Mountain Peak System: a Path to NBA-Chapter 430 - 143: Loyalty That Is Not Absolute Is Absolutely Disloyal (5K, Pleading for Subscriptions and Monthly Tickets)
"I can understand Ron’s feelings, but I will never forgive his actions."
Looking at the team’s general manager Chris Mullin, who came to find him immediately after Artest’s rage, Qin Yue said this.
Through Mullin, Qin Yue roughly learned about Artest’s mental journey of never getting the promises from the Warriors management this summer.
But in Qin Yue’s view, this still isn’t a reason for Artest to treat injury carelessly and use it to threaten the team.
Moreover, was Artest really threatening the team?
That was clearly retaliating against his teammates!
In the long history of the NBA, which team’s second-in-command would act foolishly like this during the quest for a third consecutive championship?
Oh, it seems there really is one.
But that’s not important, what’s important is...
Given the precedent of that idiot Scottie Pippen, how is Artest’s behavior different from deliberately embarrassing Qin Yue?
Did Qin Yue give Artest any promises in advance? Did he painstakingly advise him? Did he repeatedly emphasize the necessity of having that damn surgery in the off-season? Since he did all this, wasn’t Artest’s stubbornness just telling other teammates that he never trusted him?
Qin Yue was very disappointed in Artest.
He had thought Artest could create a great legacy with him.
But now, there’s no place on the Warriors for a deputy who doesn’t trust the Captain.
Additionally, Qin Yue understood roughly, through Mullin’s account, why the team’s president Lowell, responsible for Warriors player renewals, was unwilling to advance the contracts with Davis and Artest.
Since Lowell, who always acted from the owner’s perspective, never intended to keep Davis and Artest from the start.
Despite Qin Yue’s appearance greatly affecting historical developments, the similarity is that team owner Kohan is already prepared to sell the Warriors.
The only difference is that Qin Yue’s appearance caused the current valuation of the Warriors to far exceed historical values, and it’s still not at its peak.
This puts the current Warriors in a very awkward position.
On one hand, the Warriors must maintain roster strength to the best of their ability.
But on the other hand, the Warriors must preserve good salary cap space before the team’s valuation reaches its peak.
Qin Yue had read relevant news reports.
According to those economic experts’ speculations, the peak valuation for the Warriors should come around 2009.
So, assuming he successfully renews his contract with the Warriors and signs that super-max deal, to avoid paying huge luxury taxes around the peak valuation, the Warriors would inevitably have to abandon Davis and Artest.
Why?
Because in the NBA, major actions like selling a team require one or two years of negotiations, and nobody can guarantee a smooth sale.
During this period, if the salary cap isn’t cleared, conservatively estimating, Kohan would need to pay at least one hundred million US dollars in luxury tax to maintain the Warriors’ roster.
In the first decade of the 21st century, one hundred million US dollars is not a small amount for anyone.
And as a rule of thumb, to give successors more room for maneuver, NBA team owners often strive to maintain the current salary cap in good condition before selling the team.
After all, if you take over a team that requires paying tens of millions in luxury taxes annually...
Then no matter who comes in, they would certainly intentionally lower the offer in the negotiations with Kohan.
Even if the team has Qin Yue.
When you have to pay a huge amount to purchase the team, and considering the long time needed to recoup costs, how could you willingly accept Kohan’s high price without attempting to reduce costs through bargaining?
Certainly, there are super-rich individuals who don’t mind spending tens of billions.
But how can Kohan guarantee that the bidder willing to pay the highest price in the future will be the wealthiest tycoon?
And this to-and-fro loss for Kohan would far exceed one hundred million US dollars.
Therefore, from President Lowell’s point of view, since retaining Artest and Davis comes at such a high price, why keep them?
That’s the dilemma faced by the current Warriors.
However...
No matter how many reasons President Lowell has, in Qin Yue’s eyes, it isn’t his reason for repeatedly adopting a cold attitude towards Artest and Davis without his consent.
Thus...
Looking directly at Mullin, Qin Yue said, "This is my team, it must be under my control."
At this moment, Mullin gave Qin Yue a meaningful glance.
"Lan Jiu Gui" knew very well that after the tempering of two championships, Qin Yue was no longer the Qin Yue of the past.
That afternoon.
Team owner Chris Cohan arrived at the training facility.
Although he thoroughly understood from Mullin the entire situation and knew Lowell’s actions were fully based on his previous hints...
But now, he had to first deal with the extremely angry Qin Yue.
"How do you plan to handle this?" Looking at Mullin, Kohan asked.
Mullin spoke plainly, "Messiah won’t forgive Ron, so the only option we have next is to trade Ron."
