Chapter Fourteen A Series of Big Deals in the Alliance
(First of all, I would like to thank Lin Yiyu for helping me make the cover. It is very beautiful, mainly blue. I like it very much. Thank you again)
With the Pistons winning the championship, the NBA 03~04 season has come to a complete end. As for whether it is considered a success or not, different people have different opinions.
Although the game is over, the alliance has not calmed down. Instead, there is an undercurrent surging, and a storm is about to come.
Everyone knows that the alliance is now at the critical point of explosion. As long as a spark falls on it, it will be out of control. In fact, this spark appeared very quickly, but it was not Magic or Edison.
Carlos Boozer was one of the few members of the "double-double club" in the league last season. His 11.4 rebounds per game ranked fifth in the NBA, and his 52.3% field goal percentage ranked sixth in the league.
His performance gave Cavaliers coach Paul Silas the confidence to build a strong NBA team around James and Boozer. The two are still young. When they mature, the entire league will be under the Cavaliers' iron heel.
Shivering.
Ideal is full, the reality is very skinny.
In view of Boozer's outstanding performance, the Cavaliers have two considerations for him. The first is that the team uses the rookie option. Boozer will continue to play with an annual salary of less than 700,000 and will regain his freedom in the summer of 2005.
He can sign with other teams; the second is that the Cavaliers do not use the option and make Boozer a restricted free agent. The team has already offered him a 6-year, 41 million contract. According to the Cavaliers management, Boozer will become a restricted free agent.
Zell was very happy at the time and accepted. But just five days later, Boozer, under the instruction of his agent, Rob Pelinka of SFX Sports Economics, reneged on his verbal promise and turned around and signed a contract with the Jazz.
Signed a 6-year, 68 million contract. The Cavaliers came up empty handed.
Boozer's behavior triggered a big discussion about "integrity" in the NBA. An ESPN poll showed that more than 70% of people believed Boozer's behavior was "cheating." The angry Cleveland media now mentioned Boozer Carlos
· Boozer will always add a "shameful player" to describe him. However, Boozer, the person involved, did not admit that he had done anything wrong. In an interview with a reporter, Boozer said, "I have never been against the Cavaliers."
Owner Gordon has any commitments with the Utah Jazz management, and the only one I recognize is the current contract with the Utah Jazz."
I don’t want to say more about Boozer’s character. I believe everyone has their own opinion on which is more important, money or loyalty. But I want to mention one thing. No matter what choice you make, you must have a clear conscience.
At the same time, I take responsibility for my own choices and encourage you all.
But the result of Boozer's switch to the Jazz was that the Cavaliers lost a spear, a sharp spear. Their plan to dominate the league went bankrupt, and the Jazz's originally weak inside line received a powerful supplement.
"A butterfly in the Amazon rainforest in South America, flapping its wings occasionally, can cause a tornado in Texas two weeks later." Edison was not a butterfly, but he rolled up
A bigger turmoil is that historically Boozer was also the Cavaliers who left this season, but the time was relatively late. Now because Edison announced Nash's signing early, Boozer's signing was also advanced.
Boozer's early signing had already surprised Edison, but the hurricane that Boozer's butterfly set off was even more unexpected. History changed completely and was completely beyond Edison's control.
The first is a deal that shocked the league.
Kidd was traded, and the target was the Rockets.
Originally, the Rockets wanted to trade Francis and Mobley for Magic McGrady, but Edison denied it, but the conflict between Francis and the Rockets has already arisen. I won’t go into detail about Francis’s character. Everyone knows that he is a man who would rather bend than bend.
.….
Originally, you, Rocket, said you didn't want me anymore, but then you quit doing magic. Now you want me to stay, and there's no way out, so I won't do it either. So you offered me a deal, and I had to leave.
At the same time, Rockets head coach Van Gundy really doesn't like Francis. Van Gundy is an academic head coach, so he pays great attention to every detail of the game and always hopes that everything is under his control. But Francis is too rich to play.
Of course, this is not a bad thing, but it goes against Van Gundy's coaching philosophy. Once Francis got high, he completely ignored the coach's tactical requirements and led a group of teammates to kill him. As for the final result, although it was not
It must always end in failure, but many times it is indeed unsatisfactory.
Because of the conflict between the two people's ideas or personalities, there is a deep conflict between Van Gundy and Francis, and Francis's influence on the team is too great. When he first entered the league, he forced the Grizzlies to trade him to the Rockets, thus obtaining
He was nicknamed "Franchise". It can now be said that Van Gundy's status in the Rockets is far lower than that of Francis. In this way, he cannot convince the public at all and cannot let other players play according to his own arrangements. Therefore, he also did not deal with Francis's transaction.
He pushed secretly.
So the Rockets' top brass quickly decided to trade Francis.
But the transaction is a matter of one slap. If you want to give Francis away, there must be someone willing to take it. Let alone someone who actually takes it.
Because the Nets have a poor record this year and Martin's contract has expired, they hope to renew the contract with a high salary. The Nets' current salary space simply cannot satisfy him, so they must either give up Martin or give up someone else, but no matter which choice it is,
The reconstruction of the Nets is an irreversible fact. And Kidd no longer wants to stay in the Nets. He was easily defeated by the Western Conference in two consecutive finals. This made Kidd very sad, and with the Pistons and Pacers
With the rise of the Nets, the Nets are no longer the strongest team in the Eastern Conference. Last season, Malone and Payton joined the Lakers. Although they all ended up with nothing, this approach still somewhat stimulated this team that has been busy for many years but is empty-handed.
As a superstar, Kidd would rather serve as an assistant to Duncan or Garnett, or even consider returning to the Mavericks, so he kept applying to the team for a transfer.
Just when the Nets were having a headache, the Rockets came to the door and offered to trade Francis for Kidd, so the two sides hit it off.
Soon after a series of bargaining, the final trade plan was released. Francis + Mobley + a 3 million trade exception for Kidd + Mourning.
This trade can be said to be about getting what everyone needs. The Nets first got the backcourt combination of Francis and Mobley, so that their offense next season will be more passionate, and they got rid of Mourning, and at the same time dealt with the base.
With Germany's big contract, the Nets' future salary has been severely cut off, which gives them more space to renew Martin.
The Rockets got rid of the thorny Francis and got Kidd, the best point guard in the league. Van Gundy was very satisfied with this, and everyone in Houston also believed that with Kidd's guidance, Yao Ming could explode with greater energy. Yao Ming plus Kidd
He is the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson of the 21st century.
Even Mourning is valuable to the Rockets. First of all, it can strengthen the team's strength in the interior. Although Mourning cannot run rampant throughout the game as before due to kidney disease, he can still rotate with Yao Ming. And Yao Ming is too
Gentleman, the Rockets' inside line is not strong enough, and as long as Mourning goes there, a sense of defeat will come out. I believe no one will dare to wreak havoc on the Rockets' basket. In addition, even if Mourning can't play, he still has value.
Yes, because Ewing was poached, Mourning came just in time to take over and continue to guide Yao Ming...
When Edison heard the news of the deal, he almost bit off his tongue, and his heart felt like ten thousand grass and mud horses galloping past. But this was just the beginning of the alliance's chaotic transactions, and a series of large and small transactions followed.
This made Edison feel that everything in the alliance was no longer in his memory. From now on, the original memory may not be so useful, so Edison decided to seize the time and act before everything is completely out of his mind.
expected.
Soon the Magic released a blockbuster to the league - Tracy McGrady + Ganis + Mario Carson traded Marion + 4 draft picks.
If the previous signing of Nash with a big contract was met with mixed reviews, then this time everyone unanimously believed that the Magic had lost a lot and the Suns had made a lot of money, and then they criticized the Magic's management.
"Sports Illustrated" even directly put out the slogan "The worst management in the league has emerged." They thought it was incredible that the Magic only received such a poor return after paying for McGrady. Although the summer has just begun,
It can be said that the worst or most perfect trade in the league this summer has occurred.
Barkley also said bluntly, "We all know that Orlando is the Magic team. Their trade this time was like a magic trick. They turned a stone into a piece of gold, but they gave the gold to others and kept the stone for themselves. I
I don’t know why the Magic made this bad decision. Why didn’t they trade Tracy McGrady for Francis? That would at least seem fair. In short, congratulations to the Phoenix people, they robbed the Orlando people, and the league’s pattern of strong west and weak east will be further strengthened.
"
In this case, the Magic's acting team managers Dev and Otis broke the news through reporters they were familiar with, "This transaction was fully executed by the Magic's head coach Edison, and with the strong support of Pat Lao, I
There is nothing I can do." He quickly took it out.
And the Suns also made some noise. After all, it is not good to be considered to have taken advantage of them, and then be jealous of others. It is better to keep silent and make a fortune. So the inside story of the Suns sending away Aaron Nelson and giving up Nash was revealed.
.
Experts from ESPN commented on this: "The Magic have been frightened by injuries. It seems that the concussion of former head coach Yoni Davis has also affected the IQ of new head coach Paul Edison."
Media, which originally supported Nash's signing, immediately turned their guns and criticized the Magic.
For a while, the Magic became synonymous with stupid people and lots of money. Many people called the Magic and tried to take advantage of the Magic. For example, a man from Dallas expressed his intention to trade Bradley for Gooden. Edison heard this and immediately
I wanted to slap Cuban in the face, thinking, "I really think I'm a fool."
However, the Magic still made several transactions, including exchanging Anthony Backes for the Nuggets' No. 20 pick in this year's first round. This was settled a long time ago, and it was still the deal set by Weisbrod, just because the deal was passed in the first place.
It was not implemented in the first period, and now the Nuggets are very kind and do not bully the Magic management's IQ and change the content of the transaction.
But just because he doesn't bully doesn't mean he won't bully others. Soon Edison received a trading plan.
Edison came to Otis's office. Otis asked his secretary to bring Edison a glass of water and said, "Paul, Sacramento has proposed a deal to us. They want to get our Stevenson and asked us what conditions we can agree to."
Edison thought for a while and said, "Okay. In the new season, my main point guard is Nash, and my substitute is Bogans. Even if Stevenson stays on the team, he won't have many chances to play. It might be a good idea to trade him out. In this way, I will give them a call."
Call and see what they have to offer.”
"Okay, but Paul, I have to remind you, I hope you will not trade with the Suns this time, otherwise we will completely become the laughing stock of the league this summer."…
"Don't worry, Otis, it won't happen again. And by this time next year, looking at our work this summer, I don't think we will still be the laughing stock."
After returning to his office, Edison directly called the Maloof brothers, managers of the Sacramento Kings.
"Hello Joseph, this is Paul Edison from Magic, (ps: this is the first time this sentence appears in this book?) I heard that your team Stevenson is interested?"
"Haha, yes, what do you think of Alton Ford + a second-round draft pick?" Joseph Maloof said with a smile on the other end of the phone.
After hearing this, Edison felt like a horse galloping past again. He thought to himself, "I have been taken advantage of. I dare to say anything. You are not afraid of flashing your tongue."
"hehe."
"How about it, Paul, the plan I mentioned is good. If it is possible, I will organize a press conference to announce it tomorrow and then report it to the league."
"hehe."
"Then you agree."
"hehe."
"Don't just smile, what can you do? Talk." Ma'ruf was also a little anxious, and his grass-mud horse also galloped.
"Haha, okay Maloof, if there is nothing else, I will hang up." Edison finally spoke, his tone was quite impatient.
"Paul, what do you mean?" Maloof immediately understood that the Magic would not agree to this transaction plan.
"What I mean is, if you have nothing else to do and I have something else to do, we won't waste time with each other." Edison said calmly.
"Okay, tell me your conditions." Although Maloof is stingy, he is also a decisive advocate. This year's Kings playoffs stopped in the Western Conference semifinals and were eliminated by the Timberwolves. More importantly, Stojakovic and Stojakovic emerged.
The conflict between Weber, so the team is eager to make a breakthrough next season, otherwise the internal conflicts of the team will break out and fall apart. Therefore, although Maloof is stingy, he also knows that he cannot save money this year.
, Stevenson is a player he is optimistic about, and his arrival can bring the Kings' bench strength to a higher level.
"In this way, I saw that the first-round picks this year and next year are No. 26 this year, and I think they will be about the same next year. How about that?"
"If you say that, then I can only do other things, Paul. If that doesn't work, you have to add something else, like 200 US dollars or something."
"That's impossible. Now that our team owner and president can't work properly, this kind of direct cash transaction is impossible. In this way, we will take out the second-round pick we just got from the Suns, No. 35
How about the No. 1 pick? Even next year's draft picks can give you lottery protection."
Ma'ruf thought about it and exchanged two first-round picks around No. 25 for Stevenson and a No. 35 pick. Although this transaction did not bring an advantage, it did not suffer a loss. If the record is poor next year due to special reasons,
Well, not making it to the playoffs, uh, there is no chance of such a surprise.
"Okay, then it's settled."
"Okay, happy working together."
After hanging up the phone, Ma'ruf thought, What a pity, I didn't expect that Edison was not really a fool.
A piece of bad news, there is only one chapter today, and tomorrow will be the same. I wrote too high when writing about the draft, but when I calculated the team’s salary later, it exceeded the luxury tax by more than 15 million. This is too fake, so
I have been checking information frantically these past two days so that I can make transactions to make up for it.
