One Thousand Six Hundred and Forty-Four. The Boss's Promise

After heated discussions, the media, experts, and fans felt that the owners of each team would still not agree, because the operation of Sun Ce Price Investment Group was just a change of name.

But fans are very interested in how the Clippers' sale will develop next.

Because on the Nets side, Microsoft's major shareholder Steve Ballmer has reached an agreement with Nets owner Prokhorov to acquire all shares of the Nets for US$2.7 billion and to acquire Brooklyn's Barclays Center for a sky-high price of US$650 million.

The Russian oil tycoon spent less than US$700 million to buy the Nets and build a new arena. He made more than US$2 billion in a few years and left. The league itself paid US$1.5 billion to buy a team, and now it pays more than 10 million every year. There have been reports that the league's top management has very different opinions.

According to Google Sports, John Price has not given up and has been communicating with the league for more than a week, agreeing to many reasonable and necessary conditions.

Some senior executives in the league's management have begun to suggest that David Stern put pressure on the owners of each team.

On the morning of June 4, John Price, the big boss of Price Investment Group, said to the camera during an interview with .T: "I am a good friend of the Lord, but we are also business partners. I think the Clippers are a high-quality asset, but he is not interested in the Clippers, so he did not participate.

I think the owners of other NBA teams can rest assured that the Lord and I have always had a good relationship, so good that you can't imagine, but our relationship has never involved interests. I will not give him an extra percentage point of dividends in the investment because of our relationship, and he will not give me even an extra dollar in the investment. When we go out for supper, it is all AA.

In terms of relationship, we are best friends, but business is business."

John Price, a new Internet celebrity in the basketball world, has begun to enter the field of vision of basketball fans!

…

…

The outside world has started to discuss things related to him, Sun Ce, but Sun Ce himself did not take it too seriously. The way he and John do business together has not really changed. From the two of them working on WeChat to now becoming an investment company, it has changed step by step, not from the beginning. Changing the way of cooperation once more does not affect the distribution of benefits between the two.

Sun Ce rested for more than two weeks. On June 6, he got up early. At 9 o'clock, he discussed with Bill Duffy how to negotiate contracts and team matters with the Grizzlies management in the afternoon.

Bill Duffy is the person who knows the inside story of Sun Ce's "buying a team".

Bill Duffy's team is helping him, Sun, to negotiate various endorsement contracts and consider team contracts. He, Sun, can't drag Bill Duffy down in this matter, and it's not a secret that can't be told, so Sun Ce has talked to Bill Duffy after the season.

The 15-day rest time is over, and Sun Ce has returned to athlete mode.

In the past two weeks, he watched basketball, watched TV with Lily Collins, played games with Zugoose, went around, and occasionally went fishing with Paul George and Harden.

During this period, Zugoose celebrated his 16th birthday. Seeing that Zugoose, who was still in elementary school when they first met, is about to enter the second year of high school, Sun Ce sighed that time flies so fast.

Klay Thompson and Curry will represent the US team in the first Basketball World Cup this summer. The two started training early. Curry went to his father and Klay Thompson also went to his father. The two second-generation ball players can play well and play so well. The degree of effort is not comparable to most other second-generation ball players.

Harden is different from Sun Ce's impression. He does not want to participate in the Basketball World Cup this year, but plans to wait until Kobe's season ends to find Kobe to train together.

Unlike the original time and space, when the Rockets played magic balls and only practiced three-pointers, layups, and fouls, Harden comprehensively strengthened his offensive skills according to the style of play during the Thunder period, and he needs to find many predecessors to learn.

Paul George had no intention to participate in the national team competition because he had not renewed his contract. At Sun Ce's suggestion, he withdrew from the US team after participating in the Pan American Basketball Championship last year.

And Paul George has made an appointment with James and Irving to train together this summer.

Sun Ce watched every game of the Eastern and Western Conference finals. The two decisive battles yesterday and the day before yesterday were very exciting. The Heat won the away game again, defeating the Bulls 101-93, making the score 3-2. After five games, neither of the two teams in the Eastern Conference finals won even one home game.

On the Lakers and Spurs side, the Lakers defeated the Spurs 104-99 in the away game. This was the first time that the Spurs scored less than 100 points in this series.

…

At noon, after lunch, Sun Ce was at Lily Collins's home in Los Angeles... It was now his home. He prepared tea and snacks at home and waited for Bill Duffy, Coach Hollins, and Chris Wallace to come to his house to discuss the contract.

This is actually not important. He will definitely get the maximum salary. This season, his salary is 21.5 million US dollars, and his salary next season is 23.32 million US dollars. Whether he extends his contract or exercises the player option, it will be the same.

What Sun Ce needs to see is what the team is going to do.

Changes are bound to happen. There is no doubt about this. The team has already started to adjust its structure. Naturally, it will take advantage of this offseason to make more complete and sufficient adjustments. Their mid-season adjustments were forced. No one expected that they would adjust to today's lineup at the beginning of the season.

Although Sun Ce believes that the team will not make a smart move like the Nets, no one can say for sure! NBA teams have too many smart moves.

Therefore, Sun Ce did not rush to talk about the contract. He gave himself half a month to think and the team half a month to sort out their ideas.

The season just ended and they were eliminated in the second round. Who knows what irrational moves the team will make under the pressure of not winning the championship.

During the waiting time, Sun Ce's thoughts began to diverge.

I had never thought about the past season before, but now I can't help but start to review the past season.

Although I didn't laugh to the end, Sun Ce gained a lot!

Having gone through hardships that he had not experienced in the previous four seasons also means that he has more experience; when he had to bear the greatest pressure, he held on, and with the pressure, he made better use of the skills he learned, and his strength became stronger and stronger, and he has broken through to the S-level. He also got the opportunity to develop a stronger mid-range shot and a stronger mid-range shot in all directions, and his three-point shooting is getting better and better...

This is in terms of ability and honor. Although he did not win the championship, his personal honors this season are still huge, and there is also a call for the league's first player, becoming a strong contender for the league's first player.

But he has an obsession, not just because of the incident, but his own obsession.

To leave Memphis, he also has to win another championship. Although he is open-minded, he admitted that he could not beat the Spurs half a month ago, and he lost with conviction, but he just wants to win another championship.

But this goal cannot be achieved by him alone, the whole team from top to bottom must be the best in the league.

Sun Ce must be very satisfied with the team's operations in the past few years. It was the trades this season that made Sun Ce feel the cruelty of the NBA, just like the Lakers to Kobe and the Mavericks to Nowitzki. Although the Grizzlies are one of the most humane teams in the NBA, they will try their best to meet the player's requirements and send the players who have made contributions to where they want to go.

But this operation, in fact, is only a special preferential treatment for Sun Ce alone. When other people are to be traded, the team will try their best to meet their wishes. In the final analysis, it is to take advantage of the player's trading value or to give up the player, so they will do this.

In fact, the Grizzlies are more humane than the Lakers and Mavericks, that is, they are more humane to give up the players who have made contributions.

When the Mavericks did not renew Nash's contract, Nowitzki had no way at all; when the Lakers sent away Gasol, Bynum, Odom and traded Paul, Josh Smith and Leonard, Kobe had no way.

Of course, the Grizzlies, Mavericks, and Lakers are already very humane teams in the NBA, especially the Grizzlies.

With the Heat and Celtics as a comparison, it seems even more humane. No comparison means no harm...

But this also worries Sun Ce. After all, the NBA is a business field, and players are commodities within the NBA. They can be bought and sold freely as long as one is willing to buy and the other is willing to sell.

In general, his team is a "nouveau riche". God knows what operations it will make after losing the championship, just like the Pistons, which rose twice and collapsed twice by the management.

...

At 2:30 in the afternoon, Bill Duffy came to Sun Ce's house first. After confirming Sun Ce's idea again, at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, Coach Hollins, Chris Wallace, Old Hardaway, Klay Thompson, Yi Jianlian, and Stockton, who was invited by Coach Hollins, came to Sun Ce's house. In addition to these people, Robert Pera, the team owner who usually acts as a hands-off manager, also came.

This was a much bigger scene than Sun Ce had expected. Yi Jianlian had already returned to China and was invited by the management to help the team negotiate.

After Sun Ce exchanged pleasantries with the visiting group, he took Bill Duffy to help his mother make coffee.

"Bill, didn't I tell you to tell them that I strongly want to renew my contract? Why are there so many people?" Sun Ce's idea was different from that of Coach Hollins and Chris Wallace to talk slowly!

How to talk slowly with so many people?

Generally speaking, if you want to talk about something slowly and in detail, the fewer people the better. The more people and the more ideas there are, the harder it is to talk.

"If you consider buying a team after the contract renewal, I think they will believe it, but now I don't know what you are thinking."

"Do you think I have the money to buy a team?"

"No."

"That's it!"

"But your friend has a wide network of contacts and he can get the money."

"..."

Sun Ce felt that it was difficult to communicate with these ordinary people!

But now that things have come to this, Sun Ce thought it was fine. He helped his mother and the servants to carry tea, coffee, worry, lemonade pot... and returned to the reception room.

After sitting down, Robert Pera asked first: "How is Noah's recent rest? Are you still thinking about last season?"

"Yes, I am a little unwilling, but fortunately, I have a good time recently. How about you, Robert?"

"I have been busy with stocks recently. The harvest is good. I made a high-level shot and finally made up for the depression of losing..."

After chatting about some trivial things, Robert Pera started to talk about business, but not about the contract, but about other things: "Noah, I know you want to own a team, I am willing to help you."

"Hmm?" Sun Ce didn't expect the other party to say this, and he remembered that Robert Pera was one of the owners who firmly opposed John buying a team.

"We are friends. I can understand your feelings of wanting to own a team. When I bought the team, I was more eager than you, but friends are friends and business is business. I don't want our relationship to be affected by money. I help you, so I naturally have to give back!"

Robert Pera said it very bluntly, but Sun Ce liked Robert Pera's straightforward way.

Some things need to be tactful, but some things, such as now, when the Grizzlies are extremely uneasy, Sun Ce originally couldn't get into the topic, but Robert Pera first put the most uneasy things of the Grizzlies on the surface, which just allowed both sides to talk openly.

Sun Ce thought for a while and then responded: "Robert, I don't know if you believe it or not, I personally am not interested in the Clippers. I am very resistant to sharing a city with another team. As long as the Clippers are in Los Angeles, I will not go."

This sounds a bit like beating around the bush to others, deliberately avoiding the issue of "buying a team", but to Robert Pera, it sounds like Sun Ce tacitly agrees with this matter!

"I understand your idea," Robert Pera nodded, "but if you want to promote Price to buy the Clippers, we can cooperate for a long time and reduce the resistance of other teams. I can also help you promote this matter. In addition to this, I can promise you one thing. During our continued cooperation, the team is willing to pay any amount of luxury tax. As long as the rules allow, I don't mind spending more money than the Trail Blazers and Knicks back then!"

This made Sun Ce's eyes light up!

One of the things he was worried about before was the problem of the team's salary expenditure, but with this promise, many things are not a problem.

When Yi Jianlian came, Sun Ce felt something was wrong. With Yi Jianlian playing 70 games this season, averaging 13.3 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.1 three-pointers per game, if he were to stay after 2016, he would probably get a salary of about 15 million.

Even if the salary cap had not increased by 50% now, there would still be teams willing to give him a 3-year, 24 million contract like Ryan Anderson of the Pelicans.

It is definitely not like before that a salary of 4 million a year can keep Yi Jianlian.

After making the promise, Robert Pera did not let Sun Ce answer, and signaled Chris Wallace to talk about his plans for this summer.

Compared with other negotiators who don't know much about business, Chris Wallace, as the team manager, understood the conversation between the two and began to talk about the team's target of recruiting, changes in the team structure, players to be abandoned and retained, and plans for contract renewal...

Sun Ce and Bill Duffy listened together. He felt that the team was calmer than he thought. Seeing so many people coming, he thought the team had been in a mess for the past half month and didn't know what to do. They only thought about renewing his contract, but the team already had a clear plan.

To put it simply, it is to find another top power forward, reasonably adjust the center position, and reasonably build a better substitute lineup.

Things like team plans always sound perfect. It mainly depends on the specific implementation. Just like the head coach application, Brian Shaw can fool the Nuggets.

But Chris Wallace, who was recommended by the logo man to be the general manager, has always been very good when the team is on the rise.

Even if there was no Sun in the original time and space, Chris Wallace built a lineup that made it to the Western Conference Finals in Xiaomeng Village.

As for how Chris Wallace will operate when he is looking for improvement in a stable situation, Sun Ce doesn't know. It is more difficult to find improvement opportunities in a stable situation than to make a big change.

It is not enough to just put together stars. The structure must be reasonable and there must be chemical reactions. For example, Kobe and Paul are very good; Kobe and James are very good; Durant and Westbrook are very good; Durant and Paul will also be very good; Westbrook and Kobe's current style of play may all work well together.

But let Paul and James, Paul and Westbrook, Westbrook and James appear. It looks very famous, but it must produce results...

These are the most extreme examples, but superstars can have such problems, and role players certainly cannot be all-match with stars. On the contrary, many role players changed to a team that is not suitable for them during their peak period, and faded out of the league directly after playing for a year.

The NBA has always been so cruel.

You must calmly analyze whether the players you can get are suitable for the existing players, but you can't miss the opportunity. When the opportunity comes, you must seize the opportunity to fight for it... There are also key connections. The annual salary of the general manager is not so easy to get.

Therefore, when a player chooses his next team, in addition to the lineup and coach, the management is also very important.

At least, to return to the ranks of championship teams, Chris Wallace is a very good choice. As for how to maintain vitality and competitiveness in the free market after the strength stabilizes, it is hard to say, but Chris Wallace is currently a very good choice in Sun Ce's opinion.

These are the conclusions he reached after discussing with Bill Duffy, Lily Collins, and Nash.

The overall process was very pleasant. Sun Ce had planned it from the beginning. As long as the team plan was not a brain-wrecker, he would choose to stay.

There will definitely be many people coming and going in the team this summer, but after a few years, even Gasol left. Sun Ce has gotten used to it. As long as a few key teammates are still there like GDP, Sun Ce can still accept it.

The process was much smoother than the Grizzlies' group of people who came to negotiate today imagined, and soon entered the contract renewal negotiation process...

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