NBA opening draw to twilight Shaquille O'Neal

Chapter 514 When the summer reinforcement is in progress

After Paul Gasol decided to reach a contract extension with the Lakers, I am afraid that Los Angeles will also become the last stop of his career.

The old Lakers seem to be a good choice.

At the same time, the joining of Rondo, the former captain of the Green Army, quickly caused a storm in the outside world.

Not long after F4, after two seasons of silence, the Lakers quickly and gradually formed a Big Three combination, which made the reinforcement speed faster than the outside world expected.

In this regard, many team managements in small cities can only envy and hate, at most they can only say: big cities are good!
The enthusiasm for trading between the Lakers and Celtics has just dissipated. In late July, the Mosaics, Heat, Wizards, Bulls, and Clippers became the most active teams in the free market.

Howard, Bosh, Anthony, these big fish are the focus of most attention in the free market.

In this process, the management of the Mavericks, who failed to make the playoffs last season, reached a basic salary contract with former NBA dunk king Richard Jefferson on the 22nd. Not surprisingly, Richard Jefferson will become the main striker of the Mavericks next season.

Even though the Mavericks have failed to get a ticket to the playoffs for two consecutive seasons, but still the same sentence, the Mavericks are in charge, star Dirk Nowitzki's 11-year single-core championship is still there, and he was also selected as an All-Star last season.

No one dares to underestimate this Mavericks!
As time passed, and August was approaching, Wang Zelin had no time to pay attention to the transactions that happened every day in the NBA, because there was a big event that required him to concentrate all his energy.

The 14 Spanish Men's Basketball World Cup!

On July 2014, 7, more than 30 days before the Men's and Men's World Cup, Wang Zelin bid farewell to his brothers in the training camp and prepared to return to China.

But before leaving, general manager Neil Olshey sent him a piece of news that surprised him...

"What, the team got in touch with Vince Carter?"

At the team headquarters, Wang Zelin was a little surprised when he heard the familiar and unfamiliar name.

As far as he knows, many fans in later generations said that Carter would have won the championship long ago if he teamed up. Shouldn't Carter in this period be the stage of enjoying the fun brought by basketball?
Why did he choose to join the Trail Blazers?

On the opposite side, the old fritter Orsi saw Wang Zelin's thoughts with a single look, and curled his lips in disdain: "Wang, don't you think that someone can really refuse the temptation of the championship?"

"Is not it?"

Wang Zelin replied stupidly.

"Don't be funny, think about the teams that Carter has stayed in before, the Nets, Magic, Mavericks, which of these teams was not a championship team the year before he went? What do you think Carter is doing? Do community welfare?"

Orsi asked back like setting off firecrackers, stopping Wang Zelin from asking.

Wang Zelin carefully recalled Carter's previous career experience... This is really the truth!
"It's just that after Carter joined the Magic that year, the headlines in the local media in Orlando were expecting the Magic to go to the finals to fight against Kobe, just like the Lakers used Artest to fight LeBron."

Neil Orsi continued to break the news.

In fact, this is not a revelation. The old fans who have experienced the four summits all know these things, and only young people who have only watched football in recent years will be fooled by the media.

Saying that an NBA player doesn't yearn for a championship in his heart is like saying that he doesn't want to be popular in the entertainment industry.

It’s fine to talk about it occasionally, no one really believes it, right?
Hearing what the general manager said, Wang Zelin came to his senses and understood that it was indeed feasible for Carter to join the Trail Blazers.

He opened the data to check, hey, Uncle Carter performed well last season!
In the regular season last season, Carter played 81 games off the bench for the Bulls, averaging 22.4 minutes per game, and the data was around 11+2+2.

Since the Mavericks here failed to break into the playoffs last season, Carter naturally has no playoff data.

However, Wang Zelin still specially asked the system to call up Carter's 13-14 season playoff data in the last time and space. If you don't know it, you will be shocked!
In the original career trajectory, the Dallas Mavericks broke into the playoffs with a record of 49 wins and 33 losses in the regular season, the eighth in the Western Conference, and met the regular season champion San Antonio Spurs in the first round of the playoffs.

In that series, Uncle Carter played the role of the bench bandit very well. After 7 games, he played an average of 27.1 minutes, averaged 12.6 points, 2.4 assists and 3.6 rebounds per game, and his shooting percentage was 45.6%. The three-point shooting percentage was particularly exaggerated, reaching 48.7%.

Although the sample of 7 games after one round is too small to explain the problem.But after 13 regular season games in the 14-81 season, Carter can maintain 4% of his three-pointers while averaging more than 39.4 three-pointers per game, which is already very high!

A sample of 81 fields is also large enough!
Pushing forward another season, there are also 81 regular season games, and he also averaged more than 4 three-pointers per game, with a shooting percentage of 40.6%!

Although Carter has been labeled as a "dunk" performance until now, in fact he is indeed a very deadly player with three-pointers.

He has played in the league for more than ten years, and in 10 years, the three-point shooting rate has remained above 35%, and in 4 years, the three-point shooting rate has exceeded 4%.

In this way, after Carter joined the Trail Blazers, wouldn't he just be able to solve the problem of substitute firepower at the second and third positions?

However, after watching Carter's performance in the 2014-2015 season, Wang Zelin frowned subconsciously, raised his head and asked:

"How is Carter doing now?"

When it comes to money, Neil Orsey replied to Wang Zelin very solemnly: "Carter's agent proposed a contract condition of 1200 million for three years, but we think there is still room for maneuver. We are currently negotiating with his agent Mark Steinberg."

"1200 million in three years?" Wang Zelin shook his head decisively after hearing this, and gave his own suggestion, "Try to overwhelm the 800 million in three years!"

The three-year 1200 million mentioned by Neil Orsi happened to be the contract signed by Carter and Memphis in the last time and space, but don't forget that the Mavericks in this time and space have not made the playoffs for two consecutive years, let alone the 7th game with the Spurs. Naturally, Carter's transaction value is not as high as it used to be.

"But is this too low?"

Hearing this, Neil Orsi looked at Wang Zelin in astonishment.

I didn't expect you, a guy with thick eyebrows and big eyes, to be more ruthless than us. You directly cut off 1/3 of your salary, almost asking Carter to join with a basic salary, and capitalists are nothing more than that.

Wang Zelin glanced at it casually. Should he say that, 14 years later, Carter has never averaged double figures in scoring in the regular season?

"Big deal, promise him one more condition in the contract."

"What conditions?"

"Let him wear the No. 15 jersey back!"

"This one……"

Neil Orsi paused for a moment to contemplate.

开拓者队的15号球衣，早在1981年10月11号就被退役了，球衣的主人拉里·尼尔森·斯蒂尔是1977年波特兰开拓者队队史首冠的成员之一。

Considering that Steele has played for the Trail Blazers for all 9 NBA careers, and he is the only champion in team history to win a championship. In addition, the Trail Blazers' ancestors are not very rich. It is also reasonable to choose to retire the jersey of this legendary veteran.

After all, not everyone is as harsh as the Magic, and they don't talk about human touch at all.

Seeing that Orsi was still weighing the pros and cons, Wang Zelin added:
"I think, rather than wearing the No. 25 jersey to win the Trail Blazers, Carter should hope that he is wearing the No. 15 jersey that has carried many highlights of his career!"

"Wang, has anyone told you that you can become a public speaker after you retire," Orsi sighed, lighting another cigar and stuffing it in his mouth.
"If I were Vince Carter, I would most likely be moved by your words."

However, Wang Zelin just shrugged.

Uncle Carter is sad enough, but if he can join the Nets, Magic, and Mavericks a year in advance, he will not miss the championship ring one after another.

So much so that after retiring, he was often pulled out by a basketball commentator in a sauna room to criticize him.

It can only be said that good luck tricks people!
Given that Carter has not completely degenerated to only shoot three-pointers, his desire to win the championship should still be strong, and it is unlikely to meet the requirements of the championship team.

After discussing with Orsi for a while, the Trail Blazers decided to have another round of negotiations with Carter's agent.

But before that, Orsi wanted Wang Zelin to get in touch with Carter himself first.

Because he believes that Wang Zelin, a newly promoted superstar who has just completed the single-season honor slam, will be more likely to succeed in recruiting.

After all, people need face and trees need bark.

Being dispatched by their strongest player can also make Carter feel the sincerity of the Trail Blazers.

Therefore, Wang Zelin decided to take some time before returning to China to visit the former half-human and half-god.

Dong Ai, Xi Ke, North Carolina, and Nan Mai, who were dubbed by fans in the past as the four major shooting guards, Dong Ai and Nan Mai have disappeared, leaving only Xi Ke and North Carolina still sticking to it.

Today's fans would never have imagined that North Carolina, the lowest-achieving player among the four shooting guards, would become the longest-serving player in the NBA.

Wang Zelin was unable to witness Carter's highly entertaining dunks at his peak, but fortunately, what the team needs now is Carter's three-pointer.

"Hey, by the way, I remember that Anthony Morrow has also become a free agent. The team can go and touch it. That guy's three-pointers are very good."

When leaving the team headquarters, Wang Zelin gave another candidate for reinforcement.

"Anthony Moreau?"

Hearing this name, Orsi suddenly smiled mysteriously.

Anthony Morrow shot 45.1% of the current top three-pointers last season. How could the Blazers have not touched it.

and……

Forget it, after it's done, I'll give Wang a surprise.

……

After returning to the apartment to rest for the night, the next morning, Wang Zelin went to Carter's hometown near Daytona Beach, Florida, and found Carter who was fishing.

True fishing!
As a black athlete, the well-educated Carter doesn't even have a tattoo on his body. In addition to commercial activities during the offseason, he often stays in his hometown, either taking time to go to church, training, and occasionally fishing to relax.

Compared with many players who played in the offseason, Carter is a high-quality idol.

"Wang, you just won the championship. You must be very busy now. Why do you come to me when you have time? Do you want to go fishing with me?" Carter smiled.

"Farewell, I don't know anything about fishing. And I can't be idle."

Wang Zelin waved his hand and sat on the floor.

"Then you are here..."

Carter's attention was still on the fishing rod, and he asked without looking back.

"If I remember correctly, your contract with the Mavericks has expired. Next season, come to Portland, and we will win the championship together!"

Hearing this question, Carter put down his fishing rod and immediately became serious.

As an old Jianghu, after he received Wang Zelin's call in the morning, he had already vaguely guessed the latter's intention.But when Wang Zelin really started recruiting himself, his expression was hard to move.

"Aren't you joking? Last year's best defense, the youngest MVP in history, the FMVP and the double-first Grand Slam winner, are actually recruiting an old man who is almost 40?"

Carter's self-deprecating question.

His mind was already in a mess, and he didn't even notice that the fishing rod moved.

"Hey." Wang Zelin stretched out his hand, picked up the fishing rod, and quickly reeled in the line.

Soon, a three-foot-big fish appeared in front of the two of them.

"I don't believe that, dignified UFO, the blood will cool down? Here, your fish."

Wang Zelin caught the fish and sent it to Carter.

Hearing this, Carter suddenly fell silent.

"No matter how old you are, I see a desire in you, a desire for a championship! Join us, put on the No. 15 jersey again, and win the O'Brien Cup together next season."

Wang Zelin's voice sounded again.

This time, the number 15 in the words reminded Carter of his youthfulness back then, and at the same time, awakened something in his heart again...

champion!
Maybe, it's time to bet on the last bit of oil in the tank and fight again!
……

On the first day of August, the Trail Blazers officially announced a series of news:
They signed the "half-human, half-god" Vince Carter with a three-year contract of 850 million, which is far below the market price.

Next season, this experienced veteran is about to assist the Blazers to move towards two consecutive championships.

At this time, Wang Zelin, who had returned to China, saw the news and clenched his fists excitedly.

But before he was happy for too long, news from the right wing came quickly.

An hour later, the Trail Blazers made another official announcement: They signed a two-year contract of 540 million, the top shooter Anthony Morrow who had just jumped out of the last year of his contract from the Pelicans.

"Damn it, that fatty Orsi can be efficient!"

Wang Zelin was surprised by this.

He didn't expect that he would take care of old Carter first, and Morrow would be taken care of when the team won.

With the addition of these two perimeter fortresses, the Blazers' bench next season will no longer lack firepower.

(End of this chapter)