Soul of the Golden State

Chapter 703 Olympic Selection
When Li Wei Siyuan was on the other side of the ocean, contributing to the social advocacy of basketball, New York, on the other side of the world, was also arguing about the direction of the basketball career of the American Empire.

Since the Olympic Games in 88 and the World Championships in 90, American basketball has been arguing endlessly about this. The most important issue is whether to form a national team composed of NBA players.

As we all know, what the United States is best at is to modify the rules. If you encounter a rule that is not conducive to you, you only need to modify it.

However, it is not so easy to modify the rules. The biggest resistance is not from abroad, but from home.

As early as last year, the NBA pushed Dave Gavita to the position of chairman of the Olympic Selection Committee in order to seize the control of the American Basketball Association from the amateur basketball forces dominated by the NCAA.

Under Gavita's leadership, the Olympic selection committee will consist of seven NBA general managers led by Heat general manager and small owner Billy Cunningham, one NBA player union representative and five NCAA representatives.

It can be seen that in this session of the committee, the NBA's power has soared and completely suppressed the NCAA, but despite this, the formation of the national team is still not smooth.

The meeting has been held at the Hilton Hotel for two days. After many rounds of confrontation, even the most basic candidates for coaches and players have not been decided.

Let's talk about the coach first. Regarding the coach, the first thing people think of is the oldest cardinal Auerbach.

It's a pity that this old man has never held the position of NBA coach since 1966. In addition, he is too old, so he is not willing to take up the position. The famous coaches who were also excluded because of their age include Jack Ramsey, Rick · Holzman, Bill Fitch, etc.

However, although Auerbach himself didn't plan to go, as the most powerful godfather in the NBA, he had countless apprentices, so he took the initiative to recommend Don Nelson.

I have to say that Don Nelson is indeed a suitable candidate.

He has been the head coach of the Bucks since 76 and has been a coach for 15 years. At the same time, he has been awarded the NBA's best coach four times and won two championships. It can be said that he is the most popular head coach in recent years. .

In addition, no one in the NBA knows more about international basketball than him.

Of course, where there are people, there are rivers and lakes. No matter how powerful Auerbach is, he cannot cover the sky with one hand.

As a core member of the selection committee, Billy Cunningham is also a strong contender for the dream team coach. However, he did not recommend himself, but recommended his old opponent Pat Riley.

In addition, although the NCAA has lost power, it still holds 5 seats and has a force that cannot be underestimated, so they also hope that the candidate for the coach can represent the interests of their NCAA. Therefore, although the first nominee, Coach K, was rejected, but They also proposed a second candidate, Larry Brown, who is now an NBA coach but famous for running the University of Kansas in the 80s.

In addition, coaches such as Chuck Daly and Phil Jackson were selected for the final list.

However, after some consideration, today, they finally decided on the candidate for the Dream Team, and that was Don Nelson.

In addition to the above reasons, the reason why he was chosen is also very important, that is, the players generally have nothing to hate or dissatisfaction with Nelson.

Even the Warriors' opponents, whether it's Jordan or Magic Johnson, have a good impression of Nelson.

After the coach confirmed, the other candidates for the coaching staff were quickly finalized after some bargaining. Lenny Wilkens of the NBA was the chief assistant coach, and Coach K of Duke University and PJ Card of Seton University were recommended by the NCAA. Coach Lessimo, serving as the other two assistants.

In addition to the selection of coaches, the selection of players is even more difficult. After all, the head coach is only one person, but there are 12 players to be selected.

Therefore, their discussion meeting today is also doomed not to achieve a good result smoothly.

At this time, the most influential players in the NBA are naturally Jordan, Li Weisi, Magician and Larry Bird. It can be said that if these four can be persuaded to join the dream team, then this dream team is almost You can announce the completion of the formation in advance.

However, now that Li Weisi is recovering from his injuries, he is not considering whether to participate in the Olympics next year, not to mention that he is not in the country at this time.

The same is true for Bird. Now his back is basically ruined. Let alone the Olympics, it is still unknown whether he will be able to play again.

As the most popular player this year, Michael Jordan is different from the above two who don’t want to go because of injury. Missiles hit bugs."

It can be said that among the four major stars, the only one who wants to participate in the Olympics is Magic Johnson.

And Johnson didn't just want to go, it was a fanatical desire to go. From the beginning, Johnson was a super supporter of forming a dream team.

In order to be able to successfully form the dream team this time, he first made it clear to the selection committee that if he invites himself, then he can use his appeal to recruit NBA stars.

In addition, for the few people who cannot be recruited, he will also find a way to recruit them. It can be said that Magic Johnson really took this matter as his own!

In addition to frequent contact with Jordan and Bird, Johnson even made phone calls to Li Weisi's place across the ocean.

"Listen to me, magic, I understand what you mean. In fact, Nelly called me yesterday. As my coach, I also want to support him, but now I can only focus on my body. Now, I need to recover." Li Weisi frowned while holding the phone.

On the other end of the phone, Johnson's hearty voice came, "That means you will participate?"

"No, I mean look at my recovery!"

"No, no, there is still one year before next year's game. I asked the hospital about your injury. You can recover in half a year at most. I believe you can catch up! We want to make the dream team a star-studded party this time , everyone will be proud to join the dream team, and those who miss the dream team will regret it for life." Johnson did not give Li Weisi a chance to refuse.

"That said, but..."

"No, but, I believe you will not be defeated by injuries, okay, I will tell Michael and Larry the news that you will join, and see if they have any reason to refuse."

"Wait, magic, hello? Hello?" Hearing the sound of "beep" from the receiver, Li Weisi knew that Johnson had hung up the phone.

Obviously, he was caught by Johnson.

(End of this chapter)