NBA: I am the god of basketball

Chapter 261 Cleveland, your emperor is back!
After the Rockets sent the No. [-] pick in the first round to the Timberwolves, there is only one second-round pick this year just traded from the Timberwolves, and one of their own.

Since the Rockets are the champions of this year, their second-round pick is also the last choice. Basically, they can't choose any valuable players. At most, they can sign a soy sauce player on the bench with a basic salary.

The Rockets first signed European center Nikola Jokic with the Timberwolves' second-round pick, and then signed Tyler Johnson with their bottom second-round pick.

This result disappointed Rockets fans.

Whether it is Jokic or Johnson, they have never even heard of it, and after the Rockets selected the two, someone searched for information about the two, and found that these two players were nothing. For a high-quality potential player, even being selected in the second round is luckier.

According to the fate of most second-round picks in the league, after a few years in the league, I'm afraid they will disappear?
In fact, because the Rockets won the championship, the fans did not have much expectation for the draft, but after all, the team had the No. [-] pick in the first round before, but in this draft year, facing a group of talented players It is really puzzling to trade the draft pick to the Timberwolves.

But Wang Chao, who made these two draft draft instructions, is already satisfied.

Nikola Jokic, the winner of two consecutive MVPs in the future, a big core inside the Nuggets, a real superstar, the existence that the media has repeatedly rearranged the top pick in the 2014 draft, is definitely the strongest in history without dispute round show.

It's really cool to be able to get such a big cow with a second-round pick.

Jokic was originally selected by the Nuggets with the second-round pick in 14, but because of his overweight in Europe, he failed to directly land in the NBA. Instead, he continued to play in Europe for a year and lost his weight after some hard work. Only then did he succeed in getting the chance to sign with the Nuggets.

Then Jokic squeezed out Nurkic, who was the No.15 pick in the first round in the same year as him, in just one season in the 16-16 season, and quickly played a double-double All-Star in the next two years. Level performance, successfully won the maximum salary contract, and won the regular season MVP for two consecutive years after that.

Wang Chao selected Jokic mainly to prepare for Dayao's retirement.

Dayao is not young anymore. Considering his health, he is ready to retire after completing his current contract, that is, after the end of next year's season.

At that time, the Rockets will only have Whiteside and Gobert inside.

Considering that the entire league is eyeing the Rockets, which have won two consecutive championships, Whiteside is bound to be poached by all teams at the maximum salary.

After two seasons of growth and the blessing of Wang Chao's sparring potion, Whiteside's current strength is not inferior to that of Huaishen, who went to the CBA gold-plated in the 14-15 season, and is even stronger by two points.

At the beginning, the Rockets and Whiteside signed a 4-year basic salary contract, and his contract will expire in the summer of 16, just enough to allow Jokic to take the top position, plus Gobert, the Rockets' future insider There is absolutely no need to worry about the strength.

As for the Rockets' own second-round pick, Wang Chao's choice of Taylor Johnson was not easy.

Taylor Johnson serves as a defender and is 1 meters tall.

In the original history, Taylor Johnson was an undrafted pick, but as an undrafted pick, he was one of the better rookies in 14 years.

This summer, Taylor Johnson was signed by the Heat with a two-year minimum salary contract as an undrafted pick. With two years of outstanding performance on the bench, he got a four-year offer of $4 million from the Heat.

This made Tyler Johnson the first player among the 2014 rookies to get a tens of millions of dollars.

Of course, Taylor Johnson averaged only 13.7 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists per game at the peak of his career. He is not considered a strong player, but this is the bottom pick in the second round. What bike do you need?
Tyler Johnson's capital to gain a foothold in the league is his precise shooting and desperate Saburo-like defensive ability. Signing him with a low-salary contract in the second round for three years is good value for money as a substitute rotation player.
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With the Rockets drafting Tyler Johnson, the 2014 draft came to an end.

The grand occasion of the draft has left people wanting more, but this is just an appetizer. The real highlight has just arrived. With the end of the draft, on July 7, the free market will open!

Rockets management, in the general manager's office, most of the management staff are sitting here at this time, but everyone is silent and sad.

"General manager, do we really do nothing and just watch?"

One of them couldn't bear it anymore and asked.

"Chandler and Isaiah are players with great potential, and they are also important rotation players for the team. The prices in the free market are also very good. They are restricted players. Even if the team considers the follow-up of Kawhi and Jimmy. If you don’t want to deal with the contract issue, at least use them to get more benefits by signing first and then changing! It’s a pity to let them go for nothing!”

The general manager of the Rockets naturally understands this truth, but...

He smiled bitterly, shook his head and said, "Everyone here knows what you said, but everyone should also know why I didn't do this."

No one spoke.

reason?Of course I know, because Wang Chao did not agree to this proposal.

According to Wang Chao's original words, whether it is Chandler Parsons or Thomas Jr. this summer will be snatched up by the entire league or even maliciously raised prices. As a restricted free agent, the Rockets are eligible to match any team. A contract was offered to the two of them, but if it was really done that way, both of them would probably need an annual salary of more than [-] million yuan.

And this is precisely the purpose of these teams. After the Rockets choose to match the offer, no one will be interested in these two players. Originally, Chandler Parsons and Thomas Jr. were just potential strengths It's just players. Those who really have superstar potential and value are Leonard and Butler whose contracts expire next year.

By driving up the price, occupying the Rockets' salary space, forcing the Rockets to be pressured by the salary space next year, and having to give up the renewal of Leonard or Butler, is their ultimate goal.

Even if it is to use the method of signing first and then exchanging for chips, in order to match the salary, while sending these two people, the Rockets will have to eat at least a tens of millions of contracts, but the gains outweigh the losses.

In Wang Chao's view, Chandler Parsons and Thomas Jr. are just cheap labor with high cost performance during the rookie contract period. In the past three years, the two have contributed to the team's victory. This is enough, not necessary It is necessary to completely squeeze out the use value of the two of them.

What's more, the actual situation is that no team will pay too high a bargaining chip for the two. The restricted players are only the team's right to match the contract. If you make an offer that you can't match, I can go straight for nothing. When it comes to players, why give valuable draft picks or powerful players to the Rockets?
The Rockets' management obviously didn't think through this issue. Their eyes were only on the unwillingness to let go of the two players in vain.

Wang Chao didn't bother to explain to the management. Anyway, the Rockets have the final say. As long as he doesn't nod, no one dares to overstep him, including the general manager of the team. This is written in his contract, and even now Without contract constraints, no one in the entire Rockets dared to disobey Wang Chao.

The honor and economic benefits brought to the Rockets by two championships in three years have made the team owner Alexander's love for Wang Chao to an unprecedented height. He has told the team general manager more than once that he must meet all Wang Chao's requirements.

Unless the general manager doesn't want to do it anymore, he has to listen to Wang Chao.

"Hey……"

Sighing helplessly, the general manager of the Rockets shook his head helplessly.

"It's useless for us to discuss these here. After the draft, Wang stayed in New York and did not come back. Without his consent, we can't make any trades and reinforcements privately. No matter what we want to do or have any suggestions, we can only When he gets back from New York."

Here comes the question, why did Wang Chao stay in New York after the draft?

It's very simple, Miranda Kerr has entered the expected date of delivery, he stayed in New York, naturally, to see the birth of his child as soon as possible.

Wang Chao, who is already a billionaire, does not feel distressed at all when he spends money. Before that, he bought a villa near Central Park in Manhattan, New York, worth more than 5000 million US dollars, just to facilitate Miranda's production.

And as early as when she was about to give birth, Wang Chao spent a lot of money to hire dozens of people from nannies, medical staff to midwives to take care of Miranda's daily life. The level of luxury is comparable to that of the British royal family.

Wang Chao had thought about bringing his parents over to enjoy the life of an emperor, but the two elders were unwilling to cross the ocean to come to the United States. After all, they were unfamiliar with the place and did not speak the language. How could they be comfortable in China?

The real estate Wang Chao bought in the capital was basically written in the names of his parents. Several sets of courtyard houses and dozens of houses within the second ring road were used by the elderly to become renters. Seeing the housing prices in the capital skyrocket every day, I feel extremely happy.

In their world view, the dozens of apartments in the capital alone are enough for future generations to have enough food and clothing, and they can't understand the terrifying level that Wang Chao has reached by relying on his bitcoin speculation.

30 billion US dollars, converted into Huaguo currency is 180 billion. According to the current average house price of about 5 in the second ring road of the capital, 100 square meters of housing can buy 3600 units. It is not an exaggeration to buy half of the capital city.

When Wang Chao accompanied Miranda on his honeymoon in New York's mansion and was waiting for the birth of the child, the league's free market opened and it was already surging.

At the beginning of July, just after the free market opened, news of the contract renewals of many players was immediately announced.

At the same time, the Big Three of the Heat announced at the same time that they would jump out of the contract and become a free agent. Of course, the purposes of the three are different.

Most people know what James is thinking. Being swept and defeated by the Rockets in the Finals for two consecutive years has already given James the idea of ​​​​running away with a bucket. The entire Heat team is working hard to keep James.

Wade's jumping out of the contract is to further reduce the salary, so that the Heat have more salary space to renew James and sign some powerful players.

In order to keep James, Pat Riley used the aggressive method and said "only cowards will leave".

But this obviously has no effect on James.

Pat Riley is a strong general manager. Coincidentally, James is not a fool. He condescended to join the Heat for the championship. But in the past four years in the Heat, James has already understood the situation of this team. It is also clear that Pat Riley absolutely does not allow him to get involved in other rights of the team.

From this point of view, the Cavaliers are still fragrant!What's more, the Cavaliers now have two top picks in Irving and Embiid, and the salary space is healthy. No matter how you look at it, they are more likely to compete for the championship.

Ever since, on July 7, James publicly stated through Sports Illustrated that he would return to Cleveland and continue to fight for the championship for his hometown.

As soon as this news came out, it immediately caused a violent shock in the alliance.

Miami Heat fans were outraged, while Cleveland Cavaliers fans were in ecstasy.

The emperor is coming home!

The return of James allows the Cavaliers to build a top three combination of James + Irving + Embiid, and the team's salary space is still very sufficient, and it is completely possible to sign another star.

A few days later, James officially renewed his contract with the Cavaliers. The new contract is a 1+1 two-year contract with an average annual salary of 2200 million US dollars.

From this contract, we can actually see James' thoughts.

The so-called return to Cleveland is just a high-sounding slogan for his hometown. The main reason for James' return to the Cavaliers is that the Cavaliers currently have a good lineup structure and have a better chance of hitting the championship than the Heat.

The 1+1 contract is the escape route he left for himself. Once it turns out that the Cavaliers cannot win the championship, James will definitely run away with the bucket immediately, striving for more benefits for his championship plan.

Again, such an approach is not necessarily wrong, and understandable.

As a player, James' behavior of firmly holding his destiny in his own hands should be a model for players to learn from. Like Wade, he trusted the team and dedicated himself to the team, but was offered a humiliating offer and was eventually forced to join in exile. Are bulls good?
Like Kobe, Nowitzki, and Duncan, they were respected by the team throughout their careers. After all, there are only a few players who retire with glory, and most of them are ruthlessly abandoned by the team after losing their value.

It's just that it's normal to bear infamy and be criticized when doing this kind of behavior, especially for a top superstar like James, every movement and behavior on his body will be infinitely magnified.

(End of this chapter)