Chapter 745: Chapter 4 Win-Win Deals_3
Jane Walker and Brian Shaw had an in-depth discussion upon hearing this news. He decided to offer Brian Shaw a four-year, multi-million-dollar contract.
The first year’s contract was for $1.2 million, increasing by $100,000 each year, with an additional signing bonus of $400,000, plus waiving the $50,000 loan from Brian Shaw’s rookie period with the Celtics.
The contract amount can be considered quite generous. After Brian Shaw verbally agreed, Jane Walker immediately flew to Rome, where, in the presence of lawyers and notary officials, Brian Shaw signed the contract representing the Celtics for the 1990-1991 season.
Just when Jane Walker breathed a sigh of relief, thinking it was not too late to mend—although the contract was costly, an unexpected turn occurred.
As the new season was about to begin, Brian Shaw wavered again. This time, it was spurred by an ambitious African-American basketball agent from Los Angeles, Jerome Stanley.
Jerome Stanley was previously an assistant to Leonard Almato and had a strong influence on Brian Shaw.
After signing the return contract with the Celtics, Stanley told Shaw that if he waited one more season, the Celtics would no longer have the priority rights to sign him.
As an experienced and strong guard, Brian Shaw would have the opportunity to test the free market, hear offers from the entire league, and maximize his benefits.
Influenced by Stanley, Brian Shaw notified the Celtics through his lawyers that he would not cancel his second-year contract with the Messenger Team and would stay in Italy instead of returning to play for the Celtics.
Jane Walker and Red Auerbach were furious with Brian Shaw, fuming and enraged. You’ve signed the contract, taken the signing bonus, and now you want to back out?
Brian Shaw stated he could return the full signing bonus and claimed that he did not have his own lawyer present when signing, and he was coerced and influenced by disadvantageous manipulations, leading him to sign the contract.
Brian Shaw hoped to take the matter to court, knowing that the legal process in America is lengthy. If it goes to court, the Celtics’ plans for the 1990-1991 season would definitely be ruined.
The trouble Jerome Stanley brought to the Celtics didn’t stop there. This summer, the Celtics had two very important tasks: one was to renew the contract of the team’s potential core guard, Reggie Lewis, and the other was to sign the guard Dee Brown, selected in the 1990 draft.
Unfortunately, both Reggie Lewis’s and Dee Brown’s agent was Jerome Stanley.
Influenced by Jerome Stanley, Reggie Lewis, the forward-guard star meticulously groomed by the Celtics, made it clear that he would leave Boston for another team seeking an appropriate contract if the Celtics could not offer a satisfactory one when his contract expired next year.
Thus, he refused to renew his contract with the Celtics in the summer of 1990, retaining his right to become a free agent in 1991.
This shocked the entire Celtics management, making Stanley their nightmare this summer.
Previously, as an assistant to Almato, Stanley never received the respect he deserved when negotiating with the Celtics executives in Boston.
The white executives of the Celtics rarely shook hands with him, and seldom looked him in the eye, seeing him merely as a lackey from the West Coast.
Now, Stanley, as a representative of the Celtics’ most valuable future assets, sat in front of arrogant figures like Auerbach and Walker, pounding on the table with his shoe like Khrushchev, telling them, "My players will no longer accept your derisory offers like beggars, if you want to keep them, pay them enough money, and offer longer contracts. The dollar in Boston is the same as in Los Angeles, Cleveland, Miami, and Houston, it’s not worth more!"
Stanley’s appearance has thrown the Celtics, accustomed to profiting at others’ expense and skilled in binding excellent players with cheap contracts, into a mire, making their rebuilding plans extremely challenging.
Under these circumstances, another person stepped out to further aggravate the Celtics’ situation.
This person was Larry Fleisher’s son, Mark Fleisher.
In 1989, the Portland Trail Blazers chose Vlade Divac in the draft, thwarting the Lakers’ draft plans.
As compensation, Don Nelson chose Dino Rađa, also from Yugoslavia, also spoiling the Celtics’ draft plans.
Auerbach was furious at the time, since Dino Rađa was an important part of the Celtics’ rebuilding plans, expected to replace Kevin McHale as the new low-post monster.
The Trail Blazers’ interception led to a chain reaction, leaving the Celtics empty-handed.
However, the Lakers didn’t fare well either because Rađa had an ongoing contract in Europe, and talks broke down, leaving him in Yugoslavia.
Under these circumstances, Don Nelson did a favor by trading Rađa’s signing rights to the Celtics.
After all, Nelson was a former Celtics player of merit, still somewhat friendly with Auerbach.
After acquiring Rađa’s signing rights, the Celtics tried to negotiate with Rađa’s home team KK Split in Yugoslavia and managed to buy out Rađa’s contract through a series of clauses, then re-signed him.
