The Golden Age of Basketball

(Sorry, it's late today)

For Blazers general manager Stuart Inman, the current situation facing the Blazers makes him both optimistic and sad.

In 1984, the newly appointed NB president David Stern introduced the salary cap system, which was also an important step in the standardization of the NB salary system.

For the general managers of nb, this means that they can no longer freely offer contracts to players, such as the magician's 25-year 2500 million contract, which is not only unprecedented but also unprecedented.

Therefore, Inman will start to effectively manage the assets of the players on his opponents, not only considering the present, but also thinking about the future of the team.

After three years of high-quality drafts in 1983, 1984 and 1985, the Blazers already had a group of good enough young players, among which Gan Guoyang and Drexler were cornerstone superstar players.

This is beyond Inman's expectations. When Drexler was selected in 1983, Glider was just a rookie in the 14th round. That shows enough potential for dominance, but two years of training have made him an all-round defender that people are looking forward to.

In 1984, the Portlanders' top target was Drexler's college teammate Olajuwon, so the Blazers asked citizens all over Portland for their opinions on which side of the coin they should choose.

Although the Portlanders chose the wrong side in the end and let the Houstonians get their city hero, the Blazers also had a blessing in disguise and took Gan Guoyang. [

This choice is naturally controversial, not because of Gan Guoyang's potential, but because of his skin color. No one thinks that a person of yellow race can show dominance in nb, even if he kills all sides in nb and wins nb national championship.

After a year of trials, Gan Guoyang showed enough talent, and he proved that he can definitely become a historical player.

As a result, Inman had to start thinking about the future contract renewal of these two rising stars.

The performance of both of them can be said to have far exceeded the team's expectations, which made Inman happy, but also annoyed him, because it disrupted his team building plan.

The big deal in the 1984 offseason brought the Blazers a powerful attacker Vandeweghe, with the old champion Sampson, Valentine who was playing in his junior year, plus the growing Gan Guoyang and Drexler , This will be a very competitive lineup.

But Gan Guoyang and Drexler's growth is too fast, and soon they will become one of the strongest players in the league, and they will gain the dominance of the Blazers and become the real core of this team.

However, Vandeweghe is not a veteran who is approaching his twilight years. He is at his peak and is in the golden age of nb players. This is a good thing for the team's strength, but it is a trouble for team management.

During the offseason, Vandeweghe has already applied for a contract extension to Inman. He wants a long-term contract to reflect the value of his team's top scorer.

If there is no Gan Guoyang, if the Blazers choose Sam Bowie, then the Blazers will choose to renew the contract with Vandeweghe and use a high salary to keep this efficient outside scorer.

But now, for Inman, Vandeweghe, a white outsider with potential injuries and deficient defense, is no longer his first choice. How to keep Gan Guoyang with a contract this summer is the boss's task. The primary task.

Of course, due to the existence of the Celtic Bird clause in 1984, the Blazers can go beyond the salary cap and sign a contract with Vandeweghe or Sampson, but this will undoubtedly greatly increase the salary expenditure of the Blazers. Boss Larry Weinberg would like to see it.

He is not a world-renowned rich man. Before taking over the Blazers, Larry Weinberg was just a real estate developer. At that time, he was only one of the bosses who took over the Blazers (Inman was also the founder of the team). He pays money for a championship team -- on the premise that the money can be multiplied back into his pocket in the future.

From the analysis of Inman's team building, it is not a good choice to sign Vandeweghe with a big contract, which will increase the expenditure and cause the team's operating space to be locked. This concept did not exist before 1984. Now Inman is also relearning these complex rules.

Sampson's problem is similar to that of Vandeweghe, perhaps even more troublesome than Vandeweghe, because Sampson was a player selected and cultivated by the Blazers himself, and he and Portland have already had an inseparable friendship.

But he never became one of the best players in the league as the Blazers expected. He just did what he should do conscientiously, and then clocked in for nearly ten years in the Blazers. [

In comparison, Paxson is easier to deal with. This shooting guard, who was also trained by the Blazers, was gradually excluded from the Blazers' future blueprint after the conflict broke out in the playoffs last season. .

However, compared with another problem, these problems do not seem to be big problems, including Colter's drug use, in Inman's view, the problems that can be solved with money are not big problems.

The biggest problem facing Inman is how to say goodbye to Ramsey, the former brain of the Blazers and the meritorious coach, and find Ramsey's successor.

Ramsey, Inman, and Weinberg spent 10 years with the Blazers. Fortunately, in the first year they joined forces, that is, in 1977, they won the NB championship and stood on the on top of the world.

It was also unfortunate that in the following days, they continued to climb towards the peak of glory they had reached before, but they never touched that place again. Their closest season was the just-concluded 1984-1985 season. An incomplete young team made it to the Western Conference Finals.

According to common sense, in the new season, the goal of the Blazers should be the finals or even the championship. They should strengthen in the summer and sign new players, but Inman did not do this.

Years of managerial work has made him realize that such a long-term team structure is not sustainable. Last season, the conflicts between Gan Guoyang and Sampson, Drexler and Paxson have affected the performance of the team. Even if everything disappears in the end, who can guarantee that Gemini's wings will become harder and harder, and new conflicts will break out with the old members?

Instead of waiting until things get out of hand, it's better to nip all the troubles in the bud. He doesn't want a repeat of what happened to Walton, the injury and conflict that ruined the Blazers' ten-year strong period.

And to uproot the old forces within the Blazers, Ramsey, the respected old coach, will inevitably become a victim.

One of the reasons why Inman wanted to replace the assistant coach was to limit Ramsey's power and gradually emptied his right to speak in the team's tactics. Although Behrman knew about this, Adelman had already noticed it. .

At the same time, Inman has long been impatient with Ramsey's idea of ​​team building. The idea he successfully implemented in 1977 seems to be outdated now, and Ramsey still uses this "Utopia" to select talents. , to build his champion division, to relive the dream of the past.

In fact, Inman has already smelled a taste from the recruitment of other teams and the reform of the nb-he knows that the nb in the future will become faster and stronger, and team basketball will gradually be replaced by more dazzling superstar basketball. Instead, Stern's promotion of the yellow-green battle and the Hukai matchup also made Inman realize the importance of "star" and "confrontation" to nb.

This made Inman, who held two high-quality resources, had to cut off the old relationship in the past, and for the future of the Blazers, he had clearly told Ramsey in the summer that the team would not renew his contract. , this season will be Ramsey's last.

If the team's record is not good, Ramsey may even dismiss get out of class early and be thrown off the Blazers, a giant ship that is constantly moving forward.

Judging from the first three games, the current state of the Blazers is not bad, and the new assistant coach is really capable. It's not just a pawn used by Inman to suppress Ramsey. Of course, the opponent may be too weak. for the sake.

According to Inman's understanding, in the third game against the Clippers, Ramsey has somewhat lost control of the team. In fact, there has been a hint of this since last season's playoffs.

Inman is happy to see the results. His ideal state is that Vandeweghe and Sampson are not able to play well because of the unsecured contracts. Ramsey must not be able to control these two old players. Naturally there will be a decline.

Ramsey's resignation is the best result. If possible, he will trade Vandeweghe or Sampson in exchange for younger potential players, or more obedient and easy-to-use veterans to assist the two future players. star.

Other players such as Cauchy, Porter, Valentine, and Paxson are relatively easy to deal with. Anyway, Inman is not in a hurry. He has enough time to wait and observe. Drexler and Gan Guoyang are still very good. Young, the days are long.

Among them, Drexler has already signed a two-year 80 contract with the team in the summer. The price is not high, but the period is also very short. Do a lot of preparation.

And Gan Guoyang is Inman's real headache. He knows that this guy's agent is a famous vampire. His Michael Jordan has already finalized a two-year 170 million contract with the Bulls. From this, Inman judges that Gan Guoyang's contract It will definitely not be lower than 160 million for two years, which is already bigger than Vandeweghe's contract.

Inman would prefer to sign a contract with Gan Guoyang with a longer term and a lower average salary, but how to convince his agent and this basketball kid from China will be Inman's biggest problem.

"Four years, 250 million, I hope this kind of contract can make him feel excited... By the way, what I gave him is not only a contract, but also the control of the entire team. He will definitely not refuse..." Inman Sitting in my office, looking out at the Willamette River, I thought.

However, he will never guess that in Gan Guoyang's heart, there is too much information that he can't touch at all, and Yinman's wishful thinking was wrong at the beginning.