NBA: James wants to team up with me

Chapter 112 The big shark travels eastward, shocking the alliance!

(The second update is a bit late, sorry)

On June 2004, 6, people in Los Angeles took to the streets to welcome the championship parade of the Los Angeles Lakers, who won the championship for them.

The Lakers generals sitting on the roof of the bus, wearing Lakers T-shirts and baseball caps, accepted flowers and applause from Lakers fans.

But one thing is that Wang Chong doesn't like this kind of atmosphere, it's a bit too noisy.

Compared to this lively atmosphere, Wang Chong prefers quieter situations. This may have something to do with his personality.

Next to him, O'Neal looked very excited, like a 300-pound fat man... No, he was just a 300-pound fat man.

Of course, O'Neal should be happy. Winning the fourth championship and fourth FMVP in his career has allowed him to sweep away the haze of previous doubts.

Who said I am old? My teeth are very sharp. If you don’t believe me, come and try it!

This championship also gave O'Neal a lot of confidence, and his mind began to come alive.

Glancing at Wang Chong aside, O'Neal rolled his eyes, put his arm around Wang Chong's shoulders, raised the microphone high and shouted to the fans below.

"We want to thank Wang Chong. Without him, we might not have won the championship at all. He is my best brother and best partner!"

Along with O'Neal's voice, the fans cheered like a tsunami from below.

"Wang Chong——! Wang Chong——! Wang Chong——!"

Wang Chong's contribution in the finals is obvious to all. Although his scoring is slightly lower than Kobe's, his efficiency is much higher. Many times when the Lakers' offense stalled due to the Pistons' defense, it was Wang Chong who stepped up to score for the team. Take a breath, from this point of view, O'Neal is right.

Just when O'Neill shouted these words, the people on the bus had different expressions.

Head coach Phil Jackson smiled and had an intriguing expression.

General Manager Kupchak frowned slightly.

As for Kobe, he lowered his cap to cover up his livid face.

No one thought that O'Neal's words were shouted casually. There was obviously something in his words.

What does it mean to be the best brother, the best "partner"?

These two words have always been used to describe Kobe before.

Now, O'Neal directly ignored Kobe and chose to praise Wang Chong. Isn't this obvious enough?

You are no longer useful. With Wang Chong, I can continue to win the championship!

Sure enough, although the OK combination changed history and won the fourth championship, the contradictions still exist, and continue to expand and become more acute.

Wang Chong looked at the people on the bus with different expressions and curled his lips slightly.

He actually didn't want to participate in the feud between O'Neal and Kobe.

He knew very well that O'Neal could not defeat Kobe, or that he could not defeat the team owner Bass.

Buss likes Kobe very much and is very optimistic about Kobe's future achievements, influence and commercial value.

It is undeniable that Bass has a vicious vision.

In terms of achievements and historical status in the league, there may be many superstars who can rank ahead of Kobe.

But when it comes to influence, even a few years after Kobe's unexpected death due to a plane crash, he will still be second only to Jordan in influence in the league.

The NBA championship is important, but as a business league, commercial value is more important at certain times.

In the next dozen years, thanks to Kobe, the Lakers and the Buss family will make a lot of money, which O'Neal cannot do anyway.

Therefore, if O'Neal wants to force the Palace to squeeze out Kobe, there is a high probability that he will still be traded by the Lakers and leave the team.

What Wang Chong needs to consider is what role he will play in this.

One thing to say is that Wang Chong himself has no intention of staying with the Lakers forever.

He is destined to be the boss of a team and the absolute core of tactics. One mountain cannot tolerate two tigers. This principle is suitable for the OK combination, and it also applies to him and Kobe.

Especially when O'Neal leaves, Kobe, who thinks he has become the team's boss, is bound to intensify his efforts.

However, in Wang Chong's impression, in the first season after O'Neal left, Kobe, who wanted to prove that he could play well without O'Neal, did not completely let himself go. The average number of shots per game in the regular season was just over 20, not as good as 01. —03 averaged more shots per game when he was with O'Neal in three seasons.

Moreover, Kobe also averaged 04 assists per game in the 05-6 season, which was a career high.

It's a pity that, as if to prove that the boss has tried his best, his teammates CBA said that Kobe has played relatively selflessly this season, but the Lakers' regular season record ranks only twelfth in the Western Conference and misses the playoffs.

In the subsequent 05-06 season, Kobe, who realized that his teammates were unreliable, began to let himself go completely. His average number of shots per game increased to 27.2, and he won the scoring title with an average of 35.4 points per game. At the same time, the most talked about single game 81 points were also scored this season.

Combining this, Wang Chong feels that he can still stay with the Lakers for one more year.

After all, Los Angeles is a big city, and the Lakers receive more attention and exposure.

More importantly, Wang Chong currently does not have a good next home.

Going to the Heat with O'Neal may be a good choice. You can regroup with your college teammate Wade, and team up with O'Neal to win at least two or three more championships.

But even Wang Chong himself knew that this was basically impossible.

With just one O'Neal, the Heat almost emptied their fortunes, adding a promising left-handed magician Lamar Odom, future All-Star small forward Caron Butler, Brian Grant, and a first-rounder. Second round.

If they want to get Wang Chong, who can steadily average 20+6 per game in his rookie season, the Heat must at least put Wade and Eddie Jones on the shelf.

So the possibility of going to the Heat with O'Neal is not high.

Moreover, compared to the championship, what Wang Chong wants at this stage is to be able to show his ball power on the court.

<divclass="contentadv">The Heat have Wade and O'Neal, and the two of them combined have a much higher ball possession rate than Kobe.

As for other teams, Wang Chong has also considered it, but there is really no suitable one at the moment. The teams he wants to go to basically cannot bring out enough chips to trade him to the Lakers. Those teams that he is not willing to go to, even more There is no need to make trouble for yourself.

Therefore, Wang Chong's decision is to stay with the Lakers next season and wait and see, striving to produce enough eye-catching data in the new season to further improve his overall ability value, and then look for another place.

-

After the championship parade, the 2004 draft was held on June 6.

Although the 2004 draft was a smaller year compared to the 03 draft, there were still many excellent players in it, such as Howard, the No. pick selected by the Magic, Ruel Deng, the seventh pick in the first round, and the ninth pick. Iguodala at the th pick, Al Jefferson at the th pick, Josh Smith at the th pick, and Kevin Martin at the th pick. They were all able to be selected as All-Stars and top players at their peak. Excellent players in the best lineup.

Many of them were players at the lower end of the draft. Wang Chong was eager to see them, but he could only watch helplessly.

He is just a player who has just passed his first-year rookie period, and the Lakers management will not listen to and cannot adopt his suggestions.

Moreover, because the Lakers had the best record in the regular season and eventually won the championship, they were ranked at the bottom of the first round in the draft. The only two shooting guards who had a chance to compete were Tony Allen and Kevin Martin.

With Kobe Bryant, the Lakers have no shortage of shooting guards, so Wang Chong is too lazy to worry about it.

With the draft over, free agency will begin again.

The entire league has truly entered into intense contract renewal and transaction negotiations.

The Lakers' management has not relaxed for even a moment since the draft.

After winning the championship, O'Neal's agent contacted the Lakers management and proposed O'Neal's idea.

The first condition is that O'Neal wants to successfully sign a new contract with the Lakers in advance, a sky-high contract with a total salary of up to 1.5 million US dollars.

O'Neal has this confidence. He has brought four championships to the team, and his contribution is almost as much as Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson. In his opinion, he is still in his prime and fully worthy of this sky-high contract.

But he thinks so. The Lakers management, or team owner Buss, doesn't think so.

In the past two seasons, O'Neal's decline in status has been visible to the naked eye. Whether it is dominance on the court, data or attendance rate are far lower than during the three consecutive championships.

Especially this season, if there is no Wang Chong during the finals, based on the team's performance, it is really possible that the team will overturn and lose to the Pistons.

As for O'Neal's second condition, the Lakers are even more unacceptable.

O'Neal asked the Lakers to trade Kobe in exchange for an All-Star point guard in his prime to complement him and Wang Chong.

He feels that as long as the team has the combination of himself + Wang Chong + All-Star point guard, it will be invincible and sweep away its opponents to create a three-peat dynasty.

But O'Neal ignored one point. He could think this way, so why can't the Lakers consider trading him away in exchange for an All-Star insider in his prime to assist the younger and potential Kobe Bryant and Wang Chong? In this way, they will win the championship. Wouldn't it be easier?

To put it bluntly, even if Kobe and Wang Chong fail to win the championship, at least they will far surpass O'Neal in terms of commercial value.

This All-Star voting is the most intuitive reflection.

Although affected by the turmoil of the Eagle County incident, Kobe's All-Star votes were far greater than O'Neal's, and even first-year rookie Wang Chong's votes should not be underestimated.

Therefore, when O'Neal put forward two conditions and proudly stated that he would apply for a trade if he did not agree, the Lakers management weighed it up and simply rejected O'Neal's request.

O'Neill was dumbfounded on the spot.

He didn't expect that he had just helped the team win the championship and won the FMVP. Such a "small" request would be ruthlessly rejected, and he would even trade himself for it.

The arrogance of being a top star forced O'Neal to stand up and never back down or let go.

"I am the most dominant super center in the history of the league. You will regret missing me!"

As soon as the free market opened, Kobe announced his refusal to implement the player option and jumped out of his contract to test the free market.

This move frightened the Lakers. Old Buss had already heard that the Clippers next door were willing to offer Kobe a maximum salary contract, and the latter was also quite interested.

Buss personally called Kobe and persuaded their precious player to come back and offered him a 7-year, $1.364 million contract, which also came with the right to veto transactions, which was a sign of sincerity.

O'Neal was even furious when he learned about this. They were willing to give Kobe 1.36 million, but were unwilling to give him 1.5 million.

Feeling disrespected, O'Neal asked to be traded and was resolute.

Two days later, the Lakers announced that they were sending All-Star center Shaquille O'Neal to the Miami Heat for Lamar Odom, Caron Butler and Brian Grant, plus a first-round and a second-round pick.

The alliance is shaken.

The Sharks traveling east was definitely a huge event that could affect the situation of the entire league. The OK team won the fourth championship and fell apart after reaching its peak. Lakers fans who were still immersed in the joy of winning the championship were dumbfounded. Some angry fans that day He came to the Lakers Arena and held up placards to protest, asking why the team traded the hero who won the championship.

The Lakers public relations team is a thief. They did not mention O'Neal's demand for a 1.5 million contract, but emphasized the conflict between O'Neal and Kobe. The Los Angeles media also analyzed and discussed the conflict between O'Neal and Kobe.

Wang Chong, who stood at different positions and heights, could easily see the clues. These media outlets were obviously paid to guide public opinion, and they succeeded.

Most Lakers fans believe that O'Neal was traded because of Kobe's forced trade. Especially considering Kobe's previous decision to jump out of his contract and almost accept the Clippers' contract offer, it is clearly Kobe's way of forcing O'Neal away!

In less than a month, Lakers fans have experienced great joy and great sorrow, and they are almost schizophrenic.

Not long ago, they were still imagining that the OK combination plus Wang Chong's Big Three could bring several championships to the Lakers in the future.

But now, without O'Neal, even though the Odom acquired in the trade is an extremely talented player, so what? With the Lakers' current lineup, let alone the championship, can they break out of the Western Conference?

While the Lakers fans are extremely desperate, other fans in the league are gloating, and can even be described as ecstatic.

When the Lakers won the championship, they also felt that there would be no suspense about the NBA championship in a short time. The Lakers' lineup was so strong that the league could not find a second team that could compete with them.

But it's different now. Although Kobe and Wang Chong are not weak, at least they are not as close to invincible as they were when O'Neal was still there. Moreover, without O'Neal, the Lakers' inside line has become unprecedentedly empty. They don't even have a qualified person. The starting center!

The happiest thing is obviously the Heat. Although they sent away Odom and other three generals, what they got was a big shark! The league's No. 1 center, the Heat's record next season will not take off, right?