NBA: Start by torturing Jordan and add points to upgrade

As for Lin Tian, ​​he and his teammates stayed up all night as usual for several nights after winning the championship. They celebrated wildly, and they shed sweat and body fluids in nightclubs in Indiana. They finally waited for their vacation.

Well, of course, it’s vacation time for most people.

And a very small number of people are just starting to get busy.

For example, Carter and Harrington, these two guys have to consider their whereabouts for next season. They will definitely have to meet with many teams to think about their future. They have to have a good talk with the new team about the position, status, shooting rights, annual salary, contract length and so on.

The other is Bird. This guy obviously hasn't given up on keeping these two dynasty heroes. He has been waiting for an opportunity, an opportunity to talk to the team owner and make things clear.

The time he chose was the night after the team's championship parade! Logically speaking, this is when the team owner is happiest and the probability of success is the highest.

"Melvin, how about we have a good talk?" Bird walked into the office of the team owner Melvin Simon. Also here was the team's other owner, Melvin's brother, Herb Simon.

Although the Simon brothers are not from Indiana and grew up in New York, they have been working in Indiana since the 50s. It can be said that they have devoted more than half of their lives to the development and construction of Indiana.

Indiana is developing so rapidly now, the city size is expanding rapidly, and the population and economy have a good growth trend. The Simon brothers have definitely made a lot of contributions to it.

Of course, the two brothers are not doing this for some great cause like charity or urban development, their main purpose is to make money for themselves.

But it is undeniable that since these two brothers bought the team in 83, the Pacers have indeed been pulled out of the abyss by them.

From having less than 5000 attendance at the beginning, being in the lottery all year round and having a last-place record, to selecting strong players such as Miller, Schrempf, and Schmitz, the Pacers were the best team in the Eastern Conference throughout the 90s.

If the Bulls weren't so strong, perhaps they wouldn't have to wait for Lin Tian to join to win the championship.

Bird believes that the two brothers love basketball and Indiana. It was because of their full efforts that the Pacers did not move to Sacramento and retained such a team for the Indiana people.

Bird really hopes that the gimmick of four consecutive championships and the first dynasty team in history can impress these two brothers!
Of course, it's just hope.

After all, with the further increase in salaries of Lin Tian and Webber next year, if the Pacers keep Carter and Harrington, the salary expenditure will reach at least 8000 million US dollars, and the luxury tax will exceed 3000 million!
The salary expenditure alone exceeds 100 million. No matter how you look at it, it is not something that the Simon brothers, who are of "mediocre wealth", and the not-so-big city of Indiana can afford.

Bird knew this very well. The reason why the boss runs the team is to make money! So Bird's idea is to keep one!
It would be best if Carter could stay, but if not, keeping Harrington would also be good!

"Larry, you've done a great job this year!" Melvin smiled as Bird came in, "It's better than we thought! It's great to have you on the team! By the way, you have to see this, you'll definitely like it."

Melvin took out a contract and said, "I wanted to give it to you in two days, but since you are here, you can take a look first! This is a salary increase agreement for you! We plan to increase your salary by 15% starting from next season! In this way, your salary will exceed that bastard Jerry West."

"Starting next season, you will be the highest paid general manager in the league!"

Here comes it!

Bird couldn't help but sigh. Although the two bosses had smiles on their faces, how could someone as experienced and intelligent as Bird not understand what the two bosses were thinking?
Using salary increase to shut yourself up makes it impossible for you to argue with them or to fight with them.

Then, he had no choice but to let Carter and Harrington go.

As I said, if you don’t have a championship, then try your best and spend a lot of money to get one at any cost, no problem!
But the team has won four championships in five years and has become a dynasty. Is the team owner still willing to spend so much money?
Obviously not willing!
What's more, if the Pacers don't have Lin Tian, ​​then Carter still means a lot. His playing style can allow the Pacers to make a lot of extra profits.

But when the team already has Lin Tian, ​​the most popular player and the best player in the league, the commercial value brought by Carter is not worth mentioning.

It’s not that Carter is not valuable, but that Indiana can’t swallow him!
Their market is not big enough to fully absorb the value created by two popular stars.

There’s nothing we can do about it. This isn’t the Internet age.
Some things just have a limit!

Bird hesitated for a moment. Although he knew that the two bosses wanted to shut him up, he finally said, "Boss, thank you for giving me a raise, but I still want to talk to you about summer!"

"In the finals that just ended, Vince averaged 24.4 points and 5.6 rebounds per game. He was the team's second-leading scorer. His dunking, fast breaks and ball-handling abilities are top-notch in the entire league! He undoubtedly deserves a maximum salary!"

"According to the rules, the most we can offer him this summer is a five-year, $5 million contract. I know that might be a bit much, but I think with my relationship with Vince, I can convince him to take a slight pay cut."

"For example, 5 million for 5600 years or 5 million for 5800 years?"

"Keep Vince? Sure." To Bird's surprise, his brother Herbert, who had been quiet and had not managed the team, said, "Just send Chris away! We can only accept having two top-paid players on the team."

"Lin and Chris, isn't this what we discussed at the time? Larry, I don't understand why you are still bringing this up."

Herbert's next words disappointed Bird, but they were also within his expectations: "I know we had an agreement before, otherwise I would have reached an agreement with Vince a long time ago."

"What I want to say is that we were not a dynasty team before, we just won the championship, but this year is different, we are the three-peat champions! We just built a dynasty team!"

"We still have a chance next year! We might be able to win four or even five consecutive championships! We can become the best team in history! As long as we maintain our lineup and maintain our competitiveness, we have a chance! That is a chance to become the best team in history! And I..."

"Larry, Larry." Melvin shook his head and said, "I thought you were very smart. I really don't want to say these words. This will affect our relationship. I thought we should keep it a secret."

"You're right. We have a chance to win four consecutive championships. We have a chance to become the first team after the Celtics to win more than three consecutive championships. We can become extremely great! I know it all."

"But Larry, have you done the math? Do you know the situation of our team? We only made a profit of less than 3000 million US dollars last year! We are indeed one of the most profitable teams in the entire league! But the situation this year is different."

"With the luxury tax this year, our salary expenses alone have reached 8700 million US dollars this year! Do you know what this means? This means that we won the championship this year, but our annual report is actually very bad."

"This season, we probably won't even make $1000 million!"

"And now you want us to renew the contracts of Vince and Al. I admit that they are both great players, both excellent, and the kind of guys that the entire league would be vying for. But if we keep them, have you ever calculated how much more money we will have to invest next season?"

"From salaries to luxury taxes, we will have to spend an extra 4000 million US dollars next season! 4000 million! This means that we will have a net loss of about 3000 million or even more next season! For us, this means throwing away 3000 million US dollars and then fighting for the so-called No. team in history."

"Tell me, Larry, is this a good deal?"

"Do we two brothers need to continue to settle this account with you? We don't have to make any money from buying the team. We can treat it as an investment. We are even willing to lose a little money to satisfy our and this city's pursuit of championships and achievements."

"But what if we lose 3000 million dollars a year, and it will probably continue like this for several years, just for the title of the best team in history? Maybe New Yorkers and Los Angeles people are willing to do this, but we can't do it!"

"We two are not that great and pure."

"But at least you are honest." Bird sighed deeply. He knew that the two bosses were right.

It is really asking too much to ask them to spend 100 or 200 million US dollars a year and then suffer a net loss of 20 or 30 million.

"I just don't want to give up this opportunity." Bird muttered, "This may only come once in a lifetime."

"Don't think about that, Larry. At least we are still happy to cooperate, right? This salary increase contract will not change. You are still the best general manager in our hearts. Even if Vince and Al leave, we still have Lin, right?"

"Next season, we may not have no chance to become the champion! And we are still willing to pay the luxury tax! You can continue to use the mid-level regulations or the two-year exception to recruit players, and you can even use the sign-and-trade method to gain some benefits for the team."

"We are still willing to support you. We have roughly calculated that we are willing to pay a luxury tax below 2000 million! We also hope that the team will get better, but the situation of Vince and Al is really too extreme, isn't it?"

"Yes, you are right." Bird, who is always eloquent and ruthless, was really speechless this time.

Because he knew that the Simon brothers were right. They made the most rational and appropriate choice. They love basketball and the city, but they are businessmen first.

You can make no profit, or even lose less, but losing 3000 million a year?
These two are really not the kind of suckers like Paul Allen.

Their total assets are just that little, they can’t afford to do this!

In particular, after letting go of Carter and Harrington, they still have the combination of Webber and Lin Tian. The team still has good competitiveness and is still one of the hottest teams in the East.

And more importantly, if the team lets go of these two people, it will most likely continue to make profits in the new season!

From any angle, there is nothing wrong with these two guys.

Bird didn't remember how he walked out of the office, nor was he sure what kind of mentality he was in when he returned home and lay in bed.

He only knew that he felt extremely uncomfortable.

It’s even more painful than being defeated by the magician!
As for Lin Tian, ​​after spending a few happy days relaxingly and participating in the team's championship parade, Lin Tian, ​​who had some free time, didn't even have a few days of rest before he boarded a plane again and left Indiana.

On the plane, Lin Tian closed his eyes to rest while opening the season gift package given to him by the system.

Nowadays, Lin Tian is becoming less and less enthusiastic about opening gift packages.

He even considered raising it for two seasons to see if the gift package could produce a small gift package, or combine to become the ancestor of a gift package or something.

Well, that’s a good idea. Let’s try it next season or next season!

While thinking about all sorts of things, Lin Tian opened the gift package for this season.

It is worth mentioning that this season Lin Tian’s gift package is only at the S- level. Only his team status is rated S+. The other three items, highlight performance, team record and personal data, are only S-.

But there is no way. Although Lin Tian still got MVP-level data of 25+11+3 this season, this system has always compared Lin Tian's data with historical players. So this seemingly good data is somewhat not worth mentioning.

In addition, the Pacers did not get 60 wins in the regular season and did not win all the games in the playoffs. According to the nature of the system, their performance is indeed at an S- level.

As for the final highlight performance, Lin Tian's performance this year is indeed not as good as his in previous years. Whether it is high-scoring games or highlight performances in other aspects, Lin Tian this year is not too explosive.

Not to mention S-, Lin Tian wouldn't even be surprised if this crappy system gave him an A+.

To sum up, Lin Tian finally got an S- gift package, and he didn’t think there was anything wrong with it.

"Host, do you want to open the season gift pack?"

"Open!" "Host gains 7000 experience points!"

"Host obtains a status maintenance card: after using it, as long as you stay healthy, your worst performance in all games in a single season will not be less than 95%."

Gone!

Just these two things.

But Lin Tian felt that this S-gift package was really amazing!

Just that one status maintenance card can definitely be called a bug.

You know, no matter whether it is Jordan, Kobe, O'Neal, Olajuwon, Ewing or anyone else, their condition will fluctuate for various reasons. They will have nights when they are in great form and dominate, and there will also be times when they cannot put the ball into the basket and become extremely depressed.

Back-to-back games, consecutive away games, too tired, sick with a cold, eating too much, eating too little, drinking too much, diarrhea, being in a bad mood.
And so on and so forth, various conditions will affect a player's performance that night, causing the player's condition to fluctuate, which is a very normal and reasonable human physiological fluctuation.

But this card can keep Lin Tian at least 95% of his performance in every game during the season.
To give the simplest and most intuitive example, Lin Tian's 100% state this season is 30 points and 10 assists, which means that no matter what Lin Tian does this season, he will not perform worse than 28.5 points and 9.5 assists.

Of course, this is just an analogy and the most intuitive data presentation. It certainly cannot be so accurate when applied to a specific game, but it can definitely illustrate the problem.

After using this card, Lin Tian’s lower limit will be extremely stable!
He won't have any abnormal or bad nights!

At the same time, Lin Tian also noticed that this thing only guaranteed that Lin Tian’s lower limit would not be lower than 95%, but it did not set an upper limit for him!
This means that the outbreak can still occur at any time!

He won't become a player who contributes data regularly just because of this thing.

The lower limit is fully guaranteed, and the upper limit is still the sky!
With just this one card, Lin Tian did a quick calculation and he felt that after using this thing, he would be able to have an epic season!

Not to mention surpassing Chamberlain's monster season of averaging 50+ points per game, but surpassing Jordan's average of 37 points per game that year, and also handing out 10 assists, that would definitely not be a problem!
Absolutely good stuff!

Lin Tian even felt that this thing should not appear in S-’s gift package.

At least the good stuff can only be obtained from an S+ level treasure chest!

But of course, no one would complain that their reward is too good, and Lin Tian would not ask the system whether it sent the wrong thing.

He has been very busy this year!
After opening the gift package, Lin Tian closed his eyes and went to sleep!

This summer, his schedule is very full and extremely busy!
He has a mission for the Men's Basketball World Championships!
After winning the gold medal at the Sydney Olympics in 00, the Chinese men's basketball team became a hero team in China! If it weren't for the unprecedented entry of the men's football team into the World Cup, the Chinese men's basketball team would definitely be the undisputed number one sports team in the country in the past two years!
But even so, the status of the Chinese men's basketball team in the country has continued to rise, and many players have gained huge benefits from it, from shooting advertisements, commercial endorsements to participating in various activities and appearing on some TV shows.

There are even a few players with good images who were invited to film some basketball-related TV dramas, making the sport of basketball more popular!
In the past two years, there have been more than 00 TV series and movies about basketball in China! At the same time, the number of basketball courts in communities, streets, and primary and secondary school campuses across the country has also increased dramatically!

The sport of basketball has truly experienced rapid and tremendous development after the Chinese men's basketball team became the world champion!

More and more people are liking this sport and participating in it! With the title of world champion, the players of the men's basketball team have also seen a huge improvement in their income, voice and freedom!

At the very least, neither Dale nor Yao Ming were forced to join the national team immediately after the end of the season. Instead, they were given enough time to rest and relax.

These two guys just returned to China in early June and started training with the team.

But at the same time, when you get honor, money, status and freedom, along with it come pressure and expectations.

You won the world championship two years ago, and two years later, the fans' expectations of you are still to be the world champion. Once you perform poorly, or even unexpectedly put in a shameful performance, then all you have achieved before will not only disappear in an instant, but it will even be worse than before.

Lin Tian did not feel any pressure from everyone's expectations for the performance of the Chinese men's basketball team.

From the fact that he did not rush back to China to join up with the team this time, but came to Norway first, it can be seen that this guy was very relaxed and he was not overwhelmed by the pressure of results at all.

He still has other things to do before starting training!

He had to come to Norway to meet someone.

Unfortunately, not a girl.

Waiting for Lin Tian in Norway was Yu Weili, whom he hadn't seen for almost two years.

He was the head coach of the national sprint training team two years ago.

It is worth mentioning that he has been promoted and is now the head coach of the entire track and field team!

Although this old guy hasn't met Lin Tian for two years, he has never lost contact with Lin Tian. This guy is always thinking about Lin Tian in his heart!
He kept asking Lin Tian when he would have time and free time so that he could go running with him and participate in some competitions!
Two years ago, Li Qingsheng, Wang Guojun and others took Lin Tian to Sydney to sprinkle water and won an Olympic gold medal. This made Yu Weili jealous!

But what can he do? Although Lin Tian was fast enough two years ago, he was not qualified to participate! When they found Lin Tian, ​​all the preliminaries of the 100-meter race were over!

Yu Weili is also helpless!

So in the past two years, he never broke off contact with Lin Tian, ​​nor did he dare to do so, for fear that their relationship was not close enough and Lin Tian would directly reject him and refuse to participate in international competitions. At that time, he would be in tears.

Under such circumstances, this brother called Lin Tian more frequently than the two old men in Lin Tian's family, and every conversation was awkward.

From the weather to whether I have eaten, from what time I went to bed to what TV series I watched recently to the lack of talent in the sprint team, I don’t know when I can turn things around.

Well, no matter how awkward or boring the topic is at the beginning, the final topic is always that the sprint team has no talent and no one knows when they can turn things around.

Finally, Lin Tian couldn't stand it anymore. He was afraid that the old man's salary would not be enough to cover the international long-distance travel if they continued to fight like this. He could only tell the old man to put away his magical powers. I promise to help you when the time is right and to participate in the competition. Isn't that enough?

But obviously, verbal promises could not reassure Yu Weili at all!
There is no way. Who made China perform so badly in the short-distance running arena?

In the hottest, most popular and most valuable competitions such as the 200m, 4m and 100*m, the Chinese team could not even win a medal, and no one could even stand on the world's top stage!
Their strength is not even top-notch in Asia, let alone in the world arena!

It seems that the Chinese and sprinting have nothing to do with each other!

Although Liu Xiang from Shanghai has shown good potential in the past two years, with his performance steadily improving, and he seems to be able to make a name for himself in the world, what event is that?
110 meter hurdles!

The gap between a niche event that cannot be more niche and ace events such as the 200 meters and meters is absolutely huge!

If the monster Lin Tian had not appeared, Liu Xiang would definitely have become the number one hot commodity in the domestic sprint team. But now there is such a monster. Even though Lin Tian has never been in the sprint team for a day, many people have heard of Lin Tian's legend.

They were all looking forward to a superhero dropping from the sky!

Break the dilemma of the Chinese team having zero honors in the short-distance running arena!
This is also the reason why Yu Weili is so concerned about the monster Lin Tian. After finally catching him, he really doesn't want to let Lin Tian get away without any escape.

Especially considering Lin Tian's age, he is almost 30 years old. If he doesn't run in the next two years, even if you are a genius or a freak, no matter how well you maintain your condition, your speed will decline.
We must seize these last two years of opportunity and make Lin Tian famous!

No matter what, not to mention winning the championship, not even winning a medal, you, Lin Tian, ​​must at least run in the Olympic Games, go to the finals track, and leave your name as a Chinese!
So, starting from the twelfth month of last year, Yu Weili began to call Lin Tian frantically to wish him a happy New Year!
I started wishing Lin Tian a happy new year in the twelfth month, and now it’s the end of the first month, and I’m still wishing Lin Tian a happy new year.
At the end of the worship, Lin Tian suspected that if he didn't ask him what he was going to do, this old man would start worshipping him for the early years of 5 from May.

So, after Lin Tian finally couldn't stand it anymore and asked the old man what he wanted to do, the old man finally said his request with a chuckle, and then the two of them made an appointment to meet in Oslo, Norway.

This place will host the annual Golden League in 3 days!

"Old Yu, let me make this clear! You have to ask for leave from the men's basketball team. If you act without authorization, I will not take the blame for you." As soon as he saw Yu Weili, Lin Tian went straight to the point. He was worried about these old foxes.

What if this guy acts first and reports to me later, lying to me by saying that he had already discussed it with the men's basketball team and asked me to do the running? And then after I return home, I find out that the men's basketball team knew nothing about it. That would be so funny!

The old men and officials from the track and field team and the basketball team might start fighting on the spot!
hiss.
Wait, don't tell me! Don't tell me!

Fighting seems to be more interesting!
Therefore, Lin Tian was looking forward to it! He was expecting the man in front of him to deceive his superiors and subordinates, and to act first and report later. He was expecting him to trick him out without communicating with the basketball team.

Then I will return to my country.
Wow...so exciting!
So interesting!

The expectations are totally raised!
"Brother Lin, what are you talking about? Coach Yu would never do such a thing. He didn't tell you in advance about borrowing people. How dare he invite a great god like you out? I heard from my master that Coach Yu ran out of all the wine in his house just to get you to run a few games!"

"And it's not just his own wine. He also spent all the good wine from his father-in-law, grandfather, brothers and sisters, brother-in-law and other relatives' homes!"

“And I heard about it.”

"What the hell did you hear?" Yu Weili interrupted the acne-faced guy beside him in a bad mood, "Old Sun, you bastard, you just say whatever you want! You deserve it for not agreeing to help him run the 110-meter hurdles! You bastard deserves it!"

Yu Weili, who was exposed, was cursing. As for the acne-prone boy next to him who was scratching his head a little embarrassed, needless to say, it was the hurdling star Liu Xiang who just turned 19!
After all, he is just 19 years old. This guy is very cheerful now, but he keeps talking nonstop. How can he look like a future top sports star in China?
"Give young people a chance. How can I dominate all the events by myself?" Lin Tian said with a smile, "Besides, I am also optimistic about Xiao Liu! I think he can win the Olympic championship!"

"Really? Brother Lin! My master said so too, but I really don't think I can do it. My grades haven't improved much in recent days. What should I do if I fail to live up to my master's expectations?"

After all, Liu Xiang is only 19 years old, and he probably doesn't have much to say when he is with Yu Weili. But when he sees Lin Tian, ​​a person of the same age, he immediately becomes a chatterbox, and he wants to say everything he hasn't said in the past few days.

"Okay, Xiao Liu, take a rest! Xiao Lin just arrived, let him be alone!" Just when Lin Tian felt his head was about to explode, Yu Weili finally turned around and ordered Liu Xiang to stop talking nonsense.

Unfortunately, before Lin Tian could breathe a sigh of relief, Yu Weili started
"Xiao Lin, are you confident this time? The Golden League we are participating in is the highest level competition in the world! If you don't perform well, I will definitely be criticized when I go back!"

"Don't be too stressed. They are all world-class athletes. Just think of it as a chance to gain experience and travel. It's OK as long as your results are good enough."

"Oh, right! Xiaolin, do you know your opponents this time? The fastest ones are all Americans. Have you met them when you played in the United States? How are they doing?"

Well, Lin Tian sighed resignedly.

Don’t expect peace today! (End of this chapter)