NBA: I have 3, no D, and I can't dribble

Chapter 183 [183] ​​American Airlines Finals, Little Swift’s belated gift!

The NBA has very detailed regulations and restrictions on signing contracts between players and teams.

For a player who performed well during his rookie contract, the parent team is naturally willing to use the maximum salary to renew the contract to retain this potential stock.

According to the latest collective bargaining regulations during the 1999 NBA lockout,
Players who have entered the NBA with 0-6 years of playing experience can only sign a maximum salary contract with the team with a starting salary of 25% of the salary cap in the first year.
If a player has 7-9 years of playing experience, he or she can sign a maximum salary contract with the team with a starting salary of 30% of the working cap in the first year.

Veteran stars with more than 10 years of playing experience can sign a maximum salary contract with the team with a starting salary of 35% of the salary cap in the first year.

Logically speaking, this regulation is more beneficial to veterans who have been in the league for many years, while the maximum salary contract for rising stars with less than 6 years of playing experience is subject to certain restrictions.

Obviously this provision is not unrelated to Kevin Garnett's $[-] million contract with the Timberwolves.

The "Lin Wei Clause" issued now is to give more support and encouragement to rising stars who perform well in their rookie period on top of the original player salary regulations.

This is also in line with the NBA's basic philosophy of creating stars and attaching importance to the growth of newcomers.

After Lin Fei learned about the issuance of the "Lin-Wei Clause", he also felt a little surprised. It seems that the emergence of him and Wade made the "Rose Clause" come out five years ahead of schedule.
However, careful comparison shows that there are still some differences between the current "Linwei Clause" and the "Ross Clause" promulgated in the original world in 2011, and the threshold is also higher.

The original "Rose Clause" stipulated that players in the rookie contract period,

As long as he can win the regular season MVP, or be selected as the All-Star starter for two consecutive times, or be selected for the All-NBA Team twice in a row (regardless of which team),
As long as one of the three conditions is met, benefits can be triggered and a maximum salary contract with a starting salary of 30% of the salary cap can be signed with the parent team.

But in today's "Lin Wei Clause", only by winning the regular season MVP, winning two All-Star starts and two All-NBA Teams can the benefits of the clause be triggered.

In other words, if you get two All-Star starts but only one All-Star lineup, or none at all, you will not be able to trigger the "Lin Wei Clause".

Obviously, it is more difficult to trigger the "Linway Clause" than the "Ross Clause".

Looking at the entire history of the NBA, there are only a handful of stars who can meet the "Linway Clause" as a rookie.

Although Lin Fei has signed two contracts with the Timberwolves and the Heat, he is still in the first three years of his career as a rookie, so he can also enjoy the benefits of the "Lin Wei Clause".

The maximum salary contract that Wade finalized with the Heat in advance has not yet been officially signed, so the maximum salary amount can also be increased accordingly according to the "Lin Wei Clause".

In the original world's "Rose Clause", stars with penalty clauses could only enjoy benefits when they renewed their contracts with their home team.
However, in the "Linwei Terms", the league respects the players' choices more, stipulating that whether they renew their contracts with their home team or other teams, as long as the conditions are met, they can enjoy benefits.

When David Stern made this rule, he obviously took more care of Lin Fei, and at the same time he did not want the Heat to become the dominant player.

But even so, because there is still the famous "Bird Clause", the maximum salary for a new star who triggers the "Linway Clause" to renew his contract with his home team is still greater than renewing his contract with other teams.

With the official announcement of the "Linway Clause", NBA fans around the world are actively discussing this magical clause while looking forward to the start of the finals.

"This "Lin Wei Clause" is quite humane. Super rising stars like Lin Fei and Wade really deserve higher salaries!"

"Wade has the regular season MVP, Lin has been selected to the All-Star starter and the All-NBA Team for two consecutive years, and he has also been the All-Star vote-winner for two consecutive years. He has been in the double team for two consecutive years. This honor is not worth half a regular season. Are you competing for MVP?"

"It must be the case that 'Little Emperor' James has taken advantage of it. He has made two All-Star starts, one All-NBA First Team and one All-NBA Second Team. He can also trigger the "Lin Wei Clause"!"

"Obviously three people from the 03 Golden Generation have enjoyed benefits, so why is this clause still called the "Lin Wei Clause"? Shouldn't it be called the "Lin Wei Zhan Clause"?"

"Bold, are you looking down on my little emperor?"

"If you ask me, James is purely taking care of David Stern at the league headquarters!"

"It stands to reason that the "Linwei Clause" should only have a chance if someone like Wade wins the regular season MVP, or someone like Lin Fei makes two consecutive All-Star starts and two consecutive first-team games! In this case, James is not included in it. !”

"Winning the regular season MVP in the first three or four years of a rookie's career, or being selected as an All-Star starter and All-NBA team twice at the same time, is it too difficult? Looking at history, only one Michael Jordan has done it, Magic, O'Neal , and Duncan don’t seem to meet the conditions!”

"After such a comparison, I feel that Lin Fei and Wade are really powerful. The glory achieved by the rookies in the first three years is not inferior to any historical giants in the same period!"

"Of course, don't forget that Lin Fei already has two championships, Wade also has one championship, and they are about to win another championship with the Heat!"

"In the fifth game of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Heat really showed their strength, right? In this state, I feel that the Mavericks can last up to 6 games without a tiebreaker, and they can definitely defeat their opponents!"

"The NBA's salary cap and maximum salary regulations are so complicated that it took me, a college student majoring in mathematics, a long time to figure it out!"

In the latest issue of "Sports Illustrated" in the United States, Lin Fei, Wade and James appeared on the cover at the same time. These are the three rising stars who were the first to receive the "Linwei Clause" benefits.

The entire league has high hopes, because they represent the glory of the NBA in the next ten years.

ESPN also counted all the stars in the history of the NBA starting from the Bill Russell era whose glory in the first three years of their rookie years could trigger the "Linway Clause":

Bill Russell,

Wilt Chamberlain,

Kareem Jabbar,

Larry Bird,

"Magic" Johnson,

Michael Jordan,

Shaquille O'Neal,

Vince Carter,

Grant Hill…

Among these nine stars, except for Carter and Grant Hill, the other seven are all top ten superstars in history.

Even superstars like Tim Duncan and Hakim Olajuwon were not selected as All-Star starters twice due to their influence in their first three years as rookies.

Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, Kevin Garnett, Allen Iverson and Kobe Bryant are all historical superstars who are just a little bit away from triggering the "Linway Clause".

This also shows that it is quite difficult to trigger the "Lin Wei Clause" in the first three years of his career.

Now Lin Fei and Wade, plus LeBron James, are enough to compete with the top ten super giants in history for rookie honors.

After Jordan retired, the NBA experienced a brief trough. Now with the rise of super rookies such as Lin Fei, Wade, and James, coupled with changes in rules,

Entering a new glorious era.

This is naturally the result that league president David Stern wants to see most.

New York, Olympic Tower, NBA headquarters.

After taking a stack of financial summary documents handed over by Adam Joke, and after carefully reading them, David Stern also showed a heartfelt smile on his face.

"The league's total revenue this season has exceeded US$34 billion. It seems that the salary cap for the new season will increase a lot, and is expected to exceed US$5500 million!"

David Stern knows very well that the greatest contribution to the rapid development of the NBA in the past two years is Lin Fei.

The victory of the Heat's Big Three allowed the charm of offensive basketball to conquer the world again, and Lin Fei's influence further boosted the Chinese market.

David Stern really wants to praise Lin Fei more than LeBron James. In Lin Fei, Stern really sees the shadow of Jordan.

But Jewish capital may not agree with him doing this.

In order to build momentum for the finals, the NBA officially released the latest market value of each team in the league for the 05-06 season.

Among them, the market value of the Los Angeles Lakers was overtaken by the New York Knicks. After experiencing glory at the beginning of the century, they finally gave way to the Big Apple.

The latest market value of the New York Knicks is US$6.3 million, and that of the Lakers is US$6.1 million.

The Dallas Mavericks ranked third on this list with a market value of US$5.0 million, significantly behind the New York Knicks.The teams ranked 4-10 are the Houston Rockets, Miami Heat, Chicago Bulls, Phoenix Suns, Detroit Pistons, Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics.

The Miami Heat's market value was only $2.7 million two years ago. Now two seasons have passed. With the team's rapid rise under the leadership of Lin Fei, O'Neal and Wade,
The market value has also soared to US$4.9 million, an increase of 182% compared to two years ago.

Outside of the Heat, the market value of other teams has also increased significantly compared with the early years.

With the promulgation of offensive rules and the small ball whirlwind, the scoring explosion in the 05-06 season,
The NBA's broadcast contracts around the world have also increased significantly, and the value of the entire league has increased.

The players are naturally happy about this, because the increase in the league's total revenue means an increase in the salary cap, which naturally leads to an increase in the players' salaries.

Assuming that the salary cap for the new season increases to US$5600 million, then with the benefits of Lin Fei's "Lin Wei Clause", the starting salary of his new contract will reach US$1680 million.

按照4年顶薪来算的话，每年递增8%，林飞这四年合同的薪资将分别会是1680万美刀、1814万美刀、1959万美刀和2116万美刀。

The total salary of the four-year maximum salary contract will be as high as $7569 million.

On the other hand, if Wade chooses to renew his contract with the Heat, he will also be blessed by the "Bird Clause" if he triggers the "Linwei Clause".

The annual salary increase can be increased from 8% to 10.5%.

Since then, Wade's starting salary is also US$1680 million, and will increase by 10.5% in the next three years to US$1856 million, US$2051 million and US$2266 million respectively.

Then the total salary of Wade's four-year contract with the Heat, his home team, will be as high as US$7853 million, which is about US$300 million higher than Lin Fei's maximum salary.

At the same time, ESPN also reported on the top ten salary-earning superstars in the NBA during the 05-06 season:

No.1: Shaquille O'Neal (Miami Heat), $2000 million.

No.2: Chris Webber (Philadelphia 76ers), $1913 million.

No.3: Kevin Garnett (Minnesota Timberwolves), $1800 million.

No. 4: Allen Iverson (Philadelphia 76ers), $1645 million.

No.5: Stephon Marbury (New York Knicks), $1645 million.

No. 6: Jason Kidd (New Jersey Nets), $1644 million.

No.7: Kobe Bryant (Los Angeles Lakers), $1596 million.

No. 8: Tim Duncan (San Antonio Spurs), $1585 million.

No.9: Jaylen Rose (New York Knicks), $1569 million.

No.10: Grant Hill (Orlando Magic), $1569 million.

As the last maximum-salary contracts of Garnett and O'Neal expired one after another, the league's maximum salary in the 05-06 season also declined significantly.

No. 1 O'Neal only has an annual salary of 2000 million U.S. dollars, which is a lot lower than Garnett's 04 million U.S. dollars in 2800.

No. 2 Chris Webber's condition has declined significantly. He is obviously not worthy of his annual salary of more than 1900 million US dollars. The countdown to retirement has come.

No. 3 Garnett's salary is 1800 million U.S. dollars. After Lin Fei led the team to win the championship in 04, Garnett also renewed his contract with the Timberwolves with a maximum salary of 5 million for five years, aiming to stay in Minnesota forever.

No. 4 and No. 5 Iverson and Marbury both have salaries of US$1645 million, and their fates will now face a huge turning point.

At the beginning of the century, when the salary cap was only US$4000 million, coupled with the strict regulations on salary terms, the maximum salary of most stars in the league has been relatively stable in recent years.

Although he, like Lin Fei Wade, is the first batch of supernovas to enjoy the "Linwei Clause", LeBron James, who is on vacation in Los Angeles, has not been happy these days.

Seeing that Lin Fei and Wade are going to play in the finals again, there is a high probability that they may help the Heat win consecutive championships. In this way, the gap between his little emperor and Lin Fei and Wade will become even greater.

Moreover, it is obvious that all three of them have satisfied the "Lin Wei Clause", why is it still called "Lin Wei Clause"? Shouldn't it be called "Lin Wei Zhan Clause"?It’s okay to put him behind Lin Fei Wade, how can you completely ignore him?

James' public relations department also circulated dissatisfaction and protests on the Internet, hoping that the NBA headquarters could rename the "Linway Clause".

However, James is also a self-aware person. Even if he is tied with Lin Fei and Wade in terms of terms, the personal glory and team glory he has achieved in the past three seasons are obviously not comparable to Lin Fei and Wade.

Needless to say, Wade won the regular season MVP, which is better than that of him and Lin Fei. Both of them were All-Star starters and All-NBA players for two consecutive seasons.

But Lin Fei is not only a starter for two consecutive years, but also the historical vote leader for two consecutive years, and has won the All-Star MVP once. This is obviously a big gap between James.

Talking about the best team, Lin Fei was in the first team for two consecutive years, while James was in the second team and the first team once.
What's more, Lin Fei has been on the defensive team for two consecutive years, and James has not been in the best defensive team so far.

Not to mention that Lin Fei was the second regular season MVP for two consecutive years...

After thinking about it, James' sense of worry became stronger.

Lin Fei will inevitably become a free agent in the offseason, and James still has one year left on his rookie contract with the Cavaliers.
If he breaks out of his contract in the 07-08 season and joins forces with Lin Fei in a new team, preferably the New York Knicks, wouldn't he be able to take off from the same spot?

Thinking of this, James' heart was already starting to beat.

……

American Airlines has named both the Heat's home arena and the Dallas Mavericks' home arena.
Therefore, the home stadiums of the Heat and Mavericks are actually named American Airlines Arena, but the Chinese translations are deliberately different.

This round of finals between the Mavericks and the Heat is also called the American Airlines Finals.

Whether it’s G1 of the Finals with the Heat or G3 of the Finals with Dallas, the pre-sale of tickets is quite hot.
The average and total price of Finals tickets at the two American Airlines Arenas also reached record highs in team history, while the average price for the Heat was higher than that for the Mavericks.

Many fans who bought tickets in advance were also excited to show off their tickets on the Internet and social platforms, looking forward to witnessing the wonderful performances of the superstars at the scene.

The first game of the Finals will be played on June 6 at the AmericanAirlines Arena in Miami.

Miami's local tourist traffic also surged significantly before the finals. Many fans went to the American Airlines Arena to check in, which has become a holy place for Heat fans.

The night before the finals started, Lin Fei, who had finished training as usual, lay down comfortably on the extra-long bed in the bedroom after taking a shower.
Now Lin Fei's passing attribute has been improved to 96 points. Even if he cannot reach 99 points during this finals, he should be infinitely close.

Probably during the offseason, Lin Fei will be able to officially increase his passing attributes to 99 points, and then unlock other basketball attributes.
Layup?CIC?Or a rebound?

The mobile phone placed next to the pillow also lit up at this time.

Lin Fei picked up the phone and found that it was a text message. He checked the sender and found that it was Swift.

Lin Fei has kept in touch with little Swift in the past two years. Swift's father Scott also contacted Qin Dongmei to help Lin Fei handle some stock matters.

When she went to the Knicks game in April, Swift even had dinner with Lin Fei.

Opening the text message casually, Lin Fei immediately showed a smile on his face:

"Lin, the gift I promised you is finally ready!"

Immediately afterwards, Lin Fei received another message on MSN, which was also sent by little Taylor. When he clicked on it, he saw that it was a beautifully made single cover.

In this cover, Swift is wearing a strawberry dress, sitting on an old country car, holding a guitar and a basketball in her arms.

At the bottom of the cover, a line of English clearly reads:

"This song took two years to compose and is dedicated to NBA Heat player Lin!"

Lin Fei chuckled, is the 16-year-old talented music girl finally going to make her debut?

It seems that her single is destined to get the two of them involved in a scandal...

(End of this chapter)