Since arriving in New York, Min Congda has taken at least one day a week to have a meal and chat with David Stern.
The location was chosen at a Chinese restaurant called "Chen Kee", which specializes in Cantonese cuisine and Cantonese dim sum. Among the many Chinese restaurants in New York, it is relatively in line with Min Congda's taste - most so-called Chinese restaurants cater to Americans. The taste has long since changed into a mess.
Min Congda spent money to book a small private room here for a long time, specifically for the two of them to dine and talk. Stern also hired people from the FBI to carry out anti-eavesdropping settings in this private room.
Of course, the content of their conversation was not that scandalous. Most of it was some internal information from the NBA, as well as some of the two's views on the league's future policies. It was a normal exchange.
However, if someone wants to eavesdrop and record the content, spreading it will inevitably cause a minor disturbance.
After all, in the conversation between the two, Stern's intention of hoping that Min Congda would become NBA president became stronger and stronger.
Especially in September, before the official start of the new season, Min Congda showed unprecedented toughness when negotiating with the players union regarding the salary cap issue for the 2016-2017 season.
The players union requires the NBA to raise the salary cap once and for all in the 2016-17 season after the implementation of the new collective bargaining agreement.
This will cause the salary cap to skyrocket from US$70 million in the 15-16 season to US$94 million, with room for an increase of up to US$24 million, an increase of 34%. Each team will have nearly one more maximum salary.
Such a huge increase is naturally a huge benefit to the stars, and their salary levels will be greatly improved.
The maximum salary will also directly enter the 30 million era from the previous 20 million era. The 30 million annual salary that was once unattainable for Kobe Bryant will become a common salary level in the near future.
For players, playing football is the food of youth. It is best to get the money you can get immediately, because you don't know what will happen tomorrow.
A devastating injury may end a player's career and prevent him from getting a big contract.
Therefore, the players hope that the excess revenue brought by the new broadcast contract can be immediately added to the salary cap, which will bring direct benefits to the players when signing next year's contract.
However, the league does not think so. It is not that it wants to take money from the players. The proportion of income is fixed, and the players will not be less than a point.
However, the league is more rational and believes that directly and significantly increasing the salary cap will produce a lot of junk contracts in 2016, allowing teams to sign casual contracts with checks and disrupting the free market.
Once this type of junk contracts increases, the adverse impact in the next few years will be that teams will tighten their money, greatly reduce expenditures on some mid-level contracts, especially mid-level contracts, and reduce the years and amounts, so that the middle and lower-level players in the league will not be able to get Enough protection.
To put it bluntly, a one-time increase in the salary cap will help stars, especially superstars, obtain excess and stable income, but will harm the stability of middle and lower-level stars.
Although the players union represents the interests of all players, like the referees association, it is mainly the stars who can really speak out.
This year’s players’ union chairman and vice-chairman are Chris Paul and LeBron James respectively, both of whom are stars at the top of the league.
Once they sign a new contract, it will be at the level of 30 million to 40 million a year, and their income will be twice that of the previous generation of stars.
No one has trouble with money, and the stars’ incomes are high, and the incomes of the agents and teams behind them are also rising.
A large number of people are vested interests, so how could they not want to take advantage of this 24 million excess salary cap increase?
Faced with the powerful stars and the players union, the new president Silva originally decided to compromise, because no matter how you release the money in batches, it will eventually go to the players, and it will make no difference to the league.
As for those middle and lower-level players, their rights and interests are not of concern to the league. If you don't fight, others will.
Stars are scarce, but there is no shortage of middle- and lower-level players. There are always talents from all over the world who want to squeeze in to play in the NBA.
In this case, it is impossible for the voices of middle- and lower-level players to be heard, and everyone is happy for superstars and stars to get super-large contracts.
But as the vice president and a person with a say in the league, Min Congda disapproved of such a thing happening.
Balance, so that every group in this alliance can benefit, has always been his purpose.
The emergence of junk contracts harms the interests of the team, reduces the protection of middle and lower-level players, and only enriches those stars and agents. This is undoubtedly not in line with the core socialist values upheld by Min Congda.
Therefore, during the negotiations in September, Min Congda fiercely opposed a direct increase in the salary cap to US$94 million. Instead, he requested that part of the extra money be used to set up a fund to help solve the lives of ordinary players in the league, just like the referee contract. Safeguarding issues.
As for the salary cap, he believes that it should be raised moderately, and it should take at least three years to gradually rise to a higher position, so that the income from the increase can be reasonably allocated to each year's contract.
These opinions are also held by many old-school officials in the league, but in the face of the powerful players union and Adam Silva's compromise, their voices are not taken seriously.
The emergence of Min Congda gave these old-school officials a channel to speak out. He received strong support from these "old-school" officials. At the negotiation meeting, Min Congda showed unprecedented toughness, determination, and eloquence. His series of The speeches and opinions left the players union representatives speechless for a moment.
The league's old-school officials said privately, "Smart's style is really like David."
As a result, Min Congda received the support of a large number of old-school officials in the league. They believed that Silva was too compromising and weak in dealing with matters. He may become increasingly weak in future dialogues with players, which is not conducive to the development of the league.
For example, in the negotiations to legalize gambling, Silva almost entirely sided with the major shareholders rather than taking an objective and neutral position.
A few people even have the idea that "Smart might be the president of the league."
Of course, Stern saw all this. On a rainy weekend, he once again asked Min Cong to go to the restaurant for tea and snacks.
Stern's favorite foods are shrimp dumplings and barbecued pork buns. After retiring, he became less restrained in his diet. He was very happy every time he ate. He was visibly fatter than before.
"David, you should eat less of these things. Do you know that this is bad for your cardiovascular system?"
Min Congda said worriedly when he saw Stern enjoying his meal.
In 2011, Stern had to step down as president due to a cerebral hemorrhage.
As people age, cardiovascular disease is the number one killer of health, and many people die from cardiovascular disease every year.
Of course, 95% of the reason why Stern got sick in the first place was because Min Congda was doing things behind his back, which almost made the old man mad.
Now he is advising Stern to eat less. If you want him to die later, why bother in the first place.
Stern drank a cup of herbal tea, stopped his chopsticks, and said, "Life is short, I'm retired, why not enjoy it?"
Min Congda smiled and said: "Retirement? I don't think you are retired. If you really want to retire, you should go to Florida, which is suitable for retired elderly people, instead of staying in New York, where you will still be busy until dark every day."
"Florida is not for me, New York is my home."
"By the way, Smart, you must be under a lot of pressure recently, right? The media's criticism of you has increased visibly."
As he spoke, Stern took out a copy of the New York Times and placed it in front of Min Congda. The sports section mentioned the recent negotiations.
The report said, "After Smart Min became a league official, he stood on the side of the team and started a confrontation with the players."
Min Congda glanced at it and threw the newspaper away, saying: "Fucking fart! I am obviously on the side of the interests of the majority of the players, and these media are just on the side of the superstars!"
Stern said: "In the eyes of the media and fans, only stars are considered players, and those ordinary players are just cannon fodder and ants. And this is different from referees. Star referees do not get the support of fans and media. The power of public opinion of stars Much bigger. Some fans themselves are ants at the bottom, but they like to stand on the side of their favorite stars, even if the stars are actually super rich."
Min Congda said: "I know that people are always irrational. But I need to be rational."
Stern said: "You are not the president, so you don't have to. I think what you have done now is enough, so... stop it, Smart."
"Stop? What do you mean? Do you think we should compromise? Is this why you invited me to dinner today?"
"Yes Smart, after all, Silva is the president. If you keep going against him and making it difficult for him, it will be detrimental in the long run. He has already shown goodwill to you and given you the position of vice president, so you should still Support him."
Stern appears to be a lobbyist.
Min Congda's toughness in the negotiations made Silva, as the president, a bit indifferent.
"Then...what if I am the president?"
Hearing what Min Congda said, there was an imperceptible smile on Stern's lips.
"You are the president, of course I have to listen to you."
(End of chapter)
