Yang Yi: Westbrook committed to the Kings with a minimum salary, but there is a hidden secret behind it?

The owner of the Kings, a billionaire, a technology giant, a venture capital tycoon, and my ex-husband, the Indian Mr. Vivek Ranadive, tried to develop a new basketball system ten years ago: 4 people go back when returning to defense, and 1 person stays near the midline to prepare for a fast break.

Ranadive was one of the first bosses to embrace data analysis in the basketball circle. In 2015, he hired Dean Oliver, a master of advanced data analysis, and combined with his practical experience in coaching 12-year-old girls basketball games, he proposed this impeccable theory: when defending 4-5, guarding the basket, the opponent's open shot rate is 70%, but our side grabs the rebound and passes fast break, layup 1-on-0, and the shooting rate is close to 100%. 100%>70%, math doesn’t lie.

Friends who often go to Weibo to watch children’s games played by well-known commentators in Beijing know that even Coach Ren or Coach Jia would be hard-pressed to come up with smarter tactics than this. But the NBA has evolved to this day, and Ranadive's basketball theory has been partially implemented. Starting from the Warriors' playoff game against the Grizzlies when they let Tony Allen go, contemporary NBA teams no longer seek perfection on the defensive end. They will actively let go of players whose data proves their shooting ability is low, and instead shrink or help defend others. On the defensive end, "5 against 4" is a routine operation, but no one has ever been as radical as "4 against 5".

Next season, Kings fans will have the honor to witness the ultimate practice of the owner's theory, because Russell Westbrook is here.

This is not to say that no one in the Kings will be shorted before, but Wei Zhong is an active master in the matter of "being shorted by opponents outside the three-point line". After the news of Wei Zhong joining the Kings came out, former NBA player Boban publicly stated that he was definitely a fan of Wei Zhong. The reason was that "when you are depressed, you can be happy by watching his highlights." I still haven't figured out what kind of highlights he was watching.

The progress of finding a job in Weizhong has been extremely slow this year. In June, he jumped out of his contract and became a free agent. At the beginning of the summer, he announced that he would play his 18th season. He looked very confident that he had already found a new home. It didn't work out. It took four months before he signed a veteran's minimum salary of 3.63 million with the Kings - and it was a non-guaranteed contract.

There are different reasons for the delay. It is said that the West Wing team has been chasing a contract that is higher than the basic salary. 700 is not too much, 600 is not too little, and 372 is fine, as long as it is not the basic salary, because it is difficult to take off the label of "basic salary player".

It was also said that the Kings had made an appointment with Weizhong a long time ago, but they needed to wait for Schroeder's contract and Kuminga to be traded before talking to Weizhong. As a result, Kuminga was in trouble all summer and still failed to make a deal, which objectively caused Weizhong to miss the training camp for the first time in his career.

During this period, the local media in Saskatchewan broke the news, saying that a CBA team offered Wei Zhong an annual salary of US$10-14 million, as long as he played 23 games in half a season, and if he entered the playoffs, additional money would be added. If true, then Weizhong is doing it for love and will stay in the NBA even with an unguaranteed basic salary.

CBA has a soft salary cap for foreign players. US$4.25 million is all the money you can spend on all foreign players. The extra money you spend will have to pay additional taxes to the CBA company. Of course, CBA is not called a tax, it is called an "adjustment fee." For the portion exceeding US$1 million, 50% must be paid, for the portion exceeding US$1 million to US$2 million, 75% must be paid, and for the portion exceeding US$2 million, 150% must be paid. According to this calculation, if a team pays US$10 million to Weizhong, it will have to pay another 6.875 million. If a team only hires one foreign player from Weizhong, it will cost US$16.875 million, equivalent to RMB 120 million. If you think that with CBA's existing game rules and profitability, if someone is willing to spend this money to hire Weizhong, it means you don't understand CBA; of course, if you really follow the rules and calculate the salary cap and say it's impossible to give such money, then you still don't understand CBA.

So maybe only the second half of this "power generation for love" story is true. As a media person in the capital of California, we can't say what the intention is to exaggerate the purchasing power and willingness of the Chinese people so much. In short, now Wei Zhong has finally reached the 7th team in his career, and he is also the one who has collected the rainbow jerseys. For real West Wing fans, the most painful time has passed. After experiencing the two years with the Lakers, they already have a strong heart and a state of mind without desires. Now it is really time to "as long as I can still see him playing healthy."

The 36-year-old Wei Zhong still has some records to break: with another 506 points, Wei Zhong can surpass Oscar Robertson and become the all-time scoring leader among guards; with another 49 rebounds, Wei Zhong can surpass Kidd and become the all-time rebounding leader among guards. He can also delay the day when Jokic becomes the historical triple-double king. There may be some boring records with long prefixes waiting for us to discover, but one thing has basically become a conclusion:

You can't win a championship by playing for the Kings.

There are currently 7 players in this Kings team who have played in the NBA for at least 8 years, and have made 20 All-Star appearances in total. These players have played in the playoffs a lot, but they have more experience of winning less and losing more, and they have won 0 championships in total. This is a simple math question. If you are eliminated in the first round, your series record will be 0 wins and 1 loss. For example, Sabonis has accumulated 0 wins and 4 losses. As long as you break through the first round, your record will become 1 win and 1 loss. As long as you reach the conference finals, your winning rate will exceed 50%. Among the many famous names in the Kings, only Saric has won less and lost more (4 wins and 2 losses). He still has the glory of the Suns Finals..

Only in the corner of the league like the Kings, only with stars like Savoy, DeRozan, and LaVine, Wei Zhong can play well or poorly. Only the most loyal true fans and fun fans will occasionally glance at his highlights when they are frustrated.

The last reason may also be the most critical reason. There is no such thing as a "power generation for love" story. In 2017, Wei Zhong renewed its ten-year contract with the AJ brand. This contract will end in the 2025-26 season. There are also some clauses that ensure that Wei Zhong can continue to receive endorsement fees after retirement. We are not sure if there are any hard and fast rules in this contract that require Wei Zhong to play for ten years before he can receive all the endorsement fees, including not affecting his income after retirement. The reality is that Wei Zhong chose the Kings' non-guaranteed contract. This matter has many doubts in terms of court needs and emotional appeal, but from a financial logic point of view, it is reasonable: Wei Zhong is tired and he does not want to be too far from home (otherwise he can execute the contract and stay in the Nuggets). What he wants to do is to use the King's contract to complete another contract.

In other words, next season may be Wei Zhong’s last season.

Almost on the same day that the 36-year-old Wei Zhong agreed to join the Kings and enter his 18th season, the 32-year-old Brogdon announced his retirement. The former best rookie only played in the NBA for 9 years. It is said that he found that he had lost his desire and fighting spirit in the Knicks training camp, so he turned around and left. As the saying goes, some people rush to the exam hall at night, and some people resign and return to their hometown. It's just that in this case, there is a slight age dislocation. In the inertia of life, progress is a kind of courage, so retreating is not the same? It is difficult to advance, and it is difficult to retreat. It is also worrying to advance and retreat, but when will you be happy?

Qi must say: You are having a lot of fun.

Wizhong is moving forward with his head held high. He has already earned 350 million. Brogdon retired with a smile. He has earned a total of 133 million. Fitzgerald wrote at the beginning of "The Great Gatsby": "My father once gave me a piece of advice, 'Whenever you want to criticize anyone, remember that not everyone in this world has had the advantages you have. ’”

I think another way of saying it may be true: Dear fat friends, whenever you want to laugh at anyone, just think about whether he has much more capital than you to do these ridiculous things in your eyes.

Mini-game recommendations:Ellie Fashion Police