(I was a little too hasty when I copied and pasted it, so I didn’t get it right. I pasted duplicate content at the end and it has been modified. I’m sorry.)
"Unexpectedly, after going around in circles, I actually returned to Cleveland..."
Looking at Cleveland in front of him, which was not particularly prosperous and even looked like a shabby countryside compared to Los Angeles, Wang Feng couldn't help but shake his head and sigh.
Having seen the prosperity of big cities, Wang Feng can better understand why it is so difficult for small teams to recruit stars.
Not only is the difference in daily life environment, the exposure of such small cities is also very low. Unless they are phenomenal superstars like James, other players with slightly average strength play for teams like the Cavaliers and are well-known.
Far from being a substitute for the Lakers.
Fame and money are directly linked. Even if they are not strong enough to get a lucrative contract in the NBA, ordinary players can still live comfortably with some smaller advertising endorsements.
In the next two years, Wang Feng needs to serve as the first core in Cleveland and lead the team to at least reach the finals, so that he can complete the system upgrade task and achieve his ultimate goal.
2+1 contract, player option in the final year, average salary of 38 million.
This is Wang Feng’s new contract.
The length of the contract is a bit low. The Cavaliers theoretically only have the right to use Wang Feng for two years. Whether he can use it for the third year depends on Wang Feng's mood.
In Wang Feng's plan, if he can achieve the mission goal within two years, he will naturally not stay with the Cavaliers.
As a Chinese, he has no loyalty to the American team. You give me money and I make money, and everyone gets what they need.
Under this premise, the value of major global cities such as Los Angeles and New York is obviously higher than that of Cleveland by several floors.
Although Wang Feng has not yet decided where his next home will be, he believes that no team in the league will be interested in him by then.
Two years later, in 2023, Wang Feng is just 31 years old, still at the peak of his career, and can maintain strong competitiveness for at least another four years, which is completely worthy of all the teams in the entire league vying for it.
Of course, it's too early to consider a new home now, and he hasn't even officially reported to the Cavaliers yet.
…
The Cleveland Cavaliers have paid full attention to Wang Feng's arrival.
Team owner Gilbert is a sensible person. James's successful experience makes him very clear about the value a phenomenal top star can bring to the team.
This is also the reason why he is willing to pay a lot for the team's future stud Wang Feng.
Even knowing that Wang Feng will probably leave in two years.
What Gilbert is considering is the vast Chinese fan market behind Wang Feng.
When Wang Feng first joined the Cavaliers in 2016, sales of Cavaliers jerseys and peripheral products skyrocketed in China, bringing considerable revenue to the team.
After Wang Feng performed on par with James in the 16-17 Finals, the Cavaliers were very eager to renew Wang Feng's contract, and the priority was even higher than that of Irving.
It's a pity that Wang Feng has decided to leave. Neither the Cavaliers management nor James tried to persuade him to stay.
Wang Feng then joined the Lakers for four years and took off completely. Taking into account both his personal data and team honors, he won three championships for the Lakers and at the same time brought considerable commercial value to the team.
Moreover, within a year of Wang Feng leaving the team, Irving and James also left the team one after another. With only Love being the only All-Star player in the entire Cavaliers team, you can see how bad the situation is just by thinking about it.
The Cavaliers struggled for several years, relying on multiple high draft picks at the bottom of the league to select players such as Sexton and Garland one after another before they finally saw a little hope of rising. But everyone knows that this is just a little bit.
Faint hope.
Both Sexton and Garland only have the potential to become All-Stars, but there is a huge gap between All-Stars and top stars like James, Wang Feng, Curry, and Durant.
No one knows when the next LeBron James will come to Cleveland again, and how long can their small city keep this "LeBron James"?
That is to say, at this level of consideration, the Cavaliers paid a future price and took a risk in exchange for Wang Feng. They did not receive much criticism from Cavaliers fans and sports media. On the contrary, many people praised the deal and believed that the Cavaliers made a profit.
Big.
At the same time, Wang Feng led the Chinese men's basketball team to defeat the American Dream Team and win the gold medal in the recent Tokyo Olympics men's basketball finals, which also made Cleveland fans even more excited.
The disdain for the incompetence of the dream team and the love for the almost invincible Wang Feng reached their peak almost at the same time.
"Wang Feng is much better than LeBron now! He can actually defeat the Dream Team led by Durant with thick eyebrows on his own. In this case, even if the Cavaliers' current lineup is average, as long as Wang Feng is there, they should have a lot of skills."
Strong strength, right? After all, no matter how weak they are, these are all players who can play in the NBA, and they are always better than Wang Feng’s teammates in the Chinese Men’s Basketball Team.”
…
Riding in a special car sent by the team to pick him up at the airport, Wang Feng shuttled through the streets of Cleveland.
Then he saw a huge poster of himself posted on a huge billboard that was quite eye-catching in the city streets.
"Wang Feng, welcome back!"
Wang Feng seriously doubted whether the driver deliberately took him around the route of these huge posters, because he had seen them several times along the way, and each time the posters had different shapes and words.
He knew that the Cavaliers were using this method to express their welcome to Wang Feng's return.
Teams in small ball markets are sometimes so humble. Unlike the Lakers, who have a wealth of superstars, whether you can build a statue in front of the Staples Center depends on whether your contribution to the team is qualified.
Not long ago, a curious person asked this question on the Lakers' official website.
Wang Feng, who brought the latest three consecutive championship dynasty to the Lakers, will the team erect a statue in his honor in the future?
The official response from the Lakers was ambiguous.
"We are very grateful to Wang Feng for his contribution to the team, and the honors he has achieved are indeed enough to establish a statue, but it is too early to say this now. Wang's career is not over yet, and it is not impossible to repeat it in the future.
Returning to Los Angeles to play ball.”
Wang Feng has no interest in whether the Lakers will erect a statue for him.
This kind of thing is not a substantial honor, and as a Chinese, traditional cultural education makes him feel that it is weird to have a statue erected while he is still alive.
Back to business.
The Cavaliers' current lineup, if Wang Feng himself is removed, is a civilian lineup in the entire sense. There is only one player in the team, Love, who has been selected as an All-Star, and he has now been reduced to a role player. Last season, he averaged
The data is only 12.2 points and 7.4 rebounds.
But this is undoubtedly the perfect lineup for system tasks.
The two goals of completing the system upgrade task and winning two world-level championships have been achieved, and leading a team that has not been selected for the best lineup or all-star player in the past three seasons to reach the finals is the next step.
Wang Feng’s only goal at this stage.
And the Cavaliers' current lineup is not completely useless.
Jordan Poole, who was traded from the Lakers along with Wang Feng, averaged 18.5 points and 4 assists per game in the regular season for the Warriors in the 21-22 season.
In addition, after the free market opens, Wang Feng suggested that the Cavaliers sign several players who will perform well in the new season and have excellent immediate combat capabilities.
The only thing the Cavaliers lack is a second-in-command like Jimmy Butler who has the ball-handling offensive ability and can produce stable output.
But with Wang Feng's current personal ability, and the blessing of two badges that effectively improve the strength of his teammates as an organizational core and a defensive core, he is still quite strong even without a strong second-in-command.
In Wang Feng's mind, he already has the idea of the Cavaliers' starting lineup and main style of play for next season. What he needs now is to communicate in detail with the management and coaching staff after reporting to the team.
…
Wang Feng didn't wait long. The Cavaliers management staff responsible for receiving Wang Feng first took Wang Feng to the residence arranged for him by the team and put his luggage and other items away. Followed by the general manager of the team, he arranged for Wang Feng to stay.
Welcome banquet.
I have to admit that the cards for top superstars are completely different. When Wang Feng first joined Cleveland, and later when he went to the Lakers, he did not receive such treatment at all.
The general manager of the Cavaliers, Kobe Altman, succeeded the original general manager David Griffin as the new general manager in July 2017. However, he is very familiar with Wang Feng because before he became the general manager of the team,
His position is the deputy general manager of the Cavaliers.
"Wang, welcome back to Cleveland, this will always be your home." Altman seemed very enthusiastic about Wang Feng's return.
Magic Johnson's achievements since becoming general manager have made all his peers jealous.
He served as general manager for 4 years, won 3 championship trophies, and built a dynasty team. What could be more glorious than such a resume?
But although Johnson's achievements are brilliant, not many peers admire his abilities.
Anyone who knows a little bit about the inside story will know very well, what does the Lakers' dynasty have to do with him?
Wang Feng's original goal was the Lakers. With or without Magic Johnson as the general manager of the Lakers, he would take the initiative to contact the Lakers management and would join the Lakers as long as the price was right.
And with Wang Feng coming to the Lakers, many subsequent important deals for the Lakers were reached with Wang Feng's benefit or even threat. This is not a secret.
At the beginning, the Lakers were interested in top stars such as James, Leonard, and Durant, but Wang Feng's attitude was very resolute. He was once criticized by many Lakers fans for being petty and jealous.
Later, after acquiring Butler through a trade, the Lakers also had the idea of not wanting to extend Butler's contract with the maximum salary. Wang Feng publicly threatened to apply for a trade to leave the team to force the Lakers to renew Butler's contract. This created the Lakers' three consecutive championships.
The hegemony of the dynasty.
During the course of these stories, the Lakers' management seemed to act like a troublemaker. If Wang Feng hadn't been in the limelight and extremely powerful, and if it had been other players, it would have been a different story.
Altman had already experienced Wang Feng's desire for control more than a month ago.
Even before he officially joined the Cavaliers, Wang Feng was already rudely criticizing the Cavaliers' trade signings.
This kind of behavior makes Altman feel a little uncomfortable. After all, this is his right.
But Wang Feng is now a top star whose influence even exceeds that of James at his peak.
When James was with the Cavaliers, he had as much control over the team as Wang Feng. The team had to find ways to trade for the teammates he wanted, and he could even work with whatever coach he wanted.
choose.
Although Altman, who has experienced the James era, may feel a little unhappy, he can quickly adjust his mentality.
Even more than that, he can also draw inferences from one instance to another.
"Wang, I think the current team's lineup is still a bit weak. We still have about 10 million in salary space. Should we sign another player with certain strength in the free market to further strengthen the team's strength?
Better?"
Including Wang Feng's 38 million and Love's 31 million, the Cavaliers' current total salary is only over 90 million, which is even about 5 million short of the NBA's minimum salary for the new season.
Calculated based on the league's salary cap of 112 million for the 21-22 season, the Cavaliers can still sign a player with an annual salary of about 18 million.
Although as the television broadcast contract came into effect, the league's salary cap skyrocketed, and the players' salaries also increased, with super maximum salary contracts of 30 million or even 40 million, but an offer contract with an average annual salary of close to 20 million is in the free market.
We can still compete for some players with good qualifications.
"I have also considered this issue."
Wang Feng thought about it for a while, without hiding it, and said directly: "The Nets' rookie contract expires this year. Jarrett Allen is a good player and has good inside frame protection ability."
"Jarrett Allen?"
Hearing Wang Feng's words, Altman couldn't help but his eyes lit up, and he even felt extremely surprised.
Wang Feng's vision is better than he imagined.
Jarrett Allen has been one of the Cavaliers' investigation targets since last season.
The Cavaliers need a big inside player. They previously traded for former All-Star center Andre Drummond, but the effect was not good.
Jarrett Allen is young, has excellent physical fitness, and full potential. He has the ability to become a defensive gate inside. The important thing is that the price is not particularly expensive, and with the Nets’ explosive salary space, there is no way to match him.
A contract suitable for Jarrett Allen’s abilities.
Of course Altman didn't know, but Wang Feng knew very well that in another time and space, Jarrett Allen should have been traded to the Cavaliers by the Nets last season, and would have successfully completed a five-year, $100 million deal with the Cavaliers this summer.