Chapter Fourteen: Sensual Blake and Rational Charlie
(Thanks for the tip of Full Metal Cartridge Children's Shoes. As a writer, it is very painful to drink too much, especially when the manuscript is exhausted... The third update is here, and I have already splashed cold water on my face. The fourth
times...)
Blake Dolan is sitting behind the large desk in his own office. This is the office with the best view in the club. Although it is not as exaggerated as the office of MSG Group’s own father James Dolan, standing in front of his own office, he still feels
You can enjoy part of the street view of New York.
It's just that today, what he wants to do is not to enjoy the street view, he is waiting for a player, a player who has been the first to stand up and recognize him since he became the general manager and head coach of the Knicks club and found him immediately.
The person who called him, Knicks point guard, Charlie Ward.
But what he wants to do today is not to raise the salary of the player who was the first to express his welcome. On the contrary, he is going to try to persuade Charlie Ward to give up his $6 million contract in the last year of next season and become a player.
Free agent to re-sign with Knicks.
He wanted to keep Charlie Ward, but he could no longer give him a high salary, even though this player was the Knicks' most loyal player and the last member of the iron-blooded New York Knicks zoo.
Blake Dolan lit up his cigarette. To be honest, when Sam Presti told him this problem, if he hadn't invited Sam Presti to come to the Knicks, Blake Dolan would have definitely punched him hard.
On Sam's nonchalant face!
A guy they all value, who is loyal, has a high IQ, and is the kindest guy in the locker room, ends up having to reduce his salary of $6 million next season!
At that time, Blake Dolan even wanted to yell at Sam Presti: "Why him! The Knicks are willing to pay the luxury tax for this player!"
But Sam Presti looked into Black Dolan's fiery eyes and extinguished his anger with just a few words:
"Just because he is loyal, you can't expect other people to do this kind of thing, but Charlie Ward will agree, and we can let him stay with the Knicks as compensation, and even let him join the Knicks club after retiring, but now
!We must do this! Impulse is your biggest enemy when doing anything, you should know better than me."
And when Blake Dolan almost roared: "Why me! Why am I the one who convinced this veteran who has been loyal to the Knicks for ten years!"
"Because you are the manager of this club." Sam Presti only left these words before leaving.
"Dong dong dong!" There was a knock on the office door. Black Dolan seemed to be awakened. He put out the cigarette in a hurry, then straightened his suit and said:
"Excuse me."
The door opened, and Charlie Ward walked in with a smile on his face. Although he was thirty-three years old, his physical fitness was far beyond that of his peers, and he was one of the most tenacious defensive point guards in the league.
"Hello, Mr. Dolan!" Charlie Ward is like your most silent but most reliable black friend, always with a warm smile.
"Please sit down, Charlie! Call me Blake! Have you forgotten? When you were first drafted by the Knicks, we took a photo together after the first game!" Blake Dolan came over from his seat, not talking to Charlie Ward.
Instead of a subtle handshake, he gave the Knicks veteran a hug.
Charlie Ward was obviously at a loss. Unlike other players on the team, he had no impression of this young man. He had just graduated and joined the Knicks that year, and Blake Dolan also left New York that year. This little guy
The day before he left, he went to the locker room to take a photo with all the Knicks players as a souvenir. Unlike Patrick Ewing, Charlie Ward couldn't write something as disgusting as "You are the next Washington" on the photo.
However, he remembered that he signed his name on the photo of the young man named Blake Dolan and himself, and then only said one sentence, giving it to the eighteen-year-old Blake...
Now, the young kid back then has become the manager of the Knicks, and he has been playing basketball in this league for ten years. At this moment, Charlie Ward feels like a yellowed photo.
Not of this era.
"Charlie! Thank you for that call! Did you know? You are the first!" Black Dolan let go of his hand and looked into Charlie Ward's eyes and said seriously.
"That's okay. The other guys have no impression of you. They don't know what to say to you! And they are worried about whether they will be traded. You know, every time a new coach or new manager takes office, the players are worried.
Panic." Charlie Ward grinned.
After being invited by Black Dolan to sit down on the sofa, Charlie Ward watched Black Dolan go to the drawer. He didn't know the purpose of Black Dolan's invitation. Was it to discuss a contract? But when it came to the contract, he should discuss it with himself.
When talking to your agent, if it has nothing to do with the contract, do you want to provide information about other Knicks players yourself?
"What kind of cigar do you want? Do you know? I rarely smoked cigars before, but since I became this damn manager, I found that I can't live without it, because you can't show up at any time with a Camel in your mouth."
There is a smoking ban everywhere, but cigars are obviously not one of them. How about Cuban products? Those young girls hand-made them on their beautiful legs." Black Dolan pulled out a cigar from the drawer and raised his voice.
Get up and say to Charlie Ward.
"Thank you!" said Charlie Ward. "That's very kind of you, Black!"
Black Dolan handed the cigar to Charlie Ward along with the cigarette lighter and cigar cutter, then sat down next to him and said with a smile:
"You're welcome? You're the only player on this Knicks team that I've even taken a picture with," Blake Dolan said, holding a cigar in his mouth.
Charlie Ward cut off the cap of the cigar, heated it with a cigarette lighter for a while, then lit it and said:
"Blake, okay, what do you want to say? Shouldn't you just let me taste the Cuban girl's cigar?"
"Actually, I mean, I think..." Black Dolan didn't know how to say it. Whether it was at West Point or in the military, he only knew that he could not abandon any loyal and brave comrade.
Charlie Ward took the cigar from his mouth and played with it in his hand. He also moved his eyes away from Black Dolan's face and suddenly said with a smile: "It doesn't matter. I know that everything in this league is a transaction. This is what everyone does."
Something that players and coaches always talk about, tell me, where do you want to trade me?"
In fact, although Charlie Ward had a smile on his face at the moment, his heart was already sinking into an ice cellar. He did not expect that one day, he would leave the Knicks, but he also remembered those words:
Everything in this league is a transaction, and you have to learn to face it.
And today, Charlie Ward, who has served the Knicks for ten years, experienced NBA transactions for the first time. The little guy who took a photo with him back then regarded himself as the first person to be purged.
