Chapter 722 - 647: Not Tough Enough

Chapter 722: Chapter 647: Not Tough Enough

"Take Pippen, for example. He’s already decided to retire, and he’s extremely popular in China. It’s entirely possible he could go play there for another year."

Stern mentioned a name.

The NBA only has 30 teams, so the player base is small, and there might only be a few stars retiring each year.

But because there are so few teams, the competition is also more intense.

A new group of players comes in through the draft every year, which means some people have to leave.

Many players are quietly cut and end up leaving the league.

But they’re still perfectly capable of competing; there just aren’t any spots left for them in the NBA.

So in Stern’s view, it was entirely possible to replicate the model they were using for soccer.

Chen Yu glanced over at David Kahn again.

He had only just learned from their earlier conversation why Stern had brought him along.

This year, Stern planned to continue increasing investment in the Development Alliance, expanding it and bringing in private investors.

The Southwest Basketball Company would be adding four new teams to the Development Alliance in the Southwestern United States.

"David, I want to give it a try."

Chen Yu explained his reasoning.

Bringing in star players to cash in on the fan economy is lucrative, but it also requires a huge investment.

Hiring five top-tier foreign players comes with a terrifyingly high price tag.

So Chen Yu still wasn’t sure if this path was profitable or sustainable in the long run.

So, besides the star-driven model, there was another path: bringing in cheap but effective players.

It might bring in less money, but the investment is also lower. When all the accounts are settled, you might even turn a profit.

That’s why Chen Yu planned to test this approach with basketball.

Just like with the Chinese Super League, the CBA was also preparing to lift its restrictions on foreign players next season.

Previously, a team could only have two foreign players, and their on-court time was also restricted.

But this time, the plan was to follow the soccer model and increase the limit to five, with no more restrictions on playing time.

In other words, you could field an entire starting lineup of foreign players.

Given what those players in the Development Alliance make, an annual salary of 100,000 US dollars would be more than enough for them.

Five foreign players would only cost a mere five hundred thousand US dollars.

An investment of that size is practically negligible.

But it would directly improve the entertainment value of the games.

If they then copied the NBA’s commercial management methods, it might be possible to achieve profitability with a low initial investment.

Then, after one season, Chen Yu would have to make a careful comparison to see which method was ultimately more profitable.

He had come back this time to discuss his plan with Stern and the other shareholders.

After listening to Chen Yu’s explanation, Stern sank into thought. After a long moment, he said, "Chen, why can’t you do both at the same time?"

With soccer, they were spending money freely. While it was painful to see the cash go out, the revenue was also looking great.

So in Stern’s opinion, using a different, more frugal approach for basketball seemed a bit cheap.

’So, what, basketball isn’t as good as your precious soccer?’

If they could build up the CBA, backed by China’s enormous fan market, it might also create a beneficial post-retirement employment channel for retired NBA players.

Of course, Stern also worried that a successful CBA might cannibalize some of the NBA’s market share.

But on the whole, it would still be beneficial for the NBA’s international growth.

After all, Chen Yu was deeply tied to the NBA; he couldn’t operate without it.

"Let’s not," Chen Yu insisted. "This is a test. If it doesn’t work, it won’t be too late to change it back next season."

This wasn’t a one-and-done deal. They were in it for the long haul, so testing something for a single season was perfectly fine.

"Alright."

Stern sighed softly and said no more.

Their attention returned to the game.

As Chen Yu continued to watch, he noticed the Phoenix Suns were playing awkwardly.

Neither Nowitzki nor Hardaway was being decisive enough with their shots.

They were passing too much.

The first half ended with the Phoenix Suns trailing 51 to 59, still down by 8 points.

"I’m going to check on the locker room," Chen Yu said, getting up.

Stern opened his mouth, then nodded in resignation.

In the first half, the situation he’d been worried about hadn’t occurred; the Phoenix Suns hadn’t overworked their starters.

But now he was worried that Chen Yu would use the halftime break to go to the Suns’ locker room and help the starters recover from their fatigue.

He had done it before.

’But what could he do? He couldn’t exactly stop him from going.’

Fortunately, the general direction was the right one.

After the Phoenix Suns’ three-peat, they had proactively downgraded their roster, which did a good job of alleviating the team’s total dominance over the league.

And with the Phoenix Suns’ performance this year, even if they managed to get past the Pioneer, subsequent matchups against either the Lakers or the Mavericks would be tough fights.

In the East, on the other hand, the Magic were leading the pack. The hype for them to win the championship was growing, and it was genuinely possible they could take the title and reverse the league’s "West is strong, East is weak" dynamic.

’So this was just a minor issue, not worth dwelling on.’

Inside the locker room, no one was speaking. The atmosphere was heavy.

They were down 2-1 in the series. If they lost again today, a 3-1 deficit would be truly dangerous.

Scott and a few assistant coaches were huddled together, deep in an intense discussion.

"Scott, what’s going on?" Chen Yu asked as he walked over.

’As a minority owner of the team who was also involved in daily operations, it was perfectly reasonable for him to ask about the team’s situation.’

Not winning the championship in the end was no big deal; that was acceptable.

But just as Brian had said, it would look pretty bad for the defending champions to be eliminated in the second round.

Skiles shook his head slightly. He couldn’t figure it out either.

You could blame the last loss on Hardaway just coming back from injury and not being in top form.

But as Skiles and the assistant coaches thought it over, they finally pinpointed a problem.

The current Phoenix Suns team didn’t have a clear tactical system.

Or rather, their tactics were too simple.

It was just simple inside-out plays, high pick-and-rolls, drives, and various isolation plays. There was too little high-level tactical coordination.

In fact, the coaching staff hadn’t spent much energy on it all season, focusing primarily on building chemistry.

And then they got a harsh lesson from the Pioneer’s run-and-gun system.

The Pioneer’s ball movement and fluid teamwork were truly a pleasure to watch.

So for this game, Skiles wanted to run plays, to use a system.

He kept letting Hardaway control the ball, focusing on playmaking and connecting the offense, trying to execute their plays.

But who would have thought it still wouldn’t work? They were still trailing.

After listening to Frank Johnson’s explanation, Chen Yu understood.

He stood with his arms crossed, thinking for a full minute, before he couldn’t help but sigh.

There was nothing wrong with Skiles’s approach.

The Pioneer’s run-and-gun system was what allowed them to pull off that No. 8 seed upset and was the main reason they could string together wins against the Phoenix Suns.

All season, or rather, starting last season, Chen Yu’s own team had expended a massive amount of energy helping D’Antoni perfect this very run-and-gun system.

They had seriously drilled how to pass and how to move off the ball for two whole seasons.

’So, giving them a taste of their own medicine should have been the right move.’

The problem was, during their three championship years, the Phoenix Suns never really had a tactical system. They just played hero ball.

That peaked last season, when they assembled the "Five-star Phoenix Suns" lineup.

With a lineup like that, all they had to do was run a few simple plays and then give the ball to a star for an isolation. Game over.

But this season, with a downgraded roster, the Phoenix Suns’ unbeatable brand of hero ball was no longer strong enough.

Trying to suddenly switch to a tactical system at a time like this would inevitably lead to difficulties.

Knowing when to pass the ball—that’s something that only comes from drilling plays and training hard.

Chen Yu finally understood why, watching the first half, he’d felt that Hardaway and Nowitzki weren’t being decisive with their shots and were passing too often.

They were hesitant. They were trying to run plays, but they weren’t good at it, and they ended up wasting scoring opportunities.

It was just awkward to watch.

"Chen, what do you think we should do? Should we abandon the game plan from the first half?" Skiles asked, looking up.

’Maybe the approach was right, but half a game was too short to get a feel for it yet.’

’But what if the approach was wrong? Then they’d be sacrificing their own strengths for nothing.’

With the series at this stage, this game was critical. One wrong move and they could be eliminated.

Chen Yu patted Skiles’s arm. "Scott, that’s your call. In any case, we can accept whatever the final result is."

Naturally, Chen Yu wasn’t going to make the decision for Skiles.

’It wasn’t that he was afraid of taking the blame—as if Chen Yu would care about that.’

The main reason was that Chen Yu didn’t have a solution either.

The game was constantly changing, and any subtle adjustment could produce unpredictable results.

So no one could say with certainty that their idea was the right one.

And with that statement, Chen Yu was speaking for the entire management.

If they really did lose in the end, it wouldn’t be unacceptable.

’Get eliminated early, get an early vacation!’