Chapter 739 - 2 Thoughts_3

In Barkley’s view, Ah Gan once had Drexler, and now he’s surrounded by talented players.

Jordan has Scottie Pippen, and the other players are quite strong, but all he himself has is the aging Bernard King.

His spiritual father Moses Malone has left, and this has had a great impact on Barkley.

This summer Moncrief retired, Steve Colter left, Bogues was traded away, Bol left, and the former Eastern champions completely disintegrated.

But Pollin didn’t seem very anxious; at the charity game, his attention was all on Jordan and Ah Gan, and he rather neglected his own superstar.

This made Barkley quite upset, but that’s just Pollin’s character. The Bullets are his team, and he sees Barkley only as one of his employees.

On the last day of the training camp, these stars will play a public game, open to the media.

Barkley found Ah Gan before the game and suddenly opened up, saying, "Sonny, I’m thinking of leaving Washington, what do you think?"

Gan Guoyang didn’t understand Barkley’s intention at first, saying, "Leaving? Sure, why not come back to Portland with me and hang out for a couple of days?"

Barkley shook his head, "That’s not what I mean. I mean... leaving Washington forever, leaving the Bullets, to go play somewhere else."

Gan Guoyang turned his head to look at Barkley, and saw that the usually laughing Barkley was serious. He meant it.

"You’re planning to ask Pollin to trade you?"

"Yes, I’ve been hoping since the end of the playoffs that the team could make some moves in the summer. But it’s been four months, and nothing has happened, nothing at all. And I don’t like the dead atmosphere in Washington, you should remember the finals in ’88, when the Capital Centre felt like a funeral!"

Gan Guoyang agreed with this point; in the past few years, the Washington Bullets’ drafting and trading were not very good.

Now it seems that their reaching the finals in 1988 was a stroke of luck, and luck can come and go just like that.

The Bullet Team’s subsequent operations were not very good, and the key problem was that the Bullets owner Pollin wasn’t too interested in creating a championship lineup.

They had already won the championship in 1978, they had tasted victory, and as an ordinary businessman, he had no strong motivation to win at all costs.

But Barkley was different, he had ambition, and he was not content to always be under the feet of Gan Guoyang and Jordan.

"Then you can submit a trade request directly to the management, and for the next two weeks, it will be the most explosive news in All-America sports, ’Where will Barkley go?’ You need to be ready to be cursed by the media in Washington D.C., have your jersey burned by the fans here, and then when you return to play in Washington, you’ll face a whole game of boos from all the fans. Some young fans will be heartbroken, they’ll tear up the posters on their study walls, and even poke holes in the eyes on them. In short, if you’re ready to leave no matter what, then you can leave, no problem, you are free to change workplaces."

"Oh, and one more thing, you’ll become a target of Robin Ficker, he’ll no longer be your fan and supporter, but will become your number one enemy. That’s also one of the costs, are you prepared for that?"

Robin Ficker is a Washington political activist, real estate broker, attorney, and an avid Bullet Team fan.

He has a dedicated seat behind the visiting team’s bench at the Capital Centre, and at every Bullet’s game, he sits behind and "deeply interacts" with the visiting team’s players.

Ficker is one of the fans most disliked by players in the entire league; this guy is sharp-tongued, eloquent, and can mock the visiting team’s players with full firepower for an entire game.

During the finals in 1988, he targeted Jack Ramsey’s bald head and made at least 20 jokes about it behind his back, Ramsey almost couldn’t restrain himself from beating him up.

Charles Barkley lowered his head and fell into deep thought, then after ten seconds, he raised his head and said, "I don’t care about all that, I just want victory, and the championship."

Gan Guoyang said, "Then do you want to come to Portland?"

"Oh, stop joking, I don’t want to pick up something ready-made. Unless the Trail Blazers trade you for me, otherwise I wouldn’t go."

"If the Trail Blazers trade me for you, Pollin would immediately knock you out, stuff you in a sack, and airship you to Portland to be thrown at Jerry West’s office door. Make your own decision, I support you. But I remind you, if you come to the Western Conference, you can forget about reaching the finals for the rest of your life."

Barkley looked disdainful, stood up, and said, "We’ll see Sonny, you won’t always win."