Chapter 110 Putting Facts Aside
In the Pacers' locker room, huge pressure arose out of nowhere, coming from He Zhongqiu. The dozen or so Pacers players were not trembling, but they were really nervous to the point of sweating and their heartbeats accelerated.

Four months later, He Zhongqiu saw Reggie Miller again.

The unruly Reggie Miller had lost his usual sharpness and rebelliousness. There was no light in his eyes. He stood up woodenly when he saw him.

He looked Reggie Miller up and down, and suddenly felt that this man was no longer worth targeting. He was not useless, but his spirit and energy were ruined.

He put on his sunglasses again, held a cigar in his right hand and pointed at Reggie Miller and the Pacers players. He said, "Don't be afraid, I'm just here to visit. Sorry, I forgot to bring a gift, please forgive me."

There were more than a dozen Pacers players, most of whom had attacked He Zhongqiu in the past, but now that He Zhongqiu and his men had broken in, no one dared to say a word.

"Everyone, this is so rude. I came to see you and you all have stern faces. Are you looking down on me? Come on, everyone, smile and let me have fun."

He Zhongqiu teased with a wry smile.

Some Pacers players who had been beaten by He Zhongqiu actually laughed dryly. Reggie Miller saw this and tears flowed in his heart.

"Ha ha……"

The madman and others burst into laughter.

"As a rule of the underworld, killing is not a crime. My feud with you ends here."

"Guys, let's go."

He Zhongqiu looked down on this group of people who had no fighting spirit. After saying the last few words, he led his people out of the locker room.

"Let's start preparing for the trade tomorrow. Send everyone away without leaving a single one behind."

Outside the locker room, the Pacers' new general manager, acting head coach, and former NBA superstar, Larry Bird, said in a deep voice.

He resigned from his position as head coach of the Pacers in 2000 due to irregular heartbeat, spent a year in treatment, and has long since recovered.

After the Conseco violence incident, the Pacers' head coach Isaiah Thomas and general manager Danny Walsh were all fired. He returned to the Pacers as general manager and interim head coach.

"Larry, where is Reggie? Is Jermaine going to be sent away too?" someone asked.

"Ugh!"

Larry Bird sighed, thought for a moment and said, "Reggie, just retire. Why should he play basketball when he is like this? He has lost all his spirit. He is no different from a dead man. Jermaine..."

When he said this, he wanted to curse, not only Reggie Miller and Artest, but also that bastard Wolverine.

Artest deserved to be a useless man, and Reggie Miller didn't deserve it either, but it was such a pity for O'Neal Jr. He was a young man without any opinion of his own and was led astray by Reggie Miller and others.

In the past two years, O'Neal has entered his prime and was one of the league's top All-Star centers. However, he has never recovered after the Conseco incident, and now he is going to be sent away, which makes him heartbroken.

In this game, He Zhongqiu played for 30 minutes, scored points crazily, and scored 41 points and 12 rebounds over O'Neal Jr., 75:126, helping the team to beat the opponent by 51 points.

After the game, the Knicks completed the regular season with 48 wins and 34 losses, a winning rate of 58.5%, ranking fourth in the Eastern Conference.

We wanted to push forward, but the top three teams played pretty well in the last few games, so we had no chance.

Back in the locker room, Thibodeau brought out a stack of data sheets and began to explain to everyone some of the situations in the regular season and the first round of the playoffs.

The top three are the Pistons with 50 wins, the Nets with 49 wins, and the Digital Team with 48 wins.

The bottom four are the Hornets with 47 wins, the Celtics with 44 wins, the Bucks with 42 wins, and the Magic with 42 wins.

The first round of the Eastern Conference playoffs will see the Pistons versus Magic, the Knicks versus Hornets, the Nets versus Bucks, and the Digital Team versus the Celtics.

The former team has home advantage, and the winners of the first two sets of opponents will face off in the second round.

At this point, he said: "We have completed our previous plan and will play the Hornets in the first round. If we make it to the second round, we will play against the winner of the Pistons and Magic.

If the Magic can't win the game in the eighth, we'll have to play against the Pistons, who are the best defensive team in the league."

He stopped talking here because everyone knows that with the Knicks' current strength, it would be very difficult to beat the Pistons.

Next, he explained some of the situations in the West.

The top four teams in the Western Conference playoffs are the 60-win Spurs, the 60-win Mavericks, the 59-win Kings, and the 51-win Timberwolves.

The bottom four are the Lakers with 50 wins, the Trail Blazers with 50 wins, the Jazz with 47 wins, and the Suns with 44 wins.

The first round of the Western Conference playoffs will see the Spurs vs. the Suns, the Timberwolves vs. the Lakers, the Mavericks vs. the Trail Blazers, and the Kings vs. the Jazz.

"In terms of winning rate, we are equivalent to the seventh-placed Jazz in the Western Conference. In Jordan's era, the East was strong and the West was weak. We, the Knicks, were an absolutely strong team then. Now, the East is weak and the West is strong!"

At this point, Thibodeau sighed with emotion.

"Coach, where are our individual stats?"

He Zhongqiu doesn't care much about the playoffs. He only cares about whether he can win the honor of Rookie of the Year, because this honor is the one he is most likely to get now.

Thibodeau searched through the data sheets and said, "Wolverine, statistically, you are the best rookie in 02. Yao Ming and Stoudemire are not as good as you."

"is it?"

Although he already knew it, he still smiled happily.

"The stats are way ahead of the rest. If nothing unexpected happens, Wolverine should be the best rookie," said head coach Don Cheney.

"The boss must be the best," Harrington complimented shamelessly.

贺中秋接过数据单一看，02/03赛季出场61场，场均时间30.2分钟，场均18.5分8.5篮板1.2助攻1.2抢断2.4盖帽3.9失误3.8犯规。

The shooting percentage was 53.5%, including 68.5% at the basket, 60.5% of the offense, 38.1% of the close two-point shots, 36% of the offense, and 23.5% of the mid-range shots, 3.5% of the offense.

The free throw percentage is 62.5%, averaging 7.1 free throws per game.

Thibodeau said: "Wolverine, after the All-Stars, you added more bank shots in the two-point area and a few mid-range shots. The overall efficiency has dropped a bit, but your 53.5% shooting percentage is still among the top ten main players in the league."

"Coach, what is O'Neal's shooting percentage in the paint?" he asked.

Thibodeau praised: "74.5%, 6 percentage points higher. Although his weight is seriously overweight, he is still in his prime. His dominance under the basket is worthy of being the best in history. His talent is really strong!"

"When will the best rookie be announced?" he asked again.

Thibodeau said: "These honors are selected by sports media reporters and will definitely come out before the first round, so don't worry."

Madman then said: "If your data is similar to theirs, it may not be your turn, but you are much better than them now, and your popularity and fame are also higher than theirs, so I don't think there will be any suspense."

"Boss, are you guys going to treat us if we win?" rookie Frank Williams said.

Bang! He Zhongqiu patted his chest and said, "This is the best nightclub in New York. I'll treat everyone to the best wine."

"Oh ho!"

There was a sudden cheer in the locker room.

"Hello, Dayao?"

At this time, He Zhongqiu's cell phone rang. He saw that it was Dayao's call, so he quickly answered it.

"I didn't make the playoffs on Mid-Autumn Festival. I finished ninth with 43 wins, just one less win than the eighth-placed Suns. It was really unlucky."

Dayao sounded a little disappointed, and he quickly comforted her: "A game is also decided by strength. If you lose, you lose. There is no point in quibbling."

"Who is quibbling?" Dayao said dissatisfiedly.

He smiled and said, "Look at us, we are fourth in the Eastern Conference. If we didn't want to be first, our record would definitely be better than the Pistons."

"Will you die if you don't brag?" Dayao said depressedly.

He smiled and said, "Dayao, don't be ungrateful. I'm just trying to comfort you."

"I don't need your comfort at all." The extremely depressed Dayao cursed.

"You bastard...you took my kindness for granted. I will never comfort you again." He Zhongqiu also cursed.

Yao Ming was silent for a few seconds and then said, "You should be the best rookie. Our best players don't have as high an average as you. Butler only has 15 points."

"That's right, Yao Ming, you are the No. 1 pick, but you can't win the best rookie award. How about I comfort you again?" He Zhongqiu asked.

"Di!"

Dayao hung up the phone directly.

……

On the 16th, in Philadelphia, the home of the Digital Team, the basketball god Michael stepped onto the court for the last game of his career.

"Clap clap clap..."

"MJ..."

"MJ..."

All Philadelphia fans stood up, clapping and cheering, and the overwhelming applause lasted for three minutes.

Michael Jordan did not hide his excitement and wiped away tears from time to time.

"My departure is not the end. I love the court. Basketball is a part of my life. I will always be here."

With his words, a generation of basketball god completely ended his career.

He Zhongqiu watched the game.

He has been watching Jordan's games since he was a child. Jordan is a part of his memory. Before entering the NBA, Jordan was the symbol of the NBA in his heart.

He likes the applause from the fans and the sound of thousands of people cheering for him. When he first entered the NBA, he just wanted to make money. The NBA was just a job that could make a lot of money for him, but later he liked that feeling.

But he still didn't clearly understand what he wanted.

Now, he somewhat understands that he should become a symbol of an era and the memory of a generation like Jordan.

One day, even if he leaves and retires, that generation will always remember him, only him.

……

The first round of the series started on the 19th, the day after the regular season ended, on the 17th. Major sports media, famous basketball reporters, and some NBA stars began to summarize and analyze the entire regular season and playoffs.

However, the biggest news of the day was that basketball god Michael Jordan announced his third retirement.

At 11 a.m., Jordan held a press conference at the Washington airport as soon as he got off the plane.

"Michael, will you make a comeback again?"

asked the Washington Post reporter who was the first to ask the question.

"NO."

Jordan said, shaking his head and smiling.

"What do you think of these two comeback seasons?" the reporter asked.

Jordan thought for a moment and said, "It's a very good experience. It feels great to play with young players. You can feel full of energy again."

"Michael, do you want to say something to the young players today?" asked the ESPN reporter.

"I don't want to preach anything. They have their own way of playing and they are all very smart." Jordan said with a smile.

"Who do you think is the best pick in this year's draft?" the ESPN reporter asked again.

"There's no doubt about it, I'm just like everyone else, a young man named LeBron James," Jordan said immediately.

"Who do you think has better talent, him or Wolverine?" the reporter asked again.

Jordan thought for a moment before saying, "They play different positions and have different physical requirements, so there will be some bias if we compare them together.

But in terms of pure physical talent, LeBron James is faster than Wolverine, but not as strong.

LeBron is a man who combines strength and speed. His absolute speed, strength, jumping ability, wingspan, tonnage, etc. are all at historical levels.

To be honest, I will not admit that he is stronger than me, but I have to admit that his talents are no worse than mine.

But Wolverine is also like this, he is in the interior, LeBron is on the outside, and their physical talents are among the best in their respective positions. "

Zhou Biao and Lin Cheng squeezed in among the reporters, and immediately raised their hands high after the ESPN reporter finished asking questions.

When Jordan saw Zhou Biao in the crowd, he immediately thought of the rookie Wolverine.

Although Wolverine had embarrassed him before, he did okay at the All-Stars later on. The two of them were mahjong friends, and he had even won more than 50,000 U.S. dollars from Wolverine, so he pointed at Zhou Biao and the staff immediately handed him the microphone.

Zhou Biao excitedly took the microphone and asked, "Michael, who do you think is most likely to be the best rookie of the year?"

Jordan laughed and said, "I knew you were going to ask that question."

Zhou Biao and Lin Cheng looked at each other and laughed.

Jordan said at this time: "From the personal data point of view, Wolverine is definitely the strongest contender for the best rookie, there is no doubt about it.

In terms of the team's record, after he joined the Knicks, the Knicks jumped from 12th in the Eastern Conference to 4th in the Eastern Conference at the end of the season, helping the team reach the playoffs.

This is the case with all the rookies who have the potential to compete for the best rookie, and their teams have the best records.

So I think Wolverine has the best chance of winning the Rookie of the Year award this season, and it all depends on how the reporters involved in the selection choose. "

……

In Phoenix, a TNT reporter interviewed Amar'e Stoudemire.

"Amare, who do you think is the best rookie in 02?" the reporter asked.

Stoudemire has always looked down on No. 1 overall pick Yao Min and has revealed this many times in interviews, but after the reporter asked this question, he was actually a little hesitant.

"Don't you think that person is you?" the TNT reporter asked urgently.

Stoudemire said somewhat awkwardly: "Apart from the facts, I think I am also the best one. I am not worse than him. I firmly believe this."

"Who are you talking about?" the reporter asked.

"Wolverine."

Xiao Si uttered the word with difficulty.

"What do you mean by putting aside the facts?" the reporter asked again.

Xiao Si was stunned. "Sir, what are you talking about? What else can we talk about besides facts?"
"That's what you just said," the reporter reminded.

Xiao Si was startled and asked stupidly: "Did I say that?"

"Yes, you said that."

The reporter nodded firmly.

"You must have heard it wrong." Xiao Si said quickly.

(End of this chapter)