Bishop of the Devil

In addition to the influence of external factors such as Richard, during the Clippers team meeting, after the players learned the news, they also quite rejected the old Dunleavy.

There is no other reason, because the current captain of the Clippers is Elton Brand.

The Bulls have been unable to advance further in the playoffs for several consecutive years, and the Williams introduced by Laimbeer had a car accident and was directly scrapped, causing them to ruthlessly start rebuilding.

Although Laimbeer has not been fired yet, it is not far away. This is the last year of his contract with the Bulls. When the contract ends, he will probably have to pack up and leave Chicago...

Brand was sold to the Clippers by the Bulls in a three-way deal.

As for the Clippers' original boss Odom, he was traded to the Heat...

Brand has high hopes from the Clippers, hoping that he can lead the team out of the quagmire. Now that Brand is strongly opposed to the joining of Dunleavy, the Clippers management will definitely not consider Dunleavy anymore.

Stevens is still well-known in the league, and at least he is an assistant coach of the Trail Blazers dynasty. Asking him to coach the team is not an unacceptable thing.

Moreover, Stevens is now twenty-eight years old, so he is not too young in terms of age.

In this way, Stevens squeezed out the old Dunleavy and began to take up the position of head coach of the Los Angeles Clippers.

There is no pressure on Stevens this season. The main reason is that the Clippers' official strategy is to prepare for failure, so there is no need for Stevens to lead the team to a good record...

At present, the Clippers are firmly ranked last in the Western Conference, and their goal this season is definitely to get the No. 1 pick.

Under normal circumstances, the head coach of the Clippers this season is old Dunleavy. If this guy is really allowed to take the position of head coach, then I am afraid that Richard will definitely have difficulty using the Pirates' No. 4 pick in exchange for the Clippers. The second pick was signed.

The Clippers must also know that there are two outstanding insiders in this draft, one is Howard and the other is Okafor.

It's just that they have Brand on the team, so they don't have a particular desire for insiders...

Now that Stevens is the head coach of the Clippers, Richard feels that he can help the Clippers.

He exchanged the Clippers' second pick for his side, and then suggested that Stevens take Iguodala.

In this way, the Clippers' lineup is almost enough, and there is no big problem in reaching the Western Conference playoffs.

A weak team like the Clippers, and they are still in the meat-grinning ground of the Western Conference. Their goal is actually the playoffs, and they have no hope of winning the championship...

…

Now Richard is waiting to see whether Frank or Carlisle will be qualified to lead the All-Star team.

If it were Carlisle, given Carlisle's temperament, he would probably agree if Richard asked him.

Carlisle had led the All-Star team before, and he was not very interested in this kind of occasion.

As for Frank, it would be hard for Richard to say this. The other party is a young coach who needs a bright resume. Although the All-Star coach is nothing, for a newcomer, it is still a capable person. A proven resume.

…

In the blink of an eye, time has entered January.

Richard was still anxiously waiting for the first round of All-Star voting, but shocking news broke out.

Paul Pierce, the boss of Green Kai and the league's number one small forward, was stabbed in a nightclub.

He was stabbed eleven times...

Just like normal history, Pierce also had an altercation with someone in a nightclub, and was then attacked by a local gang in Boston.

The first time Richard heard the news, he was very anxious.

Although under normal circumstances, being stabbed 11 times this time did not have much impact on Pierce. He was discharged from the hospital in less than a week and could play on the court in less than a month.

But Richard couldn't guarantee whether Pierce's injury would recover as normal.

I have reminded Pierce more than once that he must stay away from nightclubs. Unexpectedly, such a tragic thing would still happen to Pierce.

News reports said that Pierce went to the nightclub to celebrate his friend's birthday, and there was nothing wrong with that.

As soon as he learned the news, Richard called Pierce, but he couldn't get through, which made Richard even more anxious.

"Miles, I am flying to Boston this afternoon. Let Mr. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar replace me in coaching the games in the past few days." Richard was impatient and directly decided to fly to Boston.

Even though I can't change the current situation now that I'm there, at least I can feel more at ease by staying there.

If a fatal injury does occur, then the intact as-new elixir that I have on hand may come in handy.

At the moment, Richard doesn't care about the high value of this intact pill. All he thinks about is the lives of his players.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, Richard got off the plane from Detroit to Boston and immediately called Green Kai head coach O'Byrne.

After learning about the hospital where Pierce was admitted, Richard rushed there without stopping.

…

Richard was definitely a celebrity. After entering the hospital, medical staff quickly recognized him and took him to Pierce's ward.

"Mr. Richard, this is a sterile ward. It's not visiting time yet..." the medical staff said helplessly.

Richard waved his hand and looked into the ward through the door glass.

Pierce's eyes were closed, and his body was covered with various tubes. Richard didn't know what these tubes were for.

I don't even know whether Pierce is asleep or unconscious at the moment.

"How is Paul's condition now? Is his life in danger?" Richard asked anxiously.

What he is most worried about now is whether Pierce's life is in danger. If so, then he must find a way to sneak into the ward and give Pierce the intact pill.

This is a life saver!

"The situation is not good, but Mr. Richard, you can rest assured that it is not life-threatening at the moment." The doctor on the side said to Richard.

"What's the specific situation? Where is the injury?"

"The most deadly knife almost hit the heart. This is a blessing among misfortunes. If it really hurt the heart, then it would definitely be..."

Richard nodded. If his heart was really hurt, he might see Pierce's body now.

"Are there no problems with the other internal organs?" Richard breathed a sigh of relief and continued to ask.

As long as it's not life-threatening, it's okay. If you're alive, then it's not a problem.

"There are no problems with other internal organs. Most of them are just skin injuries."

Richard relaxed completely. The situation was not so bad that it could not be dealt with.

He remembered reading an inside story about Pierce being stabbed in his previous life, which described Pierce's lungs being damaged.

Now it seems that lady luck is still on Pierce's side, and there is no problem with his lungs.

…

After confirming that Pierce's life was not in danger, Richard sat outside the ward, feeling deeply irritated.

There was a feeling of powerlessness in my heart, and there were some things that I tried my best to warn the West Lafayette players to avoid the same tragedy.

But now it seems that history is so difficult to rewrite, Pierce was still stabbed, and even the number of stabs was the same, 11 knives.

…

At nearly twelve o'clock in the evening, Pierce woke up and felt warm in his heart when he heard the nurse say that Richard had been waiting outside for almost ten hours.

"Coach, I'm sorry, I didn't listen to you..." Pierce seemed to be in good spirits, and he said to Richard with a guilty face at this moment.

Richard waved his hand, "It's inevitable. Now you can rest peacefully and recuperate. Don't think too much..."

Pierce nodded. Richard came over from Detroit and waited outside the ward for nearly 10 hours, which made him completely moved.

Being able to meet a coach like Richard in this life makes Pierce feel that his life is worth it.

"Coach, the luckiest thing in my life is meeting you."

"Stop saying such disgusting things, kid, and have a good rest. I have been staying in Boston for the past few days. I will go back when your condition stabilizes."

…

Early the next morning, Ben and others who came to Boston to play an away game also appeared in the hospital immediately.

In the next few days, many West Lafayette players took advantage of the opportunity to play away games, or simply took leave to come to Boston to visit Pierce.

Taking this opportunity, Richard had a good chat with some problem players.

For example, Odom, Richard almost grabbed his ears and warned him to control his lower body and stay away from illegal drugs. Otherwise, his end will be even more miserable than Pierce's.

…

To everyone's surprise, Pierce's request for discharge was approved after five days in the hospital.

Being able to be discharged from the hospital naturally means that there is no big problem.

Of course, he will definitely not be able to come back right now, and he will have to continue to recover from his injuries.

Richard finally relaxed, said goodbye to Pierce and returned to Detroit.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar won both games he led the team. This does not mean that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's coaching ability is better than Richard's.

It's because Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, the head coach who was appointed at a critical moment, naturally couldn't train new players. He played only the main lineup in the two games, and the result was that he tortured his opponents...

This feeling of brutally torturing opponents made Kareem Abdul-Jabbar seem to have returned to his playing career, which made him more determined to take the coaching route.

…

Soon, the results of the first round of All-Star voting came out.

Yao Ming is still the top vote-getter in the All-Star voting, but as the NBA gradually expands in China, many Chinese fans have become obsessed with some NBA stars.

For example, Kobe Bryant of the Lakers, Carter, Allen Iverson and Tracy McGrady...

The four shooting guards are extremely popular.

This also led to the fact that although Yao Ming is the vote leader, there is not a big gap between him and Kobe Bryant, who is second.

The three frontcourts in the East are Yao Ming, Carter and Clark.

Originally, Pierce actually had a chance to get a starting position in the frontcourt, but now that something happened to him suddenly, he would definitely miss the All-Star Game, so Clark was given the advantage and continued to participate in the All-Star Game as a starter.

Artest, Gerrard and others were also selected as All-Stars.

Among them, Artest was selected to the All-Stars for the first time this year. If Richard can lead the team to the All-Stars, he can get an All-Star light from him.

In terms of the backcourt, it's still the same guys, but Reid, who just joined the Bucks this year, got a seat as a substitute in the All-Star backcourt.

At the moment, Richard doesn't pay much attention to this matter. After all, whether he can lead the All-Star team is still a matter of two minds.

The two teams, the Nets and the 76ers, are still tied in terms of record. Who knows who will be qualified to lead the All-Star team in the end.

…

On February 8, after the All-Star roster was released, the team coach was also determined.

In the end, the Nets led by one win, allowing their head coach Frank to qualify for the All-Star team.

Regarding this situation, Richard could only sigh secretly, God will not help me, there is nothing I can do.

Frank is not one of his own, and Richard will definitely not be able to speak that way.

This kind of thing will be quite embarrassing if someone rejects it.

February 10th happened to be the day when the Pistons faced the Nets at home.

Naturally, there was nothing much to say during the game. The biggest highlight was Gerrard's super all-around statistics of 33 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists and 3 steals.

But after the game, when Richard shook hands with Nets head coach Frank, he was happy from ear to ear.

"Li, I wonder if you are interested in leading the All-Star team this time?" Frank was younger than Richard and looked at Richard with reverence in his eyes.

It can be said that Richard is the idol of all young coaches and their goal.

Even if they don't reach such terrifying achievements as Richard, they only need to achieve half of it, which is enough for these young coaches to enter the Hall of Fame in the future.

Facing Frank's question, Richard didn't react for a while.

"Frank, you are not going to lead the All-Star team"

"Yes, Li, my wife is not in good health. I want to take advantage of this weekend to spend some time with her."

"If you don't want this qualification to lead the team, I will contact Carlisle to see if he is interested..." Frank said with a smile.

Richard was grinning from ear to ear. This was simply a piece of pie-in-the-sky good news...