After the draft ended, Qin Yue imdiately shifted his focus back to the training court.
This sumr, the primary task for the Warriors, who gained significantly according to the GOAT’s personal will on draft night, is to complete contract renewals with Jack and Brown.
Since both players qualify for triggering the Bird rights, the Warriors don’t need to worry about the salary cap being a restriction on completing their renewals.
Team president Larry Riley, in charge of player renewal work, offered Jack a five-year contract worth approximately 25 million US Dollars in total.
And, as previously promised to Brown, offered him a hefty five-year contract with a total value of 50 million US Dollars.
With Jack and Brown completing their renewals with the team one after another....
In the 09/10 season, the Warriors, who can no longer enjoy the benefits of Qin Yue’s rookie contract, will have a total team salary reaching as high as 95 million US Dollars.
In this era when the salary cap was only about 60 million US Dollars...
The luxury tax the Warriors will need to pay in the new season is destined to be an astronomical figure.
But about this, team president Riley said, "When you have a player like the ssiah, you must go all out."
However, to clarify for the Warriors, in the 09/10 season, they are not the only team in the league with a total salary set to exceed 90 million US Dollars.
Because the Mavericks, Lakers, and Cavaliers will join them in forming the league’s major sources of luxury tax revenue, known as the "F4" group in the upcoming new season.
To bring a championship trophy back to Dallas, Mavericks Owner Matt Cuban’s investnt in the team over the years has been extrely exaggerated and astonishing.
Since the 04/05 season, the Mavericks have maintained a total team salary consistently above 90 million US Dollars.
And since Daniel Gilbert took over the Cavaliers, to satisfy His Majesty the Emperor, the Cavaliers’ total salary has been increasing year by year and will reach 91 million US Dollars in the 09/10 season.
Gilbert hopes to ensure the Chosen One does not abandon Cleveland in the upcoming sumr of 2010 by maintaining a strong roster for the Cavaliers.
As for the Lakers?
To grasp the championship window, after being secretly priced up by the Kings last season...
After completing renewals with several key players this sumr, their total team salary next season will reach an amount that causes Jerry Buss significant pain, at 97 million US Dollars.
Old Buss loathes the Kings in his heart.
Because if it weren’t for the Kings inexplicably offering Monta Ellis a high-salary long-term contract offer, forcing the Lakers to match, they could have saved a fortune.
Although Old Buss knows more than anyone else that to compete for the championship, the Lakers must invest.
But when it cos to paying the luxury tax, Old Buss has always adhered to the principle of paying as little as possible.
ESPN’s renowned luxury tax expert Bobby Max comnted, "Currently, the NBA is in an era where if you don’t spend money, you’re not even qualified to compete.
Besides the Warriors, Mavericks, Lakers, and Cavaliers, the Supersonics, having completed renewals with ’Big-Yao’ and Kevin Garnett in the new season, will have a total team salary reaching 89 million US Dollars.
Among the many championship-contending teams, only the Celtics, Magic, and Hawks are in a slightly better situation, able to keep their total team salaries around 80 million US Dollars.
But compared to those teams whose total salaries are below the salary cap, the luxury tax these high-salary teams must pay is still staggering."
The continuously increasing cost of competing for a championship is not a good thing for the current era’s NBA.
Especially at this ti point of a financial crisis.
David Stern already feels a tinge of concern about the coming new round of labor talks.
Stern is well aware that many team owners in the league deeply resent this internal competition.
They hope that as the league’s president, Stern can take the most assertive stance in the upcoming labor talks, by reducing players’ inco share, or even introducing a hard salary cap, thereby reducing the competition costs and day-to-day operating expenses needed by teams.
Jordan’s forr agent David Falk predicts, "The next round of labor talks will be very, very extre, and no one will back down in this negotiation."
As the league’s flag bearer, Qin Yue knows that the conflicts between capital and labor sides are fated to be irreconcilable at this stage.
But before this labor negotiation reaches its climax, his focus will still be on helping the Warriors return to the pinnacle.
...
Two weeks later, the sumr league officially started.
Stephen Curry delivered a stat line of 20 points, 4 rebounds, 5 assists, and 11 turnovers in his sumr league debut.
This was a ga where Curry perfectly showcased his personal strengths but also fully exposed his weaknesses.
As the second overall pick, Curry displayed a soft touch in the ga, confident in his shots both off the catch and off the dribble.
But his poor passing habits and dribbling unrelated to stability often led to inexplicable turnovers on the court.
During his debut, Curry was astonishingly picked four tis by the opponent.
This inevitably raises doubts about whether he truly has the potential to beco an elite ball handler.
Anthony Lester, a reporter for The San Francisco Chronicle, described Curry’s sumr league debut as follows: "The Warriors, having amicably parted ways with Jason Richardson, chose the young 21-year-old Stephen Curry as his replacent.
I know we need to give this young player more ti, but Stephen must hurry to improve his disastrous passing and ball-handling performance.
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