vocal cords of years as a coach.

"Leon, my Fox Leon, I know you're smart, smarter than most people, and you may be right, but I want to tell you that the NBA never lacks conspiracy, but the NBA always relies on strength to win. What Pitino brings with him is poisoned wine, but it can also be good wine, and as for what he does, everything depends on him. Next week, when you're done with the rookies, you're going back to Boston, and you're supposed to go to the team and get in touch with the players, not always hang out with the machinations of the coaching staff. Gambit is only one part of basketball, so feel the power of basketball. "Auerbach was like an enlightener, giving inspiration to Leon in an old voice.

But it didn't seem like Leon was shining with Auerbach's flash, and he continued, "Okay old man, stop pretending, I'll be back in Boston tomorrow." You need to think about Rodman again, and I'll call you again tomorrow when I get back. Okay, I'm going to hang. ”

With that, Leon hung up the phone, not thinking about Auerbach's blood pressure in the slightest.

This is the first time that Auerbach has been said "pretentious" to his face since he was seventy years old, and it is also the third time that Leon has hung up the phone directly, and the old man almost smashed the phone again without taking a breath.

However, Auerbach, who had become more accustomed to Leon's style, steadied himself, gently put the telephone receiver back on the dock, sat down in his chair and began to smoke a cigar again.

As the smoke rises, Auerbach can't help but think back to him and Rick Pitino three years ago, where everything bad often gets off to a good start.

At that time, Pitino was in his prime, and he was as straightforward as Leon, without the slightest fear of Auerbach, as if he had been friends for many years.

Auerbach also admired the promising NCAA coach and valued him so much that he did not hesitate to give up the idea of making Larry Bird the new head of the Celtics, and brought Pitino to Boston on a 10-year, $15 million contract.

When he arrived in Boston, Pitino wanted to form his own coaching team, and Auerbach agreed; Pitino wanted to pick his own rookie, and Auerbach certainly got it; Pitino wanted to build the squad according to his own ideas, but Auerbach nodded anyway; In the end, Pitino wanted the position of president of Auerbach, and Auerbach took the initiative to give up without saying a word.

This is Reed Auerbach, a haughty, arrogant and pragmatist, and when he thinks that what he does will reap the benefits, all problems are no longer a problem.

"Rick, if you're still thinking about the Celtics and making it happen, you can consider letting you continue to achieve what you achieved here; If you want to play tricks, then your days here are completely over. After all, there are already people who can completely surpass you. Auerbach thought to himself.

……………………

It was already ten o'clock in the evening when they left the Target Center and returned to the hotel, and Leon and Wallace each returned to their rooms, and on the way back they did not communicate much.

Wallace felt he didn't have the respect of Pitino for the unexpected deal, while Leon chewed on what Auerbach had said to him over and over in his head.

As soon as he got back to the room, Leon collapsed on the bed, scouting was working harder than he thought, and he was either on a plane or on his way to a plane for most of the month.

He flew almost half of the United States just to watch a few young men play.

Admittedly, this kind of work requires a love of basketball, but luckily Leon feels that he is slowly falling in love with the sport, and the more he comes into contact with it, the more he discovers the great charm of the sport and the challenges that come with working for it.

Leon, who was lying on the bed, thought about these things, and recalled from time to time the memories of basketball when this body was a child, and slowly fell asleep.

But Leon had slept for less than an hour when he was woken up by a violent knock on the door, and Leon woke up in a daze, wondering why he was knocking on the door with his hand when there was a doorbell.

"Is Wallace in a hurry? Could it be that something has gone wrong with the deal? Leon muttered, thinking it was Chris Wallace who knocked on the door.

So when he opened the door and saw a huge body blocking the door, he was a little confused, he couldn't see his head at all, and his whole body blocked the door.

"You're Fox Leon!" The giant man at the door shouted, and then tried to reach out and push Leon, but Leon easily dodged and took a step back, and he didn't rush to close the door, because he could already guess who it was.

Sure enough, as soon as this lanky giant man bowed his head and entered the door, Leon knew that he had guessed correctly, and this person was the star of the Minnesota Timberwolves, Kevin Garnett.

"I know you, Kevin Garnett, but I guess you don't know me, is there anything you need my help with?" Leon stood a meter and a half away from Garnett, looking at the Minnesota basketball star.

With a dark face, but with angular features and big eyes, he was tall and long, like a giant ape, and judging from the expression on his face, he didn't seem to be very friendly to Leon.

"There's only one thing I need your help with, and that's the punch you gave to Malik!" Garnett bared his teeth and yelled at Leon.

At this time, Leon understood the purpose of Garnett's visit, which turned out to be to avenge Malik Siri.

Malik Ciry is the same Timberwolves player who was injured by Leon at a Boston bar three months ago, when the Timberwolves were playing in Boston, and Leon's punch caused Ciri to miss several games, plus he later suffered a car accident and missed the playoffs.

And in private, Garnett and Siri are very good friends, and Garnett certainly doesn't know that if according to actual history, Siri is dead, and Leon is actually Ciri's savior. So Garnett, who has always been angry, learned that it was the current scout of the Celtics who injured Ciri at that time, so he took a lot of effort to find Leon's room to avenge Ciri.

Looking at Garnett's vicious appearance, Leon laughed, this laugh made Garnett even more angry, clenched his fists, and it was no joke to be punched by a 7-foot man.

Leon still put away his smile, tilted his head and said to Garnett, "Give me a punch." ”

"If you can hit it." Leon added after a pause, then just stood there staring at Garnett motionless.

Garnett originally just wanted to scare and scare Leon, but he didn't think about it, how could a guy who can knock over a two-meter professional player like Malik Ciri with one punch be easily scared?

After a five-second stalemate, Garnett glared at Leon fiercely but didn't dare to swing his fist, and finally Leon made a move, he stretched out his hand and said to Garnett: "Maybe we can have a drink and sit down and talk." ”

Saying that, he took the initiative to grab Garnett's arm and pulled him out of the room, at this time Leon had the idea of making friends with this guy, because he had watched Garnett's game video, this is one of the few guys who makes him feel that he is a real basketball genius, a genius who is a lot higher than the others.

Thus, a long-term plan was born.