Start coaching the Thunder, starting with Westbrook

Chapter 13 Adu's Thoughts

Next, Presti took Durant to discuss contracts with the rookies. Of course, Presti and his assistants can go there when negotiating contracts. Durant mainly went to meet with the rookies, encourage them, and do his best as a big brother.

He also knows that with the current situation of the team, the only way to improve its strength is from rookies and the free market, because he, Westbrook and Ibaka are almost reaching the upper limit, and they are actually giving the team the bottom line.

The core lays the foundation, and role players are sometimes the elements that determine how far the team can go in the end.

It's like Battier, whom he had been thinking about, went to the Heat to help the Heat win the championship. If he came to the Thunder, maybe the result of the Thunder would be different.

The free market wants to pick up leaks, but the Thunder's salary space is not easy, and rookies are the most promising places to be tapped, not to mention that the Thunder relied on rookies to turn around.

If it is well cultivated, the team will have bird rights in the future, and it will be easier to renew the contract. It will be easier to maintain competitiveness at that time, and it will also improve the team's fault tolerance rate.

It's just that he doesn't have that much time, preferably in recent years.

The NBA's salary cap for the new season is $5867.9 million, and the luxury tax trigger line is more than 700 million, while the Thunder's current total salary can barely exceed it.

Of course, there are deduction items such as special cases for rookies, because the NBA itself is a closed league without upper and lower levels, and only by relying on heavy restrictions can the strength of each team be balanced.

The Thunder's salary space seems to be very healthy, but in fact, if they want to win the championship, such expenditure is obviously not enough.

However, the main reason currently affecting the operation of the Thunder lies in Perkins' big contract.

As a member of the championship team of the Big Three of the Celtics, Perkins signed a four-year contract with the Thunder with an average annual average of nearly 1000 million.

Last season, he averaged only 25 points and 4.2 rebounds in 6 minutes of the first game, and his shooting percentage was 45%. As an inside player, this kind of offense is simply worrying.

As a meat shield, Perkins is still very good, and the defensive end and Ibaka's fat and thin head are also very effective, but this does not mean that he can be worth so much money.

The key is that the team can't use such a contract, and others are not necessarily better than him.

This is why Presti's first pick in the draft is set at the center position. Just wait until the end of Perkins' contract after two seasons. After two years of training, rookies can be topped up, and then they can enjoy a wave of rookie benefits.

This is actually the common request of head coach Brooks and the team's core Durant and others. Everyone knows where the team's weaknesses lie.

Of course, there was actually another reason why Durant came out, so as soon as he came out, he pulled Presti and asked, "Sam, is that Lee..."

In fact, he had already thought of Li Sheng's true identity. If Westbrook was here, he would definitely have lost his temper on the spot. However, although Durant seems to be quick-talking in the eyes of many people, he is actually more sultry.

At present, he has not thought about deeply participating in the management of the team, and he only respects Presti, so he hopes to get a negative answer from Presti, otherwise he doesn't know what he can do.

Brooks may not be the best, but in his opinion, he is already the most suitable coach for them, at least he has brought them almost to the top.

Of course Presti also knew what Durant was thinking, coughed lightly and said, "You should have guessed what's going on, it's what you think..."

What do I think?
I don't want to think about anything at all!
Durant's face was a little ugly, and he asked, "Whose decision is this?"

Presti immediately rolled his eyes and said: "It's not that I intend to shirk responsibility, but this matter was decided by Mr. Bennett, and I have no way to change his decision.

"U know, Mr. Bennett has given me a lot of freedom, but if he wants to make a decision, I have no reason to refuse. What's more, last season was indeed a failure. The team made the second round of the finals. The status of Weiss in the new season is still unclear.

"If you have to find someone responsible, besides Scott, who else do you think?"

Durant stopped talking, and suddenly felt dispirited, but Presti thought of the dream that Bennett mentioned before, and seeing Durant's face immediately pulled him and said: "Listen to me, KD, you'd better keep calm on this matter.

"I will go to Scott and talk to him. I believe he will understand us. As for Lee, we still have enough time to observe him. Perhaps the time when Russell is not around is the best time to test him.

"Including the two rookies selected according to his intentions, we can slowly observe. His vision and his coaching ability may be misjudged by Mr. Bennett, but it may not be so bad."

Durant understood what Presti meant. In the new season, the Thunder are ready for Westbrook to miss some games. If Durant leads the team independently, the record may not be so good. In this case, the outside world will definitely have doubts about Durant.

However, the sudden coaching change can divert everyone's attention to Li Sheng, and to put it bluntly, it can be blamed.

From this perspective, this is a good thing for Durant, Presti, and even Brooks.

Maybe when Westbrook returns, Li Sheng will be dismissed because of his poor record, and they can invite Brooks back, so the boss will have nothing to say.

Of course, Presti's words were mostly consoling. After all, Bennett seemed to have more confidence in Li Sheng than the kid himself.

Sure enough, Durant didn't mention this matter anymore, but in his heart, he didn't feel that they were going to be "bad" in the new season.

The lack of Westbrook is not the end of the world. As a person who is determined to compete with James, Durant is not low-minded. He even thinks that if James fails to win the championship, he can play with the remnant Thunder. Maybe the outside world's views will change?

Durant is a very sensitive person and has always been very concerned about the opinions of the outside world.

In fact, the same is true for James in the past, especially the 11 finals, which was the year he was most affected by external forces. After that, he has matured a lot. Although winning the championship in 16 was controversial, it made him a better character.

In the future, Durant made the most correct decision personally, joining the Warriors, and the worst decision, leaving the Warriors, are inseparable from his sensitive and even weak psychological factors.

He felt that with a rookie coach and a broken team in the new season, it might be time to prove himself, but he didn't feel repelled all of a sudden, and even faintly excited.

Then Presti saw the meeting between four excited rookies and an even more excited Durant, because rookies naturally have different levels of contracts according to their picks, and now they can only be intentions. They really want to sign a formal contract after they go to Oklahoma and pass the physical examination.

So this trip is more about meeting to give them a reassurance, saying that the team will not trade them at will.

This means of course that if there is a good choice in the future, it will still be traded. Rookies do not have the right to choose, and it is just a commodity at this time.

Then Presti and Durant came back to meet Li Sheng again, preparing to go back to Oklahoma together, but at this time they caught the attention of another person.

(End of this chapter)