Kwame Brown's Freshman

Chapter 45 New Teammates

When the news of Allan Houston's layoffs came out, the teams started their own actions.The Sonics first cut their previous starting power forward Vladimir Radmanovic.

The pitcher who can play both positions on the front line overlaps with Lewis' tactical position.Lewis has risen strongly this year.Even into the All-Star, he has no playing time.He is already dispensable in the Sonics, and he still has a salary of nearly 800 million.They wanted to renew Lewis, and cut him to save money.

Kupchak actively lobbied Radmanovich to join the Lakers, even gave him the starting power forward position, and promised to renew his contract with mid-level terms in the summer.

With the opportunity to partner with Kidd and Kobe and Kwame, and with the guarantee of a contract extension, it was impossible for Radmanovich to say no.In the end, he signed a contract with the Lakers for the second half of the season, with a salary of 30.

Due to the trade away a large number of players, after signing Radmanovich, the Lakers only have Kidd, Parker, Kobe, Vujacic, Odom, Ariza, Humphries, Radmanovich, Kwame , meme, Divac.There are only 11 people left in the team.

The league's rule is that there must be at least 13 people on the team, but the Lakers have only 9 healthy players, so the Lakers did not stop signings and continued to target free agents.

But not all teams lay off staff, and the Knicks decisively did not lay off staff.The Heat also renewed Mourning's contract for one year, which expires in July 06.

The Lakers have no plans to lay off Hill, and the team doctor hopes that Hill will undergo major surgery.Although it will ruin his talent, he can continue his career well. Even if he loses his explosiveness, his skills and basketball IQ can still make him a sixth man or an excellent role player.

After constant trade-offs and struggles, Hill agreed to undergo minimally invasive surgery. He has great confidence in the Lakers' team doctor and the future of the Lakers.He is willing to accept being a role player.After suffering such a long injury, he can still hold on because he still has a championship dream in his heart.

Now he can cooperate with Kidd, who also won the best rookie of the year, and Kobe, who inherits himself and has the title of Jordan's successor. In addition, he may be the strongest guy among the young centers. He enjoys the current team very much.He hopes that the operation will be completed earlier and he will return to the game sooner, even if he is a role player, but he wants to hit the championship!
Soon, the Lakers signed John Thomas, who was abandoned by the Eagles. This 206-height white power forward has a strong body and solid rebounding skills.He moves too slowly and can only move in the three-second zone. Although he defends well around the basket, in this era when European and American insiders are beginning to be popular, he is often blown up.

But the Lakers don't worry about this. Kwame's defensive coverage and super-fast footsteps are enough to make up the defense quickly, and switch defenses whenever they encounter the inside line of the shot.Thomas can come to the fire when he is in a foul crisis.

Soon, the Lakers signed Josh Powell, who played for a team in the Development League.After trading away a few pitchers, the Lakers urgently need someone who can open up space on the outside.Powell's height of 206.With a beautiful mid-range shot, he can make up for Kwame's lack of outside ability.He's good enough for Radmanovic or as a backup at small forward.

On March 3, the Knicks officially announced the retirement of the former Knicks captain who was traded to the Magic.A generation of CIC kings has been sealed in history.

Rockets super scorer Tracy McGrady announced a three-year contract extension with the players, with a total amount of 3 million. His salary next season will exceed Kobe's 6300 million to 1900 million.

After the Rockets renewed McGrady, they thought about laying off Juwan Howard.Zhu Wanben was the Lakers' earliest signing target.His scoring ability is still good, at least not comparable to Powell.But under McGrady's persuasion, the Rockets dismissed this idea, and now he and Mutombo can share Yao Ming's pressure in the Rockets.They don't want to make Yao Ming more tired.

Soon, the Mavericks who had just traded to Devin Harris waived Mike Finley, who had a big contract.Harris' deal is pretty good in normal times.But no one cares about the deal between Carter and Kidd.But after cutting Finley, the Mavericks have attracted everyone's attention.

The Mavericks have also become the object of everyone's resentment.When the Houston terms came out, Finley knew that he had no place after Harris came.Just let out the word that he will join the Lakers.

He was still able to contribute more than 10 points per game when he played the main force, so he was given to the Lakers who just lacked scorers by the Mavericks. Finley is the kind of Hamilton-style player with excellent off-ball ability.And at the end of his career, he doesn't care about shooting rights for the championship.

The signings of the Lakers have officially ended, and there are already 14 people on the team.A place was left for emergency use.

Everyone suddenly discovered that the Lakers, who had lost 5 games in a row after Kobe was injured, thought they were done for this season.But with O'Neal in exchange for a large number of role players under the operation of Mitch Kupchak, the Lakers have become stronger than when Kobe was there!
Number 5.Hill announced that he would undergo minimally invasive surgery. He expressed his willingness to play a role player or a substitute after the operation, and he will fight for the championship.

Although many people are cursing the Lakers, more people are beginning to look forward to, under the leadership of Jason Kidd, who is stronger, the Lakers led by the magician and the Lakers led by the magician?

This is a completely impossible duel, but this does not affect people's expectations.This team will definitely be stronger because they got Kidd!

On the afternoon of the 5th, the Lakers boarded a passenger plane bound for Houston.This is the first show after the transaction.Will be against the Rockets.

On the plane, Kwame found that there were not many people left when he first came to the team.Only Duoduo, Sasha, Chris, Mim and himself are left.Oh, and Kobe in Germany.Parker is a latecomer.

Kwame understands that the NBA is a business, but it's a bit sad.

The people on the plane were clearly divided into three groups. Kwame, Vujacic, Parker, Mihm, and Humphries sat together, representing the old forces of the Lakers.

Ododo, Kidd, Finley, and Rudy sat together, this is a big gang.

Ariza, Powell and others were exploited and bullied to carry bags and buy snacks.

Two months later, I came to Houston again. This is the third time I played against the Rockets this year. The Lakers won the first two games. In those two games, the Rockets were both injured.But both will play today.

Houston is a great city, but not in terms of basketball.When Olajuwon was on the team, Houston was not a city with a high basketball atmosphere.The astronauts are happy to sit on the sidelines and watch them perform, but they don't get up to cheer or anything.

No matter how the Rockets played, they were very quiet.Unlike the quietness of Staples, the quietness of Staples is disdain for the opponent, the quietness here is quietness, and there is no quietness related to basketball in safety.

The Rockets players themselves feel uncomfortable. Often they can't play their own strength at home, but they play better when they are away.Therefore, the team manager who has no choice but to spend money to invite people to boo, so that the players feel like they are playing away games, has become a big joke in the NBA.

But even so, there is something that attracts big-name players to join here, that is, there is no personal income tax here, that is to say, except for the insurance money and the commission to the agent, all the salary you earn is yours.That's a lot of money!Playing here for four or five years is equivalent to earning an extra year's salary. For many players, this is a huge attraction.

Coupled with the average temperature of 20 degrees here, excellent education, huge population, and the fact that it overwhelms Philadelphia as the fourth largest city in the United States in the 90s, quite a few players rushed to come here.

But in the new century, they changed completely after they changed the boss. The frugal boss made many players daunted from this beautiful land. Alexander is notoriously stingy, and he might be disabled if he came here to play.If they have the main force, they can completely use the main force without a substitute.

After coming to the rented training hall, Odom has been talking to Kwame.

At the beginning of the deal announcement, no details were announced. When Odo heard that the Lakers had traded Kidd, he was about to cry!The only players the Lakers can use as a bargaining chip for Kidd are him and Kwame.

Kwame is obviously the cornerstone of the team's future, so he must have been traded.He is holding his new girlfriend Kohler at home.Kardashian and her two sons waited for the agent to call to inform him that he was traded.

But wait, wait, wait, wait until dawn and still haven't waited for the economic man to call.Oddur couldn't help but turned on the TV to relieve boredom, and it happened to be the basketball channel when he turned it on. He turned off the TV because he didn't want to see the news that he was traded, so Oddur immediately turned off the TV.

But after a while, he still turned on the TV, which was repeatedly broadcasting the buzzer trade that just happened.

He listened to the host read out the details of the deal that had just been announced over and over again. The more Odo listened, the more excited he became, and he hugged Kohler and kissed his son fiercely.

God, this transaction has nothing to do with him!Mitch is really a magical manager. He got Kidd without using core players at all.

Relieved, Otto sent his sons to bed. They were also worried that their father would not be able to bear the shock and stayed with him all the time. Now that they were all right, they went back to their room to sleep.

On the other hand, Odo directly threw Kohler on the floor to vent the pressure of the whole night. Kohler was very cooperative, she wanted to bear all this with Odo, and she would not refuse any request from Odo.

Kwame, who listened to Otto's constant telling of his feelings, was also very moved. There were only a few familiar people left in the team.

(End of this chapter)