Every day, after exhausting himself with practice, Gary Payton would still play one-on-one with him, teaching him defense, hoping he would one day stand on his own.
It wasn’t just him; Stephen Jackson and Jason Richardson tirelessly passed the ball to Monta during training matches, while Marcus and Dikembe would willingly set screens for him in gas, ignoring his rookie status.
Erik had him play in the developnt league to stay in form while also training with the Warriors. Whenever there was a chance, he would imdiately let Monta play.
As for , I didn’t do nearly as much as they did, but I was always there for him.
I helped him with his family’s tickets, arranged a dedicated parking space. Whenever he needed, I would drop everything to guide him. I even gave him my trainer. The treatnt he received was quite similar to that of Amar’e, and as you know, Amar’e was the No. 3 pick.
We all treated Monta like a younger brother, a mber of the Golden State Gangsters family.
But he let us down, deeply disappointed us!"
As he said this, Roger’s gaze beca sharp.
"We all expected him to keep rising, to beco an outstanding player, to sign a million-dollar contract next year instead of a $400,000 annual salary.
We were all working hard, and what did he do? He went and sped on a bike and sprained his ankle. It made us all look like fools, as foolish as Nike’s expectations for LeBron Jas!
Tell , isn’t this a kind of betrayal?"
"But..."
"Shut up, Jeff! I’m not done yet! Monta, you can let us down, but you can’t let Antoine down. You know what he has sacrificed for you, and you know what you carry on your shoulders. We and he thought you could make us proud, but you acted stupid!"
Bob Bass, standing by, was very curious; he didn’t know who Antoine was.
Jeff Foulard wanted to argue, but Monta Ellis spoke for the first ti that day: "Let it go, Jeff. I accept this punishnt as a lesson."
"What? Monta, we will lose so much because of this..."
"Those losses are my own fault. Roger, I’m... truly sorry."
With that, Monta Ellis stood up and left the office.
Back at the training ground, Gary Payton used every insulting word on Monta Ellis, cursing continuously for ten minutes without repeating a word.
Stephen Jackson shrugged nearby: "The dia once said that Gary’s mouth would only shut up two months after his death, now I believe it."
Gary Payton was really angry; he felt his goodwill was like feeding to a dog.
It was like lending hard-earned money to a friend to get through a tough ti, only to find he spent it all on call girls, equally disgusting.
Looking at Monta Ellis being severely scolded on the training ground, Bob Bass was actually a bit worried: "Honestly, I think 35 gas are too much."
"If it’s less, he won’t learn. Without learning, he’ll make the sa mistake again." Roger replied.
"By the way, who is Antoine?"
"His brother, once the best high school player in Mississippi, had better seeming static talent and dynamic talent than Monta."
"What? Monta was last year’s second best high school player nationwide, only behind Greg Oden. If his brother was that good, how co I’ve never heard of him?"
"Because his brother witnessed a close friend get shot dead in the streets, he beca aimless and gave up basketball. But he never gave up on his brother; he supervised him, protected him, trained with him, and gave everything for him. He lost his basketball dream, but he’s Monta’s hero. In fact, that’s why Monta is so defiant yet works so hard. One aspect is the salary, the other is, he carries his brother’s dream."
"How do you know so much?"
"Gary told us while chatting. Monta tells him everything. Honestly, it’s surprising anyone would like soone like old bastard Gary."
Roger said, looking at Gary Payton still cursing loudly on the training ground.
He was probably the most disappointed person in the Warriors team.
Outwardly, he pretended to be aloof, but in reality, he had completely integrated into the Golden State Gangsters.
Otherwise, he wouldn’t go to such lengths for soone unrelated to him.
Monta Ellis’s suspension beca the biggest sports news in the Bay Area for a while, even as the regular season continued.
By the end of January, Amar’e Stoudemire returned for a few days of training but was in extrely poor condition, with his knee unable to perform normally under high-intensity exercises.
The Warriors’ dical team conducted a full assessnt on Amar’e Stoudemire and ultimately confird he needed a few more months to recuperate.
Although this was known beforehand, as chief team doctor Chelsea Lane had said before surgery, the likelihood of Stoudemire returning during the season was less than 1%. Yet, when the results ca out, Amar’e Stoudemire still felt frustrated because there’s a difference between 99% and 100%.
No miracle happened for him; he was now 100% saying goodbye to this season.
In February, in Houston, LeBron Jas won his first All-Star MVP of his career. Nike’s dia went all out, almost equating the AMVP’s value with the regular season MVP, just like they would crazily hype the mid-season championship 20 years later.
Of course, fans weren’t fools.
Nobody genuinely cared about the AMVP award; people only rembered that LBJ lost to Roger for three consecutive seasons.
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