NBA backer king

Chapter 466 The pool is small and cannot raise big fish
Thinking of this, he thought of the Suns again. It is basically no problem to win the championship this time, so will the Colangelo family and the shareholders of the team continue to invest heavily to win the championship with three championships in five years?If not, do you want to support K to leave Phoenix?
Old K's commercial value and his contribution to the league are now limited to the Phoenix ball market and have not been fully tapped. He knows this very well.

According to his judgment, in a market like the Phoenix Suns, the willingness to spend a lot of money to win the championship may be greatly reduced in the future. The shareholders will not be willing to hold three championships.

I'm afraid the old Colangelo has the same idea, because even if the Suns play a dynasty later, it can't really change Phoenix's market.

The size of a football market is determined by factors such as the city's economic scale, consumption capacity, population size, middle class size, international influence, etc. The team's performance is only one aspect. (like real Spurs)
The foundation of the Suns is a third-tier ball market. In recent years, they have been promoted to a tier based on their record, but the foundation of the ball market cannot be changed.

In particular, the Suns have too many shareholders. For these small investors, making money is the most important thing. Now that they have so many honors, why not honor the championship bonus and continue to invest heavily?
In the end, he decided to wait and see. If the Suns continue to invest, it can only be decided by the old K, otherwise he must find a way to mobilize the old K to a big ball market.

After thinking about the old K and the Suns, he started to think about Jordan again.

"God gave Tim Duncan to the Lakers. The Lakers still have a big dream of getting old. The lineup will be very strong. Then they must not have Jordan again, otherwise it will be unfair to the Suns, and the east is weak and the west is strong, which destroys the balance. , then Jordan should stay in the East."

Now Jordan still has a big contract of $2500 million for next season, which is a bird rights supercap contract.

According to the existing Larry Bird terms, bird rights can be continued, that is to say, when a player with bird rights is traded, the receiving team can continue his bird rights.

But there was no bird rights contract for a superstar like Jordan before, so the Larry Bird clause did not formulate relevant content.

The so-called relevant content is whether the receiving team can inherit the bird rights of his virtual space when a superstar like Jordan who holds the bird rights is traded.

Specifically, it is whether the virtual space occupied by Jordan's bird rights contract can be inherited by the receiving team.

This is quite critical. If the receiving team cannot inherit the virtual space, it will not be able to trade at all. The salary cap for next season is about 2700 million U.S. dollars, and Jordan’s salary is 2500 million U.S. dollars. If any team cannot inherit the virtual space, there is no way to trade him.

But just because there is no such specific clause in the Larry Bird clause, there is now a loophole that can be exploited, that is, everything that is not prohibited by the existing clause is legal, and any team can inherit Jordan's bird rights through trading.

It's just that whether the transaction is passed or not will ultimately be decided by him.

As long as he immediately adds a rule to the Larry Bird clause, a player with a bird rights contract is traded before the bird rights contract ends, and the receiving team is prohibited from owning the virtual space of the player's bird rights.

If he doesn't agree, the Bulls' idea of ​​trading Jordan to complete the rebuild is impossible.

And his decision was to allow it.

The current situation is that the virtual space of Jordan's contract is not large, only about 600 million US dollars, and he can go to any team through a trade.

"In the East, the management of the Magic team is too stupid, and Hardaway is in good condition after his comeback, so there is no need to consider this team. And the Magic is only a third-tier market, not worthy of Jordan.

Knicks, Jordan and O'Neal join forces?It's too strong, but it's not impossible to consider. If the Knicks can win the championship again, they may be able to grab some fans from the New York Giants of the NFL League.

Or go to the Heat and partner with Mourning?It can be considered, the second-tier ball market is also good, and the owner of the Heat is rich, richer than the owner of the Suns, and the Suns have too many shareholders.

To join forces with the Pacers and Ewing?No, there's Reggie Miller, unless the Pacers trade Reggie Miller for Jordan.And the ball market is too small, not even as good as the Suns, and completely unworthy of Jordan.

What about the eagle?Teaming up with Dikembe Mutombo, the Eagles are fifth in the Eastern Conference this season, and their strength is good. With Jordan, there should be a sublimation, and they will definitely become a championship-level team.It's just that the ball market is similar to the original Suns. In the third tier, even with Jordan, at most it can be promoted to the second tier based on the record. "

After thinking about it, the Knicks and the Heat are the most suitable markets for Jordan in the East, and the Hawks are barely considered one.

In addition, Jordan's going to the Eagles has another advantage, which is to add a championship-level team to the East.

While David Stern was considering these issues, Jordan's agent, David Frank, was too busy.

He is not busy with other things, busy thinking about where Jordan will go.

Of the 29 teams in the league, except for the Bulls, including the Suns, the general managers or owners of the other 28 teams are calling him, hoping to trade Jordan.

Colangelo Jr. told him that, except for Old K, anyone in the Suns can be a bargaining chip.

The Lakers told him that, except for the No. [-] pick that had just arrived, the entire team could be a bargaining chip.

The Spurs told him that anyone but David Robinson could be a chip.

Since Jordan fell out with the Bulls, his phone calls have not stopped in the past two days, and each team has made at least ten calls to him.

After the G4 game last night, he unplugged his cell phone card, unplugged the phone line, and quietly considered Jordan's whereabouts at his home in Chicago.

His first consideration is the big ball market, that is, the Lakers and Knicks.

The Clippers are also under his consideration. He believes that if Jordan joins the Clippers, with Jordan's ability to attract stars, as long as the owner is willing to invest, the Clippers will definitely have a lot to do with the big ball market in Los Angeles.

Of course, the Clippers also contacted him. The general manager Kim Belle personally called and told him that no one from the Clippers was for sale.

The Nets are also in his consideration. The Nets are next to New York, and New York is Jordan's hometown. As long as Jordan goes, the ball market should be fine.

But the premise for him to consider the team is whether the team is willing to invest a lot of money. Jordan wants to compete with the old K. After Jordan joins, the team must have the strength of the championship level.

The most important point is that this team must have a center with excellent offense and defense, a center who can limit Old K's offensive efficiency.

Including this time, the Bulls lost three times to the Suns in the finals, but they suffered at the center position.

Old K can play super explosive data every time in the finals. He averaged 95+ per game in 50 and 50+ in four single games. Does he really have that strength?

He doesn't think so, but the Bulls' center is relatively too weak, which can be seen from the efficiency of the old K.

It can be said that the Bulls single-handedly achieved the glory of Old K in the finals, and even affected Michael's No.1 position in history.

So from the point of view of the center, the Lakers are actually the best. They have Dameng and the No. [-] pick Tim Duncan. Dameng's condition this season is actually pretty good, and his body is not out of shape. It can be seen that he has been maintaining Training, so as long as that Duncan is not a parallel importer, this pair of insiders can be regarded as the top insider combination in the league, and they are both offensive and defensive.

Followed by the Knicks, the combination of O'Neal and Oakley can be regarded as excellent offensive and defensive.

The inside combination of these two teams is one old and one young. If Michael joins these two teams, with a complete core inside and outside, and some role players, they will be able to sweep the entire league.

Just, will David Stern allow Michael to join these two teams?

Last time he considered threatening retirement to force the Bulls to buy out Michael's contract, and then join another team with a basic salary. This method is in Michael's best interest.

But the Bulls also know that Michael will not retire easily, so I am afraid they will not agree to buy out the contract, unless Michael does not want the last year of the contract and buys out the contract himself.

It's just that this would be a great loss to Michael's interests, and he didn't want to adopt this method. In the end, I am afraid that a transaction still needs to be passed.

But Michael will not let the Bulls trade him, he will only go to the team he wants to go to, otherwise he would rather retire, so now he has formed a tacit understanding with the Bulls management, Michael can choose the team he wants to go to, but try to consider the Bulls' rebuilding requirements.

For the Bulls to rebuild, what they want is the future, that is, future draft picks, and young players with potential.

Then there is another problem, that is, Michael's contract is very large. Without the support of the league, no team can trade Michael. Only when the receiving team can get the right to virtual space can the transaction be completed.

So he and the Bulls have to test David Stern's attitude first. Without God's consent of this alliance, Michael can only choose to leave the Bulls by self-buyout.

Anyway, Michael must leave the Bulls when the Bulls are almost selling Michael publicly.

……

This afternoon, David Stern came to Chicago with the championship trophy, the Larry O'Brien Cup.

Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf and general manager Jerry Krause, as well as Suns owners Jerry Colangelo and Colangelo Jr., went to the airport to greet them.

After a brief chat at the airport, Stern chose to sit in Reinsdorf's silver Rolls Royce and head to the hotel.

The car of Colangelo and his son also followed and went to the hotel together. Stern had already made an appointment with them to communicate.

In the car, Stern discussed Jordan with Reinsdorf and Klaus.

He didn't ask the Bulls if they really want to trade Jordan, there is no need, the Bulls want to trade Jordan, which has angered him.

He originally hoped that Jordan would end up with the Bulls, and fulfill Jordan’s greatness of one person, one city. Jordan made the Bulls from a small team to the hottest team in the league, and also developed a small ball market into a second-tier ball market. He knows how much money the Bulls made from Jordan.

With Jordan's great contribution to the league, he never wants to give the Bulls another No. [-] pick in his life.

The issue he wants to discuss is actually very simple, that is, he hopes that the Bulls will allow Jordan to choose his own team, and even suffer some losses, otherwise he will not allow Jordan's trade. By today next year, Jordan will be able to leave freely, and the Bulls will get nothing.

Of course, Jordan will be one year older next year, so he hopes Jordan will leave this year.

To this end, he will allow the receiving team the right to virtual space in Jordan's Bird rights contract to help close the Jordan deal.

Of course Reinsdorf and Klaus will not refuse, this is exactly what they want, otherwise Jordan will stay on the team, and they will get nothing next year.

After a brief conversation, the two sides reached an agreement. After arriving at the hotel, Stern got off the car and walked into the hotel without looking back.

Reinsdorf and Klaus stood by the car and smiled wryly. They knew Stern loved Jordan, and now they had completely offended Stern.

Colangelo and his son walked past and followed Stern into the hotel.

"Father, I contacted David Frank yesterday. Except for old K, anyone can be a bargaining chip." Little Colangelo said in a low voice.

"what?"

Old Colangelo was taken aback, his son had never told him about this.

Colangelo Jr. explained: "If we get Jordan and gather the two most influential people in the league, the ball market should go a step further and really reach the second-tier ball market like Chicago."

The old Colangelo frowned and said: "Now we are not sure whether Jordan's transaction can be approved by the league. Even if he agrees, we can continue the virtual space rights, and we have no ability to support Jordan's salary of 2500 million US dollars next year."

"Father, counting the earnings from the playoffs, aren't we enough?" Colangelo Jr. was not in charge of the team's operations, and he was not very clear about these things, so he said with some doubts.

"In that case, our salary next season will reach more than 7000 million US dollars, far exceeding the financial capacity of the Suns. In fact, we will be very reluctant to maintain the old K's contract. Moreover, Brian, shareholders demand dividends, and their attitude is very tough."

At this time, Stern and his party had already entered the elevator, and the old Colangelo said something hastily, motioning for the young Colangelo to follow quickly.

Little Colangelo was taken aback, and immediately understood.

Stern smiled and nodded to the Colangelos who came in, and said, "Jerry, I want to congratulate you in advance."

"Thank you, Mr. Stern." Old Colangelo smiled.

"Call me David." Stern laughed.

"Okay, David." Old Colangelo laughed.

While his father was exchanging greetings with Stern, Colangelo Jr. was still thinking about what his father had just said.

Because the operating conditions in the previous seasons were good, in order to compete for the championship, there was no dividend, but continuous investment. Now shareholders urgently need dividends to enjoy the bonus of the team's five-year triple championship. This is also normal.

However, shareholders demand dividends, which also indicates that the team can no longer continue to make large investments, which also means that the team will lose the motivation to continue to compete for the championship.

This is very important to the Suns. In order to reduce expenses, shareholders will even force the team to trade Old K, because Old K's super contract, the largest in league history, is the Suns' biggest expense.

At the same time, when the Suns lose the motivation to continue to compete for the championship, will Old K still be willing to stay with the Suns?I'm afraid he will also offer a deal.

"Ugh!"

As a young man, he feels very regretful. He still wants to complete the dynasty, but as a team manager, he has to comply with the requirements of most shareholders.

At this time, he was very envious of the Lakers and the Knicks, such a big ball market, which can bear almost unlimited investment, and can continue to invest in the championship year after year.

"Phoenix, it's still too small to accommodate Old K."

This exclamation, at this time, in this elevator, simultaneously arose in the hearts of Stern and Colangelo.

……

"The pond is too small to raise big fish."

At this time, in the room of a low-rise Jiuliu small hotel in the fringe community of Chicago, Zhang Lili said.

Just now he discussed Jordan’s issue with Su Qun and three members of the camera team, and then contacted Wang Tiejun. Cameraman Lao Liu asked whether Wang Tiejun would be like Jordan, who would be traded by the Suns when he got old. Forever Suns, and then he said that.

Su Qun asked in surprise, "Director Zhang, what do you mean?"

Zhang Lili said: "In fact, I have been thinking about this question, whether Tie Jun can finish his career in the Suns.

This problem is quite complicated. If it is just an ordinary player, it would be simpler, but Tiejun is not. He is now very strong in his pursuit of the championship, hoping to surpass Jordan's historical status.

This requires the Suns to support him vigorously. Simply put, the Suns have to spend real money and smash a championship-level lineup. "

Su Qun and the others couldn't help but nodded.

Zhang Lili continued: "Look at the current lineup of the Suns. Horry will leave soon. The Suns can't keep it. There is no room. Next year Rasheed Wallace will leave after playing, and there is no room. There are Kobe and Kidd behind, the same problem.

We don't consider any luxury tax that may be introduced in the future. Take the existing rules as an example. Is there really no room for it?Not really.

Let's talk about Horry first. He has played for the Suns for four years, and three years is in line with the Larry Bird veteran clause, that is, the Suns have his bird rights. Will the Suns be willing to offer him a bird rights contract?Yes, but would the Suns want it?Obviously not.

Similarly, Rasheed Wallace is the same next year. He was traded, which means that the Suns also inherited his bird rights. As long as the next season is over, the Suns will have his bird rights in three years. They can also offer him a bird rights contract, but are the Suns willing? "

Su Qun nodded and said, "It's the same with Kobe and Kidd later on. If the Suns offer bird rights contracts for all the main lineup, it's really impossible. They don't have that much financial resources at all."

Zhang Lili smiled and said: "Not to mention the Suns, even the Knicks and the Lakers, it is impossible to offer five bird rights contracts at the same time. It is very difficult for ordinary teams to support one contract. The Lakers and Knicks can't afford more than two contracts.

Moreover, bird rights contracts also occupy virtual space and are suppressed by the salary cap. There are too many bird rights contracts and it is not easy to configure the lineup.

Look at the Suns, in order to compete for the championship, the contract given to the Iron Army is actually quite difficult.The operations in the past few seasons have been good, but the shareholders have not received any dividends. The team has won the championship continuously but they have no benefit. Do they have any objections?And this situation will be more serious in the next few seasons, because the iron army's annual salary will be higher in the next few seasons. "

From Zhang Lili's words, Su Qun seemed to understand something, and asked in surprise: "Director Zhang, do you think the Suns will trade Old K?"

Zhang Lili sighed and said: "This time the Suns shareholders want to sell their shares, maybe it is an act of coercion against the management.

If the Suns reduce their investment, they will not be able to maintain the current lineup. In other words, the Suns may no longer regard winning the championship as their goal. "

Su Qun was startled, and murmured: "If we don't compete for the championship anymore, then even if the Suns don't trade Old K, he will definitely go. He said it a long time ago, and the Suns agreed to him when he renewed his contract."

"That's why I said that Chi Xiao can't raise big fish. Tiejun belongs to the super giants, and he is destined to only belong to the big ball market, unless he has no intention of competing for the championship, or other people cut their salaries, do not get big contracts, and continue to maintain the winning lineup." Zhang Reasonable sighed.

He added one more sentence at the end: "If the Suns really continue to invest, to put it bluntly, with the Suns' financial resources, it would be militarism, which may not be a good thing. Shareholders rebel, internal divisions and internal friction will cause various problems."

……

(End of this chapter)