Chapter 496 - 430: Torment
On the plane to Portland, Chen Yu and Nelson were discussing the Wallace trade.
"The Blazers still lost out on this one," Nelson said.
Chen Yu nodded in agreement.
It was said to be a one-for-six trade, but the only real core asset was Milicic.
Looking at the trade assets, Chen Yu remembered Bob Sura because he’d done something ridiculous back when he was with the Hawks: he intentionally missed a layup to pad his stats for a triple-double.
It was a small thing, but it revealed a lot about his character—he was too selfish, too much of a ball hog.
After joining the Warriors, he played well for two years, but then injuries caught up to him.
His playstyle relied too much on driving to the basket, but as a white player, his body wasn’t strong enough. How could he not get injured?
Last season, he had a major injury and missed thirty games.
Chen Yu had treated him before.
He’d had minimally invasive surgery to remove loose bone fragments from his right knee and was out for two months.
He also had a bulging disc, and though it hadn’t herniated yet, they had opted for conservative treatment at the time. It was still a significant hidden risk.
And even setting aside all these injury risks, his ceiling, even when healthy, wasn’t high. He could only be considered an average role player.
As for the other player, Serk Rebrasha.
The guy was drafted in the same year as Hill and J Kidd but didn’t make it to the NBA until ’01.
He was old and completely unremarkable. The only reason the Pistons used him was that they had no one else and were unwilling to spend money on new players.
After discounting O’Ku, a second-round pick, the trade had only one core asset: Milicic.
"Larry’s use of Milicic was completely unreasonable," Chen Yu lamented.
He was the second overall pick!
Since you passed on a quality forward like Anthony to pick Milicic, you should have at least developed him properly.
But what happened instead?
By the 22nd, the day the trade was completed, the Pistons had played 13 games.
And Milicic had played in a total of 6 of them.
And what was his total playing time? 14 minutes.
That’s right. For the second overall pick, after his team had played 13 games, his total playing time was less than what the first overall pick, James, got in a single game.
It was simply appalling.
Even if he were a second-round pick, he shouldn’t have gotten so little playing time.
On top of that, in 3 of those 6 games, Milicic only played for 1 minute.
What could he possibly do in 1 minute?
So, unsurprisingly, across 6 games, Milicic totaled just 3 rebounds, 1 steal, and 2 blocks.
Zero points!
Keep in mind, in those 6 games, he only had 3 shot attempts in total.
Chen Yu was very familiar with both Brown and Dumars, and he truly couldn’t understand what they were thinking, torturing a kid who had just turned 18 like this.
Other than "torture," Chen Yu couldn’t think of a more fitting word.
Young players need to be given opportunities. You can’t be afraid of them performing poorly; making mistakes is the only way to have hope for improvement.
If you keep this up, it’s easy to destroy a young player’s confidence.
Chen Yu’s thoughts turned to Kwame Brown.
Although Chen Yu had handed over the daily operations of the player health management department to Mark Tatum, he was still a consultant for the department.
When players got injured, their cases still had to be submitted to Chen Yu for review.
The teams and Stern didn’t trust anyone else’s skills, so they could only have Chen Yu continue to handle this part of the work.
Therefore, Chen Yu was still aware of the condition of players on every team in the league, including their psychological reports.
Take Kwame Brown. This past March, he officially turned 21.
And upon his return this offseason, a report from the Wizards’ team psychologist stated that Brown often smelled of alcohol, was withdrawn and introverted, and was showing a tendency to become addicted to alcohol.
It could only be said that the Wizards’ development of Kwame Brown was also problematic.
"Anyway, the trade is done. There’s no point in discussing whether it was a loss or not anymore," Chen Yu continued.
Looking at the trade itself, the Blazers definitely lost out.
Wallace had a pile of off-court issues, which must have affected his trade value. Plus, the Blazers’ goal was clear, so it was inevitable that Dumars would have the upper hand.
But since the trade is done, you can only say that each side got what it needed.
Trades for basically nothing and lopsided deals aren’t exactly rare in the league.
Nelson nodded, thought for a moment, and added, "Chen, look, Milicic is only 18 this year. He’s just a kid who came to the United States from Serbia all by himself to play basketball. He’s a number two pick, so fan expectations must be high. But his performance has been so poor, I think he’s bound to have psychological problems."
"So, should we start by addressing his psychological issues first?"
After he finished, he noticed Chen Yu looking at him with a strange expression.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
"Aaron, have you been secretly studying psychology?"
Chen Yu asked curiously.
A flicker of embarrassment crossed Nelson’s eyes. "Well, since I’m working with you, I definitely need to keep improving myself. So I’ve been reading some books on psychology in my spare time."
Chen Yu gave him a thumbs-up. "That’s great. I’ll find you a few psychology books to read later."
After a pause, Chen Yu said, "You’re right. We should start with his mentality and build up his confidence."
Confidence is a really important thing.
The plane touched down in Portland with a roar.
Steve Patterson was at the airport to pick up the group.
"Chen, the owner is out of Portland on business, but he told us that we are to fully support whatever you do next, even if it means trading players," Patterson said.
Chen Yu ran a consulting firm, and a consultant’s ultimate goal is to improve a team’s strength.
It was a results-oriented consulting service.
It was like a company temporarily hiring a professional consulting team to improve its management and operations across the board.
Coupled with Paul Allen’s immense trust in Chen Yu, Paul Allen had even implicitly instructed Patterson that even if Chen Yu thought a player wasn’t a good fit for the Blazers and wanted to trade him, Patterson had to support it.
Patterson felt a little unhappy about this.
’To put it bluntly, Paul Allen has basically hired Chen Yu to be the team’s general manager.’
But he couldn’t do anything but obey. He was certain that if a conflict arose between him and Chen Yu, he would be the one to go.
Chen Yu noticed something was off with Patterson’s tone. A quick thought revealed the reason, and he said with a smile, "Steve, our mission here is very clear: to improve the team’s strength and make it better. And we certainly can’t do that without your help, because you’re more familiar with this team. So, I’m very grateful for your support of our work."
Patterson nodded slightly. Whether Chen Yu’s pleasantries were sincere or not, they at least made him feel a bit better.
"By the way, why didn’t Joe give you Prince?" Chen Yu asked, changing the subject.
The previously discussed trade targets were Milicic, O’Ku, and Prince.
And the Blazers had a young man named Randolph at the power forward position.
Chen Yu had a strong impression of him from last season’s playoffs.
He was a little undersized in height, but his wingspan was astonishing. He had the weight, explosive power, and skilled low-post offensive techniques. He even played impressively against McDyess.
He was well worth developing.
Speaking of that, Patterson sighed. "I made that request, to include Prince in the package, but Joe wouldn’t agree, even when I threatened to call off the trade."
After a pause, Patterson added, "He seems to value Prince as a player very highly."
Chen Yu frowned slightly but didn’t say anything more.
’The trade is already done, it’s too late to discuss it now.’
"By the way, is there training scheduled for today?" Chen Yu asked.
Tomorrow, the 25th, the Pistons have a home game against the Wizards.
Logically, there should be training scheduled for today.
Patterson nodded and glanced at the time. "It should be ending soon."
It was already past eleven; the morning practice should be about over.
Chen Yu thought for a moment and said with a smile, "No problem, let’s go straight over and get acquainted with them."
Other than Wallace, Chen Yu wasn’t familiar with many of the Blazers’ players.
The group arrived at the Rose Garden Arena.
They passed through a long employee corridor and reached the auxiliary court, where they learned that practice had ended and the players were eating in the cafeteria.
"Let’s go take a look."
The players’ daily diet was naturally within the scope of his consulting services.
In the cafeteria, Rivers and a few assistant coaches were sitting in a corner. A plate of food was in front of him, but he had barely touched his utensils. Instead, he was flipping through a game analysis report, lost in thought.
His brow was furrowed, and he was clearly not in a good mood.
Since he took over as head coach, the team’s record hadn’t been good.
The reason was simple. Without any media leaks, the news that the team was rebuilding was already common knowledge.
The locker room was restless. Everyone was worried they would be traded, their focus wasn’t on the court, so how could the record be any good?
Fortunately, the team was starting to rebuild, so the pressure for results wasn’t as great. They could even afford to tank a little and go for a lottery pick.
But Rivers couldn’t actually tank.
’I finally got another chance to be a head coach. I have to work hard and produce results that will satisfy the management.’
On top of that, he didn’t have his own staff. Lynam had only been head coach for a few days before being demoted, and he was resentful of Rivers, the new coach parachuted in from the outside.
So his job in Portland wasn’t going so smoothly.
Just then, he saw Chen Yu.
His heart skipped a beat. Rivers immediately stood up and walked over to greet them.
He knew, of course, that Chen Yu was coming today. Patterson had even asked him earlier if he wanted to go to the airport with him to pick Chen Yu up.
But considering his past friction with Chen Yu, and assuming Chen Yu would go directly to his hotel today, he had declined.
"Chen, we meet again. My apologies, I had practice today, so I couldn’t come to the airport to greet you," Rivers said, apologizing as soon as he came over.
Then, he greeted Nelson and the others one by one, finally giving Ewing and Oakley enthusiastic hugs.
After being traded to the Nicks in ’92, he was the team’s starting point guard, and his relationship with Ewing and Oakley wasn’t bad.
He seemed a bit stiff, his smile somewhat unnatural.
Especially when facing Chen Yu, his gaze was always a little evasive.
He was clearly feeling insecure.
If not for Chen Yu, he wouldn’t have gotten this head coaching position.
Conversely, Chen Yu also had the power to get him fired again.
And this time it would be even simpler; all he’d have to do was say a word to Paul Allen.
Chen Yu paid no mind to this, his gaze falling upon the many players in the cafeteria, and he frowned slightly.
Just from where the players were sitting, it was clear at a glance that the Blazers were divided into several small cliques.
This was not a good sign.