January 1st, New Year’s Day, the Knicks played against the Clippers.

It was originally a disproportionate matchup, but Clippers coach Gene Schue had a dream of winning.

When Louis first took over as coach, veteran coaches like Shu publicly expressed dissatisfaction. He believed that young people like Louis, who had never played professional basketball and had no coaching experience before entering the NBA, should not coach.

As a result, no one paid attention to his complaints.

Louis has risen like a rocket. In this meeting, the Knicks brutally slaughtered the Clippers, allowing Dell Ellis to start a crazy month of performance.

Against the Clippers, Ellis hit 8 three-pointers and scored 32 points.

The Knicks also swept the Clippers with a huge 28-point advantage.

After the game, Shu was puzzled by the fact that Ellis was put on the shelf: "I don't understand why the Knicks would want to trade Dell. It seems that although Little Lu has accumulated a lot of coaching experience, he is still not interested in professional basketball.

unfamiliar."

Louis had no intention of swallowing his anger.

When the reporter brought Shu's words to him, he cleverly sarcastically said: "I don't believe what you said. Coach Gene Shu is a respected Hall of Fame coach. He must respect his identity very much and speak cautiously, unlike

You relayed it so hastily. As far as I'm concerned, Coach Shu definitely wasn't in the mood to talk to you so much on a night when he lost by 28 points."

Dale Ellis was at the scene, so the reporter asked Louie about the authenticity of putting Ellis on the trade list.

"Let the bullets fly for a while."

Louis neither admitted nor denied it.

When Ellis was asked about the transaction, he said, "Next question."

The reporter had no choice but to skip him.

After this game, the Knicks had four days of rest, which can almost be regarded as an All-Star weekend offseason.

The fall and rise of the sun are equally dramatic. The trafficking case that shocked the United States greatly damaged the reputation of the alliance.

In order to save the reputation of the team and the league, the Suns fired the entire team.

I thought this team would never recover, but I didn't expect that it would only take a few years to return to the top ranks.

This is also the most difficult game the Knicks have faced since the Christmas Day game.

McHale was rested by Louis due to a foot injury. He has often felt uncomfortable recently. Although the Knicks' young people look strong, their mentality is prone to ups and downs.

The Suns also have a group of young demons, so whoever is in better shape basically wins this game.

The player who changed the outcome of the game was a veteran of the Suns.

The most eye-catching and least surprising person in the solitary trafficking case, Walter Davis (SG/SF), who should be gone but hasn’t yet.

This is a player who, because of his monopoly, no one knows how good he will be in his peak period.

Born in a well-known North Carolina family, he entered the industry with the fifth overall pick. He averaged 24 points per game when he debuted and reached his peak. He has never exceeded this level since then. In that lost era, he, like many others, felt that his life had come to an end after signing a big contract.

At the peak, I would be embarrassed to say that I was playing in the same league as David Thompson without taking some drugs.

He is undoubtedly a player "limited" by the times.

If he had been born ten years later, he might have been a defender like Chris Mullin, with a natural silky touch, excellent ball feel and good enough physical talent.

He had reduced himself to the point where he was only a shooting threat, but he showed off his prowess in tonight's game and scored 35 points, which made the Knicks swallow a bitter pill.

The only consolation prize for the Knicks is Ellis, who is always in his own rhythm no matter who pulls his hips.

He scored 28 points and was the only player with a shooting percentage above 50%.

The worst thing about losing to the Suns is that when they face the Celtics next, the Knicks will play with the burden of "not wanting to lose in a row."

The scary thing is that the Celtics' performance in recent times is like rejuvenating, with Isiah Thomas and Sampson reaching their peak at the same time.

Although Bird is troubled by back injuries, with two giants around, he only needs to get mediocre numbers of 22+10+5 in every game.

The Celtics lost the last time they played against each other, and they have been waiting for this day.

During the game, the Knicks had no power to parry and simply lost the game.

Two consecutive losses.

"If we lose three games in a row, I promise to trade them all."

Before the next game, Louis dropped his harsh words.

The New Jersey Nets suffered as a result. They were not weak, but they were unlucky.

Meeting the Knicks, whose entire team was holding their breath, the New Yorkers turned the game into garbage time without even a decent protest.

Ellis once again hit eight three-pointers.

This month he has been, doing well.

Precisely because of his outstanding performance, no one had any objections to putting him in, and Hornacek had to hold it in no matter how dissatisfied he was.

However, there is something strange.

It's obvious that people like Ewing and Stockton have been working with Ellis for many years, but there have been ups and downs since his comeback.

Of the whole, only Ellis behaved normally.

Everyone else's condition is not normal.

"In fact, the chemical reaction between Dell and other main players has been damaged since last season."

In Louis' office, Zhao Yuanzheng summarized the Knicks' performance after Ellis' off-court troubles.

According to the data, when Ellis first missed the game, the Knicks were really not used to it and often lost, but slowly, they found the feeling.

On the contrary, when Ellis came back, the atmosphere in the entire team was very strange.

People like Wilson were directly affected, while Stockton and Ewing seemed to be psychologically affected.

"Even if Patrick and the others don't say it, they must be quite critical of the trouble Dell has caused." Zhao Yuanzheng said affirmatively, "The characters of Reggie and Jeff are more to their liking than those of Patrick and John.

Next, Dell never communicates with his teammates, he is too silent."

Ellis was nicknamed the "Silent Assassin" because he never communicated with his teammates and never smiled. However, when he was absent from the game for a long time and had problems with his chemistry with his teammates, his lack of communication turned from a characteristic into a flaw.

Fans will think you are cool because you are taciturn and strong, and your teammates will think there is something wrong with you because you are taciturn and do not communicate and have a lot of off-field troubles.

As long as it is a team competitive event, teammates who do not communicate are not welcome. In LOL, this kind of people and the rookies who give away their heads randomly are called orphans.

"How to do it?"

Louis said worriedly.

"Trade, or let Dell serve as a lower-level substitute." Zhao Yuanzheng suggested.

Louis has been tossing around the deal for a while. Each team has offered aggressively and offered good bargaining chips, but none of them has impressed him.

A lower-level substitute? Ellis looks to be the best player on the Knicks right now.

The popular explanation for lower level is that they are substitutes behind Miller and Hornacek in the order of appearance. How can a quasi-All-Star at his peak bear this?

The next game for the Knicks is a third match between the Knicks and the Celtics.

Louis deliberately gave Ellis a rest, even though he had no injuries.

Ellis sat next to Louis in his performance uniform, but they didn't say a word the whole time.

What is most incomprehensible to Louis is that the Knicks' condition miraculously recovered when Ellis took a rest.

The only difference between this game and the previous one is that McHale is back.

Louis scratched his head. Is it McHale's problem or Ellis's problem?

No matter whose fault it was, the Knicks and Celtics played an extremely intense game.

Miller and Hornacek's three-pointers were extremely deadly, killing the game at the most critical moments.

This allowed the Knicks to avoid consecutive losses to the Celtics and raised another question.

“Is it really Dale Ellis’ problem?”

"Is Ellis the reason for the Knicks' mess?"

The New York Times never misses an opportunity to grab attention: “Is Dale Ellis a locker room bomb?”

Louis wouldn't say how stupid it is for a media person to come to such a conclusion.

Based on Ellis' contributions to the Knicks in the past few years, they shouldn't treat him like this.

"I hope some people who like to talk on paper understand that even if Dell betrays the entire earth, his contribution to the Knicks is far greater than yours. You have no right to question his significance to us."

When Ellis returned, the Knicks became their original self.

This time, Louis basically had his own judgment in his mind.

His teammates did not isolate him, he isolated his teammates.

He doesn't communicate, he just moves;

He is too smart and knows everyone's tactics, so even if he doesn't say a word, he can still get good opportunities, and Stockton will not stop passing the ball just because he has an opinion about him.

Ellis scored 32 points with great enthusiasm.

His madness continues, and he will hit the 76ers even harder in the next game.

Not just three-pointers, quick downs, cuts inside, and backdoors.

Combined with outside shooting, he scored a season-high 44 points.

The better his performance, the higher his net worth will be.

At the end of the month, Louis finally got an offer that was hard to refuse.
Chapter completed!