Champions Creed

Chapter 224 223: You, a cartilaginous shark (asking for a monthly ticket!)

Because of the lockout, Pete Babcock has plenty of time to think about where to send Steve Smith to maximize benefits.

Steve Smith's trading value is somewhat embarrassing.

It's hard to trade for someone better than him because the Hawks took the initiative to trade. In a trade, the active party is often at a disadvantage in negotiations.

Replace him with someone slightly worse than him? Babcock felt he was at a disadvantage again.

Moreover, Babcock did not want to trade Steve Smith to a strong team in the Eastern Conference, as that would be equivalent to helping the opponent strengthen its team.

So the limitations become very large regarding the trade for Steve Smith.

The Trail Blazers offered Isaiah Rider and Kenny Anderson, but Babcock didn't like these two problem guards. He wanted another problem teenager of the Trail Blazers, Roaring Heavenly Master, but was rejected.

The Kings offered Chris Williams, who averaged 17+5 last season. Chris Williams is good and his stats look good at first glance, but his ceiling and talent are average, and he is definitely not the type of player who can serve as the second scorer.

If you agree, then this is a typical "1 dollar for 60 cents" deal.

It’s not a huge loss, but I just feel it’s not cost-effective.

Many subsequent offers were like this, and Steve Smith's trading value was awkwardly stuck at this position that was neither high nor low.

There is only one possibility at this point, which is for the Hawks to trade for a player better than Steve Smith in this deal.

That is to trade Steve Smith for the draft pick.

Use that draft pick and maybe I can pick a better one myself.

Of course, it's a gamble.

Because you may also get worse players, or in the worst case, even players who are worth nothing.

Michael Jordan always thought he could win the bet, but every time he lost everything.

But this bad result will never happen to the Eagles.

Because Roger can call the draft, and he knows which players are good and which players are not.

Looking back at the 1999 draft list in his memory, Roger still remembers several good guys, especially some excellent wings.

Odom, Hamilton, Marion, Artest, Kirilenko. Some of them can play a role no less than Steve Smith.

And except for Artest, who is a combination of being stupid and unhappy, the other players don't have any major flaws in their personalities.

The infamous Odom? He was just a little bit astringent, what was his crime?

However, Roger had to choose the one with the highest combat effectiveness. After all, his goal was to establish a dynasty in Atlanta.

Who to choose specifically will depend on the final draft pick.

In short, Roger told Babcock to try to bring back a 1999 lottery pick if possible.

Try to find teams with stable records such as the Clippers, Raptors, Hornets and Grizzlies, they will definitely be in the lottery.

Other ways the Kings compete for the championship: let the team trade draft picks for stars, overdrawing the future to help themselves win the championship.

Atlanta's Kings Championship: Let the team trade stars for draft picks, grabbing both the present and the future.

God knows how fans will compare these two Kings in the future.

After Babcock got a clear target, he began to prepare for the trade, but due to the lockout, none of this could be implemented.

Since the famous words of Patrick Ewing, chairman of the players' union, this lockout has given the advantage to the management.

After the season ended, the New York Times revealed a financial list of Kenny Anderson, which showed that the annual maintenance and insurance of his eight cars cost as much as $75.

This wealth, which most people will never see in their lifetime, is just Kenny Anderson's miscellaneous expenses.

"However, these greedy guys are still saying that they earn too little." The capital side seized the opportunity to fight back.

Some hardliners even denounced: "We kind and simple people are being treated as lambs, while those damn cowards are using lies and shortcuts to achieve their goals!"

The capitalist actually compares himself to a lamb. His life is really unhappy.

What can Roger say? Under the leadership of these talented players, it is no wonder that the 98 lockout would become the most influential lockout in the NBA and the longest lockout.

Although the lockout has a huge impact, Roger does not intend to get involved in it, because as a person who has experienced it, he knows very well that the season will not be cancelled and all this will end sooner or later. He does not have the sense of crisis that other players have.

He wanted to take advantage of this time to have a good rest, but a piece of news a few days later made Roger feel creepy.

"Labor-management negotiations are nearing completion, and the era of a hard salary cap is approaching."

Roger's feeling at that time was probably the same as that of the CCTV host when he saw the blue fat man singing, his head was severely shaken.

What the hell is this hard salary cap?

How did things turn out like this?

Soon, Roger received a call from Billy Hunter, executive director of the players' union.

He came for help.

"Roger, we sincerely invite you to join the bargaining committee. Right now, the union lacks enough influential players!
Help us! "
-
In any matter, your biggest opponent is often not your enemy, but your companion.

The biggest problem facing the players' union now is that the union is beginning to split.

Some players are scared and want to compromise with the league.

They just want to quickly finalize a new labor agreement and ensure that next season can proceed normally.

Shaquille O'Neal is the leader of this view.

"What's the point? This is just a dispute between a tall millionaire and a short millionaire. We need to end this quickly and continue playing and making money!"

Ewing is completely unable to suppress him now.

No one can suppress Ewing now.

In the original history in 1998, Ewing had the support of Michael Jordan behind him.

But the Jordan in this history did not want to take sides, because his next goal was to join the big family of capital, and he did not want to be the first to fight against capital during this sensitive period.

But he also didn't want to backstab his former partners.

So he chose to watch the fire from the other side of the river.

Because of this, the players' union currently lacks someone with sufficient influence.

At this time, O'Neal, who was working crazily, saw Billy Hunter and Roger join the internal meeting.

He was immediately annoyed: "Billy, why did you bring this bastard here? He can't help us, he will only cause trouble. Isn't that enough trouble?"

"Watch your mouth, I'm not calling you a bastard." Roger got even angrier when he saw O'Neal.

"Shaq, Roger is here to speak for us." Billy Hunter explained calmly.

"We absolutely cannot accept a hard salary cap agreement. Anyone who compromises is a fool." Roger expressed his opinion.

"Roger, who the hell are you talking about?"

"Whoever kneels down and accepts this agreement now is the one I'm talking about."

"Fuck you, I'll kill you!"

"Enough!" Ewing shouted, stopping the argument. "We can't accept a hard salary cap agreement, but we have to fight back. Now the bosses are acting like 'you won't get paid if you don't start work', and they are fearless."

"Then we should also show our attitude. NBA players should just refuse to participate in the 1998 World Championships. This has nothing to do with the boss, but at least it can show one thing: we are not a group of bitches eager to be fucked."

Everyone in the audience was a little surprised. Wait, now a Chinese person is affecting the US team's lineup for the World Championships?
is it possible?

O'Neal laughed: "See? He's trouble!"

But Ewing nodded: "This is an opportunity to restart negotiations!"

"What!?" O'Neill thought this was stupid.

"Patrick, you really want to listen to him? Look, if we adopt this plan, I'm quitting the negotiating committee!"

This is a story about double happiness.

Roger replaced O'Neill on the negotiating committee.

During the negotiations on the second day, David Stern and several other owners came with an agreement.

However, the players' union firmly rejected the demand for a hard salary cap and announced that NBA players would withdraw from the 1998 World Championships.

In the end, the US team could only find players from overseas leagues to participate in the World Championships.

A Chinese person actually influenced the American team's lineup, and this crazy thing became a reality.

After this, Roger played an increasingly important role in the negotiations.

He realized that if he chose to stay out of it, all the agreements that existed in the original history would disappear completely.

During this period, Roger participated in negotiations while also training to maintain his form.

As for other stars, the activities are even more abundant.

Karl Malone and The Worm even went to WWE to fight.

Of course, during this process, the relationship between Roger and O'Neal became worse and worse.

O'Neal's replacement was a huge loss of face for him.

He was crazy and sarcastic in front of the media: "A madman who doesn't care about the life and death of the season will not have any positive effect on the negotiations!

Roger called O'Neal a boneless shark and said: "Without him, we are more in agreement."

The conflict between them escalated completely.

What embarrassed the sharks was that Roger really took care of everything.

On December 12, the players' union announced that it would submit a final proposal by January 31.

On the evening of January 1, the two sides held their final round of negotiations.

In the end, the two sides reached an agreement that the revenue sharing remained unchanged, the soft salary cap remained unchanged, and the Bird clause was not canceled. These major bottom lines were retained at Roger's insistence.

However, the league will limit the player salary cap, that is, the so-called "maximum salary" concept, the salaries of stars are no longer unlimited, the NBA has become the first league in North American professional sports leagues to limit the player salary cap. In addition, the league has imposed restrictions on rookie contracts, and the era of rookie players asking for exorbitant salaries is gone forever.

At the same time, the new agreement increases the base salary and adds a mid-level exception. Each team can sign mid-level contracts with some veterans at the NBA average salary when the salary cap is exceeded.

This has greatly increased the income of middle and low-level players.

In addition, the luxury tax has become a reality, preventing the NBA from becoming a game where "you can become stronger by spending money" unless you spend a lot of money.

It can be said that both sides made concessions in this negotiation, and there was no winner. Because the 32 rounds of competition were cancelled, both sides suffered great losses.

But Roger still gained fame because he saved the 98-99 season while protecting most of the players' interests.

Most of the reports about him are positive.

"If Roger hadn't been there, with only the great Patrick Ewing, all the players would have learned from the No. 98 pick Sugar Man and gone overseas to play. By the way, our No. 5 pick in averaged less than points per game in the Italian league. Did Elgin Baylor sweat? Poor Elgin, he was fooled every year, but it was different every time."

"I'm glad to see that there are smart people who put an end to this farce. Roger, as the league's top star, allows the league's lower-level players to earn more money, which is rare. Last season, 22% of the league's players received minimum salaries. Who cares about these 22%? But Roger took them into consideration."

"Although the introduction of the maximum salary rule has prevented top players from asking for sky-high prices, as the salary cap continues to rise, top players can still get considerable salaries. Roger ensures that both sides make money and that fans have games to watch. He is a true leader."

"I don't know how to evaluate it. A Chinese player has played an unparalleled influence in the American league and even affected the roster of the US team in the 1998 World Championships. Should we be happy or sad? Where is Patrick? Where is Michael? Where is Shaq? Oh, Shaq is always making trouble."

It can be seen that how good Roger's reputation is, how bad O'Neal's reputation is.

During this labor-management negotiation, Roger did not fall out with the management, but instead fell out with O'Neal.

Since Roger joined the negotiation committee, O'Neal has lost his voice and has become a complete clown.

Moreover, you can imagine how the very polite Roger usually communicates with sharks.

"Shut up, you lazy, fat, boney idiot."

"The maximum salary ratio must not be lowered. There is no room for negotiation. Why do you keep compromising? If you had compromised with me back then, you would have four rings now!"

"Shaq, we could have made a deal a lot quicker if you weren't stirring up shit all the time."

"Help, get that idiot to stop talking!"

Roger made the Sharks lose face within the players' union.

The shark's resentment towards Roger has accumulated to a critical point.

"I want to beat that bastard to death!" O'Neal complained to his girlfriend Shanni while watching the news praising Roger on TV.

"Don't be so angry Shaq, at least the problem is solved, right?"

"No, this is not over yet! I want to beat him to death, I want to defeat him, I want to get more championships!"

"Then I'll drive to the Staples Center to pick you up every night."

"At night? Why?"

"Didn't you say you wanted to defeat Roger? Don't you need to practice until the evening every day?"

O'Neal smiled: "Only a fool would practice extra, Shani. I don't need extra practice, I can kill that bastard! Hey, why don't we practice extra now~"

On the media day of the new season's training camp, Shaquille O'Neal issued his victory declaration: "I am tired of losing year after year. Next season I will not lose to any opponent, especially Roger."

The reason O'Neal felt he was back in shape was that everyone was in poor physical condition after the long layoff.

But Kobe's physical condition is better!

He believes Kobe will do well next season.

His helpers are getting better.

And what about Roger?

He is losing his helpers.

The shark will earn back all the face!
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Steve Smith was sent from the Atlanta Hawks to the Los Angeles Clippers in exchange for a first-round draft pick in 1999. Elgin Baylor said he still has confidence in Michael Olowokandi and that he needs immediate combat power to make the playoffs. -- The New York Times

Alan Henderson joined the Vancouver Grizzlies as a free agent. He believes that Ben Wallace's presence hindered his development. He was deprived of his starting position in the finals last season. - Atlanta Police.

Is Paul Pierce really ready to play next to Roger? Is he ready for the responsibility? We'll see. -- Slam Dunk

(End of this chapter)