Jordan: I thought he was there to help me!

Chapter 653 Become the Players' Union President! We believe in you!

"Some teams' team-building models are quite baffling. When they encounter setbacks or problems, they blame it on the players, the coach, the market, or even the fans. But the management of these teams never considers the real reasons why the team is not doing well—"

"The management is incompetent!"

After the match, Lin Tian couldn't hold back and directly criticized the media.

At the post-game press conference, when a reporter asked Lin Tian about his feelings on the big win against the Timberwolves and also asked him to give the Timberwolves team some physical advice, Lin Tian chose to tell the truth.

But the truth is often the most deadly bomb.

"You're talking about the Timberwolves, how many players have they changed from team to team? Have they even made any changes? It's just the same old thing in a new guise!"

"Casey has something to say now. What kind of roster did my predecessor lead? What kind of roster did I lead? You expect me to lead them to a championship? What kind of roster does the Timberwolves have now? Even Szczerbiak is playing as the primary scorer. You expect Jason and Kevin to play as the primary scorers? Can they handle it? They can't!"

"You know he doesn't have that attribute? He's currently ranked 11th in the West, then he'll be 12th or 13th, and then he'll be at the bottom. There's nowhere left for him to drop to."

"We're not that bad! We have two star players, and we can turn things around at any time. Once we gel, we can explode again and make it to the playoffs!" A local Minnesota reporter stood up to refute this, clearly unconvinced.

"Hey, I thank you on behalf of the Minnesota Timberwolves! They're not gelling well today, but can you guarantee they'll be gelling well tomorrow, next week, or next month? Be realistic, stop thinking about building up star players, and first understand their playing styles and methods."

"Understand the philosophy of basketball first, then work on the team. Allen and Kevin are leading the team quite well, why did you replace them? How do you explain losing to us by 35 points at home today?"

"The Minnesota management still thinks it's the players' fault, they've got no shame whatsoever!"

Lin Tianyi's outburst was aimed directly at the Timberwolves' management. In fact, generally speaking, or most of the time, players rarely challenge management.

After all, this is the player's boss, the player's financial backer. How can you expect to have a good outcome if you offend the management?

Unless there's a complete falling out or some irreconcilable feud, most of the time, players won't push the management too hard or make them look bad.

But Lin Tian is clearly not an ordinary player. His current status, popularity, ability, and achievements are enough for him to criticize anyone, and no management can do anything about him.

Who made him capable of playing, winning championships, and selling tickets and merchandise?

Popular and skilled in combat, that's how arrogant he is!

Lin Tian's public outburst has made the Timberwolves' management a laughing stock.

After all, anyone with even a basic understanding of basketball can see that Garnett and Kidd are absolutely incompatible! Iverson and Garnett, on the other hand, complement each other perfectly.

Their loss to the Lakers last year was also due to serious injuries on the team. If they hadn't had those injuries, they might not have necessarily beaten the Lakers, but they would definitely have had a very close and evenly matched game.

But the team insisted on breaking up during the offseason. Compared to the Lakers' OK duo, which lasted for ten years before finally breaking up, the Timberwolves' breakup seems incredibly foolish.

In particular, the Lakers broke up their team and acquired McGrady, who is one of the league's top scorers. Although his combination with Kobe may not be able to continue to dominate the West, it is enough to keep the team at a top-five level in the West, making them quite competitive!

And what about the Timberwolves?

Their competition for the top draft pick is becoming increasingly fierce.

It can only be said that the same trade, due to the management's lack of foresight, naturally led to different results for each team.

At the very least, the Timberwolves are clearly at a level where they're doomed without any trades.

"Thanks, Lin, you're a true buddy of ours!"

"Respect! You will always be my idol, Lin!"

"You said exactly what I was thinking! You're amazing!"

"That's right! Some management is truly shameless, yet they still blame us players. Screw them all!"

"I support you, Lin! I support you, Lin!"

That night, Lin Tian received countless text messages and phone calls, from players from all the teams in the league and his friends. Lin Tian's righteous words tonight may not change anything, nor will they change the current situation of the players.

But if someone dares to say it, that's something to be happy about!

After Lin Tian spoke first, star players from all the teams in the league followed suit and expressed their opinions in the following days.

There are all sorts of opinions, but everyone shares the same core idea.

"Lin Tian is right!"

Overnight, Lin Tian's reputation among the players soared.

This unprecedented surge in status was truly something Lin Tian hadn't expected.

His original intention was really just to say something, that's all.

He hadn't thought about anything else at all.

What Lin Tian didn't expect was that the day after their game against the Timberwolves, Billy Hunter, the representative of the players' union and now the executive chairman of the players' union, a key figure in the 99 labor negotiations and an important figure in the players' ranks, called him.

"Lin, this is Billy, the executive president of the players' union. As you should know, the players' union is about to hold its general election..."

"No, I don't know anything about this, I have absolutely no idea." Lin Tian shook his head without even thinking, indicating that he was completely uninterested in the matter.

"You're just as much of a jerk as the rumors say," Billy Hunter laughed. "But whether you know it or not, I want you to run for president. I want you to be the president of the players' union this year! Your sense of responsibility, your standing in the league, your character, and your abilities are all perfect for the position!"

We need you.

"No, you don't need to. I have absolutely no sense of responsibility, I hate troublesome things, I don't like taking on any responsibility, and I like to run away from everything I'm not interested in. If I had a choice, I wouldn't want to get involved in anything unnecessary."

"Lin, if you say that, everyone will get hurt..." Billy wanted to continue persuading Lin Tian, ​​but Lin Tian had already hung up the phone.

Are you kidding me? You think you can use this thing to blackmail me?

Don't even think about it.

This damn players' union chairman is utterly useless to Lin Tian.

Aside from increasing Lin Tian's influence in the league and gaining more respect from the players, he can be said to bring Lin Tian nothing else.

No salary, no honors, no income, and it will also damage your relationship with the owners of other teams.

Those who like to be opinion leaders and stand out would yearn for this position, but clearly, Lin Tian has no interest in it.

He has no interest in being an opinion leader to help a bunch of Americans raise their wages!

Simply put, it's harmful in every way and has no benefit whatsoever, and it has nothing to do with me, Lord Lin!

If Lin Tian wanted to join the players' union, he would have done so during the lockout in 98. Why wait until now?

Even if Lin Tian becomes the chairman of the union, wouldn't he have to consider the players' moods and tempers when he gets into a fight or curses?

No way! This is absolutely unacceptable.

He had absolutely no interest in or respect for this kind of troublesome, pointless, and harmful thing.

Don't even think about trying to persuade me, no matter who tries.

However, what surprised Lin Tian even more was that in the following days, all sorts of people came to persuade him.

Players from all walks of life, his own buddies, Pelinka, and even agents of other players all contacted Lin Tian through various means, hoping he would take on this job.

Unfortunately, Lin Tian was determined not to do it!

But everyone's enthusiasm was clearly not dampened at all. A week later, when Lin Tian and the Knicks visited Washington, Arenas brought up the matter again.

carry?

Screw you!

Lin Tian, ​​who never tires of playing, dominated this game, scoring a season-high 51 points!

Not only did Lin Tian score 51 points, but he also held Arenas to just 21 points on 8-of-25 shooting!

During the match, Lin Tian was rampaging and spewing insults, making Arenas question his existence.

Who am I? Where am I? Why did I have to be so brutally attacked by Lin?

This match can be seen as Lin Tian giving everyone a taste of his power.

If anyone ever brings this up again, I'll beat them to death!

Arenas was badly beaten in this game, and he knew why he was beaten so badly.

So this guy decided: I absolutely cannot tell anyone why I got beaten up so badly!

It wasn't about saving face; getting beaten up by Lin Tian wasn't shameful. It was simply that Arenas thought: I can't be the only one who's unlucky.

So, after the game, the first thing Arenas did was ask the team staff for a schedule.

The staff obviously had no idea what Arenas was up to, but the public relations staff in Washington were quite good.

They quickly snapped a photo of Arenas receiving the schedule and then published a promotional article about it.

Despite the crushing defeat, Arenas refused to give up! Immediately after the game, he requested the schedule, eager to face the Knicks again!

Yes, a character who, though defeated, refuses to accept defeat and is full of fighting spirit, leaps off the page!

But if the PR team knew what Arenas was about to do, they would definitely regret it and they would probably curse: What the hell is this?!

Well, because Arenas didn't have the Wizards' schedule; he wanted the Knicks' schedule.

After glancing at it, the guy first called Deron Williams of the Hornets.

"Lin is already tempted and will soon agree. You're his little brother, so if you persuade him a bit more, he can become the union chairman! Ideally, you should do it on the court while playing, making him feel embarrassed and unable to refuse, then it'll be a done deal!"

"No problem! Leave it to me!" Delong happily agreed, young and naive, unaware of what awaited him.

He was even happily waiting for Lin Tian to come and drink his sweet soup!

If I can handle this, my status and reputation within the alliance will also rise accordingly!

And then? Then Deron experienced the most painful night of his career.

18投5中，13分6助攻7失误，外加只登场26分钟就被林天打的6犯离场！

Lin Tian scored 50+ points for the second consecutive game!

53 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists!

Deron finally understood why Arenas had been beaten so badly and was even happy to tell him to persuade Lin Tian.

Arenas is a real bastard! I treated him like an older brother!

He deliberately messed with me!

No way, I can't swallow this! I can't let this go!

So that night, Deron Williams did exactly the same thing as Arenas: he got the game schedule, then called Paul, who entered the league in the same year as him, and said exactly the same thing Arenas said.

And then?

再然后客场挑战尼克斯队的勇士惨败57分！保罗14投2中只拿到6分4助攻，另外还有7次失误！

Lin Tian scored 50+ points for the third consecutive game!

Tonight, because the opponent's resistance was too weak and Lin Tian's scoring explosiveness was too fierce, he even scored a high score of 50 points in just 25 minutes!

Lin Tian has once again become the league's current scoring king for a rather absurd reason!

But what happened next illustrated another issue.

That means there isn't a single good person among the point guards in this league, especially those who play the point guard position exceptionally well.

None of these tacticians have pure intentions!

Each one is dirtier and worse than the last.

For the next two weeks, Lin Tian was constantly taunted by every team he encountered in New York, no matter where he went or where they came to challenge the Knicks.

The specific provocation was: "Lin, we need you to lead us out of this dark time! We need you to be our leader, we need you to be present at the players' union meeting."

Lin Tian: "Go to hell, when will this ever end!"

Then, in the last two weeks, the Knicks played a total of 8 games and won 8 consecutive games! In these 8 games, Lin Tian scored 60 points in 1 game, 50 points in 5 games, and 40 points in 7 games. There was only one game in which he scored less than 40 points, but in that game he still achieved a triple-double of 38 points, 15 rebounds and 18 assists!

During this period, Lin Tian once again became that invincible attacker who could kill anyone in his way!

He was truly tireless.

Why are these people like cockroaches?

One after another, one after another, they just wouldn't die.

What Lin Tian didn't know was that at this time, a gambling game had even started: each participant would put $100 into the prize pool every day, and whoever could persuade Lin to take up the position of president of the players' union would take all the money, no matter how much money was in the pool!

It is precisely because of this that players from all walks of life in the league are able to bravely face the risk of being crushed, rushing forward one after another, only to be crushed and rejected by Lin Tian, ​​and then leaving the court in disappointment.

As time went by and the games continued, without anyone realizing it, the stars in the league even forgot to pass on messages to each other: Lin Tian was just a little short of agreeing to take the job.

Many people no longer care about Lin Tian taking the job.

This lottery competition has inexplicably shifted from "who can make Lin Tian the chairman" to "who can avoid being crushed by Lin in this berserk state".

What's even more outrageous is that everyone gradually realized that no matter what trash talk Chong Lintian spewed, it wasn't as simple, practical, and efficient as saying, "Come be the president of the players' union!"

In short, everyone is now sharpening their knives, just waiting to fight the Knicks, then let Lin Tian utter those words, and see if he can beat them!

In recent days, one player after another has taken the field, and one player after another has been defeated.

Whether it's the new generation of players like Deron Williams and Chris Paul, or the older generation like Allen Iverson, Anthony Davis, and Chauncey Billups, they all suffered defeats.

As time went on, Lin Tian became increasingly unstoppable in December. After leading his team to defeat the visiting Philadelphia 76ers once again and achieving a near triple-double of 40 points, 9 rebounds, and 11 assists, his average stats for the month reached an incredibly terrifying level.

场均47.5分11.4篮板10.8次助攻2.8抢断和1.7盖帽！

Lin Tian has completely entered berserk mode this month! He's almost averaging 50 points per game!

As December draws to a close, one of the most exciting moments of each season's regular season arrives once again.

Christmas Battle!

On the afternoon of December 25th, the six high-profile teams selected by the league will be divided into three groups to compete against each other. These three matches are widely recognized as the most exciting, sensational, and anticipated games!

This year, the league has prepared three games for fans: Cleveland Cavaliers vs. San Antonio Spurs!

This matchup is a head-to-head showdown between the rising stars of the 03 draft class: Wade vs. James! These two players, who signed max contracts with their teams during the offseason, are both friends and bitter rivals. They are currently evenly matched and locked in a fierce battle, making their duel highly anticipated by countless fans!

Then it's Dallas Mavericks vs. Phoenix Suns!

In this offensive battle, Nash will once again step up to save the day. The clash between these two top offensive teams in the league and a Western Conference powerhouse is highly anticipated.

As for the last group, that will be the grand finale of the night.

The Knicks will host the Los Angeles Lakers! This is also a rematch of last year's NBA Finals!

Although the Lakers lost Shaquille O'Neal and gained Tracy McGrady this year, their record, while not bad, is certainly not top-tier.

O'Neal's departure transformed the Lakers from a predominantly interior-based half-court offense into one of the league's fastest-playing offensive teams, built around two star perimeter players.

Even without O'Neal, and even though the Lakers are currently only ranked fifth in the Western Conference, the Los Angeles vs. New York rivalry will never go out of style!

Meanwhile, the matchup between Kobe and McGrady versus Lin Tian, ​​Stoudemire, and Anthony is sure to whet everyone's appetite!

Will the league's best duo in one-on-one play prevail, or will the Knicks' musketeers be even more formidable?

This match is undoubtedly the most impressive of the three Christmas Day games in terms of star power, star quality, and number of players!

Therefore, this match was naturally scheduled for last, after the other two matches were completed! (End of Chapter)