Charlie Hannum glanced at Wang Yi and sneered, then turned to the coach and said:
"Because we don't feel the slightest bit of respect from the Raptors. Didn't someone say they were going to cut our playing time to zero? Well, we'll make that happen for you."
Coach Dark understood. He hurriedly explained, "No, no, listen to me. Wang Yi was only joking. There's nothing wrong with teammates joking around a little, is there? Neither the front office nor I ever said we were going to cut the bench's playing time to zero."
The substitutes only sneered, though. None of them said a word.
Clearly, no one believed the head coach. They all thought the front office and Wang Yi were on the same side.
Coach Dako saw their reaction and said helplessly, "Come on, do me a favor, okay? At least get through tonight's game. After that, we can sit down and talk it out. There's a solution to everything, isn't there?"
But the substitutes seemed as stubborn as a turtle swallowing a weight.
They stayed on the bench, every one of them as steady as Mount Tai.
When a player on a team refused to take the court, that was a serious problem.
People would say the player lacked professionalism and all that. But if most of the players refused to play, people would think the problem lay with the team.
So they had no qualms about refusing.
Coach Dako was at his wits' end. He kept trying to reason with the substitutes, but they showed no intention of taking the court.
Coach Dako glanced at Wang Yi again, came over to him, and spoke quietly:
"Wang, I finally understand what you meant when you said that, at this point, it was out of my hands. It wasn't