Fast forward to 2002, and after a brilliant start to the season in November, Celtic's results began to stabilize in December. Leon's adjustment effect is becoming more and more effective, the team's efficient training, full pre-game preparation and the hard training of the players have allowed the Celtics to achieve a 15-10-5 record in December, although it is not as good as the proud winning rate of 12-3 in 15 games in November, but the 22-8 record is enough for the Celtics to gain a firm foothold in the first place in the Eastern Conference, although the Nets behind are in hot pursuit, with a half-game difference in the Atlantic Division championship.

December 29th, two days before the end of 2002, was an important day for Leon, as today Ayatollah Khomeenez will be flying back to Boston from Australia and finally returning to Leon after a long fieldwork. For more than two months, Leon devoted himself to his work, and only in the dead of night would he think about her in the southern hemisphere. Leon has no family on this plane, and now he is famous in Boston, but his stepparents don't come to see him, and he doesn't want to meet them. Auerbach was old, not because he didn't come to Boston for important things, but because he was slowly coming to the end of his life in his Washington residence.

Only Basketball and Khamenez are the companions of Leon's lonely soul, and before driving to the airport to pick up Homonys, the two have already agreed to go to Pagliuca's house for dinner together tonight and meet Pagliuca as official boyfriend and girlfriend. The experience of four coaches in a few months has made Leon's personality change slightly, a little more enthusiastic and impatient, and less indifferent and bland. The huge pressure of the coach's work and the ups and downs of the game process polished Leon all the time, and at the same time, it also made him miss Khomemenez thousands of miles away more and more.

So on the way to the airport. He drove the car to 150 km/h, in fact, he was not late, and he also had to wait when he arrived at the airport, but he wanted to start waiting quickly. Luckily, he didn't encounter police on the road, and Leon made it to Boston International Airport, where he waited for more than three hours in the departure hall. At half past two in the afternoon, he finally saw Khomeenes in the passenger flow of a direct flight from Sydney to Boston.

Fieldwork in Australia darkened Khomeenez's complexion, which became a popular wheat color in Europe and the United States, and her red hair also looked darker. She cut her hair short before leaving the United States, which turned out to be surprisingly crisp and beautiful, and now Leon sees that her hair has grown a little longer, with a neat little braid, and a red down jacket on her body, which is as conspicuous as it is in the cold-toned airport halls.

Khomemenes was one step late to see Leon. She scurried towards Leon with a red tail flame like a pop that pierced the sky, and Leon wrapped his strong arms around him twice in the air before holding her tightly. Khomeenes was a little unaccustomed for a while, she pushed Leon away and asked, "Hey, what's wrong, Fawkes, you're a little ...... Some...... It's quite different. ”

"It's different, because you're back." Leon said with a smile. He used to be cold in front of Khomemenes. Often Khomeenes had a hot face on his cold ass, and Khomeenes was used to it. In his eyes, even if Leon didn't speak for a day, she was willing to look at him like this. Now it looks like this guy misses himself a lot. Thinking of this, Khomeenes was overjoyed, and felt that the hardships she had experienced in Australia for two months were all worth it, and she hugged Leon's arm tightly. He refused to let go in the slightest.

Just when the two of them were immersed in sweetness, Leon's mobile phone rang, Leon glanced at the number, it was Danny Angie calling, Leon's heart was not only tight. He had a hunch that the team deal he had been worrying about might have come.

Leon answered the phone, and Anji's greeting came from the other end of the phone, Leon didn't want to talk nonsense with him, and asked directly: "Is the deal completed?" Tell me the result. "You're such a rude fellow, but I'm going to tell you the result...... This morning, we've made a deal with the Hornets, sending Joe Johnson, Tony Barty, Portapenco and a second-round pick to Charlotte next year, and we've got PJ Brown and Courtney Alexander! Now we have handed over the specific transaction plan to the alliance office, and as long as the alliance approves it, the transaction will take effect the day after tomorrow. “

Leon never expected that Angie would have made an impossible trade at this time, using Joe Johnson and two untalented interior players to get their defensive stalwarts from the in-form Hornets, the league's powerful center/power forward swingman, PJ Brown. He didn't know what the Wasps were thinking, and he didn't know what kind of tricks Anji used, but in short, it was indeed a very unbelievable deal. Of course, on paper, the Celtics made it, they got the coveted defensive interior, and the Hornets didn't lose much, PJ Brown was a double-double defensive player after all, and Joe Johnson's performance in December was enough to prove that he has a lot more to offer in the future.

Leon quickly calmed down, he didn't say anything to Angelo, anyway, he knew that this guy couldn't ask anything in his mouth, and he would slowly understand the specific process of the transaction in the future. Now, another thought came to his mind, he was going to see Joe Johnson, wondering if the kid had received the news that he had been traded. "Honey, I have some other things that I have to leave now...... I'll go to Pagliuca's house in the evening, with you, but for now...... I'm sorry......" Leon said to Khomemenes in a pleading tone with a look of embarrassment on his face. Although Khomeenes was a little unhappy, why did she have to leave when they first met, but she had never seen Leon like this in the past, so she nodded with her lips open, but still asked, "Is there anything more important than being with me?" “

Leon touched her head and said, "There is nothing more important than you, but, a child I raised single-handedly, he is about to leave me." “

……………………

When Joe Johnson was having lunch at noon on the 29th, he received the news that he was being traded, it was a text message from his agent Arne Tylem, the content of the text message was very simple, "You were traded to the Hornets", it was such a short sentence, Johnson felt that his chest was instantly pressed by a big rock, and he couldn't breathe. The last time I experienced that feeling was in the draft, when he hadn't heard his name in front of him, he felt like he was being crushed by a stone in his chest, until it was the Celtics' turn to take the spot, and they took the stone off him and sent him to the stage.

Now, the Celtics are going to send him away, this kind of trade that is all too common in the NBA, when Johnson was a fan, he saw countless times on the news, a player and a certain player were packaged and sent together to a certain team in exchange for a certain player, and for those fans who want the team to change, they are happy to see the news, to see the fresh blood, to see the opportunity to change, which makes them excited, hopeful, although the end result is not necessarily successful, and they start to enjoy the process.

But when it happened to him, Johnson felt that everything was not so simple and easy, he had been fighting in Boston for more than a year, fascinated by the green glory here, and he had imagined countless times that one day, he would be able to lift the golden O'Brien Cup in the light of the 17 championship flags at the North Shore Garden Arena, adding another glorious page to this thick history.

yes, what young man who came to Boston didn't think so? But how many people can do it? Sixteen years have passed, and no one, no one, has become the savior here. Now, Johnson has tasted the cold of the NBA, and it turns out that it's the same here, no matter how glorious it is, no matter what tradition, business is still business, business-is-business.

After chewing wax for lunch, Johnson began to clean up his apartment, his clothes, supplies, beloved photos, and the pendant his mother gave him, just as he didn't clean up, and he had less connection to the place. At about three o'clock in the afternoon, when looking at the cleaned apartment, Johnson knew that he was almost ready to leave. Now all he has to do is wait, wait for approval from the league office, and once the deal is finalized, he will travel to Charlotte, take a medical exam, and then officially swap owners.

When he was packing his things, there were constant text messages, phone calls, teammates, friends, family, they all knew the news of the transaction, some comforted him, some congratulated him, some just asked simply, Johnson sent them away in the simplest tone, he just wanted to be alone and savor the NBA alone.

At half past three, there was a knock on the door, and Johnson waited for a minute, thinking that it was probably a newspaper delivery, and that he had not had time to unsubscribe from the Boston Tribune. But there was still a knock at the door, and the one who knocked at the door spoke, and shouted, "Open the door, Joe, I know you're inside!" "It's Leon.

Johnson heard Leon's voice, but he still hesitated to open the door, now he was most afraid of seeing Leon, he was afraid that he would cry, he didn't want to see the person who accompanied him day and night on the training ground in this sad and lonely moment, and saw the person who picked him in the draft - he knew that he was the first spot in the first round that Leon meant.

Throughout December, Joe Johnson played really beautifully, and because of Leon's words at the Golden God Casino, he told himself, "If you don't want to be traded, play hard, if you want to be traded, play hard." Here, only the best have the opportunity to choose their own destiny, and no matter where you are sent, you have to work hard, like when you first came to Celtic. “

Thinking of these words, Johnson felt that his eyes were a little astringent, Leon was still knocking on the door, Johnson couldn't sit still or went to open the door, and when he saw Leon, who was sweating profusely, standing in front of the door panting, he blurted out: "Coach ......"

Leon calmed down and said to Johnson, "Keep trying." (To be continued.) )