Sports Medicine Master System

"Gentlemen, we are making history."

Inside the locker room, Skiles was wearing an expensive Armani suit. His forehead was shiny, and the few strands of hair he had left were combed down perfectly.

He had dressed up carefully for such an important day.

"Bill Russell, leading the Celtics, won an incredible eight consecutive championships!"

"Michael Jordan, leading the Bulls, pulled off an unbelievable two three-peats, making the Bulls one of the greatest teams on the planet."

"And then there are the Lakers."

He paused, a smirk playing on his lips. "That was the glory of George Mikan. Back then, the Lakers were still in Minneapolis, and there were only eight teams in the league."

"Frank, hurry up and close the locker room door! We can’t let the reporters hear this," O’Neal yelled out with a theatrical cry.

If the Lakers fans heard that, if they knew Skiles was questioning the value of the Lakers’ three-peat, they’d be ready to kill him.

Skiles didn’t seem to care and continued, "A three-peat is hard to achieve. Our three-peat will be the first of the new century. It is a glory that belongs to us, the Suns."

"So, gentlemen, win this game. You see my Armani?"

He tugged at his suit, then said fiercely, "I hope in three hours, it’ll be soaked in champagne."

He pointed behind him. The champagne was already prepared and chilling on ice.

"Win the game!"

Skiles raised his arm and shouted.

All the players responded, their massive roar echoing throughout the locker room.

Outside the locker room door.

Although the locker room was well soundproofed, Carl Malone, also dressed in a suit, could still hear the faint roars coming from the crack in the door.

He bit his lip, his eyes filled with frustration and regret.

There was a period when he was genuinely furious, feeling that the Suns, and even the whole world, were targeting him.

He had even considered announcing his retirement on the spot. He wouldn’t take this Championship Ring from the Suns.

’For my dignity!’

But in the end, he didn’t have the courage.

He coveted that Championship Ring too much.

He kept comforting himself. ’It’s not like I never played for the Suns. The Suns’ championship trophy has at least a couple of drops of my sweat on it, so why can’t I take this Championship Ring?’

Now, with Game 5 of the Finals here and the championship trophy delivered to the US Airways Center, the Suns were on the verge of winning it all. His feelings were complicated to the extreme.

He wanted to push the door open and say a few words to his teammates—if they still considered him one.

But in the end, Carl Malone still couldn’t find the courage to push open that door. He turned and headed for the court.

His lonely, retreating figure was seen by Chen Yu and Brian, who were just arriving.

"That’s Malone, isn’t it?" Brian said.

Chen Yu nodded slightly, watching Malone walk away without saying anything.

’If you do something, you have to own it and pay the price.’

And as far as the current outcome went, this was already the best-case scenario for Malone.

The two of them walked to the locker room door. Brian was about to push it open when Chen Yu stopped him.

"Forget it, let’s not go in. Everything that needs to be said has been said countless times. It’s not like the Pistons are going to make a comeback, right?" Chen Yu said.

Leading 3-1, there was no way the Pistons could turn it around.

Brian thought so too and headed to the court with Chen Yu.

The fans had just started to enter, so the arena wasn’t that crowded yet.

After a brief chat with the visiting Jordan, Olajuwon, and others, Chen Yu stood and chatted idly with Brian.

"By the way, there’s something I want to discuss with you." Brian looked around, then lowered his voice. "In the summer, I’m thinking of trading Antonio."

Chen Yu was taken aback.

’McDyess?’

"What do you mean?" Chen Yu asked with a frown.

McDyess was still very important to the Suns. He sacrificed his stats to do the dirty work for O’Neal and could step up in crucial moments, effectively shouldering some of O’Neal’s burden.

If they traded him, weren’t they afraid of a tragedy like cutting a major artery during layoffs?

Brian shrugged. "Chen, you should know what I mean."

Chen Yu crossed his arms and thought for a moment, then began to understand.

Ultimately, it meant that after completing the three-peat this season, the Suns were going to change their management philosophy.

Before, the Suns were like a car on the highway, speeding toward the goal of a championship, afraid to even touch the brakes.

Back then, it was fine to make trades at any cost, bring in players, and pay the luxury tax. High investment for a championship was acceptable.

The team grew the market, which would be profitable in the long run, so the owner was willing.

And the players were willing to sacrifice some salary to gain glory and the chance to pursue big contracts.

It was a win-win situation.

However, once the three-peat was complete, a host of problems would follow.

For example, players would get complacent.

It was especially obvious this season.

The entire league environment was changing. Other teams were getting stronger, your core players were getting older, their performance was declining, and the chances of winning another championship were shrinking.

Not to mention the Spurs. Their owner was cheap and unwilling to spend big, but the rapid development of Parker and Ginobili was steadily increasing their strength.

Then there were the Lakers. Yao Ming was developing, and the combination of Yao Ming and Kobe had a promising future.

On top of that, the league had practically handed the Magic the number one draft pick this year, which was a signal. It showed the league didn’t want the same team winning the championship every year and hoped for more balance between the East and West.

Besides these, there were many other factors.

For example, player contracts were getting bigger and bigger.

They were championship heroes, so didn’t you have to reward them with a big contract?

And then there were the rookies who had developed quickly with the team. To stay competitive, you had to give them big contracts to keep them.

That’s where the salary pressure came from.

The Suns’ market was decent, but certainly not as good as New York or Los Angeles. And Old Kolangelo was nowhere near as rich as Paul Allen, who didn’t care about the cost.

He could give up some profits and pay the luxury tax in the short term, but if he had to pay it year after year, he wouldn’t be able to handle it.

Old Kolangelo came from a professional manager background, and the Suns were his family’s one major asset. Of course, making a profit had to be the priority.

Even Chen Yu hoped to make money from the Suns.

In any case, they would have a three-peat, achieving their main goal and getting the glory they wanted. It was reasonable to lower expectations a bit, balance the books, and focus on making some money.

As for targeting McDyess, it wasn’t because he was an honest, easy-to-bully guy that they were starting with him.

It was mainly because his six-year, big-money contract was expiring this summer.

This season, his contract was for 13.5 million.

He had sacrificed for the team, was a hero of the championship run, and was now 30. He’d played for the Suns for two consecutive years and was still in his prime. Even if they couldn’t give him a max contract, a multi-year deal starting at 14 million would be very reasonable.

After all, this would probably be the last big contract of his career.

But if that happened, with O’Neal’s contract over 20 million, and Marion and Hardaway also on multi-million-dollar deals, the Suns’ salary cap would explode on the spot.

"You haven’t contacted his agent, have you?" Chen Yu asked.

He was just testing his agent’s attitude.

Brian quickly replied, "Of course not."

Chen Yu nodded, then felt a headache coming on. He said resignedly, "On such an important day, do you really have to talk to me about this stuff? Can’t it wait until summer?"

Brian gave a wry smile. "I don’t want to, but it just happened to come to mind. Besides, you’re about to start filming your show and will be busy. When summer comes, Liu Xiang and Bolt are going to the Olympics, and you’ll be going with them. You’ll have even more to do in the summer, be even busier, and who knows where you’ll run off to. So I figured I’d talk to you about it in advance. That way, it won’t delay our offseason moves."

Besides, this was something he could only discuss with Chen Yu.

Chen Yu was a minority owner with a significant stake, a team hero with great prestige. Although he wasn’t officially in management, he was always involved in their affairs. Brian was representing Old Kolangelo, so he could only talk to Chen Yu.

Chen Yu nodded and added, "Have you set your sights on a rookie? Are you planning to make a trade during the draft?"

Using McDyess as a bargaining chip would guarantee at least a top-three rookie pick.

"I was actually thinking about that." Brian looked around again and lowered his voice. "From the intel I’ve gathered, and you can think about it yourself, the Magic will most likely trade away the number one pick for a player who can contribute immediately."

He had just gotten to this point when someone walked past behind him, startling him into silence. He quickly greeted the person.

But Chen Yu already understood.

’This guy’s got his eyes on the number one pick again.’

Just as he said, the Magic had unexpectedly gotten the number one pick. To make a championship run, they would most likely—or rather, definitely—choose to trade it for a powerful big man.

Otherwise, if they drafted a rookie to develop slowly, Hill and Tracy McGrady would get upset and wouldn’t want to waste any more time with them.

And McDyess could play the five spot.

He was an All-Star level big man himself. If you really let him loose, getting 20 and 10 would be no problem. He was several levels better than the ragtag group of bigs the Magic had put together over the last two years.

Anyway, the Suns had already changed their strategy and were focused on profitability. Winning a championship was no longer the primary goal.

It would be a mutually beneficial exchange. ’You chase your championship, we’ll secure our future.’

And if the trade went through, it wouldn’t matter whether they picked Howard or Okafor.

Although both were listed as centers, they were a bit undersized and better suited to play power forward. They could play under O’Neal, letting him mentor them a bit and fill the void left by McDyess.

"What about Shaq?"

Chen Yu asked again.

O’Neal re-signed in ’02 for a three-year, 88-million-dollar deal, which was set to expire in ’05.

By that time, O’Neal would already be 33. They couldn’t give him another five-year, twenty-million-a-year billion-dollar contract, could they?

If they really signed him to that, the value for money would be very low by then.

"I’ve thought about him too. When the time comes, whether we keep him or trade him, I feel like either option is fine. For example, we could trade him for the number one pick in ’06 and draft Oden. That would be a good choice too."

After watching the auditions for Chen Yu’s show, Brian was practically drooling over Oden.

Chen Yu rolled his eyes at him. ’You’ve really got a one-track mind. You’re obsessed with the number one pick, aren’t you?’

Brian added, "But that’s a problem for next year, so we don’t need to worry about it now. Also, I feel like our ’sunset squad’ team-building strategy might not work anymore. I’ve looked around, and there aren’t many great veterans left on the market."

Over the past three years, the Suns’ rise was absolutely inseparable from their "sunset squad" strategy.

But after this year, there just weren’t that many useful veterans left on the market who were also chasing a championship.

Therefore, the path of saving on salary by attracting more veterans was quickly becoming a dead end.

And in the long run, they still needed to develop rookies and reap the benefits of their rookie-scale contracts.

Chen Yu gave him a speechless look. ’So now you admit you were building a sunset squad?’ he thought.

However, after calming down and really thinking about all the factors, weighing the pros and cons, trading McDyess actually seemed like a pretty good option.