Chapter 484 Upgrade and reinforcement of Jazz and Pacers
At this time, general manager Jerry West ignored these operational matters. He was having a headache, how to build a championship lineup suitable for Old K.
At small forward, he found a good substitute for Chris Mullin, 28-year-old swingman Rick Fox, Jordan's North Carolina alumnus and the Green Team's main small forward in the first two seasons.
Last season, he averaged 35 minutes per game and was able to steadily provide 15 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.8 assists and 2.2 steals, with a shooting percentage of 45%. He was able to shoot three-pointers, was good at both offense and defense, and had good rebounding and assist abilities. Although he was not selected for the All-Stars,
He can be regarded as a star and a popular figure at the University of North Carolina. If Mullin's condition is not good next season, he is ready to let Fox play the main role.
Moreover, Fox joined the Lakers as a free agent. It was not that the Lakers' contract was large. On the contrary, he was offered a seven-year long-term contract, but the total contract amount was only 22 million US dollars, and next season's contract is 1 million US dollars.
He is very satisfied with this signing, which can be regarded as a powerful reinforcement.
In addition, Old K called a few days ago and talked about Nick Van Exel. He now wants to find a new point guard.
There is a rookie on the team last year, Fisher, but his talent and strength are average, and he wants to find someone better.
There is Nash next door. His performance as a substitute last year was okay, but like Kobe, he couldn't stand up as a main force. He also had no confrontation ability and no defense. He was not suitable for the old K's key line against point guards.
Next to Old K, as a point guard, the offense can be average and the organization can be average, but the passing ability, fast break ability, ball speed, and defensive ability must be strong.
At the No. 1 position, he has already found a veteran with a minimum salary, four-time All-Star point guard Mark Price. This veteran was selected to one All-NBA First Team and three All-NBA Third Teams. He is 34 years old this year and averaged 27 minutes per game last season.
He can also average 11.3 points, 2.6 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game. Now for the championship, I want to try my luck with the Lakers.
It's hard to find a good main point guard. If he can't find one, he plans to let Mark Price play as the pseudo main point guard, Fisher as the substitute, and Kobe Bryant can also step in. There should be no problem.
As for the second position, he wants to trade the Kings' signature star Mitch Richmond and let Richmond play the main role for two years. Kobe should also grow up.
He has contacted his agent before. Richmond expressed that he also wants to come because he is now almost 33 years old and has entered the later stage of his career. He wants to take advantage of his current condition to try for the championship.
Moreover, Richmond told the Lakers that K had recruited him before when he was with the Suns. He really wanted to be teammates with K and said he could reduce some of his shots.
Richmond has two seasons left on his contract with the Kings worth 5.5 million. The contract is not big, 3 million next season and 2.5 million the next.
He had just applied for a trade, and the bargaining chip he gave was Nick Van Exel, but the Kings did not need a point guard, so the first trade application failed.
Now he doesn't have much bargaining chips in his hand. The Lakers don't want the draft picks, which is a bit of a headache.
But it's not true. The Lakers have a signing right, which the Kings want very much.
In the 1996 draft, the Lakers selected European Peja Stojakovic. This player is still playing in Europe. There is one season left on his contract there. He has already been contacted and will play next season.
I will report to the Lakers soon.
With this signing right, Richmond can be exchanged, but Peja is only 20 years old and Richmond is close to 33 years old, so he is actually reluctant to trade.
Moreover, Peja can play from the second position to the fourth position. The Lakers are also lacking such a person now, especially there is no one at the power forward position.
But now he really can't find a star-level shooting guard, so he can only bite the bullet and write Peja's signing rights on the quotation sheet.
The Kings responded quickly to this offer, because during last year's draft, the Kings wanted to select Peja, but were blocked by the Lakers. Now they have a chance to get it back, which is just in time.
As for Richmond, who has been with the Kings for six years, he is old, and the next contract will definitely have to increase in salary, which is not cost-effective, so the management decided to give up.
In this way, the transaction agreement was reached and after the alliance approved it, the transaction was completed.
After securing the main No. 2 position, West will now have to consider how to find a main power forward.
In this regard, West has a candidate. The Bulls have not negotiated a contract extension and have already announced that they will retire.
As far as he knows, no team has contacted Da Chong. Da Chong is suffering from injuries, is 36 years old, and has an eccentric personality. This is why he is not popular in the free market.
However, when he contacted Darren Prince, Da Chong's manager, Prince clearly rejected him. The reason given was that Da Chong and Lao K were not in harmony.
In desperation, West had to find someone else to beat.
Unfortunately, good power forwards are harder to find than guards, and he couldn't find one for a while.
He did have an idea for Rasheed Wallace, and Colangelo did not reject it outright, but he did not have the right chips and the transaction was not successful.
…
At this time, Popovich of the Spurs made a decision regarding the trade of David Robinson.
The plan failed, and team reconstruction has become the only result. He told all teams that want David Robinson that whoever can give him four unprotected first-round picks (signs within the next three years) can do it.
Take away the Admiral. Moreover, there are restrictions on draft picks for teams such as the Lakers, Pacers, Trail Blazers, Knicks and other teams.
Several teams have begun to collect first-round picks. How can other teams give them out so easily? It is not easy.
In the end, Danny Ainge used the connections left to him by the Cardinals and traded the Green Team's first-round picks for the next two years, taking the lead in getting four first-round picks and also getting David Robinson.
After this deal was announced to the public, every team in the league shouted "Wolf is coming".
Magic Johnson, the commentator of ABC TV, said in an interview with the media: "The Green Team was bad last season, but it is not weak. Eight people averaged 10+ points per game last season. The lineup is very thick. Now they have a big team."
If guard Robinson and Kidd are combined well, there should be a qualitative transformation and leap in strength, which will make this veteran giant a first-tier championship-level team. After Big Bird retires,
They will compete for a championship again."
New York and the Knicks are also trying their best to strengthen, but the team has no space at all, so they only make small fuss without making any big moves.
At the small forward position, they used the veteran's minimum salary to find 37-year-old Dale Ellis. The Nuggets' main forward guard last season was shaky, averaging 16 points per game, and still had some gas.
There is nothing to gain from the point guard position, and Charlie Ward will be the main point guard in the new season.
Jordan analyzed his team's lineup. The inside line is certainly stronger than the inside teammates he has encountered throughout his career, but the outside line is weak. The outside defense that the Bulls are proud of is no longer visible in this Knicks.
You can no longer rely on strong perimeter defense to block your opponent's perimeter offense.
When it comes to defense, he feels that even he may have to defend less in the new season. After all, time is not forgiving. Although his physical condition is quite good, he still needs to save some time.
As for the inside, O'Neal is different from the old K. His physical fitness is not as good as the old K. He has always been strong in offense and weak in defense, so the main defense in the inside is Oakley.
Overall, the Knicks' defense is not the best in the league, both inside and outside.
In terms of offense, the five main players, veterans Ellis and Oakley, should be able to steadily provide 10+ points. Charlie Ward should have no problem providing five points. The rest will depend on him and O'Neal.
After this calculation, the current Knicks are actually similar to the original Bulls. In the Bulls, they relied on him and Pippen, but here they relied on him and O'Neal.
But the difference is that both he and O'Neal can attract double teams, one inside and one outside, and can play very good coordination to stretch the opponent's defense, thus improving the quality of the offense.
In particular, O'Neal can provide high-quality low-post offense, which is something that his former inside teammates were completely unable to do.
The reason why the Bulls lost to the Suns three times in the finals is because the quality of low-post offense is too poor and too little?
And even if O'Neal's defense is not as good as Old K, having him there will definitely reduce the quality of Old K's offense, and he feels more confident.
"Should we be able to compete with the Lakers?"
But thinking about losing one, two, and three, he was a little worried.
"Ah, why did you think of this nonsense from Old K?" He cursed with some annoyance.
This is not to blame for his lack of confidence. Even if he is the God of War, after losing one, two, and three in the finals, he will have a psychological shadow, big or small.
Thinking of this, he called the Knicks general manager Layden and said: "Scott, please give me a copy of the Lakers' current lineup."
"OK."
Layden must have been staring at the Lakers every day. He was very familiar with the Lakers' lineup. He opened his mouth and said: "Michael, they haven't found the main power forward yet. In addition to old K, the main small forward should be Chris Mullin.
The guard hired Mitch Richmond, and the point guard was Mark Price. As for the substitutes, there were Kobe Bryant, Rick Fox..."
Hearing this, Jordan's brows frowned.
The Lakers' main lineup, not counting the power forwards, is already very strong, no worse than the Knicks. As for the bench lineup, Kobe Bryant hasn't grown up yet, but Rick Fox's strength is good. He and Chris Mullin combined
, in the small forward position, the Knicks are at a bit of a disadvantage, as veteran Dale Ellis cannot cope with these two people.
Layden was still talking about the Lakers' substitute list, but there were no good players behind it, so he breathed a sigh of relief.
Now the Knicks' bench lineup is still okay, because when they traded him, except for Alan Houston, the Bulls only needed a first-round pick, so the lineup has not been destroyed. Except for the third position, other positions will not be worse than the Lakers, or even better.
…
While Jordan was pondering the lineup, Reggie Miller was also discussing the Pacers and Knicks lineups with Ewing.
For the Pacers, the main opponent in the Eastern Conference has changed from the Bulls to the Knicks. Although they are both Jordan's teams, the situation is completely different.
When playing against the Bulls last season, Ewing had an advantage in the paint, but when playing against the Knicks next season, even he can't say he can have an advantage against O'Neal.
On the outside, although Reggie Miller had a bad mouth and never obeyed Jordan, from the bottom of his heart, he had no confidence that he could beat Jordan.
To be precise, he knew that he and Jordan were not on the same level.
However, the team made reinforcements again. Under the operation of Larry Bird, some space was released. Rick Schmitz was brought back from the disintegrated Bulls and found a good partner for Ewing.
With the substitute lineup, both of them think there will be good results next season.
Reggie Miller said: "Patrick, if you and Schmitz team up, the offensive end should be stronger than O'Neal and Oakley, what do you think?"
Ewing nodded and smiled: "Schmitz can be pulled to a high position. With his height, the old guy Charles can't guard him at all. He is too short, so O'Neal can only follow him. Then I can
Beat Charles under the basket, haha!"
Seeing Ewing's rare smile, Reggie Miller's mood also improved, and he smiled and said: "You can completely cooperate with the two towers in the low post and coordinate with the twin towers in the high and low posts. At the same time, we are better than the Knicks on the inside substitutes."
If we are stronger, we have Dale Davis, Antonio Davis, and Derek McKay. When we face the Knicks, we will have an advantage in the interior.
On the outside, the Knicks' defense is definitely not as strong as the Bulls'. Jordan can't hold on alone. He's another year older.
And we have several good substitutes on the outside, Hu and Jaylen Rose, they are all pretty good, I believe there will be a good result in the new season."
"Um."
Ewing nodded slightly excitedly.
…
Boston, the Celtics, and Danny Ainge are also racking their brains to come up with lineups.
This season, with the support of the Cardinals, he became the new general manager of the Green Team. However, with the retirement of the Cardinals, the management of the Green Team immediately became chaotic and divided into several factions, some of which made him
In a hurry.
There is no way, even if he has the support of the cardinal, his qualifications are too young to compete with those who have senior qualifications, and his position is somewhat unstable.
But through a series of transactions, he acquired four first-round picks, traded David Robinson, and Kidd, who was acquired from the Suns, immediately gave the Green Team the strength to compete for the championship.
This immediately stabilized his position.
David Robinson, Antoine Walker, Eric Williams, Dino Radia, Kidd, Ron Mercer, Kenny Anderson, Dana Burrows and many more
A strong player, he is very confident in the new season.
David Robinson is sitting across from him. This super center can't wait for the new season. He has just completed the transaction and rushed to Boston. Today he came to discuss the lineup with him.
"David, apart from us in the Eastern Conference, there are the Knicks and Pacers. I think our three teams will be the first teams in the Eastern Conference, and our strength will not lose to them at all." He said with confidence.
David Robinson nodded, but said: "Danny, I think there is still some thickness inside, can it be strengthened?"
Danny Ainge said with a headache: "It's difficult. It is said that the Lakers don't even have the main power forward. We also have Dino Radia and Eric Williams.
David, Dino is very good, he can play at the fourth and fifth positions. Last season he averaged 35 minutes per game, 14 points, 8.5 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game. Last season he even had All-Star numbers of 19.7+9.8. Unfortunately, now
There are some injuries, but I believe he can help you."
David Robinson nodded. If Radia can maintain the level of last season, it will really help him a lot, but he is afraid of problems with injuries.
…
In the West, Jazz general manager John Morris is also studying the lineup for the new season.
The failure to pursue David Robinson made him lose hope of building a luxurious inside combination.
In fact, the combination of Campbell and Postman is already considered the league's first-class inside combination, but the main opponents are too strong inside. The Lakers have Old K, and the Trail Blazers have Big Dream + Duncan. This will be the main opponent in the new season. If the inside can't defeat
With these two rivals, how can we talk about a championship?
He held the quotation in his hand, and after repeated consideration, he called his assistant in and told him to send it to the Suns immediately.
He is interested in Sabonis, and the chip is Campbell.
The Jazz were eliminated by the Suns in the Western Conference Finals last season. The main reason was that they did not have high-quality low-post offense. Neither Postman nor Campbell could provide the team with high-quality low-post offense under the defense of K and Rasheed Wallace.
He wants to change this.
Sabonis, who is 221 centimeters tall and weighs 127 kilograms, should be able to achieve this goal.
In Phoenix, Colangelo Jr. received two trade offers, one from the Jazz, who wanted Sabonis, and the other from the Lakers, who wanted Clifford Robinson. He was considering whether these two transactions were feasible.
The Suns now have Sabonis, Clifford Robinson, and Rasheed Wallace in the paint. All three of them can play the main role, and one of them can indeed be traded.
The Lakers don't have much of a bargaining chip, and the Jazz's bargaining chip is Campbell. Emotionally speaking, he is more willing to trade with the Lakers, but from a rational and professional perspective, he is more willing to trade with the Jazz.
However, Campbell's contract is very large, with an annual salary of 7 million, which is too expensive. It does not meet the current requirements of the Suns to tighten expenditures. It is better to keep Sabonis and trade Clifford Robinson.
However, Sabonis only has one year left on his contract, which is US$3.08 million. If he is not traded out and renews next season, he will definitely be given a large contract worth tens of millions, which is not in line with the current requirements of the Suns.
The current requirement for the Suns' lineup is to try to maintain the strength of the playoff lineup, while trying to reduce the salary burden and try to find some cheap and easy-to-use players, preferably rookies.
So after some consideration, he agreed to the Jazz deal.
As for the Lakers' trade, he did not agree because Clifford Robinson's contract was not large and the Lakers did not have good bargaining chips.
As for Campbell, who was acquired in the trade, he plans to put it on the shelf for sale and replace it with some cheap and useful players, or exchange for draft picks.
"Mr. Morris, they agreed."
At the Jazz headquarters, the door to the general manager's room was pushed open, and the assistant excitedly reported the transaction results to Morris.
"Awesome!" Morris clenched his fists excitedly.
With the reinforcement of the fifth position, the inside combination of Sabonis and Postman, the Jazz's inside strength should be improved by half a level, and with Sabonis' versatility, it will also be beneficial to the improvement of the Jazz's overall strength. This is a time
Standard enhancements and upgrades.
As for the Jazz's main rival in the Western Conference, the Lakers, Old K has not yet found an inside helper, the combination of the Trail Blazers' Dream + Duncan. He believes that the old and the young should not be a threat to the Jazz, and the Jazz will be very promising in the new season.
Fight your way out west.
"well!"
At the Los Angeles Lakers headquarters, West shook his head and was rejected by the Suns again.
"Sir, the Suns have put the newly acquired Campbell on the shelf, shall we get him back?" At this time, the assistant opened the door and reported to him.
"Campbell?"
He thought for a moment and shook his head.
What he is looking for is a power forward, and Campbell is a center. It is not cost-effective to put him on the bench, and the salary space cannot bear it.