Bishop of the Abyss

Chapter 311 311. Deal Completed!Two titans arrived!The free market is about to open!

Throughout July, Marcus Thornton undoubtedly became the most shining presence among the new players in the league.

In the summer league, Marcus Thornton can beat opponents in almost every game. Not long ago, in the game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Marcus Thornton also used a data of 28 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists. Defeated James Harden, the same prospect.

Led the team to complete the six-game winning streak in the summer league, ending the summer league as the number one in the league.

Marcus Thornton's performance like a god descended from the earth, undoubtedly made the outside teams envy.

What makes the teams most eager to move is that when the management of each team asked the Grizzlies whether they had the intention of trading Marcus Thornton, the Grizzlies did not refuse it outright, but prevaricated it with an ambiguous answer. .

No one who can serve as the general manager in the NBA is a real idiot. Everyone is an old fox with a deep city background. The answer of the Grizzlies is clearly that they want to wait and see.

In the adult world, if there is no face-to-face rejection, there is still a chance.

Everyone knows that the Grizzlies have lost a large number of core players this summer, and next season, the Grizzlies must be determined to attack the three consecutive championships.

In this case, the attractiveness of players with immediate combat power to the Grizzlies will be far greater than that of rookies with potential.

Even if the Grizzlies trade all the two rookies selected in this draft, the outside world will not be surprised.

At present, most of the management of each team are in a wait-and-see state like the Grizzlies, wanting to see how much potential Marcus Thornton has and whether he has the ability to become the core of the team.

As a result, the New York Knicks, which ranked third from the bottom in the Eastern Conference last season, stood up and acted as a shit stick, directly and unabashedly releasing the news that as long as they can get Marcus Thornton, the team is willing to pay anyone except David Lee. players.

As an inside player selected by the Knicks with the 30th overall pick in the 16 draft, the young David Lee ushered in the peak of his career last season, averaging 11.7 points, 2.1 rebounds and [-] assists per game.

The Knicks intend to train David Lee as the team's core insider. In addition, other players are a flag that can be traded at any time in the Knicks' eyes.

Marcus Thornton showed such a strong destructive power just after entering the league, and Thornton was also labeled as a genius selected by Luke himself. The Knicks are really unwilling to give up this opportunity to turn around. .

The wealthy Knicks are not afraid of the team's poor record. Even if the team ranks at the bottom every year, owner Dolan has enough property to support the Knicks to the end.

But what distressed Dolan the most was that when the team ranked last in the Eastern Conference every year, looking around, there was no turning point for the team's future.

Even if the management spent a lot of money last season to hire the legendary coach "Zen Master" Jackson, they failed to bring the team to a better position in the end, which forced the Knicks to focus on those talented young players.

How to judge that a rookie player has potential and will not be lost in the future?
Before Luke entered the league, this problem was simply impossible. No one could predict it, and no one could ensure that the players they selected were not parallel imports.

However, with Luke's high-energy performance in the draft in the past two years without a miss, the outside world has generally recognized that the players selected by Luke are not parallel imports.

Even the probability of becoming a star in the future will be as high as 80%. For the Knicks, who are rich but always lost, this is undoubtedly a shortcut.

Spending a lot of money from Luke to get a rookie player with explosive performance is definitely better than the Knicks like opening a blind box. J. Eight is much stronger.

The Knicks have spent too much money in the past two years. The owner James Dolan doesn't care whether the money is spent or not, but Dolan is annoyed that the team has spent so much money and still can't improve.

The confusion of not being able to see the future is always more anxiety-provoking than the current predicament of not being able to get ahead.

It is worth mentioning that Marcus Thornton's outstanding personal performance in the summer league this year has made the outside media call Thornton the next Kobe, and the minimum minimum can become a player like Jason Richardson.

Thornton is not without visible flaws, inconsistent shooting, mediocre athleticism, these are the things written in the scouting report.

But Marcus Thornton's confidence and killer nature on the court masked his physical shortcomings.

If you want to become a star in the NBA, physical fitness is not enough.

Every year in the NBA, a large number of talented players fail to perform as they should. To become the top player in the league, talent, self-confidence and hard work are indispensable.

Marcus Thornton's talent is not the top guard player, only 1.9 meters tall so that Marcus Thornton has no advantage in the position of shooting guard.

However, Thornton's self-confidence on the court is not like that of a rookie player, but more like the unrestrained and unrestrained chasing boy who wears the No. [-] jersey and always maintains confidence.

And Marcus Thornton's body is strong enough, which allows him to adapt to NBA-level confrontation faster, without worrying about the problem of hanging meat in his rookie season.

Whether Marcus Thornton is working hard off the court, most people still can't get an accurate answer.

However, the Memphis media has recently collectively started building momentum for Marcus Thornton, saying that Thornton will always be the first Grizzlies player to come to the training hall, and also the last guy to leave the Grizzlies training hall.

The outside world does not know whether the news is true, but there is no doubt that Marcus Thornton has become one of the most watched players in the league this summer.

At the same time, the sense of urgency shown by the New York Knicks also made other teams uneasy. Originally, each team wanted to wait and see for a while to see whether Marcus Thornton has the potential to become a team leader in other aspects .

Is it worth the team's lonely throw, and build a brand new team with Marcus Thornton as the core.

But right now, the appearance of the Knicks disrupted the league's secret rhythm and completely ignited the fuse for Marcus Thornton's battle! !
…………

"Good news, Lu. At present, the desire of various teams to get Marcus is very strong, and many teams have already provided us with good trading offers."

"This is the information I sorted out yesterday. It is all the chips that each team is willing to get from Marcus."

"Among them, I think there is still room for further discussion to increase chips, and I will mark them separately later."

Pushing open the office door, general manager Chris Wallace broke in with a look of excitement.

No one will question the trading value of Marcus Thornton. Being selected by Luke in the draft already means that the player's future path will be smoother than other players.

What Chris Wallace didn't expect was that with Marcus Thornton's consecutive explosive performances in the summer league, the current trade value of Marcus Thornton has been much higher than the Grizzlies expected.

The Raptors were even willing to pursue Thornton with Italy's No. [-] pick Bargnani + a first-round pick. Unfortunately, Luke was not interested in Bargnani's parallel importer at all, so Chris Wallace refused without thinking. .

For the Raptors management, both the first-round pick and Bargnani are very valuable assets, but in Luke's view, Bargnani is the top pick with a soft style of play. As for the first-round pick Luke was even less interested.

At present, the rift between Luke and the Grizzlies management has not been resolved, and no one knows at which point the conflict between Luke and Heisley will completely break out.

Regardless of whether the Grizzlies can successfully attack the three consecutive championships in the new season, Luke will definitely not stay with the Grizzlies next season.

Since he planned to leave long ago, the future first-round picks are worthless in Luke's eyes.

What Luke needs now is an immediate player who can directly help the team next season. To be precise, it is an immediate star. The player's personal strength must reach the level of a second-rate star at the very least. Quan can't impress Luke either.

If it is not for the championship next season, Luke will not pick Marcus Thornton in the draft, and then seek a trade for Marcus Thornton in the summer league.

However, apart from a few teams like the Knicks and the Bobcats, a fool like the Raptors has not yet seen the real intention behind the Grizzlies, and they expect to use Bargnani + a future first-round pick to impress the Grizzlies , It really makes people laugh out loud.

"What's going on with the Knicks?"

Luke sat in the boss chair and asked casually.

"The attitude of the Knicks is very sincere. The management is very cooperative in the pursuit of Marcus Thornton. Except for David Lee, they are willing to trade any player."

"Even Nate Robinson, who averaged 17 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists last season, can accept it."

Luke smiled faintly: "The Knicks have made a good plan. Except for David Lee, there are really few players in the entire Knicks that I can look forward to."

"I'm not interested in that little guy like Nate. Although the statistics look beautiful, but the efficiency is too low, it is not suitable to help the team compete for the championship."

Tapping the table with his fingers, Luke stared at the Knicks' lineup for this season on the computer screen.

The only talented Knicks player on this list is David Lee, or at least everyone on the outside world thinks so, including the Knicks themselves.

This is also one of the reasons why the Knicks performed generously during the offseason. Anyway, the team is basically broken except for David Lee.

Either it is a veteran with full potential, and his personal strength is not bad, but he is not worthy of the Knicks as the core of the team to rebuild the team.

Either it is a crooked melon with little potential, and the rookie season was a mess, so that the Knicks can't see any hope.

The Knicks are not afraid that the Grizzlies will take advantage of this deal, provided that the Grizzlies are really willing to trade with the Knicks.

But only Luke knows the current lineup of the Knicks. Apart from David Lee, there is really a player with good personal potential.

It's just that for some reason, the personal performance of the rookie season was a bit bad, which is very suitable for the Grizzlies to take advantage of the fire.

In addition, Al Harrington, the top scorer who the Knicks just traded from the Warriors last season, is also a very good choice.

Al Harrington, who is 30 years old, is naturally not in the New York Knicks' future team building plan, but Harrington, who averaged 20.7 points and 6.3 rebounds per game last season, is a very good immediate combat star.

The Grizzlies' reinforcement goal this summer is very clear, that is, they need players who can contribute to the team immediately.

Regardless of whether this player's peak period has come to an end, as long as he can help the Grizzlies win the championship, the rest is not a problem.

If they can take advantage of the fire from the Knicks and get the titan Al Harrington at the same time, the Grizzlies paying Marcus Thornton plus other bargaining chips is definitely a bloody deal.

Thinking of this, Luke picked up the suit from the back of the seat, looked up to Chris Wallace and said, "Contact the Knicks, I want to negotiate with the other party in person."

…………

At the end of July, the Grizzlies, who had been silent in the trading market for nearly a month, once again let out the wind.

And this news broke the heart of many teams in the league, because in this deal, the Grizzlies traded Marcus Thornton, a talented rookie who has been highly anticipated this summer, to the New York Knicks.

In this deal with the Knicks, the Grizzlies sent Marcus Thornton + James Jones + future second-round picks in exchange for the Knicks' top scorer Al Harrington + the unknown parallel lottery Gallinari.

The outside world is not surprised at all that the Grizzlies are willing to pay for talented rookie Marcus Thornton + future draft picks, and James Jones, who ranked third in the league in three-pointers last season.

After all, what the Grizzlies need most right now is a powerful player like Al Harrington. Potential is worthless to the ambitious Grizzlies.

Both the Grizzlies and the Knicks have what they need in this deal. The Grizzlies get the guarantee of hitting the championship next season, and the Knicks get the guarantee of building a team in the future.

But only Luke knows how much the Grizzlies made in this deal.

Not to mention Al Harrington averaged 20.7 points, 6.3 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.2 steals per game last season.

Just say that Gallinari, who played for the Knicks last season and could only contribute 4 points and 2 rebounds, is a treasure that has not been excavated.

Gallinari was selected by the Knicks with the sixth overall pick in the first round of the [-] draft, but the "Zen Master" didn't like this guy from Italy.

Under the "Zen Master" Jackson, Gallinari basically had no playing time, and could only sit on the bench and gnaw his fingers boredly.

Even if Jackson voluntarily resigned later, assistant coach Smith, who took over the position of Knicks head coach, still didn't trust Gallinari enough.

But Luke knew very well that Gallinari, who was later called the "Italian anti-aircraft gun" by fans, was an excellent big shooter.

Gallinari is 102 meters tall and weighs [-] kilograms. This height is second only to Durant's freak at the small forward position, and it can be regarded as the ceiling of the league.

Gallinari did not win too many gold-rich awards in his career, but except for his rookie season, Gallinari scored in double figures in all of the next 11 years.

And he averaged 16 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists per game in his career, and his three-point shooting percentage was as high as 39%, which is considered the top existence among players over [-] meters tall.

It is precisely because of his excellent three-point shooting from the outside that Gallinari is called the "Italian anti-aircraft gun" by fans.

巅峰赛季的加里纳利场均能够砍下19.8分6.1篮板2.6助攻以及1次抢断，且三分球命中率投出生涯第二高的43.3%。

In people's subconscious, most European players of Gallinari's height are "anti-aircraft gun" strikers, but Gallinari's anti-aircraft gun is different.

In addition to his accurate three-point shooting from the outside, Gallinari also likes to rush into the paint and meet his opponents.

Gallinari's shooting data bears this out. Half of Gallinari's offense inside the three-point line is completed at the basket.

Gallinari has a high basketball IQ, has a wide vision in the game, is very good at making opponents foul, and has tenacious game beliefs and fighting spirit.

And Gallinari's breakthrough is to accelerate in a straight line and rarely change direction. The benefits of his fierce style of play are obvious, which is to frequently make free throws.

The super high free throw percentage undoubtedly once again improved Gallinari's offensive efficiency.

As for another second-rate star Al Harrington, he has been in the league for ten years. Whether it is field experience or personal ability, Harrington will become the help of the Grizzlies to hit the championship in the new season.

Many fans are unfamiliar with the name Al Harrington. Harrington is far from being a top star in the league, but he is definitely a boutique among the ranks of second-rate stars.

Even after retiring from the NBA at the end of his career, Al Harrington averaged 32.4 points, 10.7 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.1 steals per game in the CBA.

In his CBA career, Harrington only played ten games for the Fujian team before announcing his retirement because he lost interest in the intensity of the CBA.

After completely retiring, Al Harrington also won the league's most difficult defensive player for two consecutive years in the BIG3 league composed of a group of NBA players.

Become one of the scariest old guys in the US BIG3 league.

There is no doubt that the Grizzlies only paid Marcus Thornton, James Jones and future draft picks in this deal, and they got Gallinari and Al Harrington. buy and sell.

Seeing that July is coming to an end, the Grizzlies gave each team a surprise in the last two days.

To make matters worse, the free market is about to start in August, and the Grizzlies still have multiple positions to sign.

No one will question the attractiveness of the Grizzlies in the free market. As long as the Grizzlies speak, there are a lot of players in the free market who are willing to take the initiative to cut their salaries to join the Grizzlies.

The departure of Michael Redd, Zach Randolph, and Pau Gasol at the same time gave the Grizzlies huge salary space.

Using this space, the Grizzlies can sign multiple stars.

If the players are willing to cut their salaries to join, the Grizzlies can even create a more terrifying lineup than last season on the premise of paying a small amount of luxury tax!

(End of this chapter)