The rest is just noise

Chapter 1,083 Accidents happen every year, especially this year

July 2

The NBA announced a four-year, $500 million cable TV contract with TNT and TBS.

Almost on the same day, the NBA and NBC announced that they had reached a four-year, US$1 billion television broadcast contract.

The news came as a surprise to many bosses and means more dividends will be paid next year.

According to the old collective bargaining agreement, 50% of these two sums of money must go into the owners' pockets, and the other 50% belongs to the players.

In other words, dividing $750 million by 27 is almost the NBA's salary cap for the new season.

That's $25.5 million.

How much has this number increased from last season? A full $7.5 million.

This means that many teams suddenly have the salary space to land an Ewing.

Of course, the players union still has not reached a new consensus with the owners.

They are aggressive and will go on strike if they fail to achieve their goals. They demand changes in income distribution, want to get a bigger cake, and abolish the salary cap so that salaries can increase without an upper limit.

The most egregious one is that they demand the abolition of the draft.

Because this is unconstitutional and NBA teams have made no contribution to the NCAA, why can they ask these talents trained by American universities to join which team according to their own rules?

The players' demands all sound reasonable, but except for the first one, all of them are digging their own graves.

Today’s trade union rights movement has completely changed.

Bill Russell in the 1960s wanted to have enough protection after retirement so as not to be weighed down by injuries suffered while playing.

Now, NBA players who are millionaires per capita certainly don't mind that they earn too much. They just want to earn more, and the owners will not agree.

As a Sports Illustrated reporter said: "It's really millionaires and multi-millionaires versus billionaires."

Although the two sides have not reached an agreement and the union is clamoring for a strike every day, offseason operations continue as usual.

During the offseason, there was a sharp contrast between the players who wanted to find their next home, the teams that were focused on their operations, and the two groups on the negotiating floor.

They give people the feeling that these two people have never been connected.

On July 3, a thunderbolt was thrown into the "fish pond".

The president of the Miami Heat proudly held a press conference and announced to reporters: "We have reached a verbal agreement with Ralph Sampson!"

As soon as the news came out, it really went viral.

Reporters from all over the United States flew to Miami like scalded grasshoppers, wanting to learn more about the inside story before the details of the signing were exposed.

On July 4, the two parties officially announced.

Sampson signed with the Miami Heat for three years and $40 million, becoming the first player in league history to receive an annual salary of tens of millions.

To ensure Sampson's future flexibility, Falk requested a player option in the second year of his contract.

How dare Shafir disobey? This is Sampson. He rejected the Trail Blazers and Warriors and joined the Heat. This is completely condescending and "favourable".

Shafir believes Louis played an immeasurable role in Sampson signing with the Heat.

Because when Sampson signed the contract, he said to Shafir: "I heard that you are a good friend of Coach Lu?"

Shafir laughed: "I may be Coach Lu's best friend in the league."

"Say hello to Coach Lu for me, I think I'll like Miami."

“You’ll love it, especially the beaches and low taxes.”

Shafir was extremely grateful to Louis, but at the same time he had a bigger plan in his heart.

Sampson isn't the only big fish this offseason.

And Wilson, Olajuwon, Drexler and Jordan.

Relying on Sampson alone is a bit unsafe, but if there are two, it will be safe.

Due to the skyrocketing salary cap in the new season, the Heat's signing of Sampson was a completely naked signing.

This is the dividend brought by special times.

When Shafir pursued Wilson, he was rejected.

Wilson's team selection criteria are the same as Sampson's, they must be a team where he can be the boss.

Now that Sampson is already in place, it's natural that he can't go to the Heat again.

The experience of working with Ewing left a shadow on Wilson to a certain extent.

He felt that these big men were all pretentious lunatics and difficult to get along with.

How many eight years are there in life? He has spent eight years proving that he and Ewing cannot get along, and he must not spend another eight years trying to get along with another person who may have a personality problem.

The Heat may be out of business.

The Pacers wanted to stabilize Manning by signing Wilson.

However, Wilson did not want to be teammates with a utilitarian and arrogant man like Manning.

Because he just got rid of an egomaniac who was easily inflated.

Only at this time could Wilson see the shortcomings of Ewing. When he was in the Knicks, because of Louis, he always had a mentality of "I can live with it as long as I can".

Now, the light that obscured Ewing's shortcomings has gradually become clear as he leaves New York.

Although Ewing did behave like a mature leader in his final year, it was his maturity that made Wilson understand that he was not a second-in-command willing to be subordinate to others.

He wants to be the boss, so a conflict with Ewing is inevitable.

The conflict between the two of them almost destroyed the team the year before last. It was a team that Louis had worked hard to build, and he could not let the other party's efforts go to waste.

So leaving is Wilson's only option.

Wilson also thought about playing for Louis forever, but this idea was too naive.

Until he found out that Louis didn't plan to renew his contract with New York...

Since then, Wilson hasn't stopped calling Louis. He wants to know which team Louis will join.

Louis also knew very well that if he said which team he was going to, Wilson would immediately sign with his new team.

Doing so will inevitably give people the feeling of running with Wilson.

Louis didn't want to give people this feeling, especially to people in New York.

So Louis never gave a clear answer.

Moreover, he couldn't answer because there was really no answer now.

He doesn't like teams from small cities.

There are only a handful of teams in big cities.

Apart from the Knicks, there seems to be only Los Angeles?

Although Los Angeles has two teams, an owner like Donald Sterling is a nightmare for any management who wants to do something.

In other words, among the teams in big cities, the only option is the Lakers.

If Louis cannot reach an agreement with the Lakers, he will really have to go to a smaller city.

The Lakers have clearly expressed their interest in Louis.

Team owner Jerry Buss plans to make a final appearance.

If Louis had no interest in the Lakers, he would have signed before Buss made a move.

On the other hand, if he is still unable to find a target when the Lakers take action, Bass will be very confident that he will create a condition that other teams cannot match.

In Louis' eyes, if he chooses the Lakers, it will be more out of family considerations than his career.

First of all, Lorraine's acting career will not be affected in Los Angeles, which is, after all, the location of Hollywood.

Followed by his son Lu Wuxia.

If this kid wants to go further on the basketball road, he must go out more and see the vast world outside.

Campus basketball in New York City is undoubtedly better than that in Los Angeles, but college basketball in California can challenge the entire Midwest.

It’s not that they often produce stars, but the overall quality is very high and is very suitable for young players to level up.

For Louis, rebuilding the Lakers is not a difficult task.

They already have David Robinson and Scottie Pippen, and it's a bit difficult to compete for a championship around those two, but what if Benj joins?

Thinking of this, Louis' train of thought stopped.

No, Robinson is fine. In terms of personality alone, Pippen is simply worse than Ewing.

Even Ewing, for example, has never refused to play just because Louis wouldn't let him play a key ball. Even if Ewing had ten thousand courages, he wouldn't dare to do that, while Pippen did.

He chose to do that for the same reason Ewing fought Benj at every turn during those years.

He is the boss of the team and he should have this qualification and right.

When you feel that the key ball should be taken by you, as the star player, what should you do?

James, who has been criticized for his tendency to pass the ball on key ball selections, did this.

He smashed David Blatt's game board, let them get the damn ball in his hands, and then hit the game-winning shot.

And Pippen never has the heart to withstand this kind of pressure. He will only complain, cause trouble, and then completely mess up the team's chemical reaction.

No, we can't let Benj go to the Lakers.

Louis thought so.

next day

The Los Angeles Lakers announced: "We have reached a four-year maximum contract with superstar Benjamin Wilson, and Lakers Nation has a new king!"