In 1984, in order to avoid the phenomenon of team owners throwing money to win the championship, the NBA introduced the luxury tax rule, stipulating that 55% of the total income of the league is the luxury tax threshold, and the salary needs to pay the luxury tax to the league, and the more the excess amount, the heavier the proportion. Top five teams in terms of luxury tax amount this season:
1. Golden State Warriors: $170.3 million
2. Brooklyn Nets: $97.71 million
3. Los Angeles Clippers: $83.11 million
4. Milwaukee Bucks: $58.68 million
5. Los Angeles Lakers: $43.14 million
The Nets have spent nearly $300 million this season with a total salary of $169 million for the Nets, $97.71 million in luxury taxes, and a salary of nearly $300 million for the coaching staff (Nash's annual salary), team executives, and stadium staff. According to official NBA financial data, the Nets' total revenue this season is only $202 million, and the actual net loss reached $100 million.
The high investment did not help Tsai Chongxin bring a good record, the Nets this season internal and external troubles, the main player injuries, off-court factors and team atmosphere impact, failed to focus all their energy on the field, and finally in the first round of the playoffs by the Green Army 4-0 swept out, embarrassingly ended the season. In contrast, the Golden State Warriors, who ranked first in the luxury tax, have a good atmosphere and responsible stars, and are currently the favorite to win the championship.
Raw and rigid Ali culture
In February this year, when the free market trade opened, Harden made a request to leave the team to come to the Philadelphia 76ers, at the same time, Brooklyn Sports and Entertainment CEO Abba Mondi was interviewed by Tsai Chongxin, the coordinator behind the Nets, after taking office, he set a new record for the team's attendance, ticket revenue and sponsorship, the result of the conversation was that the two sides were not satisfied with each other, and finally Abba Mondi chose to resign.
Before Abba Mundi took office, the Nets had already fired the CEOs of two teams, and the biggest reason for the dismissal was not a mismatch of personal abilities, but a contradiction with Tsai Chongxin's development theory, in which Boss Cai was more like a stubborn "dictator".
Since Tsai Chongxin officially took over the Nets in 2019, he has used Alibaba's culture to run the company, promoting the so-called "family basketball culture" and creating a utopian world that fans yearn for by giving more rights to stars.
Alibaba's corporate culture
When employees of a company evaluate their boss as a "madman" and an idealist, most people think that the company is too pompous and not solid, and it is difficult to have a good development. But the truth is that this is the true evaluation of Jack Ma by Alibaba employees, and there are all kinds of wild ideas here.
Regarding Alibaba's corporate culture, for example: In 1999, Ma Yun went to Silicon Valley to seek financing for the newly founded Alibaba, according to general practice, the company must provide a business plan to seek financing, but Ma Yun said a classic saying: Change happens all the time, I never make a plan!
As Ma Yun's most trusted partner, the two are like-minded about the company's culture, visionary and idealized layout in the development of new markets is very advantageous, but using this concept to manage an NBA team is undoubtedly a rigid and disrespectful objective development law.
Relying on Alibaba's earnings of Tsai Chongxin, after spending $2.35 billion to buy the Nets, he wanted to prove in the NBA that his business philosophy can create value, so he proposed the so-called corporate culture, family atmosphere and star value in the club, in order to form his favorite team, began to invest money at any cost, ignoring the development of sports itself.
This has led to the Nets' paper lineup having the strength to win the championship, but the actual game effect is very bad, the Nets' current so-called team culture is player-centric to player-led, the boss and management have given up their responsibilities to maximize the empowerment of superstars.
The Nets' performance in the past two seasons has proved that this business model is wrong, Durant and Irving are just stars on the court, not the real managers of the team, according to their wishes to form a team (Nash, Jordan Jr. and Durant have a very good personal relationship), the result is that the lineup is not reasonable, the head coach level is limited, and the loss is also a reasonable thing.
How bad are the Nets at the moment?
For team managers, it is a top priority to do everything possible to make a profit, even if the team does not win the championship; but for ordinary fans, the most regrettable thing is not that the team does not have the strength to win the championship, but that the future of the team is not seen, and the current situation of the Brooklyn Nets is like this.
Tsai Chongxin perspective
Given that the Nets already have three top-salary players, and the high luxury tax makes it difficult for the team to make a profit, the Nets' main player contracts are at a glance:
Durant: 194 million in four years, 25-26 seasons expire
Irving: 137 million in four years, 22-23 seasons expire
Simmons: 177 million in five years, 24-25 seasons expire
HARRIS: Four years 75 million, 23-24 seasons expire
This summer, the matter of Irving's contract extension is very tricky, if Irving implements the $36.93 million option next season, he will leave the Nets as a free agent after next season, which is what boss Tsai Chongxin wants to see most, after all, Irving's various fan operations are an important reason for the Nets to be mired in the quagmire.
But Irving's agent isn't stupid, and if he chooses not to execute player options, he'll be eligible to renew a five-year, $247.6 million top salary contract with the Nets. The Nets need a backcourt star to win the championship, but they can't find a replacement for Irving in the free agent market, and the double contradiction sees how Tsai Chongxin should choose.
According to the current Nets player market, the combination of Irving + Durant + Simmons + Harris will not break up next season, the minimum salary of the four people next season is $135 million, referring to the luxury tax threshold of $136.6 million this season, the Nets want to make a 15-man roster, even if other players are veterans, the luxury tax will approach $100 million.
Fan angle
The team lineup needs to be more scientific and perfect, due to Tsai Chongxin's pursuit of the ultimate offense, which leads to the team's loopholes on the defensive end, the defender line Irving, Seth Curry, Mills, Joe Harris do not have any defensive threat, the front line defenders are seriously lacking, the inside Line Drummond and Clarkston are just blue-collar center who "eat pie", and the Nets with a seriously deformed lineup make the home team fans despair.
This offseason, Griffin, Aldridge, Dragic, Bruce Brown, Drummond contracts expire, the Nets to renew the above five people is not very likely. Since the team has now withdrawn from the championship winning ranks, it is difficult to attract experienced veterans who want championship rings to join, the Nets need to sign new people, and the high luxury tax is in front of them, which will be an unsolvable problem.
The Nets want to survive in the cracks, the only way to develop rookie players, which is what fans want to see the most, the current team of 20-year-old Cameron Thomas has good development potential, the youngster averaged 8.5 points and 2.4 rebounds per game in the regular season. In the deal regarding Harden, the Nets got an unprotected first-round pick for 2022 that could do something around that first-round pick.
How can the Nets get out of the woods?
(1) Change of head coach
In the first round of the playoff series with the Green Army, head coach Nash directly abandoned veteran Griffin and Aldridge, for fear of disrupting the team's offensive and defensive rhythm, using young players Clarkston and Drummond as the team's main interior line, and the final result was to be blown up by veteran Horford, who averaged 13 points and 7.5 rebounds per game and shot 58.8% from the field.
In the two seasons of Nash's coaching, in addition to keeping the star data relatively gorgeous, there were no highlights in the rest, so that the fans were puzzled by the lineup collocation, the ineffective on-the-spot command and substitution, so that the Nets lost many key game wins in vain. While a change of head coach won't essentially solve the Nets' current situation, the new system brought by the new coach is better than the hopeless one.
In a statistic initiated by foreign media, more than 85% of Nets fans agreed with Nash's dismissal, and everyone agreed that the "rookie" manager was more famous than his coaching ability. But according to the latest news, Nash did not take the initiative to resign, considering that he has a good personal relationship with Durant and Tsai Chongxin, the probability of the Nets management changing the head coach is not large.
(2) Employ a professional management team
If the NBA team is compared to a giant ship of 10,000 tons, and the boss is the purchaser and the planner of the destination, the management team is like the captain of the giant ship, safely transporting the giant ship to the designated location at the specified time.
Taking Tsai Chongxin as an example, he bought the Nets and Barclays Center for a total of about $3.5 billion, as a billionaire worth nearly 10 billion US dollars, naturally did not have the time and energy to manage a large team operation, and it was particularly important to hire a professional management team.
As for the selection of management team personnel, Tsai Chongxin can learn from Warriors boss Lacob, who has no market value when he first took over, he hired Jerry West as the team manager of the league's "logo man", or used his unique vision to pick Klay Thompson and Green in the draft, and suggested that Lacob hire Steve Kerr as the coach, laying the foundation for the rise of the Warriors.
The Nets want to get back on track, having a professional management team is only the first step, the most important thing is that Cai Chongxin should delegate power and give managers the rights they should have, rather than taking the requirements of the stars as the direction of the team. As the saying goes, professional people do professional things, and a team wants to succeed Team culture, selection vision, rookie training, and tactical arrangement are indispensable.
(3) Promote transactions
Player trade is the fastest way to change the status quo of a team, but the Nets currently have not many chips to come up with in the free market, and this year's first-round draft pick and $6.3 million middle-class exception may be the Nets' last chance, if you can exchange these two chips for 2 or 3 middle-class contract players, the Nets may still have a new look in a short period of time.
Can Tsai's Nets turn a profit next season?
According to the New York Post's specific statistics on NBA ticket revenue, the Warriors have earned $4.2 million per game this season, ranking first in the league, and the traditional giants Knicks and Lakers are ranked 2 to 3rd respectively. The Nets averaged $2.1 million in ticket revenue per game, ranking fourth in the league, up 110 percent from an average of $1 million per game in the 18-19 season, and the league's first increase.
Based on the 20% increase in ticket revenue per season, the Nets will earn $2.5 million per game next season, and for 42 home games per season, ticket revenue will reach $105 million, just the same as the luxury tax, which has not yet deducted dividends and daily management expenses to the league. It's almost impossible to fill in the $170 million in player salaries from broadcast fees and profits from merchandise sales, so Tsai will still lose money next season.
Top 5 regular season NBA Shirt Sales:
1. LeBron James (Los Angeles Lakers)
2. James Harden (Philadelphia 76ers)
3. Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors)
4. Kevin Durant (Brooklyn Nets)
5. Jason Tatum (Boston Green Army)
Looking back at the Nets' roller coaster-like season:
During the offseason, the Nets signed a four-year, $198 million early contract extension with Kevin Durant, and then Irving was suspended indefinitely for not being vaccinated, during which time the league also modified the offensive rules, and would award offensive fouls for abnormal shooting.
In the first half of the season, the Nets lost to the Bucks by 23 points in the first game of the season, followed by the team's three-point shooter Joe Harris received a season reimbursement for left ankle arthroscopy surgery, Harden and Durant were suspended for triggering health and safety agreements, due to the lack of manpower on the team The Nets allowed Irving to play only in away games, the Nets entered 2020 with a 23-11 loss, the second in the East.
Mid-season, Durant suffered a sprained medial collateral ligament against the Pelicans and was expected to miss 4 to 6 weeks, while the Nets still finished second in the East; harden suffered a hamstring injury and expressed frustration with Brooklyn before being traded to the Philadelphia 76ers.
At the end of the season, in the 21 games that Durant missed, the Nets record went to 32 wins and 32 losses, and the ranking fell all the way to eighth in the East, and then Irving was allowed to play in the home game, the Nets ended the regular season with a 44-38 loss to the East, and the playoff victory over the Cavaliers reached the playoffs, followed by a 4-0 sweep by the Green Army.
Write at the end:
The Nets, which are currently mired in the quagmire, even if the high luxury tax is paid, there is still no hope for revival, the corporate culture advocated by Tsai Chongxin is fundamentally contrary to traditional sports competition, giving superstars the right to form a team is undoubtedly playing with fire, an NBA team aiming to win the championship, all the breaking news is off the court, and the deformed team culture is doomed to make this team difficult to succeed.