The Rest, Only Noise

The weather in Oregon is warm and dry in spring, as if some chamber of commerce conjured up to make up for a wet past.

The air here is fresh, as if from another pre-industrial era.

It seems like a special gift after a long grey month just passed and soon to be back. On days like these, staying at home is unthinkable.

Louie came to Portland, and today they have a game against the Los Angeles Lakers.

Portland's Memorial Coliseum, where the team reached the top three years ago. It was the most important championship in the 1970s, and it was the first season after the merger of the league.

For Louie, the Portland trip was extra work, but he enjoyed it.

When he saw that the Blazers' opponent was the Lakers, he suddenly realized that maybe what Fitch wanted him to scout was not the Blazers, but the Lakers.

After all, the Blazers are in the league and can only be regarded as a mid-level team, and the Lakers are the Celtics' confidant.

With this thought in mind, Louis became serious.

He is no stranger to the Lakers. Even without Fitch's extra task, he will focus on watching the Lakers' games.

Lakers head coach Westhead inherited his predecessor's fast-paced offense that made Magic and Norm Nixon feel like a duck to water.

The only one dissatisfied with the Lakers' fast-paced offense is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, who likes slow-paced games.

But Abdul-Jabbar, like Chamberlain, is a lady with a temper.

To put it harshly, I just like to do things, but I don't like to say things clearly.

As Deng Ziqi said, women like to suggest too much. And Kareem also likes to hint, so everyone can't guess his mind.

Magic's smile is purifying this team.

He is a perfect sports star, and he will surely take away the limelight and applause. At this time, everyone likes him, but when everyone is tired of being his foil, it is his real test.

Louie knows the Lakers too well.

Fitch may not believe it, but he knows where the Achilles heel of this Lakers team is.

It's a pity he's not the head coach, and, if nothing else, the wheels of history will move in a direction that Louis is familiar with.

The Celtics would lose to the 76ers in the playoffs, and then the 76ers would struggle with the Lakers for five games before being beaten by Magic in Game 6.

Finally, some memories of this era were awakened in Louie's mind.

He can be regarded as having a bit of foresight as a traveler, but it is useless.

"You're the 'little devil' in Boston?"

Louis looked at the source of the voice, the man was smiling and looked kind.

"Uh... I'm Louis." Louis didn't know how the name "Little Devil" got out.

Why do people call him a kid when he sees him?

Wouldn't it be better to call it "Little Devil"? Although it sounds like a bad guy, "Little Devil" is too imposing.

"I heard Stu mention you." The man laughed to himself. "He said you were the youngest scout he ever met."

Louie laughed at himself: "I'm finding more and more that being young is not necessarily a good thing in this industry. There are many people who will despise my advice because of my age."

"Did they pay the price?"

"Not yet," Louis thought to himself, as if the Celtics were not ignoring his advice at the moment, "but soon."

At this time, Louis thought of asking the other party's name.

"My name is Larry Weinberg." The other side smiled. "I'm the owner of the Blazers."

Louie has met Owen Levine, John Y. Brown, Harry Mandrian, and Sonny Webblin (the owner of the Knicks), but Weinberg is the only one who makes him feel that he does not have the authority of the boss people.

He was surprisingly approachable.

"It's an honor to meet you." Louis said solemnly.

"Are you here to scout the Lakers?" Even Weinberg knew that Louie couldn't have come to scout the Blazers.

Louis did not deny it: "That's right."

"Do you mind changing seats?" Weinberg invited Louis to his box.

Louie didn't mind at all, he didn't expect Weinberger to have such a good sense of him, they were not related and not related, this was the first side.

Weinberg's box is extremely comfortable, with a variety of drinks, videos, heating and air that far exceeds that of the Memorial Coliseum.

This conditional box originated at the Forum Arena in Los Angeles.

Jerry Buss has brought the "enjoyment" side to professional sports, and many teams have learned from it.

In tonight's game, the Blazers were pinched by the Lakers by seven inches from the start.

They obviously have two pretty good insiders - Maurice Lucas and Kermit Washington, in terms of technology, although far inferior to Kareem, but both are famous dead pigskin hob meat - Washington to Tom Janovich Qi's punch destroyed the image of the NBA, and he has since become a homeless person. In just a few years, he has gone from the Lakers to the Celtics to the Clippers, and now comes the Trail Blazers.

Lucas' most famous brawl was a boxing with Dawkins in the 1977 Finals, and it was for the average fan. For today's NBA, Lucas's most famous battle is in the ABA with "Lokomotive" Artis Gilmore (Artis GilmoreC). That Gilmour is nearly 2.2 meters tall and has excellent athletic ability. He can be called Dwight Howard in the 1970s.

These people were actually provoked by Lucas, so he chased Lucas and ran all over the field, finally driving them into a dead end. Lucas had no choice but to fight. It wasn't his intention to fight, but Gilmour had lost his mind at the time, so he became wicked and timid.

The Blazers have these two beasts, and they can completely attack the point that Abdul-Jabbar doesn't like to fight. Washington is Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s former bodyguard. It is understandable that he is not good at starting. Lucas’s performance is puzzling.

"Maurice Lucas has no energy," Louie said bluntly. "He doesn't look like he wants to play."

Weinberg laughed: "Because Stu didn't give him a satisfactory price."

Louie looked at the Blazers boss, and there were many things he didn't know.

"Morris thought he was worth $650,000, but we didn't satisfy him." Weinberg didn't seem at all angry with Lucas for his sabotage on the court. "He thinks that if it's a big redhead, whatever he wants No matter how much money we have, because that guy is white and he's black."

"Then..." Louis asked cautiously, "Does it have something to do with skin color?"

"I can't say it doesn't matter at all."

Weinberg candidly admits that skin color affects a player's earnings.

"I also thought, if Morris was a white man, would we reject him outright?" Weinberg himself had no answer to this matter.

A lot of white people say that black people are not discriminated against and that they make more money than they can.

After the Robinson case, this phenomenon exists objectively. In order to get the players they want, some teams will maliciously raise the price and raise the value of the players to get the players.

But this kind of thing, this kind of good, has always belonged to those top players.

If it's a bench player, or a small towel-wielding role on the bench, most teams will choose the less powerful, but also cheaper, white people who are more popular with fans.

This is the unspoken rule of contemporary leagues.

The well-known difference in skin tone.

"Actually, if the big red-haired man was still there, we would also meet Morris's request." Weinberg wanted to excuse himself and the team. "It's a pity, luck makes people."

This is a point of interest to Louie, how the Blazers took two years to collapse a promising "white hope" champion.

Louis' desire is to become a godfather like Pat Riley and Auerbach.

To be a godfather, he has to think about more than just scouting and coaching. He also had to figure out the makeup of a championship team, the all-important winning secret, and the crashing secret of a championship team that should have been a dynasty but didn't.

It seems that he is very close to the secret today.

"Actually, there is no problem with your decision." Louis naturally followed Weinberg's words and couldn't let this kind-hearted boss sing a one-man show. UU reading www.uukanshu.com

Weinberg looked at him, wanting to hear what he had to say.

"Even if the big redhead is still there, I don't see the need to keep Morris." Louie pointed out, "He is no longer in his prime, and if you give him a lot of money, it is better to find a way to bring in some younger and younger men. Capable insiders. It's all about business ability, not skin color."

Louie's words came to Weinberg's heart.

It seems that this will clear the fact that they are ashamed of the hero.

"Yeah, you're right." He's a good, approachable boss, but a businessman after all, and he can't pay more than market value for a commodity that's depreciating in value and doesn't bring more profit. "As expected of the 'little devil' that Reed values."

In all fairness, Louie didn't dislike Weinberg's position on the matter at all.

He was not wrong. Their biggest mistake was that they refused to give Lucas a high price, and they did not sell him quickly, resulting in the current situation of mutual torture and the latter's declining transaction value.

This reminded Louis that when looking for a boss in the future, he must find someone who doesn't mind losing money.

It must be the kind that takes victory very seriously without interfering with the operation of the team.

At present, he has seen very few bosses, so he has not encountered one that fully meets the requirements.

Besides, he has Auerbach on his head.

Although his head has grown anti-bones, he still has a long way to go in order to realize his ambition.

That night, the Lakers slaughtered the Blazers with 24 points.

Magic scored 19 points, 10 rebounds and 13 assists, and he made Weinberg coveted more than once.

"What a player!" Weinberg said enviously. "This is a guy who can completely let go of his skin color!"