"Chris Finch?" Chen Yilun scratched his head. That name sounded familiar—where had he heard it before?
After digging through his memories from his past life, Chen Yilun finally remembered.
Wasn't he the future head coach of the Timberwolves?
Chris Finch was the perfect example of a coach who quietly built his résumé before breaking through.
His playing career was spent in the British league.
In 2011, he joined the Rockets' coaching staff as an assistant, moved to the Nuggets in 2016, and then joined the Pelicans a year later. In 2020, he was with the Raptors, still as an assistant, before finally becoming the Timberwolves' head coach in 2021.
From there, the story was straightforward: Finch took over just as the Timberwolves' roster was coming together, and the young head coach led them all the way to the Western Conference Finals.
"Chris, huh? He'll do."
With that thought, Chen Yilun agreed without hesitation.
"Huh? Boss, you know him?"
Peja hadn't expected him to agree so quickly. After all, Chris was still basically a nobody in the league at this point.
"Don't worry about it! He's the one!"
Finch definitely had the ability. In the future, Jaden McDaniels, one of the league's top wing defenders, would be developed under his system.
"Alright then, I'll give him a call and have him report to the team in a couple of days."
With this move, Chen Yilun finally shaped the front office exactly the way he wanted.
The coaching staff now consisted of head coach Michael Malone, defensive coach Chris Finch, shooting coach Chip Engelland, and an apprentice named Tang Zhou.
On the management side, the GM was Chen Yilun himself, the assistant GM was Divac, and the GM's assistants were Peja and Anjali (Chen Yilun couldn't think of a proper title for her, so he just gave her the position of GM assistant). The scouting team also included skilled veterans like Smits and others.
To be honest, Chen Yilun hadn't made many changes to the original management team.
Because why bother? Even the best managers didn't have better vision than he did.
As long as they followed orders and got the job done, that was enough.
And it helped keep the owner from getting too suspicious.
...
Back in Sacramento, Chen Yilun was immediately buried under a mountain of paperwork.
"Seriously! Go ask any other GM—who else has to deal with this much work every single day?"
After reviewing a pricing proposal for next season's arena merchandise, he finally couldn't hold back his frustration.
"There's nothing we can do. You're the only one in management with signing authority right now."
Anjali, balancing at least four or five more documents in her arms, looked a bit embarrassed.
"You were away the past two days, Divac is still in Europe and not coming back yet, and you sent Peja flying all over the country. Who else could sign? Me?"
Although she was technically on the same level as Peja, as a complete rookie in the workplace, Chen Yilun didn't dare hand her signing power.
"Alright, alright. Next one!"
He scrawled his name on the document and handed it back to her.
"This is the ticket pricing report for next season."
Anjali immediately passed him another file. "The finance director says season ticket prices can't be touched right now, since that would affect the loyalty of our long-time fans. But since last season, the team's popularity has skyrocketed, and regular tickets are always sold out. So the plan is to raise the price of regular tickets by 5% next season."
"Five percent? Isn't that a bit much?"
Chen Yilun skimmed through the report.
"No, it's fine. Check the later pages."
Anjali motioned for him to flip further.
"The actuary from finance calculated that last season, the percentage of fans traveling from nearby cities without NBA teams increased by nearly 30%. Even if we lose some local fans with a price hike, the surrounding areas will more than make up for it."
Hearing that, Chen Yilun actually looked up at Anjali.
"Not bad! You're making progress fast."
"Of course!" Anjali lifted her head proudly. "I came here to learn seriously."
"Look at you, already getting cocky after a little praise."
After Chen Yilun's relentless effort, the pile of backlogged documents was finally cleared.
"Alright! I haven't been keeping up with the trade market lately. Any news?"
He stretched lazily and asked casually.
"Nothing major."
Anjali tilted her head, thinking for a moment. "Mostly just role players moving around."
"Oh wait—there's one!" She suddenly remembered. "David West signed a one-year veteran minimum deal with the Spurs."
West, huh. Figures.
As expected, he still followed the historical path and joined the Spurs.
The Spurs were absolutely stacked now.
GDP + Leonard + Aldridge. Add in 3-and-D specialist Danny Green, and now even an old All-Star like West on the bench.
This offseason, Spurs fans were the happiest of all.
After all those years of penny-pinching, this was the first time they were truly loaded!
"Oh, and while you were gone, Bargnani's agent called, asking if we'd be interested in a tryout."
Bargnani?
Chen Yilun's mind clicked.
The Knicks' scam artist, Bargnani? Right, his contract expired this year.
"Tell them to get lost!" Chen Yilun snapped. "What kind of nobodies think they can come begging for scraps here?"
The once-glorious No. 1 pick would become nothing more than a journeyman once that massive contract ended, fading into irrelevance.
But Anjali's words reminded Chen Yilun of something.
"Now that the Knicks finally dumped Bargnani's toxic contract, what did they do with the $20 million they freed up?"
"Not much, actually."
Anjali set down her files and checked her phone notes.
"Oh, right. They signed Robin Lopez away from the Trail Blazers. Four years, $54 million."
The Trail Blazers?
Chen Yilun froze, then remembered. The Portland fire sale had begun!
Last season they were a playoff team, but this offseason they lost four of their five starters. Some left in free agency, others were traded away by management.
Anyone who could leave did—only Lillard remained.
On paper, next season's Blazers should have been led by their backcourt duo. But the other half, CJ, was actually in Sacramento, training on his own.
Most free agents had already signed, and ever since trading away Cousins, his own team had been quiet. It was time to stir things up a bit.
Chen Yilun tapped his fingers on the table, then made up his mind.
"Anjali, have the front office leak the news—we're open to trading our first-round pick!"
...
(40 Chapters Ahead)
p@treon com / GhostParser