Chapter 536 Chairman Yu decides to be ruined
The farce of the shutdown continues.
It's October.
Yu Fei's trip to China is about to come to an end, and in the NBA, the labor and management sides have held more than 30 hours of meetings in the past three days.
NBA commissioner David Stern canceled the first two weeks of the 2010-11 regular season on Monday night after three days of negotiations that failed to bridge what the league called "significant differences on virtually every issue."
For most, this is a continuation of the shutdown, but for those in the industry, the shutdown is taking a real toll.
If the Donaghy case in 2007 was the lowest point of the league's commercial image in the post-Jordan era, then the season that just ended was the moment when professional basketball returned to its peak.
The Empire Battle between the SuperSonics and Lakers set a viewership record, and the six-year, $7.5 billion television deal that will take effect in the new season will further promote development.
It is expected that in six years' time, such broadcast agreements will increase significantly, allowing the league to usher in rapid development like the Jordan era. However, the hiatus of the regular season could hurt that prospect. Cable networks, in particular, will have plenty of reason to restructure their contracts, which not only affects the future but could also lead to a significant reduction in revenue this season.
These events may force employers to take a more aggressive stance in negotiations.
"We think we made a very fair proposal." Stern told reporters in New York, expressing regret and disappointment that the league was unable to start the regular season on November 1 as planned.
Billy Hunter, executive director of the National Basketball Players Association, was in a similar position in 1998, when the lockout lasted 204 days and the NBA played just 50 regular-season games.
Hunter said Monday that canceling games and forcing NBA players to be without paychecks has been the plan of owners for months: "I believe it's all part of the plan."
"I think everyone is waiting for players to compromise," Hunt added. "They think once players are on layoff for a long time, it's going to be over. I would say it would be a huge mistake if they thought that was going to happen, because it's not going to happen. The players are going to hang on."< br>
At the urging of Derek Fisher of the Los Angeles Lakers and Chris Paul of the New Orleans Hornets, NBA players showed their unity throughout the day with dozens of "LETUSPLAY" tweets and the hashtag #StayUnited.
Just two weeks before the NBA canceled the regular season, and more regular seasons will be canceled in the future, and the entire season has become precarious, international players with options left have chosen to return to their home teams.
As a free agent and the owner of the Shanghai Sharks, Yao Huang announced that he will return to the CBA to play for the Shanghai team before the lockout ends.
Now, "the boss is warming up" has become a reality.
Then, the Trail Blazers' third-year forward Kong Yiyi also returned to Guangdong.
Then, the players who came to China with Yu Fei also received contracts from the CBA team.
Players like Danny Green and Wayne Ellington, although they have the NBA as their dream, but in the context of the lockout and salary suspension, they must first survive themselves.
In order to leverage the corner of the NBA, the rich teams of the CBA did not hesitate to spend a lot of money to let these people who should not play in the CBA come to the CBA.
Starting from this, NBA starting-level players such as Kenyon Martin, Aaron Brooks, J.R. Smith and others in their prime have landed in the NBA.
Then, Tony Parker returned to France.
The Gasol brothers returned to Spain.
International players have their own places to go, and the labor struggle has become the matter of the American players themselves. After all, the NBA is an American league. You American players can only choose to fight with the employers to the end. Their international players have many choices.
What Yu Fei didn't expect was that a CBA team was willing to hire him as the team's short-term foreign aid for 10 games at a price of US$500,000 per game.
In terms of compensation per game, this is better than playing in the NBA.
Roy said: "If they dare to give me this contract, I will definitely go to the CBA!"
Unfortunately, although his opponent was very sincere, Yu Fei did not accept it.
It's really not about money.
Just like Jacky Cheung would not accept the invitation of "Singer", some people's status in the world is there, and they will only show their talents on the stage that suits their status.
Before leaving China, Yu Fei also contacted some people to prepare for doing something he had wanted to do for a long time.
The businessman Yu Fei admired most in his previous life was Cai Chongxin. There is no other reason than that Boss Cai spends a dime of his own money every year on scholarships to support talented Chinese players to travel to the United States.
This matter was originally something that Fei could do or not do. After all, if he did it, it was just a trivial matter to him, and it didn't matter if he didn't do it.
Because the basketball strength of a country cannot be fundamentally changed due to the power of individuals.
But Mr. Guo's incident still touched him to some extent.
He thought of Wang Quanze. For people who don't follow Chinese basketball, this is an unfamiliar name. Even before 2018, few people had heard of him. But later, he was selected for the U18 National Youth Team that year and shined in the Asian Youth Championship. Because of his all-around skills and American-style court attitude, he was called "King B" by fans.
Wang Quanze was just an ordinary player before going to the United States, but under the experience of the US High School, he became a top Asian player of his age group.
If he had stayed in a domestic university, he probably would not have reached the level of 2018.
This is the benefit of high-level exercise and competition.
However, studying abroad does not guarantee success. Behind Wang Quanze who stepped into the public eye, there fell Tang Zihao, Adili, Yan Yufeng (this person really existed) and countless nameless people.
Yu Fei decided to do it, but not this year. Because this year’s admissions season has ended.
It won't start until next year at the earliest.
He needs to find a few professionals in the country to take charge of the preliminary preparations, which is not difficult.
After the arrangements were made, Yu Fei was ready to return to the United States.
He felt that the lockout was coming to an end, but what he didn't expect was that due to his emergence, his team's monopoly on the championship in the 2000s, the rise of the SuperSonics, the explosion of revenue brought by Seattle's basketball season, and Clay... Bennett's extremely ugly appearance angered small-market teams and the players' union at the same time.
The shutdown is shaping up to be a storm with no winners.
Yu Fei's team came with ten players and left with only four players.
Kwame Brown is the CBA team's money-beating Raiders.
He originally wanted to return to the United States with Yu Fei.
However, XJ, the biggest tycoon in the CBA, offered him a contract he couldn't refuse.
Brown revealed that he received more money after taxes than a mid-level contract in the NBA.
Yu Fei didn't know what the XJ team's management was doing, but it was a good thing for Brown.
Although he is the same age as Yu Fei, unlike Yu Fei who was in his prime, as an NBA player, Brown's career has come to an end.
His journey in the NBA can be said to be born and died in comfort.
When he first joined D.C., he and Jordan became brothers, and then he was used as a flag sacrifice by Jordan, thus leading to mediocrity.
Coming to Yu Fei's side was the most correct decision he had ever made. Not only did he have five rings now, but with Yu Fei's influence, he signed consecutive middle-class contracts, accepted Reebok endorsements, and picked up some that Yu Fei didn't want. With endorsements, his career income has exceeded US$60 million, and he is undoubtedly a winner in life.
But it was these carefree days that made him lose his sense of urgency.
Over the years, he has made little technical progress. The craze of space basketball has been brought about by flying, but Brown did not realize that this technological revolution that killed traditional insiders was also fatal to him.
He was abandoned in last season's Western Conference Finals.
Like Jordan, his skills are not in line with the trend, but his talent is higher and he can relatively contribute more.
Now, if Brown wants to occupy a place in the SuperSonics, he can only rely on Fei's influence. If he goes to another team, he will soon reveal his true colors.
It is a good thing for him to go to the CBA to make money now.
But Yu Fei still doesn't understand why Team XJ signed him.
Although he doesn't play CBA, he understands CBA.
Leaving aside the NBA, no league in the world has greater requirements for the hard power of foreign players than the CBA.
There are two types of foreign players that are the most popular in the CBA.
One is a three or four swingman like Beasley who scores points like drinking water, and the other is an all-around scoring and organizing maniac at the first position.
Brown can hardly understand what he is eating now. What can he do in the CBA?
Yu Fei estimated that Brown could average 18 points and 9 rebounds per game in the CBA, but unfortunately, the CBA's standard for big foreign players is 25+10.
Therefore, Yu Fei estimates that Brown will soon show his true colors in China, and then a large number of fans will be surprised that he can lead Brown to win so many championships.
In this regard, Yu Fei can only say that as long as you don't expect Brown to average 25+10 per game, he is actually okay.
On October 5, Yu Fei and his party returned to the United States.
The team disbanded on the spot.
George decided to go for special training because this trip to China made him realize that his technical level was seriously lacking.
Roy will go to the hospital for review. If the result is okay, he will officially come back and start intensive training.
What surprised Yu Fei the most was Beverly.
Beverley shined during this trip to China. Although he is not the kind of super No. 1 position that the CBA likes, his defense and three-pointers are reminiscent of the "Reaper" Smart who has dominated the CBA in the past few years. Shi Parker.
After winning the championship with the SuperSonics two years ago, Parker failed to stay in the NBA, so he went to the CBA to join the Guangdong team. The Guangdong team, which is full of national players, does not need Parker to attack Kerry. He only needs to use his own characteristics, which is to defend each team's small foreign players below the average level. Then the Guangdong team will rely on the overall strength of the team to The opponent was beaten to pieces.
However, Parker has problems with his professionalism, and the Guangdong team has always wanted to replace him, so they were very surprised when they saw Beverley and wanted to directly replace Parker with him.
According to Yu Fei's understanding, the contract offered by the Guangdong team was very good, far larger than Beverley's contract in Europe, but he refused.
"Pat, why don't you accept the CBA contract?" Yu Fei asked.
Beverley said: "The money I made last year was enough for me to survive this period. I'm tired of low-level games. I just want to play in the NBA."
"But you should know that the Lakers don't have a place for you." Yu Fei smiled subtly, "They are determined to compete for the championship and will not use a newcomer like you in such an important position."
Beverley said bluntly: "I don't like playing for the Lakers either. No one likes the Evil Empire, they are cowards."
After a month of getting along, Yu Fei believes that Beverley is definitely an average defender in the NBA. If we look at defense alone, he is excellent at the first position.
"I like your feeling about the Lakers." Yu Fei made a simple decision, "Maybe we will have a chance to play together in the future." After that, following Yu Fei's suggestion, Beverly went to Seattle and met the fully recovered Train with Roy.
Roy organized a private training camp in Seattle specifically to maintain training for those players who still have illusions about the end of the lockout.
Anthony Morrow and Alonzo Key were added.
Then, DeAndre Jordan joined the mix.
Roy also extended an invitation to Yu Fei, but Yu Fei, a busy man, could not stay in Seattle for a long time.
The first thing Yu Fei did when he returned to the United States was to briefly understand the progress of the labor struggle.
Although he has been in a state of backing off the version for the past month and a half, Yu Fei found that he was still able to keep up with the latest progress.
This shows that the two sides have not made any progress in the past month and a half. Not only have they not reached any consensus, but they have also created new problems.
First of all, the league has shown that it has made huge concessions by no longer insisting on a "hard salary cap", but their request to share 47% of basketball revenue with players is regarded by the players union as absurd and unreasonable.
Then, within the capital, many long-losing teams proposed "antitrust" measures.
Since 1991, for sixteen years, the NBA championship has been won by six teams.
In the past ten years, four teams have won the NBA championship.
What's more, narrowing the time frame to the last eight years, the Bucks completed four championships in five years, the SuperSonics completed three consecutive championships, and only the Spurs won the 2005 championship in the middle.
Those failed operators believe that they are in an unfair alliance and that the championship has been effectively monopolized.
Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert, who not long ago believed that Yu Fei was the savior of the NBA, changed his stance.
Now, he believes that the SuperSonics represented by Yu Fei, the Lakers represented by Kobe and James, and the Knicks represented by Stoudemire are destroying fair competition in the NBA.
"I would like the league to be more competitive, to some degree less advantageous to Los Angeles, Seattle and New York," Gilbert said, "because they have so much revenue to spend on salaries and luxury taxes that are well over the salary cap. , and this amount of money is unbearable for a small market.”
This forced Yu Fei to respond to these remarks: "We hope that every team starts from the same starting point. But if you tell me that businesses and companies around the world are equal, that is a lie. There are some people in the business Up there, there's some down there. That's competition. We have some big markets, and we have some small markets."
Then, Yu Fei cited the Spurs as an example: "I think it's not a question of who has more money, but a question of who manages the team. Small market teams can also win championships, such as San Antonio, who are in Two championships in the past eleven years.”
Surrounding antitrust issues, owners of small-market teams have proposed a punitive luxury tax that is more severe than the luxury tax.
They hope to implement a 1:5 fine for teams such as the SuperSonics and Lakers whose entire team salary reaches 1.5 times the salary cap.
In other words, there is a fine of $5 for exceeding the limit by $1.
This is the prototype of the super luxury tax, but it seems to be more stringent than the super luxury tax.
The players union strongly opposed the move because it looked like a carbon copy of the hard salary cap. The terrifying super luxury tax will restrict teams from spending money.
The bosses of big markets are also strongly opposed.
Especially Clay Bennett.
He calculated that if he followed the super luxury tax penalty, US$100 million of his US$140 million profit this season would have to be used for taxes.
Although there is still a profit of $40 million, to him, what he sees is an additional $100 million that he paid.
This is actually an indirect way to share the profits of big market teams with small market teams.
Although bosses such as Bass and Dolan expressed their opposition, their attitude towards the matter seemed mild, while Bennett was in a completely different state.
Ever since he decided to leave the Sonics in Seattle, he has betrayed his elders in his hometown. Whenever the elders of his wife's family asked him if he regretted his decision and wanted to mock him, he would use the Sonics to bring him success. The profits coming in will make the other party shut up.
He knows that the only reason why the Sonics are what they are today is because Yu Fei came.
In order to consolidate his historical position, Yu Fei must have a strong team, and the salary of this team will definitely far exceed the salary cap.
As long as the profits remain unchanged, Bennett can afford the salary of this team and the luxury tax of 1:1.
However, if the punitive luxury tax is passed, he will have to face two choices.
Bite the bullet and pay the sky-high luxury tax.
Or, split the team to reduce the salary burden.
The former will make his profits no longer look impressive, while the latter will drastically worsen the relationship between Yu Fei and the team.
Neither of these things he could bear.
So, what should he do when the situation at hand is not good for him?
The answer is to muddy the waters.
Now that everyone is focusing on antitrust, he will bring the issue back to its original point.
As the owner of a large market, and as the league's biggest winner with an annual profit of $140 million, Bennett has clearly expressed his support for small market teams. He firmly supports the proposal that players only share 47% of basketball revenue each year.
Bennett, a bastard who wanted money but not reputation, took the lead. Big market bosses such as Old Bass and Little Dolan soon joined the camp of small market bosses.
So, a few days later, the negotiations broke down again.
NBA Commissioner David Stern announced the cancellation of the November regular season.
A full month of games being canceled means everyone in this league, owners and players alike, loses an eighth of their revenue.
"We share that hope, but given the breakdown in negotiations, we will not have a full NBA season," Stern said.
He also reiterated warnings that proposals could become more demanding as the shutdown drags on as the league needs to recoup hundreds of millions of dollars in losses.
"We're going to have to recalculate how severe the damage was," Stern said. "The next proposal will reflect the huge losses that are now accumulating."
What has happened and what is about to happen is like a dream to Fei.
He really put the NBA back on top last season.
But this peak is not so much the peak of the NBA as it is the peak of big-market teams led by Seattle and Los Angeles.
They have earned everything, while small-market teams have gained nothing. They chose to tear up the CBA agreement this season when the new television broadcast agreement is about to take effect. Is this a long-lasting madness or an outbreak of conflicts over the unbalanced development of large and small markets?
The regular season in November has been cancelled, and it is almost impossible for the lockout to end in December.
And once the lockout extends into 2011, it becomes possible for the entire season to be completely canceled.
This is no longer a question of whether the players are willing to give in. The problem is that the imbalanced income distribution among the owners cannot be adjusted through self-regulation, and they have no choice but to swing the knife at the players.
Derek Fisher faces a historic decision.
Do you accept a 47% income split?
If he accepts, there is no doubt that he will become the most incompetent players union president in history.
If he doesn't accept it, then the players under his management will need to bear the risk of not playing for a year for fair income distribution.
Yu Fei obviously no longer wants to get involved in this matter. After his brief return, he announced his support for all decisions of the players union. He will always stand with the players' camp. Now he is going to conduct special training and then prepare for his early plans. Good movie.
There are rumors that Kobe Bryant may join the CBA.
Some media broke the news that the Shanxi team gave Kobe a sky-high contract.
Kobe's team confirmed that it was indeed happening, but it may not happen. Kobe is considering all options.
Lower-level players began to put pressure on the union to end the lockout as soon as possible.
The mid-level players have enough savings to survive this period, so they are the tougher opposition.
On the contrary, after Yu Fei, the top player, stayed away, he also started his personal schedule.
Only stars like Chris Paul and Dwyane Wade who are interested in joining the players union will continue to participate in negotiations.
November 14
The players union announced that it would dissolve the union into a players trade association in preparation for further filing of an antitrust lawsuit against the NBA.
Subsequently, Stern announced the cancellation of all games before December 15, and he threatened Fisher that if a new agreement could not be reached before the new year, the entire 2010-11 season would be cancelled.
The new deal means the players will give in on every option.
Revenue sharing dropped from 57% to 47%, the maximum contract year dropped from 5 years to 4 years, and there was further supplement to the luxury tax, mainly to curb monopoly in large markets.
Fisher, who came from the bottom, decided to bear the humiliation for the bottom players, but the waves caused by his decision were not what he wanted to see.
At that time, Yu Fei was in New York.
In addition to preparing for the movie, he also has to spare four hours of training every day.
Agent Arne Traim called Yu Fei.
"Derek Fisher is going to kneel down to the employer!" Trem shouted with absolute certainty, "He has been bribed!"
Yu Fei did not believe that Fisher was bribed by the alliance, but agreed that reducing the revenue share from 57% to 47% was enough to nail Fisher to the pillar of shame.
Yes, he will get the lower-level players back to work, but the mid-level players and top-level players whose income will be reduced as a result will not let him go.
"So?" Yu Fei asked casually, "The lockout is over?"
Unexpectedly, Trem on the other end of the phone said in a cold tone: "On the contrary."
"The shutdown has just begun."
It's so refreshing to hear this after the 162-day NBA lockout.
(End of chapter)