Bishop of the Devil

1997-98 season, the eighth game of the Trail Blazers regular season, Richard's first game back from suspension!

The Trail Blazers sit at home and face the Philadelphia 76ers!

In the afternoon of the game day, a huge poster of Richard was already hung on the outer wall of the Rose Garden Arena.

Wearing a dark suit and a blood-red tie, he sat on a leather seat with his legs crossed and his eyes fixed and coldly staring ahead.

On the edge of the poster are big red words: The-Godfather-returned!

This poster attracted countless fans to stop and watch and marvel.

In fact, the temperament of Richard on the poster is 70% to 80% similar to the character in the movie The Godfather.

Seeing Richard, the fans of the home team felt inexplicably at ease. Even if the next game was against the Bulls, they felt that the Blazers, under the leadership of Richard, could defeat the opponent...

Well, even if you can't kill the opponent, you can definitely make the opponent suffer!

Throughout the entire history of the NBA, no arena has ever hung a huge poster of its head coach on the exterior wall. This is definitely a huge honor!

Regarding the poster shoot, Richard initially refused.

Because you couldn’t let me shoot, I shot it right away. After the shooting, I added a lot of special effects. “Duang” is very handsome and cool...

But the boss, Paul Allen, personally brought Richard to the studio, so Richard had no choice but to shoot.

…

The NBA volume of "Violent Black" has finished writing the first season, with a word count of more than 400,000 words, which is almost the combined word count of the first two volumes.

Paul Allen did not let Richard suffer. After all, if this thing was put online first, it would definitely affect the sales of physical books, so he directly gave Richard a quotation of 15 million US dollars this time.

Richard sold it quickly. TSN will be able to serialize the first season of this NBA volume in about two months. By then, Richard can sell the physical publishing rights to Time Inc. Anyway, it will not delay making money. .

…

Richard's opponent in the first game of his comeback was the Philadelphia 76ers, which actually disappointed the fans.

Because everyone knows that the Philadelphia 76ers and Trail Blazers are almost like siblings...

The Philadelphia 76ers used Stackhouse to acquire the shot-blocking expert and top defensive insider Theo Ratliff from the Pistons, and then signed some outside blue-collar players like Bowen in the free market.

Coupled with the introduction of Da Zhi, an outside output point with excellent firepower, this season, the Philadelphia 76ers' record has skyrocketed.

The 76ers, who were still a weak team last season, actually had an impressive record of 5 wins and 2 losses in the first seven games of this season, which is really jaw-dropping.

In the first seven games, Da Zhi averaged about 16 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists per game. Compared with other rookies in the same class, the 76ers undoubtedly made a profit by choosing Da Zhi.

In just a few games, Dazhi established his identity as the second leader of the Philadelphia 76ers. He and Iverson were directly hailed as the Philadelphia Twins...

Of course, in the eyes of West Lafayette people, Mao's Philadelphia Twins should be called the West Lafayette Twins.

…

Allen Iverson, the head coach of the 76ers, and Dazhi, the second head coach, are both Richard's disciples.

Carlisle, the head coach of the 76ers, was Richard's former chief assistant...

With such a deep relationship, it is not an exaggeration to say that the 76ers are the brother team of the Trail Blazers, because the core framework of the 76ers is completely inseparable from Richard...

Even with Ratliff's point, it was actually Richard, Iverson and Carlisle who had talked about it before, and they came up with this idea.

…

Originally, the fans were looking forward to the return of Richard the Devil, but the first game gave them a little surprise...

But now because the opponent is the Philadelphia 76ers, there is obviously no surprise. No matter how cruel Richard is, he will not attack the 76ers, a brother team.

…

"Rick, congratulations. I'm afraid you are the best head coach this year..." During the warm-up session, Richard and Carlisle were chatting on the court.

Carlisle is a little embarrassed, because judging from the current situation, this year's best head coach really has to be him.

The main reason is that the 76ers' record last season was so bad, with only 22 wins in total, and this season Carlisle is confident that the number of wins will increase to 55!

A direct increase of 33 wins. It would be unreasonable to fail to win the best head coach...

As for Richard, Carlisle feels that the Trail Blazers can probably win about 55 games this season, but last season the Trail Blazers won more than 40 games and there was no improvement, so Richard is obviously unable to compete. Good head coach.

"Li, thank you! If our 76ers can achieve good results this season, half of it will be due to you!" Carlisle said sincerely, this was what he was really saying.

Richard waved his hand, "We are all our own people. Don't say such unreasonable things. If we really achieve good results, it will be entirely due to you 76ers and has nothing to do with me, Richard..."

"By the way, Da Zhi's physical fitness is not very good at the moment. Try not to give him too long playing time. Try to limit it to thirty minutes!" Richard warned again.

He is now also afraid that Da Zhi will suffer from injuries. After all, he has changed Da Zhi's life trajectory. If this change causes Da Zhi to suffer serious injuries one after another, it will be more than worth the gain.

"Don't worry, Li. Now I know why these guys are so convinced of you. You are such a good coach!"

"I believe that in the next few years, the Trail Blazers will definitely become the dominant player in the Western Conference!"

Carlisle said sincerely.

…

"Beep!" The referee blew the whistle to start the game.

"Okay, guys, get on it!"

"Let the guys on the opposite side see how powerful our Blazers are!"

"Kobe, remember, if you don't guard against Iverson's shooting, let him break out! Our defense in the penalty area is not for show!"

"Jermaine, Ben, defend the penalty area!"

"Today is my first game back. Don't make me look ugly. There are big posters hanging up. It would be embarrassing if I lose!"

Before taking the stage, Richard gave some instructions to his players.

…

The starters from both sides began to appear.

The starting lineup of the Philadelphia 76ers: center Ratliff, power forward Derek Coleman, small forward Wang Zhizhi, shooting guard Jim Jackson, and point guard Allen Iverson!

This lineup is strong!

Ratliff may not be famous in future generations, but now he is quite a well-known shot-blocking master. Especially after coming to the Philadelphia 76ers, he currently averages 4 blocks per game, shocking the league!

But the embarrassing thing is that this guy's offensive ability is relatively poor, basically on the same level as Big Ben...

Moreover, he has a thin body, poor strength, and poor height, only 208 centimeters. He struggles to get rebounds when stuck, and the average number of rebounds per game remains at around 7 all year round...

As for Coleman, another inside power forward, the No. 1 pick in the 1990 draft, when he first debuted, he was hailed as the next Karl Malone or Charles Barkley!

He does have such strength, he can score around 18+10 in his rookie season, surpassing second place glove Payton and becoming the best rookie of the year.

Later, he maintained a 20+10 level for several consecutive years and was selected as an All-Star in 1994. This is undoubtedly the level of the league's top power forward.

But this guy is a prickly type of player. He often gets into trouble. He is addicted to alcohol. He often gets drunk. He once peed in public and then peed his own pants...

This is bad enough, but this talented power forward is also plagued by injuries...

If it weren't for these reasons, I'm afraid Iverson wouldn't be the head of the Philadelphia 76ers.