Champion Rules

Chapter 80, Chapter 076: The Person LeBron Must Defeat (Seeking Monthly Tickets!)

Sam Presti became the youngest general manager in North American professional sports history, which made him more famous but also increased the pressure on him.

Shannon Presti was watching TV on the large sofa in her new New York home when she heard the long-awaited metallic click of a keyhole. Excitedly, she stood up, ran barefoot to the entryway, and greeted her husband.

The New York Knicks' general manager, carrying a briefcase, staggered and kicked off his shoes, which were covered in Manhattan grime.

His wife didn't scold him for messing up the floor; she simply took the bag from his hand.

She knew her husband was exhausted; even loosening his tie felt like disassembling a bulletproof vest.

Home is just a haven where he can relax.

"How was today's interview?" Shannon asked as she helped him hang up his bag.

Sam Presti shrugged: "It's the same old boring questions, the same old clichés. Trade rumors, draft strategies, please, how am I supposed to actually tell them my plans? Oh, but today there was one different question. They actually asked me what the Knicks' female cleaners looked like."

"What a strange question! Does that mean all the brooms in Madison Square Garden are stuck in the hands of Victoria's Secret Angels? Mr. James Dolan's hiring standards are indeed very strict." Shannon smiled.

"You might not believe it, but after Isaiah left, several female cleaners from the Knicks said that the former general manager stared at their bodies with a sticky look more than once, which led to one of the strangest questions in professional sports history. Ha, how could I possibly be in cahoots with Isaiah?"

"Oh my god, that was terrible. Thank goodness they're saved now."

Presti nodded, then leaned back on the sofa.

He has been in New York for a week, but he hasn't been home for dinner for a whole week.

It wasn't because I was addicted to the glitz and glamour of New York, but because my schedule was too packed.

The media kept the Knicks' new leader embroiled in a whirlwind of interviews for seven days, with one interview every day.

Shannon's fingers ran through her husband's curls, which were held back by hair gel, and touched a few strands of silver hair, traces that had never been seen on the banks of the San Antonio River.

"Take a break and take a shower. There's some food in the fridge, I'll heat it up for you."

“I’ve had my Shannon,” Presti said, getting up and taking a bottle of chilled soda from the fridge. “Now I have some real work to do, some planning for the Knicks’ future. Tell the kids not to bother me, I’ll come out and say goodnight to them when they’re asleep.”

“Sam, you don’t have to work so hard. Saving a team takes time. You can’t solve problems that others couldn’t solve in years in just one week.”

"Yes, it takes time. But if I can't succeed with a player like Lynch, then God, even twenty years from now, I'll be remembered as the 'most failed general manager in history'."

After saying that, the young manager picked up his briefcase and went back to his room.

Isaiah Thomas's actions during his years with the Knicks have been, to say the least, utterly unhelpful to the team.

No, it's not just that he's accomplished nothing, Isaiah Thomas is practically dragging this team into an abyss.

The Knicks' distorted salary structure is eroding the team's future.

Presti even learned from his assistant that Isaiah Thomas was preparing to offer 30-year veteran Jerome Williams a five-year, $30 million contract extension before stepping down.

Who is Jerome Williams? God knows, that guy is only averaging 4 points and 3 rebounds per game for the Knicks this season.

God knows what the Smiling Assassin was thinking. Presti even suspected that the Smiling Assassin was taking drugs in the office all day, which made him lose his mind.

Thank God, he took over the team before the contract was even finalized, otherwise the Knicks' salary structure would have been even more chaotic.

He still has a lot of work to do; he can't waste the New York Knicks' championship window.

Yes, for Sam Presti, the Knicks' championship window has opened.

The journey officially began the moment they chose Lynch.
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Sam Presti has his work to do, and Lynch is doing his job well.

Since the All-Star break, the Knicks have maintained a very good record.

The team has consistently remained in the top four in the Eastern Conference, and Reebok's "Kaiser Series" sneakers have also seen steady sales growth.

This cast a shadow over Nike's headquarters in Oregon, thousands of miles away.

Nike's business empire for LeBron James is facing a double crisis.

On one hand, the Cavaliers' struggles on the edge of the playoffs have severely damaged the media appeal of this chosen one, making him far less popular than last season.

Even though Nike's in-house press team continued to fabricate the narrative that "Emperor James is still evolving," these rhetoric became utterly unconvincing compared to Lynch, who was also young and accomplished.

Even more devastatingly, Cleveland failed to score a single point in the four direct confrontations between "King James vs. Young Caesar" this season.

Even if LBJ wins one game, Nike has the ability to make 1 greater than 3.

But James has never beaten Lynch in a single game, and even Nike couldn't make 0 > 4.

On the other hand, discordant voices have also emerged within Nike.

Eric Avar, the lead designer for LeBron's shoe team, told The Oregonian:
“Every design meeting was like conducting a chaotic symphony orchestra. There were at least eight voices vying for the right to speak around LeBron, and he himself was like an indecisive conductor, unable to give a unified opinion. Working with him on his shoe design made me feel lost, as if he himself didn’t even know what he wanted. It was really difficult for me to work with him.”

This sharp criticism forced Nike to immediately remove Eric Avar from James' shoe design team.

As Nike's face, LeBron James' image must be positive. If he doesn't receive consistently positive feedback within Nike, how can Nike promote their star to the outside world?
LeBron James always likes to have a group of people with him, especially that kid named Rich Paul, who has a lot of influence. This has always been James's habit; he has his own little team.

Since we can't change James's habits, let's deal with the people who don't like those habits.

Although Nike quickly cut ties with Eric Aval, the public opinion domino has already fallen – people have begun to question whether this young man, surrounded by his management team, childhood friends, and business partners, is really ready to shoulder the ambition of a basketball business empire.

All these terrible things have left Phil Knight haunted by the same nightmare lately.
He would dream of that misty Swedish morning, and of Lynch getting up and leaving after rejecting him.

When Lynch leaves, he will transform into Michael Jordan, while Sonny Vaccaro grins maliciously beside him.

This image would always wake Phil Knight.

The dream seemed to foreshadow that he was pushing a guy who could completely revolutionize the sneaker market like Michael Jordan into the face of his rivals.

He wondered if he had agreed to give Lynch 120 million back then, if he had agreed to make Lynch the primary advertising target for Nike, would he still be so troubled now?

He didn't know the answer yet, but he did know that LeBron James' second season in his professional career had ended in failure again.

4月20日，当文斯.卡特用单场37分的表现率领篮网战胜凯尔特人后，这支开局2胜9负的球队最终还是以42胜40负的战绩，在常规赛收官日压哨杀入季后赛。

In the instant the gears of fate turned, inside the Canada Line Centre, the Cavaliers defeated the Raptors, their equally impressive 42-40 record plunging them into the abyss due to a subtle difference in their head-to-head record against the Nets—LeBron James and his team, ranked ninth in the Eastern Conference, missed the playoffs for the second consecutive year. It was a rather embarrassing situation.

When Dwyane Wade led the Miami Heat to the top of the Eastern Conference with 61 wins, when Carmelo Anthony's Detroit Pistons followed closely with 58 wins, and when Lynch's New York Knicks still managed 52 wins and ranked fourth in the East amidst the turmoil of power shifts, (the third place was held by the Pacers, who were not dismantled in the Malice at the Palace)...
The beautiful narrative of the "Four Horsemen of the East" was abruptly torn apart.

In terms of public opinion, James should have been on the same level as those three.

As a result, he's now only fit to sit at the same table as Dwight Howard, a freshman!
In Cleveland, James' nicknames are still "King James" and "The Chosen One".

But outside of Cleveland, Lynch’s nickname, “The Performer with the Chosen One etched on His Skin,” has become synonymous with LeBron James.

On the night of the 20th, James was disheartened after defeating the Toronto Raptors but still missing the playoffs.

He said a lot at the press conference.

"It was a tough season. Our team went through a lot of changes mid-season: a change of ownership, the firing of the head coach, and player trades. Before all that happened, we were already in playoff contention. I put up some good numbers, but we still couldn't achieve our goals. All I can say is, the NBA isn't just basketball, man."

"You mean the Cavaliers' failure to make the playoffs wasn't your fault? But Lynch also experienced a lot of changes, and there were all sorts of unexpected events involving the New York Knicks from the beginning of the season."

His conflicts with Stephon Marbury and Isaiah Thomas, the season-ending injury of Allan Houston, the injury of Grant Hill, and Lynch's own struggles—all these setbacks ultimately led the team, which had won 29 games last season, to fourth place in the Eastern Conference, a 23-game lead.

Why won't Lynch be affected?

“No, what I mean is…” LeBron James was speechless, now feeling completely lost and flustered.

That damn Lin Qi! It's all because of that damn Lin Qi that he's been stuck in this awkward comparison!

As this thought burrowed into his nerves like a venomous snake, the young emperor suddenly realized that the outline of his nemesis was becoming increasingly clear under the spotlight—the New York tyrant who had unleashed a youthful storm in Madison Square Garden had long been the yardstick by which his career was measured.

Unless one day a championship ring melts this measuring stick, comparisons of them will forever echo around his throne.

Lynch is the person he has to beat throughout his entire career!

Meanwhile, Gilbert Arenas made it clear to everyone after defeating the Charlotte Bobcats.

"Within five shows, we will turn off the lights of Madison Square Garden for Lynch!"

The Washington Wizards are currently fifth in the Eastern Conference, which means that the old rivals, Admiral and young Caesar, will meet in the first round of the playoffs.

Gilbert Arenas will definitely get his revenge; he beat Lynch once in the regular season, scoring 44 points in that game.

As it turns out, scoring enough points makes dealing with Lynch not so difficult.

On the South Coast, thousands of miles away, Shaquille O'Neal, fresh off his 61-win season, was enjoying the media's adoration.

Although Shaquille O'Neal, who was resting tonight, did not play, he still attended the press conference.

"PJ Brown and Alonzo are very important additions to us. I knew from the beginning of the season that we would be the top seed in the East. And in the playoffs, no one can stop us." Shaq was very happy. Pat Riley may be ruthless, but he is indeed an excellent playmaker.

After Lynch scored 40 points in a row, Riley quickly made roster adjustments, trading several key players, including Wang Zhizhi, plus draft picks, from the Hornets for PJ Brown, a three-time All-Defensive Team selection.

This was an acquisition that did not exist in the Heat's original history; it was an acquisition specifically tailored for Lynch by the Heat.

Compared to Haslem, PJ Brown is more experienced and has a better physique.

His tall and slender build often draws criticism for his lack of physicality when playing center, but his agility, a result of his smaller weight, becomes an advantage when playing power forward.

It was because of him that the Heat achieved a record of 61 wins, a feat that never existed in history.

In addition, the Heat, as usual, signed Alonzo Mourning, their former team icon who was waived by the Raptors, finally giving Shaq a qualified backup.

As a result, the Heat won both of their remaining games against the Knicks this season, allowing Shaq to temporarily forget the humiliation of being scored on twice by Lynch with 40+ points.

"Would you like to face Lynch in the second round of the playoffs?" a reporter asked, as expected.

O'Neal's thick fingers gripped the microphone so tightly it creaked, and his wide grin almost tore his cheek apart.

Meeting Lynch in the playoffs? He fucking wants to!

The broadcast cameras faithfully captured the contempt emanating from every pore of the shark:

"Listen, I don't think Lynch will get past the first round easily. The playoffs are completely different from what he imagined. It's something he's never seen before. The steel teeth of the playoffs are not as easy to suck as the pacifiers of the regular season."

Even if he manages to get through the first round, we're still the top seed in the East, man.

Tell those guys at Reebok that it's not too late to create an ad slogan like "Losing to the top team in the East isn't shameful." (At this point, Shaq had already broken off his partnership with Reebok, and the two sides were on very bad terms, so they were both criticizing each other.)

Shaq was incredibly proud of being the top team in the East, looking at Kobe who didn't even make the playoffs, and then looking at himself.

The last opponent he tore apart with his sharp teeth is now licking his wounds in the shadow of defeat in Los Angeles.

Now, he's going to make Lynch experience the same embarrassment in the playoffs!
LeBron James, grappling with defeat in the Cleveland winter, saw Lynch as his greatest enemy; Gilbert Arenas, in the Wizards' locker room, was grinding his gun for revenge; now it was Shaquille O'Neal's turn to wring his fists and head toward Lynch.

This new king of New York, who has just entered the league, has already made enemies all over the East.

They are just the beginning; the number of people who hate Lynch is destined to grow, and may even spread to the far west.

But this is precisely the path that superstars must take; true kings are destined to be crowned amidst thorns, not to make friends among flowers.

If you want to win, you're destined to offend a lot of people.

Lynch is ready to shine in the playoffs, and he doesn't mind offending Arenas and Shaq again.

On the eve of the first battle, Lin Qi opened the long-unused store interface.

Lynch had actually accumulated 200 talent points by March, but the store didn't have what he wanted. Rebounding, speed, and strength were all talents he already possessed, so he wasn't in a hurry to exchange them.

At that time, there was still a month and a half before the store would refresh again.

Now, a month and a half has passed, and Lin Qi can finally see if the refreshed products will bring any surprises.

(Thank you so much to the generous donors: Sitting Alone by the Sea Watching the Sunrise, Lin Yu, Confirmed Goods Received, Feng Ling Yue Ying Zong Yuan Er Shao, Yi Xi Zero, and others! I am deeply grateful!)

(End of this chapter)