After the draft night, Lin Qi fell silent.
The eerie silence made the uniformed staff at the FleetCenter feel extremely uneasy.
According to the imaginations of Boston media and scouts, after selecting Chauncey Billups Billups, Ron Mercer, Tracy McGrady, and Derrick Anderson on draft night, Lin Qi should strike while the iron is hot and immediately make some new moves in the free agent market.
But he refused.
He simply showed up at the president's office on time every day, sipping coffee, slowly flipping through various newspapers, studying videotapes with headphones on, and occasionally answering a few indifferent, probing calls from agents.
He's waiting.
Head coach Pitino was so anxious he was pacing back and forth, and even the big boss Gaston couldn't resist making two phone calls, subtly probing whether he had any further big moves planned.
Faced with all the urging, Lin Qi always replied with just one sentence, "It's not time yet."
Until the day Derrick McGee arrived in Boston to report for duty.
The veteran forward, recently acquired from Indiana, walked into Lin Qi's office in a sharp, casual suit, his face still bearing the wariness typical of a professional athlete.
Lin Qi pulled out a chair for him to sit down, and he gestured for his secretary to bring over two steaming cups of black coffee, casually asking a question.
" Derrick, if I remember correctly, you started your professional career with the Seattle SuperSonics, right?"
McGee's fingers, holding the coffee cup, paused in mid-air. He looked up at Lin Qi: "Yes, I stayed there for almost six years."
"How's that place?"
McGee twitched his lips, a nostalgic smile playing on his lips, "It was raining constantly, the arena was so noisy it sounded like it was about to collapse, the fans were a bunch of lunatics. But to be fair, when we won, the whole city was like a carnival."
Lin Qi smiled and echoed his words: "Sounds like a nice place."
McGee shrugged.
Lin Qi held up two fingers and slowly pushed a copy of the day's the Seattle Times sports edition onto McGee's face.
The headline on the front page was written in bold black font, with a harsh and jarring tone.
[" Reign Man " refuses to go to training camp, Kemp's relationship with the Seattle SuperSonics management is completely broken!]
Lin Qi clasped his hands together and asked calmly, "What do you think?"
" Sean isn't an unreasonable person." McGee put down his coffee cup, his voice lowering. "He just feels that his dignity as a superstar who led his team to the NBA Finals has been trampled on by those idiots in management. You can't give a white big man ( Jim McIlvaine ) who averages only a few points per game and is like a moving tree stump on the court a seven-year, $50 million top-tier contract, and then turn around and let Sean, who dominates the league's interior, continue to have a few million old contract, and expect him to smile at the media every day and say everything is fine."
Lin Qi tapped his fingers lightly on the table, throwing out the most crucial question, "What about Gary Payton? What did Gary say?"
McGee gave Lin Qi a meaningful look.
That's a question that's too simplistic and too cleverly phrased.
It was as coincidental as gossiping between old friends.
But Lin Qi and McGee weren't exactly old friends.
But how could McGee, a seasoned veteran who's been through the motions in the league, not understand the meaning behind Lin Qi's words?
" Gary ( Gary Payton ) is on Sean's ( Kemp's ) side, and that has never changed," McGee said frankly, taking a deep breath.
"They have a good relationship?"
"They're brothers." McGee looked directly into Lin Qi's eyes, emphasizing each word. "Not just casual teammates. Gary's a foul-mouthed, stubborn guy, but once he considers you one of his own, he'll protect you with his life. Sean's brother for life."
Lin Qi nodded slowly, letting out a soft chuckle, "Then he must be utterly disappointed with that city now."
McGee's brow furrowed. "To whom? Management?"
"To the entire Seattle SuperSonics." Lin Qi leaned back in his large chair, his voice calm yet laced with a cold, ruthless edge, "A team that truly wants to dethrone Michael Jordan and contend for the championship would never do something so self-destructive during the NBA Finals. Giving McIlvaine that contract wasn't just about spending tens of millions more; it was a clear message to the locker room... that we, a bunch of idiots in suits sitting in our offices, have no idea who the real backbone of this team is."
McGee gripped his coffee cup tightly, offering no rebuttal.
Lin Qi continued to reopen old wounds regarding Seattle: " Kemp is definitely leaving. Or rather, Seattle's management was already mentally prepared to lose the ' Reign Man ' the moment they signed the contract. But what I'm curious about now is, if even Kemp is gone, what can Gary Payton do left there alone?"
McGee looked up, a hint of instinctive wariness in his eyes. "They also have Gary; he can carry the team on his own shoulders."
"So they can keep winning some insignificant games in the regular season." Lin Qi's sarcasm deepened. "Fifty wins, or forty-eight. And then what? Get swept by the Lakers or Utah Jazz in the first or second round of the playoffs and go home fishing. The Seattle SuperSonics will wear him down year after year, like sand in an hourglass. Until one day, he'll suddenly realize that he'll never return to the NBA Finals, and he'll be over thirty. If... he could leave Seattle this summer, maybe he'd have a completely different career."
McGee's expression finally changed completely. He held his coffee, which had long since gone cold, but couldn't swallow a single drop.
Lin Qi seemed completely oblivious to the shock and unease in the other person's eyes. He simply lowered his head nonchalantly, rustling as he turned to the next document, and murmured softly in an almost dreamlike tone.
"What a pity. What a real pity."
"A talent like Gary Payton should have won a championship."
Lin Qi paused slightly as he turned the page, his eyelids not lifting, but his voice rang out clearly in the quiet office.
"After all, on the NBA Finals stage, he was the only one in the entire league who could put Michael Jordan in such a precarious and suffocating state..."
"The 1996 NBA Finals... it feels like yesterday, I still remember it vividly."
McGee sat opposite him, remaining silent for a long time.
A few minutes later, he took a deep breath, slowly stood up, and said goodbye.
However, as he reached the office door, with his hand already on the brass doorknob, McGee suddenly stopped.
He turned around and looked at Lin Qi figure was bathed in the interplay of light and shadow.
"Forest."
"Um?"
" Gary's a tough nut to crack. He absolutely hates having decisions made for him, and he hates being manipulated by management even more." McGee gritted his teeth and dropped the final bombshell in a low voice, "But what he hates most in his life is having his life wasted."
Lin Qi watched his retreating figure and smiled meaningfully. McGee didn't say anything more, pushed open the door, and quickly left.
Until mid-July.
With a deafening crash, the already crumbling skyscraper in Seattle finally collapsed completely...
Sean Kemp has been officially put on the trading block by the Seattle SuperSonics.
In less than 24 hours, rumors and faxes about a multi-party trade involving the Cleveland Cavaliers, Seattle SuperSonics, and others flooded the pages of all sports media outlets across the United States.
Seattle's situation has completely collapsed.
What made things even more suffocating for the Seattle SuperSonics management was that Gary Payton also started to make trouble at this critical juncture.
After learning that Kemp was definitely leaving, the hot-tempered " The Glove " completely overturned General Manager Wally Kemba Walker's desk. He not only publicly berated the management's stupidity in front of the media, but his agent also directly submitted a formal trade request to the Seattle headquarters.
Gary Payton's attitude was extremely tough: Either keep Kemp, or send me away with you. I'm not wasting my prime years with you bunch of suit-wearing idiots.
In the midst of this chaotic Late Night, when the entire league was frantically calling Seattle to inquire about prices and the Seattle SuperSonics' management was pushed to the brink, a private, confidential call from Gary Payton's agent, facilitated by McGee, was transferred directly to Lin Qi's president's office.
They talked for a long time that night.
After that, Lin Qi called the Seattle SuperSonics manager's office directly.
Wally Kemba Walker on the other end of the phone was on the verge of a breakdown, but Lin Qi was extremely patient, dismantling and probing with Kemba Walker bit by bit. They rejected a total of four impractical plans...
Lin Qi remained calm. Under immense pressure from Gary Payton's coup attempt, he continuously reorganized his strategy over the phone.
Whenever Kemba Walker showed hesitation or resistance, Lin Qi would precisely add a bargaining chip that the other party couldn't refuse to one side of the scale.
With the fourth plan rejected, Lin Qi wrote down his final plan heavily on the draft paper.
In the Late Night, when everyone was filled with panic and exhaustion, this had become the optimal strategy for the entire game.
The Boston Celtics traded Sam Cassell, Mark Price, Michael Finley, Steve Nash, and the Denver Nuggets ' 1999 first-round draft pick (lottery protected).
[Traded for Seattle SuperSonics: Gary Payton.]
Seattle SuperSonics General Manager Wally Kemba Walker fell into a deathly silence that lasted for several minutes.
Kemba Walker's hands were trembling.
He certainly knew how significant this offer was.
Losing Gary Payton would immediately bring him Sam Cassell, a championship-caliber starting tough guy; Price, a pillar of strength who can stabilize the locker room; Finley, a young wing with unlimited potential and a guaranteed 20+ points per game in the future; Nash, a super-value talent on a low salary; and the Denver Nuggets ' future first-round pick guarantee.
"It's settled, Lin..." Kemba Walker's voice was terribly hoarse and filled with exhaustion on the other end of the phone. "Sometimes, I really don't know if you're a genius or an idiot."
"However, Lin, I must admit, you saved my life."
The rustling sound of signatures came through the receiver clearly.
Wally Kemba Walker threw his pen on the table and sank into his office chair as if he had been dehydrated.
But after the initial fatigue and panic subsided, the Seattle SuperSonics general manager looked at the fax on his desk filled with information about Boston's assets, and his wildly beating heart gradually calmed down. He even felt a huge sense of absurdity, as if he had been given a lifeline.
Fool?
Prior to this, Lin Qi had indeed assembled a group of fairly good role players through various means.
But Lin Qi knew better than anyone that in the NBA, a league dominated by superstars, a bunch of excellent role players were still far from winning the gleaming O'Brien Trophy. To really expect that lineup to upset the Chicago Bulls or the Utah Jazz would largely depend on the opponent's poor performance, injuries, or unpredictable luck such as referee calls.
But he is a pure pragmatist, and he has no way of, nor would he ever deign to, pin his hopes of winning on luck that is beyond his control.
To break this deadlock, we must forcefully convert small change into larger sums and buy up real superstars at rock-bottom prices.
That's Gary Payton. A top-tier tough guy destined to enter the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in the future.
Mediocre chips, no matter how high you pile them up, are just pocket change.
Trading a bag of loose change for a Hall of Fame-caliber team leader in his prime is a winning trade no matter how you look at it.
Lin Qi slowly raised his head, his gaze falling on the huge tactical whiteboard in the office.
On that surface, Boston's defensive network for the new season has quietly taken shape.
Starting point guard: Gary Payton.
Starting shooting guard: Eddie Jones.
Starting small forward: Robert Horry.
Starting power forward: Kevin Garnett.
Starting center forward: Dikembe Mutombo.
This is Lin Qi's starting lineup.
As for who head coach Rick Pitino will ultimately start...
Then...
I don't know.