389: 155: The Consequences of Luxury Tax Rules?
Diversity of Personality (Request for Monthly Tickets!)_2 389: 155: The Consequences of Luxury Tax Rules?
Diversity of Personality (Request for Monthly Tickets!)_2 No businessman would kind of thing.
Rich DeVos was annoyed, unsure of what the league would look like after the 1998 negotiations.
All he wanted was to quickly secure the three-peat.
Now, the team had to listen to Roger, no one could afford to upset him.
Because without him, a three-peat was impossible.
But after the three-peat, DeVos would be able to take control of his team again!
At this moment, apart from the owner, few people cared about things like the luxury tax.
What the fans wanted was games, more and more exciting games.
And the most exciting one, without a doubt, was the Christmas Day battle.
But they still had to wait a while for it.
Roger and the Orlando Magic continued their steady pace, arriving in Minneapolis for their seventh game of the season.
This city began to attract attention because of Kevin Garnett and Stephon Marbury.
It turned out these two young men were indeed talented, as evidenced by their record of 4 wins and 2 losses in the first six games of the season.
Since entering the NBA in 1989, this was the Timberwolves’ most heartening start.
The worst season, the Timberwolves had only won 15 games in total.
But now, they had easily secured 4 victories.
This was why Minneapolis fans started to get passionate about their NBA team, and why the Timberwolves were willing to spend $120 million to keep Garnett.
The night before the game, Roger as usual had dinner with Garnett.
The two had planned to meet at six, and when Roger saw KG at two minutes past six, he had just rushed to the restaurant after finishing training.
Actually, the Timberwolves’ practice had ended at three o’clock, but Garnett would go to a nearby high school gym to continue practicing every day after the afternoon session.
Few knew KG was also a training maniac, especially since his collaboration with Nike was too short-lived.
Nike hadn’t even had a chance to create a public persona for him before the cooperation had ended.
And because his signature on-court chest-thumping and push-ups were already so distinctive, nobody cared about his training regimen.
It’s not like KG could grab a megaphone and shout, “I train hard every day,” right?
How is that different from bragging about reading a lot every day?
Few mentioned his enthusiasm for training, but it wasn’t completely unheard of.
Years later, Tyronn Lue, as the coach of the Clippers, was asked a question, “During your playing and coaching career you’ve seen many players, are there any whose training intensity could match Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan?”
After a moment of thought, Tyronn Lue finally named Kevin Garnett—KG had been with the Celtics during those years when Lue was an assistant coach for the team.
People notice what you do; there’s no need to boast about it.
“Sorry for making you wait?
I meant to finish training earlier, but I lost track of time.
And coming here all sweaty didn’t seem polite, so I went back to change.
Roger waved his hand, “It’s only two minutes KG, this isn’t some business meeting.
Meeting between friends can be casual.”
Garnett’s off-court demeanor towards Roger had always surprised Roger.
As a fan, Roger’s impression of Garnett wasn’t good.
Fierce, tough, bad, a dancer, pretentiously tough.
He bullied rookies on the training ground—note, bullied, not just beat them up—and after joining the Celtics, his petty antics turned off most players.
Aside from his passionate gameplay, Garnett didn’t leave a good impression in other areas.
Yet, this was the person Roger had known for almost two years now, always polite at every meeting.
Initially, Roger’s meetings with Garnett were merely to show face, as it seemed improper to decline since they were invited and under the same agent.
But gradually, Roger felt he was actually quite nice, at least knowing how to respect others.
Perhaps this respect came from Roger’s willingness to patiently listen to him vent about his troubles.
Garnett wasn’t smug about his adapting better to the NBA this season, nor about his growing fame which had troubled him with the media: “I feel like I shouldn’t always be yelling on the court, the media criticize me, calling me a moody kid, unreliable and all.
I messed up, now plenty probably think Stephon Marbury seems more like a real team leader.”
“You didn’t mess up, you’re doing well, truly.
You need to lead your teammates with your emotions; that’s the key.”
But I heard that Tim Duncan from Wake Forest is always quiet on the court, and then people say he’ll be a great leader, saying he’s mature, quiet Tim Duncan never facing any doubts.”
“He is he, and you are you.
Why care about what the media says?
As for leadership, who leads the team is determined by the performance on the field.
Don’t worry about Stephon, as I said, you’re doing well.”
Garnett listened attentively, then suddenly widened his eyes looking at Roger, as if he just realized a fact: the Chinese man across him was only a year older than himself.
“Damn, hard to believe you already won a championship at my age.
And to sweep the Bulls, 8-0 too.”
Roger didn’t know how to respond, because Garnett’s inability to win championships with the Timberwolves was almost certain.
Firstly, his $120 million contract locked up the team’s space for strengthening.