In July, the NBA officially announced a suspension after the old salary agreement expired.

And this time the league has a very tough attitude. It is unyielding in many negotiations with the players, and it is determined to weaken the salary that players can get.

Because the current salary of players has exceeded more than 55% of the league's profit, this has led to the situation of the bosses of some small teams becoming increasingly difficult.

There have even been several bosses who want to sell the team and declare bankruptcy.

In addition to weakening the salary players can get, the league also wants to set up a hard salary cap in the future, which is a standard that cannot be crossed no matter what.

The players naturally would not agree with this matter. After all, the leeks of this knife were cut from them, so the players' union represented by the player chairman Fisher has officially announced a break with the league.

In addition, players will not receive a penny of salary during the league's suspension, and they will not be able to use any training equipment and stadiums related to the NBA.

But although the suspension caused a lot of controversy, it had nothing to do with Yang Fan.

Even after the league is shut down, employees like coaches and general managers will not get a penny salary, but Yang Fan is an exception.

Because Wizards boss Leon Sis has promised Yang Fan that no matter when the league is about to be suspended, Yang Fan's annual salary of $15 million is definitely a penny, in other words, it is paid leave.

It is worth mentioning that Yang Fan and the Wizards signed a three-year contract of US$45 million.

The annual salary of 15 million not only sets a record of coach salaries in NBA history, but also catches up with the current salary of first-tier stars in the league.

Not to mention that there is no future, but at least it is unprecedented.

That is, the fact that Yang Fan signed a contract with the Wizards has not been announced, otherwise the coaching contract of $45 million in these three years will definitely cause a stir in the NBA.

At the same time, the league also announced that during the suspension period, the team cannot contact the players privately, and cannot discuss transactions, signings, and transfers.

However, as the saying goes, there are policies from the top and countermeasures from the bottom. Although the league openly prohibits the team from having any private contact with players, this kind of thing is at most just to listen to it.

Anyway, Yang Fan doesn't believe that any team will be obedient. He really turns a blind eye to the things outside the window and only focuses on reading the books of sages.

At most, you can restrain your eating habits and don’t let some unscrupulous media catch the handle.

During this period, Yang Fan has been investigating the free market through personal relationships. There is a saying that it is good to start first and then to get into trouble. It is definitely not a bad thing to prepare in advance.

Although there are no top league stars in the free market this year, they also have good second-tier stars such as Tyson Chandler, David West, Crawford and Richardson.

Unfortunately, none of these people were loved by Yang Fan, and the only one who was pretty good David West had reached an oral agreement with the Pacers long ago.

If the Wizards want to poach people, then the contract presented is too premium, at least in Yang Fan's opinion, it is completely unnecessary.

As for JR Smith and Crawford, the two players are good candidates on the bench, but their contracts are too big and the uncertainty is too high, so Yang Fan does not need to take this risk.

After all, the Wizards are destined to be a younger team in the new season, which means that the Wizards need a lot of ball rights and time to run in and train.

In this case, if Yang Fan signs JR Smith or Crawford, that is the real brain.

Finally, after a series of screening and contact, Yang Fan focused on the two players.

The first and most important one is Sean Bathir, known as the "defensive expert".

Battier was traded back to his old club Grizzlies by the Rockets last season. It is worth mentioning that Battier was the captain of the Rockets last year. He is a complete spiritual leader both on and off the court.

As we all know, the Rockets' management has never been very smart. Morey actually exchanged Bathir for the Grizzlies' parallel-leading second-tier Tabit.

Morey gave the reason that the Grizzlies did not know how to train the center, and said that he would definitely train Tabit to become the second Yao Ming...

When Yang Fan heard this, he sprayed out the water he drank, then sorted out his clothes, and could only give Morey a thumbs up from across the air.

Morey could think of it, and even Yang Fan didn't dare to think about it.

But that's good, because the more stupid Morey looks, the more comfortable Yang Fan will feel.

Bathir, who returned to the Grizzlies, said in an interview with the media that he hopes that his arrival can help the Grizzlies win more playoff games.

As a result, in last year's playoffs, the Grizzlies led by Bathir directly defeated the Spurs and successfully entered the second round of the playoffs.

During that whole round of series, Bathir played against Duncan many times. With one move to cover his eyes and defend, he limited Duncan's offensive efficiency.

So after the draft was over, Yang Fan immediately contacted Bathir and urgently wanted this top 3D franchise Wizards in the league.

Perhaps Bathir's personal data is not that dazzling, and even the three-pointers and defense are not the top of the league when they are taken out separately.

But when three-pointers and defense are combined, Bathir is one of the best forward defenders in the league.

The most important thing is that Battier is very suitable for Yang Fan's tactical system, because Battier is definitely the one with the highest ball quotient among all 3D players in the league today, no one.

To put it in the words of his old teammate Yao Ming, Bathir is like a tube of universal glue on the court. No matter where there is a problem, he can always make up for it as soon as possible.

As for the reason why Battier is so steady, it is because he played for four years in college before participating in the draft. Under the influence of coach Duke's old K, Battier has developed excellent psychological qualities.

Coupled with his already high football quotient, the mediocre Bathir was selected into the best defensive team twice, becoming one of the most cost-effective players in the league today.

After Yang Fan contacted Bathir, Bathir was obviously surprised. I don’t know if it was because Yang Fan joined the Wizards, or if Yang Fan would take the initiative to find him.

Anyway, Bathir is very friendly to Yang Fan. After all, Yang Fan is one of the best coaches in the league today. He has just led the Thunder to complete two consecutive championships. This is definitely the champion coach.

This also led to the conversation between the two being very pleasant, but Bathir said that he wanted to consider Yang Fan's invitation to join the Wizards.

The reason is not because the Heat have contacted him in advance, nor because he wants to win more team status.

On the contrary, Bathir is considering the climate in Washington, which rains all year round. Although the temperature is neither lukewarm nor hot, it always gives people a wet feeling.

Finally, when Yang Fan revealed that Yao Ming would definitely defect to him this summer, Bathir was obviously interested.

Because Yao Ming and Battier had a very good relationship when they were on the Rockets. This summer, Battier originally wanted to join a team that could compete for the championship, so what he considered was the Heat at the beginning.

But after communicating with Yang Fan, Bathir was obviously a little shaken. Although from the paper strength, Bathir could not see that the Wizards had the strength to compete for the championship.

But Yang Fan's ability to turn decay into magic still made Bathir look forward to it. After all, no one expected that Thunder would be today three years ago.

More importantly, the Wizards are a very young team, so Bathir doesn't have to worry about the locker room problem at all after he goes.

And there is also his old friend Yao Ming there, which is obviously very attractive to Bathir.

Although Bathir did not give Yang Fan an accurate reply before hanging up the phone, judging by the experience of Yang Fan’s experienced people, it was only a matter of time before Bathir agreed to join.
Chapter completed!