Bishop of the Abyss

Chapter 221 221. The chaotic market structure, the free market opened in August, and the Grizzlies started to make moves (4.7K words)
As the time came to the end of July, the league had a number of transactions, large and small, during this month.

The most notable one is that the Grizzlies only traded Tracy McGrady with the Rockets.

However, Grizzlies coach Luke is quite interested in this year's free market.

According to sources in Memphis, Luke has been actively contacting free agents this summer, and has made private contact with many players so far.

Although it is not known which players will accidentally join the Grizzlies in the end, this year's Grizzlies will definitely attract attention in the upcoming free market in August.

Before the start of the free market, there were many large transactions throughout July.

Among them, the Sonics sent guard Ray Allen to the Celtics in the East, and the latter sent point guard West, forward Szczerbiak and this year's fifth overall rookie small forward Jeff Green to Seattle. .

In addition, the Celtics also received the Sonics' 35th overall pick this year.

This deal also means that Ray Allen and Pierce will join forces again in the new season.

It is a pity that the fate of the Timberwolves has deviated greatly compared with the previous life, and the Celtics have yet to make progress on Garnett's trade.

And even Rondo, a rookie who originally belonged to the Celtics, was cut off by Luke in advance. This also caused the Celtics' current lineup to be much worse than the previous one. At least it is difficult to become the championship in a short time. strong contender.

However, according to a report by famous reporter Trevor Williams, the Celtics are currently actively pursuing Rondo, and Rondo's owner, the 76ers, is listening to trade offers from the Celtics.

Rondo was a player selected by Luke in the [-] draft. As one of the bargaining chips for the Timberwolves to trade Iverson, Rondo's transaction value can be described as huge.

It stands to reason that the 76ers should complete the team building around Rondo, and regard Rondo as the core of the team.

奈何隆多在场上的个人打法却让76人管理层有些头疼，上个赛季隆多虽然场均可以交出9.7分5.8篮板8.6助攻以及1.4次抢断，但隆多却实在不适合当球队老大。

At present, there is no player in the entire 76ers who cannot be traded. As long as the chips offered by the outside world can satisfy the management, the 76ers can't wait to trade all their coaches.

Under normal circumstances, the Celtics should trade for Ray Allen and Garnett this summer, and Pierce will form the Big Three combination of the famous alliance.

And these three helped the Celtics win the championship trophy in the first year, and Paul Pierce also took advantage of the trend to become the finals MVP.

But right now, the Timberwolves are no longer the big team that can't even make the playoffs, but the dynasty team that just won three consecutive championships.

So McHale naturally has no plans to overthrow and rebuild, let alone complete the shocking one-for-seven deal with the Celtics.

Luke knows very well that Celtics general manager Ainge has never been a guy who just sits and dies.

Although it is hopeless for the Celtics to pursue Garnett in this life, Angie, who still traded for Ray Allen, will definitely not keep a low profile. Next, the Celtics will most likely target other stars to form another version of the Big Three line-up.

It is unclear which player Luke the Celtics will target this summer, but it is foreseeable that once the Celtics once again make up the Big Three lineup, the Boston Celtics next season will definitely become the champions on the road to the championship. popular teams.

Fortunately, Luke has left the Timberwolves and switched to the Grizzlies. For the Grizzlies, looking forward to the championship is still a little far away.

After all, the pattern of the playoffs in recent years has always been strong in the west and weak in the east. It is still unknown whether the Grizzlies can make it out of the west in the new season. It is too early to consider the truth of the championship.

In addition, the New York Knicks and the Portland Trail Blazers also reached a deal. In this transaction, the Knicks will get Randolph, while Francis and Frye will be exchanged to the Trail Blazers.

Although Yao Ming's former teammate Francis is no longer the league's top star, Zach Randolph was, after all, the tenth player in the league's scoring list last season.

Even if Randolph is suspected of brushing data on the court, the gold content of this deal is still very high.

Obviously, after failing to compete for Luke this offseason, the Knicks are unwilling to be mediocre, saying that they have to do something in the offseason, which has confirmed the team's determination to hit the playoffs next season.

However, Luke is very clear that no matter how hard the Knicks have been in the past two years, they can't get rid of the hat of a big team.

And the team general manager Yin Saiya Thomas completely blocked the rest of his management career by relying on a set of operations.

What's even worse is that last season, Insaiah Thomas laid off the famous coach Larry Brown and chose to coach himself. As a result, he only led the Knicks to a record of 33 wins and 49 losses throughout the season.

It can be said that the operation was as fierce as a tiger. Looking back, it ranked fifth in the Eastern Conference.

If nothing else, Thomas, the coach and general manager of the team this season, is still very hip in coaching, and he also had some disagreements with the boss Dolan, so he had to pack up and leave immediately.

The tragedy is that Thomas's series of operations in the offseason only blocked his management career, but the two seasons of coaching have blocked his coaching career.

As a result, Thomas, who had a winning rate of more than 50% in the first three seasons of his coaching career, has never appeared in the league since the [-]-[-] season, and he can be said to be a master at killing himself.

The Detroit Pistons in the East announced that the team has officially renewed Billups with a five-year $5 million contract, of which the fifth year is a player option. Billups can choose whether to jump out of the contract and become a free agent.

The average annual salary of this contract is about 1200 million US dollars. There are still many doubts about whether Billups is worth such a contract.

However, as the Chicago Bulls agreed to a five-year, $3800 million contract extension with restricted free agent Nocioni, the verbal threat lurking on Billups was instantly recognized by others.

How can I say that Billups is also the man who won the finals MVP, even Nocioni can get a five-year contract of nearly 4000 million US dollars, so it seems that Billups' five-year contract of 6000 million US dollars is not Nothing too outrageous.

Although Nocioni's personal data of 14.1 points and 5.6 rebounds per game last season is not bad, but as a white striker with very average defensive ability, Nocioni has a shooting range on the offensive end, and this contract can be described as a serious premium.

Under normal circumstances, the Bulls regretted their decision in this offseason after only one season, and traded Nocioni to the Kings in 2009, and did not forget to make up for Nocioni afterwards.

The Magic also made a deal this summer that could change the pattern of the Eastern Conference.

At the end of July, the Magic announced that the team had officially reached a sign-and-trade agreement with the Sonics.

In this deal, the Magic will get forward Lewis with excellent offensive ability from the Sonics.

And signed a 6-year contract with Lewis with a total value of approximately 1.18 million US dollars.

This contract not only made Lewis the tenth "Mr. Billionaire" in NBA history, but also attracted overwhelming doubts for Lewis.

You know, Kevin Garnett, who had the highest salary last season, only got an annual salary of 2100 million.

According to the contract increase in the new season, Garnett's salary can reach about 2350 million US dollars, but even so, only Garnett and O'Neal in the entire league can reach more than 2000 million US dollars.

As a result, he has only been selected to the All-Star team once in his career, and Lewis, who has never been shortlisted for the best team, has become the "Mr. Billionaire" who suddenly appeared in the off-season.

In terms of salary, it will be on an equal footing with the league's top stars like Garnett, which is really unacceptable.

Lewis played the best season of his career last season, averaging 22.4 points, 6.6 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.1 steals per game.

Coupled with the season's 39% three-point shooting rate, this also makes Lewis one of the most outstanding offensive strikers in the active league.

However, although Lewis's personal performance is not bad, this contract of hundreds of millions is still a bit scary. For Lewis, who has only been selected as an All-Star in his career, it is a bit crazy.

In this regard, Luke can only quietly give a thumbs up to the operations of the Magic management. No wonder Grant Hill's original high-priced contract pitted the Magic for so many years.

Looking at this matter now, I really can't blame Hill. It can only be said that the operation of the Magic management has always been confusing.

It is worth mentioning that not long ago, the Magic just completed the renewal of the contract with the team's core "Warcraft" Howard. The renewal contract between the two parties is a five-year contract worth 8500 million US dollars.

On the surface, the Magic said that the core of the team is Dwight Howard, and they traded for Lewis to help Howard win the championship. In the end, they signed a contract with Lewis that was richer than Howard. This kind of confusing operation is really puzzling.

It's no wonder that all the stars who left the Magic in later generations yelled at this team. It seems that the Magic's management has been doing things for a long time. It's no wonder that the Magic has not retired the jersey of any meritorious player until 2021.

In the words of the team's management, it's not that the team doesn't want to retire the jersey, but that there has never been a star in team history.

Nick Anderson: ? ? ?
O'Neill:? ? ?

Hardaway:? ? ?

Maddie:? ? ?
Howard:? ? ?

In the end, the Mavericks and Stackhouse renewed a three-year contract of 2100 million US dollars, and the Bucks and Mo Williams renewed their contract for about 5200 million US dollars in six years.

As for the Nets and All-Star guard Vince Carter also formally reached an agreement, the two parties will renew a five-year contract worth 8000 million U.S. dollars, of which the first four years are guaranteed contracts, and the salary is about 6600 million U.S. dollars.

The announcement of contract renewal by Vince Carter and others made the free market lose big fish one after another this year.

Originally, Vince Carter, Billups and Lewis should be the biggest stars in the free market this year, but these three have reached contract extensions with the team one after another.

Even Rashad Lewis, who left his home team, joined the Magic in a sign-and-trade approach, which undoubtedly frustrates teams that want to get a share of the free market.

Fortunately, Luke's goal has never been these players who need to spend money to have a chance to fight.

Except for Grant Hill and Rasheed Wallace, who are a little bit famous, most of the players Luke is looking for in this year's free market are regular rotations.

In terms of popularity, they are naturally not as good as Billups and other All-Stars, but in Luke's tactical system, the role these players can play is very important.

Now that the time has come to the end of July, Luke has also reached a verbal agreement with many players in private.

Next, you only need to wait for the free market to open in August, and the Grizzlies will be able to seize the opportunity as soon as possible, and try to make as much money as possible in this year's free market, which is not rich.

…………

On August 8, local time in the United States, the offseason free market officially opened.

With the opening of the free market, many teams in the league immediately reported that they had signed contracts with free agents.

This naturally includes the high-profile Memphis Grizzlies.

As soon as the free market opened, the Grizzlies released three consecutive signing news.

The first was the signing of free agent Grant Hill to a fully guaranteed two-year deal.

The contract amount between the two parties is about 500 million U.S. dollars in two years. Looking at the free market, it can only be regarded as a small fight.

In the eyes of the outside world, the Grizzlies chose to sign Grant Hill, a glass man, in the offseason because they were eager to achieve results, and they almost ignored the consequences to increase the team's immediate combat power.

In this regard, some people ridiculed that Luke's current vision has begun to decline, and he has already set his sights on famous injuries like Grant Hill who can hardly hit the ball.

In addition, the second signing news announced by the Grizzlies is that they have reached a two-year contract worth about $950 million with free agent Jason Kapono.

"Three-pointer" Kapono played for the Miami Heat last season and played the best season of his career with the Heat.

Although the data of 10.9 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game may seem mediocre, but the 51.4% three-point shooting percentage made Kapono the second highest three-point shooting percentage in a single season in NBA history.

It is not an exaggeration to say that Kapono is the strongest shooter in the active league. After all, in terms of three-pointers alone, before Curry entered the league, Kapono was like a god.

In this regard, Ray Allen barely has the upper hand with a large number of three-point shots, but Kapono can beat any shooter in the league in terms of three-point efficiency.

The big-mouthed Charles Barkley even teased O'Neal with Kapono in a program, saying that Kapono's three-point shooting percentage is higher than O'Neal's free throw shooting percentage.

What Kapono did in the Heat last season was to open up space for O'Neal and Wade so that they could score inside more easily.

Obviously, it is precisely because of the existence of Kapono that Wade and O'Neal can have so many opportunities in the interior. The shooting percentage of more than 50% from the three-point line is enough to make any defender dare not leave Kapono. Bono takes half a step.

However, Kapono's shortcomings as a professional player are also obvious. In the case of such an excellent three-point shot, Kapono is still just a role player, because Kapono's defense is too broken.

Kapono, who is 97 meters tall and weighs [-] kilograms, is definitely in line with the league's most standard swingman figure in terms of body shape.

However, Capono has a standard height and weight, but he is poor in strength and movement speed.

Slow lateral speed and poor physicality make Kapono almost impossible to guard against any offensive player.

So even though Kapono's three-point shooting has reached the point of perfection, and he is the player with the highest three-point shooting in the active league, it is still difficult for Kapono to get a big contract.

But Luke, who knows how to maximize the three-point damage, doesn't care about Kapono's defense.

The emergence of the small ball era has brought about many players like Kapono who can only shoot three-pointers but do nothing on the defensive end.

The Heat's Duncan Robinson, who can compete with Thompson, is exactly the same. Zone defense is the defensive tactic prepared for this kind of player.

Kapono's shooting ability on the offensive end is very impressive, and Kapono is destined to be only a substitute in the Grizzlies team.

In the limited playing time, the existence of Kapono not only will not affect the overall situation, but can also make the Grizzlies better.

Even Kapono's three-pointer at a critical moment is likely to become a means of killing people.

An annual salary of around 500 million does not sound too small, but the money must be spent wisely.

As long as they can be integrated into the Grizzlies' offensive system in the new season, the effect that the players can exert will far exceed people's imagination.

Right now Stephen Curry has not yet entered the league, and the league has not yet launched any tactical system around three-pointers, and the defense against three-pointers is also only at the most basic stage.

Going slanted forward is definitely a shortcut for the Grizzlies to hit the championship in the new season. For the current league where no one realizes that three-pointers can play tricks, the three-point shooters headed by Kapono and Mike Miller have already Can't help but want to flex my muscles in the new season.

　There are probably five or six free agents to be signed, including veterans with a basic salary, middle-class players, and powerful stars. You may wish to guess which players will be introduced during the offseason.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)