Champion Creed-Chapter 1012 - 328: 38-year-old Super Villain (thanks to the generous reward from 家里掌事侠)

Roger has indeed changed.

Tayshaun Prince and Amar’e Stoudemire have barely been yelled at by Roger, something that would have been unimaginable before.

But that doesn’t mean he has turned into a leader without a temper.

Little Prince and Stoudemire haven’t been scolded because, except for their lack of ability during their rookie year, they didn’t make many other mistakes.

They were serious, cherished every minute on the court, worked hard in training, and gave their all in games.

As long as they made an effort, Roger wouldn’t hassle them over their abilities.

But Marcus Camby was quite the opposite; everyone knew he had the ability to defend well, yet he didn’t care about winning.

There’s also one more thing: no one can fight in Roger’s locker room.

Roger admitted, when it came to hitting teammates, Marcus Camby could boldly claim, "Roger did it too!"

But it depends on the situation.

Back then, Pippen stirred up trouble for no reason in front of Roger, and he deserved a beating. But yesterday, Mutombo’s actions to stop Marcus Camby weren’t malicious; he just wanted to calm Camby down.

However, Marcus Camby’s rough shove against Mutombo went beyond joking, and as the locker room leader, Roger had to use his own methods to maintain order.

That kick was Roger’s way.

Roger initially wanted to find a chance to talk with Marcus Camby; yesterday was actually a good opportunity. But faced with Camby’s insolent attitude, Roger had to suppress him in a more aggressive manner first.

In Roger’s view, a championship-contending team could do without Marcus Camby, but it couldn’t lose locker room order.

The entire Warriors team only had two people who could throw tantrums with impunity in the locker room, and they were Roger and Hubie Brown. Okay, the phrase "you play like LeBron James" was indeed a bit harsh, but Hubie Brown had enough reasons to be angry.

This veteran coach, who had been involved in basketball for years, absolutely wouldn’t allow any player to treat basketball with disrespect or tarnish it. He didn’t like Wilt Chamberlain because his 100 points were scored in an unappealing way. He didn’t like the Admiral because his points were won unethically.

So he also disliked LeBron James because he couldn’t stand his pass-for-the-sake-of-passing style, and similarly couldn’t stand his player defending just for the sake of blocking.

Statistics are a byproduct of victory; you can’t become a slave to them instead.

Hubie Brown became increasingly irritated, which slightly justified him for being a bit vulgar, a human reaction.

In short, after Roger shouted to DNP Camby and shut the locker room door, their relationship was basically over.

Roger now had no desire to communicate with Marcus Camby; he once thought he could change him, but now it was clear the guy was beyond redemption.

The next day, Marcus Camby still came to train as usual, neither late nor leaving early. But after training, he left without any communication with Hubie Brown, Roger, or anyone in the team.

It seemed like nothing had happened yesterday, until Hubie Brown saw Marcus Camby walk into Bob Bass’s office after training, confirming Camby hadn’t forgotten.

Seeing Camby walk in, Bob Bass took off his reading glasses: "What’s up, Marcus?"

Of course, Bob Bass knew something was up, but he deliberately didn’t mention it, hoping both sides would cool down.

But Marcus Camby didn’t think so; he straightforwardly stated his intention.

"I want to request a trade."

"What?"

"I don’t want to play here anymore. If possible, please trade me. Of course, I know there’s still a lot of time left on my contract, and you can entirely ignore my request. But honestly, that wouldn’t be beneficial for anyone. I don’t want to play here, and you guys can’t use me anyway, so why bother? I haven’t chosen where to go; you can trade me anywhere or for anyone. In short, I don’t want to continue playing in the Bay Area."

"Marcus, are you serious? Although you joined the team last season, you’ve only played one official game for us so far. Just one game, are you sure?"

This was exactly what Marcus Camby found amusing, the reason he only played one game for the Warriors—because the Knicks misdiagnosed him, leading to two seasons of missed prime playing years. Why was he injured? Because he gave everything for the Knicks.

The consequence of sacrificing everything for the Knicks was being abandoned by the team and thrown into this locker room where he couldn’t belong.

That’s why he wouldn’t exert himself for Roger or anyone else, because it wasn’t worth it.

"Am I sure? Never been so sure." Camby answered firmly.

Bob Bass nodded: "Give me some time; this is not like buying beef from the supermarket."

"Thank you, Bob."

After finishing, Marcus Camby got up and left the office. In the parking lot, he encountered Mutombo.

After the two exchanged glances, Mutombo, with his raspy voice, shouted: "Hey Marcus, listen, I know something unpleasant happened yesterday..."

Mutombo hadn’t finished speaking when Marcus Camby drove off from the Oracle Training Center, completely ignoring his teammate.

Mount Mutombo sighed; he had faced off against Camby during the Knicks era, and knew how outstanding this young man used to be.

During Patrick Ewing’s injury period, he didn’t fully replace the Big Ape, but at least defensively, he reached eighty percent of Ewing’s level.