翻译by akainorei （原译者着作权宣告：本译文不接受任何形式的转录） Chapter 4: The Poison Pill 第四章: 毒药合约 The old "poison pill" trick, offering a contract with an oddity that one franchise could accommodate more easily than another -- in this case, a salary that gets very high in its final year -- had long been allowed under the NBA rules that govern restricted free agency, but it had never been as effective as in the case of Jeremy Lin. 毒药合约这个老把戏呢, 基本上就是提供一个很诡异的合约让其中一个团队比任何其他团 队还要容易去吃下这个合约 -- 在Jeremy 这个例子中,就是最後一年的薪水拉到非常高 -- 其实在NBA长年管理的RFA制度下是被许可的. 但是以往的例子中从来没有像Jeremy 这个例子一样超级有效 No matter how loaded the offer sheet that a team presented to a free agent, the player's original team has long had the right to match (though before 2005, there were more limitations in this regard) and almost always did. The thinking was that even if you didn't want the player for that much money, you had two choices: You could suck it up and pay the player the big salary and associated fees, or you could eventually find another team that would and get something back in a trade. Rudy Gay, Paul Millsap, Josh Smith -- in recent years teams made noises about recruiting all of them that way, but none moved. 不过其他球队如何在自由球员的报价单上加多少钱进去, 球员的原团队一直有权利跟进 ( 虽然在2005年前, 是有更多限制的), 而且原团队通常一定会跟进. 跟进的想法很简单, 就算你不想付给这球员那麽多薪水, 你有两个选择: 你可以自认倒楣吞下去, 付球员一大笔的薪水跟相关费用, 或者, 跟另外一个球队交易然 後拿点东西回来. Rudy Gay, Paul Millsap, Josh Smith -- 在这些年中一堆球队希望用 这类交易把他们换进来, 但没有成功过 With the NBA's new collective bargaining agreement, however, Houston realized it was time to revisit that logic. The more punitive luxury tax might make a "poison pill" something another team would choke on. The medicine was old, but the effect new -- and it took the Knicks, and even the people who designed the new CBA, by surprise. 但是当NBA推出了新版CBA, 哈, 休士顿发觉该换个脑袋了 (换个逻辑). 累进制更有惩罚 性效果的豪华税让毒药合约变成会让其他队真正噎死的毒药. 老药可是副作用可是全新的 -- 结果就是让尼克队跟设计新版CBA的人吓了一大跳 "The rate goes up for every $5 million, so the tax due to Lin would have depended on how much salary the Knicks would have had without Lin," ESPN cap expert Larry Coon said. "For example, if they are right at the tax line without Lin, then his $15 million will cost them $28.75 million in tax. If they're $10 million over the tax line before Lin, then his salary will cost them an extra $47.5 million in tax." “豪华税的税率每五百万就会跳一级, 所以尼克在没有林的情况下薪资总额多少就会决订 跟进林合约的豪华税额”, 根据ESPN的NBA税率专家Larry Coon 说, “例如, 尼克在跟进 林之前的薪资总额正好在边缘线的话 (就是说, 差点要被课), 那林的1500万合约将会给 尼克高达2875万的豪华税. 如果, 在跟进林之前尼克就已经超过薪资上限一千万的话, 跟 进林的合约将会要尼克多付额外4750万的豪华税 (总额: 7625万) That's a lot of money, even for one of the richest teams in sports. Jeremy Lin was the apple of the Big Apple's eye -- a major draw who delighted fans and inspired global interest in the Knicks with major bottom-line implications. He was, until last weekend, seen as a lock to return to New York at any cost. 这很多钱 (多到Dolan 会吐血吧…)尽管尼克是体育界少数的好野人中的好野人 林是大苹果(NY)眼中的苹果 – 一个在低迷的尼克中让球迷爽翻跟引起全世界注意的大乐 透. 在上礼拜之前, 普遍认为林是尼克会不计任何代价”铐”起来带回家的 Then the Rockets agreed to give Lin a huge pay bump in the third year of his three-year offer, which, if the Knicks matched, would trigger a huge tax bill for New York. 然後火箭同意给林一个在最後一年薪水三级跳的三年大约, 如果尼克跟了, 纽约就准备付 超高额的豪华税 This deal was diabolical for the Knicks in another regard, too: Lin would have been almost untradable if the Knicks had signed him. 除了豪华税的猛毒, 这合约其实还要更毒辣 (用D3的角度来讲, 就是明明就融炎了还给你 放秘法….). 如果跟了, 尼克根本没有办法交易林 The rules have long said that such players (restricted free agents whose original teams match another team's offer sheet) can't be traded in the first year of the deal without their consent. In the second year, Lin's contract would have been essentially a two-year, $20 million deal -- a much less attractive contract than three years and $25 million. What's more, the trade partners would have been teams willing to offer a player worth about $5 million, to match the Year 2 salary, but also be able to pay $15 million (plus, in some cases, luxury taxes) the next year. Not a lot of teams fit the bill. 规则很早就写明像林这类球员 (受限制自由球员的原团队跟进其他球队的报价, 假设尼克 跟进的话) 是无法在第一年不经过球员的同意而作交易, 在第二年, 林的合约就会变成两 年两千万的合约 – 跟三年两千五百万的合约来比的话是不太有吸引力的. 再者, 交 易的另外一队必须有能力付出第二年的五百万跟第三年的一千五百万 (对某些队伍来说, 再加个豪华税). 没多少队伍做得到 So, what about trading him in the third year to avoid the tax? A couple of problems there, too. For one thing, that season Lin would be paid like an All-Star, which most teams wouldn't want unless he were playing like one, and even then he'd be an impending free agent. On top of that, the Knicks couldn't take a similar salary back without incurring the same tax bill. The only solution would be to trade him for almost nothing to a team well below the cap, like the Bobcats or Kings, but that's tough to pull off. 所以, 那乾脆再第三年交易林来逃税呢? 还是有一些问题咧. 第一个问题就是, 第三年林 是拿全明星的薪水, 所以除非他真的缴出全明星的成绩单要不然没有球队会想吃下这合约 . 就算他有全明星的身手好了, 那是到期约捏 (跟Howard一样, 我明年就是要去自由市场 试水温咧?). 还有还有, 交易要等值约, 那尼克还不是要缴税. 所以唯一的办法就是交易 给一个薪资总额非常低的球队 (山猫, 国王) 然後不换任何球员回来 (就换签吧我想). 但是这….超级难 In a league where the essence of trading is matching salaries, Lin's salary was nearly unmatchable for New York. That won't be as true for the Rockets, however. In another CBA wrinkle, for trade purposes, Lin's salary, on the Rockets or any other team, is averaged over the contract. If the Rockets want to trade Lin, his annual salary counts as $8.4 million at any time, making him that much less of a risk. 在联盟中交易的精神就是等值合约. 所以林的薪水, 对尼克来说根本无法跟进. 但对火箭 却不同了, 在新版的CBA中, 为了交易, 对火箭跟其他球队来说, 林的每年薪资是合约总 额的平均, 也就是说, 火箭哪一年要交易他, 林每年的薪资都是840万美金, 对球团来说 风险就小多了 To Knicks fans, both the huge tax bill and the trade restrictions feel unfair. The two teams appeared to have the least level playing field imaginable in pursuing Lin. 对尼克球迷来说, 超大豪华税跟交易限制根本是不公平的. 在追求林的过程中, 两队完全 是处於不公平的竞争 (直翻的话, 就是你可以想像到的最筹码不平衡的竞争) But the Knicks could have prevented this: They could have saved their use of the amnesty clause they employed to release Chauncey Billups last year. Cutting Amare Stoudemire instead, perhaps in 2013 or 2014, would have gone a long way toward getting the Knicks out of the CBA bind that ties their hands in dealing with Lin and all other free agents. 但是尼克其实可以避免此事发生的: 他们去年可以不特赦Billups 改在2013/2014特赦 Amare (阿骂: 中枪). 这样就可以避免让尼克在林或其他自由球员的交易中, 因为新版 CBA的限制而显得毫无反击之力 Then there's the reality that the league designed the CBA to discourage rich teams like the Knicks from holding on to all their good players. 然後还有就是联盟针对有钱球团(像尼克) 而设计的CBA让好野人无法拿到一手好牌 (一堆 好球员) One of the league's major goals in negotiating this rule was to encourage the transfer of talent from free-spending teams. If the new CBA does not begin to separate good players from rich teams, it has failed to achieve one of the league's key goals of the lockout. 联盟在谈判中拟出这分新版CBA其中一个目标就是鼓励球员从花钱不手软的球团中转到其 他球团. 如果新版CBA 没有把好球员跟有钱球团分开, 那对当初不惜一切甚至把球季关起 来的的联盟来说, 此版CBA是失败的 Painful though it may be, Lin's journey to the Rockets is precisely what that looks like, perhaps to be followed by Omer Asik's similar departure from Chicago. 所以说虽然挺痛的, 但是林去火箭的旅程恰恰是联盟所希望的, 下一个大概就是要从芝加 哥离开的Asik Sources who were in the room negotiating the collective bargaining agreement say many cap tricks were addressed -- other owners even quizzed Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban at one point about his CBA knowledge, hoping to learn some of his methods -- but the words "poison pill," sources say, were never spoken. 当初也有在小房间参与讨论设计新版CBA的人说, 很多薪资上限的手法都有被拿出来讨论 过 – 甚至有些球团老板考小牛队的老板Cuban 的CBA知识并希望能从中学点东西 (是怎 样? Cuban 很会用CBA来占便宜吗?) – 但是 “毒药合约”这字眼从来没说拿出来说过 So as used by the Rockets, it came as a surprise. 所以当火箭用了, 就让大家吓一跳了 But sources from both the league and the players' association agree this is precisely the kind of effect the new luxury tax penalties were designed to have. 但从联盟以及球员工会方面得知, 这就是他们当初设计新版豪华税希望看到的结果 The Rockets, meanwhile, were early to realize that this "poison pill" opportunity, while hardly new, would be newly effective. Rockets GM Daryl Morey drove a Mack truck through this loophole -- and came out of it with Jeremy Lin. 火箭呢, 他们很早就发现用毒药的机会, 虽然不是新药, 但作用可是全新的呢. 最後一句话性暗示太严重了就不翻了, 反正就火箭梭了, 捡回Jeremy Lin --

※ 发信站: 批踢踢实业坊(ptt.cc) ◆ From: 180.176.97.111 ※ 编辑: akainorei 来自: 180.176.97.111 (07/20 21:42) ※ 编辑: akainorei 来自: 180.176.97.111 (07/20 21:43) ※ 编辑: akainorei 来自: 180.176.97.111 (07/20 21:50) ※ 编辑: akainorei 来自: 180.176.97.111 (07/20 22:04) ※ 编辑: akainorei 来自: 180.176.97.111 (07/20 22:14) ※ 编辑: akainorei 来自: 180.176.97.111 (07/20 22:22) ※ 编辑: akainorei 来自: 180.176.97.111 (07/20 22:23)