"Jiang, what kind of punishment do you predict Stern will inflict on Ron?" Stewart couldn't help but ask when he saw Jiang Dongbing who had been silent.

Jiang Dongbing waved his hand, "Who knows, it may be a ban of eight out of ten games plus a fine, or it may be a ban of dozens of games plus a fine. Anyway, a ban will definitely lead to a ban."

"But don't worry, everyone, even if Ron can't appear in the playoffs, we still have an absolute advantage against other teams, and the championship is still within our grasp." Jiang Dongbing said with great confidence.

Artest is suspended. This is very certain. However, Jiang Dongbing has too many chips. Without Artest, he can put Jackson at the second position and Kirilenko at the third position.

On position.

In this way, the team's perimeter defensive strength will not drop too much. Speaking of which, the Grizzlies' only opponent in the playoffs is the Lakers. Jackson defends Kobe and Kirilenko defends Glenn Rice. There are all problems.

Not very big.

In addition, if Kirilenko is not allowed to start, Ginobili can also be used to play the second starting position. Although the Grizzlies' defensive intensity has been reduced a lot, their offensive firepower has been enhanced, and the game effect may not necessarily be the same.

It will be different.

Even if things don't work out, you can ask Peja to play the third position and Jackson to play the second position, which will have the same effect.

Because there are too many generals at his disposal, Jiang Dongbing is not worried about the Grizzlies' playoffs this time. The championship is still within their grasp.

Now the main reason why Jiang Dongbing wants to keep Artest is because he doesn't want Artest's career to be ruined.

After listening to Jiang Dongbing's words, the executives present relaxed a lot. As long as they can win the championship, it doesn't really matter how many games Artest is suspended.

"By the way, the Spurs behaved very strangely this time. If we were the Spurs, we would definitely not trivialize a major issue so easily. I wonder what kind of medicine they are selling in their gourd." A senior executive asked curiously.

road.

These words caused others to nod frequently. The Spurs' performance was indeed very strange. Logically speaking, if the team's veteran was in this situation, the Spurs would definitely ask the league to severely punish Artest. As a result, the Spurs' attitude was to minimize the big issue.

Jiang Dongbing coughed lightly and said, "Ahem, I'll discuss this with you all."

"The reason why the Spurs have this attitude is because I made an agreement with Mr. Popovich that we will sell Ginobili to the Spurs after the season."

Only then did everyone understand. No wonder the Spurs had such an attitude. It turned out they were getting benefits.

"Jiang, as far as I know, the Spurs don't have any decent bargaining chips. What did they trade for our Ginobili?" Stewart asked curiously.

Who in the league doesn't know that the Spurs are very poor. The only valuable player on the team is probably Duncan. Robinson is too old and his contract is too big. No team will be interested in Robinson. In addition, the Spurs' record has always been poor.

Good, their draft picks have little value either.

That's why Stewart asked this question. He didn't know what the Spurs could have in exchange for Ginobili.

Jiang Dongbing shook his head and said: "They won't give you any chips, or they won't give you any chips that you can appreciate, which means we are giving Ginobili to the Spurs for nothing."

All the executives in the venue suddenly changed their minds and gave Ginobili away for free?! What's going on?

Stewart was dumbfounded. He didn't understand what Jiang Dongbing meant for a while, and how he could give Ginobili away for nothing.

"Ginger, are you kidding me?" Stewart smiled bitterly.

Jiang Dongbing shook his head, "Are you kidding? This is a deal that Popovich and I negotiated."

Everyone was speechless? But they were a little dissatisfied with this deal. Jiang Dongbing was indeed the mainstay of the Grizzlies, but Ginobili was also a super rookie with unlimited potential, and he was given away for nothing? Could it be that Jiang Dongbing was given away for nothing?

Don't you need to discuss it with these executives?

Stuart's heart skipped a beat. He knew that Jiang Dongbing was in trouble this time. With the relationship between him and Jiang Dongbing, even if Jiang Dongbing did something like this, he wouldn't think too much about it.

Stewart knows better than anyone else that the reason why his position as general manager is so secure is that Jiang Dongbing can always get outstanding newcomers and lead the team to achieve good results. Now that Jiang Dongbing has given away a newcomer he selected, Stewart has no dissatisfaction.

But he is not dissatisfied, which does not mean that the team owner Heisley can tolerate this kind of thing happening. Who is Heisley? He is a profit-seeking businessman. Ginobili is of great value, so he was given away by Jiang Dongbing for nothing.

, it’s strange that Haisley would be willing.

"Ahem, that's it for today's meeting. Let's wait and see the news from the alliance." Stewart directly announced the end of the meeting.

After everyone left, Stewart left Jiang Dongbing behind.

"Jiang, what you did this time was too arbitrary. You should have discussed it with me first." Stewart said with a wry smile.

"Time is too urgent. The Ma Sansi are about to have a post-match press conference, and I don't have time to discuss it with you." Jiang Dongbing replied.

"Young people are still too impatient to do things. Of course I don't have any problem with it. No matter what transaction decision you make, I will not object to it. But have you ever thought about the new owner of the team, Heisley? He is not like me."

So easy to talk to."

"Maybe McCaw Jr. will agree to your deal like me, but Haisley is definitely not McCaw Jr. He may block the deal then, and I will definitely not be able to help you then." Stewart said with a sad face.

Although he is the general manager of the team and is in charge of all the power of the team, in the final analysis he is just a worker. The team owner is the real person in power. When the time comes, Haisley insists on not sending Ginobili away, he can

Is there any way.

Jiang Dongbing frowned, "I selected Ginobili with the bottom pick in the second round. This time in order to keep Artest, I gave him away for nothing. If Haisley has any objections, I welcome him."

He fired me."

"Stewart, how many teams in the league do you think are willing for me to coach their teams?"

Stewart started to roll his eyes. Sure enough, it was the Jiang Dongbing he knew. He was so lawless that he actually threatened his boss.

However, he also knows very well that Jiang Dongbing's statement is correct. As long as Jiang Dongbing announces his departure from the Grizzlies, 28 teams in the league may immediately extend an olive branch to him, that is, any team except the Grizzlies!

He also knew that the reason why Jiang Dongbing gave away Ginobili for free without any psychological burden was that Jiang Dongbing believed that Ginobili was his "gift" to the Grizzlies. Now that he wants to gift it to other teams, naturally he will not

What is the psychological burden?

"Jiang, the matter hasn't reached that point yet, don't worry, I will try my best to facilitate this deal, and I will communicate with Haisley." Stewart could only say helplessly.

Jiang Dongbing smiled and shook his head, "I have nothing to worry about. Even if this deal doesn't succeed, I have countless ways to make up for the Spurs."

…

Early the next morning, Jiang Dongbing and the Grizzlies players got up very early because they had received news that the league's punishment for Artest had been released.

Suspended for 68 games and fined $20,000!

Such a super heavy penalty directly made Artest look pale. It is the only case in NBA history where he was suspended due to on-court fighting. Artest should have broken the record this time.

The most notorious brawl in NBA history must be the 1977 game between the Lakers and the Rockets. Lakers player Kermit Washington punched current Rockets head coach Tang Shuai. It is said that Tang Shuai's brains were smashed out.

Later experts even gave this punch a name "the-punch".

Interestingly, Washington became the image ambassador of the NBA Players Association thirty years later, specializing in guiding young players to stay away from violence on the court.

But even for such a serious incident, Washington was only suspended for 60 games in the end.

Artest's elbow incident this time is actually similar in nature to Washington's, but their starting points are different. Washington's identity is the bodyguard of the Lakers superstar, and he does these dirty jobs on the court, while Artest

Completely out of control.

And the consequences of the two incidents were also different. Obviously, Artest's consequences this time were much lighter.

As a result, Artest's punishment was more severe than that of Washington, which also made Jiang Dongbing somewhat dissatisfied with the league's penalty.

These 68-game suspensions also directly tied the NBA record for the most games banned. The current record holder for the number of suspended games is Madman Sprewell. The reason for his suspension was not because of fighting on the field, but because of his behavior in training.

Dissatisfied with the accusations made by head coach Carlesimo, he strangled Carlesimo's neck and almost strangled his own head coach to death...

For this kind of off-field incident, Carlesimo could actually sue Sprewell and send Sprewell to jail, which is completely different from the on-field fight.

"What? Sixty-eight games? Stern is absolutely crazy!"

"Are you kidding me? I thought the ban was only twenty games at most. How could it be so many?"

"Coach, can we appeal to the league? This penalty is too serious!" After learning about this penalty decision, the Grizzlies generals complained one after another.

Jiang Dongbing remained silent. Now that the league's punishment results have been released, let's not talk about whether he can appeal. Even if he appeals, it won't change anything. Stern will never change his decision on punishment.

Originally Jiang Dongbing thought that Stern would be fined and suspended for thirty games, but this was still too much. According to past cases, it was roughly between fifteen and twenty games. After all, the Spurs, the offender, did not pursue it very much. The league did not pursue it.

Don't do it too harshly.

But now Stern is really cruel and directly slaps Artest with the most severe punishment in history!

Jiang Dongbing thought, maybe Stern's approach was intended to weaken the grizzly bear's combat power. After all, the grizzly bear is so strong. If no weakening is done, the grizzly bear will really be lawless.

There just happens to be a ready opportunity now. Simply punish Artest heavily. Regardless of whether it has a big impact on the Grizzlies, at least it will definitely reduce the Grizzlies' combat effectiveness.

"Let's just punish him. We should take advantage of this period of time to reflect on it."

"You are still young, so the loss is not big. Don't worry, you will still have a happy future." After the other players left, Jiang Dongbing patted Artest on the shoulder and consoled him.

"Coach, I must restrain myself from now on!" Artest said solemnly.

"Okay, I believe you. If you don't restrain yourself, then even God will be unable to help you."

"Don't stop training during this period. Also, be sure to keep the psychiatrist in mind."

Jiang Dongbing is not worried that Artest will not be able to find a job in the league in the future. With his strength, even if he has psychological problems, there are still many people on the team who want him, but he definitely doesn't want to get a maximum salary contract. No

Any team would offer a maximum salary to someone as unstable as Artest.

Just like the madman Sprewell, since he pinched Carlesimo, only players like the Knicks are willing to offer him a good contract. Even if other teams want him, they dare not give him

He offers a decent contract.

…

Just after parting ways with Artest, Jiang Dongbing received a call from Popovich.

"Jiang, I've seen the league's punishment, and it's really..." Popovich was also a little speechless. He didn't expect the league to be so cruel and directly gave Artest the heaviest punishment in history.

Does Popovich hate Artest? Of course he does, but he is also worried that such a severe punishment will make Jiang Dongbing change his mind and change his plan to send Ginobili to the Spurs.

After all, the purpose of Jiang Dongbing's deal with the Spurs was to get Artest to reduce his punishment. Now that the punishment is so severe, even if Jiang Dongbing changes his mind, Popovich will have nothing to say.

"Greg, don't worry, the deal has not changed." Jiang Dongbing was not in the mood to greet Popovich.

With this guarantee, Popovich felt relieved and felt a little grateful to Jiang Dongbing. Artest had been punished like this, so it was not easy for Jiang Dongbing to keep his promise.

…

"What? What did you say? Jiang Dongbing gave my players to the Spurs for nothing?"

At the same time, in the Grizzlies general manager's office, the only thing heard was boss Heisley roaring at Stewart.

Stewart looked embarrassed, "Why are you yelling at me about the players Jiang Dongbing gave me? When you bought the Grizzlies, you promised Jiang Dongbing that Jiang Dongbing would be responsible for the transaction."

"Mr. Haisley, there is nothing we can do about this. Jiang just wants the Spurs not to pursue Ron." Stewart said.

"Not pursuing it? Now Ron is suspended for sixty-eight games? Do you think the deal worked?"

"No, I absolutely do not agree to give Manu Bai to the Spurs!" Haisley continued to yell.
Chapter completed!