In the Rockets' home slaughter of the Mavericks, Yao Ming was named the best player.

He played perfectly today, playing 32 minutes, shooting 11-of-15 from the field and 10-of-10 from the free-throw line, with 32 points, 12 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks.

Chuck Hayes also had a good performance, shooting 8-of-14 from the field, 1-of-1 from three-point range, 4-of-5 from the free-throw line, and finished with 21 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists and 1 steal in 36 minutes.

Also playing brilliantly was Alston, with 11 points, 8 rebounds and 12 assists, almost winning a triple-double.

Maddy, another leader of the Rockets, played just 21 minutes and had eight points and three assists. Fortunately, this did not affect the Rockets to win.

Hayes was in a great mood, the Rockets won, he also got good numbers, and he didn't lose face in front of Tyler Swift. As soon as the game ended, Taylor Swift waved to him from the stands, and Hayes casually said a few innocuous words to the reporters interviewed, and then bypassed the crowd to chat with Taylor Swift, and this scene was also filmed by caring reporters. Hayes's "affair" was enviable, and Azubuke couldn't help shaking his head and sighing in his heart, silently protesting why a flower was planted on Hayes.

After the game, Jeff Van Gundy once again publicly praised Hayes, noting that Hayes was one of the Rockets' most solid players, with only one turnover in two games. What's even more rare is that he has more than 5 assists in two consecutive games, showing a high basketball IQ and passing skills. And then there's Battier, who, although he doesn't have stats, knows exactly what he's going to do on the field. Without him defending Nowitzki, the Rockets wouldn't have won so easily.

"Big Mouth" Charles Barkley also said in an interview with USB TV after the game: After this game, his most optimistic NBA player now is Chuck Hayes, he believes that Hayes has a solid defense and comprehensive offensive methods, and is the most suitable player to inherit his mantle. What Hayes has to do is be a little more ruthless, more control of the rebounding ball and the ability to attack in the low post and play on the back.

Barkley's appreciation is the biggest affirmation of Hayes by the outside world at present.

Hayes sent Taylor Swift home first, showered and changed clothes, and soon went out again. The Rockets had their first "back-to-back" games of the season, and the Rockets were to fly overnight to Oklahoma City to take on the New Orleans Hornets in the same division.

What is "back-to-back"?

Generally speaking, a "back-to-back" is when a team plays away from home two days in a row, and it's in a different city! This format is a great test of the team's fitness and strength!

Back-to-back games are synonymous with thorns everywhere for any team; For the players, there is no doubt that they face a series of sinister challenges. There are more than 400 players in the NBA, and there are different joys and sorrows, but it is certain that no player will like to play back-to-back games, let alone consecutive back-to-back away games, which is not a test of victory or defeat, but a test of luck. No matter how strong the team is, the tired half-dead strength will be greatly reduced.

In addition to the high intensity of confrontation, the biggest feature of NBA games is that the schedule is very tight.

In order to avoid physical exertion on the road, NBA teams usually fly overnight to their next destination after the game. In the United States, it takes more than an hour to fly from one city to another, and even more than four hours if you are far away. If there is no chartered plane, it will simply kill the players. Although the Rockets are not as lavish as Maverick boss Cuban and bought a special plane, they are also constantly improving this "supporting service".

It is definitely more comfortable to have a special plane, and the most important thing is convenience. First of all, you don't have to wait for the plane, you can get on when you arrive; And save the matter of checking luggage, someone is responsible for it, the players only need to go to the door of the boarding, someone will ask you if you have any luggage to check, and you don't even need to issue a luggage tag, because everyone has a special rocket luggage tag, with their names written on it, and it has been hanging on the bag. Take turns throwing things on and you're done.

After playing the Hornets, the Rockets can only rest for one day, and they will rush to Memphis on November 8 to fight the Grizzlies again, and on November 9, they will play back-to-back against the Eastern Conference Bucks. Three away games in four days, it's a devil's schedule.

Hayes sat with Yao Ming after getting on the plane. In Team Rockets, he still has the most common language with the "Chinese fellows". Even if his skin is black, he is mostly Chinese in his bones.

Originally, the rocket plane had about 150 seats, but in order to give the players a better rest, it was later converted to only about 40 seats. In addition to the cockpit, the rest of the space in the cabin is divided into three parts. At the front are the athletes' seats, which are comfortable and wide like first-class seats, and players can sleep on the plane as soon as they get on the plane until they land. The middle part belongs to the coaching staff, and the back part is the area for the rest of the staff.

RVs are popular in the United States, and Hayes feels that the rocket's special plane is a bit similar to a "house machine". Because they are often on the road, the problem of eating is often solved on the plane.

Eating wasn't that good, at least for Yao Ming and Hayes. Because there will be no Chinese food on the plane. Don't think it's a charter flight, there are special services. The general flight does not have to see if it is three meal time, and only give a good meal when it is time, and pass the rest of the time. After each game, it's mostly midnight, and there are no special recipes, and the ones you can eat are usually burgers.

"We'll be there in a moment, so don't sleep today. I have something to discuss with you. Yao Ming adjusted the chair to the most comfortable position, and smiled as he lay on his back like a big man.

Hayes also lay down and said with a smile: "What game experience do you want to talk about?" ”

"Haha, I recently found NBA 2006 to be a lot of fun, and I wanted to find some time to talk to you. I found you in free agency. Yao Ming said with a smile.

Hayeston was speechless, he knew that the game was so weak that it was very difficult for him to score a goal.

Both speak in Chinese. In addition to playing, Yao Ming's other hobby is playing video games, and wherever he goes, PS game consoles are a must-have. Hayes is also childlike, and when the flight is near, the two often chat for a while, and before they know it, they arrive at the place, and they can start learning after entering the hotel.

The city of New Orleans was flooded after the "Great Storm" Katrina ravaged, and the Hornets were unable to play a home game in Crescent City (New Orleans alias) at the start of the new season in the fall of 2005. That year, the Hornets and the NBA jointly announced that the team would temporarily relocate to Oklahoma City and make it home for much of the rest thereafter.

The city is the capital of Oklahoma, located in central Oklahoma, with a metropolitan area of six counties and an area of 1,575.2 square kilometers, ranking 29th in the United States.

There are 82 public secondary schools, 38 private and parish affiliated schools, 21 higher education institutions, and 9 vocational training and technical schools. More than 50% of the population of the city has a university education. The urban economy is dominated by agriculture, construction, healthcare, manufacturing, and mining. There are about 666,300 hectares of arable land and more than 6,000 farming households. The average age of the population is 32.4 years, and the average household income is $26,883.

The city is the most populous city in the state, making it a great place for NBA teams. In 2008, the Seattle SuperSonics moved their home stadium to the city and changed its name to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

After getting off the plane, the rocket group stayed at the hotel and rested for the night. The next day, I went to the local Ford Center Arena Arena training ground to do acclimatization training.

Hayes was not used to this kind of intense flying competition. He slept so lazily that he didn't even eat breakfast, and the next day he felt very tired and had no appetite. He couldn't help but sigh that the NBA is really difficult to mix, that is, black people can only maintain good competitive condition if they are in good health and strong as an ox.

The Hornets game was just the first of three back-to-back games for the Rockets in November, and it will be a small test of fitness for the team. Especially Yao Ming, who has just scored 32 points in a single game, is tall and consumes the most.

A team has to play a minimum of 82 games per season, what is the intensity of the sport? If it weren't for the high salaries of US imperialism, I am afraid that the minds of many local players would have deserted a long time ago.

It is also true that no one can have too much money.

Hayes was no exception, and when he was first reborn, he thought $660,000 was already a considerable fortune. In order to maintain the base salary of 660,000, he is willing to throw his head and spill blood for the team. After knowing the salary level in the NBA and playing a few more beautiful games, he began to be dissatisfied with the base salary of 660,000. In fact, only Novak and Azubuuk are paid lower than him, and he feels that as a starter, he deserves a higher salary, or at least a middle class.

Hayes chatted with Jeff Van Gundy about that. Van Gundy is a good friend, and he revealed to Hayes that the Rockets management may come to him at any time to negotiate a contract extension in advance, and found a relatively complete version of the new 2005-2011 labor clause to show Hayes, saying that it will help him understand the awkward position he is in and plan for the future.

In addition to this, Jeff Van Gundy also offered his opinion: "Whatever plan they come up with, I suggest you don't need to renew your contract in advance and wait until the season is over. If the Rockets get a good score and you put up flashy numbers, you'll be in a good position to negotiate. ”

"Didn't you say the boss wouldn't be willing to pay the luxury tax?" Hayes also thought about delaying until the end of the season, and he didn't want to leave the Rockets, but it was difficult for the Rockets to renew his contract with a high salary.

"You don't care about this for now, when the time is right, I will go and leave some cruel words for the uniform team, all you have to do is to play hard, show results, and increase persuasion." Jeff Van Gundy said with a serious expression: "I originally hoped that you would renew your contract with a low salary, but now that I have figured it out, since we are friends, I should not speak for the Rockets leadership and let my friends suffer financially." Yao Ming's influence in China is great, and they have earned so much, it is time to spit it out. ”

"I'll fight with all my might, what are you going to say?" Hayes asked.

Jeff Van Gundy thought for a moment and said in a deep voice, "I'll just say it...... He goes, I don't stay. ”

"Oh hoho...... You remind me of a guy named Heinan. Hearing this, Hayes was so moved that he almost wanted to make a bloody alliance with Van Gundy and worship his brothers.

"Alas, high salaries are not so easy to earn. Anyway, I think it's hard for you to stay with the Rockets and get a high salary. Jeff Van Gundy sighed and said.

The NBA does have high-paid and low-performing players, but that kind of player is only a minority, and many NBA team owners prefer to find ways to squeeze the wages of role players.

This is the main contradiction in the NBA league, which has always existed and has intensified. In the summer of 1998, labor-management negotiations between the players' union and team owners led to a general strike that nearly ruined the NBA.

The team owner felt that the players' wages were too high, so high that the team was paying more than the team was making. As a result, the team owner demanded that the contract be re-signed and a "hard salary cap" was established, that is, the salary of the players was limited and the salary was reduced in disguise.

The players refused to sign the new agreement for their own benefit, so the team owners announced the closure of the stadium. The players took the team owner to court, demanding that the team owner still have to pay the players during the lockdown. But the judge's final decision was in favor of the bosses.

On October 5, 1998, the owners decided that all preseason games would be cancelled, and three days later, the first two weeks of the regular season were cancelled.

On December 4, the league's president, Stern, announced that the entire season could be canceled.

It was not until 4 January 1999 that the union proposed the final contract. Two days later, the owners accepted the contract offered by the players' union. The crisis was lifted only the day before the NBA voted on whether to announce the cancellation of the entire season. That season, each team played only 50 regular season games, known as the Shrinking Season. Since then, the NBA's box office and television broadcasts have been poor, and it took a long time to recover.

The players want the signing to be extended, and the bosses will definitely want the contract to be shorter. The alliance had to choose a compromise, so the collective bargaining agreement has always been an agreement that both labor and management are not satisfied with.

As the saying goes: people die for money, and birds die for food. Nowhere is this more evident than in the United States.

The root cause of the conflict between labor and management in the NBA is still the problem of money. Both the players' union and the team owners are fighting to maximize their own interests and want to take advantage of the new agreement. And so the dispute arose.

For example, under the old agreement, when a player signed a contract with a team, the longest contract would be seven years. Such players are Kobe, who the Lakers signed for $136 million over seven years, and Garnett, who was signed by the Timberwolves for $126 million over six years. Top players are signed for so many years, and the average player has the right to sign a long-term contract.

In this way, the team owner has to prepare the salary for the player he signs, and the biggest danger of a long contract is that the player is injured halfway, the most stark example is Grant Hill, who is suspended for a few seasons, but the team is limited by a long-term contract and has to continue to pay a high salary. That's why players like long-term contracts: it's the equivalent of insurance.

There are many aspects involved in the labor clause, and Hayes only looked carefully at the part he was interested in, that is, the clause above the middle class.

The first is the most well-known restriction clause, the "salary cap".

The annual "salary cap" is based on the NBA's gross earnings from the previous year, and then 48% of this gross earnings is taken as the NBA team's gross salary. Divide this 48% of total revenue by the total number of NBA teams of 30 teams, and the average is the "salary cap" for the year, and the total amount of wages spent on players by the team must not exceed this number.

However, there are also many teams whose total salary exceeds the salary cap, but they are not fined for luxury tax, which means that if any team's total salary exceeds 55% of the league's total revenue in the previous year, then the excess part will be subject to a 100% luxury tax penalty, for example, if this year's salary cap is 48 million US dollars, then the luxury tax will be 55 million US dollars, and the excess will need to be paid.

Why is there a big difference in income between players with the same highest salary?

The point is that whether it's a salary cap or a luxury tax, it refers to the income of the player in the year when he signed the contract. That's the famous Larry Bird exception, which applies to "qualified veteran free agents."

If you play for the same team for three consecutive years and you become a free agent after three years, you are a "qualified veteran player," the NBA allows your parent team to give you the maximum contract, which can increase your salary by 12.5% compared to 10%. Even if your increase makes the team's total salary more than the salary cap, it is allowed by the rules, but not more than the luxury tax requirement. In addition, the maximum number of years for which a contract can be signed can also be increased from the usual 5 years to 6 years.

In other words, the salary of long-term contract players is increasing every year, and the increase is not subject to any restrictions, so many big-name stars can get 5-6 years of big contracts.

To Hayes' downside, he only played for two years with the Rockets and did not qualify for the Larry Bird exception. In addition, now the Rockets have Maddie and Yao Ming who have received the maximum salary contract, and if they renew him with a high salary, it will definitely exceed the luxury tax requirement.

That's why when the Lakers formed "F4", Karl Malone only got 1 million, and it wouldn't be a good thing to have too many players on the team who were on top salary, because other role players would get less money or be worse at a worse level, unless they were as generous as the owners of New York or Dallas and were willing to be fined.

The new agreement sets the target at $5 million for the middle class, with an increase of 8% for the previous season each subsequent season.

Hayes only took a few general glances, and people's ambitions will expand as their strength grows, and he is now a bit disdainful of middle-class contracts. He's going to do his best to play well first and then make further plans after the season, mainly to avoid injury.

As Jeff Van Gundy said, the high salaries of US imperialism are hard to earn.

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In the book review, a friend said: "Don't use the narrative to describe the competition, the reader sees no passion and no sense of substitution!" ”

This comment is very good and comes in a timely manner. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to this friend!

I found that there were a lot of shortcomings when it came to depicting the game. Therefore, I will try my best to improve my writing in the following chapters, and strive to make it more enjoyable and exciting for everyone to read. In order to change the way it is written, the update speed may be a little slower, so I hope you understand.

I may also take the time to go back and fix some of the previous mistakes, I hope you don't mistake it for a scam click.

Please continue to support!

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