When pride still matters

Chapter 537 I Will Always Love You

If the real contradiction on the capital side is the uneven development between the big market and the small market, the big market is getting richer and richer, and has more and more capital to allow salaries to exceed the framework of luxury tax, thereby achieving market profits and championships, which leads to the long-term imbalance of the NBA, then what is the contradiction in the player camp?

The answer is clear.

That is the inequality in status between star players and minimum-salary players.

This is a secret that cannot be told, because since its establishment, the mission of the players' union has been to speak for the people.

Because when the players' union was first established - in the era of Bob Cousy, the NBA was just a mediocre professional league, and professional players could not support their families with the income from playing alone, so many star players had other part-time jobs during the off-season.

They need unions because of poor welfare and because capital controls everything. When the union was first created, it was a platform for players to complain. Later, with the addition of Oscar Robertson and other players who could be regarded as the NBA version of the "Greatest Generation", it gradually became a platform for the struggle between workers and capitalists.

Hence the uprisings before the All-Star break, the antitrust lawsuits that prevented the merger of the NBA and ABA, and the completely free agent, who today no longer has to take a year off from playing in his prime to become a free agent.

The struggle that truly changed the nature of the players' union was a series of battles between labor and management in 1983 over the introduction of the salary cap.

In the end, the management won and the salary cap was introduced, but some players also won - the scheming agents left a BUG in when the salary cap was introduced.

That is, there is no cap on the maximum salary.

This BUG that made the investors miserable led to Jordan signing a one-year, $1996 million contract with the Bulls in the summer of 3000, and led to Garnett's infamous maximum-salary long-term contract with the Timberwolves, which directly led to the lockout in the summer of 1998.

From then on, the nature of the players' union's struggle changed.

Ostensibly, they were fighting for the good of all players.

In fact, it is a struggle for interests between star players and bosses, because no matter what, the money that the bottom players get is just a few dollars and is never taken seriously.

So, when Derek Fisher wanted to consider the overall situation and reached an agreement with the league with a 47% dividend, he was supported by the bottom players, but then was regarded as a scum by the middle and upper players.

Agents who hold the rights to represent star players are extremely angry.

This is not a fair world.

The interests of the bottom players are not the primary interests of the union.

Yu Fei's agent, Arn Tellem, strongly opposed Fisher's behavior of sacrificing the interests of stars to make up for the poor management of small-market teams.

"Listen, we are not slaves!" Tellem told the Associated Press. "If the final agreement is 50:50, I have no objection. From a numerical point of view, it is fair. However, if the distribution ratio of the agreement is 47:53, I am sure someone has made unplanned concessions to the alliance! We will never accept such concessions!"

Tellem's stance was supported by several other agents who handle numerous star players.

Among them, the statement made by David Falk, the former NBA chief agent, was the most intense and thorough.

"In my opinion, it's only natural for a player like Frye to get $100 million a year," Falk said. "Frye is the reason this league has prospered over the past few years, and no matter how much he gets, it's not excessive. But now someone wants to reach a new CBA agreement through humiliating compromises? No matter who made this decision, I feel ashamed for him!"

As a result, rumors began to emerge that Fisher was bribed by the management and reached a private agreement with Stern to sell out the collective interests of the player camp for personal gain.

The trigger came from the Internet.

A Fox Sports columnist named Jason Whitlock published an article titled "Is Derek Fisher Bought by Stern?"

Whitlock clearly pointed out that the uncertainty between labor and management lies in the distribution of basketball revenue.

The players' camp wanted a fair 50:50, while the management was determined to make the players reduce their dividend income to 47% when the big market owners decided to fully support the small market owners.

"The fact is that NBA NBPA President Derek Fisher was bought off by Commissioner David Stern with the promise that he could get the union's support on a 47-53 split," Whitlock wrote. "That belief led NBPA Executive Director Billy Hunter and at least one member of the union's executive committee to confront Fisher at last night's meeting and ask him to reevaluate his plans."

Whitlock then began comparing Fisher to his predecessor, Michael Curry.

库里是一名有11年NBA经验的球员，在其职业生涯中赚了大约1500万美元。他从2001年7月到2005年6月底担任工会的球员主席。36岁时，他在2004-05赛季为印第安纳步行者队打了18场比赛，这是他的最后一个赛季。NBA和工会在2005年6月21日原则上达成了今夏被老板们撕毁的CBA协议。

Disturbingly, Curry announced his retirement and resigned from the players' union a week after the collective bargaining agreement was reached. A few months later, David Stern announced that his extremely tough opponent in the collective bargaining agreement negotiations would become the vice president of the NBA Development League, responsible for player development.

A year later, Curry was promoted to NBA vice president, in charge of basketball operations.

A year later, Curry joined Detroit and got a three-year, $3 million contract. He was soon bought out and received the full $750 million guaranteed amount.

Americans who like conspiracy theories naturally believe that Curry must have made major concessions to the league during his tenure as president of the Players Union, otherwise Stern would not have reused him, and the Pistons would have no reason to give him $750 million like a bribe.

The article immediately caused a stir within the player camp.

It shows one thing, that Derek Fisher, the head of the players' union, and Billy Hunter, the second-in-command of the players' union, do not agree on their positions.

For some reason, Fisher tended to compromise with the management, while Hunter's position was that the player camp needed to get at least 52% of the dividends before the talks could continue.

Therefore, when the news that Fisher was bribed by the league came out, whether it was true or not, his credibility as the union chairman would be severely hit.

Fisher quickly issued an open letter to the players.

"Normally, I would not respond to ridiculous media reports with comment," he wrote. "But before these reports spread further, I want to publicly state to each of you that my loyalty has always and always will be with the players."

However, some of the words he used in the letter made superstars including Yu Fei feel that there were indeed problems within the players' union.

"Anyone who questions or doubts that doesn't know me, my history, or what I stand for. And frankly, it's disrespectful for anyone to question that. The players' union is united, and any reports to the contrary are false. There are no side deals, side negotiations, or anything of the sort. We are united in serving you and providing the best option to get you all back to work."

Finally, it indicted FOX Sports' reporting: "The statements made in the recent article on the FOX Sports website are inexcusable." Fisher said, "Among many unfounded allegations, the allegation that I worked with the league for personal gain is completely false. Suggesting that anything I did was not in the best interest of the players is disgusting, defamatory, and a complete lie."

Which basically says: Billy Hunter doesn't know me. How dare he question my loyalty to the union?

For Fei, what he cares about most is whether there is a crack in the relationship between Fisher and Hunter as rumored, or even, as some outside articles say, the two have drifted apart?
But in this letter, Yu Fei couldn't find Billy Hunter's name.

Wade told Yu Fei that Hunter did question Fisher's position at the meeting.

Fisher's letter confirmed to Yu Fei that something was happening within the players' union that he was not aware of.

In a few days, labor and management will negotiate again. If no agreement is reached this time, the remaining games in 2010 will be cancelled.

And at a time when such a scandal is brewing within the union, it is impossible for them to reach a unified consensus.

On the day of the negotiations, Hunter told Sports Business Daily: "Derrick and I have a good relationship and there was no confrontation."

But when asked whether Fisher had reached some kind of under-the-table agreement with Stern and Silver, Hunter's answer was hard not to think deeply: "If he reached a consensus without my knowledge, how would I know?"

In any case, the split in the player camp is inevitable.

From the moment Fisher sent that letter, he fell into the trap of self-vindication.

And when Hunter questioned Fisher's position in an internal meeting, the seeds of doubt were planted in the players' minds.

Fisher can no longer be trusted.

The players' union can no longer be trusted.

The boss who made all this happen and who forcefully demanded that the players accept a 47% dividend is even less credible.

Yu Fei thought back to the phone call that Arn Tellem had made to him before, and suddenly thought that maybe the "Fisher being bribed by Stern" incident was a conspiracy by the vampires in the sports world who hold superstars.

They don't need to prove Fisher's identity as a traitor, they just need to make everything chaotic.

Stern threatened the players' union during negotiations that the entire season would be canceled if no agreement was reached before the New Year.

Billy Hunter said, "Fuck you!"

Just like that, the last round of negotiations before 2011 broke down.

As a result, all December competitions were cancelled.

This lockout is evolving into a no-win situation.

On December 2010, 12, Billy Hunter proposed to dissolve the players' union and then formally sued the league in the name of the industry association.

Fisher objected, saying this was an irreversible table-turning move.

But Fisher, who no longer has the trust of the players, has lost his function as the union chairman under the pressure of other players' union leaders. Fisher threatened to resign.

Then, the players accepted his resignation.

However, they used a more radical approach to get Fisher out of office.

In order to demonstrate the "democracy" of the union, Hunter proposed a general vote to decide whether Fisher should stay or go. If the majority supported Fisher to stay, the union would still be led by Fisher, otherwise, Chairman Fisher would be sent off.

Under the influence of the "secret alliance" scandal, few people were willing to support Fisher.

As a result, Fisher was removed from office by an overwhelming vote, officially ending his five-year term as union president.

Chris Paul then took office as interim president of the players' union.

Fisher's fall means one thing: labor and management have lost the possibility of reaching an agreement in the short term.

At this point, the league has already canceled the regular season in November and December. Once the impact of the shutdown spreads to the new year, even if they compromise with labor and allow the league to resume through a temporary CBA agreement, it will be a heavy loss for the bosses.

In this case, both sides will end up with no one left alive.

What's more, the radicals led by Billy Hunter and Chris Paul, who is determined to take a tough line, have decided to dissolve the players' union and formally initiate legal proceedings.

Yu Fei received the news of the dissolution of the players' union on the night of his 28th birthday.

He knew what the process would look like, and he also knew there would be no 2010-11 season.

This was undoubtedly a bad birthday present for him.

This is equivalent to losing a peak season out of thin air without any illness or disaster.

But the one who suffered the biggest loss was definitely not Yu Fei.

Because as a player, he has achieved the ultimate achievement for NBA players last season - becoming the GOAT.

All he has to do for the rest of his career is to continue to consolidate this position.

And for those who were bent on revenge against him, they lost a precious year.

For example, the Lakers.

Kobe is already 32 years old, and if the 2010-11 season is canceled, he will be 33 when he returns to the court. James is still young, but what about their helpers?

Richard Hamilton and Antawn Jamison, to be exact?

These two are at the end of their prime, and there's no telling what they'll have degenerated into by then.

But the Supersonics have no such worries.

Yu Fei only lost a season's worth of data accumulation. Anyway, he has become the tallest mountain and has no interest in becoming the longest river. What the Lakers lost was a precious window for competing for the championship.

Of course, the Supersonics also lost an opportunity to win four consecutive championships, but as long as the players are complete, they still have a great chance of completing the feat of winning four consecutive championships even in the 2011-12 season.

After all, youth is capital.

After Yu Fei calculated the pros and cons, he decided not to think about it anymore.

It was just right for him to use this long vacation to do some things he didn't have time to do before, such as finishing the filming of a long-planned movie in one go, or going to China in person to host the first Yu Fei Scholarship training camp.

Since 2011, the struggle between labor and management has become increasingly fierce.

As the players dissolved the union and took the league to court, David Stern announced on January 1 that the entire 20-2010 season was officially canceled.

Following MLB and NHL, the NBA became the third major North American league to cancel an entire season due to excessive labor disputes.

This makes American audiences pay more attention to the NFL league.

From the fans' point of view, they equally hate the struggle for power between labor and management.

What does the difference between millionaires, multi-millionaires and billionaires mean to them? They just want to watch the game and follow their team.

Every suspension is a severe blow to the league and will result in a large loss of viewers.

This usually takes four or five years to recover.

From this point of view, the revival brought to the NBA by Yu Fei and Seattle's myth has ended.

In fact, Yu Fei is still pondering what role he played in the shutdown.

Initially, he was a hardliner in the player camp, but later realized that the players were not willing to fight enough, so he withdrew. However, things have now developed to this point.

He was certain that the lockout that occurred during this period in the previous life did not affect the entire season.

But in this life, his team's monopoly on the championship, the revival and rise of the Supersonics, James' decision, and his teaming up with Kobe seem to have produced a butterfly effect that he had never expected.

This is the shadow of the great era, and the torrent it creates washes away everyone.

After the labor and management sides argued in court, the owners suffered heavy losses, and the players paid the price of not playing for a year, the two sides decided to renegotiate in April 2011.

After the negotiations, David Stern said with satisfaction: "The negotiations were fruitful. We reached a consensus on shortening the maximum contract period. This is the first step from nothing to something."

The president's smile was so bright, as if he was the winner again.

He may have forgotten at that moment that the league's path to a second golden era under his rule had been blocked by this lockout.

So he could be so happy about the little progress in the negotiations.

"We have reached a consensus on shortening the maximum contract term." In layman's terms, the players agreed to shorten the maximum contract term from five years to four years.

This is what the NBA has achieved after being suspended for 274 days.

Yu Fei once thought that the shutdown was a rare break for him, just like Jordan's baseball vacation.

Jordan took a season and a half off that year, whereas he could have taken a full season off without playing another sport.

Years of competition, countless training sessions, seven or eight months of flying
The long season is a severe test for the body and mind.

After becoming the GOAT, Yu Fei really needs a rest.

He thought he could devote himself to other things, and he did.

Anything he could think of, he did.

However, he found that he could not find sustained enjoyment in other things.

Even women could not provide him with passion for long.

Even if this woman is the heroine of his new movie, Elizabeth Olsen, who is only 21 years old.

Olsen is a special woman. She was born into a famous family and was a child star, but her career path was not as smooth as Scarlett Johansson, who was also a child star. Now she is studying and filming at the same time, and she will fight for every opportunity to enter the big screen. As a time traveler with foresight, Yu Fei certainly would not miss Olsen in her "rookie period". He chose her at first sight among many candidates.

They were dating while filming, and Yu Fei was surprised that this woman who dared to sell her body in the movie was quite conservative in real life. For her, nudity in the movie was a job requirement, but in real life, she dreamed of having a romantic and delicate love with her prince charming.

When Yu Fei finally got close to her after several months of shooting, he finally touched Olsen's outstanding beauty, Bai Xue.

However, what he thought afterwards was:

I still like playing the game.

I always like it.

(End of this chapter)