On June 20, 1998, New York fans were still immersed in the joy of winning the championship.

It's been 10 days since the Finals, but the front page of the New York paper media education section is still the Knicks news.

After the third championship in the team's history, New York fans will witness the third championship flag raised at the Madison Square Garden Arena when the season begins next year.

Despite rumours that the NBA will officially go into shutdown at the end of the month, fans in New York don't care.

Everyone knows that the Knicks are making money, the shutdown has nothing to do with the big ball market, their roster structure is perfect, Li You is still on a child labor contract, and the window to win the championship is still there!

Charles Sr. promised New York fans that the team would keep the championship lineup, and the Knicks didn't care about spending money.

On the 18th, at the Madison Square Garden Arena, James Dolan, the future team leader, passionately painted a pie for New York fans:

"We have a perfect roster structure, Pat is the best center in the league and Lee is the best point guard in the league!"

"We're going to keep pushing for championships, and the time has come for the Knicks!"

Unlike the low-key promises of old Charles, this man is eager to let the world know that he is a rich Kaizi.

MSG served as the voice of the Knicks, covering fans in the vicinity of New York State, and the Dolan family's promises at the Championship Parade and on their own programs were completely reassuring to fans.

Oakley's plan has succeeded, the old guy is in the best defensive second team this season, and with the blessing of the championship, the team will give him a big contract!

Even if General Manager Grunfield doesn't like such an option, but the big boss gives a promise, and the Knicks don't care about spending money, then he naturally won't be a villain.

Losing the Finals again, the Utah Twins also set an embarrassing record, becoming the players with the most playoff appearances without a championship

Although Karl Malone played well in the Finals overall, as long as ESPN was still playing his two free throws and Lee Woo's lethal block, Jazz fans could only follow the fire.

"The youngest FMVP in the NBA Finals!"

"The league's No. 1 point guard!"

"The rise of superstars, Mr. Billions of Dollars in the future!"

“.”

After winning the Most Valuable Player Award in the Finals, Lee Woo has become the object of consumption by major sports media these days.

The NBA is a big show, Li You played a performance, and after the curtain ended, the ball critics naturally started their own performances.

On the second day after the finals, ESPN announced the playoff rankings for the 97~98 season, which is also one of the sources of joy for New York fans, and Lee Woo played an incredible performance.

In the 97~98 season, the Knicks experienced a total of 17 playoff games, and Li You started all of them.

Averaged 36.2 minutes per game, averaging 24.9 points, 3.8 rebounds, 9.2 assists, 1.6 steals and 2.0 turnovers per game;

He averaged 17.5 attempts per game and shot 48.4 percent from the field and 7.4 attempts from beyond the three-point line with 49.4 percent from three-point range.

He averaged 5.4 free throws per game and shot 87.7% from the free-throw line.

In 17 playoff games, Lee Woo scored a total of 424 points, ranking 3rd in the scoring list of this year's playoffs, and ranking 6th in points per game.

The top two are Michael Jordan with 530 points and Karl Malone with 501 points.

Although Mycu was eliminated this year, he surpassed Abdul-Jabbar in the total playoff scoring list and became the first person in the NBA playoffs all-time scoring list.

In the playoff assist list, Li You's 157 assists rank first, and the average assists per game rank second;

On the playoff hit list, Li You averaged 8.4 goals per game, ranking 7th, and 142 goals per game, ranking 4th;

On the three-point list in the playoffs, Li You hit 61 three-pointers and took the lead;

Reggie Miller, who was in second place, hit 38 three-pointers;

Averaging 3.5 three-pointers per game, Lee Woo also ranked first, and his 49.4% three-point shooting percentage ranked fourth.

At the same time, Li You's 61 three-pointers in the playoffs also broke the record of 56 three-pointers of the Magic team in the 94~95 season.

Become the player who hits the most three-pointers in a single season in NBA playoff history!

In the playoffs, Lee Woo made 91 free throws, ranking third in the league, averaging 4.6 free throws per game and ranking 14th in the league, and ranking 8th in free throw percentage.

On the list of true hit percentage, Li You ranked 7th with a true hit rate of 63.3%;

On the list of high-level data PER efficiency values, Li You ranked second with a value of 27.9, just surpassing Michael Jordan's 27.3;

No. 1 is the Lakers' Shaquille O'Neal, 31.0 PER, the Sharks killed all sides in the playoffs, but unfortunately fished early

Whether it is from the performance on the field or from Excel, Li You's FMVP this year is well deserved, and he got all the votes, which also reflects this situation truthfully.

However, as professional football commentators, everyone is also aware of the shortcomings reflected in Li You's data.

Every Saturday at 11 a.m., TNT hosts NBA Inside Stuff, a co-produced show by NBC and TNT that introduces NBA insider tips and tidbits.

After it aired in '90, it became a huge hit, because the content of the program was not as professional as the previous TNT programs, but more interesting facts about the life, training and games of NBA players.

Of course, the most interesting part of the show is that there will be some interactive sessions after showing the regular game clips of the top stars.

Viewers can ask questions or give their opinions to the host over the phone.

The effect of the last two episodes of the program exploded, and today's noon interactive session was again "Fak! Plum! "Farker New York!" "Fakeein!" "Fakjodan!" Begin.

Last week's show, the phone was flooded by fans in Salt Lake City and Chicago, coupled with the counterattack of fans in New York, and the questions would end with scolding at the end.

At this time, the vase host was not in vogue, and although Amanda Bell was a beautiful blonde white girl, she was a famous NBC reporter herself.

"Wow! It's crazy, maybe we should get Lee on the show, I'm having some hard time answering some questions! ”

Dressed in a blue suit, Amanda Bell has a tangled expression in front of the camera.

Ahmad Rashad, the black partner next to him, didn't care about this, but said with a smile:

"It seems that Lee has been very popular lately, and we've all heard the opinions of professional ball critics, Amanda, you interview Lee a lot, do you think he will keep up that next season?"

"Of course, I don't know why everybody is talking about his finishing under the basket, but in my opinion, it's okay to put the ball in the basket."

"Moreover, Lee is stronger than most fans remember, and he has a good figure!"

"We've filmed Knicks practice sessions before, and I'm telling the truth."

Amanda Bell answered the question seriously, but Ahmad Sharad suddenly gossiped:

"How many times have you supposedly had dinner together?"

"Hey! That's a private topic! ”

“.”

Lee also watched the show in his Manhattan apartment, and he didn't care about the basketball finishing issues that critics have been criticizing him over and over again in the past few days.

At this time, he was still immersed in the joy of the harvest

During the playoffs, he shot 46.9 percent from two-point range, and by the Finals, it had dropped to 43.7 percent.

From the beginning of the playoffs, the two-point shooting rate began to decline gradually, and most of the finishing under the basket was dominated by touching

The body is too weak, the confrontation is insufficient, and it is difficult to hang the meat, which is considered Li You's hard injury, but after winning the championship, this problem has been improved:

【Carl Malone's extraordinary physique】

Although Li You doesn't know if this talent can make his muscles bigger a few laps, in terms of endurance, it should be guaranteed.

In this regard, Li You also set a small goal for himself:

"Strive for a career all-time scoring title!"

On the TV, Amanda Bell is still introducing Lee You's little gossip, while Mark Battlestein, the agent in the apartment, keeps walking around.

Ray Allen on the side looked at Li You still lying in Ge You, and then looked at the agent who was frowning, and said helplessly:

"It's not going to be shut down for too long, haven't the unions gone on strike before? In the end, everyone will compromise! ”

Mark Battlestein is not so optimistic, he doesn't like to stop at this time, and the absence of player trades will affect his earnings:

"It's different, this time the alliance and the management will not compromise easily!"

"In the BRI (basketball-related income), the salary of players has reached 57%, far more than the 48% in the agreement, and players will not compromise on salary cuts, and the same is true for management."

"Hell, if this season stops early, the free agency market is gone!"

Without the free market, it has a big impact on brokers.

If you shut down too soon, you won't be able to train and have team meetings, which will also affect the physical condition of many players!

Expecting players to train with self-discipline is destined to be unreliable.

In an offseason, if you don't maintain your physical condition, you can become a ball of weight.

Without the free market, the gains are reduced, but Mark Battlestein is still helping Lee and Ray Allen earn in their commercial contracts, which kind of makes up for some of the losses.

"Li, no matter what program you participate in, when it comes to salary, you must answer carefully!"

"You know that no matter how the collective bargaining agreement changes, it won't affect the talented young players too much."

"Don't be in a hurry to make a statement, you're destined to get a big contract!"

Of course, Li You knows his own situation, Kevin Garnett can't find anyone at this time, and he will make a fortune when he gets a big contract.

And the Knicks will also offer him a contract of 100 million yuan, and after the collective bargaining agreement, once compromised, there will be restrictions on player salaries.

At this time, the 100 million yuan contract will arouse people's jealousy!

Li You can't represent ordinary players, because no matter how the rules change, it won't delay him to make a lot of money:

"Don't worry, I'm aware of these circumstances, maybe the president will announce the results of the negotiations in two days."

Li You sat up and saw that Ray Allen didn't take the matter of the collective bargaining agreement to heart at all, and immediately reminded him meaningfully:

"Ray, after attending my graduation ceremony, maybe you need to re-plan your offseason training schedule!"

Ray Allen, who has obsessive-compulsive disorder, always likes to plan step by step and then execute it meticulously.

But at this time, Ray Allen could not have imagined that this shutdown would last for more than half a year:

"Rest assured, I've got a plan in place for the next three months to cancel a few pre-season games at most, and next season will be as usual."

Mark Battlestein stopped pacing at this time, reminding the two again:

"After the alliance announces the results, you must be cautious, believe me, this time the capital is real!"

“.”

On June 22, 1998, when the major sports media were still discussing Li You's data, the NBA League announced the termination of the negotiations between labor and management, and the shutdown officially began!

If negotiations don't move forward, teams are barred from trading players, training sessions, and team meetings when free agency opens.

After this news was announced in the morning, it immediately caused quite a shock, and Ewing has been busy with this matter since he participated in the championship parade.

Soon, the gorillas also followed the tough statement, expressing the position of the players' union:

"We do not accept a pay cut, we do not accept a salary cap, and the players' union welcomes fair and fair negotiations and cooperation between the two sides."

Seeing that the 98 draft is coming, this year's new students are all stunned.

The official shutdown also had a disappointing impact on the Knicks, and the new training base that was supposed to officially open in the offseason was also postponed.

On the afternoon of the 22nd, Li You, dressed in a black suit, drove to the town of Tarrytown.

The new training center is located in West Chester County, New York, approximately a 40-minute drive from Midtown Manhattan.

In terms of distance, this is the same as the previous SUNY-Purchase training gym.

After the move, there will be no need to work with the State University of New York campus, and the Knicks' training hall will be completely independent.

It also makes the Knicks the first team in the league to have a completely independent training gym.

As one of the earliest planned communities in the United States, Tarrytown is mostly European-style villa buildings, the town is not crowded, and the commercial area is also very complete.

The Knicks' new training center is 16 acres and has more modern facilities than the old training center.

It features two full-size basketball courts, a strength gym, a physical recovery room, a media reception room, and a team meeting room.

With the Gorillas still busy fighting the league and the news of the shutdown in the morning, there was a tendency to get worse, so Lee became the first Knicks player to visit the new training gym.

The players are on vacation, and the team's staff is still busy with the draft.

General Manager Glenfeld and Equipment Manager Mike Sr. smiled and introduced the jerseys hanging in the basketball hall to Li You:

"Lee, your No. 1 jersey will also be hung in the new training hall, and everyone agrees with that!"

As soon as the equipment manager Mike saw that the words fell, Grunfield, the general manager on the side, also said happily:

"Like Pat, you haven't retired yet, so that's all you can say is the team's heart!"

In addition to the championship flag and the division championship flag, all that remained around the arena were the retired jerseys of several famous Knicks players.

Li You is very satisfied with this, he also likes the new training hall very much, although the distance is a little far, but as long as he buys a house here, he can solve the problem:

"Thank you for the recognition, honestly, I'm a little excited, I'm just a sophomore rookie."

Grunfield smiled and patted Li You on the shoulder, and then said with some regret:

"It's a shame that we were going to hold team events in the new training hall in the offseason, but after the league was shut down, some of the plans had to be cancelled."

"Lee, what advice do you have for the team's lineup?"

Hearing Grenfield's casual question, Li You didn't show much emotion, but replied with a relaxed expression:

"I don't want to be involved in running the team"

As soon as he was halfway through his words, Grunfeld interrupted with a smile, seemed to be very satisfied with Li You's attitude, and suggested with a smile:

"Just tell us the type of player you like to partner with, Lee, as the core of the team, we will respect your opinion!"

always felt that the other party was digging a hole for himself, Li You pondered for a while and finally replied casually:

"A player like Charles is good!"

Grunfield immediately smiled and nodded, Li You's answer didn't reveal much intention, and it was even the answer with the mud:

"Is there a projected inside big man? Well, we're going to pick players like that in this year's draft! ”

Li You was speechless in his heart, the general manager is very controlling, not only does not refer to Jeff Van Gundy's opinion, but also does not care about the thoughts of the core players:

"If you want to be Manager Li, this matter has a long way to go"

Thank you for your subscription and support.

There will be an update in the evening, and the two chapters together are still 10,000 words~

(End of chapter)