Jim Bass Ambition

Chapter 123 The Curtain and the Unknown

Five days later at the Staples Center, Ben Wallace's thunderous block slammed Marbury's desperate layup and shattered the Suns' dream of advancing to the second round.

After the final whistle, Marbury took off his jersey and walked back to the locker room without saying a word.

The generals of the Lakers didn't celebrate too passionately. They just stopped smiling when they walked into the player tunnel and clapped hands with Jim who was waiting there one by one.

As the first team to break through in the West, they will have a few days to rest and wait for their opponents to appear.

Reggie Miller's team finally defeated Michael Jordan's team. The huge gap in the strength of the two teams made it impossible for the Wizards to beat the Pacers. The inside combination of Kwame Brown and Brendan Haywood was defeated. O'Neal was ravaged to pieces, and the Sharks demonstrated their dominance with the terrifying data of 34.5 points, 12.8 rebounds and 3.7 blocks per game.

The 40-year-old Michael Jordan returned to the world. Although the lore in the second game and the 39-point explosion in the fifth game made fans all over the world vaguely see the omnipotent god in red back then, any wonderful performance will always come to an end. moment.

The Indiana Pacers defeated the Washington Wizards 4-2 and became the first team in the Eastern Conference to advance to the second round.

Although it has not been announced, everyone knows that next season, Michael Jordan will leave this stadium where he has written countless legends again, and it will be the last time.

The Sacramento Kings, second in the West, met the Utah Jazz in the first round of the playoffs.

The young and energetic Russian AK47 Andrei Kirilenko and the tough Matt Harpering have gradually grown into the backbone of the Jazz. If Karl Malone and John Stockton can be 10 years younger, this round The winner of the playoffs is not necessarily who.

Facing Chris Webber, who is young and in his prime, the 40-year-old Ma Fubang averaged 40 minutes at home, the most among all players of the two teams. He scored the team's highest average of 20.3 points and 8.6 rebounds. Contributed an average of 4 assists and 2 steals per game, and he did not fall behind on the scene. It can be said that he has shouldered the important task of the team's attack.

The steel-framed postman is still strong, but the 41-year-old general can no longer withstand the invasion of the years. Stockton only played less than 30 minutes and averaged about 12 points per game, but the assists he is proud of It fell to an average of less than 6 times per game. Under the repeated impact of Mike Bibby and Bobby Jackson, this solid rock that had stood in the Utah Jazz for 19 years suddenly fell down.

The King eliminated the Jazz and became the second breakout team in the West.

The morning after the Jazz were out, John Stockton went to the Delta Center as usual and told team owner Larry Miller and head coach Jerry Sloan that next season, he would not Will be back on the court to play again.

Even Karl Malone, who fought with him for 18 years, didn't know the news beforehand, and Jazz center Greg Ostertag was still wondering when he helped Stockton move things to the car, Why this offseason, Stockton will take away everything left in the arena.

Karl Malone's 4-year $6650 million contract will also expire after the end of the season. He is worthy of the $1925 million salary he received in the last year. In the 18 years he played for the Jazz, he only missed 10 games, half of which He was also suspended for a bad elbow injury.

But the Jazz don't intend to continue to send tens of millions of annual salary to a 40-year-old veteran, no matter who he is.

The Milwaukee Bucks led by "Dirty Talk Brothers" Gary Payton and Sam Cassell had a fierce confrontation with last year's Eastern Conference champion New Jersey Nets. Both teams have strong point guards, but the Bucks are weak inside. It can't compete with the Nets, even though Mutombo is still lying on the Nets' injury list.

Kenyon Martin showed the quality of a qualified beast No. 22.3 power forward, averaging 10.7 points and [-] rebounds per game, overwhelming the Bucks inside.

After a hard fight, the Nets eliminated the Bucks and advanced to the second round.

After Gary Payton spent half a failed season, his five-year $5 million contract has also been fulfilled to the final year. The combination of him and Sam Cassell is not ideal.And his mentor George Karl was also fired by the management after the team was eliminated.

Thinking about it, the Bucks, who are focused on rebuilding, will not renew their contract with the 35-year-old glove.

The draft lottery is approaching, and many managements have already begun to prepare for reinforcement or poor performance in the coming year.

"Liuba, let's confirm our salary status for next year." Jim lay in the armchair, watching the news about Stockton's retirement on TV.

"In terms of starting, Kobe's contract is the last year, $1350 million left; Kevin is also the last year, $2800 million. Ron Artest will expire after the season, and his starting salary is expected to be less than Will be less than $500 million; Ben Wallace is also in the final year of his contract at $550 million; Chauncey Billups, who has four years left on his contract, is at $4 million next year." Willow Bove quickly pulled out the payroll and read the data on it.

"What about the substitute? I remember Gerald Wallace's rookie contract is about to expire." Jim asked.

"Next year is the last year for Derek Fisher and Gerald Wallace, their contracts are $300 million and $92 respectively, and Brad Miller's contract will end after the season. When it expires, it is expected that his asking price will also start at $500 million. The other players are on rookie contracts and veterans’ basic salary, which will not be affected for the time being.” Liubov handed the data sheet to Jim.

"Next year's salary cap is $4384 million. If we use the bird rights to renew Artest and Miller, does it mean..." Jim stared at the salary table, seeming to be talking to himself.

"We will exceed the hard salary cap line of 5937 million US dollars. Not only will we have to pay a luxury tax, but we can only use the mini-middle-class special case to sign people. All transactions can only be made around reducing the total salary." Liubov Station On the side, he said in an announcer-like tone.

"Yes, so if we make a mistake, it is very likely that this team will disintegrate in an instant, and we have to be prepared." Jim stood up, gave Liubov a thumbs up, and then walked around to the other end of the desk, holding After picking up the phone, after hesitating for a while, he didn't dial the number.

"After the draft lottery is over, let's consider the next move. Inform Mitch and let him keep in touch with Ron Artest and Brad Miller's agent to determine their willingness and expectations to stay in the team The contract in the contract, and at the same time let Bonnie screen the alternatives we may choose, and prepare for it."

"Okay, boss."

　Just to popularize science, the rookie contract is over, and the bird rights are used to renew the contract. The bird rights space accounts for 300% of the salary of the previous season.There will be no cap renewal if the Bird rights are not retained.Salary cuts weren't popular back then, so there were very few superteams.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)