readytorunbook Chapter 1283
Chapter 1283
Chapter 1283
There was not much suspense in the 1997 NBA All-Star Game. The Western Conference star team played well at the beginning. Garnett, who made his debut on the All-Star Weekend for the first time, was very excited.
And the real protagonist is Barkley, who is complaining about not being selected for the top 50 stars. He hopes to win at least one AMVP trophy back.
"Hey, Chuck, didn't you say that people who are serious at the All-Star Game are idiots?" Louie said playfully to Barkley.
Barkley said: "I'm an idiot, otherwise I wouldn't have lost the top 50 superstars!"
Louie has heard Barkley complain about it more than once these days.
He cared, really cared.
He really felt that he should join it.
In his opinion, the reason why he was not selected is because he has no champion.
Why?Because both Scottie Pippen and Clyde Drexler were selected, they both have only one championship, and they were traded for their thighs.
If he could wake up earlier, if he could choose to join the super team earlier, instead of thinking about fighting with Jordan and listening to Riley's nonsense, maybe he would have had a championship.
The mixed champion allowed Pippen and Drexler to be selected into the top [-], while Barkley, who had been failing, was excluded by the judges, and he was very unconvinced.
Because Barkley is in excellent form, Wilson is willing to help him get the AMVP.
It just so happens that Jordan is also Barkley's buddy, and he himself doesn't value the AMVP trophy, so he also does a lot of auxiliary work.
It's a rare sight to see Wilson and Jordan working together.
The Western Stars defeated the Eastern Stars, Barkley was elected AMVP, and then today's highlight-the honor ceremony of the NBA's 50 superstars.
Before getting started, the group first dons NBA-specific gowns.
At the same time, there are still some people who want to be interviewed on the spot.
As the [-] most outstanding talents in the half century since the birth of the NBA, they are usually the focus of media attention no matter where they appear.
Knicks star Bill Bradley, who became a politician after retiring, is very envious of the conditions of today's players: "I dream of playing a game in such an arena."
"Mr. Basketball" George McCann said: "I once played the finals in a barn."
The tragedian pretends to be the greatest player in the game, and is extremely enthusiastic about other people's autographs and photo requests.
Today is a big day, and the last thing the top 50 stars should do is say no.
Even Bird rarely lowered his body to sign autographs for others.
Only Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, an outlier, shook his head sternly and said, "No."
"Big Dipper" Chamberlain's speech is very official: "I am very honored to be selected with so many superstars, but we should be more grateful to the NBA for giving us a chance to get together and chat."
Louis shuttled among them.
He quickly found his "clique".
The core members of the Knicks dynasty who have been selected into the top [-] have gathered together.
Ewing, Kemp, Miller, McHale, Stockton formed a young group.
"Coach, here!" Kemp yelled.
Louis walked over, and the Knicks' active stars were uniformly wearing navy blue jackets.
A total of 17 active players were selected as the top 50 superstars, and the Knicks dynasty accounted for 7 positions.
Be the center of attention wherever they go.
"Not to mention, you look quite similar in this dress." Louis teased, "Is this the winner of eight championships?"
Ewing, a spoiled guy, couldn't even exchange pleasantries, so he opened his mouth and asked, "Where's Benjamin?"
"Hey," Louis raised his head slightly, pointing them in the direction.
Wearing a rose red coat, Wilson was interviewed by multiple media outlets, and there were enough microphones to create a sense of dread.
"As expected of a big star, Patrick has never been interviewed by so many media." McHale laughed.
Ewing snorted, "That's what he got in L.A., but I got more rings in New York."
"You just won one more ring, don't you have to talk about it every day?"
From Miller's expression of "you are enough", Louis believes that Ewing absolutely talks about "I have one more ring than someone" every day.
Ewing said ridiculously: "I like to emphasize this because we can win more, and Benjamin who ran to Los Angeles for the spotlight can't win again."
As soon as these words came out, Louis became unhappy: "Who do you look down on? With the current state of New York, how can you win more? How do you plan to pay Mr. Dolan's huge luxury tax?"
Due to Dolan's outrageous operations, the Knicks need to pay the league a luxury tax of $3 million this year.
This has greatly exceeded their tolerance.
Regardless of whether it is a large enterprise or a small enterprise, market value and cash flow are often two different things.
The Dolan family may be worth tens of billions of dollars, but the cash flow they can use is often only a very small part. The expenditure of 3 million dollars in the business field is considered a super large investment, but now they have to pay it to the league for nothing. There is no benefit other than maintaining the lineup.
In order to reduce the luxury tax, Dolan Jr. made several extremely stupid operations.
Regretted, he intends to renegotiate with the player.
As a result, this matter can indeed be done procedurally, because the two parties only reached a verbal agreement at that time, and on the player side, in addition to the mentality explosion of the parties, the agent also used all means to force the Knicks to accept the previous verbal agreement.
The players union also reacted quickly, and will take necessary measures if this matter is not properly resolved.
The league issued sky-high fines for this, requiring the Knicks to claim those contracts.
But the so-called sky-high fines are far less terrifying to the Knicks than the $3 million luxury tax.
Back and forth, in order to temporarily suppress this matter, the league opened a door for the Knicks—the $3 million luxury tax can be paid in installments, so the two parties reached an agreement.
This clause will be called the "Dolan Clause" in the future, but for the Knicks, the problem has not been cured.
The hearts of the players have been broken, and if there is no way to optimize the salary space during the offseason, then a huge luxury tax will be generated next year.
No matter how you install it, if you owe $3 million a year, no one can afford it.
The power of the luxury tax is becoming apparent, and even the Knicks can't stand it.
The era of building a superteam by throwing money at it is over.
Louie's words also touched on the current crux of the Knicks. Due to Dolan Jr.'s showmanship, the morale of the team is currently low, the chemistry is bad, and there is no posture of defending champions at all.
The most obvious point is that Scottie Pippen deliberately did not wear a navy blue jacket.
Pippen wore a rose red coat tonight, and he didn't stand with Ewing and the others.
Because when the incident happened, Ewing and others did not speak up, which made Pippen feel betrayed.
Now that the matter has come to this, Ewing can only say hard to Louis: "Mr. Dolan has plenty of money, I don't worry about it."
Old Dolan did have a lot of money, but Louis believed that if he knew that running the team would cost 3 million US dollars a year, even if Dolan Jr. was sold to Africa, he would not get involved.
Later, Wilson came over, and brought Rodman with him.
Rodman, the sole representative of the Vancouver Grizzlies, was issued a black jacket.
"Coach, trade me quickly, I really can't stay in Vancouver for a day!" Rodman muttered.
Louis made a haha, but did not respond directly.
Wilson gave Ewing a complicated look, the two shook hands face to face, and hugged gently, "I hope you can reach the finals this year."
"I can't wait to win my ninth ring on you guys," Ewing said.
"Okay, you two can't be more harmonious, today is a good day, put all the unpleasant things aside." McHale shouted.
Wilson then greeted other old teammates.
From the attitude of other people towards Wilson, we can see the lightness and weight of the friendship in battle.
Kemp was the most rusty, just giving Wilson a high five.
Stockton, with his Big Brother airs, doesn't look too relaxed.
Miller and McHale were very natural, punching, hugging, joking, and asking about recent situations.
Wilson's joy came from the bottom of his heart. He rushed to the on-site staff and said, "Hey, bring me a blue jacket. I want to wear the same jacket as my teammates!"
Then Rodman asked for one too.
They also got one for Louis.
Finally, Louie, Ewing, Kemp, Miller, Wilson, Rodman, McHale and Stockton took a very precious group photo wearing the same navy blue jacket.
(End of this chapter)