Chapter 753: Chapter 7 Generosity
Phil Jackson said these things to the reporters, partly to provoke Michael Jordan.
Jackson realized that getting Jordan to hate Ah Gan is highly unlikely due to Jordan’s unique pride, which doesn’t allow him to be the lesser hater in the face of Ah Gan.
They are fair competitors, respecting and appreciating each other, enjoying their battles, and eager to fight to the death on the highest stage.
Instead of getting Jordan to hate Ah Gan, it was about making Jordan realize that what Ah Gan can do, you, Jordan, must also be able to do.
It’s clear to the discerning eye that Ah Gan excels Jordan in every aspect, even in Jordan’s most proud scoring ability; when Ah Gan wishes it, he also can snatch away the scoring title.
Ah Gan is the best carrot dangling in front of Michael Jordan, the biggest motivation for Jordan to transform himself.
Of course, Jordan isn’t a fool. Having learned about Phil Jackson’s comments on Ah Gan from the media, he guessed it was Jackson’s little trick to stir up discord.
Jordan didn’t mind; he knew that many people didn’t understand the competition between him and Ah Gan—they couldn’t feel it.
As early as entering the NBA, Jordan stated that he was Ah Gan’s number one fan, never thinking about achieving anything great.
Championships? MVP? FMVP? Defensive Player of the Year? These were not in Jordan’s career plan. He just wanted to play well and survive in the league.
And Ah Gan was like a standard-bearer, guiding everyone since the Olympic selection training camp in 1984, guiding these young people.
Now with four championships in his possession while Jordan has none, Jordan never feels lost, let alone jealous.
He just gets more excited, for nothing is more joyful and wonderful than defeating such an Ah Gan.
And about being defeated by Ah Gan?
Oh, so what? Life is still long.
Jordan firmly believes he will win. He is just that confident.
However, when Jordan started the new season training camp full of confidence, he quickly discovered a problem:
Pippen, this guy, didn’t show up.
At first, Pippen claimed his back hurt, needing two more days of rest before reporting to the training camp.
Jordan didn’t care; he welcomed new teammate Buck-Williams, a respected, powerful, diligent and conscientious excellent inside player.
Williams, just turned 30 this year, is in the prime of his career, and his arrival significantly strengthens the Chicago Bulls’ inside line, especially rebounding and one-on-one defense.
Leaving Ah Gan aside, the Detroit Pistons’ proud frontcourt will face the Bulls’ most vigorous challenge, and Buck-Williams naturally becomes the starting power forward for the Bulls.
Although Horace Grant is not quite convinced, in terms of abilities, experience, and expertise, Buck-Williams is the better one.
The only issue for the Bucks is that he has to understand and adapt to Phil Jackson’s triangle offense through the training camp.
After three days of high-quality training, Buck-Williams fit in well, but Scottie Pippen was still nowhere to be seen at the training camp.
Jordan asked Jackson and Krause, where did Scott go?
"Could it be that the chip we traded for Buck wasn’t Stacy, but Scott? Did you send him to New Jersey?"
Jerry Krause hurriedly denied it, at this moment, he was also very anxious; he couldn’t get in touch with Scottie Pippen.
Pippen did have some injuries, but that wasn’t the reason for his absence from the team’s new season training camp; the real reason was money, the contract.
In his rookie season, Pippen signed a four-year contract with the Bulls for a total of 2.83 million US dollars. For a first-round pick, this contract duration and price were quite reasonable.
After the 1990 season, Pippen hoped to get a higher, longer contract to provide a steady assurance for his life.
Pippen came from humble family conditions, from a small place, with 11 siblings at home, being the second oldest and the only one who went to college.
The family was so poor that the parents could only afford Pippen’s education, so Pippen bore the livelihood and future of his large family, he needed security.
With one year left on his contract, Pippen hoped to renegotiate with the Bulls; he didn’t want to become a free agent after the 1991 season and have to look for a new job.
Unlike Jordan, Pippen lacked sufficient confidence in himself.
But Bulls owner Reinsdorf is not a generous man.
While he’s slightly better than the tactics of the Boston Celtics, which exploit players with the spirit of honor, overall it’s not much better.
Even Jordan, such an outstanding player, the savior of the Chicago Bulls, had a salary of only 2.5 million US dollars last year, only half of Ah Gan’s, two-thirds of Ewing’s.
Of course, Jordan earned a lot off the court, and he was very confident in himself, not particularly concerned about income from playing.
For Pippen it was different, it mattered a lot to him, Reinsdorf wanted to keep Pippen, yet he was unwilling to renew the contract generously, instead repeatedly bargaining down the price.
This was Reinsdorf’s usual tactic, generally teaming up with General Manager Jerry Krause to play good cop, bad cop; Krause playing the good cop, Reinsdorf the bad.
When a player wanted to sign or renew a contract, Jerry Krause would push the price down fiercely, to an unbelievably low level.
