NBA: I am the god of basketball

Chapter 195 The Free Market Opens, Shocking Deals!

On December 12th, the first day of the free market, an extremely shocking trade news broke out immediately. The Los Angeles Lakers and the New Orleans Hornets reached a trade agreement to trade star Chris Paul to The Los Angeles Lakers, and the price the Lakers have to pay is just Pau Gasol, Lamar Odom and a 9-year first-round pick.

The general managers of both teams have already finalized the deal and submitted it officially. However, within less than an hour of the submission of the transaction application, the league president David Stern urgently stopped the deal.

Since the Hornets do not have a boss now, they belong to a managed team and are jointly operated by league officials and the bosses of other 29 teams.

Therefore, Stern rejected the joint partner of Paul and Kobe, two top superstars with one veto.

From the exposure of this deal to its explicit termination and suspension, it caused extremely violent shocks in the league.

You must know that although Kobe has only four championships in his hand, he lost to the Magic in the Finals for two consecutive years, and he stopped in the second round of the Western Conference last season, but after all, he still has power, and he is still in the top five in the league. Even the top three top superstars.

And Chris Paul is currently also a superstar with great strength. Once the two team up, the influence will be no less than that of the Heat's Big Three, James and Wade.

Stern was unable to prevent the formation of the Big Three of the Heat. After all, the Big Three were completely free agents at the time, and it was up to him to stay or stay, and no one could intervene.

But Stern's attitude of opposition at the time was very clear, and he even angered James because of this. During the Heat, James' magical six-step layup almost never escaped the referee's eyes, and the number of superstar whistles also dropped sharply.

Paul's deal is different. As the manager of the Hornets, Stern can ask the team's general manager to stop the deal as the team's interim owner, and this behavior is also recognized by the other 29 team owners in the league... …No, it should be the agreement of the owners of the other 28 teams besides the Lakers.

After all, the Lakers only paid the price of Gasol and Odom to get a top ten star in the league. The privileges since then have made many people feel dissatisfied. Just like when they got Gasol in 07, the Grizzlies almost gave their All-Star players to the opponent for nothing. Rookie Marc Gasol has been an All-Star like his older brother, and the Grizzlies have nothing to gain from this deal.

It's enough to take advantage of it once, but it's a second time?

Paul's failure to join the Lakers disappointed countless Lakers fans, and they all cursed the league and Stern, who had stopped the trade.

"Old stuff, I just can't stand the volute continuing to hit the championship. Why didn't you stop when the Celtics were the Big Three? Why didn't you stop when the Magic formed the Super Magic? When the Heat formed the Big Three, you Where is it again? Why did you jump out when it was our Laker's turn?"

"Shady, absolutely shady. You should continue to shut down, and don't let these evil capitalists get what they want!"

While a large number of angry fans abused online, the melon-eating crowd also watched the farce with glee.

A large number of sports-related media analyzed and discussed this incident, and the research was very enjoyable.

However, at this moment, another shocking big melon was exposed.

On December 12, Wang Chao officially announced that he had jumped out of his contract and became a free agent. At the same time, he officially issued a document through the media, clearly stating that he would not continue to renew his contract with the Magic. He thanked his teammates and coaching staff for their support in the past four years.

The alliance that had just calmed down a little bit due to the Paul trade incident was detonated again!A stronger earthquake is triggered!
"Wang Chao jumped out of the contract and officially announced to leave the Magic? The three-peat dynasty team fell apart?"

"The undercurrent is surging under the calm? Could it be that Wang Chao and Howard are also like the OK combination, and there are conflicts after achieving success together?"

Immediately, the media made special reports on this incident and analyzed the reasons.

In fact, some clues can already be seen last season.

Howard began to change his style of play during the regular season, focusing on inside singles with the ball instead of his best pick-and-roll screen. The result of this is that Howard's personal data has increased, but the team's record has declined. However, the record dropped from 09 wins in the 10-70 season to 10 wins in the 11-63 season.

And entering the playoffs, especially at the beginning of the finals, this feeling is particularly obvious. Howard's frequent post-up singles can be said to be one of the main reasons why the Magic lost the first two games of the finals. Being able to win four games in a row is also because Howard changed back to his original style of play and brought the team's tactical system back to normal.

It can be clearly seen that Howard wants to achieve more and better results, rather than being willing to be a green leaf by Wang Chao's side.

However, due to the good relationship between the two, they have not put the conflict on the surface like Kobe O'Neal... No, maybe if it continues, the two will sooner or later become like the OK combination because of the conflict of interests. Blatant break.

From this point of view, it would be a wise choice for Wang Chao to leave the Magic.

A few hours later, Howard publicly expressed his support for Wang Chao's decision, and declared, "No matter where Wang plays, he will always be my best friend, brother, and the four years of playing side by side in Orlando will be my best friend." Best memory ever.”
-
The disintegration of the super magic combination is much more respectable than the OK combination of another dynasty team partner. Both sides thank and bless each other. Higher pursuit, nothing more.

But when it was learned that Wang Chao was about to enter the free market to test the waters, the entire league was ready to move.

This is Wang Chao!Four championships, two MVPs, three FMVPs!The top three in the league and even the number one superstar!
As long as conditions permit, the management of the team that can offer Wang Chao a maximum salary for contract renewal almost immediately finds a way to get in touch with Wang Chao's agent Bill Duffy, wanting to participate in the competition for Wang Chao.

However, the management of the Magic and the Rockets knew very well that Wang Chao's whereabouts had already been resolved long before the suspension of the league.

Just when a large number of media and basketball commentators began to wildly speculate on Wang Chao's possible next home and compete for Wang Chao's most advantageous team, the Rockets had already made a lightning move.

On December 12, the Houston Rockets reached a trade agreement with the Orlando Magic to send Kevin Martin, Sharad Lewis and the first-round picks in 11 and 2012 in the form of a sign-and-trade. Super and Magic's 2014 first-round pick.

Wang Chao's new contract is 5 million U.S. dollars for 1.02 years, with an annual salary of 1741 million U.S. dollars in the first year, and an average annual salary of 2042 million U.S. dollars.

This is properly a contract extension with a maximum salary, but in fact Wang Chao can get a higher maximum salary contract theoretically.

Wang Chao, who has played for the Magic for four years, has already met the conditions of Bird's terms. The contract period can be increased from 5 years to 6 years, and the annual salary increase can also be increased from 8% to 10.5%.

According to the terms and conditions of Bird, Wang Chao can actually get a 6-year contract extension of 1.36 million yuan, with an average annual salary of 2267 million US dollars.

However, after the negotiation of the labor agreement, many new regulations were added, including the supplementary nature of the Byrd clause.

In order to further restrict the stars from staying in their home teams, the league canceled the operational feasibility of obtaining the Bird clause in the form of a sign-and-trade and joining other teams.

Even if Wang Chao first renews his contract with the Magic and then is traded to another team, he still cannot activate the Bird clause, which is exactly the same as leaving the team as a free agent.

Without the Bird clause, earning 6 million US dollars less in 1200 years can indeed make many stars need to reevaluate. After all, not every star is willing to take the initiative to cut their salaries in order to win the championship like James, Wade and others.

Of course, Wang Chao doesn’t care about earning less than 2000 million US dollars. With a lot of bitcoins in hand, he doesn’t even have any special requirements for his salary. The reason why he asked for the maximum salary to renew his contract is simply because the salary is also It is a symbol of the player's status, and this is to make money for the Americans. If you don't make money, you don't make money.

As for why the Rockets still choose to sign-and-trade to let the Rockets pay Kevin Martin, Sharad Lewis and a first-round pick for next year when there is no way to use the sign-and-trade to activate the Bird clause, there are many reasons. .

First, the combined salaries of Kevin Martin and Lewis are close to 2500 million. Considering the state of the two in the next few years, they are all standard garbage contracts. We can take this opportunity to send them away and free up 2500 million at once. Wan's salary space is definitely a good thing for the Rockets.

Second, in Wang Chao's view, Martin and Lewis are worthless, but the two in the alliance can be regarded as relatively good fragrant buns.

Kevin Martin averaged 18.6 points per game last season, and Lewis also averaged 14.7 points per game. Both of them are outside players. Lewis can just fill the vacancy after Wang Chao left the team. Next year is also a contract year for Lewis. His contract is only In the last year left, if it is not easy to use, it is completely possible not to renew the contract and use Howard's contract renewal period tomorrow to make room for top players.

As for Kevin Martin, he can also replace Jamal Crawford, whose contract has expired, as the team's new shooting guard. Martin, who was born in 83, is just 28 years old. The 31-year-old Jamal Crawford is more cost-effective.

Crawford, who became a free agent after his contract expired, has received offers from many teams in the past few days, and the contract amounts are very high. It would be a bit painful for the Magic to match the offer. With Kevin Martin There is no need to be so entangled, after all, the total amount of the player's contract for the next two years is only 2 million U.S. dollars in two years, which is high quality and low price.

In this way, handing over the two "generals" of the Rockets to the Magic can be regarded as Wang Chao's small contribution to the Magic. He can't be like some people in Goose City in the future. An extremely "difficult" road, not even a single hair was left to the old club.

You must know that even if James decides to leave when he decides to leave, it will be in the form of a sign first and then a trade, bringing the Cavaliers a special case of a $1 million transaction, two first-round and two second-round properties.

Afterwards, Decision [-] and Decision [-] were both left as free agents, but the Heat and the Cavaliers both won the championship anyway, which is more or less reasonable, at least not so ugly.

And now that Wang Chao is leaving the Magic, there is no difference between signing first and then signing directly with the Rockets, and the salary he gets without the Bird clause is the same. (Yao Ming's contract has expired, and the Rockets have enough salary space), but they still sent two star players, and they also exchanged two first-round picks for one, no matter who they are, they can't pick it out.

The result was that Wang Chao left the Magic team, and was not abused by the Magic team fans. Instead, everyone, like Howard, sent blessings to Wang Chao, and at the same time scolded the Magic team management.

Wang Chao didn’t want to stay with the Magic. It must be because the management has done something nasty. Orlando fans have become accustomed to these guys’ tricks. O’Neal left the team back then, and Duncan almost joined the Magic. The arrogance of the team management led to it.

The management of the Magic team was also shot while lying down. I just feel very innocent and wronged... Well, they are not particularly complaining. In order to regain the rights from Wang Chao last season, the management of the Magic team did do a lot of tricks , Wang Chao was not asked for his opinion on the transaction and contract renewal. Although O'Neal won a championship, in fact, what he brought to the team was of no use except to slow down and stir up trouble with Howard.

The rookie selected didn't play any games at all last season and was completely useless.

These are also one of the reasons why Wang Chao chose to leave the Magic.

With the sparring potion, if Howard trains with him, he may really be able to develop inside offensive skills and continue his peak period for three or four years.

However, the various operations of the Magic team management made Wang Chao realize that he would not be happy if he continued to stay in the Magic team. .

Wang Chao joined the Rockets and partnered with Dayao to form the Huaguo team, which immediately became the biggest news in the league and swept the entire network at an extremely fast speed.

Huaguo fans are happy. Wang Chao and Dayao's NBA combination partner, just sounds enough to make people look forward to it.

However, from the perspective of the league, Wang Chao and Dayao's partnership is not as shocking as it looks. In fact, it is far more surprising than shocking.

In fact, when it was learned that Wang Chao had left the Magic, the league's other teams capable of competing for the championship were greatly relieved, especially the Big Three of the Miami Heat.

The Heat, which is full of salary space, has no ability to participate in Wang Chao's competition, unless they are willing to use one of the Big Three as a bargaining chip. In Wang Chao's mood, he is a free agent, and what he does is sign first and then trade, not who the Magic want to trade with.

The Magic are now without Wang Chao, and even with the addition of Kevin Martin and Lewis, their strength has dropped significantly. Even if they are still a strong Eastern Conference team in the new season, it is still doubtful whether they have the strength to compete for the championship.

And the Rockets who got Wang Chao are even less likely to win the championship than the Magic who lost Wang Chao.

After all, the current Dayao has no way to compare with Howard. Although the inside offense is stronger than Howard, I don’t know how many Bynums, but compared to Howard, he has many weaknesses, such as older age, glass physique, lack of physical fitness, defensive end And rebounding is not as good as Howard.

And in order to get Wang Chao, they also paid two excellent players with tens of millions of dollars. Apart from Wang Chao and Dayao, only Brooks, Scola and a few rookies who were just drafted in June are left in the team. rookie player.

Although the combination of Wang Chao and Dayao is the first Chinese player combination in the NBA, it looks good, but its strength is definitely not as good as the super magic combination.

During the Magic period, the most unsolvable cooperation between Wang Chao and Howard on the court was the pick-and-roll cooperation. Wang Chao shot an outside three-pointer after the pick-and-roll, and Howard used the mobility advantage to catch the ball and eat the cake after the pick-and-roll.

This kind of pick-and-roll cooperation is not suitable for Wang Chao and Dayao. Dayao can pull out the outside pick-and-roll. The wide body pick-and-roll effect is very good, but after the pick-and-roll, Dayao does not have the speed to go down to the basket. There is no way to carry out the next link with Wang Chao.

Moreover, Wang Chao himself is not a star who is good at defense. When he was in the Magic, it was Howard who helped to check for omissions and fill in the gaps. Not only Wang Chao, but the entire Magic's defensive system was built around Howard.

Dayao does not have such ability, so the Rockets may have the strongest offensive ability in the league because of Wang Chao, but the defensive end is a problem.

And in this case, a day later, the Rockets made another deal.

The Rockets sent Luis Scola to get backup guard Kyle Korver and backup center Omer Asik from the Chicago Bulls.

This inexplicable transaction left everyone scratching their heads.

Although Scola did not get many opportunities last season because Dayao was not reimbursed for the season as in the original history, he did not average 18.3 points and 8.2 rebounds per game as he should have, but he still averaged 13.7 points and 7.8 rebounds per game. The excellent data of assists has become the team's main power forward.

But the Rockets traded him for two Bulls role players at this time, and the deal looked like a blood loss.

The Bulls are naturally very happy to reach this deal. Last season they tied for second in the league and failed to catch up with the No. 59 Magic in the regular season. A large part of the reason was power forward Carlos Boozer. The reason is that Boozer was injured in the regular season and only played [-] games. As the team's second scoring point, Boozer's absence on the court has a great impact on the Bulls. After all, their own offense is bad enough. Most of the time, you can only rely on Rose's personal ability to create opportunities.

In exchange for Scola, whose style of play is close to that of Boozer, the Bulls are considered insurance, and what they pay is only Korver, who averaged only 8.3 points per game last season, and Ahmed, who averaged 2.8 points and 3.7 rebounds. Sigg, why not do it?
(End of this chapter)