Chapter 30 Jefferson Wine

Jill understood her father's look immediately.

That good kid must be important in her father's heart.

She didn't ask any more questions.

The two of them searched almost the entire basement before finally finding the bottle in the innermost corner.

Only half the bottle remained, but that half was probably worth more than all the other wine in the basement combined.

"Finally found you. Help me book a ticket to New York for tomorrow."

Popovich said with a happy look as he picked up the Jefferson wine.

After signing the offer sheet with the Pelicans, Tang Tian continued to turn around and train with the bitter training brothers.

When the day's training ended, he was chatting and laughing with Walker and the others as they headed back to the apartment.

But they were stunned as soon as they reached the door.

Standing at the door was a disheveled old man, holding a bottle of red wine in one hand and a bag of dried fruit snacks in the other.

Seeing Tang Tian and the others arrive, the old man gave them a kind smile.

His expression seemed to say, "You're finally here."

"Popo..."

"Kemba, let's go. Didn't you say you'd stay with me for extra practice tonight?"

Before Walker could finish speaking, Butler grabbed him and pulled him back.

Irving and Thompson also reacted, said goodbye, and quickly turned around and left.

"Old man, what brings you here?"

Tang Tian didn't expect Popovich to come at this time, and it was obvious that he was here to drink with him.

As he spoke, he walked over to the door to open it.

"Take a look at this."

Popovich didn't answer Tang Tian, but shook the wine in his hand.

Even from a distance, he could smell the rich aroma of wine.

This wine, at the very least, had been aged for fifty or sixty years.

"1874 Jefferson wine, the one you've always wanted to drink."

But when Popovich said the year of the wine, Tang Tian was still shocked.

Popovich actually managed to get his hands on this wine!

But after the shock, he also realized something.

He hadn't managed to get Popovich to bring out this wine in the two years he'd been drinking with him, but Popovich brought it out at this point.

Unless you were completely stupid, you'd know what that meant.

At least, judging by Popovich's disheveled appearance, he definitely wasn't here to celebrate.

He was going to New Orleans next season.

"Then I definitely have to drink more, preferably finish it all, otherwise I'll be at a big loss."

Tang Tian guessed, but still acted very happy.

Popovich laughed heartily.

He opened the door and went inside, and after the two of them sat down, they started drinking and chatting.

"Pete gave me this when I first became a coach. I don't know where that guy got it, but I only had one glass back then."

Popovich was talking about the origin of the Jefferson wine.

Wine of this level definitely had its story, especially now that half the bottle had already been drunk.

"In '99, when the Spurs won their first championship, I had a glass with that old guy David (Robinson)."

Sure enough, without Tang Tian asking, Popovich started telling stories himself.

"Then in the summer of '00, that guy Tim wanted to go to Orlando, and I used a quarter of the bottle to keep him."

When he said this, Popovich's expression clearly showed a bit of heartache.

"Tim even wanted to go to Orlando?"

Tang Tian asked curiously.

"Yes, that guy was almost lured away by those guys in Orlando's sweet talk. They even used Tiger Woods to try and get him. Luckily, I had this bottle of wine, which ultimately made him stay."

Popovich said, laughing heartily, and took a big gulp of what he had been sipping.

"But I knew, he never really wanted to leave San Antonio."

Putting down his glass, Popovich said again with a lot of emotion.

"He's just that kind of guy, he's just a naughty big kid, never growing up."

Tang Tian didn't say anything when he heard this, and took a big gulp of his wine as well.

"Yes, he's just that kind of person."

After hearing that Duncan wanted to use his retirement to save salary space for him, he had already made a decision based on emotion.

As long as the Spurs matched, he would wait two more years.

Duncan was the reason he made this decision.

But now it wasn't a matter of whether he was willing to wait, but that the Spurs weren't willing to match.

"It's good to go out, San Antonio is too small, suitable for old people like me, not suitable for young guys like you."

Popovich seemed to have figured it out as well.

Even if he really convinced Holt, it would be difficult to handle the ball-handling issue between Tang Tian and Leonard in the future.

Just like Carter and McGrady back then, it wasn't easy to keep two top-tier wings at the same time.

"This is the best result for everyone. Tim can still play for a few more years, and Leonard and Green also need a bigger stage to perform."

Tang Tian followed up.

He had also come to terms with it. There were no eternal teammates in the NBA, and friends wouldn't become strangers just because they weren't on the same team.

Even if he left the Spurs, his relationship with this group of people, including Popovich, wouldn't change.

Popovich smiled, picked up his glass, and clinked it with Tang Tian's, then took another small sip.

High-vintage wine was easy to get drunk on. Tang Tian did his best, but only drank one glass, while Popovich drank two himself.

In the end, both of them were red-faced and drunk, and fell asleep on the sofa, snoring loudly.

In the middle of the night, Tang Tian woke up from the cold and realized that he had forgotten to close the window.

He rubbed his head and went to close the window, looking at Popovich, who was lying on the sofa with white hair all over his head, and now he really looked like a disheveled old man.

He went into the bedroom, brought out a quilt, and covered Popovich.

Seeing that the others hadn't returned either, he went straight to Walker's room to sleep.

Just as they were snoring loudly, Woj broke the news before the Spurs official announcement: The Spurs would not match the Pelicans' offer for Tang Tian.

This also meant that, following Jeremy Lin and Asik last year, Tang Tian became the third player to be successfully poached with a poison pill contract.

Social media exploded instantly.

"LeBron: It's getting brighter!"

"Holy crap, does this mean my Heat are finally going to win the championship?!"

"The Spurs have really suffered a big loss. To be honest, they definitely wouldn't have won the championship last year without Tang."

"Tang going to the Pelicans might not be as good as playing on the Spurs. This is really a lose-lose result!"

"As a Pelicans fan, I'm very happy. Regardless of whether Tang can become a core player, our weak wings have been strengthened! Tang is the Defensive Player of the Year!"

"Yes, regardless of the system, Tang's All-Defensive First Team and Defensive Player of the Year awards won't disappear. He can bring toughness to the Pelicans!"

"But it's still difficult for the Pelicans to make the playoffs. Anthony Davis is completely overrated, Eric Gordon will never recover from his injuries, and with the addition of a Holiday, the least famous All-Star, this lineup will still have a hard time making the playoffs in the West."

"Adding Tang, who is considered a system player who can become a core player, is this the 'Overrated League'?"

"I think the 'League of the Disappointed' is more like it. After all, I think Tang 'Doesn't Know His Own Worth' Tian probably didn't expect the Spurs to give up matching."

…

ps: Here's a piece of information that hasn't been written in the book yet. In October 2014, ESPN, TNT, and the NBA officially signed a new TV broadcast contract, which was three times the original contract and took effect in 2016. This is also the reason for the salary cap explosion in the summer of 2016, so the bosses in the book at this point in time couldn't have known it would increase.

And even if the broadcast contract was signed, they wouldn't know how much it would increase until 2016. This is also why Paul and Howard signed big contracts in the summer of 2013, especially Paul. The Wind Dust Four were all shrewd when it came to salaries.