The Rest, Only Noise

The lockout war sparked by both employers and employees continues.

At present, the two sides are still in the stage of talking to themselves. Almost half a year has passed, and they have not made a single step.

The bosses put forward a series of demands that the players union cannot accept, such as the introduction of a hard salary cap, the abolition of bird rights, the adjustment of the rookie standard contract from the current 3 years to 5 years, and the salary of any player cannot exceed 30% of the salary cap. %.

Players, there have been plenty of PR nightmares.

Like super hot center Shaquille O'Neal, who openly bought two Ferraris, then split one in half—physically, in two—and had the two halves installed on the perfect car. Ferrari front and rear.

What is his purpose? Get a stretched Ferrari, although the car can't drive, but his purpose has been achieved. When ordinary people see how extravagant and wasteful O'Neal is, no one will find it funny.

Everyone has pink eye.

Then there's Sean Kemp, who goes on to complain that he may never be able to live the life of the rich who tip $500 casually. In order to cry poor, Kenny Anderson even told the media that he was considering selling one of the eight cars in his wife's name because his wife didn't need eight cars.

Then, someone broke out that the Anderson family spent more than a hundred thousand dollars a year on car insurance and maintenance. It became a PR disaster for the players union.

Then, the source of the PR nightmare came forward again.

Patrick Ewing, president of the union, said almost stupidly: "Tom Cruise can make $35 million for a movie, because he is white, so no one thinks it's a problem. When we black people make money for playing basketball. One million, ten million and people think we're spoiled? That's ridiculous!"

The player's image is increasingly damaged, and the real crisis comes from within.

Those middle and low-level players who lost their guarantees began to think about why they were involved in this meaningless conflict.

Because the cause of the incident was that the top players took too much money, while the middle and low-level players always acted in accordance with the regulations and contracts. The rule loophole of "unlimited maximum salary" has nothing to do with them.

For the benefit of star players, they have to lose their jobs and become jobless.

In mid-December, in order to win the support of fans, Ewing and Mourning held an exhibition match in New York. The official claimed that there were 9,000 spectators at the scene, but the actual attendance was less than 5,000. The attitude tends to be indifferent, and they don't care anymore.

Then, the division within the players became more and more obvious.

Lower and mid-tier players are tired of not having a job.

And the young stars also don't want to have too much trouble with the league and the boss.

To put it bluntly, an old man like Ewing has not played well for a few years, and he can certainly strike hard at the bosses. But some people are still young, and they have to spend more than ten years in professional basketball. If they want to have a better career, they can't fight against the league and the boss.

The leaders were O'Neill and Webber, followed by Penny and Garnett.

Stern finally announced that both employers and employees will conduct final negotiations on January 6, 2000. If this negotiation does not reach an agreement, then the entire 1999-2000 season will be cancelled. Ewing, the chairman of the labor union, is still a diehard, but the development of the situation has been out of control.

Hundreds of players have asked to be involved in negotiations and to make decisions together. This has weakened the authority of Ewing and other backbones of trade unions infinitely.

At that time, if the plan proposed by the bosses is not so unacceptable, maybe the two sides can reach a consensus. At this time, many people in the Lakers team who are training in Los Angeles also got the news.

People like Wilson, Garnett, Kobe, etc. will all go to the negotiation scene at that time. Duncan was the only one who chose not to attend the negotiations.

Louie asked him why he didn't go.

"I like my life now," he replied.

The current life means that he can do what he is interested in while

Participating in high-quality training, you don't have to participate in competitions everywhere with the team, let alone be like a Uranus superstar, being photographed by dozens of cameras wherever you go.

As for Louie himself, his weight loss program is well underway.

In the more than a month since he came to the training camp, with the help of Kobe, Louis lost nearly 20 kilograms of weight.

Counting the 8 catties he lost at home, Louis currently weighs 96KG, and it can be seen that there have been obvious changes in his body.

First of all, the face has become smaller, and the appearance of youth is clearly visible. The belly has also shrunk several times.

Clothes that were out of reach in the past can now be worn again. But the weight loss is not over yet, Louis plans to reduce to 85KG. Under Kobe's supervision, Louie's life was very difficult.

Kobe himself is a masochist, he trains desperately, and now he has to supervise Louis to lose weight. In order to speed up the process, he secretly changed the training plan, and he exhausted Louis every day.

Then, time flashed to December 31, 1999.

As the new millennium dawned, the Lakers squad practice was suspended for a day.

They spend the day watching movies, playing golf and throwing barbecue parties at Louie's house.

In the dead of night, Wilson also lit a bonfire, and Louie sat with them, talking about all non-basketball topics.

Wayne Gretzky retiring, Jay-Z stabbing someone in a nightclub, the Zong Zong zipper and the ensuing eternal question of whether he was wearing a Benj jersey at all, and many more.

When there are many people, you will never lack topics.

Suddenly, someone asked: "Coach, will you renew your contract with the team?" The person who asked this question was Dale Ellis.

Louie replied sincerely, "Honestly, I don't have an answer right now."

He stayed in New York for eight years~www.wuxiaspot.com~ In a blink of an eye, he stayed in Los Angeles for another five years, and now he is about to enter his sixth year. This question will keep being asked until he comes up with an answer.

Louis can't find a reason to stay, because he has formed the most powerful team ever in Los Angeles. The only thing that supports him is that the beautiful basketball has not yet been fully played.

This is his only remaining job with the Lakers.

Louie also sometimes thinks, if the beautiful basketball is completed in the Lakers, what should be the next step? He has achieved the supreme achievement in the basketball world, only Reid Auerbach can be compared through the ages.

But Auerbach never had the same success coaching different players and teams as he did. He didn't even manage to coach Bill Russell to the end and hid behind the scenes.

Louie has reached the top as a coach and when he looks to the future, he doesn't know he has yet to prove it.

Maybe it's time for him to step back?

Louis was full of thoughts, and the players didn't ask any more questions. They continued to chat and talked, and spent the last night of the 20th century together by the bonfire.