Chapter 815: Chapter 28 General_3
Reinsdorf’s words were very effective; he knew how Jordan felt about Thomas and also knew that Jordan clearly saw how Thomas was being attacked.
Jordan backed down.
"Imagine, if you were another player on the Bulls, and the boss was always dissatisfied with you, wanting to trade you away, how would you feel? Would you work hard, play well, and make progress?"
"As far as I know, the Portland Trail Blazers really wanted to trade Cheche Vandeweghe away because his defense was terrible. But Ah Gan stopped the trade, he believed if Vandeweghe wasn’t good enough, he could find a way to help him improve rather than replace him. That year seemed to be... 1985, and they won the championship in 1986."
When it came to Ah Gan, Jordan had nothing to say, he understood that Reinsdorf was right, but he didn’t know what to say.
He still thought that Krause was an idiot, the Bulls could have done better, but Reinsdorf’s words made sense.
At one moment, Jordan felt very small, like a child being scolded by the principal who told him, "Look at others who are the best at your age."
The conversation eventually shifted to a lighter topic, and soon after Jordan went home, his rant had no effect.
Everything remained the same, the Bulls would not make any more changes to their roster, nor would they trade or sign Walter Davis.
After Jordan’s declaration of war, Krause was very scared, worried about losing his job, he hid behind Reinsdorf, now he was safe.
This made Jordan very, very upset and naturally depressed.
"Michael, get ready to go on!"
Phil Jackson reminded Jordan, everybody was getting ready to warm up for the match, and Jordan hadn’t changed into his uniform yet.
Jordan unplugged his headphones, changed into his uniform, and joined his teammates to warm up for the match against the San Antonio Spurs.
A tough away game, Cartwright struggled to contain David Robinson, who was big and fast, making Cartwright seem like a sloth.
But the Bulls’ advantage was their overall speed; they excelled at double-teaming the opponent’s best player from different directions, their defense was very aggressive.
The Bulls double-teamed Robinson and led 82-75 at the start of the fourth quarter with a 7-point advantage.
Then the fourth quarter started, Jordan sat out to rest, Jackson arranged a rotation lineup to play the fourth quarter.
It was Jackson training the other players.
But when the substitutes came on, David Robinson was still on the court, leading the Spurs to a 13-2 scoring run, overturning the lead.
Jordan on the bench was uncontrollable in anger, he couldn’t remember how many times this season the Bulls had encountered such a situation.
"We take the lead, they simply hand over the advantage, and then we have to try hard to take back the lead!"
"Phil, put me in!" Jordan roared like a general, ready to return to battle.
When Jordan came back, the Bulls were trailing the Spurs by 4 points, 84:88.
Jordan scored three consecutive attacks, and the Bulls tied the score.
Buck-Williams blocked Rod Strickland’s crucial breakthrough.
In the counterattack, Jordan scored a beautiful spinning layup, taking the lead and also drawing a foul from David Robinson!
After scoring, Jordan swung his fists vigorously, venting his inner frustration.
During the free-throw, he looked toward the stands, Jerry Krause was not behind the team’s bench.
The fat man followed the team, but didn’t come to the game, who knows where he ran off to.
At this time, Jerry Krause was not far from San Antonio in Dallas, watching the Dallas Mavericks’ game.
His scouting target was Mavericks’ guard Derek Harper, he hoped to trade for Harper to assist Jordan in the backcourt.
Harper was good, but the Mavericks demanded a high price, the offer of BJ Armstrong + Hodges + a future first-round draft pick from the Bulls was not attractive to the Mavericks.
They wanted Horace Grant, if Krause did that, Jordan would definitely be pleased.
Getting the almost All-Star level defensive stalwart Harper, an assistant in the backcourt, and incidentally getting rid of Grant who didn’t get along with Jordan, anyway they already had Buck-Williams, and BJ Armstrong really wanted to leave, he wanted to go to a team where he could start, not just assist Jordan.
Thinking about it, it all seemed perfect, but Krause thought about it again and again, until the Mavericks’ game ended, he still couldn’t decide to trade Grant for Harper.
He recognized Grant’s potential, Buck-Williams after all was 30 years old, having battled in the league for 10 years, his peak was about to pass.
And Grant’s peak had not yet arrived, Krause felt that trading away Grant would be admitting defeat, completely controlled by Jordan.
"Wait some more, wait until the end of this season, just wait a bit longer."
Krause decided to wait a bit longer, giving up on the trading plan.
If Jordan knew, he would be even more infuriated.
They missed the opportunity to form a super defensive backcourt.
