The longest river

Chapter 105 Rick Carlisle

Shortly after the NBA draft, the annual free agency period begins.

Unlike last year's free market, this year is destined to be an unsettling one.

Because Jordan's contract expired.

Jordan led his team to 72 wins last season and helped the Bulls regain the championship, but that's just on the court.

His return brings immeasurable commercial value to the Bulls and the entire NBA.

So how much Jordan is worth is a question worth discussing in this era before the maximum salary cap.

Thus, the battle for Jordan began the moment the free agency market opened.

The Lakers and Celtics, two powerhouses in the league, were the first to respond, offering Jordan a $2000 million annual contract.

This is a truly astonishing offer, considering that the league's salary cap was only $2436 million last season!
But this is just the beginning.

After seeing that Jordan's team remained unmoved, both teams successively raised their offers to $3000 million.

But what happened next was even more outrageous.

Seeing the two arguing so fiercely, the Knicks simply handed Jordan a blank check, letting him fill in the amount himself.

Jordan finally started to get interested.

The Bulls were then forced to follow up with an offer, giving Jordan a two-year, $6328 million contract with a player option for the second year.

Jordan ultimately stayed with the Bulls.

Or rather, after leading the team to 72 wins and the championship, Jordan was definitely more inclined to start a second dynasty rather than leave.

All those previous moves were just to get the Bulls to raise their offer.

Jordan's decision was expected, but it still surprised some New York fans.

They thought they could get Jordan and form the invincible combination of Jordan and Ewing, but in the end they became the ones who drove up the price.

So, the day after Jordan signed the contract, Shawn Powell published a revealing article in The New York Times.

In this article, Powell elaborates on the various conflicts between Jordan and the Bulls' management.

The root of that conflict was Oakley.

As Jordan's friend and "bodyguard," the Bulls' management traded Oakley away without consulting Jordan.

Then there's Phil Jackson. Jackson coached his teams by using psychological warfare, and the reason he was still supported by the players was that he created a protective shield between the team and management.

Or to put it another way, NBA management in this era would install a "surveillance system" on the team, but Jackson removed it.

This led to a consistently tense relationship between management and Jackson.

Jordan was clearly on Jackson's side, which further exacerbated the conflict between him and the management.

Furthermore, in the article, Powell also used inside information he had to explain a very crucial detail about Jordan's contract extension.

That is, Bulls owner Jerry Launsdorf was reluctant to re-sign Jordan.

“You know what, Michael? Someday in the future, I know I’ll regret this.”

As Lauensdorf agreed to Jordan's contract, he said the following in front of Jordan.

This article instantly sparked a huge discussion.

It was only then that fans realized how serious the internal problems were behind the Bulls' glory.

The impact of Jordan's contract extension goes far beyond this.

Besides Jordan, there are several other noteworthy free agents in this year's free agency market: Shaquille O'Neal, Alonzo Mourning, and Juwan Howard, all of whom are All-Star players.

The most attention-grabbing of these is undoubtedly Shaquille O'Neal, whose story is also the most complex.

魔术队最初给奥尼尔开出的是4年4000万的续约合同，作为对比，“便士”哈达威在1994年续约的时候得到的是一份4年3200万的合同。

If it weren't for Jordan, O'Neal would most likely have signed directly.

But everything changed with Jordan's $3000 million annual contract.

O'Neal felt he shouldn't be so much lower than Jordan, so the Magic raised their offer to 7 years and $8000 million.

If O'Neal signs now, he will be the second highest-paid player in the league after Jordan.

O'Neal was ready to sign another contract.

But at this very moment, Juwan Howard signed a 7-year, $1.05 million contract with the Bullets, and Alonzo Mourning signed a 7-year, $1.1 million contract with the Heat.

O'Neal was no longer willing to accept this, and he demanded that the Magic give him a 7-year, $1.15 million contract.

This is the same mentality that led Yang Shuai to ask Iverson for an extra dollar in endorsement fees.

Why should I, with a higher league status than them, receive a lower salary?

This offer far exceeded the Magic's expectations, leading to a stalemate between the two sides.

In an effort to change O'Neal's mind, the Magic's management embarked on an extremely abstract operation.

They actually launched a survey among Orlando fans asking whether Shaquille O'Neal was worth $1.15 million, and the results showed that more than 91% of people chose no.

Surveys are inherently subjective. For example, if you conduct a survey on "how much dowry men should give for marriage," the results will be drastically different if you survey a group of men versus a group of women.

This ultimately angered O'Neal.

It was at this moment that the "LOGO guy" made his move.

Or rather, he had his sights set on O'Neal from the moment he traded Divac away.

The only difference is that this chain reaction also cost the Lakers' management more money. A 7-year, $1.2 million contract became the largest in NBA history.

At this point, the Magic's attempt to match a contract with O'Neal was futile, and O'Neal officially joined the Lakers, finally securing the second-highest salary in the league.

In a corner where no one was paying attention, the Nets were mortified.

With O'Neal joining the team, the Lakers' chances of being a lottery pick next season have plummeted, turning them from likely to be a late first-round pick.

Yang Shuai was initially just observing all of this, until Garnett called him after O'Neal signed the contract.

"Hansen, we need to get ready too!"

Yang Shuai didn't understand what Garnett was talking about at first, until Garnett mentioned the possibility of an early contract extension.

The new agreement signed after the 1995 lockout stipulated that rookie contracts were for three years, which also meant that players could extend their contracts after their second season.

"I have a feeling that the league may soon limit the maximum salary. We need to perform well in the new season and then sign a big contract extension in advance."

Garnett made a firm promise.

After finishing his conversation with Garnett, Yang Shuai seemed to be deep in thought.

As a time traveler, although he didn't know when the rule about top salaries came out, he was certain that it would eventually appear.

So Garnett was right, which can be seen from the fact that he kept talking about rookie contracts during the draft.

Although Garnett wasn't a great student, he had a keen eye for things related to money.

The new season will become increasingly important for Yang Shuai.

On July 10, the Pacers' Summer League team gathered in Indianapolis.

After a few days of intensive training, they will head to Los Angeles to participate in the Southern California Summer League.

Besides Yang Shuai, Best will also be going with them this time.

It was here that Yang Shuai met Jermaine O'Neal ahead of time.

Well, to put it another way, Jermaine O'Neal is even younger than the players he drafted before, only 17 and a half years old, and the key point is that he has a baby face.

Even when Yang Shuai talked to him, he found that the other party was extremely shy.

Yang Shuai felt like he had encountered a little kid.

However, Jermaine O'Neal's talent is indeed very good. With a height of 2.11 meters and a wingspan of 2.27 meters, he is a spitting image of Kevin Garnett.

The team's head coach arrived late, after all the players had assembled.

When Yang Shuai saw this head coach, he was stunned for a moment.

Once the other person began to introduce themselves, his initial faint sense of familiarity was finally confirmed.

Jim Carrey①... oh no, Rick Carlisle!

At this time, Carlisle was not yet bald, and in his thirties, he was incredibly handsome.

As the saying goes, "a new monarch brings a new court," Brown's departure was followed by the departure of his coaching staff, including Karl Malone.

When some people leave, others will naturally come.

But Yang Shuai didn't expect that Bird would actually bring Carlisle along.

His earliest memory of Carlisle came from the Mavericks' championship win in 2011, and he thought Carlisle was the Mavericks' head coach.

In Carlisle's own account, he was previously an assistant coach for the Trail Blazers, and was then poached by Bird.

Listening to Carlisle explain some important points about the Summer League, Yang Shuai felt an irrepressible excitement.

He has a strong urge to make a big splash in the new season right away.

This is a coach on par with Popovich in NBA 2K!
After explaining the precautions, Carlisle then began organizing the team's training.

Similar to Brown, he has very detailed and strict requirements for training.

However, unlike Brown, Yang Shuai could sense that Brown had something inside him.

Especially on the offensive end, his tactics all emphasize space.

For example, in pick-and-roll situations, he would require the inside players to set screens to create offensive space for the ball handler, rather than having the ball handler immediately cut to the basket after setting the screen.

For example, in terms of the arrangement of shooters, he will definitely lurk a shooter in the strong side corner to maximize the offensive space on the strong side.

Yang Shuai can understand why Bird went to Portland specifically to poach Carlisle.

In an era where most coaches are still immersed in low-post isolation tactics, it is difficult to find an assistant coach with a similar tactical philosophy who can also be used by a rookie head coach like Bird.

During a training break, Carlisle suddenly pulled Yang Shuai aside to chat.

Carlisle made a request to Yang Shuai that caught Yang Shuai somewhat off guard.

Carlisle hopes he can make more appearances in the Summer League!
In the eyes of this assistant coach, the outcome of the Summer League is completely irrelevant, because its purpose is simply to provide training for the players.

"Okay, coach."

Yang Shuai, who had never heard of such a requirement before, recalled his rookie season and felt as if he had entered a completely different new world.

Of course, what he didn't say was that he would still lead the team to victory.

-Dividing line-

①: The actor who played the main character in "The Truman Show" and "The Mask".

(End of this chapter)