Chapter 52: Thorns and Rumors
In the Heat's general manager's office, Pat Riley finished his second pack of cigarettes, and the furrow-like wrinkles on his face deepened. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. biquge。 info
"The team doctor reported that Grant had a slight concussion and is now sober."
"A week's truce is needed."
Walker, Van Gundy, and Spoelstra all stood in front of Pat Riley, and in a sense, Pat Riley can be regarded as the guide on the road of coaching for the three of them, a veritable master.
"Why is this happening? Why didn't you find out that the relationship between them was extremely bad, and you, as the head coach, are to blame. Pat Riley said to Stan Van Gundy, disgruntled.
Van Gundy did not deny it, nodding his head to indicate that he needed to take responsibility: "It's true, I didn't find the hostility between the two, and I didn't expect that Grant, as a veteran player, would do such a dangerous move against a rookie in training, let alone dare to fight back like this as a rookie, he's a boxer, my God." ”
"Professional." Walker added.
Spoelstra said: "The atmosphere in the dressing room has been ruined now, and it is very likely that tomorrow's newspaper will break the news about this matter, and public opinion will help to fuel the fire, and the situation will be even worse." ”
"I told you before that I want to trade Grant again, but after this incident, if it is not handled properly, it will have a big impact on my plans." Pat Riley stroked his forehead and felt the trouble deeply, not just the locker room vibe.
"This must be punished severely." Van Gundy said solemnly.
"Yes, that's exactly what it is." Spoelstra agreed.
Then the eyes of the three people looked at Walker, Walker hesitated for a moment, and said: "Yang Di did make a mistake, but the premise is that Grant has set a bad example, if the two people want to be punished, it should not be unilaterally punished, but should be dealt with equally." ”
"But Grant is the main force of the team."
"Can the main player of the team do anything to hurt his teammates? It's not about the player's identity, it's about the matter. ”
"In short, Grant's punishment should be lower than Yang Di's, after all, Grant didn't directly attack his teammates, and Yang Di's performance is more dangerous."
"More dangerous? One can ruin a career, and it's hard to judge whether the two are high or low, and I don't agree with that. ”
The three coaches quarreled over the punishment of this matter, and Van Gundy, Walker and Spoelstra all had their own ideas, and each could not convince the other, and the battle was red-faced.
After arguing for a while, Pat Riley slammed the table.
"Alright, I've decided how to punish him."
The three coaches, who were eager to fight, calmed down and then looked at Pat Riley.
Pat Riley muttered: "Yang Di has been banned for 5 games in the team, starting from the preseason, and in addition, all of Grant's medical expenses are borne by Yang Di. ”
"Pat ......" Van Gundy thought to himself that this ban has no loss for Yang Di at all, according to the algorithm of guaranteed wages, the ban on the regular season will affect personal income, as for medical expenses or something, it may be an expense, but it is definitely not a big head, if you calculate it, two people are injured and banned, almost all of them can't get out of the game.
"The record is important, just ban the team, Yang Di is only a child under the age of twenty after all, we have to give him a little more chance." Pat Riley said, stopping Van Gundy's next words.
……
The next day, sure enough, there were a large number of media reports on the pushing and brawling that occurred in the training of the Heat team.
The Miami Herald, Miami's largest local media, took the lead in writing down the locker room conflict in the Heat on paper, and used "crisis" to describe the incident, pointing the finger at Yang Di.
"According to insiders, Yang Di beat the veteran Grant and caused the latter to enter the hospital."
As soon as the news came out, it immediately shocked the local fans in Miami, and then, the entire league was shocked, and many old players said that they had never seen such an "arrogant" and "unruly" rookie, so that the number of media in the American Airlines Arena increased greatly in two or three days, and the Miami Heat team was asked to give an official explanation.
After all, the Herald is not a rumored tabloid, and if you dare to report the news like this, there must be definite facts.
The pressure of public opinion is unimaginable, and the fans in Miami are angry, they don't know the truth, they don't know the reason, they only know that now their favorite Heat team has a thorn, and their starting main force has been injured, so the starter is still one of the most important players in the team.
Some fans even ran to the Heat office to demand that Yang Di be severely punished, or simply trade him.
"We don't like this Chinese, yes, he's just a villain, a grain of rat poop, ruining the chemistry of our Heat team as a whole." The Heat fans who made trouble at the entrance of the arena said in an interview.
……
There was a crisis in public relations, and both Carol and Finney called to ask why after seeing the news.
Then the phone call from the agent Hanford Jones, as soon as it was connected, hoarse, pessimistic and negative voices came out.
"Yang, how can you do this kind of thing, are you crazy, you are killing yourself, do you know!"
Yang Di became angry when he heard this, "Why did I kill myself?" ”
"If you look at the reports out there, it's overwhelmingly criticized, even the fans in Miami don't want to see you anymore, oh my God, do you want to play?"
"Do you understand the business value, do you understand the correct money-making model? Can you imagine a local star being beaten by a foreigner in a league held in your country? And to send money to this foreigner, can you imagine what kind of heart this is? You're crazy! "Hanford-Jones's voice is already a little desperate, he has been harassed on the phone since last night, Yang Di is comfortable as a player, it is none of his business if something happens, he is anxious, a lot of mess.
After Yang Di heard this, he became even more angry, ignored Jones, and hung up the phone with a "snap".
He nestled up on the sofa, covered with a quilt, and the weather outside the house was getting cooler, cloudy and sunless.
It didn't take long for the agent to call again and say something inconsequential and complaining, and Yang Di's heart became more and more dissatisfied with the agent.
"I'm really tired, how could I encounter such a thing, my life is so miserable."
Yang Di blurted out: "Then you don't have to work hard from now on, Mr. Hanford, I think you probably need a long vacation." ”
"What?"
"Congratulations, the employment relationship between the two of us is over at this point, and you can continue drinking your vodka!" Yang Di said these words quickly in a flat tone, then hung up the phone, and then completely turned off the mobile phone and threw it on the coffee table, ignoring these troubles.
……
Yang Di fired his agent, which is equivalent to skimming off the dispensable layer of external protective film, and the impact of the outside world is even more violent to him, and all kinds of negative reports that smear his image have sprung up.
"He has an underworld background, and Madison was involved in the gang fight."
"Revealing the dragon tattoo on Yang Di's body, there is a precedent for thorns."
"Why is there such a huge personality gap between the alternative Chinese and Yao Ming in Houston?"
"Pacer Artest expressed his appreciation for Yang Di: It was Jordan who broke my rib in training camp back then, and the guy was very motivated."
Then Pacers general manager Larry Bird immediately jumped out to refute the rumors: "Such players are prone to hot heads, the Pacers have never supported this kind of behavior, players play side by side on the court, and off the court should be more of a whole." ”
There are different opinions, and Yang Di's name has become popular during this period of preseason......
There are also rumors that Yang Di's impulsive behavior has angered the Heat executives, and the Heat executives have put Yang Di on the shelf, and Yang Di may be traded at any time.