(The original article was published on April 19 by Kelsey Russo of The Athletic website. The content of The article does not represent The translator’s point of view)
After the Cavaliers won the first place in the playoffs this season, coach bikstav prepared a surprise.
After Tuesday’s game, coach bikstav opened the lid of a black box, and a burst of cheers rang in the Knight’s home dressing room. Bikstav asked the players who was the last player to get the “dump dog leash” in the regular season. At this time, little mobley got up and walked towards bikstav from his locker.
Then the coach bikstav shouted out the name of Garland loudly, and cheers, barking and applause came one after another. Garland stood up from the locker and walked to little morbury, who put dog leash around his neck.
The appearance of the playoff chain is different from that of the regular season, but the implied implication behind it is the same. Every time the Knight wins, he rewards this chain to a player, sometimes a coach, symbolizing the most tenacious and devoted person in every match. The origin of this reward method can be traced back to last season, when the Knights were still rebuilding.
Lamar Stevens received a bracelet symbolizing friendship this season with The word “The Dawg (dog)” printed on it. Stevens got this nickname for a reason.
In the two seasons before the 2021-22 season, the Cavaliers only won 19 and 22 games respectively. In 2021, the Knight of the draft conference selected little mobry with a flower exploration sign, and then got malcanin through a three-party deal with the bull pioneers during the offseason. After the two men joined the starting line-up which already owned jarert-Allen, the Knight owned a group of three Giants with high arm show.
However, many knight players still feel that they are regarded as dogs (not favored) by The outside world. Stevens said in an interview with The Athletic website: “I feel that our team has not received due respect in the league.”
This kind of dog mentality made Stevens start barking at the edge of the field during competition and training, and soon other players of the team joined in to follow Stevens’s behavior. After winning some matches, Knight players will bark together on the court or in the dressing room. They turned the feeling of being regarded as a dog into motivation, so the concept of Knight “dump German shepherd dog” was born.
The performance of the Cavaliers in that season surprised the whole league. The number of wins doubled compared with the previous season, winning 44 games and scoring the playoff play-off. Stevens said: “I just want to prove something to everyone through every game, that is, you will see a knight team different from the imagination. So we are really proud of this. We are united to show us to the whole alliance. If you come to Knight’s home court to relax your vigilance, we will really lead you by 20 points. This makes our team closer and each other have a sense of identity. Everyone will keep this feeling, eager to seize every opportunity to prove their hunger.”
When bikstav served as the interim coach of the Cavaliers in early 2020, he began to instill the team with the game style of defending first. The 2019-20 season finally became a shrinking season, but the players have been attracted by bikstav’s idea, coupled with that kind of mentality of getting down the dog, at this time the Knight’s team culture has undergone a complete change. Coach bikstav wants to find a way to celebrate all this and praise all the small things the whole team has done to reach a new height.
At the beginning of last season, Mark Cobra, the operational director of the Knight team, contacted Shelly Cashman, the executive vice president and chief business officer of the Knight team, to find potential partners about the ideas in the Knight team, later, they discussed The potential cooperation with The jewelry brand “Jared and The Jared Foundry” private customization studio.
The design process began with thinking about the prototype of “Dump dog leash”. The Knight thought of some college football team necklaces, such as the chain of the University of Miami, which was a reference for the original design of Knight dog leash.
The original chain was made of 14K gold and 1702 natural garnet. The back of the pendant was engraved with some special elements of Knight and Cleveland, such as area code “216”, abbreviation “JYD” of dump German Shepherd dog “, knight young pioneer team history all Logo, slogan” Let’em know “, NBA championship in 2016, and the core values of the team: perfection, tenacity, unity, competition, endless. Coach bikstav said in an interview with The Athletic website: “We hope this chain can gather a lot of things. The first is to ensure that The Logo of The Cavaliers becomes The focus of attention, at the same time, it also ensures that the symbolic meaning behind this chain can be reflected. Therefore, the different parts behind the chain are the beliefs we all believe and accept, which are very important to us. Therefore, we have found a way to integrate these beliefs into the chain.”
After the chain was designed and manufactured, Dan Hines, marketing director of Signet Jewelers jewelry company, personally delivered the chain to Knight and coach bikstav last season. Dan Hines said: “It’s amazing. I feel very excited. It’s a blend of art and reality. What is more interesting is to witness the fun of issuing this chain for the first time and to see the knight players and team culture united around the chain. I am very proud to be able to create works with such great influence.”
“First of all, this chain is very beautiful.” Coach bikstav talked about his feelings when he saw the finished product for the first time, “considering the time and energy behind, the quality of the craft and the design, I think this work is perfect.”
This is even more surprising for the Cavaliers. They have no idea about the existence of this chain, and it has also become a reward for those players who fight on the court. In this way, players can be encouraged to do some details on the court and find ways and means to influence the team’s victory, such as playing more actively, fighting for the ball, locking your opponent, steal or cap and maintain a high level of toughness. Bikstav said: “We are not a team that we think can win a very beautiful team. Our team emphasizes courage, toughness and physical confrontation, and the players need to become garbage dump German Shepherd dog.”
After the knight defeated the Wizards in last February, Okolo became the first winner of the chain. Stevens first got this chain on March 8 last year, after the Knight beat the Pacers away. Since then, this chain has been passed down in the Cavaliers. Stevens said: “I think this is really cool. This idea is very good and creative. In another way, let’s focus on winning and playing every round. Because the outside world always pays more attention to top scorer or something like that, but this award is a little different. As long as you help a lot in winning, you will stand in the spotlight. Even if your score is not high, help the team win by doing some small things well. For a successful team, it is equally important to have players who can do all kinds of things well. Therefore, this is what we really embrace and take pride in. Everyone’s purpose in playing is to get the necklace. In fact, this is equivalent to instilling a mentality into the players, and people who play in the right way can get rewards.”
After the end of last season, the mood in the Cavaliers was still brewing. Most of the players were not satisfied with the results of the elimination of the play-offs. They entered the off-season with hunger and motivation to improve. Many players invested a lot of time and energy to improve the competition level and competitive state. After that, the Knight finished a heavy deal in September and got Michelle, adding another all-star player to the lineup.
When the performance of the Knights has already made the outside world begin to discuss their possibility of reaching the top in the east, they still keep the attitude of defending first, focusing on how to help the team win by doing a good job in details. The defensive efficiency of the Knights regular season ranks first in the league. They are proud of their ability to grab the ball, interfere with shooting, guard the penalty area and rim, and strive to guard the status of the league’s top defensive teams.
Throughout the season, the players who were awarded the chain showed their fighting spirit and strength throughout the game. This was the case on tuesday night. After the knight defeated the knicks, coach bikstav gathered together in the dressing room and invited the winner of the last chain to present the award to the new winner. The new winner wore the chain around his neck, and other players of the team gave him cheers and applause. At last, the whole team set up a photo and took a photo. The winner was surrounded by his teammates.
This chain will not only be awarded after winning at home, but also be put together in away matches, from Orlando and New York to Portland and Phoenix, coach bikstav even awarded the chain to himself after defeating the Lakers in last November.
This necklace is usually stored in a black box filled with foam sponge in the shape of a C- shaped pendant. The overall shape is similar to that opened by coach bikstav on tuesday night. After taking out the dressing room, the box and chain were kept by Mark Cobra, the operational director of the Knight team, Cashman. Coach bikstav said, “he will solve all the problems, and this chain will be carried with him, never letting him out of his sight.”
Stevens said that they never recorded the number of times each player received this honor. On the contrary, they will focus on celebrating the guy who won the chain in the competition that night. If they won the chain, they would celebrate crazier. Stevens said: “In the final analysis, we all want to see each other succeed. This is different from the topic of who scores the most. We know very well that every player in the dressing room is very important and how important the small things everyone does are to the team’s victory. Therefore, I think we should celebrate each other. Everyone wants to win the game very much. The goal and direction are also the same. Therefore, as long as we win the game, the atmosphere in the dressing room is very interesting. It is very interesting to celebrate each other and encourage each other to make progress.”
The garbage dump dog leash not only swept the Knight’s dressing room, but also swept the whole Cavaliers and fans. Each different business department of Knight has its own version of “Dump dog leash”, which is certainly not as luxurious as the dressing room version. Each department will issue “garbage factory dog leash” to an excellent employee every week or after each activity.
Knight fans joined in after noticing the barking of dogs on the field for the first time last season. This season, you can see fans of all ages walking around the Knight’s home hall wearing their favorite garbage factory dog leash, or discuss which player will get the chain after a special match. Knight’s official social media account will announce the latest dog leash winners after some special matches. These posts are usually the posts with the highest participation of Knight fans throughout the season. Fans are used to watching the live game and playing back after the game every day to see which player deserves the “dump dog leash”.
Even Jared, the designer who participated in the original design project of dump dog leash, was selected as one of the final candidates of the new star of the year 2023 by international fashion group. Shelly Cayette-Weston, the executive vice president and chief business officer of the Knight, said: “Every team is looking for this concept, but coach bikstav happened to find it in this chain, dig out the team culture behind it. This is a culture full of motivation and team friendship. I think coach bikstav’s work in creating winning culture is indeed imitated by other departments of the team.”
With the advance of this season, it is more and more likely that the Cavaliers will lock the playoff seats, and all participants will begin to discuss the playoff version of “Junkyard Dog Leash.
This year is the first time that the cavaliers have entered the playoffs since 2018 and the first time since 1998 that they have entered the playoffs without james. The history of the team has entered a new chapter. The playoffs represent another level of NBA games, so naturally a brand-new jewelry necklace is needed to commemorate this moment.
A few days before the first round G1 of the playoffs with the Knicks started, the chain of the playoff version was sent to the Knight, but until the G2 Knight tied the big score of the series under the leadership of Garland, this chain was officially unveiled. That night, every seat of the Knight’s home court was covered with a T-shirt with the Knight’s logo “C” and chain, which was a tribute to the first generation of “garbage dump dog leash. A few hours later, the latest version of “Dump dog leash” was announced in the dressing room of the Cavaliers. Coach bikstav said in an interview with The Athletic website: “It is a bit like The first generation chain has completed an evolution, and The change of The times is also The meaning contained in The chain.”
This is another surprise for the Cavaliers. The inner circumference of the new chain exceeds 89cm, and the main body of the chain is 30cm long and 19cm wide. At the same time, there are 37 rings in the chain, each 40.5mm long and 22mm wide. The whole chain spelled out the words “CAVS”, and “V” was designed as a ball-holding basket plus a basketball on the top, which was one of the new sub-logo designs launched by the Knight in 2022, as part of the team’s brand image update. The secondary logo of V-shaped rim is a tribute to the Knights of the 1980 s, and the lines in the details can remind people of the Knight logo of the 1990 s.
The back of the chain is engraved with the words “garbage dump dog leash.
As the Cavaliers continue to play in the playoffs, the reward method of this chain is still the same as that of the first generation. I hope that the award ceremony on Tuesday will make a good start for countless ceremonies in the next few months. Stevens said about the dump dog leash: “This allows us to focus on Knight’s basketball and is also good for the future of the team, at least there are some things for players to work hard and pay attention to in every match. You don’t need to score more or less points, as long as you can influence the competition in different ways, this is also very important. Because if you can throw the ball into it, sometimes you can’t control it completely, but you can do everything you can control.”
Original: Kelsey Russo
Compile: Li Taibai
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