Zhiba NBA

Chapter 103 (one hundred and two) The Bobcats Team
According to the practice of previous years, the first big job after the finals is the draft, but this special year of 2004 is not the case.Because the new army Charlotte Bobcats officially joined the league.

The city of Charlotte originally had the Hornets, but in 2002 the Hornets moved to New Orleans. The NBA promised that the city of Charlotte would get the right to form a new team. On December 2002, 12, the investment group led by Robert Johnson acquired the ownership of the team, and he also became the first black owner in league history.After nearly two years of overall planning and operation, the time finally came.On June 18, two days after the finals, the Bobcats officially began the military expansion draft.

According to the special rules of the league's military expansion, the existing 29 teams can offer 8 protection spots to players with contracts in their teams, and the Bobcats can choose one of the other players.It is equivalent to the Bobcats forcibly reaching an asynchronous transaction with this team, and the team will get a special case for the transaction.

Now, the teams with more free agents are not worried. Free agents would rather choose to stay on the team. Who would like to go to the underdog team that has just been formed?
But Dawson is going to worry. Almost all the players of the Rockets have contracts. Only Okur and the recently retired Hakeem Olajuwon have ended their contracts this season.In other words, the 8 protection quotas are not enough anyway.

After many discussions, the Rockets decided to protect eight internal players: McGrady, Yao Ming, Billups, Jefferson, Bosh, Wang Zhizhi, Reid and Parker.The reason for making the choice is to consider that the position that the Rockets lack the most is the No. 8 position, so Parker's position is guaranteed first.The protection of Wang Zhizhi is mainly due to commercial considerations of developing the Chinese market.

In this way, Gerald. Wallace, Heaton. Turkoglu, Joe. Johnson and Monk. Battelle will produce a victim among the four.Because the Rockets are the new champions, the quality of the players is very high.Bobcats will not miss such a good player.

Another reason is that the contracts of these four players expire one year later in the summer of 1. Considering that the contracts of many Rockets players will expire at that time, there will be great pressure to renew their contracts.It's better than leaving as a free agent by then.

On June 6, the day after the Rockets won the championship, the Bobcats made their first big deal of the offseason.They traded the No. 21 pick from the Clippers with the No. 04 pick in 04 plus the second-round pick in [-] plus a promise in the expansion draft.Through this deal, the Clippers kept the young players they didn't want the Bobcats to choose.

On the day of the June 6 military expansion draft, the Bobcats did not hesitate to choose Gerald Wallace from the Houston Rockets.Yuan Fei couldn't help feeling sad.Wallace has a cheerful personality and is a good teammate, but unfortunately he seems destined to belong to the Bobcats.

Next, the Bobcats chose the Clippers' European center Peja Drobniak in accordance with the previous transaction commitment (but he was sold to the Eagles by the Bobcats two months later, in exchange for a second-round pick in 05, and he did not play for the Bobcats in his career).The Suns did a similar job with the Clippers. They gave the Bobcats a first-round pick in 05. The Bobcats fulfilled their promise and selected the Suns' abandoned son Jascetti White (this gentleman has a salary of more than 600 million, but he has no strength).

Next, the Bobcats selected a group of top players from each team. Of course, they are all outside the 8 protected places, so they will never be famous stars.Among them, the young center Zaza Pachulia from the Magic and the three-point shooter Jason Kapono from the Cavaliers who became famous in the future included Pachulia, who was sold to the Bucks by the Bobcats the next day, in exchange for a 04 second-round pick.Players picked by the Bobcats also include Primoz Brezek from the Pacers, Jamal Sampson from the Lakers and others.

It is also worth mentioning that due to the addition of the Bobcats, the league has become a pattern of 30 teams with 15 teams in the east and west.The original four divisions have also been changed to six divisions, which is consistent with the current league distribution.The ranking rules have also changed, and the three division leaders will be ranked among the top three.That is to say, the top three in the Western District are destined to be the top names in the Southwest, Northwest, and Pacific Districts, and the top three in the Eastern District are destined to be the top names in the Southeast, Atlantic, and Central Districts.In this way, no matter how good the No. 2 record in the division is, it can at most rank fourth.Such unfair rules naturally left hidden dangers for future disputes.

Of course, the Bobcats new army will not be satisfied with the existing third-rate players. They are full of confidence to show their ambitions in the free agent market. Unfortunately, things backfire.From the looks of these players, only Gerald Wallace can be regarded as a potential star with talent and strength.

As a result, the Bobcats did not gain anything in the free market in the next few months. The barely signed Brian Knight and Jason Hart were unable to play in other teams, and the Bobcats actually used them as starters.Take Hart as an example. He played for the Spurs last season, played 53 games, and averaged 12 minutes per game, which is a marginal substitute.

The team that was pieced together in this way is of course a bad team.Gerald. Wallace can not help but worry about his future career.But Yuan Fei comforted him by saying that at least this time he could become the team boss.

Wallace embarked on a journey to Charlotte with such worries.Many NBA players are like this. They often have to move during the transaction, and they don’t earn much salary, so they have to bear the high cost of moving.

This is the beginning of the legendary story of a generation of Elvis Presley.

***
Because the teams that did not reach the playoffs rest earlier, the offseason is often the first personnel changes in the underdogs.The Raptors, Eagles, Hornets, Warriors and other teams have fired their head coaches.

But it was another one that attracted Yuanfei's attention. On May 5, the Suns signed a two-year contract with the new coach Mike D'Antoni.At this time, no one other than Yuanfei could have imagined that this signing changed the entire pattern of the Western Conference.

On May 5, the Hornets and Byron Scott signed a 28-year contract.Scott coached the Nets for four years before and reached the finals twice, which can be described as outstanding.In Yuan Fei's previous life, Scott also achieved great success in the Hornets.

What happened next was jaw-dropping, but the Rockets didn't have the energy to pay attention to this focus during the Finals.

On June 6, Karl Malone announced that he would jump out of the final year of his contract.

On June 6, Bryant also announced that he would step out of the contract.

On the same day, the Lakers officially announced the firing of coach Phil Jackson.

The top giants in NBA history, the Triple Crown Lakers are finally facing disintegration.

　I really checked a lot of information to write this part. How many people in China can recognize these little-known players like Primoz Brezek?
　　
　
(End of this chapter)