Chapter 988 987. Seven Deadly Sins (Subscription Request)

June 29, 2005.

Toyota Center in Houston.

Carroll Dawson and Yao Ming made an appointment to negotiate a contract extension on this day.

Renewing Yao Ming's contract is the Rockets' top priority.

Although there is still one year left on the contract, they were unable to reach an early extension at the end of last year. The Rockets really want to complete the contract extension this summer to avoid offers from other teams next summer.

Renewing the contract in advance can suppress Yao Ming's contract. When other teams make offers next summer, the price will be different again, and the salary cap is increasing every year.

Save when you can, this is the Rockets' consistent style.

As for the record...with Yao Ming and Richard Jefferson, 50 wins are still guaranteed. With the precedent of the Nets reaching the finals with less than 50 wins, now any team with 50 wins can say that they are competing for the championship. The team.

To be the general manager of the Rockets, you have to learn to save money.

With Yao Ming's gentle impression, Dawson has full confidence in completing the price-lowering task assigned by his boss.

…

At two o'clock in the afternoon, Yao Ming and Bill Duffy came to the general manager's office at Toyota Center together.

When Dawson saw the two people coming in, he immediately went up and hugged Yao Ming and Bill Duffy.

The relationship between Dawson and Bill Duffy is very good. Dawson is the kind of person who is highly respected in terms of personality. As for team management...what can you do if you don't give money? As the general manager of the Rockets since 2000, his biggest achievement was the acquisition of Barkley in the 1996 trade, and the others are basically gone.

After closing the office door, the three of them sat down. Dawson immediately took out a quotation contract: "Yao, we are very sincere and sincerely hope to complete the contract extension with you. You can take a look at the contract first."

Yao Ming read the contract. The starting salary is 12.9 million US dollars, totaling 75 million US dollars over five years. This is the maximum salary based on the salary cap of the past season. It is estimated that the salary cap for the 2006-2007 season will reach about US$57 million. If There won't be another incident like the Palace of Auburn Hills. It will be high and not low. The five-year maximum salary at that time was probably around 83 million in five years. Regarding the contract, Yao Ming and Bill Duffy have already studied it. Pass.

Dawson is anxious to renew his contract at this time. It is also because of this. If it comes next summer, other teams will definitely give him a maximum salary. The gap will be 8 million US dollars. Bob Sura can be signed for two years. .

Yao Ming read the contract and gave it to Bill Duffy.

Both men understood what Team Rocket was thinking.

This made the two of them less mentally burdened.

Bill Duffy handed the contract back to Dawson. Dawson was a little confused. He glanced at it and was ready to sign it without studying it?

In Dawson's confusion, Bill Duffy said: "Carroll, we are not here to talk about contract extension today, we are here to apply for a trade."

As soon as these words came out, Dawson stood up in fright: "Watt? Oh, Bill, are you kidding?"

Bill Duffy shook his head calmly: "It seems, Carroll, you heard me right, we are going to apply for a trade, my employer no longer wants to play in Houston."

"Bill, wait, we have something to discuss..." Dawson turned to Yao Ming and said: "Yao, our cooperation has always been very pleasant, hasn't it? Why?"

Happy working together? Yao Ming looked at Dawson and said: "Carroll, I know you are a good person. I also like to have a general manager like you. I am very grateful for your technical guidance. But Ace has already won two championships. I will wait. No, I don’t see any hope here. I am two years older than Ace. He is getting better and better. If I don’t make changes, I will never have a chance to catch up with him. "

What are brothers used for? Isn’t it a good weapon now? There is no better reason than chasing Liu Mang.

Yao Ming, who was unparalleled in benevolence and righteousness, decisively used Liu Mang as a gun.

Hearing Yao Ming's words, Dawson quickly said: "No, Yao, we will definitely create a championship lineup for you. We will definitely win the championship. You have to believe me!"

Yao Ming shook his head: "I don't believe you. I have been waiting for two years. I have been waiting for the team to strengthen for two years. Steve left at this time last year. You did not sign the other Steve, and the 10 million Steve, who can get it, became the MVP, he reached the Western Conference Finals, and we have nothing. You only know how to save money, and I don’t trust you anymore.”

How to refute this...? Dawson couldn't refute it!

Dawson's mind was also spinning quickly and he said: "Yao, Bill, even if the team agrees to your deal, no team has the leverage to get Yao, Yao's strength..."

Before Dawson finished speaking, the phone in the office rang.

"Sorry, let me take a call." Dawson was about to take a call to calm down his shock.

Coming just in time, Bill Duffy spread his hands and said "please".

"Hello, this is Carol Dawson, what can I do for you?" Dawson answered the phone, ready to chat with no matter who it was, talk more, and buy time to think of a solution.

But the call came from Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak...

Hearing the voice on the other end of the phone and what he said, Dawson was once again shocked, or maybe he was already angry!

After Kupchak said something, Dawson was so shocked that he didn't know how to answer, and now he is even more angry! Just hang up the phone!

After hanging up the phone, Dawson looked at his old friend Bill Duffy and the big man in front of him who he always thought was soft and easy to fool, and felt that he had fallen into a trap!

On the Lakers side, Kupchak made an offer to trade for Yao Ming, saying that the Rockets could choose any player from the Lakers except Kobe, and the draft pick could be taken at will.

This was clearly discussed!

Dawson said to Bill Duffy angrily: "Bill, you are violating the rules!"

"No, no, no," Bill Duffy shook his head quickly, indicating that it had nothing to do with him, and then said, "I have not had any contact with the Lakers. I just learned about his ideas from Yao. What my client wants to do, I can only fully support it. If you don't believe it, I can authorize you to provide my communication record query and my flight query. I haven't been to Los Angeles in the past two months, and I haven't contacted the Lakers through any channel."

Bill Duffy didn't say anything nonsense. Yao Ming didn't contact the Lakers, and Bill Duffy didn't either. Yao Ming just had several communications with a No. 8 player.

From a rule perspective, this is not against the rules, otherwise players who are not on the same team should simply not communicate.

Seeing Dawson's angry look, Bill Duffy continued, "Carroll, you know, I respect you very much, and I have always respected you, but the boss you serve is too unfriendly to Yao.

Yao has made many and reasonable suggestions.

On April 27, 2003, Yao suggested recruiting for the first time, but you ignored it.

On February 11, 2004, Yao suggested recruiting for the second time, but you also ignored it.

On July 1, 2004, the Trail Blazers sold Antoine Walker, and Yao suggested recruiting for the third time. You introduced Juwan Howard and traded Steve Francis for Richard Jefferson. Richard Jefferson is great, but Steve is in the top five MVPs this year. I don't think replacing Steve with Richard really made much of an improvement.

On August 25, 2004, Yao suggested introducing Steve Nash, but you chose Bob Sura. I don't understand this. An All-Star player only wants 10 million in salary, but you don't want it. You want a player who doesn't even want to pass the ball to Yao, and this player with a salary of 10 million... , won the regular season MVP.

On December 9, 2004, Yao suggested trading Latrell Sprewell, and you traded for Jon Barry.

On December 27, 2004, the Kings sold Chris Webber, Yao suggested trading, but you refused.

On February 1, 2005, Yao suggested trading Sam Cassell, and you finally traded back Tyronn Lue.

These suggestions were all made by Yao who found you to apply for signings, and you all treated Yao with a perfunctory attitude. These are all very suitable signings that Yao and I have considered together, and considering that the team has no chips, it is not difficult to get these players.

Since Steve Francis was traded last summer, Yao has been asking for good guards, but you have been perfunctory, in the final analysis, it is to save money.

Yao has brought economic income to your team, and it is no problem to sign all these people, but your approach is very disappointing.

In this situation, Carroll, if you were Yao, what would you choose? "

Bill Duffy's half-truthful words stunned Dawson.

The time is right, the requirements for signings... Yao Ming asked for more than that. Each time he applied for signings, he could provide a list of up to 5 targets. In the past year, Yao Ming made 5 signing requests, and each time he gave many candidates. Bill Duffy mentioned the most critical names.

The key is that Dawson was very sorry that those people were not obtained, and he was most impressed. These were all easy to get, but the boss was unwilling to pay so much money. He wanted to get them back, but there was no way. The boss didn't care about anything else, just two requirements.

One is the playoffs, and the other is not to pay luxury tax.

Under this requirement, if you want to form a championship team, you have to have a player like Liu Mang who won the MVP in the third year with a minimum salary to have a chance not to pay taxes. If you change to Nash with an annual salary of tens of millions, you have to pay taxes.

The key is that Dawson has an impression of Yao Ming's targets for signings, which makes Bill Duffy's words reasonable and convincing.

Dawson was originally very angry, he felt betrayed by Bill Duffy, but after hearing Bill Duffy clearly and methodically enumerating the "seven sins" of the Rockets, Dawson went from being angry to calm, and finally... he didn't know what to say. Dawson, who was originally a good guy, felt that he was sorry for Yao Ming!