Joe Johnson's departure is still irreversible, and he will be leaving the place where his dream began tomorrow. A person's personality is closely related to his upbringing, and Johnson, who grew up in a close family, was not used to such a parting, and he hugged Leon at the door of his apartment and shed tears.

This somewhat surprised Leon, because Johnson was always the cold, withdrawn guy on the team, he didn't talk much, his personality was tepid, he didn't have much leadership on the court, and he always played silently. He doesn't seem to have that much emotion, he doesn't have any special attachment to the Celtics, and he has said more than once that he doesn't like the city of Boston, which is too cold and small compared to his hometown of Little Rock.

So when Leon drove to Pagliuca's house, he was still a little depressed in his heart, he had seen the arrival and departure of many players in the past three years, and he had also personally promoted some transactions, but watching the little guy he personally valued, inspected and cultivated in the draft that year just left, no one can be indifferent, and neither can Leon.

But the good atmosphere at the table in Pagliuca's house quickly put him in a better mood, and as the eldest daughter in the family, this was the first time Khomeenez returned to her father's house for a more formal dinner as an adult. Pagliuka's second wife, Jindi, was a tolerant and virtuous woman who bore Pagliuka two daughters and two sons. As a super-wealthy person, Pagliuca's style of life has always been relatively simple, and his family does not live in a mansion, but in an ordinary single-family house, and the family eats Kindey's own dinner in the living room, just like the life of an ordinary middle-class American family.

This feeling made Leon feel strange and heartwarming, whether it was in his past life or in this life, he couldn't remember how long it had been since he had a meal with such a large family. Therefore, the boredom and distress in my heart because of Joe Johnson were slowly dissolved by the laughter at the dinner table.

Leon and Pagliuca were tacitly not talking about basketball. For them, basketball is no longer a pastime but a job, and they leave more time and topics for Ayatollah Khomeenez to talk about what she saw in Australia, the Maori, the tribes that were still in a primitive society, the strange customs and the strange social system habits. Apparently it was the perfect family reunion. When the living room was still alive at the end of dinner, Pagliuca handed over the remnants of the table to the nanny to dispose of, and asked Kindy to take Holmenez and his siblings to play cards and watch TV, while he himself threw Leon a cigarette and motioned for him to go to the second-floor balcony to breathe.

"Thank you Leon, I thought I would never be able to eat like this with Ayatollah Khamenes in my life, you have changed her so much, I love to see her like this, just like when I first met her mother...... But I hope you don't go down the same path in the future. Pagliuca at this time was like an ordinary father. I hope that my daughter can live a happy and stable life.

Leon nodded, he didn't know what happened to Pagliuca and Khomeenes' mother, anyway, it was a bad memory, and the two of them were smoking cigarettes in the evening breeze on the balcony on the second floor. It was already very cold in Boston at the end of December, and a cold snap from Canada began to sweep through the northeastern United States, so the two of them finished their cigarettes and returned to the house, and in the study on the second floor, Pagliuca began to talk to Leon about some serious things related to the team. "Just at mealtime. I received a text message from Angie who told me that the alliance office had approved the deal. As long as there are no problems with the player's medical examination, the official will release the news tomorrow, and the deal will be completed. Pagliuca made Leon a cup of coffee and talked about the deal that just happened today.

Leon nodded, thinking that Angie was indeed hand-eyed, and the transaction message had just been delivered to the office. There was news in half a day. However, Leon is not blind, he also has special connections in New York, and he also received a text message just after dinner, learning that the deal has been approved and waiting to be published tomorrow. Leon didn't speak, though, knowing that Pagliuca had something to come.

Really. Pagliuca sat down and said to Leon: "This deal has been brewing since this summer, and since the trade with the Suns was blocked by you, Angie has been preparing for this trade, and he has targeted PJ Brown early...... I've seen his scouting report, it's very exciting, but it's also very difficult, he's a backbone player for the Hornets, and the Hornets won't and don't have to move him without enough chips. “

Pagliuca began to talk about some of the details of the deal, which Leon didn't know, and he has been busy training and building the team, and has been relatively closed off on these things. Since the trade happened, he's wondered why the Hornets would agree to send PJ Brown away, he's in his prime and the Hornets aren't in a rebuilding period.

"This was my first real exposure to NBA trading, and I knew almost nothing about it, but this time I was really looking at it. The technical details aside, I think you know better than I do that there are two key people and one key thing that this deal can get done. As he spoke, Pagliuca took out a booklet from the shelf, and he flipped through it and put it in front of Leon, who stepped forward to find that it was a photo album of Celtics' history, with various old photos of the stadium from the 50s to the last glory of the Celtics in the 80s. It's a mix of well-known superstars, as well as some important but lesser-known figures in Celtic history, such as Leon, who saw Sigfried in a photo of him resting on the bench with a broken knee.

Pagliuca flipped to the color pages of the '70s, and Havlicek, Dave Cowens, and Leon all knew him. However, when Pagliuca pointed to a photo of a black player hooking his hands under the basket, Leon shook his head, saying that it was too clear to see who he was, the photo was not clear, and his face was black and the background was also black. But defender Leon did recognize it, it was Phil Jackson, who had his trademark shaggy hair and name on his back.

"It looks like our memory genius also has something he doesn't know, look closely, his face, this guy is Paul Silas." Pagliuca smiled and said to Leon. It dawned on Leon when he heard the name, Paul Silas, now the head coach of the New Orleans Hornets, was also a Celtics player in the past! "That's right, Silas is an old Celtic too. Moreover, his head coaching position is inherited from Dave Cowens, who was previously working as an assistant to Cowens, and now Cowens is back in Boston. You know, with Cowens and Silas, the deal is difficult, but there's a negotiating possibility, because the feelings and relationships are there, and there's room to turn around. "As a mature and experienced businessman, Pagliuca is still very good at doing business." With two key people, there is one more key thing. The previous general manager of the Hornets was Bob Buss from the Spurs, but this year he was replaced by Jeff Ball, and according to Angie, the owner of the Hornets gave Ball the main task...... It's about controlling salaries and trying to avoid the luxury tax. PJ Brown's contract is big or small, but it does prevent the Hornets from further maneuvering, and one of the considerations of their trade this time is that the contract of Barty and Portapenco is about to expire through the trade, and Joe is a rookie contract, plus draft picks, which makes the Hornets' space more flexible. "On the NBA trading floor, the transmission of information is very important.

But even so, Leon was a little incomprehensible, he asked: "Just to save money, you traded a player as good as PJ Brown away?" “

Pagliuca smiled and said, "The NBA is still a business after all. And don't think the Hornets are at a loss, Joe is a player with a lot of potential, and his future value is no less than Brown's. The Hornets once missed a Kobe Bryant, and maybe they like to make up for it, and I think you should know best about Joe's ability. “

Pagliuca's words silenced Leon, and by tomorrow, Joe Johnson was literally leaving Boston.

The two then chatted about the team's salary and future, and Pagliuca specifically mentioned that Angie's deal is likely to put the Celtics' plan to get Garnett on hold, because Angie believes that with Garnett's salary and Leon's wrist, it is impossible to get Garnett, so he traded Brown for reinforcements, and also wants Leon to die the heart of introducing Garnett.

Leon just smiled and didn't respond.

But towards the end of the conversation, Leon remembered a question and asked, "You said that Angie started planning this trade in the summer, I remember...... At that time, Cowens hadn't come yet, it was Auerbach who recalled Cowens, could it be that Arnold had already started to help with the deal at that time? “

Pagliuka shook his head and said, "I did hear that Auerbach wanted to recall Cowens, but the two had a deep grudge, and Cowens didn't want to come back at all. In the end, it was Danny Ainge who stepped in, and the two talked for a long time before Cowens agreed to return as an assistant coach. ”

"Yes......" Leon realized at this time that not all the resources he had obtained had been inherited from Auerbach. (To be continued.) )