the rest, only noise

Chapter 1213 The Defying Little Dolan

The men's basketball Olympics is over, and Louie's watching schedule is also over.

It is really unacceptable to end in this way.

Louis sometimes really hopes that the Basketball Association will run for the head coach in a competitive manner like the fat man who knows the ball in the future. Even if he doesn't sign up, he will recommend some foreign teachers with strong coaching ability to apply.

It's not that patriotism is rampant, but that he really can't accept that the Chinese team with such a luxurious lineup actually aims at the semi-finals-and they often have accidents.

In all fairness, the U.S. team is indeed unshakable for the time being. Yugoslavia and Lithuania are both stronger than the men's basketball team. It is very reasonable to aim for the semi-finals.

However, now they can't even beat Croatia, which is close in strength.

If they win against Croatia, they will be able to qualify third in the group, and they will not encounter Yugoslavia in the knockout round.

After all, I did it myself.

Why can it be so bad?

This incident pissed Louis off for days.

Then, a phone call from Jerry West turned Louie's attention back to his main business.

Considering the Lakers' current salary space, they basically won't do much in the free market.

Without moving the existing lineup, they can only sign players who want to make a last-ditch effort through the veteran's basic salary.

However, the powerful veteran really wants to embrace the champion of a strong team, and his first choice is the Trail Blazers, Knicks, and Heat. The Lakers seem to have a bright future, but there are too many young people in the team. It doesn't look like they can win the championship in the past two years.

However, some players are not interested in the team's lineup, but the name of the coach.

"Messiah" is a well-known name in professional basketball, and many players are willing to play under him.

James Worthy was the one who chose the Messiah.

After West informed Louis of the news, Louis quickly rushed to the forum.

Louis still understands Worthy's situation.

Last season, Worthy joined the Knicks with a basic salary and won a ring for himself.

Now Worthy still has the power to fight, but he doesn't want to stay in the Knicks for the ring, because the team's training style is not suitable for him, and there are many strong players in the same position, so he can't play for a few minutes in a game.

In Miami, Manning is really problematic and not worthy of assistance, while Portland's training intensity is notoriously high. The 34-year-old Worthy decided to join Louis after careful consideration.

Worthy was a lightning-quick, oversized small forward in his youth.

Now he can still play the third position, but his speed has dropped too much. The defensive end is basically the opponent's cash machine. It is impossible to play as a starter. As a substitute, he may become a bench gangster.

The Knicks currently have three spots left, and there is no need to hesitate to sign a veteran like Worthy.

Louis asked West to notify Worthy to go for a medical examination. If he is healthy, he can sign the contract.

Since then, Louis has devoted himself to his work.

After two months of deliberation, "Tragian" Ervin Johnson also made the decision to return. He will continue with the Lakers for another year.

Louie then captured the heart of veteran Buck Williams PF/C in a rivalry with the Knicks.

This veteran who has worked hard in the league for 15 years and entered the league in the same year as Isiah Thomas is a typical forgotten powerful player.

In terms of rebounders throughout the 80s, Moses Malone ranked first, Sampson ranked second, and No.3 was Buck Williams.

He joined the game in 1981 and averaged 12 rebounds in seven consecutive seasons.

In addition to being able to catch rebounds, he has excellent levels on both ends of the offense and defense. On the offensive end, he can average 54 points per game with a shooting rate of 17%.

He is an active team player, a good medicine for the locker room, an outstanding coach, an elite executive and his own BUFF that "every new team can improve the team's record".

In other words, Barker at his peak was a Rodman who averaged 17 points per game and had weak defense and rebounds, but he didn't have as many problems as the latter. As a Stevenson-style spiritual leader, he was an ideal mentor for many young players.

Although Buck is now old, Louis recruited him not because of his immediate combat power, but because of his leadership and experience that is beneficial to young people.

The Lakers have too many young players, and they need such a veteran.

Signing Worthy and Buck, coupled with the return of the tragic division, the Lakers' roster is filled.

This also means that their offseason operations are officially over.

After two months of hard work, the Lakers formed a brand new team.

Benjamin Wilson, Dale Ellis, Kevin Garnett, Charles Barkley, Dana Barros, Joe Dumars, Ben Wallace, Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash, Malik Rose, Greg Ostertag, Tragedian, Buck Williams, James Worthy, Yuqing Liu.

If the goal of the new season is to compete for the championship, this lineup is a bit empty.

The main reason is that those young people are too young, that is, they lack combat power.

However, this is already the strongest combat power the Lakers can currently have.

It also presents an additional challenge for Louie.

For example, winning the championship with a team that is at a disadvantage compared to Re, Ni, and Kai will add an incomparably brighter touch to his resume.

After that, all the Lakers management has to do is prepare for the new season.Specifically, the addition and transfer of the staff of the forum and the coaching staff, the planning and improvement of the logistics, the hotel contract for the away game, and the location of the preseason training camp.

During this period, Louis only asked about two things.

One thing has to do with Kobe, the Lakers' rookies decided to build a team.

Bryant also joined them, they chose the location is Miami.

Knowing the news, Louis immediately sent Jim Bass out.

He asked Buss to give full play to his strengths -- taking the rookies to eat, drink and have fun -- but one thing, they must not be allowed to touch the ball outdoors.

Kobe is a basketball fanatic, he wants to play everywhere.

Every Kobe fan should have seen that photo of rookie Kobe practicing his left-handed shot in an empty arena with his right hand taped.

Although Louis didn't know how the rookie Kobe's hand was injured, so he had to find ways to prevent Kobe from playing outdoors to avoid accidents to the greatest extent.

Little Buss was sent on a business trip again, and the purpose of the business trip was to fool around with rookies. This kind of mission really made him both puzzled and excited.

The summer is drawing to a close, and most of the team's signings and contract extensions have been completed.

Shaquille O'Neal did not choose to leave in the end. He reached a three-year, $3 million contract extension with the Orlando Magic.

But this is still not the largest contract in the league.

The league's highest salary is still Ewing. He signed a four-year $1995 million incremental contract with the Knicks in the summer of 4, and he is also the first Mr. 9000 million in North American sports history⑴.

⑴ I don't know what the highest salary of football stars in the same period is (mainly because I am too lazy to check.), so I didn't remove "North America".

Due to Rodman's locker room poison attributes, Riley was unable to get equivalent chips, and finally chose to send him to the Vancouver Grizzlies and get a garbage contract.

Jazz star Mark Price rejected the team's three-year, $3 million pension contract and followed Karl Malone's footsteps to the Boston Celtics.

For the Warriors, they finally got rid of the nagging Gary Payton.

They made a trade with the Charlotte Hornets.

The Hornets sent out Larry Johnson, who had a broken relationship with the boss, and got Payton in a single exchange.

Subsequently, the Hornets announced that they had reached a six-year, $6 million contract extension with Payton.

On the Warriors' side, send Payton away, introduce aunt to assist Penny, and team up with strong players such as Sekali and Mickey Richmond, determined to make a big difference in the new season.

At the same time, under the auspices of the small boss James Dolan, the Knicks ignored the league's new "luxury tax" rules and completed several ambitious but very brainless contract extensions.

They renewed Kassel's contract for 4 years and 3200 million.

Aaron Houston was renewed for 5 years and 6000 million.

Then throw out 5 million for 7000 years and Reggie Miller to renew his contract in advance.

In the end, Scottie Pippen was renewed with an astonishing five-year contract of 5 million.

For the Knicks, the league's new luxury tax is as if it doesn't exist, and it can't stop them from spending money at all.

After some operations, the Knicks' total salary has reached 7700 million U.S. dollars, and the salary cap for the new season is about the same as last season, or about 3000 million U.S. dollars.

Under the just-passed incremental luxury tax, the Knicks will pay their pride...(are you ready)...$3.05 million in luxury taxes.

You know, it is now 1996, the entire labor agreement is only more than a billion dollars, and the luxury tax of the Knicks is as high as 3 million dollars a season.

The instigator of all this is James Dolan.

He believes that money should not be a hindrance to the team.

In fact, he has no idea how horrible the current luxury tax policy is.

However, that is 3 million US dollars!

Now the Dolan family only holds 50% of the shares of MSG, which means that the money needs to be shared between the two. How can they bear it?When Louis was in charge back then, although the Knicks were overcapped every year, they made tens of millions of profits every year. The prodigal son of your Dolan family made this whole when he came?Days are running out?

Suddenly, the pressure from above set off an earthquake inside the Knicks.

Even Little Dolan's father, Charles Dolan, can't bear to pay 3 million dollars in taxes a season. Money is not spent like this. How much is the NBA championship worth?
The chaos of the Knicks made the New York media nostalgic for Louie's days.

“Good things are only worth losing when they are lost, remembering the 700th day of the Messiah.” —The New York Times.

However, Louis has settled down in Los Angeles, he will only move forward and will not look back.

The bitter pill caused by Dolan will eventually be swallowed, and Louie and the Lakers now just need to wait quietly for the opening day of the preseason training camp.

(End of this chapter)