Chapter 513 - A Different Team 1 (1/2)
With Dennis Rodman joining the team and Robert Horry's return the Los Angeles Lakers team was complete again, Rick Fox was playing very well this season and the only concern for Jake and the coaches was the position of PF.
But now they had Robert Horry and Dennis Rodman to complete that missing position, Dennis Rodman could help the team more defensively and with rebounds, but because of the problems he might have, maybe it would be Robert Horry the main player in that position.
From what Jake remembered the most difficult phase of the team at the beginning of the season had passed, then the Los Angeles Lakers team won 10 games in a row and went back to being one of the main teams in the NBA, with Jake in the team they had lost only one game, so these 10 victories would make the Los Angeles Lakers team even stronger for the playoff.
After training Jake could see that Dennis Rodman was still in the good physical condition and could actually play in the next game for the Los Angeles Lakers team, while Jake was getting ready to leave, Dennis Rodman came over to talk to him.
”Hi Jake, I already talked to all the players and I wanted to talk to you too.”
”Hi Dennis, I'm a big fan of yours, I think it's incredible the NBA title you managed to win and I think you're an incredible player because of the rebounds you get”
”I think you're a good player too, I saw you at the Grammy yesterday, I thought I'd ask you to come to the party after the awards, but you left very quickly.”
”I didn't know that I went to the Grammy with a ticket that I got from a friend, so I didn't think it would be good to go to any party after the awards.”
”So you thought wrong, I'm sure you just weren't invited because they didn't know that you liked to participate in awards, but now that they know you're going to receive several invitations to attend the Grammy, Oscar and other awards.”
Jake thought about it and thought Dennis was right, he hadn't received any tickets because the people at the Grammy organization didn't know he liked to attend these events, but now he would probably receive several invitations.
Jake and Dennis talked a little more before Jake left, later in the afternoon, the players got together again at the Anaheim Arena which was where the game would take place, the Los Angeles Clippers team was one of the teams most affected by Jake's coming to the NBA.
In Jake's past life the Los Angeles Lakers team would lose all 9 games earlier this season, but the Los Angeles Lakers team switched Eddie Jones, Elden Campbell, and Derek Harper to have Jake on the team.
So the Los Angeles Clippers team was unable to sign Michael Olowokandi and chose Jake, because of this change the Los Angeles Clippers team had won 3 of the 9 games they had this season.
It was not a good result yet, but they did not lose all the games as they normally would have, with the experience of Derek Harper and Eddie Jones leading the team they achieved three victories and played well in most of the 9 games.
The three players that were switched to Jake to go on the team were very talented, but because of the excellent season that Jake was making the crowd happy, he no longer cared about the players who left the Lakers team.
”Welcome to everyone who came to watch one more game this NBA season, in that game the Los Angeles Clippers team will play against their biggest rival in the NBA, the Los Angeles Lakers team.”
”This is the fourth game in a row for the Los Angeles Lakers team playing as a visitor, the last three games that could have been easier have become very difficult games in which players have had to work hard for the Los Angeles Lakers team to win.”
”The Los Angeles Lakers team also has a lot of changes in the last few days, Dennis Rodman signed a contract with the Los Angeles Lakers team and will be able to play in the next game, Robert Horry has recovered from his illness and will play in that game.”
”The biggest news is that coach Del Harris was fired even after this excellent start to the season with 11 wins in 12 games, so assistant coach Bill Bertka will head the team today as head coach.”
”This is also the first game that Eddie Jones, Elden Campbell, and Derek Harper play against the Los Angeles Lakers team that was their team, it is also the first game between the rookie Jake Smith plays against the team that selected him in this draft season.”
”So we expect an exciting game today between these two teams.”
The Los Angeles Lakers team would start the game with Jake Smith playing as PG, Kobe Bryant playing as SG, Rick Fox playing as SF, Travis Knight playing as PF, and Shaquille O'Neal playing as Center.