No.1 in basketball scoring-Chapter 1420 - 551: Stopping Here Again?

Zhang Yang continued focusing on his training, and soon, it was the end of June. The Bobcats used their 30th draft pick to select the local university talent, Duke University’s senior and NCAA MOP, Kyle Singler.

Zhang Yang thought this choice was acceptable. Jimmy Butler was taken by the Chicago Bulls at the 25th pick. Although Boyan was picked just after, their team lacked a coach like Budenholzer, who had a keen eye for overseas players from his Spurs background, so it was understandable that he was overlooked.

Then there was Chandler Parsons, which was a pity. But looking purely at college performance, Singler was the superior white small forward and a local talent. Of course, Jordan would want to pick him up at the end of the first round.

Before joining the Thunder, Singler played as a backup small forward for the Pistons for three years and did quite well. Otherwise, even if the Thunder management made rash decisions, they wouldn’t have had such high expectations for him, offering a 5-year, $25 million contract in 2015.

But when he was a starter small forward, he couldn’t handle the pressure, his confidence shattered quickly. Combined with the advent of the small-ball era, this Final Four MOP quickly faded from the NBA.

For the 60th pick in the second round, Zhang Yang had his hopes high, but the Kings, who had long had their eyes on the small assassin, snatched him up with the 49th pick in the second round.

However, they couldn’t give Isaiah Thomas much playtime either; Collison was the main backup point guard.

After the draft, the free market kicked off, and Zhang Yang was full of anticipation for this summer’s free market.

However, their reinforcement plans couldn’t begin... the NBA lockout happened!

Jordan led the charge, transitioning from a player representative back in the day to a representative for the owners, refusing to compromise.

There were also moderate owners, like the Knicks’ Dolan, Lakers’ old Buss, Trail Blazers’ Allen, Chicago Bulls’ Reinsdorf, and Mavericks’ Cuban, who wanted to end the lockout as soon as possible and weren’t too concerned about reducing the player revenue share.

Some owners were indecisive; they didn’t depend on the team for profit but also wouldn’t mind paying less wages for more profit.

This made Zhang Yang dissatisfied with Jordan. Didn’t he understand the importance of a sufficiently long free market? Aren’t they making enough money?

At that moment, he truly felt that Jordan had become a true capitalist.

Looking back over the past couple of years, it seemed that the passion Jordan had for basketball in previous years was rarely felt anymore...

The capitalist’s goal is always to reduce costs and increase profits, never reducing exploitation just because the profits are big enough. Instead, they think large profits mean more room to cut costs.

Even raising player salaries is only seen when the benefits exceed the costs.

After all, money has to be spent, as evidenced by the Rockets’ past lessons. Having salary space and clauses, if it’s not spent, the team’s interests will be adversely affected.

Moreover, Jordan, unlike other owners, transitioned from a player to a manager, so he knew labor’s bottom line better and understood what the players were thinking.

However, a representative from the Players’ Union, Brother Cannon, wasn’t easy to deal with and directly confronted Jordan—when you played, you could make 30 million, but we can’t?

...

On July 1st, as soon as the lockout began, Zhang Yang rented a gym himself, continued training, took the rest needed, and spent time with his family, accidentally becoming a dad.

After a discussion, Zhang Yang and his girlfriend decided to have the baby, but neither he nor she had plans for marriage at the moment. Both in their early 20s, even with a child, they felt life was long and didn’t want to make hasty decisions. After all, one played in the NBA, and the other was in the entertainment industry, both having seen a lot.

The lockout also spurred Zhang Yang to form his training team and start a related company.

Jarett Young, who had learned from the Bobcats for several years, was recruited, and along with his dad, they prepared for this initiative, reaching a cooperation agreement with Tim Grove, someone Zhang Yang had known for years... Zhang just had to provide the funds, and the professionals would handle the rest.

Once the shutdown starts, it’s hard to stop. Arenas closed, NBA-related industries collectively banned using player-related materials, lasting five months.

By early December, the labor and management finally reached a consensus. Players received up to a 55% share of total income, signing the contract with satisfaction.

However, there was compromise too. The contract guarantee term for first-round rookies was shortened to two years. After the second year, the team could have a team option, and the maximum contract length was also reduced, now only five years.

There were also various restrictions and clauses, like the "Arenas Clause 2.0" led by the new owner of the Wizards.

The "Arenas Clause" introduced in 2003 was a mark of Arenas’ glory, but this time it was different; he stood shoulder to shoulder with Alan Houston.

Arenas Clause 2.0: Contracts signed before the new labor agreement can be amnestied, paying the salary without counting towards the salary cap.

But unlike the Houston Clause, amnestied players in this case are essentially "bid trading goods without chips." During the clearing period, if a team wants to sign the player, the new team pays the salary, and the amnesty team pays less; it’s a bidding system.