noveldrama
Chapter 970 970 571 Its Already in the Shape of
Chapter 970 970 571 Its Already in the Shape of
?Chapter 970: Chapter 571: It’s Already in the Shape of Wizards Dan_2 Chapter 970: Chapter 571: It’s Already in the Shape of Wizards Dan_2 “Is this in accordance with the CBA agreement?” Yu Fei asked.
“In principle, it doesn’t comply,” Trem said, “but it seems there are loopholes to exploit.”
Since Trem said so, there must be loopholes to exploit, so now it depended on how Yu Fei viewed the deal.
Yu Fei was somewhat “lucky;” when he began paying attention to the NBA in his former life, it was during Rivers’ “peak period” when he earned the title of the comeback king.
Regarding Rivers, having known him in his past and present life, Yu Fei considered Rivers a grassroots coach who lacked the rigor and systems of the academically trained, nor did he have the innate talents of the self-taught coaches.
He possessed impressive eloquence, high emotional intelligence, and extensive connections.
Therefore, immediately upon retiring, he became a popular commentator, and soon after, he earned the reputation of a “natural-born head coach” and was directly hired by the Magic Team.
This made George Karl—the man who had struggled through the trenches for years before finally becoming an NBA coach—remark bitterly, “He truly is a lucky man, that coaching position was a divine gift, and we will see more black coaches receive such favors in the future.”
His outstanding eloquence made him good at boosting morale; his high EQ won the affection of his players; and his extensive connections ensured that he never had to worry about unemployment, always having a good job waiting for him.
Such a person naturally wouldn’t spend much time and effort improving his professional skills, after all, the players liked him, the media didn’t pick on him, and his colleagues all said he was a nice guy. Only when he was repeatedly made a comeback against did fans question his coaching abilities and wonder why such a mediocre person could still keep his job.
Yu Fei had considered inviting Karl to be a coach.
But Karl was older now, not in good health, and he didn’t have any outstanding young assistants.
This was also Karl’s weakness in becoming the greatest coach of all time.
Like Jackson, the systems he relied on for success were not his own creations. Jackson’s Triangle Offense came from Tex Winter, while Karl’s “Carnival Basketball” originated from Fei.
The reason Jackson was successful was that he had Jordan and the OK combination, while Karl’s success depended on Fei.
Their assistants weren’t likely to get the chance to coach them. Often, these assistants were eliminated by the NBA’s brutal competitive rules before they could prove themselves.
Therefore, the head coach position for the Clippers remained undecided. Suddenly, Ainge proposed trading their head coach, giving the Clippers a chance to kill two birds with one stone.
They could trade away Sanders, a potential liability, and get a well-regarded coach to temporarily take over the team.
“You decide,” Yu Fei told Trem, “as long as we don’t give out any extra first-round draft picks, I have no objections.”
Trem, with Yu Fei’s instructions, continued negotiating with Ainge.
This greatly annoyed Ainge, since they were already willing to trade a highly acclaimed head coach, why was the other side still refusing to budge?
Is there a better trading partner than our Celtics?
We offered a seasoned veteran with an expiring contract, and we’ve even thrown in a faultless coach; why is it so difficult to get one more first-round pick?
But Trem remained unmoved: “Larry Sanders is one of the best young assets in the entire league, all I can give you. I don’t think your next year’s first-round pick could select a young player with qualities as good as Larry.”
Ainge was extremely irritated: “If you like Larry so much, why trade him? If he has no issues, why would you give up a young player you’ve signed to a top salary just like that?”
“He has issues,” Trem said, “He can’t shoot, which keeps him from becoming a modern era fit for the inside!”
Ainge exclaimed, “That’s common knowledge, but his value on the defensive end is still significant! That can’t possibly be the reason for trading him!”
How could they make Ainge believe that really was the reason Frye wanted to trade Sanders?
Although Trem suspected there might be other reasons, the fact was, on that day, Fei decided to trade Sanders simply because he lacked shooting ability and occupied too much of the team’s salary cap space.
This reason sounded unbelievable to Ainge.
Perhaps they preferred to believe some baseless speculation.
“Of course, that’s not the only reason,” Trem said, “The biggest mistake Larry made was that Frye didn’t like him.”
“Why doesn’t Frye like him?”
“I don’t know,” Trem replied, “but that’s enough for us to decide to trade him.”
Ainge laughed in frustration.
How domineering, how authoritarian! Just joined the team, hadn’t even played a single game for the Clippers, yet he was ready to send away the team’s youngest quality asset.
Just because of “dislike”?
How could professional basketball turn into this?
At this point, Ainge knew he could no longer profit from it.
The Clippers seemed very confident, trading Sanders not because he had a major injury, but simply because he didn’t fit into the Greatest of All Time’s vision.
Such an unreliable reason had just jeopardized his future with the Clippers.
What else could Ainge do? If he waited until the start of the season, he’d be selling not Pierce’s efficacy but the value of an expiring contract. That would still be fine, but then what he’d get would certainly only be bad contracts and unpredictable future draft rights.
If there wasn’t a high-quality young person like Sanders right in front of him, Ainge might have chosen to wait.