506: 187: God will give Atlanta everything it wants (asking for monthly tickets!) 506: 187: God will give Atlanta everything it wants (asking for monthly tickets!) On July 8, for many Orlando fans, it was just another ordinary day.
They got up early in the morning, ready to continue marching in the streets and protesting the Magic’s foolish decision to trade Roger.
After days of relentless coverage by the media, the ins and outs of the Magic trading Roger were clearly dissected.
Simply put, the Magic did not want to continue investing that much.
It was Rich DeVos who did not want to spend so much money.
The likely upcoming luxury tax rule was the last straw for the Magic.
They did not want to lose Roger for nothing, so they decided to trade him now for some quality assets.
From the management’s perspective, the Magic indeed had reasons to trade Roger.
Whether it’s “optimizing players” or “optimizing staff,” it’s a compulsory course for every entrepreneur.
But for the fans, such reasons were unacceptable.
The fans flooding the streets continued to express their discontent in front of the news cameras.
“I bought season tickets for three consecutive years because of Roger, and I believe the Magic’s season ticket sales were very substantial during those three seasons.
And yet the team thinks they haven’t made enough money?
That’s too greedy, next season I definitely won’t go to the Orlando Arena to watch games, never!”
DeVos is going against all the fans in Florida, in Florida, there’s no one who doesn’t love Roger!
Look, even Pat Riley wants Roger!”
“I swear, if the Magic trade Roger away, the next time we see Mr.
DeVos, we will definitely throw him into a swamp full of alligators!”
“Roger brought honor to this city, and you’re thinking about cutting costs?
What a ridiculous act!”
“Without Shaq it’s one thing, but letting Roger go too?
The Magic’s strength might not even match the high-end streetball games at Rucker Park!”
Most Orlando fans treated it as just another ordinary day, routinely causing commotion in the streets, routinely smashing public facilities, routinely cursing Rich DeVos’s direct female relatives.
In Florida, none of these were a big deal.
The fans had been hoping their relentless efforts would force the team to change its strategy, anticipating that the Magic would announce they no longer planned to trade Roger.
However, that afternoon, a transfer news ended this ordinary day and turned it into a disastrous day for Orlando fans.
All major sports television networks interrupted their programming with an urgent message:NBA officials had officially approved a trade — the Atlanta Hawks would send Tracy McGrady, the ’97 second overall pick, along with first-round picks from ’01 and ’03 to the Orlando Magic in exchange for Roger.
The biggest trade of the summer had happened!
If you ask Hawks general manager Pete Babcock how he feels now, he would tell you, “It was all unexpected!”
Initially, the Hawks had not planned to trade for Roger.
They picked up McGrady because they really wanted to develop him.
They traded for Pippen because they truly wanted him to mentor McGrady and enhance the team’s immediate competitiveness.
In other words, the Hawks’ previous series of maneuvers were not specifically orchestrated to acquire Roger.
But suddenly, the Magic started to offload Roger, making Ted Turner change the team’s plan immediately: “Whatever the Magic want, give it to them!”
And the Hawks just happened to have a bargaining chip as attractive as McGrady, prompting the Magic and Roger’s team to actively initiate contact with the Hawks.
So, the trade just happened.
Roger, Pippen, and Steve Smith were unexpectedly linked together.
The trade was finalized after Roger met with Hawks owner Ted Turner, and when Roger learned McGrady was the centerpiece of his trade, he couldn’t help but marvel at the quirks of fate.
He hadn’t expected that his actions last summer, deliberately making McGrady burst onto the scene a year early to see what impact it would bring, would end up affecting him.
This butterfly effect ultimately acted upon himself.
As for Pippen and Steve Smith, heh, they’re probably so happy that they can’t even eat their food now.
If Pippen had known Roger was coming, he wouldn’t have played for the Hawks even if he sewed his fingers together.
If Steve Smith had known Roger was coming, he probably would have volunteered himself to be packaged and traded away when Blaylock was traded!
The moment the trade was officially sealed, one of them thought back to being beaten up by Roger in the locker room and the other to being verbally humiliated by Roger on the court to the point of shutdown.
Roger hadn’t even arrived in Atlanta yet, and his two new teammates were already showing him deep respect!
In fact, it wasn’t just Pippen and Steve Smith showing deep respect.
On the day of the trade, CNN featured a special report — Atlanta, your god has arrived!
That same evening, the Orlando Arena was stormed by fans.
Fighting, smashing, looting, graffiti, the home of the Magic was left in complete disarray.
Although the local Orlando broadcast continuously marketed the concept of “Tracy is the son of Orlando,” the fans wouldn’t listen to anything at that moment.
All they knew was that the city’s greatest player had left.
And he might never come back.
At the time the news was announced, Roger was at his Orlando home, having invited all his former teammates and the coaching staff members to a farewell party.
The party had food and drink covered, companions brought their own, but were not allowed to bring any unidentified chickens to join.