Bishop of the Devil

Inside D'Antoni's office.

Suns owner Robert Saville had a sore face. He never imagined that playing an ordinary away game would cause such a big trouble.

You said it's not good for you to offend anyone, but you have to offend Richard.

The Suns didn't hold a post-game press conference at all. Just after the game, they took a plane back to Phoenix.

Saville called D'Antoni to discuss countermeasures.

"BOSS, this is my fault. I should have stopped Hunter at that time." D'Antoni said with a bitter look on his face.

Savile waved his hand directly, shook his head and said, "I know this very well. It has nothing to do with you. It was all Hunter who sought his own death."

"Now that this guy has caused so much trouble for us, let him pack up and get out tomorrow." Savile was furious and prepared to get rid of Hunter directly.

Hunter's own trading value is not great, but he definitely still has some trading value. But the problem is that Hunter is now a time bomb. Who dares to buy him.

The current plan is that if the Suns really show an attitude of apology, they will have no choice but to take action on Hunter.

Savile is a businessman, a profit-seeking businessman, and he absolutely does not want to have any conflict with a cutthroat like Richard.

He knows very well that if a conflict occurs, it will definitely not be a good thing for the Suns...

D'Antoni nodded. Judging from the current situation, Hunter can only take the blame for this matter.

There was no way, who made the Suns ignore the rules? Hunter was the first to take action...

"Man, don't worry too much about this. I have a good relationship with Paul Allen. I will find an opportunity to talk to Richard about this matter."

Saville patted D'Antoni on the shoulder and told him not to worry too much about it.

Saville sees D'Antoni's ability in his eyes. Although D'Antoni's qualifications are not very deep, his coaching ability is nothing to say.

At least it is much better than the previous head coaches of the Suns.

D'Antoni nodded, and now he can only take one step at a time.

I hope this matter won't cause too much trouble, and I hope Savile can ask Paul Allen to help persuade Richard.

…

"Mr. President, aren't you angry?" Xiao Hua was stunned. He received a call from Stern and asked him to come over for a meeting. He originally thought that Stern was so angry that he started smashing things in his office.

But what he didn't expect was that Stern's expression was quite calm.

This made Xiao Warner feel bored. You must know that everything Richard caused before made Stern furious.

As for the brawl that just happened, in terms of severity, it ranks high in the entire history of the NBA. It really makes no sense for Stern to be so calm.

"Of course I'm angry, Adam, but I don't think it's necessarily a bad thing."

"The new Pirates team needs to be famous and open up the ball market. I think if this happened, it's not a bad thing for the Pirates." Stern said with a smile.

Xiao Hua nodded, and there was nothing wrong with what he said. Judging from the feedback from the on-site staff, this matter would definitely help the Pirates open up the market.

This could allow the Buccaneers to steal some fan attention away from the Jaguars.

Xiao Hua probably understood what Stern meant...

Stern really doesn't like Richard very much, it can even be said that he hates him.

But when it comes to the interests of the alliance, he sees it very clearly.

Stern's goal is to lead the NBA to overtake the NFL and become the first of the four major North American leagues.

Stern is absolutely unwilling to miss any opportunity that can enhance the NBA's influence.

The basketball atmosphere in the city of Charlotte is not very good. Because of the existence of the Jaguars, the previous Hornets have not been very profitable.

In terms of player popularity, the Hornets players are not well-known, far behind the Jaguars' stars.

Now that Richard has taken over the Pirates, it gives Stern a glimmer of hope.

On this battlefield in Charlotte, there is hope of defeating the NFL.

Xiao Hua was almost a roundworm in Stern's belly, and he knew Stern's thoughts immediately.

"But, Mr. President, although this incident is beneficial to us, there must still be appropriate punishments, right?"

"Of course you have to be punished. Let's punish it according to normal standards. Just punish it as you should. Don't favor one party or deliberately target one party."

Stern said with a smile.

Xiao Hua nodded, turned around and left the office, and began to plan the next punishment plan.

…

Xiao Hua silently admired Stern's handling plan. Stern was quite clear about right and wrong.

If it were one of those petty CEOs, I'm afraid they would definitely take this opportunity to punish Richard.

But think about it, if he really had a small belly, I'm afraid he wouldn't be able to achieve the position of league president.

To put it bluntly, the league president is a high-level wage earner who serves the owners of the league's thirty teams.

To accurately describe this position, it is very much like the role of a band conductor.

And those team owners are members of the band.

If a band is without a conductor or the conductor is not good at it, then the overall quality will definitely be affected, but the music can still be played, it’s just that it’s a little harder to listen to.

And if the band does not have these musicians, it will definitely not be able to play any music with just a conductor.

There is no doubt that Stern is an excellent band conductor. Under his leadership, the NBA has developed rapidly and is now ranked second among the four major North American leagues.

Of course, this second place position is not stable, and latecomers may catch up at any time.

After Xiao Hua, an equally good conductor, came on the scene, the NBA truly stabilized its second place position.

It is precisely because of Xiao Hua's ability that later generations of NFL owners wanted to poach Xiao Hua from the NBA, and even offered a sky-high salary of US$220 million over five years.

…

Early the next morning, before many fans woke up, NBA officials released a punishment plan.

From this, we can also see how neatly Xiao Hua does things, and there is no sloppiness at all.

For the Suns, only one Hunter was suspended.

Fined 25,000 US dollars and suspended for 15 games...

This is what Stern said. You should be punished as you want. Players of different levels will definitely suffer different punishments when faced with this kind of thing.

For example, Malone did exactly the same thing as Hunter, but Malone was only suspended for one game...

When it comes to fringe players like Hunter, it won’t be possible in one game, it will increase fifteen times!

Only one Hunter from the Suns team was punished, which is quite normal. After all, when the conflict occurred, the entire Suns team was dumbfounded.

By the time they reacted and wanted to help Hunter, Malone and Pippen were already blocking them, denying them a chance to approach the battle group.

This also allowed them to avoid being punished by the league.

After the fans and media read the Suns' punishment plan, they immediately continued reading. What they were most concerned about was not the Suns' punishment, but the Buccaneers.

It's very possible that the Buccaneers' punishment will set a historical record.

…

The first person to be punished was Richard.

Suspended for ten games and fined $300,000...

Fans and the media simply ignored the subsequent penalty plan of 300,000 US dollars. Richard was so rich, and the 300,000 US dollars was just a waste to him.

Ten game ban? Only ten games?

People from all parties looked at this number and some did not react.

It seems that this punishment is a bit too light...

Before the introduction of Richard's Law No. 1, this kind of punishment was quite serious.

But now Richard's Law No. 1 has been introduced. This law is directly named after Richard. This is definitely a typical example of knowingly committing a crime.

Stern only received ten free throws? !

Amid speculation from various parties, they determined that the league's punishment for Richard would never be less than a 20-game suspension.

Next came the penalties for Mourning and Pippen.

The punishment results for these two people were exactly the same, both were suspended for ten games and fined $15,000.

If we really want to talk about the seriousness, the seriousness of what these two veterans did is actually even more extreme than that of Hunter.

But such meritorious veterans must be given preferential treatment by the alliance.

Although there is no blatant favoritism like the treatment of Malone, the number of suspended games can be slightly reduced, and no one can find fault.

The final punishment was Darko Milicic.

This punishment made everyone uneasy...

An eight-game suspension and a $15,000 fine? !

Could this punishment result be a joke? How could it be so light...

In everyone's opinion, Milicic may be the biggest sufferer of the league's punishment this time. His suspension will definitely reach more than fifteen games, and it is impossible to be lower than Hunter.

But the fact now is that the league does not seem to have any intention of taking a heavy hit on him.

This is a bit strange and confusing...

Milicic is not a star, so why can he get such preferential treatment? !

In their eyes, Milicic is not a star, but in the eyes of Stern and Xiao Hua, Milicic is a player they value very much.

It's definitely no secret that Richard values ​​Milicic.

Since Richard valued him so much, there must be something extraordinary about him.

On this point, both Stern and Xiao Hua are extremely convinced.

Although the Buccaneers are now famous, no one can say how long this reputation will last.

Maybe after ten days and a half, the fans will forget about it...

Only if there is a superstar-like figure in the team can it be possible to retain the attention of these fans.

In the eyes of Stern and Xiao Hua, Milicic may be the only one in the Pirates team who can shoulder this important task.

At least in the short term, this burden can only be shouldered by Milicic.

…

After the official punishment decision came out, Richard breathed a sigh of relief. Stern was really good this time, and the punishment was far lower than Richard expected.

In this game, if Stern is really cruel, not only these people will be punished, but Iguodala and Ariza will also not escape bad luck.

These two people also kicked Hunter in the middle of the fight...

But apparently Stern was too lazy to pursue these minutiae.

"Would you like to call and thank that old guy Stern?"

"Forget it, let's not do it. That old guy will probably have a heart attack from anger when he hears my voice."

The call was not made, but Richard did note the favor. He owed Stern a favor for this matter.

…

"Hey, why are you causing trouble again?"

"Tiana is pregnant. You are about to be a father. Can't you just be a boss?"

"What do you want me to say about you? Savile called me just now and asked me to say sorry to you. The Suns will give you an explanation for this matter."

"Remember in the future, don't be so impulsive. If you really see a player unhappy, don't go too far. Let's deal with him slowly."

Paul Allen, the uncle, called Richard. As soon as the call was connected, all he heard was Paul Allen's complaints.

Richard smiled bitterly, it was really good to have such a wealthy uncle.

Savile is the owner of the Suns, and Richard must be aware of this. He did not expect Savile to call Paul Allen and ask him to plead for mercy.

But it's normal to think about it. Richard is very angry right now. Even if Savile had Richard's phone number, he would definitely not call him himself, which might create a new conflict.

"Okay, Paul, I get it..."

"But what happened this time, you should know, is entirely the Suns' fault."

"I think I'm right. Let's wait and see what kind of explanation the Suns give me. If it doesn't work, then I won't let the Suns go."

Richard directly told Paul Allen his true thoughts, and an angry Paul Allen scolded Richard again.

…

If Richard is dissatisfied with the Suns' next move, then he will definitely not let the Suns go.

Although the next game against the Suns will not be until the end of March next year, near the end of the season.

But as the saying goes, ten years is never too late for a gentleman to take revenge. Richard can afford to wait, isn't it just a few months...

Anyway, the Suns have a name and they can't run away.

…

That afternoon, the Suns released an official announcement on their own website.

Because Okur returns from injury, the team will waive his contract after Steven Hunter's suspension ends.

Hunter signed a one-year non-guaranteed contract with the Suns this year, that is, when Okur was injured, he got the chance to start...

Otherwise, players with unguaranteed contracts will basically serve as cannon fodder for the team.

…

Fans were stunned when they saw the Suns' official announcement. What the hell is this operation by the Suns?

Why do you have to wait until the suspension ends before giving up on someone else's contract...

There is no salary for a suspension. Is it possible for Hunter to spend a month in Phoenix like this, unable to do anything and not get a dime of salary? !

This is definitely a cool operation, but there is nothing wrong with it.

Without guaranteed contracts, players are meat on the chopping block, and you can do whatever the team wants.

…

Although the Suns gave an explanation that the reason they gave up Hunter was that Okur returned from injury, this explanation was completely concealed in the eyes of many fans.

To put it bluntly, I didn’t want to operate on Hunter and let Richard calm down.

…

This was not over yet. After the Suns' official announcement, team coach D'Antoni called Richard again.

"Lee, I'm really sorry for what happened this time." D'Antoni is a modest gentleman among the coaching community. He is relatively gentle in both words and actions.

He had had contact with Richard when he coached the Nuggets for half a season in the 1998-99 season.

At that time, Richard was definitely very proud. He was quite young and led the Blazers to the championship.

In addition, Richard has a good impression of D'Antoni, so the relationship between the two is not bad.

When D'Antoni joined the Suns in 2003, Richard called to congratulate D'Antoni.

In Richard's view, D'Antoni is a master-level figure, especially in terms of offensive attainments.

That is to say, he was not lucky enough. When he was coaching the Suns, in the season when he had the best chance to win the championship, Stoudemire was reimbursed...

When coaching the Rockets, in the season when they had the best chance to win the championship, Paul was injured again.

If he hadn't been so unlucky, this offensive master wouldn't have had a championship ring at all.

…

Although D'Antoni didn't play for many years in the NBA as a player, he was quite successful in the Italian league.

Nicknamed the Gentleman Thief, he is considered the founder of the Italian men's basketball team.

Kobe was a fan of D'Antoni when he was a child in Italy and even imitated his playing style.