April 13th is the last match day of the 2010-2011 regular season.
The Mavericks defeated the Hornets 119-96 at home, with a 23-point advantage, knocking the Hornets out of the playoffs.
The Clippers "let go" at home and lost to the Grizzlies 90:105. The two teams ranked seventh and eighth in the Western Conference respectively.
In this game, Min Congda got his wish, causing the Clippers to drop to eighth place in the Western Conference.
He thought that although they entered the playoffs, they were eighth in the Western Conference last year and they are still eighth this year.
When the time comes, they will be eliminated in the first round of the playoffs without making any progress, and the team's reputation will slowly decline.
After another two or three seasons, when the Lakers, Spurs, Grizzlies, Thunder and other teams, the old strong teams become stronger and the new strong teams emerge, and the Clippers are suppressed, the Clippers will be ready to make a move. Want to disintegrate.
Although the team's operations have been good in the past two years, while the income is high, the expenses are also high.
When revenue declines but expenses remain unchanged, the Clippers are not far from bankruptcy.
Just like some people, their current salary is 20,000 yuan a month, and they use 10,000 yuan to repay the loan to buy a large house of 200 square meters.
There is still 10,000 left in salary and bonus, which is more than enough for monthly use, so there is no need to worry at all.
But the good times did not last long. When the economy went down and the industry environment was not good, I was fired from the company, lost my job and lost my income. The monthly loan of 10,000 yuan was a reminder.
The better ones worked hard to find a decent job and managed to maintain it, but their income could no longer reach the previous level, but the loan of 10,000 yuan a month would not change.
In worse cases, loans and repayments are suspended, and eventually the house is repossessed, leaving the bank to work for nothing.
Min Congda saw many people like this when he was in the bank, because people always make expectations based on the present and simply think that the future will be better.
But the actual situation is probably already the best now, and it will only get worse in the future.
Not to mention anything else, the Clippers' team staff and player salaries alone are a huge expense.
Recruiting Steve Kerr and Jeff Ball is a salary expenditure of millions of dollars.
Moreover, Min Congda is determined not to lay off employees. Even if the coaching staff has more people, he will not lay off employees and maintain a huge team.
Not to mention the various departments of the team, they have only increased but not decreased, with the number of departments increasing by two compared to last season.
Headcount increased by six percent and total payroll expenses increased by 25 percent.
The Clippers try to provide the best when it comes to hotels and flights during away games, and they definitely don't save money.
Although sponsorships from various enterprises have increased, a considerable part of them has been invested by Min Congda in the bottomless pit of China's Basketball Development Foundation.
Olshey went to China again in March and stayed for more than a week. After returning, he said that basketball games are in full swing and their influence in some Chinese cities is growing.
But I still haven't found any outstanding seedlings. Even Fan Chen can't pass the test, let alone Olshe and Min Congda.
Min Congda was quite satisfied with the "Three Treasures Plan" and asked for its continued implementation and continued investment.
There is also the huge "Afang Palace Project" that Min Congda has not forgotten.
In February of this year, Wells Fargo, National City Bank and the Clippers signed a strategic cooperation agreement due to their previous good cooperation foundation (opening restaurants), coupled with the Clippers' excellent performance and considerable potential.
The two banks provided credit facilities of US$15 million and US$20 million respectively to the Clippers, which can provide loan funds for the Clippers to acquire or construct some fixed assets.
Although $35 million is really a drop in the bucket for building a new arena, it is too little.
But Min Chongda has always intended to buy the old Great Western Forum Arena first, and then consider building a new arena on this basis.
Being able to obtain a 35 million loan line means that the Clippers are one step closer to "Afang Palace".
Naturally, Min Congda is one step closer to completing the task.
Thinking of this, when the game between the Clippers and the Grizzlies ended, Min Congda showed a very satisfied smile.
This smile was photographed by a reporter on the sidelines and became the headline photo of the sports section of the Los Angeles Chronicle that day.
The title of the article is, "The Clippers general manager smiled at the loss. The Clippers fell to eighth in the Western Conference and seemed to be full of confidence in defeating the Spurs. 》
Of course Min Congda didn't mean it this way, but according to normal people's understanding, it was indeed a confident smile.
Min Congda laughed when he saw this report and said to himself: "Which of their mentally retarded reporters can come up with such a headline? You all don't understand me at all."
Since then, the Eastern and Western Conference playoff lineups have been released.
In the West, the Spurs face the Clippers, the Lakers face the Grizzlies, the Mavericks face the Trail Blazers, and the Thunder face the Nuggets.
In the Eastern Conference, the Bulls face the 76ers, the Celtics face the Knicks, the Cavaliers face the Hawks, and the Heat face the Magic.
In terms of championship odds, the Lakers still rank first since the beginning of the season. People expect the Lakers and Kobe to win three consecutive championships.
In this way, Kobe, like Jordan, completed two and three consecutive championships.
And Phil Jackson will achieve an unprecedented record of four three consecutive championships.
Following closely behind in the rankings is the Miami Heat, although they are only fourth in the Eastern Conference.
But the combination of Bosh + Wade + Gay cannot be underestimated in the playoffs.
Third and fourth are the Bulls and Spurs, who are first in the East and West respectively.
The Clippers ranked third from the bottom among the 16 teams, just one point above the 76ers and Grizzlies.
The odds of the teams with the highest odds are just meaningless.
Min Congda was in a good mood after basically completing the task.
The first game between the Clippers and Spurs will be on April 17.
If seven games are played, it will be played until April 29.
However, Min Congda does not think it is possible to play seven games.
It is estimated that it will be over in five to six games, which means the season will end at the end of April.
Then in May, at the turn of spring and summer, when the weather is the best, it is suitable for fishing!
Therefore, Min Congda and Daddario made an appointment to go fishing in the Atlantic Ocean in May.
Daddario was very surprised, "Smart, maybe you will still be competing in May?"
Min Congda said: "Well... there is a possibility, but I think it is more likely that we are fishing on the boat."
To this end, Min Congda spent US$2,000 to buy a pair of high-quality carbon fiber sea fishing rods.
This is his largest single purchase since coming to the United States.
A fishing rod worth more than 10,000 yuan. If I don’t get some fame from fishing, I’m really sorry for the money.
Of course, in order to prevent deductions for winning, Min Congda prepared 6,000 US dollars and put it in his card.
He thought, just like last season, winning two games would be enough.
On April 16, Min Congda and the Clippers players boarded a plane to San Antonio.
Started their playoff journey in the 2010-2011 season.
At the same time, it is also Min Congda's biggest nightmare journey this season.
(End of chapter)
