515: 189: The Supreme God in a Unique Class (Request for Monthly Tickets!)_3 515: 189: The Supreme God in a Unique Class (Request for Monthly Tickets!)_3 Last season, this elegant team, which ranked second in the league in three-point attempts, suddenly transformed into a terrifying iron army clad in black armor.
Whether the Hawks will play attractively next season or not is unknown, but they will definitely be tough and relentless.
The entire team’s style has undergone a drastic 180-degree transformation.
Lenny Wilkens looked at the main rotation without any giants and couldn’t help but laugh and cry at the same time.
Okay, Kurt Thomas he could tolerate, but Ben Wallace, what the hell?
Last season, this kid played center for the Washington Bullets, claiming to be 206 centimeters tall.
According to Lenny Wilkens’ experience, that kid was at most 203 centimeters, and even that’s a generous guess!
NBA Atlanta Dwarf Country?
Does Pete Babcock have some kind of dwarf fetish?
However, Kenny Wilkens did not give up.
If he didn’t have the right to choose the roster, then he would make the best use of the current one.
Isn’t that what a head coach is supposed to do?
He had already started working, building a new offensive and defensive system for this entirely new Hawks team.
Regardless, at least now he had a superstar in his hands.
He was still filled with boundless anticipation for the next season.
The fans felt the same way, eager for the next season.
This time, Roger was without Shaq and his championship squad.
How far could he lead the Hawks?
This had become the greatest suspense of the next season.
By the time the team’s roster was almost set, it was already August.
During this time, Roger had been training with Garnett, Kobe, and Andrae Patterson, keeping a low profile.
But even so, Roger’s popularity hadn’t shown any signs of declining since the trade.
Because when Roger was training, the movie he shot last summer, a reinterpretation of “next Michael Jordan” titled “Play Like It’s the Truth,” premiered this summer.
The movie performed very well at the box office, better than “Space Jam” and cartoons about basketball, this movie’s concept of sending a kid straight to the NBA won over many young basketball fans clamoring for their parents to take them to see it.
This meant that each screening garnered at least two movie ticket sales.
Whether the adults liked it or not, they had to buy tickets to accompany the kids, right?
As the box office sizzled, Roger’s sneaker sales also solidly increased.
Due to the movie’s influence, many kids dreamt of owning a pair of Roger’s basketball sneakers, hoping for something miraculous to happen to them.
This collaboration between Reebok, Roger, and Universal Pictures was a triple win.
Under the influence of the movie and a three-peat, in the summer of 1997, Roger’s name and face were everywhere.
Apart from the movie, he also appeared in various kinds of advertisements.
He was Atlanta’s god, or one could say, he was currently the most famous basketball player on this planet.
Where was the last world’s most famous basketball player?
Michael Jordan’s influence had taken a fatal hit, especially evident this summer.
Roger’s three-peat, Roger’s trade, Roger’s movie, Atlanta Hawks’ signings — all these dominated the news headlines.
Attention towards Michael Jordan was decreasing.
For Jordan, this was the worst outcome.
Once you experience failure, people only remember you as a failure in a short time.
Previously, Jordan was an untouchable god.
But now, the criticism towards Jordan was increasing, as was the criticism towards that trade.
This king, accustomed to dominating everything, had faced failure for three consecutive years.
This superstar, once adored by the whole world, was now neglected.
For Jordan, the most cruel aspect was that the basketball world that belonged to him had been forcefully taken away by Roger!
This wasn’t like ’93.
In ’93, Jordan willingly retired, leaving behind an unsurpassable legacy.
But now, he was brutally knocked down, awkwardly watching the referee count down ten seconds.
Jordan’s competitive spirit made him want to continue fighting, but his diminished influence and commercial value tied his hands and feet.
The media excelled at portraying Michael Jordan as someone who only cared about wins and losses, but the real Jordan was never that simple-minded.
He was competitive, but he also had to consider many other factors.
The commercial empire he had spent so much effort building could not simply collapse.
Michael Jordan was very conflicted.
Nike and Falk were advising Jordan to retire, while Ewing hoped Jordan would stay and continue playing.
Jordan sat on the balcony of his villa, toying with a cigar cutter, pondering his options.
Suddenly, Juanita heard a scream.
By the time she arrived, Jordan’s pants were soaked with fresh blood.
Juanita was shocked at that moment:”Did he actually cut himself?”
That evening, David Falk rushed to the hospital in New York.
In the hospital room, he saw Jordan with his finger bandaged:”Michael, are you…?”
Jordan’s mouth twitched:”I just cut my finger!”
Didn’t Juanita say on the phone…?”
Beside him, Juanita smiled sheepishly.
When she saw Jordan covered in blood earlier at the scene, she truly panicked and called Falk with the wrong information.
“It didn’t reach the bone.”
“But it severed the tendon in the right index finger.”
While Falk initially relaxed, he was shocked when he heard the word “tendon.” He didn’t know much about sports medicine, but after so many years in the NBA circle, he knew that if the injury involved a “tendon,” it generally didn’t bode well.