The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 625 - 23 Friendship Years_2

Petrović did not just keep the information to himself; he shared it with Divac.

The two studied it as if it were a martial arts manual, each taking half to read, then quizzed each other.

Once they were somewhat proficient, they would swap to study the other half, continuing to test each other’s knowledge.

It was just like when Gan Guoyang and Stockton did the same, studying fervently like students, eager to learn.

Moreover, Petrović confided many of his troubles to Divac.

Together, they encouraged and supported each other, enduring what was inevitably a trying time for newcomers.

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After taking down the Spurs, the Trail Blazers achieved a four-game winning streak, off to a good start.

The team’s third stop on the away trip brought them to Dallas.

The Mavericks, after their brilliant performance in the 1988 playoffs against the Trail Blazers, precipitously declined.

In the 1988-1989 season, Mark Aguirre, the cornerstone of the Mavericks, was traded to the Detroit Pistons.

This trade had shocked the League the previous season, as such swaps were quite rare in NBA history.

The Pistons were a seasoned team; they reached the finals in 1987, and despite losing to the Bullet Team in 1988, their strength was still that of a finals contender.

By the 1989 season, with players like Salley and Rodman maturing, and Thomas, Dumars, and Lan Bi’er at their peak, the Celtics were further declining, the Bullet Team rapidly deteriorated, the Bulls were not yet mature, the Trail Blazers had been weakened by a draft, and the Pistons saw no true competitors.

As the regular season began, the Pistons surged ahead, leading the League’s standings early on and aiming for 60 wins.

Yet, within this thriving team, contradictions lurked.

Adrian Dantley, who once provided the Pistons with much-needed low post scoring and free throws, gradually became a stumbling block to the team’s rapid progress.

With Rodman and Salley making continuous strides, Dantley was unwilling to reduce his playing time.

During a game against the Celtics, when the coach wanted to sub him out, Dantley refused to leave the court, obstructing Rodman’s play.

The result was an on-court altercation between Dantley and coach Daley that turned into mutual insults, providing a spectacle for fans at the Boston Garden Plaza.

The Pistons suffered a heavy defeat to the Celtics in that game, and later Dantley said it was a spur-of-the-moment reaction, but Daley had already begun considering a trade.

Off the court, both Chuck Daley and Thomas grew increasingly discontented with Dantley.

He publicly stated, "I play basketball for the money; championships aren’t that important to me."

So even though Dantley had once been crucial for the Pistons and his arrival had propelled them into the finals,

when he became a hindrance instead of a help, the team was ready to let him go.

Coincidentally, Mark Aguirre, who was very similar to Dantley in position and play style, was also in deep trouble in Dallas.

Arguably, they played well in 1988, and the 1989 season should have seen them progress further, especially with the Trail Blazers weakened and the Lakers aging, this year should have been their chance to soar.

However, the negative impact of Dick Motta’s departure gradually surfaced, with nobody left to rein in Aguirre.

His relationships with his teammates deteriorated, his temper worsened, and his relationship with the head coach McLeod quickly collapsed.

Relationships between people are curious; over the last eight years, Mark Aguirre and Dick Motta had quarreled for seven, their poor relationship becoming public knowledge, even featuring on local TV talk shows, the subject of public ridicule.

Yet Aguirre never considered leaving Dallas, even if he sometimes spoke of wanting to leave, and Motta would offhandedly suggest trading him away. In the end, Aguirre remained with the Mavericks.

After Motta’s unexpected departure from the Mavericks, a clash or two with the easy-going and friendly McLeod made Aguirre unwilling to stay.

The Mavericks had a decent start to the season, but by January, their performance plummeted, Aguirre’s temper worsened, and his relationships with everyone soured.

Thus, the trade between the Pistons and the Mavericks was like a match made in heaven, there was no more perfect trade to be had.

Both were small forwards, both were isolations that poisoned their teams, and as they were traded, their teams smirked behind covered mouths, thinking, "Finally, we’ve passed the troublemaker onto someone else."

The timing of the trade was a coincidence, occurring on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 1989.

However, the outcomes of the trade couldn’t have been more different.

Dantley didn’t want to leave the Pistons, knowing their chances of winning the championship that year were high.

Leaving now meant that the finals in June, even the championship, would have nothing to do with Dantley.

Hence, Dantley left feeling very angry, believing that Thomas, who disliked him, had pushed for the trade from behind the scenes.

Thomas, of course, denied this.

Thomas, the guy who always seemed to be implicated in conspiracies and behind-the-scenes machinations.

Once or twice could be a misunderstanding, but when it’s frequent, one really begins to suspect he might be quite cunning.

Upon arriving in Dallas, Dantley was already 33 and no longer had the energy to help a middling team reach the summit.

The Mavericks continued their decline, eventually falling out of the playoffs, despite having led the Western Conference earlier in the season.

On the contrary, the situation was different for the Pistons, Aguirre was thrilled to join Detroit.

The Pistons had championship aspirations, and Thomas and Aguirre had been close friends, playing basketball together since elementary school.