On July 2, 1997, Thailand had to abandon the fixed exchange rate system and implement a floating exchange rate system. On the same day, the exchange rate of the Thai baht against the US dollar fell by 17%, and the financial turmoil in Southeast Asia began!

At the same time, Li Wei, one of the initiators of the storm, was busy with the publicity work of joining the Knicks!

The league packaged Li Wei's joining the Knicks as a public welfare activity to care for the disabled, and every time Li Wei played, he would donate $10,000 to the disabled!

David Stern said in an interview with reporters: As a dwarfism patient, Li Wei dared to challenge the NBA league with an average height of more than two meters, which is a very remarkable move, and young people and people with disabilities in the United States should learn from Li Wei and learn from his spirit of not being afraid of difficulties and striving for progress. The alliance is convinced that it is precisely with this spirit that Li Wei can achieve such great success.

As for whether the participation of people with disabilities in NBA teams will affect the league's fair competition, Stern also explained.

Li Wei, a dwarfism sufferer, will only play in garbage time and will not affect the intensity of NBA games. In fact, every year the NBA will sign some sick and disabled people to join the team, and caring for people with disabilities is a tradition in the NBA.

The difference between Li Wei and those people is only that he can really play. A special player playing is not enough to prove that the level of the NBA has declined, and the NBA is still the highest level of basketball league in the world!

Putting up the banner of the disabled, and not really affecting the game, no one can hack Li Wei anymore. Whoever dares to hack Li Wei will be surrounded by disabled people the next day!

Thinking in another direction, the dwarf, who is four or five meters tall, is not afraid of hardships and dangers, and it is indeed inspirational to challenge the professional league with an average height of more than two meters. Now that the series of the most mentally retarded president in history has ended, and the direction of the wind has changed, everyone can only change from black to praise!

"As long as the mentally handicapped president is not the president and does not harm the Knicks, we still support him!"

"As a disabled person suffering from dwarfism, Li Wei has to challenge the professional league, and this fighting spirit is worth learning from!"

"Long live the public welfare undertakings for the disabled!"

Fans in New York are more aligned with the media than ever on this issue. Anyway, Li Wei is on the field in garbage time, it's useless, shouting two sentences to care for the disabled, support and support, which not only shows that he is caring, but also doesn't have to spend money, why not?

Of course, in the midst of an ode, there are voices of opposition.

"As a disabled person, Li Wei can play on the field, I have no problem with this, but his part-time team head coach is not right!"

"yes, I don't think he can coach a team well, he's just a recent college graduate!"

These opponents were soon educated by Emperor Qiu.

"Fool, Li Wei is the head coach, obviously the same way as Carl as the head coach of the Celtics last season, and he will leave the class after the mess, what are you worried about?"

"That's it, you really want someone to sign Chuck Daley to be a vegetarian?"

"Ah, I see!"

The masses who didn't know the truth suddenly realized, and how did they know that now Li Wei has more and more tactics, and has become Chuck Daley's successor, and he will not leave after a season.

July is the official start of the new NBA season.

Ewing, Big Mom and others have been traded, Garnett and others are still rookie contracts, the Knicks' highest salary is Alan Houston with an annual salary of 6 million, and the total salary of the whole team is still below the salary cap.

What is a salary cap?

In order for the owners of each team to be profitable, David Stern implemented a salary cap policy after taking office. The total salary of all players on each team must not be higher than a certain amount. This amount is calculated on an annual basis, such as the 96-97 season, and the salary cap is $24.363 million.

If a team is paid more than the salary cap, then the team cannot be given a large contract as a free agent, only a minimum salary, with the exception of the team's free agent (Bird Clause).

The team with an over-salary cap should also pay attention to the principle of salary reciprocity when trading players, that is, the wages of both parties to the transaction should be about the same, and a player with an annual salary of 500,000 yuan cannot be exchanged for a player with an annual salary of 5 million, so that the total salary of the team will continue to rise.

However, if the team's total salary does not exceed the salary cap, there is no need to deliberately match the salary. For example, the Chailes + McCarty trade for Big Z does not need to be matched, the Cavaliers' total salary is still 108,000 miles away from the salary cap, and it is not a matter at all to eat Childs' 2 million annual salary contract.

In the early 90s, there were very few teams in the NBA that could exceed the salary cap, and in 96 the NBA and NBC TV signed a huge broadcast agreement, and the major owners had hard waists, so they had the sky-high contracts of Jordan, O'Neal, Juwan Howard and others, and the salaries of each team were also viciously inflated, and more and more teams exceeded the salary cap.

Li Wei's previous life, after the collapse of the alliance in 98, a series of rules such as top salary, luxury tax, and middle-class exceptions were born one after another, and many readers did not know anything about the history of the alliance, and always used the rules of later generations to apply the current alliance, and then sneered at the author, which is really helpless.

Now, the Knicks still have about two million salary space, and they can use that salary space to sign a good player. At this time, there is no middle-class exception in the league, and powerful players will not accept the base salary, and if you want to sign excellent players, you must have salary space.

Johnson and KC Jones discussed and agreed that the team should sign an interior player. After all, Ewing, the team's main center, was traded, and Oakley, the main power forward, is still in the hospital.

After thinking about it, Li Wei also felt that Nowitzki did not come, and the team could sign a temporary big forward.

Among this year's free agents, Li Wei's favorite power forward is definitely Cliff Trail Blazers' Cliff Cliff Cliff Robinson. This man has won the Sixth Man of the Year award, has been an All-Star, is good offensively and defensively, can average 20 points per game at his peak, and in addition, he has a very good three-point hand.

Before Nowitzki, Robinson was the tallest player in history to hit more than 1,000 three-pointers, and can be called the originator of the projection big man.

However, Li Wei knows that Clifford Robinson is great, and others also know that he will definitely get a big contract, and he will have to be on a long-term contract.

The Knicks' goal this year is to set their sights on Nowitzki, and there is no need to spend a lot of money to sign such a star.

After thinking about it again, Li Wei took a fancy to the Clippers' bench inside Bo Outlaw.

This person was drafted in 1993, and his technical characteristics are scum, very scum, and he can't do anything except dunk. But his dedication, tenacious fighting spirit, and fierce defense have made him a reliable rotation on the Clippers' bench.

Li Wei remembers that in his previous life, he played as a starter for the Magic, averaged 10 rebounds per game in the playoffs in '01, and was the most reliable teammate around Maddy, a trustworthy poor man's version of Wallace.

The addition of such a player to the team should be able to drive the defensive mood of the newcomers and keep the tenacious and hard-working spirit alive in New York.

Dennis Johnson then contacted Bo Outlaw's agent, and it didn't take long for the two parties to reach an agreement of four million in two years!

For Bo Outlaw, this is already the best contract he can receive. The Clippers owner is very picky, wants to save money, and is unwilling to give him such a backup defensive blue-collar million-dollar annual salary. Aside from the Knicks, the best offer he received was from the Magic, also four million, but for a three-year period.

For the Knicks, giving Bo Outlaw a two-year contract is a strong addition to the interior line. When Nowitzki arrives, he will give way. If Outlaw is willing to play Nowitzki as a substitute, Li Wei can also renew his contract.

On the day the free market opened, New York signed a contract with Otlow. signed along with this year's undrafted and inspirational dwarf player Li Wei!

After that, the two appeared at the press conference together with their brand new jerseys!

Back in June, Li Wei set out to change the Knicks' logo and jersey.

The Knicks jersey in the 90s was a white jersey at home and a dark blue away game, with no bright colors at all and no features. Compared to these uniforms, Li Wei prefers the orange style of New York after the 21st century in his previous life.

In the NBA team, there are a lot of red jerseys, blue jerseys are also everywhere, purple and yellow are the hallmarks of the Lakers, Li Wei believes that the Knicks should also have their own unique colors!

Orange is very good, the orange Holland of football is a team that Li Wei likes very much, and the Knicks have used orange many times in history. Since the Boston Celtics are known as the Green Army, then New York will be the Orange Army in the future!

We're going to get the orange storm through to the end!

New logo, new uniform, new atmosphere.

At the press conference, Bo Outlaw's new orange jersey was No. 45, which was also his number when he was with the Clippers. After careful consideration, Li Wei chose No. 1!

Jordan is the greatest player in the NBA, and his No. 23 is worn by many people, and Li Wei is not interested. If you want to say that his favorite player in his youth, it is actually Carter.

Komakaai, the big four, that's a memory that belongs to a generation. Most fans are fans of Kobe, Maddie, and Iverson, but Li Wei has a soft spot for Carter.

In 2000, Carter was omnipotent in the slam dunk contest, and then at the Sydney Olympics, he flew over the head of the 2.18-meter center of the French team and dunked the world!

That's a 2.18-meter big center, Li Wei never thought that humans could dunk like this!

It's hard not to fall in love with Carter that year, but who knows that the next season will be Carter's last peak?

The rolling Yangtze River is passing away, and the waves are sweeping away the heroes. Success or failure turns empty, the green mountains are still there, and the sunset is red several times.

Twenty years later, Carter is the least honored of the four quarterbacks and the least fandom, and the demigod has become a fat card, and he is no longer the same as before.

But so what?

The memories of his youth will not change, even if Carter is too old to take a step, he will always be Li Wei's favorite star!

Li Wei knew that when Carter flew away, the number was No. 15. But the No. 15 of the Knicks team has been retired, and he has been retired twice, and it is impossible for others to wear it again.

Since his cousin's number can't be chosen, he chose his cousin's, and Maddie's number is also a memory for many people.

As for Kobe Bryant - Li Wei when he was young was actually Kohei, and it is normal for fans of the four quarterbacks to hack each other. As he gets older, he, like many old fans, can only turn from black to pink, but Kobe's number is not in his consideration at all.

"Haha, David, haha!" Bo Outelo, who was holding his new jersey, looked at Li Wei and chuckled.

"What's so funny?" Li Wei rolled his eyes.

He knew what Bo Outlaw was laughing at. Although this guy is a short insider, he is also two meters and three, and standing in front of Li Wei is like a mountain!

Li Wei, who is one meter four or five, is not as tall as his waist!

Dennis Johnson, who came to the press conference together, smiled: "Beau, you are miserable, you dare to laugh at the head coach, waiting to run laps on the training ground!" ”

Bo Outelo hurriedly said, "I'll run in a while!" ”

Li Wei said: "Wait, I don't need you to run laps, just go and throw a thousand free throws in a while!" ”

Bo Outlaw's free throws were quite inaccurate, so his black face instantly turned white: "Coach, I think it's better to take a free throw!" ”

"Hahaha!" Li Wei and Dennis Johnson laughed together.