Far away in New York, Ben Wallace found Oakley's home with his suitcase. After knocking on the door, he said: "Hey, Charles, I'm here."
"Ben, what are you doing here in New York? Come in first." Oakley was shocked and pulled Ben Wallace in.
"Charles, I'm unemployed. You have a high status in the league. Please find me a job and a trial training opportunity." Ben Wallace said expectantly.
Oakley opened the refrigerator, took out a bottle of Ice Cream, threw it to Ben Wallace, and said angrily: "Where did you learn to flatter me?"
"Give me a cup of coffee, or ice water."
Ben Wallace threw the Coke back and said awkwardly: "The Wizards don't want me anymore. I have no money, so I can only come to you. I don't have the money to buy you a gift. I don't need money to flatter you..."
"Shut up!" Oakley scolded with a smile.
"Charles, big brother, please help me." Ben Wallace said sincerely.
After handing a glass of ice water to Ben Wallace, the Oakley man sat down next to him and said with an embarrassed look on his face: "I'll give it a try, don't worry, stay with me first, you can eat whatever I eat, there are always opportunities some."
"Ding ding ding..."
Then Ben Wallace's cell phone rang.
"Hello, I'm Ben Wallace."
"Hello, Ben Wallace, I am Hanbany, the assistant to Mr. Whitsitt, the general manager of the SuperSonics. Now I am informing you that you will participate in the SuperSonics' trial training on the 22nd of this month. Don't be late.
If you have any questions, you can ask your agent, oh, you don't have an agent, you can call this number, this is the contact number of the office. "
"O, OK, I, I will never, never be late."
Ben Wallace's mouth was wide open, he couldn't react, and he stuttered his answer.
The call ended quickly, and Ben Wallace reacted and shouted excitedly to Oakley: "Charles, the SuperSonics notified me of a tryout."
"That's a good thing, congratulations, Ben."
Oakley said with a smile on his face, and then thought for a while and said: "Ben, now that the Iron Fist King is back, if you have a chance to meet him, I suggest you flatter him, and he can make you stay with just one sentence. .Didn’t you learn how to flatter someone? This is a pretty good skill.”
"OK."
Ben Wallace said awkwardly.
…
On the 21st, Whitsitt called Zhou Quan and told him that a group of free agents would come for a trial tomorrow, starting at 10 a.m., and asked him to take a look.
At nine-thirty the next morning, he arrived at the headquarters training hall.
"Look, Iron Fist King!"
"God, I finally see the live Iron Fist King!"
"Heavyweight unified king, I want his autograph. I wonder if he will sign it for me?"
When a group of guys from the trial training saw Zhou Quan, they were all very excited.
"Hey guys, hello." Zhou Quan waved.
"Hello Iron Fist King."
"Hello, boss."
Everyone shouted excitedly.
Zhou Quan was a little funny when he heard someone calling him boss. Who is this?
"what's your name?"
He looked at the player who called him boss, a guy as strong as a black iron tower with an afro on his head.
"Ben, boss, my name is Ben Wallace, I play center." Ben Wallace said hurriedly.
"You play center?"
Zhou Quan almost bit his tongue, stared at Ben Wallace and asked: "Tell me honestly, how tall are you? Don't try to lie to me."
A trace of hesitation flashed across Ben Wallace's face, should I tell the truth, or should I lie about my height?
Whithit looked at Ben Wallace's information, a look of understanding flashed across his face, and said: "The official height is 206 centimeters."
"Haha..." There was laughter.
Ben Wallace's face turned red, but it was hard to tell because of his dark face. He said, "Boss, my naked height is 204 centimeters."
Zhou Quan smiled, I believe you are a ghost, at most 202 centimeters.
"With your height and playing as a center forward, do you have any good abilities?" He still paid some extra attention to this guy who considered himself his younger brother.
Ben Wallace became excited and immediately raised two thick arms and said: "Boss, I focus on defense and have strength. My strongest bench press is 202 kilograms. I can withstand and defend in the low position. I can do any hard work or dirty work." Dry."
"202 kilograms?"
Zhou Quan looked at the two arms. They were indeed thick. They looked even thicker than the postman's arms.
"Okay, now the trial begins." An assistant coach shouted.
"Go to the trial training and show your strengths. I don't need your comprehensiveness." Zhou Quan gave his own advice.
His advice was only listened to by a few smart and simple-minded players. The other players still tried their best to show everything they had during the trial training.
However, the opportunities were limited. They wanted to show everything, including offensive and defensive rebounds, so in the end nothing was shown.
Ben Wallace showed off his strength, defense and rebounding.
His strength is indeed very good, very good. Although he is seriously lacking in height, his defensive strength is very good and his center of gravity is low. He does have a skill.
And the rebounding is not bad, coupled with low post defense, it has two strengths. For the current Sonics' poor inside line, these two strengths are needed. It's just that the offense is too bad, maybe even worse than Rodman.
Another person who impressed him a bit was Brad Miller. He was undrafted in the NBA draft last year, and then went to Europe to play for a few months. He is good at long-range shooting, his offense is mainly shooting, and his defensive skills are solid. He played in the Hornets last season. After playing more than thirty games, he was given up.
What he showed was his shooting ability and defense.
The last one who impressed him was Bruce Bowen. This guy only defended and shot open jump shots, showing the most typical 3D characteristics.
These three people were all people who listened to his advice. He likes obedient guys.
In the end, at Zhou Quan's suggestion, Whitsitt chose to keep Ben Wallace, Brad Miller, and Bruce Bowen, each with a basic salary of 300,000.
After these three guys heard it, their mouths burst into tears with joy.
Two fringe centers, Jelani McCoy and Greg Foster, were bought out of their minimum-salary contracts and became free agents again.
…
At the end of July, the NBA’s trade freeze period ended.
Last year, Pippen signed and then traded for Mosaic. Now he is traded again. The Blazers took advantage of him because of the foolishness of many people, and took over his big contract with 4 years and 66 million left.
Pippen's contract also makes his total career salary even more than Jordan.
…
In addition, at the end of July, Zhou Ye's college entrance examination results came out. She took the science test, with a total score of 750 and a score of 643.
Her grades were not very good. Zhou Quan used these grades to apply to three universities: the University of Michigan, the University of Washington, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The first two are public, and the latter, MIT, is private. These three universities are currently the best universities in the United States for nuclear physics.
…
On August 7th, Zeng Li, who had not had her period last time, got up in the morning and took a pregnancy test with a pregnancy test paper, and was surprised to find two lines.
Zhou Jianguo and Lin Yufen were so happy that they finally wanted to be grandparents.
Of course Zhou Quan is also very happy. He is not young anymore, over 27 years old, which is considered a late birth in China.
Half a month later, I went to the hospital for a check-up and it was confirmed that I was one month pregnant and my due date was April 27th next year, which happened to be the end of the regular season.
At the end of August, he received admission notices from the University of Washington and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Finally, Zhou Quan chose the University of Washington for his sister.
Founded in 1861, this university has always been among the top universities in the world, no worse than UCLA, and its annual funding investment has always been higher than Harvard, Yale, Stanford, MIT, Cambridge and Oxford.
The University of Washington has nearly 20 Nobel Prize-winning professors and nearly 200 American academician-level scholars. A strong faculty is the foundation of this university.
Moreover, the University of Washington is located in the center of Seattle, not far from the newly built Central Gymnasium, next to the Pacific Ocean and Lake Washington, and very close to Zhou Quan's villa, only a few kilometers away. You don't have to live on campus, and you can come back for lunch.
Things with my sister were settled, but things with the team were not.
Whitshit often informed him about the lineup. The main center and power forward did not find any good targets.
Especially center, which is the hardest to find among the five positions. Good centers are in short supply.
…
On August 28, Zhou Quan sent Zhou Ye to register at the University of Washington. There was no need to live on campus, so the procedure was very simple. School will officially start on the 1st of next month.
Entering September, the SuperSonics lineup has also been determined.
Center: Eldon Campbell, Brad Miller, Ben Wallace
Forward: Rodman, Rashard Lewis, Otis Thorpe, Bruce Bowen, Corey Maggette, Ruben Patterson
Defenders: Zhou Quan, Brent Barry, Shamond Williams, Flat Vinson
Whitsitt brought in Campbell, and head coach Paul Westphal decided to play him as the main center, with Brad Miller as the first substitute and Ben Wallace as the second substitute.
The two forward positions are not fixed starting positions for the time being. Four forward rotations, plus forward and back swingmen Corey Maggette and Ruben Patterson can also substitute for the third position. Five rotations should be enough.
The back line is relatively simple, with four people rotating in two positions, plus Corey Maggette and Reuben Patterson, there are also five people rotating.
Among these thirteen people, except Zhou Quan, Rodman, and Lewis were last year's rookies, the other ten are all newcomers.
Except for Zhou Quan, whose contract has not yet been signed, the others are all contract players.
Ebell's annual salary is $7.98 million, Rodman is $5 million, Barry is $3.96 million, Corey Maggette is $1.26 million, Ruben Patterson is $900,000, Thorpe is $500,000, Rashard Lewis is $390,000, and Bruce Bowen is $300,000. , Williams 500,000, Flat Vinson 490,000, Brad Miller 300,000, Ben Wallace 300,000.
Among them, 6 players have a minimum salary. Maggette has a first-round rookie contract, Patterson and Lewis have a second-round rookie contract. The annual salary of nine players is below the average salary, and eight players have an annual salary of one million. the following.
But Campbell, the 31-year-old center, has a high salary, and Rodman's contract is not small. The combined annual salary of these twelve people reaches 21.88 million.
It's just that both Eberle and Rodman have veteran contracts, and the twelve players together actually occupy a total of 17.25 million in space.
With 7.25 million left, you can continue to sign two more people, or leave all of it to Zhou Quan.
After discussing with Zhou Quan, Whitchet felt that there were enough people. Except for Rodman and Campbell, they were all young people and there was no need to sign any more people.
So on September 3, Zhou Quan and the Sonics finally officially signed a new contract.
Zhou Quan chose a three-year contract. Ballmer originally planned to give a starting salary of 40 million. With an annual increase of 10.5%, the total three-year contract would be US$133 million.
The current luxury tax ratio is one to one, that is, the amount exceeded will be punished.
Therefore, this contract will require the Sonics to pay hundreds of millions of dollars in luxury tax to the league in the next three years.
Zhou Quan refused. He was not short of money, but the main reason was that if the contract was too big, it would put a lot of pressure on the SuperSonics' operations.
Moreover, Ballmer has given him many privileges and the promise to transfer team shares before, so there is no need to get such a big contract again.
In the end, he chose a starting salary of 30 million, 33.15 million in the second year, 36.63 million in the third year, and a total contract of US$99.78 million.
This contract occupies the remaining 7.25 million of the team's space in the new season, and the part that exceeds the luxury line will be paid by the SuperSonics to the league in luxury tax, which is nearly 80 million in luxury tax in three years.
But even so, his annual salary is the first in the league.
Including his annual salary, the SuperSonics' total salary in the new season will reach $54.1 million.
After signing the contract, the media immediately ranked all teams, and the SuperSonics' total salary ranked sixth in the league.
The Trail Blazers are first with $73.53 million; the Knicks are second with $71.35 million; the Lakers are third with $54.32 million; the Pacers are fourth with $54.3 million; and the Heat are sixth with $51.3 million.
…
(End of chapter)
