Chapter Fifty: Crisis of Trust

  After Zhu Fangyu left La Crosse, he easily brought Stephon Jackson to the Minnesota Timberwolves without any cost. The contracts signed by CBA players are all unconditional releases when signing with an NBA team, which is a very unequal contract. Even when Zhu Fangyu left, the head coach of La Crosse was still welcoming him to come back again.

  "Zhuang, are you really going to give this kid a 3-year, $50 million fully guaranteed contract?" Stephon Jackson may have been a rookie in 1997, but according to the rules, he hadn't played a single game in the NBA, so he was essentially a rookie in 1998. As a rookie, being able to sign a 3-year, $50 million contract is considered top-notch treatment, aside from those lottery picks. Looking at his own team, the Timberwolves, his salary is slightly lower than Pierce's but higher than Rashad Lewis'.

  For a player who has never proven himself, only played in high school leagues, and was a substitute in the CBA for one and a half years, wasting one and a half years, what makes him deserve such a big contract? DeAntoni had been following Zhuang Fei to scout Stephon Jackson, but Zhuang Fei and he had never even watched Stephon Jackson's game, not even his training, does Zhuang Fei really have so much confidence?

  To know that because Glen Taylor continuously cleaned house of Marbury, Terrell Brandon, Tom Gugliotta and other core players, then signed the unknown Anthony Peeler to a 4-year $20 million contract extension, it can be said that Glen Taylor is very controversial in Minnesota right now. In fact, he's also filled with controversy all over the country.

  Ma Buri changed to Pierce, lost money, gave up Trippot for free, and signed Gugliotta with a high salary of $5 million, which made the Timberwolves' already tight salary space even more cramped. If the Timberwolves could spend tens of millions to get a superstar, they would have nothing to say, but signing a backup point guard for $5 million is a loss no matter how you look at it. The Suns thought Nash was a useless player, but he became a valuable asset in Phoenix.

  This is also the reason why De'Anthony worried about Zhuang Fei, who is slowly losing the trust of Minnesota fans through his own operations. Even now, Zhuang Fei's mouthpiece newspaper USA Today has some incomprehension towards Zhuang Fei's operations, although it does not directly criticize Zhuang Fei, but there are some soft nails between the lines.

  "What's up with Stef Jackson? Why does Zhuang Fei always like to pick up leftover players from the Suns team, I think he's wasting his talent by going to the Forest Wolves, he should go to Felix, where he won't have to rack his brains to find players from the Suns all over the world"

  "In my opinion, he doesn't really understand the NBA. Undoubtedly, he is one of the best head coaches in the NCAA, but the NBA and NCAA are completely different. Perhaps in his eyes, Nash and Stephon Jackson are excellent players for an NCAA team, but it's obvious that the NBA has at least 300 players of this level, and more than half of these players have a lower salary than them."

  "I've already seen his future, his future is in Phoenix, they're still missing an assistant coach, go ask Mr. Danny Ainge if he needs that Chinese guy." Xiaodao Lan never misses the opportunity to humiliate Zhuang Fei, now is the time when Zhuang Fei is most controversial and facing the biggest trust crisis.

  These are just external doubts that have limited impact on Zhuang Fei, what can really affect him is the distrust within the team, especially from the management.

  Zhuang Fei received a call from team boss Glenn Taylor on the second day after signing Stephon Jackson.

  Glen Taylor's office, aside from himself, also included the team's general manager Kevin McHale. As Zhu Feng walked in, Glen Taylor showed great enthusiasm, but Zhu Feng could clearly see that he had cooled down a lot compared to when he first arrived. Because Glen Taylor's face was obviously hanging with some gloom.

  "Zhuang, you've been working hard lately, haven't you?" Grenn Teller first personally handed Zhuang Fei a cup of coffee and gestured for him to sit down.

  "Recently the league ended the lockout, many things have to be done in this less than a month's time, it is indeed very tiring. You are our team's head coach, you can't be too tired. Some things you can let Kevin help you with, Kevin has also worked in Minnesota for a long time, he can fully handle some not so important things." Glen Taylor said with a smile.

  Zhuang Fei's hand trembled slightly as he held his coffee after hearing Glen Taylor's words, and the coffee almost spilled. Glen Taylor seems to want to divide his power. In the NBA, the roles of head coach and general manager are quite ambiguous and can be described with a few idioms. Firstly, "the customer is bullied by the shop", where the general manager has high authority and the head coach has low authority, so everything is decided by the general manager, such as the Nuggets now. If DeAntoni accepts the Nuggets' invitation to become the head coach, he can only be oppressed. Secondly, "the guest bullies the host", like the Celtics and Timberwolves now, where Zhuang Fei and Pitino have high prestige, and McHale assists Zhuang Fei, while Pitino is even more extreme, with the general manager and team chairman occupying all the power by themselves. Thirdly, it's about harmony and cooperation, where everyone has similar prestige and works together, such as the Bulls in the past and the Lakers now.

  Glen Taylor now means that he hopes Zhu Fangyu and Ma Jian can work together, and he is no longer so confident in Zhu Fangyu's trading and signing abilities.

  Glen Taylor's words made Mike Heil embarrassed. Neither side is right or wrong. The boss said these things to Zhuang Fei today, and he also knew some of them in advance. Moreover, he often complained about this general manager in front of the boss, saying that he was not doing well, but personally, he had no dissatisfaction with Zhuang Fei.

  Zhuang Fei turned around, his eyes deeply gazing at Glenn Taylor, his face expressionless. Being stared at like this made Glenn Taylor's heart feel a bit hairy, and in the end, the boss of the Forest Wolves still couldn't calm down.

  "Zhuang, I'm not dissatisfied with your operation, but I hope you can discuss more with Kevin. After all, he is the general manager of the team and you can't ignore his opinion. Kevin also has the right to handle team affairs." Glentaylor said helplessly.

  Zhuang Fei was taken aback, this year's operation really ignored the team's general manager Michael, whether it was the draft or signing, Zhuang Fei had the final say, and Michael had no way to intervene.

  Zhuang Fei's desire for control is too strong, although he has not been named general manager, but he is indeed doing the work of a general manager. Although Grenfell had a contract with Zhuang Fei before signing him, Zhuang Fei has the final say in team matters, but he also does not want the team to become Zhuang Fei's dictatorship.

  This was all a habit that Zhuang Fei had developed in Vik's Forest, where there was no general manager and he was the one who made all the decisions.

  The conversation between the three ended in vain, Zhuang Fei had no intention of giving up power, Gren Tyler was angry but had no way out, and Michael was the most embarrassed. This general manager might as well not be here, it's better to go somewhere else to develop, but thinking that this is his hometown, his idea of leaving faded away, he now envies his old teammate Larry Bird more than ever.

  Zhuang Fei was very angry about the team's distrust of him at this critical moment, but he didn't have time to worry about it because a new season is about to start and the team needs to practice together now. The Forest Wolves players are mostly newcomers, and their coordination is awkward, requiring a lot of time to practice mutual cooperation. One good thing about the Forest Wolves is that these players don't need to rush to practice their physical reserves, because under Zhuang Fei's orders, they didn't slack off during the break.

  January 10, 1999 was the day that Minnesota Wild training camp opened.