Chapter 455: Scars on the Young Guards

On December 23, 2007, the United Center arena in Chicago was packed.

Since Jordan ascended to the top in Chicago, the home of the Chicago Bulls has been one of the most attended arenas in the league.

In the days that followed, no matter whether the team was strong or weak, the arena never cooled down.

Because of Jordan, this arena has become a holy place for basketball.

At the same time, because of Chicago fans, this holy land of basketball has become so shining.

After Jordan retired and left Chicago, the Chicago Bulls became a bullying team.

Since Jordan retired in 1998, the Chicago Bulls have created a record of six consecutive lottery years and four consecutive bottoms.

The speed at which the Chicago Bulls fell after losing Jordan is staggering.

After six years of extremely dark dormancy, the Chicago Bulls finally returned to the top teams in the 2004-05 season under the leadership of former Magic player Scott Skiles, and the team entered the playoffs again.

With Ben Gordon, Luol Deng, Hinrich and other young potential players as the core, the potential and strength of the young Bulls in the NBA are shocking. They were even considered to be the most promising team in the future in the NBA.

Last season, they easily eliminated the defending champion in the playoffs, broke through the first round, and reached the semifinals of the Eastern Conference.

According to the potential and strength of the Bulls players, their future only needs time to become the overlord of the ruling side!

Everything looks so beautiful.

Whether it is players, coaches or fans, at that time, they were full of expectations and praise for the future of the entire team.

until……

Until the Chicago Bulls met a wayward player named Kobe Bryant and a wayward team called the Los Angeles Lakers.

The farce of Kobe leaving the Los Angeles Lakers this offseason has attracted worldwide attention.

In this farce between Kobe and the Lakers, the Lakers were not injured, and the Lakers did not lose Kobe.

It wasn't Kobe who was injured, Kobe got the reinforcement he wanted, Kidd, Randolph, Turkoglu...

It can be said that Kobe got everything he could get with his threats.

Similarly, the fans of the Lakers were not injured. In the Staples Arena, they can finally see the legendary triangle offensive tactic that really belongs to it!

In this farce between Kobe and the Lakers, only one was really injured, and that was the Chicago Bulls.

A young team that was originally united, but because of Kobe's trade farce, the entire team lost its unity, lost its goals, lost its trust, and lost its invincible spirit.

Last season, the Chicago Bulls were the fourth in the Eastern Conference, the most promising young team in the league, and the future Eastern Conference overlord.

With the age structure of the Chicago Bulls, this season will only get stronger, not weaker, under the leadership of team building coach Scott Skiles.

What surprised everyone was that this aggressive and promising team now has a record of 3 wins and 21 losses!

In this year's Eastern Conference, many teams failed to win a single game against the Western Conference teams.

Among these teams are the New York Knicks,

There's also the Miami Heat, both of whom could have been predictable before the start of the season.

With the strength of these two teams, let them win a game against the Western Conference team, it is a dream.

But no matter what, no one would ever think that the Chicago Bulls would be at the same level as the New York Knicks and the Miami Heat!

No, now the record of the Chicago Bulls in the entire league is only better than that of the Miami Heat. They have already dived from a strong team in the East, which played in the second round last season, to almost the bottom of the East!

Nineteen-game losing streak in the season, this is the Chicago Bulls, who would believe it?

Ben Gordon, Luol Deng, and Hinrich, these three once promising players still stayed with the Chicago Bulls.

The Chicago Bulls have completely retained the main force and core of success in the past three seasons this season.

This team, which should have been more and more successful, has now become one of the biggest favorites in the 2008 NBA Draft.

The performance of the Chicago Bulls this season is miraculous among NBA experts and celebrities. According to Pippen, the Chicago Bulls are the reverse supersonics this season.

The Sonics' performance this season has far exceeded everyone's expectations.

And the performance of the Chicago Bulls is really far below everyone's expectations.

It's okay if the team doesn't improve.

There are many motivations for the team to move forward, such as players, tactics, coaches, and various psychological factors.

But the team's players should always be improved, right?

Especially the Chicago Bulls, which are dominated by young players, this team should have undergone a major change every year.

This season's Chicago Bulls players are indeed a big change in a year, but this big change is unbelievably a big drop!

Last season, Ben Gordon was already a player who averaged close to 22 points per game. In the playoffs, he was inseparable from Wade. So far this season, he has averaged 18 points per game.

The average player's scoring has dropped, and the efficiency should increase. This is not the case for Ben Gordon. Ben Gordon is a real decline in strength, not a deliberate failure to shoot.

This season, Ben Gordon's scoring average has dropped by 4 points, his shooting percentage has dropped by 5%, and his three-point shooting percentage has dropped by 10%.

This is a direct drop from an All-Star player to a somewhat cancerous role player.

Last season, Luol Deng was already a player who averaged close to 20 points per game. This season, he dropped to a player who averaged 17 points per game. Although his shooting percentage did not drop as exaggeratedly as Ben Gordon, it also dropped by 4 % shooting percentage.

As the two core players of the team, such performance this season is naturally very unsatisfactory.

The player's behavior is almost self-destructive, and the team should have intervened long ago.

What is embarrassing is that in the face of Ben Gordon and Luol Deng's almost self-defeating behavior, the team's management didn't even have a good reason to intervene.

After all, what happened now was entirely their own fault.

If they hadn't insisted on trading Kobe with the Lakers, such a thing would not have happened.

What happened to the Chicago Bulls this season is all the fault of the Chicago Bulls management.

If it weren't for their credulity in a rather unreliable team like the Lakers, the Bulls wouldn't be what they are now.

When the players of the team realize the cold-bloodedness and cruelty of the team, it is really a luxury to let these players continue to work for the team.

What's more, the core players of the Chicago Bulls are still young players.

How can they still work wholeheartedly for a team that can easily trade them?

It's just that, as the Bulls' management, when the team has problems, the first solution that comes to mind is of course not to solve themselves.

Solving one's unwillingness, and solving the core players can't solve it. In the end, of course, it can only solve the head coach.

In front of the home team's bench in the United Center arena, Chicago Bulls head coach Scott Skiles watched the game on the court with regret and nostalgia written on his face.

"Scott, you are the best head coach I have ever worked with. I thought our cooperation could continue forever. Once, I believed that we would become the leader of the Chicago Bulls' rise again, but now... ...Scott, I'm really sorry that I have to say such a sentence to you now."

Thinking back to the scene before the game, facing the team general manager John Paxson in the Chicago Bulls general manager's office, the expression on Scott Skiles' face is bitter.

He had thought about the way the Chicago Bulls failed.

But he really never expected to fail in this way.

The Bulls he built according to the 04 Pistons ended in this way before the miracle of the Auburn Hills Palace belonging to the Bulls began.

"Scott, I need a victory in this game against the Sonics. We have lost 19 games in a row. The Chicago Bulls will never allow a 20-game losing streak."

"Scott, you know what I mean, if this happens, you and I, we need to be responsible for it, I am not a coward, and I don't need someone to take responsibility for me, but I am still in Chicago Is there any task to be completed?"

Reflecting on John Paxson's words, Skiles looked away from the court and closed his eyes.

The current Chicago Bulls want to beat the Sonics in this game and end their 19-game losing streak.

This is an impossible task.

Not only did he know that this was an impossible task, John Paxson also knew that this was an impossible task.

In this period of Chicago's unbeaten victory, facing the powerful No. 9 like No. 23, the Chicago Bulls were powerless.

Let alone now?

Scott Skiles didn't report any hope at the beginning of the game.

This game will be his last game with the Chicago Bulls.

"Scott, I want revenge, I must take revenge on the Lakers who ruined us, Kobe who ruined us, damn Kupchak, I swear, I must send him to hell!"

A hysterical roar, what can such a roar change?

Scott Skiles knows nothing.

When this game is over, all this has nothing to do with him.

Watching the player with the Seattle SuperSonics ravaging the No. 9 Sonics at Chicago's United Center on the court, Skiles clasped his hands hard.

Although he didn't say anything, he also had a mission that he wanted to complete in this team but couldn't!

This is the team he built with his own hands. In the team he built with his own hands, he has players who he can't let go of, and there are players who make him so ashamed that he can't let go.

Without the farce during the offseason, he and his players would have been wonderful!

If there was no farce in the offseason, they should have been able to stage a thrilling strong dialogue with the Sonics!

But now, such a powerful dialogue has turned into a massacre.

And it was the most desperate kind of massacre!

He doesn't see any life in the players he loves.

If his leaving can bring back their anger, he is willing to leave like this.

Can……

Skiles closed his eyes in pain.

Chicago's low morale and the players' muddled emotions reminded Yeth of the last game against the New York Knicks.

The despondent condition of the Chicago Bulls now makes Ye Si really feel quite incredible.

Is this still the youthful and invincible team from last season?

If it wasn't for the fact that the team's familiar jersey was indeed the Chicago Bulls, Yees even wondered if it was the New York Knicks in disguise.

When the whistle blew, after the Seattle SuperSonics beat the Chicago Bulls 116-97 on the road, Yees could clearly feel the numbness of the current Chicago Bulls players.

This numbness shocked Ye Sidu incomparably.

The numbness in front of him, walking towards him, and the Chicago No. 7 who is about to leave the field, is really the same Ben Gordon who played against Wade in the playoffs last season and is known as the Chicago Miracle and Illinois Yes?

"Another mission has been completed."

Ben Gordon didn't want to spend much time in the damn arena after the whistle blew.

Here, even an extra minute would make him sick.

He wanted to leave right away, but he had to stay here now.

Um?

Ben Gordon, who was walking down the field silently, stopped in surprise at the Supersonic No. 9 standing in front of him.

The man standing in front of him, looking at him with disappointed eyes is his idol, a perfect and unbelievable active legend.

Even Ben Gordon, who has decided to be numb for as long as he is in the Bulls, is still shaken after seeing such eyes from his idol.

The wavering was short-lived, and Ben Gordon gritted his teeth and walked away from Ye Si after the brief wavering.

But before Ben Gordon passed by, a cold voice came from Ben Gordon's ear.

"It is foolish to punish oneself for the faults of others, and it is foolish to punish others by one's own sacrifice."

Looking at the leaving figure, Ben Gordon's originally numb face has changed color.

And Skiles, who had been focusing on Ben Gordon after the game, saw the expression on Ben Gordon's face now, and he, who had been in a heavy mood, actually showed a relaxed smile.

Now maybe I can really leave here with a light heart.

Skiles looked at the No. 9 figure of the Sonics who was surrounded by the Sonics players and left the player channel, with a very grateful look on his face.

"Yes, just got the news that Chicago Bulls head coach Scott Skiles announced his resignation from the team's general manager in the post-game press conference. Bulls general manager John Paxson has accepted Skiles' resignation! "

"Yes, you fired the head coach of another team!"

Wang Han is very excited now.

Jess is surprised now.

Skiles leaves Bulls

Ye Si, who had recovered from his slightly dazed state, was also a little bit regretful.

This is a good trainer.

And this good coach used his departure to achieve his reputation as a coach killer.

On December 25, 2007, a special plane from the Seattle Supersonics landed in Cleveland.

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