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Chapter 170: When GOAT Returns (I will adjust my thinking today, so there will only be one update, sorry)

After the draft ended, Qin Yue immediately turned his focus back to the training ground.

The Warriors, who reaped a lot of rewards according to the GOAT's personal will on draft night, have the main task this summer to complete the contract renewal with Jack and Brown.

Since both of them are qualified to trigger the Bird clause, the Warriors do not need to worry that the salary cap will become a limitation to completing the contract extension with them.

Larry Riley, the team president who was in charge of player contract renewals, offered Jack a five-year contract worth approximately $25 million.

And in accordance with the previous promise made to Brown, he was offered a five-year contract with a total value of 50 million US dollars.

As Jack and Brown have completed their contract extensions with the team
In the 09/10 season, the Warriors, who will no longer be able to enjoy the benefits of Qin Yue's child labor contract, will have a team salary of up to $9500 million.

In this era when the salary cap is only $6000 million
The luxury tax that the Warriors will need to pay in the new season is destined to be an astronomical figure.

But in response, team president Riley said: "When you have a player like the Messiah, you have to go all out."

However, it must be stated for the Warriors that they are not the only team in the league whose total salary will exceed $09 million in the 10/9000 season.

Because the Mavericks, Lakers, and Cavaliers will form the "F4" combination with them in the new season, which will be the main source of luxury tax revenue for the league.

In order to bring a championship trophy back to the city of Dallas, Mavericks owner Matt Cuban's investment in the team over the years has been extremely exaggerated and astonishing.

Since the 04/05 season, the Mavericks' total team salary has remained above $9000 million.

Since Daniel Gilbert took over the Cavaliers, in order to satisfy His Majesty the Emperor, the Cavaliers' total salary has been increasing year by year and will reach $09 million in the 10/9100 season.

Gilbert hopes to keep a strong roster for the Cavaliers to ensure that the Chosen One will not abandon Cleveland in the coming summer of 2010.

As for the Lakers?

In order to seize the window to win the championship, they were secretly raised by the Kings last season.
After completing contract extensions with several key players this summer, their team's total salary next season will reach $9700 million, which will make Jerry Buss extremely painful.

Old Buss hated the Kings in his heart.

Because if the Kings hadn't inexplicably made a high-paying, long-term contract offer to Monta Ellis, forcing the Lakers to match it, the Lakers could have saved a huge sum of money.

Although old Buss knows better than anyone that if the Lakers want to win the championship, they must invest.

But when it comes to paying luxury taxes, Buss has always adhered to the principle of paying as little as possible.

ESPN's famous luxury tax expert Bobby Marks commented: "The NBA is currently in an era where if you don't spend money, you don't even deserve to compete.

In addition to the Warriors, Mavericks, Lakers and Cavaliers, the Sonics, who have renewed their contracts with 'Big-Yao' and Kevin Garnett in the new season, will also have a total team salary of $8900 million.

Among the many championship teams, only the Celtics, Magic and Hawks are in a slightly better situation and can control the team's total salary at around 8000 million US dollars.

But compared to the teams whose total salaries are under the salary cap, the luxury tax these high-salary teams have to pay is still shocking.”

The ever-increasing cost of teams competing for the championship is not a good thing for the NBA in the current era.

Especially at this time of financial crisis.

David Stern has expressed some concerns about the upcoming new round of labor-management negotiations.

Stern is well aware that many team owners within the league currently hate this kind of involution.

They hope that Stern, as the league's commissioner, will take the toughest attitude in the next labor-management negotiations by reducing the proportion of players' income or even introducing a hard salary cap, thereby reducing the championship costs and daily operating expenses that each team needs to spend.

Jordan's former agent David Falk predicted: "The next round of labor negotiations will be very, very extreme, and no one will give in in this negotiation."

As the leader of the alliance, Qin Yue is well aware that the current contradiction between capital and labor is destined to be difficult to reconcile.

But before the labor-management negotiations reach their climax, his next focus will still be on helping the Warriors return to the top.

……

Two weeks later, the summer league officially began.

Stephen Curry had 20 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists and 11 turnovers in his summer league debut.

This was a game in which Curry perfectly demonstrated his personal strengths, but also fully exposed his own weaknesses.

As the second overall pick, Curry had a smooth touch in the game and was confident whether he was catching the ball and shooting or holding the ball and shooting.

But his poor passing habits and dribbling that is far from steady always cause him to lose the ball inexplicably on the court.

In his debut, Curry was intercepted by his opponents an astonishing four times.

This makes one wonder if he actually has the potential to be an elite dribbler.

Anthony Lester, a reporter for the San Francisco Chronicle, described Curry's summer league debut as follows: "The Warriors, who parted ways peacefully with Jason Richardson, chose Stephen Curry, who is only 21 years old, as his replacement.

I know we need to give this young player more time, but Stephen must hurry up and improve his scattered performance in passing and controlling the ball.

Because the Warriors, who are eager to return to the top next season, will not be as patient as other teams. "

However, compared to Curry.
If anything, Curry at least showed his strengths.

The performance of Danny Green, another rookie selected by the Warriors in the draft according to the personal will of the GOAT, can only be described as ridiculous.

In his summer league debut, Green played a total of 28 minutes.

But if you don't look at the technical statistics afterwards, you can't even feel that he played in the game.

Throughout the game, Green made 5 of 0 shots and didn't score a single point. He was like a headless fly and had no idea what he should do.

"Where I am, who I am" has become Green's true portrayal on the court.

This was a game that almost destroyed the Warriors' management team's trust in the GOAT.

Although many times, it is common sense in this league to be patient with rookie players.

But Green's extremely ridiculous performance still made the Warriors' uniform staff feel that the GOAT's vision is indeed not the same as his basketball skills.

"We could have picked any high school kid to play for us in the summer league and they wouldn't have played worse than Dan."

The Warriors commented on Green's summer league debut: "He doesn't look like a player who played in college for four years, but like an amateur basketball enthusiast."

Green's disastrous performance continues.

In the four summer league games he played for the Warriors, Green only made one three-pointer and averaged only 4 points and 3 rebounds per game.

Even Qin Yue felt a little embarrassed about Green's poor performance.

"Tell Dan not to play in the summer league." Qin Yue said to Hollins, the assistant coach who was in charge of leading the Warriors in the summer league, on the phone, "Tell him to get back to Oakland immediately!"

Although Qin Yue had thought in advance that Green would need time to grow into the ultimate role player in his memory.

But Qin Yue still couldn't tolerate the fact that Green couldn't even play well in the summer league.

Qin Yue plans to summon Green to the God's Chosen Training Camp and train him personally.

In addition, Curry was also called back by Qin Yue.

The reason is that Green's poor performance is also related to Curry, the team organizer.

……

In late July, Curry and Green, who ended their summer league journey early, entered the gate of the God's Chosen Training Camp one after another with uneasy hearts.

Then, looking at the GOAT who invited Green to a bullfight right away, Curry couldn't help but worry for Green in his heart.

Curry, who participated in the God's Chosen Training Camp three years ago, knows very well how bad the GOAT's personality is.

I also know what Green will encounter in the next bullfight.

The result was just as Curry expected.

Qin Yue almost completely destroyed Green's confidence in playing basketball with a bloody massacre of 21 to 0. What was even more uncomfortable than being slaughtered was that Qin Yue would use his trash talk to destroy Green's spirit after each attack and defense throughout the bullfight.

He vented all his fighting spirit on Green, and afterwards threw Green, whose eyes were already dull, into a corner where no one cared about him, just like throwing away garbage.

Then, knowing that he could not escape the disaster, Curry, when he noticed Qin Yue turning his gaze towards him, felt such a sad mood that could only be described as a dead heart.

"Stephen, I haven't played bullfighting with you in a while, come and play a round with me."

"Oh"

About fifteen minutes later, Curry, whose body was bruised and blue by Qin Yue, sat next to Green with gritted teeth and tears in his eyes.

"Are you okay, Dan?" Curry asked, looking at Green.

Hearing this, Green nodded with empty eyes like a machine.

"You have to be mentally prepared. This is just the beginning." Curry said in the tone of a veteran. "From now on, we will have to go through this test every day."

Compared to the three-star high school student three years ago, Qin Yue discovered that Curry not only made significant progress in his basketball skills, but his heart was also much stronger than before.

Qin Yue knows very well that basketball will not lie.

So he invited Green and Curry to fight bulls, not just for fun by torturing them, but to observe closely how they treat the details of the game and to test whether they are mentally prepared to play in the NBA.

Even if such a test is very cruel.

But if they can't even withstand such a test, how can Qin Yue believe that they can achieve success with him on the court in the future?
The NBA is a world where the strong prey on the weak.

If you want to gain the trust of your teammates, you must first be strong enough.

Qin Yue didn't expect Green to become the ultimate role player in his memory overnight.

But Qin Yue will tell Green in his own way that if he wants to survive in the NBA, he must have an extremely strong heart.

……

Under the torture of GOAT, Green's suffering began.

In the summer of that year, under tremendous pressure from external public opinion, the Chinese Basketball Association did not risk the world's condemnation and forcibly recruited Qin Yue and Yao Ming to return to China to compete in the Asian Championships.

After the Beijing Olympics, Qin Yue has been worshipped as a god by countless sports fans in the country.

Right now, the savior of Chinese basketball has just come out of the shadow of being ruled out for the season, so the Chinese Basketball Association naturally does not dare to forcibly call him back to play in the Asian Championships.

And what about Yao Ming?

Since Yao Ming's shoulder injury will not recover until the end of August, and he needs an operation to completely solve the hidden danger of his foot injury due to overwork, the Chinese Basketball Association has no choice but to let Yao Ming go.

However, even without Qin Yue and Yao Ming, the Chinese team easily crushed all the Asian powerhouses in the Tianjin Asian Championships.

Last year, Qin Yue led the Chinese team to win the championship at the Beijing Olympics, which has quietly changed the morale of the team.

In addition, the coaching level of "European Caesar" Jonas, who chose to renew his contract with the Chinese Basketball Association after the Olympics, was by no means comparable to that of Guo Shiqiang during this period.

Yi Jianlian was elected MVP of this Asian Championship with his outstanding performance of averaging 22 points and 11 rebounds per game.

Compared with last year's Olympics, Yi Jianlian's growth is visible to the naked eye.

Although in Minnesota, Yi Jianlian has not completely given up his naive idea of playing a core role in the NBA.

But during last year's Olympics, Yi Jianlian, who was tortured by Qin Yue every day, developed a stronger heart than the same period in history.

The final was against Iran.

Facing the provocative defense of Iran's star player Hamad Haddadi, which was the same as Qin Yue's memory, Yi Jianlian repeatedly drove the ball to the basket and resolutely caused a lot of damage to the Iranian team's inside line by committing fouls.

"Yi's playing style was beyond my expectations." Haddadi said after the game, "He is a respectable opponent, and I believe he will have a bright future in the NBA."

It is worth mentioning that Sun Yue, another NBA player in the Chinese team, also had many highlights in this Asian Championships.

Although the Lakers had no intention of renewing Sun Yue's contract this summer, Sun Yue still got a minimum salary contract offered by the Heat thanks to his outstanding performance in the previous Olympics.

Qin Yue didn't know whether Pat Riley, who was always good at coaching role players, could slightly change Sun Yue's character that even he and Kobe felt helpless about.

But considering the Heat's daily training volume is extremely outrageous.
In Qin Yue's opinion, even if he cannot get a chance to play in the Heat, it is better than Sun Yue returning to China to play in the CBA at such a young age.

……

In order to get more training time, Qin Yue canceled a series of commercial activities this summer with the mediation of Jeff Schwartz.

Qin Yue's status in the basketball world has gradually given him the capital to be willful.

However, Schwartz will inevitably become the target of venting for major sponsors.

"They don't dare to lose their temper with you, so they can only vent their anger on me." Schwartz said to Qin Yue, "They even threatened me that they would not cooperate with my players in the future."

Hearing this, Qin Yue, who knew that Schwartz chose to complain to him in order to finalize the contract renewal with him as soon as possible, said with a smile: "Jeff, I have been very happy to cooperate with you in the past four years, so I decided to renew the contract with you for another four years."

Seeing this, Schwartz was overjoyed and said, "It would be my great honor to continue to serve you."

Unlike other agents in this league.

During his cooperation with Schwartz, Qin Yue has fully felt the personal charm of this future GOAT of the NBA agent world.

Take this time when he was willing to take the blame for himself in front of major sponsors. If it were other agents, they would definitely dissuade him from this idea at the first opportunity.

But not Schwartz.

Because in Schwartz's opinion, compared with the immediate interests, Qin Yue currently does need more time to make adequate preparations for the upcoming new season.

Schwartz knew
The NBA is certainly a commercial league, but if players want to maintain their commercial value, they must ensure that they can continue to deliver satisfactory results on the court.

Compared with previous years, the free agent market will be unprecedentedly lively next summer.

Therefore, most NBA teams that intend to clear salary space and use it to recruit superstars are now preparing for next year.

This also makes this year a relatively quiet summer in the NBA in recent years.

However, in this rare silence, the GOAT, who is about to officially return in the new season, has given the entire basketball world different expectations for the upcoming 09/10 season.

After a year away from the court, can the GOAT still maintain his dominance as before?
Are the Warriors, who have completed a blood transfusion without anyone noticing, still the formidable team they once were?

Throughout the summer, everyone was speculating on how Qin Yue would perform in his first season after returning from injury, and what kind of results the Warriors would achieve under his leadership.

In August of that year, Sports Illustrated gave their cover to GOAT who was sweating on the training ground. "The King of the NBA Mountain is ready to return!"

The basketball world is looking forward to Qin Yue's return more than ever.

Even Stern, who parted ways with the players' union in the first round of labor-management negotiations, believed that Qin Yue, who was about to return from injury, was the only good news he had heard recently.

Of course, if we say that Qin Yue's season was over last year, it made all NBA teams feel like they had been injected with chicken blood, and they all believed they had a chance to win the championship.

At this moment, for those championship-contending teams, the returning GOAT is undoubtedly the scene they least want to see.

Moreover, as Qin Yue's performance in training has been getting better and better recently.

Knowing that the other party had never had such a moment and so eager for the new season to arrive, Grover once again felt personally what kind of energy Qin Yue had accumulated during this long period of recuperation.

"I have no doubt that season was going to be his outlet."

Grover later recalled: "He was fed up with the constraints brought to him by injuries. That summer, he focused all his attention on how to improve his skills. He longed to play basketball and longed to return to the center of the basketball world, because in his eyes, that was his position."

……

PS: I adjusted my thoughts today, so there is only one update and it’s late, sorry!

(End of this chapter)