The Whip of the God of Basketball

While Leon continues to toil for the Celtics, Kevin Garnett is enjoying hero status in Boston, even though he has yet to play a game for the Celtics. Since the trade was officially completed on June 29 and he came to Boston, a large poster of Garnett has appeared on the exterior wall of the North Shore Garden Arena. However, the jersey Garnett is wearing on the poster does not have a number, because Garnett's No. 21 jersey in the Timberwolves has long been retired by the Celtics, and this number belongs to Bill Sharman. Therefore, the number of jerseys Garnett wears still needs to be determined through negotiation between the two parties.

On the day the deal was completed and unveiled, the Celtics held a grand fan meeting for Garnett in the square of the North Shore Garden Arena. Under the not too harsh Boston sun, nearly 30,000 fans gathered. Plaza, just to catch a glimpse of the 28 million superstar welcomed by the Boston Celtics. Garnett said at the meeting that he would bring the Celtics their 17th championship trophy.

Such a promise pushed the atmosphere at the scene to a climax. In the following days, various reports related to Garnett flooded the Boston media with longing, hope, praise, and praise.

This city that once had great glory has not been so close to the championship for too long. Although they reached the finals last season, they really had no chance against the Spurs. They chased from 0:2 to 1:2, and then to 1:3. After barely getting back a game in the fifth game, they had no chance in San Antonio just because there was a person named Tim Duncan on the opposite side.

The arrival of Kevin Garnett lets all Boston fans know that they finally have a guy who can fight against the monsters in the West. This super power forward full of talent, passion and blood really brings the Celtics of championship hopes.

But starting on June 30, the public opinion situation changed subtly, because Kevin Garnett insisted on wanting the No. 21 jersey when it came to the choice of jersey number, and was unwilling to choose other numbers. This can put the Celtics' management, especially Danny Ainge, in a difficult position. There is indeed a precedent for the inheritance of jerseys in the history of the Celtics.

The previous No. 18 jersey originally belonged to Jim Roskotov. He won 7 championships with the team. The Celtics were ready to retire his jersey, but Roskotov rejected the offer and wanted this number. can continue to be passed down. Later, the number 18 was passed to Bailey Howell. In the end, the number 18 jersey belonged to Dave Cowens. With Cowens retiring after the 1980 season, the number 18 jersey completed the list of three great players. The legacy among the Celtics hangs high above the Boston Arena.

Because of this, Kevin Garnett had the idea to continue wearing the No. 21 jersey, but the original owner of No. 21, Bill Sharman, was far away in California at this time, and half of Sharman's veins were filled with Kyle. The green blood of the Lakers, while the other half is the golden blood of the Lakers. Therefore, Danny Ainge didn't know how to ask Sharman to get No. 21 back.

News like this began to make some old fans in Boston feel dissatisfied. There are a large number of old fan clubs in Boston. They have experienced the most glorious era of the Celtics, the era when the Green Legion occupied half of the NBA. The mantra of these old fans is "We have experienced the best era of basketball, and we are no longer there." I don’t need to keep watching the NBA anymore.”

It is such a group. Although they usually have little voice and are far less powerful than the emerging fans now, who support the stars crazily on the Internet and in real life, when their voices gather together, they are also quite terrifying. Therefore, Garnett's perfect day in Boston only lasted three days, and some critical voices gradually emerged.

Of course, Danny Ainge is worried to death now. When he was a player, he was sandwiched between Larry Bird and Kevin McHale as a sounding board. Now that he is the team president, he has to balance external factors. The relationship between superstars and the traditional power of the team. This is the first time in the history of the Celtics, because in the past, the Celtics have never traded or defected to superstars in their prime. The entire Celtics team and environment are relatively closed. Integrated.

Anji knew that if this incident was not handled well, it would have a very bad impact on the Celtics' team atmosphere and public opinion environment next season, so in the past few days, he tried to Contact Bill Sharman and try to discuss the possibility of reviving the retired jersey and passing this number on.

On the other hand, of course, we need to communicate more with Garnett's team. Angie knows that insisting on No. 21 is not a decision made by Garnett alone. It must be a decision made by the entire Garnett team, especially His agent, the difficult Andy Miller.

The only thing that makes Ange feel lucky now is that the team's other core player, Paul Pierce, a pure Celtic, and Garnett get along quite well. The two had known each other since high school, and in 1994 they participated in the AUU tournament in Las Vegas. They were teammates at that time, and Garnett even stayed at Pierce's house for a week. The two had a very good relationship in private.

Since there are no problems with the two biggest names in the team, what Ainge has to do is to either deal with Bill Sharman, Garnett or mainly Andy Miller.

At this time, Anji began to miss Leon again. Recently, he always missed Fox Leon, but this guy was never around. The summer training camp could obviously be held directly in Boston, but he insisted on taking a group of people to Orlando in advance, saying that they could practice more safely there.

If Leon is here, he can be of great help whether it is to deal with Sharman or Miller. Needless to say, Sharman can be called Leon's second godfather. He personally took him to California for internship. Angie didn't know why Leon always liked those old guys. As for Miller, Angie knew that Miller’s agency had Khomeini’s shareholding, and there were various signs that – such as Miller snatching to become Milicic’s agent, Leon and Miller must have something “shady” Personal relationship.

These things piled up together, and Angie pulled his hair in worry. He called Leon several times. Leon either said that he was busy training or looking for players and was unavailable. In short, he just didn't want to help.

The final result was that before the start of the summer league, the issue of Kevin Garnett's number selection began to ferment. The impact of this incident on public opinion began to become larger and larger. Many newspapers opened readers' voting columns to let them Let's choose which number Kevin Garnett should use.

From this question, a series of topics such as the inside story of this draft, Garnett's weaknesses, his once-claimed loyalty to Minnesota, etc. began to bombard this superstar who had just settled down for a few days. At this time, Kevin Garnett realized what a peaceful and peaceful town Minnesota is. He also began to gradually realize that the fans in this ancient city of Boston are the best fans in the world, but they are also the most picky fans.

However, just when Garnett was overwhelmed by public opinion, a person stepped forward to block a shot for him - on July 2, the Eagle County incident broke out, and Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant was summoned by the police; 7 On March 4, the police signed an arrest warrant for Kobe.

A scandal completely diverted people's attention.