At 10 o'clock the next morning, Min Congda, together with Bozia, the current vice president of the NBA, held a simple, low-key press conference in the press room of the Olympia Tower in Manhattan to announce Min's position in the NBA league office.

The press conference did not invite too many media to the scene, but only found one or two influential newspapers in New York, two local TV stations, and ESPN, a regular partner of the alliance.

After all, this is just a relatively simple personnel appointment, the assistant vice president, there is no need to make a big deal of it, but between Min Congda's special status, he has to make a special statement at the conference.

However, Min Congda's identity is not so simple, and in six years he has made a name for himself in the national sports world, and this summer he was selected as one of the "ten most influential faces in sports".

A photograph of him directing a game from the sidelines of the Western Conference Finals was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated, the fourth time in his career, the first three as general manager and the fourth as a coach, and he is likely to be on the cover again as a league official in the foreseeable future.

Such a person with huge public opinion potential, even if he wants to keep a low profile, the media will not let him keep a low profile, and this guy has been a big traffic user since he first joined the alliance, and this unexpected resignation and becoming an alliance official must have a lot of things worth excavating behind it.

Therefore, when the press conference began at ten o'clock, the press conference hall was already crowded with people, all of whom were trying to get to the scene, holding spears and cannons one by one, not wanting to miss the important public opinion events of the offseason.

Bozia walked in front of Min Congda and sat in the center of the press conference, this is a white bearded white bald head, and he must be the most complicated mood at the whole press conference.

In the six years since Min Congda entered the league, Bozia feels like he spends almost half of his workload dealing with this guy, and it all started with a fine phone call in the 2009 Summer League, and the two have formed an indissoluble bond since then.

As long as it was a game week, there was a game with the Clippers, Bozia's nerves were tense, one was afraid of answering the phone, and the other was afraid of reading the email, and Bozia's assistants were all three of them down at that time - because they couldn't stand it mentally in the face of Min Congda's indiscriminate bombardment on the issue of penalties.

(In the later stage, it became more and more difficult for Min Congda to obtain a system judgment fine, so this product became more and more difficult and difficult to serve, which is why the alliance simply gave up ignoring him later.) ）

Originally, Bozia thought that Min Congda became the head coach of the Clippers, and he was a lot more restrained, and he slowly didn't have to suffer from these problems anymore, and then thought that the league office would arrange a capable assistant for himself, the referee work was too busy and too busy, and he needed a deputy to help him deal with a lot of affairs.

Then one night, when Bozia was just lying down to sleep, David Stern called and said that he had been assigned a new assistant role.

Bozia wondered why President Stern had come to inform him. He's out of the league's management.

By the time David Stern told Bozia the name of his new assistant, the white-bearded old bald man was lying on the bed and almost fainted.

It took me six years to deal with that referee demon on the sidelines, and finally waited for this guy to relent, and now I'm just sending him to me, right?

Bozia wanted to quit at the time, knowing that he wouldn't be in the vice-president of refereeing for long, he was from the David Stern era, and Adam Silva was definitely going to replace him.

Bozia thought to himself, is this a way to force me out of the position of vice president of referees?

Since about 12 years, the league has had the voice to bring betting to the NBA, and the main promoter behind it is none other than Adam Silva.

He believes that this is a good opportunity for the NBA to achieve new growth points, which can further expand the influence of the NBA and obtain more financial revenue.

Once the NBA introduces betting, the referee position will become more important than in the past, and as a long-time vice president in charge of refereeing, Bozia's position has never been more important.

But David Stern is cautious about betting, and at a summit forum in 12 years, Stern said that he is still conservative about betting on the NBA and does not want gambling to affect the course of the NBA game.

But by 2014, last year, Stern's tone had changed, saying that betting was something to consider, and that the future of the NBA might be able to find the perfect balance between competition and gambling.

As Stern's former confidant and subordinate princes, Bozia knows in his heart that Stern is fundamentally against gambling, as early as more than ten years ago, the bookmaker considered cooperating with the NBA, and the owners of the council also wanted to eat the huge cake of gambling.

But David Stern has been a bit of an autocratic decision, refusing to work with bookmakers to keep the game as pure as possible (although he himself likes to play with scripts, but that's mostly for the sake of story and legend, and joining betting means differently). ）

Although the bosses of the council are the real masters of the alliance, David Stern is not just a wage earner, his power and prestige make the bosses have to compromise, and the capitalists have put away their desires.

But seeing that the gambling cake is getting bigger and bigger, everyone is ready to move, and finally it is time for Stern to change his term.

Adam Silva was Stern's successor, but Tatum was a strong contender in addition to Silva who was qualified to become the new president at the time.

Stern's final choice of Silva was not only based on his ability and personal feelings, but also because he was coerced by shareholders because Silva supported the introduction of betting in the NBA.

In the battle for the successor, Silva is a step ahead, he is Stern's man, but he does not fully obey Stern, but completes the exchange of interests with the more senior major shareholders, so as to successfully ascend to the throne as the successor.

Originally, according to the schedule, he was supposed to become the new president in 2014 on the 30th anniversary of Stern's tenure as president, but in 2011, Stern's unexpected illness during labor negotiations allowed Silva to take the position ahead of schedule and start the gambling layout early.

As an important referee position in the process of gambling, Bozia has been on pins and needles in recent years, cautious, and does not dare to make mistakes, for fear of being grabbed by Silva and brought down.

He thought to himself that if Smart was his assistant, he would simply quit his job, but when he thought that it was David Stern who called him, Bozia felt that things were not so simple.

He asked Stern on the phone, "Is that what you mean, or what Adam meant?" ”

Stern explicitly told him, "That's what I meant." ”

Bozia understood a little in his heart, it seems that Smart is also a pawn of David Stern.

Indeed, looking at the whole league, it is Smart who is qualified to be a pawn of David Stern, and who can find Adam Silva unhappy.

Now, Smart Min sat next to Bozia, dressed like a dog, with a drooping face, looking like she hadn't slept well, and yawning.

"Sorry Joe, I always got up in the middle of the night last night to help Ida turn over, she's pregnant now, and it's hard to sleep at night... Yawn~ By the way, when will you help me arrange a place to live? I can't always stay in the hotel with Ida, although the hotel is luxurious and comfortable, but I don't want to waste the league's money, the accommodation fee for one day is too much, it's better to get me an apartment to live in! ”

Min Congda didn't seem to care much about the press conference, but hurried to ask Bozia for accommodation, and this guy was not polite at all.

Bozia thought to himself, are you here to be my assistant, or am I here to be your assistant?

"Don't worry, I'll arrange it for you."

"Good! Then I'll leave it to you, Joe, I'll rest assured. ”

Well, Bozia knew who the assistant was.

The position of assistant vice president is not as simple as a secretary, and the secretarial work is handled by a special secretarial team to arrange various transactional work and clerical work.

The assistant vice president is actually the deputy of the department, assists the vice president in the execution of various tasks, and is qualified to replace the vice president in various decisions in the absence of the vice president.

To put it simply, in the referee affairs department, the vice president Bozia is the administrative officer and is qualified to make various decisions, while the assistant Min Congda is the administrative officer and has the power to advise and execute.

In terms of status, the Vice President of the Administrative Officer is naturally above the assistant, ranking among the several princes of the Alliance Office.

However, in terms of power distribution, if the assistant vice president who performs specific work does a good job, his influence can even exceed that of the vice president.

Because the assistant has to participate in the execution of specific affairs and often deal with the employees below, the assistant vice president is a position that tests personal ability and can accumulate work experience.

Adam Silva, the president, started from the position of assistant to the president little by little, and was eventually trained to become the president of the alliance.

Bozia already had a premonition of a more tragic fate for the next year, and he was likely to be overshadowed by Smart, but it didn't matter, he was about to leave this position.

The two chatted privately, and the press conference soon began, Bozia officially announced on behalf of the NBA that Smart Min has become the administrative assistant of the NBA league office's referee affairs department, and will officially take up his post tomorrow to handle related work matters.

Immediately after entering the reporter's question session, the reporters below naturally held back their stomachs, after all, Min Congda sat well in the position of general manager of the Clippers, why did he suddenly resign and then enter the league to work?

Min Congda's answer was very simple, saying: "I don't have any challenges in the position of general manager of the Clippers, I want to try a different track." ”

As soon as this remark came out, everyone was naturally in an uproar, but after thinking about it carefully, it makes sense, they have won four consecutive championships, and there is really no challenge.

In American society, when you enter a real "top manager" position, it means that many positions are open to you.

Just like in the past in China, some of the big leaders of the government had worked in state-owned enterprises in the past, and the so-called government and enterprises were not separated.

It's the same in the United States, don't underestimate the position of manager of a professional sports club, in the United States, a big sports country, sports manager is a very amazing job.

After all, if you look at the roster of professional sports managers, you will be surprised to find that the president of the United States has once been the highest.

George W. Bush, the president of the United States from 2000 to 2008, co-purchased the MLB Texas Rangers in 1989 and served as general manager until 1994.

And the president of the NBA is by no means an ordinary person, the current champion trophy named Larry O'Brien, before serving as the president of the league, served as the chairman of the Democratic National Committee of the United States, the secretary of the postal service, was the right-hand man of the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, the main party involved in the famous "Watergate" (at that time his office was bugged), appeared on the cover of Time magazine, and was a figure of the year in American politics in the 70s.

It can be said that executives in the sports industry are definitely in the upper class of American society.

With his amazing results in the Clippers, Min Congda stepped into a higher and faster track as a Chinese, which is indeed understandable.

Another reporter asked: "Mr. Smart, there have been many grievances between you and the league's referee department in the past, why were you hired as an administrative assistant for refereeing affairs this time, and is there anything to do with this?" Will it affect your future work? ”

Min Congda replied: "In the past six years, I have dealt with referees a lot, and I know the psychology and thoughts of referees very well, so it is perfect for me to be in charge of refereeing. I am confident that I will do my job well. ”

"Then can you talk about your thoughts and thoughts on the league's refereeing work in the future?"

The reporter is digging a hole for Min Congda, he has not yet taken office, what views and ideas can he have on the work.

Besides, he's not the number one person in charge, he's just an assistant.

For such a pit, of course the experienced Min Congda will not be fooled.

"My main opinion on the league's referee work at the moment is that I have to remember the name of each referee, and that's the first task I have to start working on tomorrow."

As soon as he said this, the scene was full of laughter, and everyone knew that Min Congda was playing haha.

Later, the reporters didn't ask for too much valuable information, and Min Congda still had a lot of experience in playing Tai Chi.

After all, I've been the general manager for six years.

After the press conference, Min Congda and Bozia left the press conference together, went to the restaurant to eat something first, and then Bozia took Min Congda to the office to introduce his working environment.

Min Congda asked, "President Silva is not here today?" ”

"Silva has gone to business in the morning, and he should want to see you in the afternoon."

"When did you arrange the house for me?"

"Oh God, I know, I know, don't you rush me, okay?"

"I'm contributing so much financial revenue to the alliance, and you're just procrastinating?"

"Okay, okay, I'll go do this in person in the afternoon and find you a place to live. You stay here, and Alice will help you get started. ”

Bozia was speechless, but helpless, Smart had a barbaric aura that didn't seem to belong to this social norm, and you had no choice but to surrender to him.

Many of his words and deeds are unforgivable on others, but they are normal for him, just like Dennis Rodman back then, the more out of line, the more everyone thinks, "Well, that's right, this is him." ”

Bozia suddenly understood why David Stern had put Smart Min in this position, because they were about to face a series of jobs that really needed such a barbarian to check it.

(End of chapter)