After confirming that Hardaway was available, Edison didn't have any worries and directly connected to New York.
The current manager of the New York Knicks is the great Isiah Thomas.
Thomas' ability and status on the court are unquestionable. He is one of the best point guards in league history. In the 1980s, the only defender who could be compared with Thomas was "Magic" Johnson, and Stockton was still immature.
His playing style is very similar to the current Rose, with a bit of a dual-position feel. He can score more than 20 points and about 9 assists per game. Thomas was selected to the Eastern Star Team 12 times and won the All-NBA Team twice in 1984 and 1986.
The MVP of the All-Star Game, from 1984 to 1986, he was selected to the NBA All-NBA Team three times in a row, and was named the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player in 1990. In 1996, Thomas was selected into the top 50 players in NBA history, and was admitted to the Hall of Fame in 2000.
Although Thomas has a clear mind on the playing field, has a strong ability to read the game, and knows when to do what, he is a tragedy in the management team. Look what he has done to New York, from a powerful Eastern Conference team to a
He has become a concentration camp for bad contracts and can be called the savior of the managers of the other 29 teams. Since his arrival, the worst manager of the year has never fallen to anyone else.
Speaking of which, I have to mention another great god - "His Majesty the Flying Man" Jordan.
I won’t go into details about Jordan’s honor as a player. Everyone knows it. The conflict between Jordan and Thomas is particularly serious. I will only give one example. When the league organized the Dream Team, Jordan once publicly stated that if there was
Thomas, then I will quit. There can only be one person between Thomas and me. Everyone knows the final result. Because of Jordan, Thomas was not selected for the Dream Team.
The two were tit-for-tat on the court and were incompatible with each other, and they were also incompatible with each other later in the management. When Thomas was the manager of the Knicks, he made New York a mess and became the biggest joke in the league. It can be said that the decline of the Knicks was not caused day by day.
, but it was definitely caused by Thomas, and he played a huge role in it.
And when His Majesty Jordan looked at it, how could he let you, Thomas, do the work all by himself? I couldn't lose to you, so after taking over the Bobcats, Jordan also began to show his prowess.
Thomas ruined the Knicks by relying on a bad contract. No matter who they were, he signed them with a high salary and then started supporting them on the bench. The Flyers operate on a small budget and cannot use money to hit people like the New Yorkers, but it doesn't matter, there is no bad contract.
Contract, His Majesty can also find a way to prove that his management level is at the same level as Thomas - the draft. Once upon a time, Jordan's hand-picked was such a glorious halo, and countless young talents flocked to it, but after the baptism of time, now Jordan's hand-picked is
The darkest and most vicious curse in the league.
Everyone has done it before by choosing the wrong person in the draft. It is normal and easy to make a mistake once, but it is not a simple coincidence to make a mistake every year. From the selection of Kwame Brown who had a small trial with the Wizards
From the beginning, Jordan has continued the tradition of selecting parallel imports with high picks in the draft. For details, you can go to Baidu. In short, Jordan's performance in the draft is definitely more legendary than his performance in the finals.
So Thomas and Jordan are really destined opponents.
Now that Thomas has become the team manager of the Knicks, Edison's call was naturally sent to him.
Although Thomas has poor management skills and poor trading skills, he is still very knowledgeable about basketball itself. The Knicks now have strong firepower from the outside, but he is well aware of the problem of weak internal offense. Therefore, he has been trying to find a capable player.
A big man who is lethal inside, he is currently actively contacting "Baby Shark" Curry's agent to see if he can not renew his contract with the team next year so that he can sign him...
But in any case, Curry is far away, and he can't quench the Knicks' current thirst for nearness. And head coach Wilkens just suggested to him at the right time, "Let's see if we can get Juwan Howard from the Magic. Anyway, he
Now on the bench, and it seems his agent is contacting other teams."
Thomas thought about it, Juwan Howard is a good person. Although he is not the top insider in the league, he has a certain scoring ability in the paint area, which can indeed make up for the team's shortcomings to a certain extent. The fax sent to the Magic was in
This situation appeared, but now it is just his own wishful thinking. He doesn't know what magic means, but he didn't expect that the fax from his side had just been sent out, and the magician called that day. It seemed that there was a way to do it.
.
"Hello, Paul, have you seen my fax? I don't know what you think." Thomas lit a cigar, puffed on the smoke, and communicated with Edison into the receiver.
"Hello, Isiah, I've seen your fax. I don't know what bargaining chips you can offer for Juwan Howard." Facing the gospel of the future manager of the league, Edison was particularly relaxed and spoke freely.
When I smile, I feel as if the oar has been wiped out into ashes.
Thomas was also full of confidence. In his opinion, when he retired, Anderson had not yet entered the league, so it was not easy to deal with you. So he took a long puff of his cigar and said casually,
"what do you want?"
"Well, Isiah, you are an old-timer in the NBA. I loved watching your games when I was a kid, so I won't argue back and forth in front of you. How about draft picks and Hardaway."
Isiah Thomas, after listening to Edison's words, frowned and fell into deep thinking.
To be fair, the Magic's requirements are not high. Although Hardaway was once all-powerful, his glory is no longer the same. Last season with the Knicks, he played less than 30 minutes per game and averaged less than 10 points per game.
There are only 3 rebounds and 2 assists. This season is even worse. With the arrival of Marbury, Hardaway has been completely reduced to a substitute player, and various values have further declined. It can be said that Hardaway is now very important to the Knicks.
The value is almost 0, and he is definitely a dispensable character.
But Juwan Howard is different. Last season, he contributed 17 points and 7 rebounds. This season, with the emergence of Edison, he was ostracized and basically played as a substitute, but he was still able to score in his limited playing time.
to 8 points. If he is given enough playing time and shooting opportunities, Thomas believes that he can still contribute 15+7 and is a qualified insider. And the most important thing is that Juwan Howard's back-to-the-basket scoring ability is also very good.
, he can do post-up singles, turn hooks and rebounds near the small penalty area. Thomas has long had enough. Now there are two insiders Thomas in the team. Neither of them is worthy of this surname. If he gets Juwan Howard
, the Knicks' offense will be more three-dimensional.
The only problem is the draft picks.
Isiah Thomas was very ambitious when he came to New York, and you can see it from his many subsequent big moves. Whether it was getting Marbury and Francis, signing Curry, Crawford, or even inviting Rakyat
For LeBron, public opinion was relatively positive about his choice at the beginning. They all thought that these signings were reasonable, and everyone could feel the Knicks' ambitions. But who would have thought that these people, except Crowe, would
Ford started to go downhill in turn. So later, Thomas brought in Jaylen Rose, Frye, Randolph and James, who felt a little sick and sought medical treatment. Of course, Thomas even touched the sweeper's butt.
, it was also done in a domineering manner, but unfortunately the sweeper lady quit her job, and she insisted on giving an explanation, and ended up in court, which is a bit sad...
Because of his ambition, Thomas did not want to trade the draft picks. He hoped that he could fill the gaps and make up for the team's loopholes through the draft, so he hesitated a little.
And Edison is not in a hurry. He knows that players like Juwan Howard are hard to find now. The Knicks don’t want them. There are too many people waiting in line to get them, so the initiative is in his own hands. He drank coffee and waited quietly.
Thomas' reply.
After waiting for about 2 minutes, Thomas on the phone finally responded, "Paul, your request is not excessive, but the draft picks are also very important to me, especially next year's draft picks. I value them very much. You see
Can you change the conditions?"
"Mr. Thomas, our two teams just played a game. It hasn't even been a week. I believe you must have watched that game. To be honest, my team is already very complete. In fact, Hardaway has no tactical role.
, more out of a spiritual inheritance consideration. Also, Juwan Howard is really of no use to us, and I need to free up salary space."
"I understand what you said, but Paul, I plan to show off my talents next year, so I really don't plan to let go of the draft pick."
Edison listened and suddenly laughed, "Isiah, actually, what I want is not next year's draft picks. I already have three first-round and one second-round draft picks next year. I don't want to have to compete with the ones who just passed it every year."
It’s like summer, and we pick a team all at once, so what I plan to ask for is your draft rights for the year after next or the year after next.”
When Isiah Thomas heard this, his heart moved, "If that's the case, then I can consider it. I will offer Hardaway and the 2007 draft pick, and you will offer Juwan Howard, but such a deal is not compatible.
, Hardaway's contract has two years left, this year it is more than 14 million, and next year it will be 15 million. Your Juwan only has a contract of less than 6 million, and there is still a gap of nearly 10 million. You can't fill it no matter what you do.
of."
"Mr. Thomas, Hardaway's contract is not a big problem. Our Juwan Howard has a 5.6 million contract. If I add De Klerk's veteran contract, we have 6.6 million. And I still have it in my hand.
The deal with the Bobcats resulted in a 5 million transaction exception. Many teams are willing to clear salary space, so this can easily introduce a third party, which satisfies the salary equality trade terms."
The trade exception is a trade credit you get when trading with a team under the salary cap. You can use it to match the transaction amount in other transactions. Of course, if you don't have to use it, it will reduce your salary. The Magic's trade exception is
Everyone still remembers giving away Guden in exchange for Bobcat.
In fact, the so-called salary matching principle for player transactions is not as many people think, it must be that you pay 100 and I must pay 100, but "when two teams conduct player transactions, the salary of one team's players must not be higher than the salary of the other team's players."
125% + 100,000 US dollars." In other words, there is actually a relatively flexible floating point, but generally in this case, there is rarely a card offline match when trading players with a value of more than 15 million. Because no one will agree.
After all, the players at this level are the top players in the league. No one wants to exchange their high-priced players for the opponent's low-priced players. Unless the high-priced player is a junk contract, then they may not be willing to take over.
But now the Magic and the Knicks don't have this problem. Although Hardaway is highly paid, his value to the Knicks is not much. The Knicks are eager to get rid of his contract. It's just because of Hardaway's physical condition that no team dares to
He took over, so it fell into the hands of the Knicks. But now the Magic don't care about Hardaway's body, so the trade can really work.
"Look Mr. Thomas, we almost gave you a good inside player for nothing, so I think it's not too much to ask for your 2006 draft pick, and I hope it's an unprotected draft pick."….
"That's absolutely not possible." Isiah Thomas answered resolutely. If the entire No. 1 pick is given to the Magic by then, it will be a complete failure. You must know that the Magic have always had a tradition of drawing the No. 1 pick. "The 2006 draft pick will do.
, but it must be protected by the top three.”
"That's boring. My transaction is purely a charitable act. I can't live without hope." Edison also said coldly.
The two sides suddenly reached a deadlock.
Edison has no desire for this deal, so he doesn't care. If you want to delay it, then delay it. He is a dead pig and is not afraid of boiling water. But Thomas is aiming to strengthen the team's strength, so Thomas quickly broke the deadlock.
.
"At the very least, it needs to be protected by the No. 1 pick, but then you have to shed some more blood."
Edison thought for a while, "In this way, I will add the two picks from our team in 2005. Don't you plan to show your talents next year? I will give you two more picks. This is my final offer.
, if you still don’t want to, then just find someone else.”
When Thomas heard this, he could only do this, so he gritted his teeth and sealed the deal.
After ending the call with Edison, Thomas immediately contacted all teams that wanted to clear salary space, and finally reached a consensus with the Kings.
This transaction: The Knicks exchanged Hardaway (14.5 million contract) + 2006 draft pick (No. 1 pick protection) for Magic Juwan Howard (5.6 million) + De Klerk (1 million veteran base salary) + 2005 Magic itself
First-round pick + Kings' Songela and Alexander.
The Kings sent Songela + Courtney Alexander in exchange for a $500 trade exception and the Magic's 2005 second-round pick.
The Magic sent Juwan Howard and De Klerk + their 2005 second-round draft pick + 5 million as a trade exception to obtain Hardaway and the Knicks' 2006 first-round draft pick.
All three parties gained from this transaction. New York got the immediate combat capability of Uncle Huo, the Kings freed up salary space, and the Magic got the Hardaway they wanted.
Generally, the review of three-party transactions is relatively strict, but New Yorkers have a lot of respect, and Edison is currently popular, so it doesn't seem to be a big problem.
