236: 108: During the transaction, the influence of the old King visibly declined (Vote for monthly ticket!)_3 236: 108: During the transaction, the influence of the old King visibly declined (Vote for monthly ticket!)_3 Pat Riley was capable of establishing a team culture and building a championship contender, that’s a fact.
The Clippers’ misery stemmed not only from sharing a city with the Lakers but also from entrusting their team to someone destined for misfortune.
You could lavish praise on Elgin Baylor for his rookie season stats with averages of over 25 points and 15 rebounds, for scoring 71 points in a single game in his second season, or for averaging 34.8 points and 19.8 rebounds in his third year.
His individual skills were preposterously strong, but…
he just wasn’t destined to win championships.
Even as a general manager, the story was the same: letting him manage a team was like letting your wife, who brake with her left foot, accelerate with her right foot, and turns on the wipers at the first sign of trouble, drive at night—it’s constant fear.
But Pat Riley was different.
The Heat believed he could firmly establish the team in the NBA.
To achieve results, the decision-makers absolutely couldn’t be foolish.
When Riley joined and was interviewed, he joked, “Our target, of course, is first to take down the Orlando Magic.
Florida can’t accommodate two strong teams.”
People believed that Riley’s statement wasn’t just because both the Heat and the Magic were Florida’s teams, but also because of the deep personal grudge between him and Roger.
Following that, two trades specifically targeting the Magic materialized.
The Chicago Bulls sent backup center Will Perdue to the San Antonio Spurs in exchange for Dennis Rodman, whose reputation had plummeted under Popovich’s influence.
Chicago media weren’t optimistic about this trade.
The Chicago Tribune opined, “The team is playing with fire!
If they can’t control Dennis, that fire will surely burn Krause’s own butt!
But on the other hand, how rare is it for Krause to burn his own butt?
Last summer he even traded away a Finals MVP.”
However, another trade that followed made all Chicago media feel they had spoken too soon.
After acquiring Rodman, the Bulls traded Chris Webber and Bill Wennington to the Pistons in exchange for ’89 Finals MVP Joe Dumars.
This was seen as crucial for controlling Rodman, and of course, Dumars was also very useful on the court.
Though he had aged, his last All-Defensive and All-NBA selections had been in 1993, his experience and heart in the playoffs were much stronger than Nick Anderson’s.
After all, he was someone who had been through great battles and had won a Finals MVP.
These two trades were seen as fixes for the Bulls’ biggest deficiencies last season.
Defense at the power forward position and stability in the backcourt were both addressed.
Dumars, in an interview, stated his clear goal: “I am willing to accept any role on the team, reducing my ball-handling and shooting rights is nothing to me.
For the championship, I am ready to sacrifice everything.
Orlando’s young squad might be strong, but we veterans won’t fade away so easily.”
Targeted, full of targeting.
Once the Magic became champions, the entire league was targeting them.
And at this time, who would pay attention to that first overall pick who had already been on three teams by his third season in the league?
He might be the most disliked number one pick in history.
However, in Detroit, there wasn’t an old-timer like Jordan to continue tormenting him, nor was there a young rascal like O’Neal to squeeze him out.
The new owner of the Pistons, Grant Hill, had a very pleasant personality; almost capable of getting along with anyone.
Maybe Webber really could get back on track in Detroit.
After the Bulls completed their trades, the transfer market fell into a quiet period, with no more blockbuster trades happening.
Although rumors persisted that Alonzo Mourning might join Pat Riley, no trade materialized.
On the Magic’s side, being a championship team with salary cap space already locked in from last season naturally meant no big moves were made.
For a championship team, the most important thing is to preserve the core framework.
So after re-signing Roger, the Magic’s task was essentially complete.
But the Magic were not truly inactive, their biggest shortcoming last season was probably having too few scoring options.
Apart from Roger and O’Neal, the rest were defensive players.
At times when Roger and Shaq ran into trouble, the team would find itself in an embarrassing situation of being completely unable to score.
Thus, newly appointed John Gabriel immediately made a move, trading almost unused white forward Jeff Turner to the Seattle SuperSonics for the former ‘king of Europe’, Sarunas Marciulionis.
Marciulionis’s story was known to all in the basketball world, just look at Sports Illustrated’s evaluation of him in 1992 to understand what kind of player he was: Sarunas would lead Lithuania to give the United States team trouble, of course, the 7-foot-3-inch Arvydas Sabonis would also help him.
That is, in the eyes of the American media at the time, Sabonis was at most considered Marciulionis’s sidekick.
At his best, he could average 18.9 points per game in the NBA and was twice the runner-up for the Sixth Man Award.
The Magic got him for such a small price because his comeback in the SuperSonics last season after a year and a half break due to a broken leg was not very successful.
The Marciulionis of the past also had a crafty slithering drive, bringing the European step to the NBA top plays before Ginobili did.
But the European king after the broken leg had almost lost his driving ability and was essentially just a spot-up shooter.