Office of the President, NBA Headquarters, Olympia Building, New York.

In the past, this was where David Stern worked.

The office space is not very large, and the huge floor-to-ceiling windows can see the skyscraper forest of New York.

In addition to telephones and computers, there are often some simple office supplies, documents, photos and other things scattered on the large desktop.

David Stern rarely organizes his desk carefully, because he doesn't have the time, and secondly, he doesn't pay much attention to these small things, he focuses on strategic directions, big things from a high vantage point.

Behind the desk, there's the occasional O'Brien Cup, which houses multiple NBA-used basketballs, and miscellaneous things.

Anyone who has interviewed Stern will be a little surprised that the president's office is so cramped and cluttered, not at all like the daily office of the league's top power.

It can also be seen that Stern is a person who is informal, and at the same time, because he has been in a high position for a long time, he does not care too much about the opinions of others.

Since Adam Silva sat behind this desk, the office has undergone some changes.

The desk has become much more tidy, it must be wiped clean every day, and all the documents and sundries must be sorted and placed in the storage compartment neatly.

The little bits and pieces behind the desk have been retained, but they have all been rearranged and placed in an orderly manner to make everything look orderly and harmonious.

Obviously, Adam Silva didn't dare to completely change the layout of the office, such as moving the desk, changing the cabinet, or replacing the clutter and photos, because the office did not quite belong to him.

He could only try to make the office look as neat and orderly as possible, Silva was a person with a slight cleanliness habit and obsessive-compulsive disorder, and it could be seen from his daily dress, always white and clean, no mess, no extra hair, no stubble.

Stern is different, he used to have a mustache and sometimes unkempt hair, he grew up in a downtown area of New York, his parents were deli, not from the beginning, although he was not a pioneer of the NBA, but he was also a groundbreaking figure, with a hint of "recklessness".

By Adam Silva's generation, this "recklessness" became less and less reckless, and there was a shift towards elitism.

On February 2, after work hours, Adam Silva sat in his office with a group of league executives and elites for an impromptu "cabinet" meeting.

Just over an hour ago, Min Congda held a press conference, saying that he accepted the league's punishment and publicly apologized, but proposed to purge the referee association and carry out a major change.

This astonishing statement undoubtedly intensified the conflict between Min Congda and the referees, and soon Steve Jarvey spoke out again, saying that he did not accept Min Congda's apology, and insisted that the league impose a lifetime ban on Min Congda, otherwise the referees association would strike and no longer blow NBA games.

The NBA's successive turmoil has once again brought the league to the media's attention, and it is only natural that Silva will have to hold an internal meeting to set the tone for tomorrow's or tonight's decision.

Silva sits behind the president's desk, the owner of which he has served for almost 20 years, and now sits behind this desk and tastes power.

Of course, power brings pressure, but power is more about enrichment, and he wants to run the league according to his own ideas and realize his ideals and ambitions in the NBA.

After Stern temporarily withdrew from the alliance, the alliance's small cabinet naturally underwent some personnel changes.

In addition to Stu Jackson, Joe Bozia, and Ju Robles, two new faces have been added — a new vice president of Asian ancestry, Mark Tatum, and lawyer Rick Buchanan, who is in charge of the league's legal affairs.

Like Adam Silva, Mark Tatum is also a rookie who was brought up by Stern and has been in the league for more than 20 years, and has been Silva's partner, responsible for all operations of the league except basketball.

Silva was promoted to the position of president, and Mark Tatum was successfully promoted to become vice president of the alliance, responsible for entertainment operations.

At the beginning, Mark Tatum and Adam Silva were raised together as successors, and the two were both cooperative and competitive.

It's just that for various reasons, the bosses of the alliance still tend to support Silva as president, after all, Silva is a Jew.

And Mark Tatum has a smiling Asian face, his father is of Jamaican descent, and his mother is Vietnamese, and his ancestors are from Shantou, Guangdong, and the group of people who went to Nanyang.

The NBA is still relatively difficult to accept that a man of Asian descent should be at the helm of a huge professional sports league.

However, since Mark Tatum can achieve the position of vice president, he must have strong enough ability and support behind him, otherwise the work will not be carried out at all.

Adam Silva tapped his fingers on the table to signal the meeting to begin.

"I'm going to hold a press conference tonight to express the attitude of the coalition office to deal with this matter, what do you think?"

Adam Silva glanced at his colleagues.

Bozia is definitely on the side of the referees, he has been in charge of refereeing for many years and has a deep connection with the refereeing group.

Stu Jackson specializes in basketball and is also closely related to the referee group, as well as with them.

Sure enough, Bozia said: "The pressure on the referee's side is very high, and their patience with Smart has reached the limit. And this labor negotiation, the renewal contract given to the referee, they are not very satisfied. This Smart incident was a fuse, he didn't want to play, and said that he would hire a new referee team to come out to enforce the law... Wasn't that lesson of 1995 profound enough? It's not anyone's place to referee. ”

Bozia emphasized the importance of referees, as there have been clashes between leagues and referees in NBA history.

The last two, one in 1995 and one in 2009.

On both occasions, the league and the referee association had a conflict over salary issues, and the referee association went on strike, which caused the NBA game to be affected.

Of course, in order to prevent the referee team from sitting large and the strike makes it impossible to continue the game, the league has specially set up a reserve referee team to replenish personnel when necessary to maintain the normal operation of the game.

So, in 1995 and 2009, during the referee crisis, the league used backup referees to officiate the game.

However, the effect is not satisfactory, because the NBA game law enforcement depends not only on professionalism, but also on the accuracy of judgment, but also must grasp the balance, do a good job of communication with players and coaches on both sides, so that the game can be carried out smoothly as much as possible in accordance with the rhythm that players, coaches, and fans are satisfied with.

As for whether the penalty is accurate, it is actually secondary.

Those reserve referees may have enough professionalism, but the experience of controlling the field is much worse than those old referees.

In November 1995, after the NBA used backup referees, the league fined referees a total of more than $200,000 for misjudgments, and readjusted the penalties for 26 games.

At that time, O'Neal was fouled by his opponent during the game, and his thumb had to be operated on. Chris Webb got into a fight with his opponent and suffered a shoulder injury and missed a month......

If it is an experienced referee, they will use the whistle to protect these star players and keep them as safe as possible from the opponent's vicious fouls, after all, they are the focus of the game, if they are injured and can't play, who will buy a ticket to watch the NBA?

But the reserve referees don't understand this, they just blow according to the rules mechanically, and the result is that the scene is easy to get out of control.

Of course these Adam Silva knew, but instead of giving a direct response, he turned to Stu Jackson again.

"I agree with Bozia that it's only been two years since the last strike, and the negotiations with the players have just been completed, and this is another shortened season, so there are so many bad things," Jackson said. Smart is too willful, the fine for him this time is heavy enough, but it is not enough, he must be banned, and the referee team must be appeased, otherwise the league ratings and attendance will be in jeopardy. ”

In addition, Smart also said that he would build a new referee team this time, which clearly wants to stimulate the people of the referee association. We've tried to form a new team of referees before, but you know, it takes a lot of special experience and coordination to enforce the NBA, it's not just a little bit of training, it takes a lot of experience and relationships with a lot of people to get the game under control, Smart is adding fuel to the fire, and we have to put that arrogance on him. ”

Stu Jackson is in charge of basketball and has a lot of power in the league as well.

However, several big NBA deals in the new season are driven by Adam Silva.

Especially the big trade between the Hornets, Lakers, and Clippers, Stu Jackson didn't receive the news until the deal was formed, and it ended up being a rubber stamp.

This upset Jackson.

In the past, Stern pressed on his head, Adam Silva was the same level in the past, and you also pressed on my head?

So this time, Stu Jackson chose to side with Bozia and used the referees association to put pressure on Adam Silva and force Silva to heavily punish Min Congda.

With what they know about Min Congda, once he is completely banned, this Sun Monkey will not make a fuss.

At that time, Silva, as president, will be anxious and will have to be criticized.

Of course, Bozia, Jackson and others did not covet the position of president, which was not so easy to sit in.

They just hope that as vice presidents, they can gain a greater voice in their respective fields.

After all, Stern has pressed everyone for so many years, and when a "weak master" comes up, the people below want to loosen their bonds.

Adam Silva nodded and didn't speak, then he turned his gaze to Mark Tatum.

Tatum was still smiling, and said, "Smart is indeed a trouble, and even Mr. Stern can't handle him sometimes." If we can solve this problem, I think it will also be a manifestation of Mr. Silva's ability. The League Office still needs to be tough enough, right, Mr. Buchanan? ”

Tatum said a few words and then threw the conversation to lawyer Buchanan.

Buchanan is the legal director of the entire NBA, and various legal-related issues such as labor negotiations have been handled by Buchanan, who also holds the title of vice president of the league.

But before Adam Silva came to power, he was not qualified to participate in such a small cabinet meeting, he was not qualified.

Now that David Stern has stepped down and Buchanan has entered the coterie at the top, everyone suspects that Buchanan may be Stern's eyeliner.

Because Buchanan's style of action is very similar to Stern, who also worked as a legal adviser back then, that is, he is tough, and he is a well-known hawk in the league headquarters.

When the referees association went on strike in 09, Buchanan participated in the negotiations with Stern as an assistant, and he scolded the representatives of the referees' union for being a group of neurotics, sometimes mentioning such conditions, and sometimes saying that the league was not sincere, and also criticized the referees association for making nonsense in the media to engage in public opinion attacks.

In short, Buchanan has always been uninterested in the Referees Association.

If Buchanan also supports the punishment of Min Congda in this meeting, then Adam Silva will have no choice but to increase the punishment of Min Congda.

As a result, Buchanan immediately spoke out against the increased punishment: "Our punishment has been set, and the Clippers have accepted it, if we re-revise it because the referee association is not satisfied, then what is our league for?" We won't be threatened by the judges! It's a big deal to use the backup referee again! I think Smart is right, maybe we should really form a new team of referees to prevent the current batch of old referees from threatening to strike at every turn! ”

Buchanan objected to the increased penalty, and then Jurobles, who is in charge of international market development, agreed, saying: "The league should not be threatened, and the $1.5 million fine is already a record high, and the punishment for Smart is heavy enough that a lifetime ban is simply unrealistic." Although he is not the owner of the Clippers, he is deeply trusted by Sterling and is a member of the board of directors. ”

Bozia immediately retorted: "What a boss, he is a professional manager, just a representative of the boss!" Moreover, even if he is a shareholder and owner of the league, we still have the right to prohibit him from attending the game, which is absolutely in line with the regulations. ”

Robles has a point, but Bozia is not wrong either, it's not that you can do whatever you want if you're the boss.

If you break certain rules, the alliance can kill you, whether you are a big boss or a minority shareholder.

There is some truth in what both sides say, and when there is a dispute, the most important opinion is of course in Silva's hands.

Silva was glad that Stern had stuffed Buchanan into the "small cabinet", otherwise tonight's meeting, the punishment of Min Congda's faction would definitely be on top, and Ju Robles would not be able to compete with the other three.

Anyway, the international market development department doesn't have to think about referees, and he will definitely fall with the wind at that time.

Now that Ju Robles and Buchanan are opposed, Adam Silva will not be left alone, and he will obviously not punish Min Congda, but will fight the referees association to the end.

He also had a trump card in his hand.

Adam Silva said: "In terms of the punishment for Smart, I think the penalty we gave before is heavy enough, if we continue to increase the weight, it is still threatened by the referee association, which is a great damage to the authority of the league and will never be allowed." And this year's collective bargaining, we have given the referees association a new five-year contract, and they have no reason to strike again, otherwise how can this broken season continue? ”

"But—" Bozia tried to interject, but was stopped by Silva.

"Also, Robles is right, Smart is the representative of the board of directors after all, and the punishment for him should not be too severe, unless it is approved by the board of shareholders, should we report to the board of directors for consultation?"

Silva said that he would report to the board, but Bozia and Jackson did not speak, and they knew that if they reported to the board, the board would not agree to increase the punishment.

Because Smart is a member of the board after all, and he has close ties with many bosses.

The Lakers have voiced their support for Min Congda, because Min Congda helped the Lakers a lot in the Paul trade.

There is also the big mouth of Kuban, if he is dragged into the battlefield again, it will be a mess again, and it will not be good for everyone.

At this time, Tatum suddenly spoke and said, "I wonder what Mr. Stern thinks about this?" What is his opinion and thoughts? ”

Tatum moved out of the Great Buddha of Stern to make a final struggle, after all, Stern is the person who can destroy Silva's prestige the most.

However, Silva seems to have expected this, and Tatum's question is right on his mind.

He took out his mobile phone from his pocket, opened the text message, showed it to everyone, and said, "I have already consulted Mr. Stern on this matter, and he said that it is up to the current president of the NBA to decide." ”

Everyone got up and glanced at the text message, and it was.

Now, the faction that supports the referee strike knows that there is no play.

The smile on Tatum's face gradually faded, but he immediately smiled again and said, "Then a press conference should be held as soon as possible to convey the intention of the alliance." ”

Silva said: "No, don't worry, let's wait until tomorrow morning, everyone has a good rest tonight, and we have to rest after a busy day." ”

Just now he clearly said that he was going to hold a press conference tonight, so he asked everyone to give their opinions.

Now it's not in a hurry again, waiting for tomorrow morning, which makes Tatum quite embarrassed.

Seeing that Tatum couldn't laugh anymore, Silva smiled in his heart, this president position is mine after all.

Of course, Silva's struggle is not just about consolidating his authority as president.

He has to hold the referee association firmly in his hands.

In this way, he can let the NBA and betting cooperation in the future be carried out slowly.

Some people died, but not completely......