Versatile Point Forward

Chapter 301
The influence of the Heat's formation of the Big Three to hit the championship soon spread to the entire league. Many veterans chose to jump out of their contracts in advance, hoping to go to Miami to get a championship ring. sparked a wave.

This wave also has a certain impact on the Trail Blazers. Although Miller and Camby decided to continue to play for the team, another veteran player in the team, 37-year-old Juwan Howard, is still ready to jump out of the contract and go to the East. giant.For him, the Blazers certainly have great potential, but his days in the league are numbered, and he may retire after one or two seasons, so joining the Heat now is undoubtedly the best choice to hit the championship.Coupled with the fact that Heat general manager Riley personally called to recruit him to Miami, the veteran who contributed a lot to the Blazers in the 09-10 season finally chose to leave.

Regarding Howard's choice, the whole Blazers team has no opinion. Everyone is just a little bit reluctant to leave him.Indeed, Howard played as a substitute for most of the time last season, but his role in stabilizing the locker room was even greater than that of veterans like Camby and Miller.In the 73 regular season games played on behalf of the Blazers, Howard averaged 6 points and 4.6 rebounds per game, and his shooting percentage reached 50.9%. He is one of the important rotation players for the Blazers inside.However, it is completely understandable that he went to Miami to pursue a championship. Everyone expressed their blessings to him.

In fact, the impact of Howard's departure on the Blazers is not as great as imagined. After all, Ayers has proved that he can become a qualified rotation player, and his style of play is complementary to that of Aldridge.Aldridge prefers a technical style of play. Although Ayers has rough skills, he dares to engage in physical confrontation, and he is also good at rebounding, which can completely make up for the vacancy after Howard left the team.

The most critical issue facing the Blazers at present is to find a strong enough substitute for Roy, and try to be as young as possible.It’s not yet the time for the draft, and the Blazers are unwilling to wait until the draft to go to Taobao. After all, their draft picks this year are only the 22nd pick in the first round and the 34th pick in the second round. Judging from the report provided by the scouting department , This year's rookie basically has nothing to pick at this pick, but the team can use players to exchange for higher draft picks. There are still some good seedlings around the lottery that can be used.

Ye Feng has also been paying attention to the team's trends, and soon the management finalized a candidate to supplement the shooting guard. The player Pritchard favored was beyond everyone's expectations. It turned out to be the Jazz's stable player last season. Rotation player Wesley Matthews.This gentleman graduated from Marquette University and is Wade's junior. He was also elected Mr. Basketball in Wisconsin in high school.In his senior year, 2008-09, Matthews averaged 18.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game, led Marquette University to 25 victories, and was selected as the second best team in the Big East Team.

However, in last year's draft, Matthews was ignored. In the end, the Jazz gave him a chance and invited Matthews to join the team's summer league lineup, and then the two sides signed a training camp contract.Due to his outstanding performance in the preseason, Matthews finally stayed in the official roster of the Jazz.After the start of the season, Matthews gradually became a regular member of the Jazz, and the Jazz even sent Ronnie Brewer away before the trade deadline for him.Matthews played 82 regular-season games for the Jazz last season, including 48 starts, averaging 9.4 points per game, shooting 48.3% from the field and 38.2% from three-point range.

After the season ended, Matthews became a restricted free agent. Pritchard quickly offered him a five-year $5 million offer. Judging from the Jazz's total salary, their chances of matching the offer are quite low.Ye Feng was a little surprised by the general manager's eyes. Of course, it wasn't because he discriminated against non-draft players. He just didn't know how the management valued such a person. The average score of 3300 points per game is not very good!But Pritchard is not obliged to answer his questions, and Ye Feng didn't mean to break the casserole and ask the end. The team must have his reason for such an offer.

The Jazz soon declared that they would give up matching Matthews' contract, which meant that Matthews would wear the Blazers' jersey and fight side by side with Ye Feng in the new season.Although Matthews is still vacationing abroad with his family for the time being, the Jazz has already called him to inform him that he can report directly to Portland after returning home. He is a little bit reluctant for Jazz Matthews, after all, they gave him a career in the NBA. Opportunity, but soon this kind of reluctance was replaced by excitement. What I want to join is the runner-up of last season. Although the Blazers did not win the O'Brien Cup, it will be more interesting after joining, isn't it?

Except for Howard who left the team and Matthews who joined, the Blazers basically retained all the fixed rotation players of the team last season. Under McMillan's insistence, the Blazers did not participate in the battle for superstars , but seems a little detached from the outside world.This is not because the boss has no money. Although Paul Allen suffers from cancer, he still ranked 2010th in the "Forbes" Global Billionaires list with US$135 billion in 37. Not the kind of person who is reluctant to spend money for the team.The only consideration for the management is the team's atmosphere and chemical reaction. The introduction of a superstar can indeed quickly improve the team's overall strength, but sometimes it will also destroy the team's internal atmosphere, which is not worth the candle.

Moreover, many teams are very active in the trading market, and the trading rumors that burst out in the media every day can almost occupy the entire page. Today it is said that a certain star wants to go to this team, but tomorrow he will switch to another team. Fans It is simply impossible to know which information is accurate.When the water has been muddied, it is the best choice for the Blazers to sit on the sidelines, since they don't have that desire for superstars anyway.

Besides, the 2010 draft has not yet started, and the Blazers can definitely search for treasures in the draft. It is difficult to find future superstars, but it is still possible to bring a few suitable rotation players to the team. The favorite thing for most teams of some quality to do in the draft.

(End of this chapter)