Bishop of the Abyss

Chapter 326 Extra Story 1: The starting point of the prosperous era of the Nets!

As the Grizzlies swept the Cavaliers 4:0 in the finals, they once again won the NBA championship trophy and achieved a three-peat dynasty.

Luke also officially sold his 20% stake in the team.

The 20% stake in the Grizzlies brought Luke a total of $2.2 million in revenue.

During the entire negotiation process, Heisley, the major shareholder of the Grizzlies, looked very gloomy, looking at Luke with the desire to kill the latter.

Obviously, Heisley feels very distressed about Luke taking away 2.2 million US dollars, even though everything the Grizzlies have now is the value created by Luke himself.

But as a profit-oriented businessman, Heisley is like a cold-blooded animal who doesn't know how to write the word gratitude.

In this regard, Luke didn't get used to Heisley at all. During the negotiation process, he bit down the price of 2.2 million US dollars, and Heisley didn't take advantage of a penny.

After all, with this farewell, the two will have absolutely nothing to do in the future, and Luke has no reason to spoil Heisley, the grandson of Heisley.

As for how much wool Heisley can extract from the Grizzlies through subsequent operations, Luke doesn't care about it at all.

Whether to lose or earn depends entirely on Heisley's personal ability, and what Luke has to do is to complete the transformation from coach to team owner.

The current New Jersey Nets team is like a mess, and no matter who takes over, it will definitely be very busy this summer.

Even with the "God's Eye" on, Luke once had a headache looking at this dilapidated Nets.

Realizing 20% ​​of the shares of the Grizzlies into banknotes, Luke's worth at this time has reached 3 million US dollars.

With a price of 2.25 million US dollars to acquire the New Jersey Nets, Luke officially became the new boss of the Nets this summer.

In this year's draft, the Nets have a total of three draft picks. In addition to the third pick in the first round, the Nets also have the 27th pick in the first round and the first pick in the second round.

The picks of the three draft picks are very high, and this position is enough for Luke to select a good rookie player.

But Luke knows better than anyone that the quality of this year's draft is relatively mediocre. Except for "Big White Side" Whiteside and "Junior Brother" Stevenson, the abilities of everyone else in the second round are very poor.

So even if the Nets have both the 27th pick in the first round and the first pick in the second round this year, the players Luke can select are very limited.

Normally speaking, the strength of "Big White Side" Whiteside and "Junior Brother" Stevenson is not bad, and they are more than enough to serve as substitutes for any team.

However, Luke's expectations for the new season of the Nets are very high. Even if they can't win the championship in the first season, at least they must completely confuse the Eastern Conference playoffs.

Otherwise, it is not easy for the Nets in New Jersey to achieve profitability in a short period of time.

The first thing Luke did after taking office was to actively liaise with other teams. He wanted to pack the 27th pick in the first round and the first pick in the second round together with players, and strive to exchange for a top ten pick.

If it is only the 27th pick in the first round and the first pick in the second round, it is naturally not attractive enough to exchange for the top ten picks, but Luke plans to clean up the Nets' lineup during the off-season.

Except for Devin Harris and Brook Lopez, the entire team can be traded for other players. This kind of attraction of exhausting the whole team has attracted many teams to come to ask the price.

Among them, the Jazz, which holds the No. [-] pick in the first round of this year's draft but has made it to the playoffs all year round, has been actively selling draft picks.

The Jazz's current lineup system is relatively fixed, and the trade value of the No. [-] pick in the first round is extremely high. Instead of choosing a player in this position who does not know whether he can realize his potential.

The Jazz hope to use this precious No. [-] pick in exchange for more valuable bargaining chips to reinforce the team's existing lineup system.

Instead of using the No. [-] pick in the first round to select a talented player for training, thereby infinitely squeezing the playing space of Deron Williams, Boozer and others.

After hearing the news, Luke asked Lambiel to contact the Jazz as soon as possible, demanding that no matter what method is used, he must win the Jazz's No. [-] pick in the first round of this year!
Even before the trade negotiations, the Nets waved their hands domineeringly, saying that apart from Devon Harris and Brook Lopez, the Jazz can choose others for the team!
Lopez averaged 18.8 points, 8.8 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.7 blocks per game last season. Although due to the poor team record of the Nets, Lopez's personal data has a certain amount of moisture.

But Luke knew very well in his heart that Lopez still had potential to be tapped.

In later generations, Lopez, who played for the Bucks, even developed a precise outside three-pointer. With his excellent shooting range, Lopez once became one of the league's best three-pointer big players.

At the same time, Lopez's ability to protect the frame is also above the league average. His career average of 1.8 blocks per game is very impressive. Lopez even averaged 2.5 blocks per game in the peak game.

Most importantly, Lopez, who is still on a rookie contract, will only have a salary of $241 million next season.

It's absolutely important to keep this guy Lopez with this low-to-low contract.

This also means that while the Nets leave a starting center for the new season, they can still have plenty of salary space to sign stars during the offseason.

Given that the Nets currently have the lowest salaries for players in the league, it is more than enough to provide the two stars with a maximum salary of hundreds of millions of contracts during the offseason. As long as Luke is willing to spend money, the Nets' operating room during the offseason is definitely 30 teams in the league. The biggest one on the team!
The same is true for another player, Devin Harris, although due to injuries, Harris' personal data last season has dropped to an average of 16.9 points, 3.2 rebounds, 6.6 assists and 1.2 steals per game.

However, Harris' personal salary for the new season is only about 800 million US dollars. Harris' current personal performance is fully worthy of this contract. Although the Nets keep Harris, it is definitely not a loss. buy and sell.

Of course, a large part of the reason is that there are not too good point guards in the free market this year.

In addition to the "Flash" Wade who can play the No. [-] position, the best point guard player in the free market this summer is "Little Potato" Nate Robinson.

However, Nate Robinson's worth is not cheap, but his strength is far inferior to this guy Devin Harris.

In addition, Wade will definitely choose to stay with the Heat during the offseason, so leaving Devin Harris is a small profit except for the $800 million contract. A large part of the reason is that Luke has no choice at all.

On the other hand, the Nets have limited players with real value this season. If Luke wants to get a better point guard through a trade, he must get his first-round pick during the negotiation process.

Naturally, Luke would not agree to this kind of thing. As the owner of the team, besides finding ways to improve the strength of the team, saving money is also something that Luke needs to calculate.

Among all the reinforcement methods in the NBA, the draft is undoubtedly the most cost-effective way, and the benefits of the rookie contract are simply the gospel of a "poor" boss like Luke.

Due to various factors, Luke finally decided to keep Devin Harris as the team's starting point guard for the new season.

Although Harris' personal strength is not as good as the red line in Luke's heart, before the Nets really bring benefits to Luke, keeping Devin Harris is undoubtedly the most sensible choice during the transition period.

It is worth mentioning that after Luke took office, he directly carried out a wave of large-scale cleaning of the Nets management, and placed the team's most important positions in his confidants.

The current general manager of the Nets is Bill Lambiel, who has played behind Luke for many years. Luke is very assured of Lambiel's business ability. After so many years, Lambiel is also loyal to Luke.

In just a few years, Lambiel has been promoted from an assistant coach to the general manager of the team. This kind of promotion speed is really the envy of the outside world.

In addition, the old Nelson, who has been planning to enter the team's management, will serve as the Nets' president of operations.

Former Grizzlies general manager Chris Wallace served as the team's vice president of operations, and joined hands with Nelson to support the operation and management of the Nets.

As for the position of the team's head coach in the new season, last season's Grizzlies assistant coach D'Antoni will be in charge.

After two years with Luke, D'Antoni has corrected a lot of stink problems, and during these two years, D'Antoni's coaching ability has also risen like a rocket.

Originally, D'Antoni was an excellent coach with a good reputation in the league. With his running and bombing tactics, he was even dubbed by the media as the strongest "running and bombing master" in league history!
Today, while D'Antoni's offensive attainments have improved to a higher level, his defensive arrangements are also getting better and better.

There is no doubt that D'Antoni is definitely one of the best basketball coaches in the active league.

In addition to D'Antoni, the "master bombardment", the Nets coaching staff in the new season also includes former Grizzlies assistant coach Jaffa Ronnie, former Nets head coach Lawrence Frank, and PJ who has been at home since the Thunder dismissed get out of class. Carlesimo.

This set of coaching staff configuration is top-notch even if you look at the entire league. Except for the Grizzlies last season, no team can be more luxurious than the Nets' coaching staff configuration in the new season.

Moreover, Luke will continue to introduce some coaches with personal strength as assistants in the future, so as to continuously expand the capabilities of the Nets coaching staff.

In the end, Luke's favorite player Trenton Hassel announced his retirement during his tenure as the head coach, and he will enter the Nets scouting department in the new season, which can be regarded as a way out.

Looking around, the entire important department of the Nets management has basically been inserted into his confidant by Lu Ke'an.

At this time, less than a week before the end of the finals, the bad team of the Nets has already taken on a new look. It has begun to get rid of the belly from the management and gradually take steps towards a top team.

Right now, Luke is temporarily entrusting the team affairs to Bill Laimbeer as an agent, while he will focus on the upcoming draft.

After all, if the Nets want to turn around in the new season, the draft held at the end of June is definitely a crucial part. It is so important that the Nets can sign a few top-salary stars during the offseason!
(End of this chapter)