NBA Dynasty Sniper

Chapter 275 The lockout is over and the new season begins

At 1999 o'clock on January 1, 15, the labor and management formally reached all agreements and signed a new labor agreement.

The league officially introduced the concept of luxury tax and soft salary cap. This is a very important item in this agreement, which involves some flexible operations of the team.

To put it simply, if the team exceeds the hard salary cap, it is not allowed to sign free agents, but it can renew the contract with the team's existing players, and use some special terms to strengthen the lineup.

That is, if the team's salary exceeds 55% of basketball-related income, then for every dollar in excess, it will pay a luxury tax of $1 to the league.

And this luxury tax will be evenly distributed to teams that have not exceeded the luxury tax after the end of the season.

As for special terms, such as the Larry Bird clause, the middle class clause, the basic salary clause, etc., are all special clauses.

A new labor-management agreement was reached, and the league announced the end of the lockout. The new season will start on February [-]th and end on May [-]th, for a period of three months.

There are a total of 50 regular season games in the new season. Not only will there be no preseason games, but also 32 regular season games will be missing, and the regular season season will be very tense.

And from 15 am on the 9th, the trading window will open at the same time.

In less than 10 minutes, Stern received dozens of transaction applications.

"Postman to Philadelphia?"

Seeing the first deal between the Jazz and the Numbers, he couldn't help but startled.

If you think about it carefully, this is not bad, it increases the strength of the digital team, and the Eastern Conference will add a strong team.

"But today's young people have their own problems."

He muttered, and said to himself: "Flying Dragon likes violence, and Allen Iverson likes hip-hop, it's all wrong."

At ten o'clock, the alliance announced that it had approved a series of trade applications.

The first deal shocked the league.

"Great, the postman joined us, and we're going to compete for a championship this season in Philadelphia."

"The combination of answer and postman, how about we call them the lightning postman combination? Or the email combination? Yes, email, the speed of light, I think it's great."

After the deal was announced, Philadelphia erupted, fans of the digital team talked about it, and the name "email group" became popular in Philadelphia.

"A New Championship-Level Team Is Born!" The New York Times.

"There are many great powers in the East, the Knicks and the Bulls are competing for the first tier, and the Heat, Pacers, Numbers, and Magic are fighting for the second tier." New York Sports News.

The media responded immediately, and the evaluation of the digital team reached the same level as that of the Heat and Pacers.

However, this does not meet the expectations of Postman and Iverson. They hope that the team has reached the level, which is the championship level.

So they immediately asked the management to reinforce the deal, especially the postman. This season is the last year of his contract, with only $600 million. The digital team traded Coleman, and there is still a lot of salary space left. Ask the management to trade another All-Star player to come in.

At 10 o'clock, the Knicks announced that they had bought out Larry Johnson's contract.

The Knicks lost tens of millions of dollars in the buyout of the contract, which is almost the same as James Dowland's purchase of the Knicks.

But in order to free up salary space and not pay too much luxury tax, he could only grit his teeth and do so.

That is, Neil Grant signed Zhao Dong with a lottery contract for the Knicks, otherwise James Dowland would definitely change to a general manager.

After solving the salary space problem, it was Zhao Dong's turn to sign. He and Wells sat in Grant's office at the headquarters.

The two have turned off their mobile phones to avoid being disturbed by other teams.

In front of Zhao Dong, there was a so-called maximum salary contract, which was the result of negotiations between Wells and the management.

6+1, the last year is a player option, and the contract ended in the summer of 2005, which happened to be the end of this round of labor agreement.

The first-year annual salary is $2000 million, with an annual increase of 10.5% to a total of $1.9260 million.

This is by far the largest contract in league history.

In addition, owner James Dowland also gave Zhao Dong a contract to speak for Madison Square Garden, also for 7 years, with a total endorsement amount of up to 8200 million US dollars.

The combination of the two contracts has been able to equal Jordan.

Of course, Jordan's 3000 million contract was only for three years, and this time he only signed for one year. This is Zhao Dong's advantage in age, so he can sign a longer contract.

NO.15 At twelve noon, the Knicks held a press conference at Madison Square Garden, announcing the signing of Zhao Dong.

This news made other teams extremely disappointed, and at the same time attracted all the media to attend the press conference.
At the beginning of the press conference, Neil Grant and James Dowland announced two contracts successively, which immediately shocked all the media, but after being shocked, they felt that this was very reasonable.

"Mr. Dowland, can the endorsement contract be approved by the league?" Team reporter Thomas was the first to get the right to ask questions.

"We have notified the alliance, and the alliance has no objection." James Dowland smiled.

"Flying Dragon, do you think it's reasonable to give up the higher-income professional boxing and return to the NBA for such a small amount of money?" The second question was a reporter from the New York Times. He asked a question that made the Knicks management look bad.

Zhao Dong laughed, shook his head and said with a smile: "If it's for money, I don't need to play basketball at all, let alone boxing. I have more and better ways to make a lot of money. So I returned to the NBA just because I Love the sport."

The third question was from a reporter from New York TV. This is James Dowland's family business. The reporter asked, "Feilong, what are your goals for the new season?"

"Dynasty, and only dynasty, can be my goal this season, and it should be the only goal of our team."

Zhao Dong said seriously.

Next, the Knicks sped up the trade.

First, the Warriors completed the John Starks and Madman deal, then completed the Alan Houston and Kevin Willis deal with Mosaic, and finally re-signed Larry Johnson with a basic salary, and signed the free man Barkley , plus a few fringe people, successfully completed the construction of the team's main lineup in one afternoon.

After Ringwells dealt with Zhao Dong's signing, he rushed to Chicago to help Dazhi deal with some problems.

That night, Zhao Dong called Dazhi.

"Da Zhi, have you met Jordan?"

"I went to the team to report in the morning, and we met. He didn't say anything, and he didn't talk to me much."

"If anyone bullies you, do you know to report my name?" Zhao Dong urged.

"Understood, Brother Dong." Dazhi said quickly.

"In the NBA, you have to take the initiative to communicate with the coaching staff, don't come to the domestic set. Don't be too humble, you have to fight for everything yourself. For example, playing time, such as playing style, such as tactics that suit you, etc. You have to talk to the coaching staff, otherwise you will be sidelined. Besides, Oakley is my brother, and you have met him, so if you have anything to say, tell him." Zhao Dong urged again.

After hanging up the phone, he was still uneasy about Dazhi's character, so he called Oakley again.

"Charles, are you in Chicago?"

"Just arrived, haven't reported to the Bulls yet."

"There is a matter. My brother Wang Zhizhi is in the bull. You have seen it. Show me it. Don't be bullied."

"Don't worry, your brother is my brother. If I'm here, Jordan will give me face. Anyone who wants to bully my brother will slap him with a big mouth."

"His personality is very introverted. If there is anything to pay attention to, please remind him."

"No problem, give him to me, and I will come forward if there is anything."

"Okay, that's it."

After handing over to Oakley, Zhao Dong was relieved.

After hanging up the phone, he made another call back to the country.

Hu Weidong is still in the country, it's time to come back.

"Brother Hu, how are you doing?"

"It's okay, hee hee."

"Hearing your tone, it feels like a spring breeze. Is it because your girlfriend has gotten involved?"

"The relationship is confirmed, hehe."

"That's good, do you want to come together this time? The league is about to start, did Wells inform you?"

"Notice, I've already booked a ticket, and I'll be here tomorrow. My girlfriend won't be here for the time being, anyway, this season is short, we've discussed it, and she will come with me next season."

"That's fine too."

After chatting for a few words, the two ended the phone call.

Zhao Dong hung up the phone, thought about it, and called Dayao again.

The regular season of the NCAA men's basketball championship has come to an end. This season, Duke University is very strong and has the strength to compete for the championship.

Dayao, Battier, Elton Brand, Boozer, and Corey Maggette are more mature rookies. focus on.

In this era of traditional center forwards, the sophomore Yao, with his height, improved skills, and top-level shooting touch, has won the recognition of the North American media, and his evaluation is no less than that of Brand.

You must know that after Brand announced his participation in the 99 NBA draft, a large number of media favored him as the No. [-] pick in this year's draft.

Many media predict that if Yao participates in this year's draft, the pick will not be lower than the top five, or even the top three.

"Brother."

"Dayao, are you asleep?"

"No, Brother Dong, I'm talking to you."

"Haha... well, no kidding..."

Chatted with Dayao about the current situation, and he made Yao feel at ease to play for another year at Duke and participate in the 99 draft after finishing the 00/2000 season.

By next season, Dayao's body will reach the maturity of an adult and will complete the first stage of strength training, while his skills will also begin to mature.

At that time, I believe that the media's evaluation of him will not be the top five or top three, but the evaluation of the number one pick.

In Los Angeles, Lakers general manager Jerry West completed a deal to sell Madman Fan to the Nuggets in exchange for only two fringe players.

And these two marginal people were disposed of by him later, so in fact, Madman Fan was sent out for nothing, and nothing was exchanged. The only advantage was that he freed up some salary space.

He originally wanted to change to a good power forward, but he couldn't do it. He wanted the Nuggets' pick, but the Nuggets didn't agree, so he had to sell it cheaply.

Of course, he also wanted to sell to other weak teams and get back with a lottery pick, but he failed to do so.

At the beginning, the Hornets were willing to exchange two first-round picks for Eddie Jones, and later exchanged these two picks for Coleman, because the Hornets wanted to hit the playoffs.

And the reason why he gave Crazy Fan to the Nuggets was because the Nuggets would not become an opponent of the Lakers and could not threaten the Lakers if they had Crazy Fan.

On the morning of the 16th, Zhao Dong and Lindsay came to the headquarters of the Storm Fund, and then led a large number of people to the Nike headquarters.

Today is Nike's shareholder meeting, and it is also Philip Knight's last chance to struggle. If he can gather more than 40% of the shares, he can temporarily prevent the Storm Fund from taking over Nike.

"42%, enough."

At the same time, Philip Knight, who had been working hard for a day and a night, cheered up and began to prepare for the shareholders' meeting.

He promised a lot of conditions. Before the shareholders meeting started, he finally won over some small shareholders who were not on his side, so that he could prevent the Storm Fund from becoming the new chairman of Nike and successfully saved his Nike from being swallowed by the storm.

He only had this one chance, and he knew very well the tactics of those predators on Wall Street. They would never run a real business. When the storm took Nike, they would just dismantle it and sell it for money.

When the storm dismantled Nike, the most likely buyer was only one, Dragon Sports.

An hour later, voting began.

A total of 83% of the equity holders participated in the general meeting of shareholders, and the rest were small retail investors who did not participate in this general meeting.

When the voting results came out, the Storm Fund received a 45% support rate and successfully entered the board of directors.

"why?"

"Didn't you know the storm would take down Nike?"

"What do you get without Nike?"

Philip Knight questioned several minority shareholders like crazy.

These people clearly agreed to support him, but now they invested in the Storm Fund. He really wanted to kill these guys with a single shot.

"Philip, don't blame us, the Storm Fund has agreed to accept our funds, and we will become investors of the Storm Fund."

A small shareholder said excitedly.

"Hoho..."

Philip Knight was so angry that he wanted to vomit blood. Just a chance to invest in the Storm Fund defeated him?

At this time, a director stood up, looked at Lindsay respectfully, and made a proposal: "Everyone, I propose to resign from the position of president Philip Knight, and Miss Lindsay will take over as the president of Nike."

"agree."

Those who support the Storm Fund raised their hands.

"Miss Lindsay, Feilong, this matter is endless." Philip Knight left the table angrily.

"It's not over."

Lindsay stared coldly at the departing Philip Knight. The first thing she did after taking over as president was to thoroughly complete everything that Philip Knight had done at Nike, especially the period before and after the supermarket shooting.

Nike officially changed hands and founder Philip Knight was expelled, which symbolizes that the sporting goods market will usher in a major reshuffle.

Also on this day, Feilong Sports announced the official release of the second generation of Silver Devil.

The performance of the Silver Devil [-] has been improved, the style has been changed, and some Chinese elements have been added, but it is not too obvious.

The launch of the second generation of Silver Devils, thanks to the excellent performance of the first generation of Silver Devils, was immediately recognized by fans.

At the same time, after more than a year of technical research and development, Feilong Sports announced its entry into the field of football shoes and other sports shoes.

On the 17th, the Knicks team assembled and began preparations for the new season.

At 9 o'clock this morning, Zhao Dong came to the training base.

Coming out of the parking lot, he met Zhang Lili and his photography team (two people).

This season, Lao Zhang has now become CCTV's team reporter for the Knicks. He has no restrictions on access, can enter the training hall for interviews, and can film internal training after obtaining permission.

"Zhao Dong, over there, what do you think he will do this year?" Zhang Lili asked.

Zhao Dong pondered for a while and said: "Da Zhi's offense is nothing to say, let me quantify his offensive ability. If he passes 60 points, he now has 70 points."

"Is it at the NBA level?" Zhang Lili asked quickly.

"of course."

Zhao Dong nodded and said: "If you pass the level, you can play as a substitute. With 70 points, even in a strong team like ours, you are qualified to play a rotation."

"awesome!"

Zhang Lili didn't expect Zhao Dong to have such a high evaluation of Dazhi, and he was very excited.

Zhao Dong shook his head and said, "Director Zhang, don't be too happy, you should know Dazhi's weakness, he has also played CBA for three years."

Zhang Lili was taken aback, and blurted out: "Defense?"

Zhao Dong nodded, and said with some regret: "He doesn't like defense very much, especially strong hand-to-hand confrontation. In the past two years, I have been asking the trainer to teach him defense and let him increase the ability of hand-to-hand confrontation on the defensive end, but he has been Avoid this kind of training, but the offensive confrontation practice is okay."

Zhang Lili hurriedly asked: "Then what do you mean?"

Zhao Dongdao: "The imbalance between offense and defense will definitely affect his development here. In this era, it is very difficult to survive without defense."

"That's over!"

Zhang Lili knew the NBA too well, and was very disappointed.

Zhao Dong said again: "But fortunately, his offensive talent is good. He has improved a lot in the past two years. He has a level of 70 points. After one or two seasons in the league, he can improve to the level of 80 points, or even go further. There's a good chance."

"What level can you achieve with 80 points?" Zhang Lili asked quickly.

"All-star level."

Zhao Dongdao: "But don't be too happy. If you only attack but don't defend, you lose more points than you gain. There is no future for attention. My idea is that if he is unwilling to defend, then he will be in the NBA and use the competitive environment here. Push him, let him know, and if you don't defend, you might not even get a chance to play."

Zhang Lili nodded thoughtfully.

"Hello everyone!"

As soon as he entered the training hall, Zhao Dong greeted him loudly.

"Hello boss."

Seeing Zhao Dong coming in, everyone said in succession.

"Zhao Dong."

Hu Weidong greeted with a smile.

"Flying dragon."

Barkley greeted with a smile.

"Flying dragon."

Old Nelson and several other coaches also came over.

Zhao Dong took a look and saw that everyone was here.

Ben Wallace, Danny Fortson, Barkley, Kevin Willis, Larry Johnson, Billups, Latrell Sprewell, Hu Weidong, Mobley, Charlie Ward, plus Rick Bronson and a few marginal people, counting himself, are exactly 15 people.

Among these people, only Larry Johnson and Charlie Ward are old teammates. They were there when he came the year before last. The others just came in last year or this year.

He took a special look at the madman. I heard that this guy is not easy to control.

The rebellious madman was glanced at by Zhao Dong, the sharp and aggressive gaze made his eyes shrink, and he couldn't help lowering his head, avoiding Zhao Dong's sight.

(End of this chapter)