Almighty Coach

At Los Angeles International Airport, Dai Li stood at the exit of the pick-up passage, looking eagerly at the crowd who came out.

Finally, Xiao Yunan's figure appeared in Li Dai's sight.

Li Dai immediately greeted him and took the suitcase from Xiao Yunan's hand.

"You're usually so busy, I never thought you'd make a special trip to America to see me." Dai Li said with a smile.

"Smug! I didn't come here specially to see you. I came to America for business, so I just came to see you." Xiao Yunan's coquettish tone made Li Dai's heart itch.

Then Xiao Yunan lowered his voice, and continued: "We Dingtian Sports bought the Los Angeles Clippers. The contract has been signed, but there are still some legal procedures that have not been completed, so we have not announced it to the public."

"You bought the Clippers?" Dai Li showed a surprised expression, and he continued: "I have read some news reports, there are many rumors about the Clippers deal, and some Chinese companies want to buy the Clippers. The news about the fleet, I thought it was just fake news released by the media for hype, but I didn’t expect it to be true, and the Chinese buyer is still you.”

"In recent years, many domestic enterprises have begun to deploy overseas and purchase overseas assets on a large scale. Those of us who are engaged in real estate are even more keen on overseas investment, especially some overseas fixed asset investment. However, overseas fixed assets hold The cost is relatively high. Compared with it, the NBA team is a better quality asset. Operating the team can make money, and the team can also appreciate in value. Even if it is sold in the future, it can make money." Xiao Yunan said.

"As far as I know, Stark, the owner of the Clippers, asked for a lot. How much did you spend?" Dai Li asked.

"1.7 billion US dollars." Xiao Yunan replied.

"So many?" Dai Li gasped.

Dai Li had an exchange with Blake before. At that time, Blake believed that the Clippers could sell for more than 1 billion US dollars, but Li Dai felt that even if there was a premium, the price would be 11.2 billion at most. Unexpectedly, the final transaction price reached 1.7 billion. This was half more than Dai Li's previous estimate.

"Actually, spending 1.7 billion US dollars to buy the Los Angeles Clippers is indeed a bit expensive, but the development momentum of the NBA has been very good in recent years. If there are better Chinese players to join in the next few years and open up the domestic market, Then this investment will have a better return." Xiao Yunan continued: "If there are no accidents, in the future, I may be stationed in Los Angeles to be in charge of the operation of the Clippers."

"Really? That's great. We finally don't have to live in separate places." Dai Li immediately showed excitement, and he couldn't help holding Xiao Yunan's hand.

Xiao Yunan, however, let out a long sigh: "It's just that what's left of the current Clippers team is a mess. The team has no star players, and its performance is also the worst in the Western Conference. More importantly, even the head coach has left."

"I've seen related reports that because of Stark's racially discriminatory remarks, the black coach of the Clippers refused to work for Stark and has resigned from the Clippers." Dai Li said.

"Then do you know that this head coach has already got a job as a head coach in the Bucks?" Xiao Yunan smiled disdainfully, and continued: "He just resigned under the pretext of racial discrimination, Sta Ke is a miser. His salary to the head coach is only 3 million U.S. dollars, ranking second to last among all the head coaches in the NBA. The head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies is even lower than him at 2.8 million U.S. dollars. So he has long wanted to leave the Clippers. Now that he has the excuse of racial discrimination, he doesn't have to pay liquidated damages even if he resigns.

Dai Li nodded silently: "The salary of 3 million dollars in California is really not as high as the salary of 2.8 million dollars in Tennessee. California's various tax rates have always been high, and Tennessee is one of the seven states that are exempt from state taxes. One, and there are a lot of tax breaks. So if you calculate it this way, the salary of the Grizzlies coach will be more.”

Several states in the United States are exempt from state taxes, such as Texas and Nevada; some states are exempt from consumption tax, such as Oregon; and some states have reductions in property taxes and gasoline taxes.

For the kind of coach with an annual salary of millions, or the kind of NBA player with an annual salary of tens of millions, saving a few percent of state taxes is equivalent to making a lot of money, so like the Rockets and Spurs The teams in Texas have an advantage when they pay their players, because the actual salary of the players will be more.

In places like California where taxes are relatively high, the actual salary of players will have a relatively large discount, and paying various taxes is enough to get rid of the skin once. Fortunately, the teams in California are located in big ball markets, and players can make up for more taxes through commercial value.

I only heard Xiao Yunan continue to say: "Now the head coach of the Clippers is temporarily replaced by an assistant coach, but this is not a long-term solution. So I came to the United States this time to solve the problem of the Clippers coach. I Dad means, I hope you will be the head coach of the Clippers."

"Me?" Dai Li suddenly felt caught off guard.

Li Dai really wanted to tell Xiao Yunan that he was not a basketball coach, and his understanding of basketball was not good, and he was not even as good as a professional player, so he might not be qualified to be the head coach of an NBA team, but when the words came to his lips, he swallowed went back.

"I became famous through track and field, not basketball, and I'm not a professional watching coach. The whole world knows this. Dingtian Group spent 1.7 billion dollars to buy the Clippers. How important is the coach of the team? How could Yunan's father easily give this position to me, a track and field coach? Track and field and basketball are different sports, and a good track and field coach doesn't mean he can coach basketball."

"Xiao Dingtian can do hundreds of billions of dollars in business, so it's not like he doesn't even have this common sense? Even if Xiao Dingtian doesn't understand sports, he has no sports knowledge at all, but the people around him don't know all about it, right? It involves 17 There will always be someone to remind Xiao Dingtian of a team worth 100 million dollars. I don’t believe that a real estate giant like Dingtian doesn’t have a professional think tank team. It’s about 1.7 billion dollars of investment, and Xiao Dingtian will never make a hasty decision.”

"Moreover, there are many excellent basketball coaches in the United States. I know of four or five former NBA team coaches who are now idle at home. Besides, the assistant coaches of those strong teams are not idle. For example, the assistant coaches of the Spurs and Warriors are more than enough to be the head coach of other teams. It should not be difficult to invite such a person to be the head coach of the Clippers.”

"According to the current NBA market, hiring an excellent coach with coaching experience will cost four to five million U.S. dollars. I can afford this amount. Dingtian Group is rich and powerful, and the acquisition fee of 1.7 billion U.S. dollars has been paid out. , you shouldn’t mind spending the extra four or five million dollars to find a professional basketball coach, right?”

"Then Xiao Dingtian asked me to coach the Clippers on purpose. I just proposed to Yunan a few days ago, and now Yunan's father wants me to be the head coach of the Clippers. Is this considered a promotion? It's not that simple, in addition to promotion, it may be a test." Thinking of this, Dai Li frowned and thought.

"Xiao Dingtian is not testing my ability. If I can get the best coach in Lawrence, there is no doubt about my personal ability. I believe that no one in the world will question my ability. In this way, he is testing Can I contribute to the Dingtian Group? In layman's terms, it is to see if I am useful to the Dingtian Group. I am a coach, and I am not good at business, so coaching the Clippers may be me It is the most useful place for Dingtian Group."

"Or, Xiao Dingtian hopes that I can contribute to the Dingtian Group. Xiao Dingtian only has one daughter, Yu Nan, who is also the future heir of the Dingtian Group, so I, the future son-in-law, also need to make a contribution. In terms of performance, at least I can't let outsiders think that I am a little boy who is useless to Dingtian Group."

At this time, Dai Li couldn't help but think of the "Nine Dragons Seizing the Inheritance" in the Kangxi period of the Qing Dynasty. At that time, Emperor Kangxi would send errands to the princes in order to test the princes, and in order to impress Kangxi well, the princes also showed their magical powers across the sea.

Dai Li sighed: "I can't refuse the position of head coach of the Clippers. For Yunan, I have to take over this job. It's not easy for the son-in-law of a rich family!"

...

Back home, Dai Li asked Xiao Yunan to rest first to catch up with the jet lag, while he sat in front of the computer and began to look up information on the Clippers.

Most of the NBA team's information is public and can be easily found online, so through the Internet, Dai Li can learn about the situation of the Clippers.

The current record of the Clippers is 16 wins and 30 losses, ranking second to last in the West. Judging from this record alone, the Clippers have missed the playoffs.

The best choice for this kind of team that is destined not to make it to the playoffs is to be completely rotten, lose as many games as possible, achieve an extremely bad record, and then get a high pick in the new round of draft lottery The draft pick, select a potential rookie in the draft. If you can get the top three picks and pick one of the No. 2 No. 1 picks, that would be a great thing.

However, the Clippers' first-round pick is not in the hands of the Clippers themselves.

Five years ago, in order to hit the championship, the Clippers formed the so-called "Big Three", that is, brought together three star players. This "Big Three" model was the best way for NBA teams to win the championship at that time. lineup combination.

At that time, in order to form the Big Three, the Clippers used the first-round draft picks in the next few years as bargaining chips, and exchanged two All-Star players from other teams. This behavior was equivalent to exchanging the future of the team for the ball. team now.

However, luck is not on the side of the Clippers. The Big Three of the Clippers have been plagued by injuries since the day they were formed. Three star players will always be injured, sometimes one, sometimes Sometimes, two people are injured at the same time. The injured person recovers from injury, and the other will be injured again immediately. In 82 games that season, the Clippers' Big Three played less than 20 games together.

Immediately after the next season, one of the "giant" was reimbursed for the season, and when he returned, his condition was not as good as before, and he could no longer meet the standard of a "giant".

At the same time, the problem of age also began to appear. When the "Big Three" joined the Clippers, they were all over 30 years old, and they themselves entered a period of decline. The so-called time is not forgiving. The decline, the All-Star level data that year no longer exists.

The "Big Three" also knew that with three old guys whose status was declining rapidly, it was impossible to hit the championship, so the three decisively chose to go their separate ways after the contract expired, and went to other teams to find a new team. A championship, the Clippers' "Big Three" were disbanded. Not only did the Clippers fail to win the championship, but they lost the team's future because they traded away the team's draft picks for the next few years.

So it doesn't make any sense for the current Clippers to be bad. They don't have draft picks in their hands. Even if they get the bottom one, they are just making wedding dresses for others. team.

The disintegration of the "Big Three", the only benefit to the Clippers is to clear the team's salary space. The salaries of star players are relatively high. If high-salary players leave, the Clippers will naturally get more salary space, and the Clippers can also use the high salaries to go to other teams to tap the potential of some star players or rookie contracts that have just ended newcomer.

As a big ball market, Los Angeles is quite attractive to players. If the Clippers are willing to pay the maximum salary, those All-Star players who are not fighting for the championship but just making more money may still be attracted to the Clippers. The team came.

As for the potential rookies who have just finished their rookie contracts, although they are restricted players, the Clippers can also poach corners with high salaries and make a higher offer. Get a potential rookie.

Whether it is directly attracting all-star players with a maximum salary, or poaching potential stocks that have just finished rookie contracts with high offers, they can immediately form a combat effectiveness, and the Clippers can also recover quickly. Although they are not enough to win the championship, they still have a chance to impact About the playoffs.

However, the Clippers chose another path, which is to completely push to rebuild.

Without draft picks in hand, the Clippers naturally cannot rely on bad performance to obtain high-ranked rookies, so the road of rebuilding by consecutive bad performance and hoarding a few No. 2 picks cannot be implemented immediately.

Since the Clippers have sufficient salary space, they use the method of taking over junk contracts to obtain draft picks.

There will always be some junk contracts in the NBA. For example, the team spent a lot of money to sign a certain player, but the player's performance did not meet expectations. Obviously high salary and low ability, this formed a junk contract. Every year in the NBA, there will be "useless people" who earn tens of millions of salaries but don't play.

As a team, of course we hope to clean up these junk contracts and let those "useless people" who can't play and get high salaries get out, but other teams are not fools, and they won't be receivers if it doesn't benefit them. So if the team wants to get rid of the rubbish contract, it has to pay some price, such as adding an additional excellent player, a potential rookie, or simply giving a future draft pick. With such benefits, there will be a receiver Come to pick up the plate.

The Clippers became a catcher once. They took over the junk contract from other teams, and at the same time won the opponent's outstanding players and draft picks.

The negative impact of doing so is that the huge junk contract also locks up the Clippers' salary space. Before the junk contract ends, the Clippers have no extra money to attract big-name stars.

Looking at the information about the Clippers, Dai Li showed a distressed expression.

"The junk contract that the Clippers ate, so that they have no extra money to recruit new players, which means that the Clippers can only rely on the existing lineup to continue playing. With the current weak lineup of the Clippers, It’s impossible to get good grades.”

"And the Clippers' draft picks have all been traded out. It's useless to put them badly. The draft picks obtained by taking over junk contracts now seem to be relatively late. There are no high-ranked draft picks. Quan, this team has no future at all.”

"As for the past, the Clippers' best result was only in the second round of the Western Conference. Not to mention the championship, they have not even entered the Western Conference Finals."

"It seems that what I'm about to take over is a team with no past, no present, and no future! Another hellish challenge!"