Pick Westbrook

Chapter 277 Lockdown Is Not a Good Thing After All

6 month 12 day.

The Bucks officially announced that they have fired general manager John Hammond and replaced him with Jon Horst.

At the same time, it was announced that Tyronn Lue, the chief assistant coach of the Fuzheng team, was the head coach of the Bucks and signed a 5-year 3500 million contract with him.

This contract is much higher than the average salary of 500 million head coaches of various teams in the league today.

The original assistant coach Marshall was upgraded to the chief assistant coach. The new contract is 4 million US dollars for 650 years. Such an assistant coach contract is currently the first in the league.

The new team general manager Jon Horst also announced at the press conference that the new management and coaching staff will jointly deal with player renewal issues and the summer league this summer.

The goal of the Bucks for the new season was also announced in a high-profile manner at this moment, three consecutive championships!
"Fuck! Made crossed the river and demolished the bridge, if you don't want me, don't want me."

"Why don't they think about who selected Westbrook, who signed Curry against all odds, and what kind of superstar-level potential Cousins ​​​​showed last season."

"George Hill, Dragic, Danny Green. Which of these players does not have my credit?"

Hammond found Li Lai, complaining full of complaints that he was kicked out by the Bucks.

Seeing Li Lai's playful expression, Hammond finally said with a sad and aggrieved face, "Brother, I'm unemployed now."

"You should know that I just bought a Bugatti Veyron Super Sport, and I still owe a whole lot of loans. I will go bankrupt in half a year, and then you can only go to the dark room to see me."

Li Lai spread his hands and said, "You didn't worry so much when you bought a sports car to pick up girls."

Hammond shook his belly, and said with a deadpan face, "Then I can't control so much. We are not brothers but better than brothers. You can't ignore me."

"Back then, I taught you those Erlongxizhu, Dari Tathagata, Jade Heart Sutra, and I have done it for you."

Li Lai hurriedly covered the mouth of the mentally handicapped man, calling him careless in making friends.

At this time, Hammond also smiled and continued: "Before coming to you, someone called me specifically to ask where you are now, and I just told you your location without thinking about it."

"You don't even know, the girl's voice on the phone was trembling and anxious."

"It can be seen that the Bucks have made a lot of noise in the past two days. She is worried that you are coming."

Li Lai only heard half of Hammond's words and knew who the other party was talking about. He couldn't help but sighed at this moment.

Although that little girl was indeed devoted to him, she just... just couldn't take it anymore.

Nourishing~
Several violent brakes suddenly sounded, and a luxury motorcade stopped in front of Li Lai.

A few nightman bodyguards came down from the front and rear cars quickly, and everyone around the street immediately stopped to watch.

The door of the red Rolls-Royce in the middle opened slowly, and Jordan Carver quickly got out of the car and jumped into Li Lai's arms.

"I heard that your team was sold. I was so worried about you, so I turned down all my jobs and came here to find you."

"How are you, how are you doing?"

Li Lai looked at Jordan Carver, whose eyes were full of concern, nodded quickly and said that he was fine, otherwise he really didn't know what this little girl would do in broad daylight.

At this time, the surrounding crowd rushed over frantically after seeing Jordan Carver clearly, and shouted Jordan Carver's name for an autograph.

Li Lai was worried that some unnecessary troubles would be caused later, so he quickly dragged Jordan Carver away and got into the car, leaving only a group of people frantically flapping the windows and shouting Jordan Carver's name.

Hammond looked at Li Lai who was walking away, and suddenly realized, "I'm not in the car yet!"

new York.

NBA headquarters.

Haskell Cohen, head of the league's public relations department, said with a serious face: "On May 5, the NBA Players Union formally submitted a lawsuit to the U.S. labor arbitration agency."

"Accuse the NBA to use intimidation and threats in the new labor negotiations to force the players union to sign a new labor agreement that is unfavorable to the players."

"Of course, we all know that the purpose of the NBA Players Union is not in this lawsuit, but to put pressure on us."

Haskell Cohen was the only voice in the huge venue, but there were actually 31 people sitting here.

Among them, 29 are the owners of current teams in the league, and the other two are naturally David Stern and Adam Silver.

Rockets owner Leslie Alexander directly spread his hands and said: "Because the old labor agreement is about to expire, but the new labor agreement has not been reached in many previous negotiations, so the purpose of the players' union's pressure is obvious. .”

"They wanted us to back down on some of the terms of the collective bargaining agreement."

Blazers boss Paul Allen sneered at this time: "Why make concessions? They really thought they were going to turn the world upside down."

"Who is the employee and who is the boss, don't you have any idea!"

"I think we should be more firm at this time. If they dare to ask for advice on the labor agreement, we will stop immediately and let them drink the northwest wind."

Paul Allen's words received nods of support from many team owners. In their opinion, the atmosphere of the NBA has become less and less on the team owner's side in recent years.

In the past, there was a conflict between Iverson and the team. Kobe forced the team to trade to strengthen.

Before the turn of the millennium, how could the players have such appeal and courage, let alone dare to do such a thing.

Even Jordan back then could only watch his friends on the team be traded. Pippen almost swapped with McGrady back then, and Jordan could only threaten to retire again.

But now each of these players already thinks that they should sit on an equal footing with the team, and some players even plan to override the team and control their own destiny.

In the eyes of most bosses, such behaviors and ideas are provocative and declaring war on them, and they are also taking away their rights.

For this, most bosses are dissatisfied.

Because they are the owners of the team.

Finally, there were some noises in the huge meeting place, and Stern knew very well that such noises would only aggravate the situation, and would not help the two parties to solve the problem in the slightest.

So he stood up at this time and stretched out his hands, signaling the bosses to be quiet.

"Player's union chairman Derek Fisher proposed to have our first meeting of the new season with us tomorrow, and this meeting they hope will resolve the issue immediately."

"July 7st is the last day when the old collective bargaining agreement is still valid. If there is no negotiation by that time, then we really can only stop."

Speaking of this, Stern also reminded the bosses sternly: "The NBA is still a business league after all, and its purpose is to make money."

"A lockout is not beneficial to either side."

"Since I joined the NBA in 1978, I have experienced two lockouts in 94 and 98. Each lockout will bring incalculable losses to the league."

"The most important thing is that our fans will lose patience during the lockout process and reduce the enthusiasm for the NBA."

"That's not what I want to see."

All the bosses were collectively silent at this time and did not make a sound.

They are naturally aware of David Stern's contribution to the NBA since he became the NBA president in 1984.

If it weren't for the commercial packaging, star strategy, and international promotion proposed by the other party, the NBA would not have become the four major professional sports leagues in the United States, and basketball would not have become one of the four major sports in the world. Alliances earn unfathomable profits.

So Stern's words carry a lot of weight in the minds of the bosses at this time, and they also know that the other party has been working hard to mediate the conflict between labor and management.

Xiao Hua reminded at this time: "Although Derek Fisher is the current chairman of the players union, Chris Paul, who is the vice chairman of the players union, is the host of this negotiation with the management."

"All the players follow his lead, and every word he said in the previous negotiations also has the final say."

All the bosses present here obviously had a headache when they heard Chris Paul's name, because what the other party said in every negotiation can really touch people's hearts.

Chris Paul was also able to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of each clause of the previous old labor agreement, and said that the bosses present were speechless.

The most important thing is that if you don't think about every suggestion of Chris Paul after the negotiation is over, you won't even discover the meaning behind those suggestions and the powerful relationship he will have with the team and players in the future.

Don't look at Paul playing on the court and making countless enemies, but he has high emotional intelligence and leadership skills in the field of life.

During college, Paul was also the chairman of the student union of Wake Forest University and has relevant experience in serving. Therefore, in this labor negotiation, he had many outstanding performances.

At this time, all the bosses looked around looking for something, until they saw the empty seat of the 30th boss, the Spurs boss Holt finally couldn't stand it anymore.

He looked at David Stern and said sharply, "Hey, why is this position still vacant? Haven't the New Orleans Hornets sold yet?"

"David, I know you've done a lot for the league and made a lot of money for us, but with the Hornets, you've been a little too ineffective."

The Celtics owner Grosbeck nodded in agreement and said: "That guy George Shin gave the Hornets to the league in 09."

"It has been almost three years now, and this team loses tens of millions every year, and we pay for all the money."

"Now that we're talking about Chris Paul, we don't even have anyone to talk to."

Finally mentioned it.

After hearing the discussion between the two, David Stern covered his forehead and said his head was big.

Spurs owner Holt and Celtics owner Grossback are the two poorest owners in the league, none of them.

One of the two is worth 4 million and the other is only worth [-] million, which is not even comparable to many retired players. It is no wonder that they are so angry about the Hornets.

Originally, when this group of bosses talked about Chris Paul, they wanted to let the boss of this team solve this tough problem first according to the usual practice.

Because the closest relationship with a player is the owner of his team.

These bosses have all seen how powerful Chris Paul is in negotiations, so they originally planned to let the boss of the Hornets get closer to Chris Paul first.

After all, they don't look at the monk's face to see the Buddha's face. They also hope that through this approach, the labor negotiations that will come tomorrow will go on more smoothly.

But the problem now is that the Hornets don't even have a boss.

Xiao Hua saw Stern's embarrassment when facing this problem, so he said out loud: "The Hornets have been losing money for many years in a row, and it is precisely because of this reason that George Xin fell into a slump after the 08 financial crisis. .”

"More importantly, the fans in the city of New Orleans have lost confidence in this team. Because of the management's stupid operation and the team's record, they even held more than one demonstration."

"In this case, no one dares to take over this team."

Hearing this, all the bosses showed helpless expressions.

A team loses money every year and doesn’t get the support of the fans. Although the league is hosting this team, David Stern’s attitude towards this team is basically a stocking state. David Sternburn is also bad at managing the team.

So in this case, only the existing management of the Hornets will deal with matters large and small.

It's no wonder that you don't lose money!
"There are no tigers in the mountains, but the monkeys are kings."

"As far as the Hornets are concerned, only an idiot would take over this team."

"By the way, what's the attitude of that guy George Xin?"

Hearing the Rockets owner Leslie Alexander's question, Silver replied directly: "That guy George Shin still has the same attitude, he won't give up a penny!"

"What he means is that he has lost so much money on the Hornets, and he must take this opportunity to make all that money back."

"There was a local car dealer named Tom Benson in New O'Neill, and he originally planned to buy the Hornets."

"But after hearing the lowest offer of 3.5 million from George Shin, he directly persuaded him to quit."

Spurs owner Holt jumped up from his seat in shock when he heard the price, and said, "He still wants to sell at a higher price?"

If Holt remembers correctly, the current market value of the Hornets is far from 3.5 million, plus there are still a lot of bad things in the team, and it is lucky to sell normally, but this guy has to increase the price!
"Hey, that's how it is."

At this time, all the bosses don't plan to blame Stern anymore. After all, there is nothing anyone can do when they meet such an idiot.

David Stern said directly at this time: "So let's stop talking to Chris Paul in advance and negotiate directly with the players union tomorrow."

"I hope that both of you can sit down and resolve this matter perfectly."

"Stopping, after all, is not a good thing!"

(End of this chapter)