The Bulls won the championship. In addition to the normal celebrations such as Chicago's citywide parade, the Bulls also held a unique championship lineup gathering.
The Bulls dynasty players led by Jordan and the current Bulls players led by Lu Yu had a big party.
Jordan brought his sons to the party, along with Pippen and his wife, Coach Cartwright, and the hard-core bodyguard Charles Oakley.
Oakley has decided to retire, and the Bulls are preparing to hold a grand retirement ceremony for him.
Although he did not win a championship in the last two seasons with the Bulls, everyone knows that it was precisely because of him that Hamilton was traded to the Wizards and the Bulls completed the last piece of the championship puzzle.
Lu Yu walked among the crowd with a glass of wine. He did not bring his girlfriend. Each of them had their own work to be busy with. Bellucci, the only one who had some free time, had just had a baby in his belly, so he was not suitable for this kind of thing.
occasion.
Lu Yu met Pippen and his wife Larsa.
Pippen and Larsa met in 1995. At that time, she was slim, young and beautiful, and dreamed of becoming a world-class model. Before meeting Pippen, Larsa heard that most NBA players were rough, reckless, and difficult to approach.
, after getting to know Pippen, she hesitated about whether the two would continue their relationship. But through several contacts, she found that Pippen was a very honest and hard-working person.
So they got married in 1997. Pippen took his mother and raised two sons with Larsa. The family of five was happy and loving.
Lu Yu looked at Larsa and then at Jordan's second son, Marcus Jordan.
Hey, who would have thought that more than ten years later, you two would be dating together?
If we have to say that they are sincere, the relationship between Jordan and Sister Pi is a bit unclear. Is it possible that they all call each other his own?
I call you sister-in-law, but you call me dad?
Let’s look at Jordan’s second son, who is only fourteen years old now. It’s true that “I have not given birth to you before I gave birth to you, and you have not aged before you gave birth to concubine”.
It's a pity that Lu Yu is not interested in her, and Pippen is half of his teacher. When he was playing small forward last year, Cartwright begged Pippen to come and teach him for a while. Lu Yu could not have anything wrong with his teacher's wife.
think.
But Larsa is quite interested in Lu Yu.
I kept chatting with Lu Yu, especially because the shirt she was wearing was big and round, just like the table next to it, which was long and wide.
Well, the shirt was buttoned very reluctantly, which was really eye-catching, and Lu Yusheng was afraid that it would fall open.
On the other side, General Manager Krause, Michael Jordan and Bulls owner Reinsdorf were sitting together. They were chatting casually, but as they were chatting, the topic naturally turned to Lu Yu.
Jordan is now unemployed. He no longer has anything to do with the Wizards and can play golf with peace of mind.
However, he really wants to become an NBA team owner. Although he and Klaus don't get along, at least they can talk things over on the surface now, and they won't get into a fight when they sit together and chat.
The topic of their chat was about Lu Yu's contract renewal in advance.
A few days ago, the NBA league promulgated a clause, a new clause in the NBA's new collective bargaining agreement, which stipulates that only those who have been elected MVP during the rookie contract, or have been selected as a starter twice in the All-Star voting
Only players who have played in the All-Star Game or have been selected to the All-NBA Team twice are eligible to use this clause to get a big contract.
Today, this contract can account for 30% of the team's salary cap, which is a 5% increase from the old contract.
Because Lu Yu is the only player in the league who meets this condition, this clause is also called the "Lu Yu Clause."
Apart from Lu Yu, only Arenas is likely to get such a contract.
The question Jordan asked was whether the Bulls would give Lu Yu such a contract?
Klaus and his boss Reinsdorf looked at each other, and then Klaus said: "Of course, Lu Yu deserves this contract, and the contract amount is only more than 20 million a year."
After saying that, he looked at Jordan with a smile.
Jordan knew what he meant, because Jordan's contract amount in 1996 had reached more than 30 million US dollars.
In 1996, Jordan, who had already led the Bulls to four championships, "forced" the Bulls to sign a two-year, $63.28 million contract with him. This price can be said to have shocked the entire league.
Why is it said that Jordan "forced" the Bulls to sign a big contract?
In the 1995-96 season, Jordan came back again and led the Bulls to win the championship, and even saved the NBA that had no attention.
So after that season, Jordan actually began to express dissatisfaction with the "meager salary" he received. He began to think that he should receive more money than other players.
Therefore, he actually expressed to the outside world that he wanted to test the free market, and if the price was right, he could consider leaving the Bulls.
What kind of existence was Jordan back then?
It can be said that it is almost a guarantee of box office and championship. As soon as his idea of testing the free market came out, it actually attracted many teams to recruit him.
The most sincere among them was the Knicks, the wealthy team at the time.
Later, there were rumors on the Internet that the Knicks owner gave Jordan a blank check and asked Jordan to write it himself.
Of course, the real situation should be that the Knicks gave Jordan a contract with an annual salary of about 12 million U.S. dollars, and then helped Jordan get another contract with an annual endorsement fee of 15 million U.S. dollars, and then there were other
Incentive bonuses, etc., so Jordan’s annual salary is guaranteed to be no less than $30 million.
At that time, the Bulls were reluctant to send Jordan away and had no choice but to be "forced" to match the offer, so they finally signed a two-year contract of US$63.28 million.
After the Knicks bid up Jordan's price, and after a game between the agent and the Bulls, the annual salary of $33.14 million was finally determined.
At that time, the salary cap of the NBA Chicago Bulls was $2,690, and the Bulls signed Michael Jordan using the Larry Bird clause.
And it is worth mentioning that the NBA did not officially introduce the luxury tax until 1999, and this rule was not officially implemented until 2001, so in fact, in addition to wages, the Bulls at that time did not need to pay huge additional taxes.
Jordan just smiled and left them. He knew Klaus and Reinsdorf very well. The Bulls boss, who was a lawyer, was very calculating and unwilling to spend money. Jordan had already reached that status and could only resort to means.
Force him to spend money.
As soon as Jordan left, Klaus and his boss started whispering.
"Boss, do we want to give Lu Yu a maximum salary contract?"
"What do you think?" Reinsdorf glanced at him sideways.
Klaus thought for a while and said: "This summer, we have a lot of players to renew their contracts. If we give Lu Yu a maximum-salary contract, we will definitely have to pay luxury tax. We now have several options. One is to renew Lu Yu's contract in advance.
At the same time, we will renew the contracts of other players and strive to continue to win the championship next season, but as soon as next season is over, we must split up the championship lineup, otherwise the luxury tax will be a lot of money."
"anything else?"
"Another option is not to renew Lu Yu's contract in advance this summer. After finishing this season, even if Lu Yu becomes a free agent next year, we can match the offers of other teams. Lu Yu is still ours, but other teams
The offer given to Lu Yu will definitely be the maximum salary, and the result of this choice is still the same as the first one, that is, we must either split the lineup or pay luxury tax."
Reinsdorf nodded, and then said: "Is there any way to retain Lu Yu and at the same time maintain our championship lineup?"
Klaus knew his boss, so he was prepared.
"Of course, we can also use morality to kidnap Lu Yu. We have renewed the contracts of other players, and naturally there is not enough salary space to renew Lu Yu. We can ask Lu Yu to consider the team and the wages of other players. Those
But for his comrades, is he willing to get a high salary for himself and let his teammates get a minimum salary contract?"
Klaus laughed slyly.
Reinsdorf nodded with satisfaction. This is why he trusted Klaus. No matter what time, Klaus always knew what he was thinking.
"Then do it this way. Remember, this is your personal behavior." Reinsdorf warned.
Klaus understands that once this kind of thing is done, it will definitely be spurned by the fans, and there is a big risk in doing so, that is, if Lu Yu does not accept this relatively low-salary contract, then next season will end
After that, they will still have to face offers from other teams, and they will still choose to match the contract when the time comes.
At that time, the boss will stand up and reprimand Klaus for disrespecting Lu Yu.
Then one of them played a red face and the other a bad face to appease Lu Yu.
In short, for them, this is an opportunity, an opportunity to bind Lu Yu for many years again with a low-price contract.
At this time, Lu Yu didn't know that the two old foxes were planning to plot against him.
After the party, he got on a plane and flew back to China, because for Lu Yu, this summer was destined to be busy - the Chinese men's basketball team was preparing for the Olympics.
The Olympics are a top priority for the Chinese men's basketball team. The Chinese men's basketball team won last year's World Championships due to luck, but it also raised fans' expectations for the Chinese men's basketball team's performance.
Not to mention winning the championship, at least get a medal, right?
But Lu Yu remembered that in the previous Olympic Games this year, the schedule of the Chinese men's basketball team was not friendly. It was far from the ease of the World Championships. Also, although this year's American men's basketball team did not win the championship, it was not as miserable as the World Championships.
, finally got a bronze medal.
This shows that the US men's basketball team is definitely stronger than during the World Championships.
The Argentina team that won the gold medal was at its peak, otherwise Ginobili would not have become a god because of this Olympics.
The most important thing is that the Chinese men's basketball team did not choose Wang Fei, who won the world championship, to continue as the head coach because of the butterfly effect of Lu Yu. They chose Lu Yu's previous men's basketball coach in the Athens Olympics, Harry the Silver Fox.
S.
In other words, Lu Yu's appearance did not affect the course of history.
On the contrary, because the Basketball Association values this Olympics more, it directly decided to invite a foreign coach to ensure that the Chinese men's basketball team will win medals this time.
At this time, the person who best meets the conditions is Harris.
Just like Lu Yu in his previous life, whoever deserves it ultimately belongs to whomever. However, Wang Fei only got an assistant coach's spot. At the same time as him, there was another foreigner, Yunus, who served as assistant coach at the same time.
Wang Fei was also helpless. He thought that the team he had built would allow him to win glory for his country again after the World Championships.
Unexpectedly, someone picked the peach.
But he had no choice but to hold his nose and admit it. At least he was better than Jiang Xingquan. Jiang Xingquan was not even qualified to join the men's basketball team. By the way, there was also an assistant coach named Gong Luming.
The day after Lu Yu returned to China, before he officially returned to the team for training, a big event happened in the NBA.
On June 22, the fifth day after the finals, the newly joined NBA Charlotte Bobcats won the right to the expansion draft. Starting from this day, they will randomly select 19 unprotected players from the other 29 teams.
The players on the list are, to put it bluntly, players of average strength. Generally, the main players of the team will be on the protected list.
The league limits their salary cap to two-thirds of other teams' salary cap to prevent them from using salary space to directly steal players from other teams.
Because of the addition of the Bobcats, the total number of NBA teams reached 30. The league divided all teams into 6 divisions and divided the Bobcats from the West to the East.
The league also gave the Bobcats a top-three protected draft pick, and in the end the Bobcats were lucky enough to get the second pick.
All fans are eagerly awaiting the start of the draft in three days.
At this time, news came out from the NBA championship team, the Bulls, that shocked the entire league.
When Bulls general manager Krause faced reporters, he cried with snot and tears: "The team is too difficult. Many championship players have to renew their contracts this year and next year. They are an important part of the team, but
The team's salary is only so much, especially Lu Yu's salary, which accounts for 30% of the salary cap, so how can the team have the money to sign contracts with Lu Yu's good brothers."
When NBA President Stern saw the news, he was so angry that he dropped the teacup on the ground.
The reason why he compromised and was willing to let players sign such a maximum-salary contract was because of Lu Yu. In the past, he might have been fawning over Lu Yu because of the Chinese market behind Lu Yu, but now Lu Yu is the most popular basketball star in the world.
The "Lu Yu Clause" is prepared for Lu Yu!
As a result, Krause, the mentally ill Bulls general manager, actually came up with such a damaging trick. He wanted to renew Lu Yu's contract at a low price and also kidnapped Lu Yu morally. It was really shameless.
"Lu Yu must not stay with the Bulls. Doing so will destroy the superstar I finally built."
David Stern's eyes were filled with anger, and he was determined that as long as Lu Yu could win the game with Klaus this time, he would definitely help Lu Yu win a good way out.
Of course, if Lu Yu compromised, there was nothing he could do.
