Slam Dunk: My Study Abroad Career in Northern Hunan

After hanging up the phone with Coach Philip, Wu Dao became much more sober.

The main purpose of the other party calling Wudao was actually to tell Wudao that the team management would try to make some adjustments to the team's lineup.

This is actually a disguised statement. The management is using this method to prove to Wudao that they are not content with the status quo.

Their Timberwolves are not satisfied with just one championship this season. The management, like Martial Arts, has bigger goals after achieving tangible honors.

Did Cherokee Parks really want to leave the team because of the high salary temptation from other teams and the Timberwolves were unable to match the corresponding salary?

Not necessarily.
The Timberwolves' management is also smart, or in other words, from their perspective they can see the true level of some of the Timberwolves' players better than outsiders, and are not confused by the halo surrounding them.

The identity of a member of the championship team does not give him any advantage in the eyes of the Timberwolves management.

Even though she helped the team win the championship, Cherokee Parks was not worth 300 million in the eyes of the Timberwolves management.

After the team has won honors, not only the players will become proud, but the team's management will also raise their vision.

Among all the teams in the NBA, the Minnesota Timberwolves have always been a small and transparent character.

The team has a short history and has never won any honors before. There are no historical celebrities in the team. Neither the owner nor the management has ever made any achievements. At the same time, Minnesota is an old industrial city with a harsh climate. The living environment is far inferior to that of big cities like Los Angeles and New York.

Before the Timberwolves achieved good results, there were actually very few players playing for them in the NBA league.

Not to mention those lesser-known players, even rookies are unwilling to come to the Timberwolves.

The least popular team for rookies is the Timberwolves and the Grizzlies.
The team's current home base is in Vancouver, Canada.

Since the rise of Wu Dao and the Timberwolves winning this championship, the team's reputation in the league has reversed 180 degrees.

In the face of absolute honor, climate conditions and living environment are factors that can be overcome.

The team has no history, and the homestay cannot provide advice to young players, which is not a very important thing. Even the Timberwolves management, who were originally considered inexperienced by most NBA players, proved their ability and value through this championship.

Although the Timberwolves are far from being able to compare with teams like the Bulls, Lakers, and Celtics in the NBA trading market, they are no longer on the same level as the Vancouver Grizzlies.

The reason why Barkley expressed his desire to join the Timberwolves in front of the Timberwolves' management was definitely not because of the small city of Minnesota and the harsh climate of the Timberwolves.

He is interested in the potential of some young players of the Timberwolves.

Charles Barkley was born in 1963. After the 97-98 season, when the new NBA season started, he was already 36 years old.

In today's NBA league, 36 years old is undoubtedly an older player.

Not to mention the fierce competition environment today and the tough basketball of the 90s, Barkley's age would be considered an older player even in the small ball era of later generations.

His career has come to the end. If he were replaced by a player with slightly less dominance, he would have become a retired player in the NBA league.

However, Barkley's competitive level remained good. During his Rockets career in the 97-98 season, despite the threat of injuries, Barkley still averaged 15.2 points per game in the regular season and a terrifying 11.7 rebounds.

Of course, Barkley played poorly in this year's playoffs, but he was also affected by injuries to a certain extent.

To be honest, the reason why Barkley chose to join the Rockets was that he wanted to cling to Olajuwon, hoping to join forces with Olajuwon and win a championship trophy under the suppression of Michael Jordan, thus putting a perfect end to his long career.

But everyone has seen the final result. After coming to the Rockets, his idea of ​​relying on Olajuwon fell through. Instead, Barkley became one of the Rockets' strongest legs.
Barkley has no one to cry to.
One of the reasons why Barkley decided to leave the Rockets and play in Minnesota was actually because of this year's playoffs.

The Bulls, who are still at their peak, Michael Jordan's "arch-enemy" Utah Jazz, the Lakers led by Shaquille O'Neal, the rapidly growing Spurs, and the Timberwolves, who defeated all the strong teams and won the final championship.

These teams have developed too fast in recent years, especially in the Western Conference where there are many strong teams, which is like a vase that keeps poisonous insects.

Although the Rockets' lineup is also very good, they have Olajuwon who led the team to win the championship, and Drexler.

But after the playoffs, Drexler announced his retirement, and the Big Three fell apart. In order to fill his vacancy, the Rockets management once revealed to Barkley that they wanted to recruit Pippen from the Bulls.

But in Barkley's view, if the team wants to compete for the championship next season, even if they succeed in getting Pippen, the Rockets may not be able to easily defeat the Western Conference giants.

In order to help the team attract Pippen to form a new Big Three and win the championship, Barkley had many conversations with the management after being kicked out of the playoffs early. The team hoped that Barkley could make sacrifices for the championship and free up a certain amount of salary space so that the team would have enough salary space to attract strong reinforcements.

With the opening of the player free market, Barkley finally gave in under the advantage of management.

He is very clear about his physical condition. By the next season, even he himself doesn't know what level he can perform at on the court. In order to win the championship and put a perfect end to his career, Barkley is also giving it his all.

He even did things like clinging to Ola Frog when he came to the Rockets. At the age of 35, Barkley doesn't care about his own face. As long as he can win the championship, he can make any sacrifice.

However, just when Barkley was about to agree to the Rockets' management to sign this veteran contract, his agent told him that the Timberwolves' management was looking for suitable players to join them.

Barkley immediately changed his mind when he learned the news.

Since he has already risked his dignity to take the veteran salary of one million US dollars, just to add a championship trophy to his professional assets.

So why do you have to stay in a team like the Rockets? !
Olajuwon is indeed awesome, but Barkley also saw that Olajuwon is no longer at his peak and has declined drastically. Even if he continues to stay with the Rockets at the veteran minimum salary, the Rockets may not be able to win the championship next season.

But
The Timberwolves are different.

The agent has made it very clear to Barkley that the core players who won the Timberwolves that season have not changed, and more importantly, the Timberwolves' salary cap space is very healthy.

You can't be unhealthy if you want to. The core of the team, Wudao, is a rookie with good quality and low price.

Although the salaries of players like Garnett, Tom, and Marbury are not low, overall, their strength is enough to match their current salary levels.

Barkley also heard that Cherokee Parks of the Timberwolves was leaving. Once this young man left, there would be a vacancy in the Timberwolves' main lineup.

Barkley is able to play both the 3rd and 4th positions, and he believes he can fit in well with the Timberwolves.

And the most important thing is that Barkley is very optimistic about Bu Dao who defeated Michael Jordan. The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Although Bu Dao is a newly rising rookie, there is no essential contradiction between him and Barkley. The age difference between the two is more than a round, and their peak periods are completely different. When discussing, fans will not compare Barkley and Bu Dao together.

For Barkley, the most satisfying thing was to see Michael Jordan get humiliated.

If he could defeat Michael Jordan in the Timberwolves, it would at least satisfy his vanity.

Instead of staying with the Rockets and other team management to recruit players, it is better to join the Timberwolves, a championship team, in one step.

It doesn't make sense that the Timberwolves, who just won the championship this year, would have no potential to compete for the championship next season after adding Barkley while keeping the main lineup unchanged.

Thinking of this, Barkley secretly let his agent contact the Timberwolves' management. At the same time, Barkley did not put on airs at all. He bluntly stated that he was willing to join with a minimum salary, showing the attitude of a sincere job seeker.

The Timberwolves management needs to fully respect Wu Dao's opinion on the issue of recruiting players. If it was an ordinary player, it would be fine, but Barkley is different.

After all, in Barkley's career, no matter which team he went to, he was undoubtedly the core.

If he comes to the Timberwolves, the team is actually afraid that there will be conflicts between Barkley and Wu Dao.

This is something they absolutely don't want to see.

If the price of getting Barkley is to make Wu Dao unhappy, then the Timberwolves will reject Barkley without hesitation.

Fortunately, Wudao had no resistance to this matter.

When it comes to team trades, the sooner the better, as the money is secured. Otherwise, there will be many variables. This is a truth that everyone understands.

So after hanging up the phone, Coach Philip immediately told CEO Kevin McHale about his conversation with Budo.

After receiving the news, McHale made a decisive decision and immediately called Barkley and his agent. However, when he called, McHale still kept one thing in mind:
"Charles, Budo is very willing to play with a famous player like you."

"We, the Timberwolves, also hope to invite you to play in Minnesota. You can see that we, the Timberwolves, are a rising star."

"Being a champion is definitely not the end for us, and it will definitely not be the end of martial arts."

"It is definitely a wise choice for you to come to our Timberwolves!"

"Before everything is finalized, I hope you, Mr. Buckley, can call Wu Dao in person."

"You will be teammates playing on the same team in the future. It will be beneficial for both of you to communicate in advance."

"If you feel that the Timberwolves are not the best place for you, we will fully respect your opinion."

"We Timberwolves are not stingy. If you are willing to come to our Timberwolves, we are willing to offer you a two-year, $500 million contract."

This is almost the same as Charles Barkley's annual salary in the 97-98 season, when he only made $225 million. The Timberwolves really showed their full sincerity.

In fact, when Charles Barkley heard the first half of McHale's words, he still felt a little uncomfortable.

Although he had already made up his mind to go to the Timberwolves to curry favor with them, he was still somewhat reluctant for a famous host to make a phone call with a young rookie.

Yes, you are good at martial arts and you are the leader of the Timberwolves, but when a famous player comes to your team, even if you are pretending to be humble, you should at least give yourself some face, right?
If Barkley hadn't heard the two-year, $500 million contract that McHale had revealed, he would have definitely turned hostile. Yes! Absolutely!

"it is good!"

Barkley received Wu Dao's phone number from McHale and agreed with a smile. After hanging up the phone, he immediately called his agent and told him his decision.

After some contact, Barkley took the small note with Wu Dao's phone number, took a few deep breaths, and finally made up his mind to call Wu Dao.

He is not a fool. Barkley, who has been in the NBA for many years, naturally knows what this call means.

This is actually a disguised way of "showing loyalty" to Wu Dao, which indicates that after Barkley joins the Timberwolves, he can only be Wu Dao's "minor".

But in order to make his career complete, Barkley had to make such a compromise.

After getting over that hurdle in his heart, Buckley was completely relieved.

"Hey?!"

It was an unfamiliar number, and Wu Dao didn’t know who would call him at this time.

"Martial Arts? I'm Charles Barkley!"

When Barkley introduced himself on the other end of the phone, Wu Dao raised his eyebrows, and then a bright smile appeared on his face:

"Hey! Hello, Mr. Charles!"

"How did you get my phone number? Why did you suddenly think of calling me?"

Although Wudao had some guesses in his mind, he still didn't believe that the management would act so quickly.

"Haha, I'm afraid I'll have to come to Minnesota to play with you guys in a while."

"Thought I'd say hello in advance."

"Budo, I know you are a very good player. You played beautifully in the finals against the Bulls. Congratulations!"

"The purpose of my call is to tell you that I came to the Timberwolves to assist you!"

(End of this chapter)