I'm really good at shooting.

Chapter 449 Mr. Zhan, here I come!

When Stern announced the final MVP award, James couldn't hide the excitement on his face.

Although the All-Star Game MVP is the lowest gold content among all MVPs, no matter how small a fly is, it is meat, especially when the player earns this honor for the first time in his career.

He took the trophy from Stern, couldn't help but kissed the trophy excitedly, his eyes were slightly red.

This scene also caused a burst of cheers from the scene.

In the eyes of many people, this "chosen son" who wanted to beat Sun Hao as soon as he entered the league, finally began to fulfill his talent!

In the days to come, there will be one more topic that fans can discuss.

James' double quotient is very high. After winning the trophy, he gave a long but well-organized acceptance speech, which is very demeanor of Sun Hao.

And surprisingly, at the end of this speech, James focused on thanking one person.

"I want to beat him because he is the perfect player in my opinion, but I also want to thank him because he motivates me to keep going."

Although James didn't say who "he" is, everyone knows who "he" is.

Especially when James looked at Sun Hao after speaking, the cheers on the scene reached a peak.

Compared with James, Sun Hao actually entered the league only three years earlier.

But what he has achieved cannot be made up for by the difference of many years.

It is not an exaggeration to say that the current Sun Hao, in the eyes of James and the others, is like the former players looking at Jordan, they all need to look up to.

With the end of the All-Star game, the fans' attention has shifted from the All-Star game to the free trade market.

As in previous years, the trade deadline comes shortly after the All-Star break.

However, compared with previous years, the performance of each team this year is close to the pre-match expectations. Although there are many trading rumors, most of them belong to the scope of small fights.

The Lakers had a lot of problems, and Kupchak wanted to trade all players except Sun Hao at the end of December.

But after O'Neal came back, these people suddenly became able to play again, and those thoughts disappeared.

However, there have been rumors about one person.

Michael Finley.

Finley is 32 years old this year, and his ability has declined with age.

Especially after Payton's arrival, his positioning has become a bit awkward.

Many people may forget that Sun Hao is actually a combo guard because of his long-term playing point guard.

From the configuration of the Lakers, the effect of Payton and Sun Hao in the backcourt is obviously better than that of Finley.

So the Lakers sought to trade Finley at the beginning of the season, but they have been struggling with no next home.

This has to start with Finley's contract.

In 2001, Nelson and Finley signed a seven-year long-term contract of more than 7 million yuan with Finley, and this contract will last until 9000.

Moreover, Finley performed well at the beginning. This is a contract with increasing annual salary. Finley's salary this year is as high as 1594 million, which is higher than that of Sun Hao.

But having said that, it wasn't for Finley's contract at the beginning, and the Mavericks might not necessarily agree to trade Sun Hao to the Lakers.

Therefore, it is unreasonable to complain about Finley's contract. The key lies in how to deal with it.

Of course, rumors are rumors. In history, Finley's contract was directly bought out by the Mavericks. It is really difficult for the Lakers to deal with it.

To make a very simple analogy, this contract has three years left, and all of them are close to the maximum salary, which is bigger than the two garbage contracts given to "Deng Yingqiao" and Mozgov by the Lakers in history.

Those two contracts were impressively difficult to deal with, as you can imagine.

Time flies, and the trading deadline is approaching in a blink of an eye.

On this day, the teams continued to make small transactions, but basically they all belonged to the scope of small fights.

The only one that attracted attention was a trade between the Nuggets and the Hornets.

The Nuggets traded former three-point contest champion Wash Leonard and two future second-round picks to JR Smith from the Hornets.

This transaction can be regarded as "unexpected, reasonable."

It was unexpected because JR was the first-round pick selected by the Hornets last year. Although the pick is not very high, the 18th pick is not low.

And as a rookie, he averaged double figures per game last year, which is a great value for money.

Including the cooperation with James in the dunk contest last year, it is still fresh in people's memory.

This rookie traded away before finishing his second year, which is a bit surprising in theory.

It is reasonable because Smith has already shown the stabbing attributes in his second season.

At the beginning of this season, he played well as a starter, played 22 games in 21 games, and averaged 11 points per game.

But it was the game when he came off the bench and quarreled with coach Scott on the spot.

Afterwards, his status in the team dropped again and again, from the starter to the substitute, and finally he was directly benched by Xuezang.

At this time, some people may ask, why does Scott have such a great right to directly put the starter on the bench?

Smith, as a player who is being trained by the team, won't the management have any objections?

This has to start with Smith's style of play.

Smith's style of play when he first entered the league is very different from that in the future. He is a standard dunker.

This is why he was invited to participate in the slam dunk contest last year when he was still a rookie, competing with James and Sun Hao on the same stage.

One thing most dunkers have in common is that they can't shoot well, and Smith is no exception.

In his rookie season, he shot 56.7% at the basket, but other than that, he only shot 38% from the mid-range and only 28.8% from the three-point range.

In the end, his overall shooting percentage was only 39.4%.

This is obviously unqualified for an outside line.

So this year, in order to improve himself, he began to practice three-pointers hard, and his outside shooting percentage has improved greatly.

At this time, the Hornets are a team that attaches great importance to pick-and-roll and defensive counterattacks. They don't want Smith to develop in that direction.

It may be a bit strange to say it, but his hard training conflicts with the Hornets' training method.

In addition, Smith always loves some difficult shots and stabbing attributes in the game.

It is reasonable that the Hornets management did not raise objections to Scott's decision.

So at this time, the trade of Smith, who has been frozen, can get an experienced veteran and two draft picks. The Hornets are naturally happy.

As for the starting point of the Nuggets, we have to start with last year's slam dunk contest.

The stage of the All-Star weekend is full of exposure. The tacit understanding between James and Smith in the slam dunk contest, the Nuggets management is in the eyes.

In addition, Smith's defense is good, the three-pointer has been greatly improved, and his style of play matches James very well.

As for the stabbing attributes, the Nuggets management also believes that James' character can restrain players like Smith.

Based on these, it is reasonable for them to trade for Smith.

As for whether the management has consulted James' opinion, or whether James requested the deal on his own initiative, it is not known.

Sun Hao was also surprised when he saw this transaction.

In the history he knows, James and Smith started to cooperate very late, and the classic gif of dribbling to the end of the game was born.

But now, the fledgling Smith meets James, who is beginning to realize his talent. He doesn't know whether the two will reproduce the "reunion after a long absence" in history or have a violent chemical reaction.

To be honest, Smith's talent is very outstanding, and he is called by fans as "the collection is comparable to Jordan".

There is another saying "JR is not nervous, every day is an all-star".

If James can suppress Smith at this time, the combination of the two is worth looking forward to.

At this time, Sun Hao felt that James was summoning historical generals.

Copy the miracle of Nowitzki in 2011 in history?It's starting to look good.

Other than this deal, there isn't much else to watch this deadline.

Including the Lakers, Kupchak failed to send Finley out in the end.

To use an inappropriate metaphor, this difficulty is much less panic than when the Lakers traded for Sun Hao.

Some people may say that it is not okay to post the draft picks upside down?Or change to a shorter junk contract and deal with it slowly.

In other words, it is really impossible to cut directly like the Mavericks in history.

From a purely processing point of view, this is all feasible.

But the problem is that the current situation of the Lakers does not allow them to do that.

When they deal with Finley, what they expect is a player with similar strength to Finley, or worse than Finley.

Not for anything else, just because the Lakers still want to defend their title.

If one Finley is suddenly missing and there is no return, it will be tantamount to abolishing martial arts, and the gain outweighs the loss.

This is the hardest part for Finley to deal with.

The dust of the free market has settled, and the second half of the NBA season has officially begun.

As in previous years, this is the time when many teams choose to play poorly or hit the playoffs.

In this year in history, because the overall rookie quality of the 2006 class is average, there are not many bad teams.

In the end, many teams did not reach 30 wins, not because they could be bad, but because they were really bad.

Now that Durant announces his early candidacy, the impact he will have... is actually not that big.

Some senior fans were impressed by Durant's scouting report that year.

Durant, who finished his freshman year at the time, showed his unparalleled scoring ability, and his scouting report also had many positive comments: excellent height and wingspan, outstanding shooting ability as a big man, and skilled ball handling Ability, and thanks to his height, passing vision is also very good.

Disadvantages: The body is too thin and may not be able to adapt to the intensity of the NBA.

This scouting report is incredible for a No. [-] pick.

But there is a reason for all of this. As an NCAA big man, he couldn't even complete the 84KG bench press once.

This alone is enough to discourage scouts.

The Sonics have historically drafted him, really because of the high-level draft they're known for.

Now he hasn't studied in college for a year, his skills are not as good as in the historical draft, and he is a high school student.

It can only be said that not all high school students are James, and it is worthy of the NBA's teams.

But in the dark night, there are always people whose eyes can penetrate the darkness.

A pair of wise eyes have been fixed on Durant.

Of course, who is the owner of these eyes will only be known when he comes out of the darkness.

Eyes turned back to the arena.

The second half of the NBA season is still going on, and at this time, two things are attracting attention.

One is related to free agency.

The trade deadline for the season has passed, but the signings of free agents have not stopped.

Because in addition to the trade deadline, there is also a buyout deadline during the season.

The NBA stipulates that only players who are waived before the buyout deadline are eligible to sign with a new team to play in the playoffs.

Therefore, before the deadline, that is, before March 3, it is a high-frequency period for player buyouts.

And this year's trade deadline is a little bit of trouble, but the buyout market is booming.

"Penny" Hardaway, Joan Barry, Jim Jackson, one of the "Three Musketeers of Mavericks", "Tomorrow's NBA Star" Tim Thomas, "Mr. 53 Points" Tony Delk, "Tattoo Man" Marku Fitzgerald, former All-Star Antonio Davis, and more.

For those teams that are hitting the playoffs or competing for the championship, this is simply a prosperous time.

For example, the Pistons liked Delk very much, and signed a contract with him immediately, allowing him to serve as Billups' substitute.

Jim Jackson was also quickly picked up by the Suns.

At this time, many veterans, including Hardaway, had a strong desire to join the Lakers.

Needless to say for this reason, although the current record is that the Lakers are not as good as the Mavericks, the defending champion is still the strongest.

These layoffs are basically veterans who are about to retire. Who doesn't want to get a ring?

There is a special case here.

Tim Thomas.

Compared with others, Thomas is only 29 years old and is at his peak.

The reason why he was waived was largely due to his passive sabotage during training, which made the team intolerable.

But Thomas didn't realize this. He felt that he was underappreciated.

So after being waived, he scolded his former club, the Knicks, for being ignorant, and immediately showed his favor to the Lakers.

"Sun is the greatest guard on the planet, and Shaq is the greatest insider. I desperately want to play with them."

"Los Angeles is the greatest city, and it's been a career-long dream to play there."

……

Apart from other things, Thomas is a bit good at flattering.

But Kupchak is not impressed by this.

Thomas' offensive talent is unquestionable. He is a space-based insider with a three-point shooting rate of 40%. His style of play is a bit of a weakened version of Walker.

But Walker is really on his team, so how could Kupchak be interested in this weakened version?

And this guy's defense is much worse than Walker's, which is a complete colander.

Of course, the most important thing is this guy's training attitude. Kupchak doesn't want to find someone to spoil the atmosphere of the team.

Of course, there is also a chemical reaction. The Lakers played very well after O'Neal returned. Unless there is an irresistible temptation, the Lakers don't need to take the initiative to seek changes.

So no matter how much Thomas flattered, Kupchak didn't respond.

This, in the end, pissed Thomas off.

"The Lakers will regret their choice!"

After saying such a sentence, he turned around and reached a contract with the Suns.

Of course, not many people paid attention to what a small character like Thomas said.

ps: It’s the end of the month, so I have the cheek to ask for a monthly pass, and I will update the 8K guarantee tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)