The NBA's Absolute Dominance

Chapter 220: Is the Dream Team III going to strategically give up?
"Tang, the Knicks want to trade Pippen. Pippen's salary for the last two years only adds up to $500 million, which is a bargain. But the Bulls want two unprotected first-round picks."

Tang Bei had just hung up the phone with Glenn Rice when Eric Fleischer called.

"What do you think?" he asked.

"The Knicks gave their first-round picks in 97 and 99 to the Heat, and then gave two more to the Bulls, thus exhausting their potential for the next few years."

"If it's just for the sake of next season's performance, then a trade is possible."

"But Tang, you definitely want to win a three-peat with the Knicks, so I don't think we can do that."

"And I think Mason Jr. is quite good."

After considering for a moment, Tang Bei said, "Eric, you have a point. Let the management decide this issue themselves."

“OK, I’ll inform them,” Eric Fleischer said.

The Knicks ultimately decided to trade Pippen, as they were really eyeing this top-tier point forward and perimeter defender at the small forward position, who was much better than Mason Jr., and would be cheaper for the next two seasons.

Now that we have Tang Bei, he's not good at any other position. Oakley is only good at defense and rebounding, not offense.

The Heat, on the other hand, are incredibly strong. With their Big Three of Ewing, Mourning, and Tim Hardaway, the Knicks simply can't beat them with their current roster.

The two teams quickly agreed on the trade terms.

The Knicks traded their unprotected first-round pick in 2001, along with Anthony Mason Jr., to the Bulls for Pippen.

After the trade was finalized, the Knicks contacted Pippen's agent to express their welcome to Pippen.

"No way, damn it, don't even think about sending me to the Knicks."

"The Knicks will not trade me unless they agree to a five-year, $80 million contract."

"If they dare to trade me, I swear I will never play for them, not a single game."

When Pippen learned about the trade, he was so angry he almost vomited blood. He immediately had his two agents contact the Knicks to stop the trade.

With two consecutive championships under his belt, all he wants now is a big contract; he doesn't care about anything else. Without a big contract, the Knicks hold no appeal for him.

After understanding Pippen's thoughts, the Knicks could not agree to Pippen's contract extension request and had no choice but to cancel the trade.

"Scottie, a sucker has agreed." Shortly afterward, Kyle Roth excitedly called Pippen.

"What do you mean?" Pippen asked hastily.

“The Trail Blazers promised you a big contract in two years, five years for $75 million,” Roth said.

"Really? Kyle, that's great. I'll cash in the $1,000 bonus in two years," Pippen said excitedly.

At midnight that night, the trade freeze ended, and the league announced the salary cap for the new season: $2712 million.

Tang Bei originally wanted to sign a contract after returning to the United States, but the Knicks couldn't wait and were worried about unexpected events, so they approached the Heat.

Pat Riley sent his assistant to Beijing with Tang Bei's contract renewal agreement.

General Manager Ernie Gruenfeld also traveled to Beijing and held a press conference specifically for the signing ceremony.

With a total value of $2.05 million over 5 years, including a base salary of $1.25 million over 5 years and incentive clauses of $0.8 million, this contract, even though it was already known to the world, still caused a great stir after it was officially signed.

Especially in China, where the average annual salary of employees in 1995 was 5500 yuan, Tang Beiguang's basic salary alone was as high as 2.08 million yuan, which is equivalent to that of more than 37,000 people.

That is to say, an ordinary worker in China would have to work for more than 37,000 years to earn his basic salary for one year.

After Tang Bei signed the contract, the Knicks immediately made a trade with the Heat, and the trade request was quickly sent to David Stern's desk.

After the trade was completed, Tang Bei officially became a member of the Knicks.

"There are no good goods in the free market anymore; all you can do is trade."

"We're still missing a good backup at the shooting guard position, and there aren't any good options in the free agent market."

At the Knicks headquarters in New York, President Dave Checkerts and General Manager Ernie Gruenfeld are having a discussion.

Tang Bei said they needed to strengthen their backcourt, and they had been looking for a long time without success.

Ernie Gruenfeld calculated the current roster's total salary and said:

"Excluding Tang's contract, our remaining 10 contracted players have a total salary of only $1142 million, while the salary cap for the new season is $2712 million."

"Dave, the roster is too meager. We still have enough cap space to sign an All-Star, and we can afford to pay him a multi-million dollar annual salary."

He placed the player list in front of Chekers. Apart from Tang Bei, only five players had an annual salary of one million US dollars, the highest being Mason Jr.'s $278 million. Among the remaining five players, there were two fringe players earning a minimum salary of $250,000.

"Yeah, when has the Knicks' roster ever been this shabby?"

Dave Checkertz nodded in agreement and said, "Don values ​​perimeter defense, so he wants John Starks to be the starting shooting guard. How about we sign Allan Houston and have him as the backup?"

"Would an All-Star guard be willing to be a substitute?" Ernie Gruenfeld hesitated.

“Let’s get in touch,” Dave Checkerts said.

Ernie Gruenfeld immediately contacted Allan Houston's agent, but Allan Houston declined.

Even in the Big Apple, he wasn't qualified to be a substitute. Allan Houston knew very well that doing so would be beneath his dignity.

On July 10, the Rockets and the Suns reached a trade agreement.

Barkley went to the Rockets, and in return, the Suns received Sam Cassell, Chuck Brown, Mark Bryant, and Robert Horry.

This trade gave the New York Knicks an opportunity. Ernie Gruenfeld thought Sam Cassell was alright, with defense, assists, and a three-point shot.

It's just that it's too ugly, unsightly, and damages the Knicks' image.

He sent an offer to the Suns, trading a 97 second-round pick plus fringe player Scott Brooks for Sam Cassell.

After winning the championship in 93, the Suns' roster aged, and the trade of Barkley was for rebuilding. Head coach Danny Ainge didn't like point guards like Sam Cassell.

However, the Suns were not satisfied with the offer. They countered by asking for point guard Chris Childs in addition to the Knicks' 97 second-round pick, but did not take Scott Brooks.

Chris Childs was recently signed by the Knicks from free agency. Last season, he played 78 games for the Nets, starting 54 of them. His offense was unremarkable, but he was aggressive on defense, averaging 30 minutes per game, contributing 128 points, 7 assists, and 1.4 steals.

Groenfield doesn't want to trade Childs. Although backup point guard Charlie Ward is good, he's only played for two years and isn't mature enough yet.

Cassell is not mature enough to be the starting point guard. His idea is to have Childs play as the starting point guard in the new season, with Charlie Ward and Sam Cassell as backups.

Of these three guards, Cassell and Childs can both play shooting guard. By trading for Cassell, the reinforcement of the backcourt can be completed at the same time.

Soon, he submitted a new offer, keeping the original stakes unchanged but adding $100 million in cash.

The Suns didn't like Cassell anyway, and after weighing the options, they quickly completed the trade with the Suns.

The Knicks currently have 12 players on contract and can sign three more.

Center: Tang Bei (5), Herb Williams (5, 4)

Forwards: Charles Oakley (4), Buck Williams (4, 5), Anthony Mason Jr. (3), John Wallace (3, 4), Chris Janter (3)

Defenders: John Starks (2), Chris Childs (1, 2), Sam Cassell (1, 2), Charlie Ward (1), Scott Brooks (1)

After looking at the roster, Dave Cecketts and Gruenfeld started whispering among themselves.

"Dave, this roster is too shabby, too shabby. Apart from Tang, there's not a single star among them. They don't deserve the Knicks!"

"Yes, it's all cheap stuff, Ernie. How did we end up with this roster? You absolutely have to bring in another All-Star, anyone with a salary under ten million a year is fine, we have the money."

"OK, then let's get rid of guard Brooks. What would we need a fringe player for?"

"Tell him to leave."

"OK."

With tens of millions of dollars in salary cap space, the team earns a lot of money every year without the owner having to spend extra money. Therefore, after trading Cassell, the management is still single-mindedly focused on bringing in an All-Star, with the core idea being to only acquire expensive players.

On July 15th, the first batch of Olympic delegations departed, including the men's and women's basketball teams.

Before their departure, the delegation held a rally to pledge their support, and invited some media to attend.

At the conference, a media interviewed Deputy Head of Delegation Director Yuan, asking, "Director Yuan, we won 16 gold medals at the last Olympics. What is our target number for this Olympics?"

Director Yuan hesitated for a moment and then cautiously said, "Let's strive for a breakthrough, but don't put too much pressure on the athletes. Let's prioritize friendship over competition."

A reporter asked, "Director Yuan, the men's basketball team won the championship in 94. Is the men's basketball team's goal for this Olympics the gold medal?"

This is a very specific question, but Director Yuan said more cautiously, "Our primary goal is to advance from the group stage, that's for sure."

He then said, "The opponents are all very strong, especially the US team, our opponent in the last World Championship final. This time, they are all NBA superstars."

"They have three super centers among them, known as the Dream Team III. They are much stronger than the Dream Team II two years ago, and our men's basketball team is under a lot of pressure."

"Therefore, we did not set a gold medal target for the men's basketball team. The highest goal for the men's basketball team is to enter the top three and strive to win a medal."

Media outlets contacted Tang Bei and asked him about the men's basketball team's goals for this Olympics.

He said, "The team's goal is to finish in the top three, but we will definitely give it our all. This year's American team is much stronger than the last one, and we can't guarantee that we can beat them."

Tang Bei flew to Atlanta, but Jia Bao did not go to the United States. Instead, she stayed in Tianjing to oversee the business of Tangjia Investment Group.

Tangjia Investment has a total of five companies: Tangjia Electrical Appliances, Tangjia Real Estate, Tangjia Communications, Tangjia Import & Export, and Tangjia Investment Fund.

All of Tangjia Electric's new production lines have been put into operation, making it the largest and most technologically advanced electrical appliance manufacturer in China.

Last year, the country's foreign exchange reserves were 736 billion US dollars. Tangjia Electric Appliances was expected to generate nearly 200 million US dollars in foreign exchange for the country in 1996, which exceeded the foreign exchange earning capacity of all other domestic electrical appliance brands combined, and was highly valued by the country.

Tangjia Real Estate's main investments are currently in commercial real estate, but it is acquiring large amounts of land in preparation for entering the residential real estate market after relevant policies are introduced.

Tangjia Communications, headed by the Nemur couple in Shenzhen, has launched its first assembled mobile phone, called Datang Mobile.

Tangjia Import & Export Company originally focused on serving Tangjia Electrical Appliances, but now its business scope is expanding.

Tangjia Capital's main business is venture capital, investing in high-tech and internet companies. It has already invested in two domestic internet companies, China Yellow Pages and Yinghaiwei.

Yellow Pages is a small company with a total share capital of only 200 million after the investment. Tangjia Fund invested 60 RMB, accounting for 30% of the shares. A subsidiary of Hangzhou Telecom invested 80 RMB, accounting for 40%, and the two founders, Ma Yun and another person, accounted for 30%.

Yinghaiwei's investment was even larger, reaching a total share capital of 8000 million after the investment. Tangjia Fund invested 2000 million, accounting for 25% of the shares, the original shareholders accounted for 26%, and China Xingfa Group, a subsidiary of Jingmaoji, invested 4000 million, accounting for 49%.

The investments in American internet companies were larger, but none of them were venture capital investments. Instead, they involved purchasing shares of companies like Yahoo, Cisco, Netscape, AOL, and CNET on the secondary market, with a total investment of $5 million.

Upon arriving in Atlanta, the Chinese delegation proceeded to the Olympic Village.

As the flag bearer at the opening ceremony, Tang Bei represented the athletes in the flag-raising ceremony.

The Olympic Village was actually a newly built university dormitory, and it still had a musty smell. The Chinese delegation was allocated three buildings. The delegation alone had more than 300 athletes, plus coaches, officials, translators and other staff, totaling 495 people. It was very crowded, the rooms were small, and they were desperately adding extra beds.

Furthermore, the rooms lack toilets and showers; there is only one toilet and shower room per floor, and they are not separated by gender, which is extremely inconvenient.

The Chinese delegation separated athletes by gender and floor to make better use of the toilets.

In mixed-gender floors, men must use the restrooms on other floors; they are strictly prohibited from using the restrooms or taking showers on this floor.

Tang Bei didn't receive any special treatment either; there simply wasn't a single room available. The athletes fared a bit better, sharing a room with one other person, while others shared a room with three people.

He was assigned to the second floor, sharing a room with Hu Weidong. The bed was too short, so the Olympic Village added a section of wooden plank for him.

There was no wardrobe, so they had someone bring back some ropes and tie them between the door and the window to hang the clothes.

"This environment is terrible," he complained.

"Doesn't America have money? The Olympic Village doesn't even have a toilet," Hu Weidong added, complaining.

"Come on, Lao Hu, let's go eat."

"Eh."

"Hey Lao Hu, how's the CBA going?"

"Not bad, I'm making more money than before, haha!"

"Mark Fleischer hasn't contacted you?"

“Him? He’s contacted me many times. I’d like to, but I can’t get away. The CBA has just started and is short of players. The higher-ups aren’t very supportive either.”

The two walked and talked in the corridor, and other athletes followed.

"Wang Zhizhi, Mark said you have good talent. Have you ever thought about playing in the NBA?"

"Oh, I... I don't know."

"Then you should play in China for a few years first, and develop your physical strength first, otherwise you won't be able to adapt to the NBA."

"Bart is the same."

As they went downstairs, they ran into people from other floors. Just as they left this building, they encountered people from two other buildings. The Chinese delegation quickly grew in size, surging into the nearest restaurant like a torrent.

Several domestic and international reporters came up to interview Tang Bei after seeing him. A reporter from the New York Times asked, "Tang, are you satisfied with the Knicks' roster?"

Tang Bei glanced at the reporter and said, "Sir, this is the Olympics. Could you please ask a question related to the Olympics?"

The reporter smiled awkwardly and asked, "So, are you satisfied with the Olympic Village?"

"I'm satisfied my ass!"

Tang Bei made a sarcastic remark in Mandarin.

"Ha ha……"

The Chinese athletes following behind all laughed.

Some officials in the delegation became anxious, fearing that Tang Bei might say something that would have a negative impact.

"Tang, can you speak English?" the reporter asked hurriedly.

Tang Bei said, "The rooms don't even have bathrooms. There's only one bathroom per floor, and seventy or eighty people share one bathroom. I'm sorry, but I'm not satisfied with the Olympic Village."

His words quickly spread throughout the Olympic Village through reporters and received the support of all the athletes.

This caused a great deal of trouble for the Atlanta Organizing Committee, but the problem with the restrooms was difficult to solve, so the Organizing Committee had no choice but to turn a blind eye.

Fortunately, the restaurants were quite well-maintained. Not only was the main restaurant able to accommodate 6,000 people at the same time, but the smaller restaurant near the Chinese delegation was also quite large.

The restaurant is divided into international, Mediterranean, Asian, and Chinese sections, offering more than 450 varieties and over 900 dishes, available 24 hours a day.

The Chinese section features only Chinese dishes, including roast duck, rice, and various stir-fries. Each dish comes with a description card in Chinese, English, and French, which includes nutritional information.

Tang Bei filled a plate with food and found a table to sit down.

"Give me, let me."

"You guys go over there."

"Excuse me."

Just as Hu Weidong and his companions were about to sit down, they were pushed aside by a group of female athletes carrying food trays, chattering away, making him think he was sitting in a duck shed.

"Ladies, is something the matter?" Tang Bei asked hurriedly.

Fu Mingxia whispered to Deng Yaping, "Sister Deng, what do you want to say?"

Deng Yaping said with a smile, "Old Tang, they want to exchange some US dollars with you so they can buy some rare things in the US and bring them back with them."

Tang Bei nodded quickly and said, "It's no big deal. I'll give it to you later. You can decide how much you want."

"Oh!"

A group of women immediately cheered.

"Boss Tang, get us some too."

Upon seeing this, the men quickly followed, chattering amongst themselves.

1996年7月19号，第26届亚特兰大奥运会开幕式在奥林匹克体育馆举行，超过一万名来自197个国家与地区的运动员参加了开幕式。

Tang Bei, as the flag bearer, walked at the very front of the Chinese delegation, wielding immense influence and serving as the face of the Chinese delegation.

"I want to be a flag bearer when I grow up."

In the largest conference room at Tianjing Sports School, Tang Ning pointed at his older brother Tang Bei on the television screen and shouted at the others.

"Tang Ning, don't be ignorant and incompetent. In university, you were called a flag bearer, not a flag waver." A teacher immediately corrected her mistake.

She chuckled to herself, thinking to herself, "Isn't that the same?"

This Olympic men's basketball tournament is divided into two groups, A and B, with six teams in each group.

Group A: China, Angola, USA, Argentina, Lithuania, Croatia
Group B: South Korea, Australia, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Serbia and Montenegro, Greece
The group stage consists of five round-robin matches. The top four teams with a record of 2 wins and 1 loss advance.

The knockout stage involves cross-elimination matches. The quarterfinals are A1 vs B4, A2 vs B3, A3 vs B2, and A4 vs B1. The four teams that advance to the semifinals are A1 vs B4 and A2 vs B3.

The Chinese men's basketball team's five group stage matches are: Angola on the 20th, Croatia on the 22nd, Argentina on the 24th, the United States on the 26th, and Lithuania on the 28th.

After careful analysis, Group A is considered to have the strongest teams among the five group stage opponents: the United States, Croatia, and Lithuania, while Argentina and Angola are the weakest.

The men's basketball team's goal is to defeat Argentina and Angola, and then try to win another game against Croatia and Lithuania. The United States team is the strongest, so they will strategically forfeit it.

On the 20th, the Chinese team won its first gold medal, with Sun Fuming winning the women's judo championship in the over 72kg category.

That afternoon, the Chinese men's basketball team faced off against Angola.

The other four teams in Group A, including the United States, were present to watch the game.

Several heads and deputy heads of the Chinese Olympic delegation also came to the scene.

Ultimately, the men's basketball team defeated Angola 97-62, achieving a winning start.

唐北打了32分钟，轰下38分16篮板3抢断6盖帽的豪华数据。

In this match, he used his strong physical strength to injure an opponent during an attack and was forced to leave the field.

On the 22nd, the Chinese team faced Croatia.

Croatia is full of tall players, and almost all of them are good at three-pointers, making them extremely strong.

Fortunately, the men's basketball team relied on Tang Bei's low-post offense and played steadily, ultimately winning 105-98 and securing their second group stage victory.

唐北打了39分钟，只休息了1分钟，23投20中，命中率高达87%，17罚13中，命中率76.5%，轰下53分15篮板2抢断5盖帽的恐怖数据。

There is no three-second rule in international basketball. In this game, he demonstrated unparalleled ability to break double teams and compete in the low post.

No matter how many people double-teamed him, he crushed them with his behemoth-like presence. Of his 17 free throws, 10 were and-one free throws.

Moreover, during this game, Tang Bei's powerful rim-slamming attack in the low post injured three Croatian interior players.

He hadn't injured anyone much in NBA games for two seasons, but this game brought his fearsome reputation to the forefront at the Olympics.

"Tang Bei of China is the top active basketball player," reported the Asahi Shimbun of Japan.

The Washington Post reported: "The fear is too strong, the men's basketball final will definitely be between the Chinese team and the American team, the Dream Team III should be on high alert."

"Dream Team III, be careful, severe fear is coming again," the New York Times reported.

The following day, countless media outlets around the world reported on the group stage match between China and Croatia the previous night, making it arguably the most watched match of the 24th.

As the Olympics progress, Tang Bei's fame and influence are rapidly expanding, boosted by the impact of the Olympic men's basketball competition.

On the 24th, the men's basketball team defeated Argentina, securing their third consecutive victory and accumulating 6 points, thus guaranteeing their advancement from the group stage.

In this match, two Argentine players who were not very familiar with Tang Bei were injured by him, which further cemented his reputation for being ruthless.

On the 26th, the men's basketball team will face their toughest opponent yet: the United States team.

The men's basketball team had already decided on their strategy for this group stage match: a strategic forfeit. Now that they have secured qualification for the knockout stage, this strategy will not be changed.

In the morning, the US team held a meeting at the hotel, which was attended by all coaches and players, as well as senior members of the US delegation.

The members of this Dream Team III were Hakeem Olajuwon, David Robinson, Shaquille O'Neal, Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, Scottie Pippen, Grant Hill, Richmond, Reggie Miller, Anfernee Hardaway, John Stockton, and Gary Payton.

Two years ago, the US team lost the World Championship final, and these NBA stars were heavily criticized by the media, so this time Barkley and the other four members of the Dream Team participated.

Hakeem Olajuwon, who was unable to participate in the Dream Team I due to nationality issues, has now joined the Dream Team III.

With four members of the Dream Team I plus two super centers, Shaquille O'Neal and Hakeem Olajuwon, the Dream Team III was not as strong as the Dream Team I, but not by much, and was very powerful.

The topic of the meeting was whether the US team should go all out to win this group stage match.

The US team had also won three consecutive games and had the same number of points as the Chinese team, so this group match against the Chinese team was not decisive.

The head coach of the Dream Team III was Lenny Wilkens, the assistant coach of the Dream Team I and Dream Team II. The mature and steady coach was very cautious about the night game, mainly because he was worried that several of the team's star centers would be injured by Tang Bei.

He wanted to strategically forfeit this group stage match and avoid a direct confrontation with the Chinese team.

(End of this chapter)