I was determined to be bad, but I went straight to the Basketball Hall of Fame

Chapter 475 Small Cabinet

New York, Olympia Tower, Office of the Commissioner, NBA Headquarters.

It used to be where David Stern worked.

The office space is not very large, and the skyscraper forest in New York can be seen through the huge floor-to-ceiling windows.

In addition to telephones and computers, there are often some simple office supplies, documents, photos and other things scattered on the large desktop.

David Stern seldom organizes his desktop carefully. First, he has no time. Second, he doesn’t care much about these trivial matters. What he pays attention to is the strategic direction and major issues of strategic importance.

Behind the desk, there is occasionally an O'Brien cup, several basketballs used by the NBA, and miscellaneous things.

Those who have come to interview Stern will be a little surprised that the president's office is so cramped and messy, which is completely unlike the daily office of the highest authority in the league.

It can also be seen from this that Stern is a person who is informal and does not care too much about other people's opinions because he has been in a high position for a long time.

The office has changed a bit since Adam Silva sat behind this desk.

The desk has become a lot tidier, and it has to be wiped clean every day. All the documents and sundries have to be sorted and placed in the storage compartments neatly.

The small and fragmented objects behind the desk have been preserved, but they have all been rearranged and placed in an orderly manner, making everything look orderly and harmonious.

Obviously, Adam Silva has not dared to completely change the layout of the office, such as moving the desk, changing the cabinet, or replacing the sundries and photos, because this office does not completely belong to him.

He can only try his best to make the office look more tidy and orderly. Silva is a person with a slight obsessive-compulsive disorder. It can be seen from his daily dress that he is always white, uncluttered, and a little redundant. There will be no hair or stubble.

Stern is different. In the past, he still had a mustache and his hair was sometimes unkempt. He grew up in the civilian area of ​​​​New York. His parents opened a deli. A pioneer, but also a pioneering figure, with a trace of "reckless" breath on his body.

In Adam Silva's generation, this kind of "roughness" has become less and less, and it has become elite.

On February 2, after get off work hours, Adam Silva and a group of league executives and elites sat in the office and held a temporary "cabinet" meeting.

Just over an hour ago, Min Congda held a press conference, accepting the league's punishment and publicly apologizing, but proposed to clean up the referee association and carry out a major shake-up.

This astonishing remark undoubtedly intensified the conflict between Min Congda and the referee, and soon Steve Javi spoke out again, saying that he did not accept Min Congda's apology, and insisted that the league impose a lifetime ban on Min Congda, otherwise the referee association will stop blowing. No more refereeing NBA games.

The continuous turmoil in the NBA has caused the league to once again attract the attention of the media. Silva will naturally hold an internal meeting to set the tone for tomorrow's or tonight's decision-making.

Silva sits behind the president's desk. He has served the owner of this table for nearly 20 years. Now he sits behind this table and tastes the taste of power.

Of course power will bring pressure, but power is more about enrichment. He wants to operate the league according to his own ideas and realize his ideals and ambitions for the NBA.

After Stern temporarily withdrew from the alliance, the alliance's small cabinet naturally experienced some changes in personnel.

In addition to Stu Jackson, Joe Bozia, and Yu Roberts, two new faces have been added-the new vice president of Asian descent, Mark Tatum, and the legal affairs officer in charge of the league. Attorney Rick Buchanan.

Like Adam Silva, Mark Tatum is also a rookie who was single-handedly promoted by Stern. He has been in the league for more than 20 years and has always been Silva's partner. He is responsible for all operations of the league except basketball .

Silva was promoted to the position of president, and Mark Tatum was promoted smoothly and became the vice president of the league, responsible for entertainment operations.

At the beginning, Mark Tatum and Adam Silva were trained together as successors, and the two had a cooperative and competitive relationship.

However, due to various reasons, the league bosses still tend to support Silva as the president. After all, Silva is a Jew.

And Mark Tatum has a smiling Asian face. His father is of Jamaican descent, while his mother is of Vietnamese descent. His ancestors came from Shantou, Guangdong, and the group of people who went to Nanyang.

It is still difficult for the NBA to accept a person of Asian descent in charge of a huge professional sports league.

However, since Mark Tatum can achieve the position of vice president, he must have sufficient ability and support behind him, otherwise the work cannot be carried out at all.

Adam Silva tapped his finger on the table to signal the start of the meeting.

"I'm going to hold a press conference tonight to express the attitude of the league office and deal with this matter. What do you think?"

Adam Silva glanced at his colleagues.

Bozia must be on the referee's side. He has been in charge of refereeing for many years and has a deep connection with the referee group.

Stu Jackson, who specializes in basketball, is also closely related to the refereeing body and is also one of them.

Sure enough, Bozia said: "The pressure from the referee is very high, and their patience with Smart has reached the limit. And this labor negotiation, they are not very satisfied with the contract renewal for the referee. This The Smart incident was a trigger. He could not ban the game and let it go. He also said that a new referee team would come out to enforce the law... Isn’t the lesson in 1995 not enough? Anyone can be a referee.”

Bozia emphasized the importance of referees. There have been conflicts between the league and referees in NBA history.

The most recent two times, one in 1995 and one in 2009.

In those two conflicts between the league and the Referees Association due to salary issues, the Referees Association went on strike, which affected NBA games.

Of course, in order to prevent the referee team from being overwhelmed and strikes causing the game to be unable to continue, the league has specially set up a reserve referee team to replenish personnel when necessary to maintain the normal operation of the game.

Therefore, during the two referee crises in 1995 and 2009, the league used backup referees to enforce the game.

But the effect is not satisfactory, because the law enforcement of NBA games depends not only on professionalism, but the accuracy of judgment is not enough. It is also necessary to grasp the balance, communicate with the players and coaches of both sides, and let the game follow the players, coaches as much as possible. The coaches and fans are satisfied with the smooth rhythm.

As for whether the judgment is accurate, it is actually secondary.

Those backup referees may be professional enough, but their control experience is much worse than those old referees.

In November 1995, after the NBA activated backup referees, the league fined the referees a total of more than 11 US dollars due to misjudgments, and readjusted the penalties for 20 games.

At that time, O'Neal was fouled by his opponent during the game and had to undergo surgery on his thumb.Chris Webber got into a fight with an opponent, injured his shoulder and missed a month...

If they are experienced referees, they will use the whistle to protect these star players, so that they can avoid vicious fouls from their opponents as much as possible. After all, they are the focus of the game. If they are injured and cannot play the game, who will buy tickets to watch the NBA?

But the backup referees don't understand this, they just mechanically follow the rules, and the result is that the scene is easy to get out of control.

Of course Adam Silva knew this, but he didn't give a direct response and turned to Stu Jackson.

Jackson said: "I agree with Bozia's statement. It has only been 2 years since the last strike, and the negotiations with the players have just been completed. This time it is a shrinking season again. There are too many unfavorable facts. Smart This guy is too capricious, this time the fine is heavy enough, but not enough, he must be suspended, and the referee team must be appeased, otherwise the ratings and attendance of the league will be in jeopardy."

"Also, Smart also said this time that he will build a new referee team. This is clearly to stimulate people in the referee association. We have tried to form a new referee team before, but you know, it takes a lot to enforce the NBA. Special experience and coordination skills don't just require a little training. You need to accumulate a lot of experience and establish relationships with many people to control the game. Smart is adding fuel to the fire. We must suppress his arrogance. "

Stu Jackson is in charge of basketball affairs and also has a lot of power in the league.

However, behind several big deals in the NBA in the new season, Adam Silva is behind them.

Especially for the big deal between the Hornets, Lakers, and Clippers, Stu Jackson didn't receive the news until the deal was formed, and it became a rubber stamp in the end.

This made Jackson quite unhappy.

In the past, Stern was on his head, but Adam Silva was at the same level in the past, so you are also on my head?

So this time, Stu Jackson chose to stand with Bozia and use the referee association to put pressure on Adam Silva, forcing Silva to punish Min Congda heavily.

Based on what they knew about Min Congda, once he was fully suspended, it would be a wonder if this monkey grandson would not fall out.

At that time, Silva, as the president, will be devastated, and he will inevitably be questioned.

Of course, Bozia, Jackson and others have no desire for the position of president. This position is not so easy to sit on.

They just hope that as vice presidents, they can gain a greater say in their respective fields.

After all, Stern has suppressed everyone for so many years. When a "weak master" comes up, everyone below wants to let go.

Adam Silva still nodded, then turned his gaze to Mark Tatum.

Tatum was still smiling, and said: "Smart is indeed a trouble, even Mr. Stern can't handle him sometimes. If this trouble can be solved, I think it is also a kind of Mr. Silva's ability Show. The league office still has to be tough enough, right, Mr. Buchanan?"

Tatum said a few words before throwing the conversation to lawyer Buchanan.

Buchanan is the legal director of the entire NBA. Previously, labor negotiations and other legal-related issues were all handled by Buchanan. He also holds the title of vice president of the league.

But before Adam Silva took office, he was not qualified to participate in this small cabinet meeting, and his qualifications were not enough.

Now that David Stern has retired and Buchanan has entered the inner circle at the highest level, everyone suspects that Buchanan may be an eyeliner planted by Stern.

Because Buchanan's acting style is very similar to Stern, who also worked as a legal consultant back then, that is, he is tough and a well-known hawk at the league headquarters.

When the Referees Association went on strike in 09, Buchanan participated in the negotiations with Stern as an assistant. He scolded the representatives of the referees union as a group of psychopaths, and sometimes raised such conditions, and sometimes said that the league was not sincere. The media is full of nonsense to engage in public opinion attacks.

In short, Buchanan has always been cold to the Referees Association.

If Buchanan also supported the punishment of Min Congda in this meeting, then Adam Silva would be alone and had to increase the punishment of Min Congda.

As a result, Buchanan immediately objected to increasing the penalty: "Our punishment has been set, and the Clippers have accepted it. If we revise it because the Referees Association is not satisfied, what will our league be? I will be threatened by the referees at will! The big deal is to use the reserve referee again! I think Smart is right, maybe we should really form a new referee team to prevent the current batch of old referees from threatening to strike! "

Buchanan objected to increasing the penalty, and then Urobos, who was in charge of international market development affairs, also agreed with Buchanan, saying: "The league should not be threatened, and the $150 million fine has set a sky-high fine record. The penalty is severe enough, and it is simply not realistic to ban him for life. Although he is not the owner of the Clippers, he is deeply trusted by Sterling and is a member of the board of directors. Could it be that we can ban our own boss?"

Bozia immediately retorted: "What boss, he is a professional manager, just a representative of the boss! Moreover, even if he is a shareholder or boss of the league, we still have the right to prohibit him from watching the game. This is absolutely in line with Specified."

Roberts has a point, but Bozia is also right. It doesn't mean that you can do whatever you want as a boss.

Once certain rules are violated, the alliance can kill you, no matter if you are a big boss or a small shareholder.

Both parties have some truths in what they said. When there is no dispute, the most important right of opinion is of course in the hands of Silva.

Silva was very fortunate that Stern had put Buchanan into the "mini-cabinet". Otherwise, in tonight's meeting, the faction that punished Min Congda would definitely occupy the top spot, and Yu Roberts would not be able to compete with the other three.

Anyway, the International Market Development Department doesn't need to think about the referee issue, and he will definitely have a good time then.

Now that Yu Roberts and Buchanan are opposing, Adam Silva will not be alone and helpless. Obviously, he will not punish Min Congda, but will fight the referee association to the end.

He still has an ace in his hand.

Adam Silva said: "In terms of the punishment for Smart, I think the fines we gave before are heavy enough. If we continue to increase the penalty, we will still be threatened by the referee association. This is a great deal to the authority of the league. The damage is absolutely unacceptable. Moreover, in this year’s labor negotiations, we have given the Referees Association a new five-year contract, and they have no reason to go on strike, otherwise, how can this broken season continue?”

"But..." Bozia wanted to intervene, but was stopped by Silva.

"Also, what Roberts said is right. After all, Smart is a representative of the board of directors, and his punishment should not be too heavy. Unless it is approved by the board of shareholders, should we report it to the board of directors for consultation?"

Silva said that he would report to the board of directors, but Bozia and Jackson stopped talking. They knew that they would report to the board of directors, and the board of directors probably would not agree to increase the punishment.

Because Smart is ultimately on the board, and he has close ties to many bosses.

The Lakers expressed their support for Min Congda, because Min Congda helped the Lakers a lot in Paul's deal.

There is also Cuban's big mouth. If he is pulled into the battlefield again, it will be a mess again, which is not good for everyone.

At this moment, Tatum spoke suddenly, and said, "I don't know how Mr. Stern sees this matter? What's his opinion?"

Tatum moved out of Stern, the big Buddha, to make a final struggle. After all, Stern is the person who can most damage Silva's prestige.

But Silva seemed to have expected this, and Tatum's question hit his arms.

He took out his mobile phone from his pocket, opened the text message, showed it to everyone, and said, "I have already consulted Mr. Stern on this matter. He said that the current NBA president will decide."

Everyone got up and glanced at the short message, and it was true.

Now, the faction that supports the referee's strike knows that there is no game.

The smile on Tatum's face gradually disappeared, but he smiled again immediately and said: "Then a press conference should be held as soon as possible to convey the intention of the alliance."

Silva said: "No, don't worry, let's wait until tomorrow morning, everyone should have a good rest tonight, after a busy day, you need to rest."

Just now he clearly said that a press conference will be held tonight, so everyone should give their opinions.

Now he is not in a hurry again, waiting for tomorrow morning, which makes Tatum quite embarrassed.

Seeing that Tatum couldn't smile anymore, Silva burst into laughter in his heart. This position of president is mine after all.

Of course, Silva's struggle is not just to consolidate his authority as president.

He had to hold the Referee Association firmly in his hands.

In this way, his great cause of cooperation between the NBA and gaming in the future can be slowly launched.

(End of this chapter)