Chapter 641 [Bad Boss, Next Stop]
In mid-April, the NBA regular season ended. The Spurs had the best record with 63 wins. The Lakers ranked second with only 57 wins, followed by the Mavericks, Nuggets, Trail Blazers, Warriors, Jazz, and Thunder.
Griffin, the Clippers' top pick, is out for the season. He relied on the performance of Eric Gordon, Kaman, Camby, Dunleavy Jr. and others to achieve 23 wins. The performance was not thorough enough and ranked 13th in the Western Conference. The Kings were 14th and the Timberwolves only won 23 games. 15 wins, last in the league.
Clippers owner Donald Sterling hoped that the Clippers would have the worst record before selecting a high-draft pick. Coach Dunleavy's serious coaching led to the failure of the plan, which was the primary reason for his mid-term layoff.
This is the conflict between the coach and the owner. Old Dunleavy has always regarded himself as a famous coach, and it is a shame for him to fail. But for Sterling, if he doesn't perform well in any season, he will feel uncomfortable.
The Eastern Conference Cavaliers rank first with 61 wins, followed by the Hawks, Magic, Celtics, Heat, Raptors, Bulls, and Bobcats.
As expected, Stephen Curry and Al Horford were guarded by Ellis again. They only ranked ninth and did not make the playoffs. But Ellis was selected as an All-Star in the mid-term, averaging 25.5 points, 4 rebounds, 5.3 assists and 2.2 steals per game.
Ellis also said that magical statement similar to "Kobe is first, I am second, and James is third." I don't know where he can get the confidence from having never made it to the playoffs since leaving the Lakers.
The bottom teams in the Eastern Conference are the Pistons, Nets, and Wizards. The Wizards have 17 wins each and are never worse than the Timberwolves.
Yang Rui started practicing kung fu this month. He has given up taking care of Scarlett and is practicing Tai Chi in order to strengthen his body and prevent diseases.
The three women have all gone out to work, and Scarlett has joined the cast of "The Avengers" to continue playing the role of "Black Widow" Natasha Nomanov.
Stana was filming "Resident Evil 5". The plot was still adapted from the game, but the protagonist was replaced by Alice.
Nina went to promote the movie "Twilight Saga 3", which will be released again this year.
In May, Yang Rui participated in a Texas Hold'em poker match in Los Angeles and failed miserably; participated in a golf match and failed miserably; participated in a table tennis and snooker competition, where his level was just acceptable among amateurs, but was not good enough for professionals and failed miserably; and played tennis , was no match at all and was beaten in the first round.
After some attempts, Yang Rui came to the conclusion that in other fields, he was just an ordinary person without the golden fingers of a reborn person, and a job in the basketball world was still suitable for him.
This month, several teams have come to invite Yang Rui to come out, the most urgent one is the Cavaliers.
There was quite an upset in the playoffs. The Cavaliers were eliminated in the second round by the Celtics, who ranked fourth in the regular season. The total score was 4 to 2. The Cavaliers were beaten out of temper.
James won the regular season MVP again and was elected for the third time in his career. However, he has a group of strong teammates and has not been exposed to "Friend Mom". He will lose anyway.
After this season, James' contract expires and he becomes a free agent. The Cavaliers are not confident in renewing his contract and want to ask Yang Rui to tie him down. The conditions offered by the boss were high salary plus shares, coach and manager, and guaranteed that James would definitely listen to him, especially that James' obedience would be written into the contract.
Yes, the media now often breaks the news that James does not listen to coach Mike Brown's arrangements, that Brown is the emperor's puppet, etc. He is nicknamed "Bread" and is not good at face-to-face.
After being eliminated by the Celtics, O'Neal even gave a big revelation in an interview, saying that James has the absolute say in the team and has the final say in the team. The coach can only be his supporting role, so it is not without reason that people laugh at Brown. .
O'Neal said: "James is a superstar in the league, just like when I was in Los Angeles in 2000. I think Mike Brown is a good person, but good people have to be cautious in Cleveland because that is James' team and no one can compete with him. Opposition. The team is afraid that James will leave Cleveland, so they are cautious and follow his orders. James can do whatever he wants. He has not listened to Brown."
Yang Rui doesn't care if James listens or not;
Rejected the Cavaliers owner again, with the same reason: "I have no interest in Cleveland."
The Maloof brothers of the Kings also came and wanted him to coach Thabeet and Martin, but Yang Rui refused equally simply.
At the end of the month, Sterling and Thomas finally reached an agreement and asked Yang Rui to have dinner together and sign an agreement.
Sterling made a condition acceptable to both parties, willing to give Yang Rui 30% of the Clippers' shares, but he would have to pay part of the money to buy it instead of giving it away. Sterling only paid Yang Rui’s coaching salary for five years.
After Thomas explained, Yang Rui realized that Sterling had tricked the two partners. The negotiations between him and Thomas were conducted in secret. Facebook did not release any information. The partners did not know and voluntarily withdrew.
Yang Rui met with other teams to attract attention. None of the media guessed that he would join the Clippers. Online Los Angeles fans said that he would join the Clippers. It was a wish. There was no evidence that he was interested in the Clippers.
At this time, Sterling held a meeting with the board of directors and said that the team was ready to rebuild and would continue to fail next season, which aroused the resentment of other shareholders. The two people did not want to play with him anymore, so Sterling took the opportunity to repurchase the shares and then transferred To Yang Rui.
The money Yang Rui spent to buy the shares was 10% more than what Sterling spent on the repurchase. Sterling used other people's shares to win over Facebook and made a small profit.
Initially, he wanted to sell the stock price at a 30% increase, on the grounds that once the two parties cooperate, the Clippers' valuation will increase significantly. Thomas defeated Sterling in one sentence. "If it's 30%, we won't come. You can play by yourself."
Sterling was afraid that the cooked duck would fly, so he could only agree. The 10% offer to buy shares was his "hard work fee" for offending his partners.
Of course, this contract also states the most important point. If Sterling wants to sell the team in the future, Thomas and Yang Rui have the right of first refusal, and the Clippers will be theirs.
Things went smoothly, which made Yang Rui feel a little unreal, because Sterling has always been synonymous with "stingy".
Sterling explained: "Although I don't have as much money as you, I am not short of money. I have earned a lot after buying the Clippers for so many years. Now I am 76 years old. I don't know how many years my body can be better. I don't want to die of old age." I was scolded by Clippers fans and never won. Even if you don't join, I will spend money to buy stars and compete for the championship. As long as you can let me watch the team win a championship and hold a championship parade in my lifetime. , what does it have to do with selling the team to you in the future?"
No one in the family wants to inherit the Clippers. Sterling has long figured out that money cannot be taken into the soil, and neither can the team. Sooner or later, the Clippers will belong to others. Attracting Yang Rui to join, at least it can be sold at a good price in the future.
Yang Rui said sternly: "I can't guarantee anything else. It is certain that I will lead the team to win the championship, and your wish will definitely come true. I think we have the same ideas. I want to buy the Clippers not to make money, but because it is a good outfit. Tool B can make everyone remember me and admire me."
Sterling smiled and said: "Yes, that's my idea. At that time, Jerry (Buss) asked me to borrow money to buy the Lakers and spent about 18 million U.S. dollars on this team. People said that was the largest amount in the history of the NBA. Great acquisition. I also spent 12.5 million to buy the Clippers, which is not much cheaper than him. If I can suppress the Lakers in the past few years, I can live 20 more years."
The value of the Clippers has increased by at least 100 times, and Sterling will not lose anything. He has been the owner of the Clippers for 29 years, and the team has never made it to the Western Conference Finals. He wants to let people know before he retires that he can also become a A good boss.
The two pretenders unexpectedly had something in common, and Yang Rui's next stop was determined.