817: 274: Jerry, do you have any complaints?
(Asking for monthly votes!) 817: 274: Jerry, do you have any complaints?
(Asking for monthly votes!) Jerry Stackhouse wanted to catch up to the self he expected.
“No one can stop Jerry Stackhouse from becoming the next Michael Jordan; that’s reality, and you can’t stop reality from coming true.”
This was the evaluation from Dean Smith, the legendary coach of North Carolina, who coached both Jordan and Stackhouse.
Such praise made Jerry Stackhouse firmly believe he could have a great career.
What has he experienced in the end?
Ambitious Jerry Stackhouse hadn’t even entered the League and was beaten by a high school student brought by Roger.
Since entering the League, he has been failing continuously; the halo of “Jordan’s Successor” above his head has grown dimmer.
He was abandoned, traded, twice demoted from the team’s frontman to a second-class citizen (AI and Grant Hill).
After his rookie contract finally expired in 1998, Jerry Stackhouse seeking a new contract was humiliated by the entire world.
At that time, Jerry Stackhouse knew his performance was below expectations, so he lowered his stance and told all teams: “Roger’s salary for this season is close to 30 million, right?
Am I not even worth one-third of him?
I’m not saying I want half of Roger’s, just one-third.”
In the end, even after Stackhouse significantly lowered his salary demands, then Nets general manager John Nash commented:
“Yes, we’ve been in contact with him, but his asking price is unbelievable.
Jerry is not among the top-tier players in the free market.
He can score, but he hasn’t proven his consistent output.
He can defend, but he only focuses on defense for a few minutes.
In a few minutes, you can’t even handle your wife, let alone those top offensive players.
We have Kendall Gill; his annual salary is around 5.5 million.
But would I swap him for Jerry?
No, I wouldn’t do that.”
In other words, Jerry Stackhouse’s worth was even less than Kendall Gill; forget one-third of Roger’s, he’s not even worth 5.5 million!
This former North Carolina superstar never imagined that he, who was once compared to Michael Jordan, would now be compared to a player like Kendall Gill, who could not even reach All-Star status.
Ultimately, Jerry Stackhouse could only accept a 7-year, 37 million dollar contract, with an average annual salary just over 5 million, only one-sixth of Roger’s salary at that time.
That summer, every day was extremely oppressive for Jerry Stackhouse.
When the gap between expectations and reality is too large, you start to doubt and deny yourself, your will grows dim.
It’s true; in the next season, Jerry Stackhouse hit career lows in shooting percentage, scoring, rebounds, and assists.
He seemed to have accepted the fact that “he’s just a player not worth 5 million.”
The turning point came this summer; the departure of Grant Hill finally gave Stackhouse the opportunity he wanted.
His dream of being a superstar began to burn brightly again, and after a series of exaggerated scoring performances, Stackhouse became Stackhouse again, the ordinary Stackhouse.
And tonight, Jerry Stackhouse faced the game he most wanted to win this season.
When he arrived at Philips Arena and got off the team bus, Jerry Stackhouse wore sunglasses, looking like a superstar.
In the player tunnel, many journalists’ cameras followed him.
This is Philips Arena, under the feet of the deity.
Not just any Tom, Dick, or Harry can get attention here.
At that moment, Stackhouse felt his bent back finally straightened!
As he walked onto the court to warm up, court-side reporter Hannah found him: “Jerry, you said you want to end Roger’s many years of dominance in scoring title awards, can we see you score 40 points again tonight?”
Jerry Stackhouse, without humility: “Why not?
Maybe it’s not just 40 points, not just the scoring title.
If last game AI could make Roger lose, then I have a chance too.
As everyone knows, I’ve never been worse than AI.”
“What is your goal this season?
To win the scoring title?
Or to lead your team into the playoffs?”
Beating Roger in the playoffs shouldn’t be excessive, right?” After saying this, Jerry Stackhouse winked at Hannah, thinking himself charming.
Hannah suffered the most severe psychological attack of her career.
She had never seen a player so ordinary, greasy, and ugly all in one.
Just one expression, she already felt she had been professionally harassed.
But Stackhouse hadn’t had enough fun yet; before the game began, just before the tip-off, he looked at the Hawks bench, actively taunting the innocent Jeff Hornacek: “Hey, loser Jeff, what’s it like winning because you suck up to Roger?
Does your daughter really want to see you make a living under Roger’s crotch?”
Jerry Stackhouse loved Jeff Hornacek so much; he was simply the perfect backdrop for Stackhouse to demonstrate his intimidating power.
On the Hawks bench, Hornacek was filled with rage.
He really wished he could get on the court right now and challenge Stackhouse, the bastard, to a man’s duel.
The incident of being hit without retaliation made Jeff Hornacek angrier the more he thought about it.
In this League that doesn’t advocate fighting, Hornacek supposed that not retaliating would encourage the League to uphold justice for him.
Huh, last time Hornacek got punched by Stackhouse, Stackhouse only encountered a fine of US Dollar 1000 and a ten-day (three-game) suspension!