I'm really good at shooting.

Chapter 679 The ambition of the Lakers!

The draft is just a warm-up, and the real drama is the upcoming free agent market.

Last year's free agent market was quiet for a year, and this year's has become lively again, and it can even be described as hot.

This year's big fish in the free market is as good as Sun Hao and Kobe Bryant when they entered the free market.

In addition to the three big fishes Yao Ming, Howard, and Yi Jianlian mentioned earlier, there are also rookies in the 2008 class who have not been renewed in advance.

This includes Westbrook of the Thunder, OJ Mayo of the Cavaliers, Kevin Love of the Timberwolves, Brook Lopez of the Nets, and Roy Hibbert of the Lakers.

Just like what I said at the time of the draft, the draft quality of the 08 generation is still very high.

And in addition to these players, there are many former players who are also worth pursuing, and some top veterans.

When playing, Paul, Deron, Brand, Baron Davis, etc.;
There are a lot of top veterans this year: Nash, Kidd, Billups, Ray Allen, Garnett, Carter, Andre Miller, etc.;
In addition, there are some very good role players: Fernandez, Hinrich, Courtney Lee, Ariza, Pietrus, etc.;

There are even those whose contracts in the 09 session have not yet expired, but who have already started to negotiate ahead of schedule. Two of the most typical representatives are Harden and Curry.

Both of them played super high-profile performances last season, and they will get early contract extensions without any accidents.

But the situation of the two is not the same. Sun Hao left the Warriors, and Curry's contract extension is almost inseparable.

But there are many uncertainties in the prospect of Harden's contract extension.

All in all, with such a list, there will definitely be many good things in the free market this year.

Kupchak will even ask for Sun Hao's opinion during the draft, so the free market plan will naturally not be kept secret from Sun Hao.

"Our first target in the free market will be Yao."

Kupchak didn't ask Sun Hao's attitude in this sentence, because he knew that Sun Hao could not refuse to be a teammate with Yao Ming.

The fact is indeed the case, Sun Hao and Yao Ming are both veterans who have played in this league for more than ten years.

There has been no chance to cooperate before, and now finally there is such an opportunity, just like the selection of Green in the draft, Sun Hao will definitely not take the initiative to refuse.

Even, he is eager.

This is related to his chat with Yao Ming last season, and also related to Yao Ming's current situation.

Long before the start of the free market, some problems between Yao Ming and the Wizards were exposed.

Yao Ming's current situation is similar to that of Durant after injury in history.

At the end of the peak, they all suffered serious injuries, and although Yao Ming's injuries were relatively mild, the impact of injuries to inside players was far greater than that of outside players.

Therefore, the management of the Wizards has the same hesitation as the management of the Warriors.

Because Yao Ming's contract renewal will definitely be a maximum salary, and it is a long-term contract. If the Wizards renew their contract, there is a high probability that they will pay for the big contract in the next few years.

However, Jordan has stated in public more than once that the Wizards will renew Yao Ming's contract.

"What Yao has done for the Wizards, there is no reason not to re-sign him."

Although Jordan is not yet the big boss, this is also a statement from the management.

So the current situation can only be regarded as hesitation at best.

The Wizards will have concerns about renewing Yao Ming's contract, but they have no choice but to renew the contract, because Riley has set a precedent, and they will be sprayed to death.

Maybe in the end, it still depends on Yao Ming's own attitude.

At this stage of his career, Yao Ming's considerations must be somewhat different from before.

This is why Kupchak dared to say that the first goal is to chase Yao Ming.

As for the injury problem, they have the experience of dealing with O'Neal before, and the league has no more experience in dealing with this kind of big man than they do.

"I'll try to talk to Yao."

Because Sun Hao is eager, he is also very active.

Hearing what Sun Hao said, Kupchak was naturally the happiest.

With Sun Hao coming forward, the possibility of the Lakers signing Yao Ming skyrocketed.

"We are also ready to sign Rudy Fernandes."

Then, Kupchak said another person who didn't seem so important, but it was necessary to say.

Fernandez.

Because Fernandez went to the Cavaliers, he has already played a starter, and his playing time in the NBA is much longer than in history.

But his current life is not satisfactory, because the record of the Cavaliers has not improved all year round, which is a kind of torture for him.

At the end of last season, he already had a strong idea of ​​returning to Europe to play.

The reason why Kupchak would choose Fernandez is also easy to explain.

First, of course, because of Fernandez's strength.

Fernandez is a rising star in the Spanish basketball world, and he still has the ability to play as a sixth man in the NBA.

Crawford's performance in the team last season was really poor, and the possibility of the management keeping him is very small.

Replacing Crawford with Fernandez also makes sense.

Second, it was because of Sun Hao.

Many people know about the relationship between Fernandez and Sun Hao, including the fact that Fernandez is the godfather of Little Beijing, and Kupchak also knows about it.

So whether it's Yao Ming or Fernandez, what Kupchik and the Lakers management want is to make Sun Hao play more comfortably.

Sun Hao didn't reject the proposal either.

Fernandez's price/performance ratio is relatively high. Even if there is no reason for him, it is very good to be able to sign.

After chatting with the two people who have a close relationship with Sun Hao, Kupchik talked more quickly.

And the next more important content, the most important thing is that it has something to do with Carter and Hibbert.

Although Hibbert's performance in the playoffs last season was mediocre, but his physical talent is there, and he will definitely get a contract above the tens of millions.

So the idea of ​​leaving Hibbert as Yao Ming's substitute is definitely unrealistic.

But relying on the rookie O'Quinn alone is not enough, so they will need to sign a first backup center with experience or immediate combat power in the free market.

And then there's Carter.

If you rate the performance of the Lakers' players last season, then Carter and Crawford can definitely be called "trash brothers" together.

But Carter is a bit different for the Lakers, because in the past few years when the Lakers have sunk, Carter has worked hard and made a lot of contributions to the team.

The Lakers management has no other characteristics, but it does pay more attention to friendship and friendly image.

In history, a pension contract like Kobe's is absolutely impossible for ordinary teams to give.

If Carter is willing to renew his contract at a low price, the Lakers are still willing to stay.

Of course, the premise is what Sun Hao thinks.

Sun Hao, of course, would not object.

Carter can be regarded as a very different person in Super Giant.

Generally super giants are either very long-lasting, such as Jordan and Kobe;
There are also those who fell in the middle of the fall, such as McGrady and Hill;

But Carter's peak popularity and strength are very strong, and after being stepped on by Bowen, he became an ordinary All-Star player.

But at this level, he lasted for a long time, and even ended up playing in the league for 22 years.

Therefore, judging from Carter's historical performance, Carter's downturn last season will not be the norm, and he may be able to get his form back next season.

If Carter can be renewed at a lower price, it will not be a loss for the Lakers.

These main things are determined, and the rest are minor repairs, and then, waiting for the free market to officially start.

A few days later, with rumors all over the sky, the door to the free market officially opened.

Howard took the lead in announcing that he had jumped out of the last year of his previous big contract and became a completely free agent.

Then, the fierce chase began.

Although the Clippers were unexpectedly beaten by the Lakers last season, but now Yao Ming's injury situation is unknown, and Howard has now become the best center in the league. It is inevitable that he will be favored by the market.

Then, there is Yi Jianlian.

As I said before, which team wins the championship will determine the development trend of the league.

The Warriors have completed their dynasty, and the development of small balls has become a trend.

Yi Jianlian, who is more suitable than Ibaka at this time, is not much less popular than Howard in the market.

For the Bulls, renewing Yi Jianlian's contract will be their top priority.

Coupled with Paul, who has made it clear last season that he will renew his contract, the Bulls owner will be ready to send out a huge check this summer.

In addition to these two insiders, Deron is also one of the targets being chased by many teams.

Although the experience of the Hornets in the past few years can be described as miserable, Deron's ability is there.

His shuffling is one of the best in the league, not to mention his pick-and-roll scoring ability and playmaking ability.

Finally, there are those veterans, who are all market favorites.

What's interesting is that before the door of the free market opened, there were reports of internal turmoil in the Celtics.

The Big Three team has achieved nothing for many years, and Ray Allen was squeezed to the bench by the teenager Bradley last season, which made Ray Allen interested in leaving.

But Garnett and Pierce tried to persuade Ray Allen to stay and fight again.

For these two old guys, they can't accept that the Big Three lineup that they worked hard to form finally exited in this way.

Even if they fight until they retire, they have to fight until the last moment.

The ideas among the three are different. It is reported that Ray Allen will leave the Celtics with a high probability.

And his next home is likely to be one of several popular championship teams, including the Lakers.

True and false, false and true.

On the first day of the free market, there was a lot of movement and little rain.

There were all kinds of rumors about who was interested in who, but in the end the signings were signed without much suspense.

For example, the Thunder renewed Westbrook with a five-year 5 million maximum salary contract, and the Timberwolves also renewed Love with the same price.

These two college friends got the maximum salary contract on the same day, which is also a kind of destiny.

The Lakers also started to reinforce at this time.

They signed Fernandez to a new three-year, 3 million contract.

Fernandez averaged 12.6 points per game for the Cavaliers last season. Although there is some water in the statistics because of the weak team, but the strength is there, the value of this contract is still very high.

And in fact Fernandez also said in the negotiations that the Lakers are his only choice.

If it wasn't for being able to play with Sun Hao, he would have decided to return to Spain to play.

So this is actually a friendly price.

Moreover, it is still in the freezing period at this time, and what the two parties have reached is only a verbal agreement, which will not affect the operation of the Lakers' subsequent signings.

In the last two days of the free market, the situation was not much different from the first day.

Only then did the fans realize one thing, that is, many players are waiting and watching, waiting for the biggest fish to make a decision.

On this day, Sun Hao and Yao Ming met in Washington.

This time the two met again, after a brief exchange of pleasantries, Sun Hao went straight to the point, chatting with Yao Ming about the future and the idea of ​​playing together.

As the outside world guessed, Yao Ming's mentality at this time is different from before.

Although he failed to help the Wizards win the championship, the cultivation of him by the Wizards has almost offset the achievements he has made for the Wizards.

The career after this is the stage where he thinks about himself.

And what Sun Hao didn't know was that after the end of the season, Jordan actually talked to him about the following things.

Jordan's attitude has been exposed in previous rumors.

He is very grateful to Yao Ming for everything he has done for the Wizards, so as long as Yao Ming chooses to stay, he will definitely persuade other people in the management group to use the largest contract to keep the Wizards.

Because he was born as a player, he knew that doing so was a respect for the players, and it was also an opportunity to win the reputation for the team.

But, besides that, he also expressed his true attitude to Yao Ming.

"Whether you choose to stay or chase the championship, I will support you."

Again, Jordan came from players, so he knows how attractive the championship is to players, especially in the later stages of his career.

Yao Ming was very moved by Jordan's words, and basically had the answer in his heart.

After Sun Hao came to find him again, he also expressed his thoughts.

"I also want to go to Los Angeles to play with you, but I'm not sure about my injury. I'm afraid it will drag you down and the Lakers in two years."

Yao Ming's thoughts are still Chinese people's thoughts after all, and they are very positive.

If this is an ordinary American player, what is the burden, what is the reputation, the "money" he gets is the most real.

According to the most popular words, it is the owners who are willing to pay them the ball, so what is wrong with them?

"That's not the most important thing, you want to play with me, that's the most important thing."

Sun Hao's words are very similar to men and women falling in love. Any relatives who object will drag you down. As long as you love, nothing else is a problem.

And after saying this, he added another sentence:
"The last thing people need to do is to worry about things that haven't happened, because whether you worry or not, life is the same."

Yao Ming stared blankly at Sun Hao for a while, and finally nodded.

"I'm going to Los Angeles."

(End of this chapter)