Pick Westbrook

Chapter 381 1 million

"I've taken Holloway's grandpa to your house."

"The old man was very happy after hearing that his daughter had returned to the United States, but he didn't know how he would react after seeing that Holloway's IQ was only 2-3 years old."

Hammond shook his head and sighed, as if lamenting the ill-fated fate of his former colleague and partner.

Li Lai put down the transaction summary in his hand, and looked at Hammond in surprise.

He didn't expect that it would be so easy to pick up Holloway's grandfather, without any hindrance at all.

It's more like a puppet that has been used up and is ruthlessly abandoned in the end.

Li Lai did not stop thinking about this matter and said: "All the teams in the league have ushered in great changes in the lineup. There is still some lack of strength."

"Last season, we were able to successfully reach the Western Conference Finals. It was lucky because we staggered the two strong teams of the Spurs and the Dallas Mavericks."

"This season the Rockets have completed reinforcements, and the Spurs have also completed reinforcements. The Lakers' lineup has undergone drastic changes. A new star team, the Warriors, is now in the league."

"If we can't go further, we can easily be left behind by these teams."

Hammond looked at Li Lai in shock and said, "The Spurs are a traditionally strong team. The Rockets originally had Yao Ming, the number one center in the league, and now they have all-star player Yi Jianlian joining, so their strength has naturally increased. "

"The Lakers rank first in the latest championship odds, and they are the most promising championship seeds."

"These teams are our potential competitors in the West, but what the hell is the Warriors, we need to be afraid of him?"

"A scoring champion Durant who has never proven himself, a three-point marksman Curry who can only shine under the coaching system."

"In order to trade these two, the Warriors almost emptied their homes, and now the only thing they can offer is forward Klay Thompson."

"The rookies they selected this year have been ridiculed by countless experts and guest commentators. Draymond Green? He is too tall to play a center. He has no weight and skills to play a power forward. He has no speed and shooting ability to play a small forward. , and now I still have baby fat all over my body."

"I don't even know how they chose such a wonderful thing."

This is also the view of most people in the United States on the Warriors' current lineup. Most sensible people recognize the abilities of Durant and Curry, but apart from these two, the Warriors don't seem to have any advantages, and the lineup is still a mess.

Everyone believes that the Warriors have a future, but not now. At least they need to mend and build for another three years before they have a chance to become a strong team at the championship level.

Li Lai did not continue to explain on this issue. He just looked at Hammond seriously and said, "Our main opponent in the West in the future will most likely be the Warriors."

This is not the first time that Hammond has heard Li Lai's words that are so certain and unexpected. Coincidentally, Li Lai's predictions in the past few times have all come true, so Hammond was surprised at this time. Come, but began to be wary of the Warriors team in my heart.

"By the way, what's the name of the team?" Li Lai asked instead.

Speaking of this matter, Hammond was extremely proud. He said: "The team's name change went very smoothly. After all, it is something that you, one of the top five richest men in the league, and Jordan, the god of basketball, wanted to promote together."

"We will be called the New Orleans Pelicans from now on, and the peripheral products and player jerseys, team logos, etc. have been renewed in advance."

"Because of our strong performance last season, the fans in New Orleans became more and more supportive of us. On the night of the team name change, New Orleans was full of people."

"It's a pity that you were leading the Chinese men's basketball team to compete in the Olympics at that time, otherwise you would be shocked, and the formation is definitely not inferior to the posture of winning the championship."

"By the way, the Pelicans changed their name successfully, and someone even gave you a gift."

"Gift?" Li Lai frowned and looked at Hammond, wondering who would give him a gift at this time.

Hammond looked at Li Lai with a smirk on his face, raised his right hand and pointed at Li Lai frequently, then walked aside, turned on the computer and put an album on it.

“Welcome To New Orleans”

"Passing through the crowds, the whole city shines because of one man, the noisy world, the beating heartbeat under the jacket, everyone here is eager for him to bring more to this city, looking for those A cry that we've never heard before, Let's cry it out together, Welcome To New Orleans"

Hammond said: "In order to celebrate the official name change of the Pelicans, Taylor Swift specially sent us the team theme song."

"However, it is a pity that the mayor of New Orleans really likes this song. He bluntly said that this song can arouse the hope of the whole city, so he made this song a city promotional song."

"However, anyone with a discerning eye can tell that this song was written by Taylor for you, and you are blessed with a lot of love, you little brat."

Li Lai smiled, thinking of the hut in Crescent City and Taylor who was on a boat.

Of course, he doesn't have time to go to Taylor and thank him in person, because the Pelicans have too many things piled up.

"Let's go." Li Lai stood up and said.

Hammond asked curiously, "Where are you going?"

Li Lai said: "Go and officially complete the signing of the team."

Chris Paul's home.

This was the second time that Li Lai came to the other party's house as a guest. Knowing that Li Lai was coming, Paul cleaned up the yard early and prepared a fruit platter and Li Lai's favorite liquor.

Because of the Olympics, Paul is now in the recuperation phase, but even so he still started physical training a week after returning to the United States.

"Does the coach know what's going on in the trading market?" Paul suddenly said seriously.

Li Lai nodded and said, "What do you think about this matter, which team do you think will become our biggest opponent?"

Paul thought for a while and said affirmatively, "The Lakers."

"The combination of Kobe + Howard is so imaginative, and Kobe was in such a good state in the playoffs last season, there is no reason why I should not choose the Lakers."

Li Lai remained silent and did not speak.

Paul looked at Li Lai in surprise and said, "Doesn't the coach think so?"

"Last season, the Lakers eliminated us in the Western Conference Finals. They should also become our biggest imaginary enemy this season."

Li Lai shook his head and said, "I have a big question mark about the chemistry of the Lakers. After all, basketball is not a simple 1+1 > 2, nor is it possible to win with the top five players."

"Tactics, tacit understanding, cooperation, and the harmony and compensation of the players' technical abilities and characteristics with each other are all factors that cannot be ignored."

"Of course, that's Kobe + Howard + Nash + Gasol after all."

"If the Lakers can try to limit the playing time of the three during the regular season, let Howard be the core of the team's offense, and reduce the possibility of veteran injuries, maybe they can really make them run in successfully."

"If not, it may be very difficult for this Lakers team to reach the playoffs in this year's Western Conference."

Paul looked at Li Lai in shock. He couldn't believe that the other party would say such a thing. What shocked him even more was what Li Lai said later.

Paul directly shook his head and said: "It is impossible for Howard to become the offensive core of the Lakers. This is absolutely impossible. He can only be a blue-collar when he arrives at the Lakers. The team's status and tactical focus are far from those of the Magic. .”

Li Lai nodded in agreement, and the two of them looked at each other and knew the reason for being so sure.

In fact, it was a huge mistake for the Lakers to win Warcraft Howard at this time.

"Who does the coach think our biggest opponent in the playoffs this season?" Paul asked curiously.

Li said: "Spurs, Warriors, followed by Rockets and Grizzlies."

"Warriors?" Paul said in disbelief.

He doesn't think that the newly formed Warriors will be in the same position as the Spurs and become the biggest opponent of the Pelicans this season.

Of course, neither Li Lai nor Paul is a master. They just exchanged their thoughts and opinions, and then they talked about the pattern of the Eastern Conference.

On this point, the views of the two are tacitly consistent.

After Derrick Rose is almost certain to be reimbursed for the new season and Warcraft Howard has traveled westward, the strongest teams in the Eastern Conference are undoubtedly the Miami Heat and the New York Knicks.

The Eagles, Pacers, and Bulls still have their foundations, and they may still be able to stand out in the relatively weak Eastern Conference.

As for the completely rebuilt Nets, although the team's total salary ranks first in the league, its strength and chemical reaction are still difficult to determine.

More importantly, they don't have big-name stars in their prime.

Then Li Lai talked about the reason why he came to visit Paul and renewed his contract.

On this point, Li Lai and Paul had already reached a tacit agreement. After the season, Li Lai also asked Hammond to discuss the details of the contract with Paul.

Therefore, Li Lai and Paul had already negotiated the details and general direction of the contract, and now there is only one signature short.

No team came to contact Paul this offseason. Even the Timberwolves, a team that hadn't made the playoffs for thousands of years, didn't come to do this annoyingly.

Because even a fool knows that it is impossible for Paul to leave the Pelicans. Terby made the playoffs last season, and this season he successfully used the No. [-] pick to pick Anthony Davis. case.

It is even more impossible for Paul to leave the team.

8 month 24 day.

Hammond and Chris Paul attended the press conference, and the Pelicans announced that they will complete the contract renewal with Paul with a five-year, $5 million maximum salary extension contract for designated players.

This is also the only signing contract with a salary of more than 1 million in the off-season.

After resolving Paul's contract renewal, Li Lai immediately called Dior.

The former was considered a junk contract by most people last season, but no one thought that Diaw played an extremely important role in the Pelicans system.

This offseason, many teams are trying to contact Diaw, including the defending champion Heat and the new star team Warriors, as well as the old strong team Spurs.

But Diaw rejected these teams one by one, and he still wanted to stay with the Pelicans to play, because he felt his importance to the team for the first time under Li Lai's hands.

On this point, Li Lai also asked Hammond to get along with Dior during the off-season, but at this time the latter was still complaining about the elimination of the French team during the London Olympics when the latter received a call from Li Lai. up.

Dior then asked when the team's training camp for the new season would start. Li Lai signaled to the other party not to worry, and the team would notify everyone on time at a certain time.

因为迪奥在上赛季的表现，马刺队给对方开出了4年3+1包含了球队选项价值2500万美元的合同，热火队开出的是3年1500万的合同，勇士队受限于薪资情况只开出了2年1000万。

Li Lai has never treated any player badly in terms of salary, not to mention that Diaw deliberately rejected the contracts of all other teams in order to stay in the Pelicans.

4-year 2500 million unlimited contract.

After seeing the two consecutive contracts offered by Li Lai, Hammond said with a painful face: "Our team already has two maximum-salary contracts for DeAndre Jordan and Lewis."

"Now it is announced that Chris Paul has renewed his contract, and Dior's contract renewal is also slightly higher than the market price. Our team's total salary has been reported."

"The league has announced the team's salary cap and luxury tax trigger line for the new season."

"The salary cap is $6400 million, the luxury tax trigger is $7400 million, and we're now at $8600 million."

"The luxury tax alone has to pay $2200 million, which means that our player costs have reached $1 million."

"This data can already rank fifth in the league."

Li Lai couldn't help sighing at this moment, this is the price to be paid for blindly accelerating the improvement of the team's strength.

In order to get draft picks and grab people, Li Lai had to offer DeAndre Jordan a maximum salary contract, and at the same time had to eat Lewis' maximum salary contract.

This also caused the Pelicans to be stretched in the off-season free market. They didn't dare to grab people and sign people. They just tried their best to keep Chris Paul and Diaw.

Fortunately, the Pelicans have 4 rookie bonus contracts for Beverly, Leonard, Jimmy Butler and Anthony Davis, otherwise the situation would be even worse.

However, because the team salary of the Pelicans has been in an optimistic state, and they have to consider retaining rookies Leonard and Jimmy Butler in the future, Li Lai has to plan ahead at this time to ease the tense salary situation in advance.

"By the way, what happened to Lewis who let you contact him in advance?" Li Lai continued to ask.

Hammond shook his head a little less optimistically.

"Lewis' salary next season is as high as 2200 million, which is even higher than the first two years of Paul's new contract."

"Lewis really likes the locker room environment of the Pelicans and the state of playing with his teammates. The team's winning so many games last season also gave him a lot of satisfaction at the end of his career. "

"But the only thing is that he has no intention of buying out the contract. Even if the Pelicans want to force a buyout, he will not give up a little bit of salary."

"For this reason, even if he is traded by the team, he will not hesitate. Lewis said that he has to think about his own livelihood, so no matter what, he will not give up the big contract for the last year of his career."

Li Lai nodded to express his understanding.

After all, with Lewis' current ability, it is estimated that he can only sign a veteran's basic salary in the free market, and more of them are playing tactical simulations in the team and passing experience to rookies.

If nothing else, the Pelicans this season don't have many positions for Lewis, and the average playing time per game will not be too much.

Of course, his spatial attributes can still play at occasional critical moments, and even play miraculous effects.

But the annual salary of 2200 million is really a great pressure for the Pelicans with ambitious goals this season.

"I want to meet Lewis and talk to him face to face."

(End of this chapter)