warrior godfather

On July 7, the Warriors held a signing ceremony at the Chase Center office building.

The venue part of the Datong Center has not yet been renovated, but the two office buildings are the first to be completed.

The lease agreement between the Warriors and the Oakland City Government on the Oracle Center expired. Before the playoffs ended, various departments moved into the office building of the Chase Center one after another.

This is a large-scale signing ceremony, and Bogdan, Rooney, Wood, McConnell, four rookies, and Covington, who renewed his contract in advance, will all participate.

In the end, Yi Jianlian did not return to the Warriors. His former club, the Nets, extended an olive branch to him and offered him a two-year, $2 million contract. Yi Jianlian agreed without thinking too long.

This is the biggest offer he got in the free market. The Nets directly bought out the team's top star Deron Williams and entered the rebuilding period. They promised to give Yi Jianlian enough playing time, which is his best. place.

After reaching an agreement with the Nets, Yi Jianlian came to Zhang Yu again and chatted with him until late at night. He left the Bay Area the next day and flew to Brooklyn to officially sign the contract with the Nets.

Next season, Huaxia fans will have another team to pay attention to.

Yi Jianlian's departure made Huaxia fans a little sad, and Bay Area fans were also quite reluctant.

In the past few seasons, he has been conscientious in the position of backup power forward. supporter.

When the Warriors official Twitter announced that Yi Jianlian was leaving the Warriors, many people left messages below, wishing this Chinese player who contributed all his strength on the Warriors' championship road, and wishing him all the best in the Nets in the future.

People came and went, and the fans felt sorry for Yi Jianlian's departure, which was quickly diluted by the arrival of the four rookies.

These four rookies are not well-known. Rooney, McConnell, and Wood are not young talents. Bogdan has been playing in Europe, and American fans know nothing about them.

But they do know one thing, that is, the people that Coach Z likes are not mediocre people.

They are not well-known now, but under the guidance of Coach Z, they will soon shine.

Some people have used the mediocre performance of JaMychal Green and Bazemore before to point out that Zhang Yu's vision is not always wrong, but as JaMychal Green has secured the position of backup power forward in the Rockets this season, these people It slowly fell silent.

As long as it is the person selected by Zhang Yu, even if he is watching the water dispenser in the Warriors, he can play out when he leaves the Warriors.

So after the Warriors didn't renew Bazemore's contract, the Lakers immediately signed him with a 2-year 300 million contract, wanting to scratch this lottery ticket.

……

The signing ceremony went smoothly. The Warriors first signed with four rookies, and then signed a contract extension with Covington.

So far, the number of players with guaranteed contracts in the Warriors has reached 14, and all of them have long-term contracts of at least 2 years. The first ones to expire are Antetokounmpo and Dinwiddie. Restricted free agency.

And just yesterday, the league announced the salary cap and luxury tax threshold for next season.

2015-2016赛季的工资帽为7000万美元，比上赛季的6306万美元提升了11%，奢侈税触发线则是8470万美元，比上赛季的7682万美元提升了10.3%，但这依旧无法阻挡勇士连续两年缴纳奢侈税。

The salaries of the four main players of Curry, Clay, Leonard, and Green reached 6500 million U.S. dollars, and Wiggins' contract is 576 million U.S. dollars. The total contract amount of these five people exceeds the salary cap.

Including the contracts of the remaining nine players, the Warriors' salary reached exactly $8600 million, which was just over the luxury tax threshold.

This is also due to the fact that most of the Warriors' substitutes are high-quality and cheap basic salary contracts and rookie contracts. They did not renew their contracts with Danny Green, Middleton, and Asik who demanded high salaries. Otherwise, the total salary will go straight to $1 million. go.

But the most important thing is that the salary cap has risen by 11%, which exceeds the normal increase in the past, so that the Warriors need to pay less luxury tax.

The "good luck" of the Warriors made the bosses of other teams very jealous, and the boss was unhappy. Naturally, it was the team's management that suffered. Among them, Cavaliers general manager David Griffin had the worst life.

Irving's rookie contract will expire this summer. His salary next season is 1475 million. Has broken through 1 million US dollars, much higher than the Warriors, need to pay a huge luxury tax
Last season, the total salary of the Cavaliers also reached 8200 million US dollars, about 500 million US dollars higher than that of the Warriors, but they didn't even make it to the finals, which is a big loss.

Now, although the Warriors have left two important substitutes, they have retained the core lineup completely, their strength has not been weakened much, and the luxury tax they need to pay is far less than that of the Cavaliers, which makes Dan Gilbert feel very unbalanced. No less winks to David Griffin.

David Griffin is also wronged, you can't compare us with the Warriors!

If you want to form the Big Three, how can you not pay a lot of luxury taxes?
The Warriors are a special case. Coach Z has a good vision. All the players are selected by himself. There are a bunch of cost-effective basic salary contracts and rookie contracts in the bench lineup, so there is no need to spend a lot of money to reinforce them.

But David Griffin doesn't have the skills of Coach Z, and even if I want to sign a bunch of basic salary, the Big Three can't wait. James is about to be 30 years old, who knows how many years until his peak?
Taking advantage of the fact that the Big Three are at their peak, he can only make deals, sign veterans, and strive to seize the short window of victory.

Anyway, David Griffin doesn't dare to change role players one after another like Coach Z. If the next batch of rotations are unusable, wouldn't the precious window of winning the championship be completely wasted?
David Griffin cried out in his heart, but he didn't dare to say so.

Bosses are the most unreasonable people, they only care about costs and benefits, especially when they see that others have controlled costs, but their subordinates have not, then there is no reason for it, they will only feel that their subordinates are useless, and make themselves lose money. money.

David - Griffin can only silently endure Dan - Gilbert's blame, continue to look for opportunities to strengthen the lineup.

Compared to paying more luxury taxes and being scolded by the boss, David Griffin is more afraid that the Cavaliers will still not be able to win the championship next season.

Anyway, no matter how much luxury tax is paid, it is Gilbert's money, and if the Cavaliers do not perform well, it is he who will be scolded.

……

After the Warriors signed contracts with five players, Covington went home, and the remaining four rookies will live in the hotel arranged for them by the team.

Tomorrow morning, they will fly to Las Vegas by special plane with Livingston, Wiggins and the fringe people recruited by the Warriors to participate in this year's summer league.

Before the rookie left, Zhang Yu handed a separate document to Bogdan:

"Bogdan, this is a training plan made by the coaching staff for you, I hope it can help you."

Bogdan took it, looked through it, and Zhang Yu continued:

"Of course, if you make your own arrangements, of course it's fine, but the team has been observing your game since they selected you last summer. This training plan is specially formulated according to your technical characteristics. It took the coach A lot of thought has been put into organizing and training the team..."

Before he finished speaking, Bogdan raised his head and said in English with a strong accent:
"Thank you, coach, I will follow this plan and train well!"

He just took a rough look at it just now, and he felt that he has benefited a lot. It clearly marked his technical characteristics and several areas that need to be improved, including shot selection, movement and control skills, finishing ability at the basket, etc., all listed Targeted training methods.

If Bogdan is allowed to hire a team of trainers by himself, not only will it cost a lot of money, but the effect will not be so good.

Zhang Yu was in a good mood when he saw that Bogdan was doing good, and said with a smile:

"Call me boss, that's what Stephen and the others call it... Work hard, as you can see, the team lacks a second backup position. As long as your performance is good enough, this position is yours!"

Bogdan was even more excited and nodded heavily:

"Okay, boss, I will stay in the United States this summer, and I won't go back!"

"If this is the case, I can recommend a place to you. Giannis has been training there for the past two offseasons, and Steph has been training there every summer. In the summer of 2011, the league was suspended and the whole team went there to participate. train……"

……

The next day, the improvised summer limited edition of the Warriors flew to Las Vegas by special plane.

On the plane, Bogdan, who received Zhang Yu's suggestion, looked at the clouds outside the porthole, feeling overwhelmed, wishing to finish the summer league right away, and then go to Charlotte for training.

Zhang Yu recommended the accelerated basketball training camp to him. According to Zhang Yu's story, Curry and Antetokounmpo were regular visitors there, and the entire Warriors team was suspended for the season and went there for training.

This made Bogdan have a strong interest in the basketball acceleration training camp, and he can't wait to go there to receive training to make up for his shortcomings and improve his strength, so that he can secure the second position of the Warriors' bench next season.

However, before that, he still has summer league to play, which is also a good opportunity for him to show his strength.

That night, the Warriors, who had just got off the plane, ushered in a game against the Cavaliers.

Ron Adams sent a starting lineup consisting of Livingston, Bogdan, Wiggins, Covington, and Looney to beat the Cavaliers 107:96 and get the summer league opener.

Cole and the Warriors' three-year assistant contract has expired, and a new contract is being negotiated, and he cannot continue to lead the Warriors to the summer league.

The Warriors have been suppressing the Cavaliers all the time, but it is not easy to win.

A few of them rarely play together, and they don't cooperate tacitly. The game is won entirely by individual ability.

Bogdan's first game with the Warriors was not high-level, but his performance was very impressive. He scored 21 points, 3 assists, 5 rebounds and made 5 three-pointers.

Accustomed to the high-intensity confrontation of the European league, the intensity of the summer league is too easy for Bogdan, but his choice of handling the ball is still not good. While sending 3 assists, there are 4 turnovers.

Covington, who sat on the bench for the Warriors for almost a season last season, also performed very well. He scored 16 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 5 steals and 2 blocks. He combined offense and defense and scored 3 three-pointers. The defense is impeccable.

In contrast, Wiggins' performance was a bit mediocre, scoring only 13 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal.

Perhaps the grade of the summer league is too low. Wiggins was lazy in the first half and was not very motivated. The ball was passed again, and I just squatted in the bottom corner and watched my teammates attack.

In the second half, perhaps stimulated by the outstanding performance of Bogdan and Covington, Wiggins showed a high desire to attack.

But the touch of Bogdan and Covington has been cultivated. Livingston and McConnell passed them more. Wiggins didn't have many opportunities. In the end, he only scored 13 points. Can't compete with late first-round picks and undrafted picks in Summer League.

Looney played as a power forward at UCLA. Now he is pushed to the center position. He is very uncomfortable and only retains the rebounding ability he showed in college.

Wood's confrontation is too poor and his defensive habits are poor. He tried several singles, but he couldn't hit the basket. He only had decent shots and hit two open mid-range shots.

McConnell's performance was eye-catching. Both he and Wood almost lost the selection, but he controlled the ball steadily on the court, made few mistakes, and was very accurate in small throws close to the frame. He scored 8 points and 4 assists, only 1 The defensive attitude is also very active, and the biting ability is very strong. Under the intensity of the summer league, the defense does not suffer much.

After the game, Ron Adams emphasized the performance of Bogdan, Covington and McConnell, but did not criticize Rooney and Wood.

Winning or losing the summer league is not important, what is important is to examine the technical characteristics and status of several rookies, and then carry out targeted intensive training. No matter how badly they play, Ron Adams will not say anything.

On July 7, the Warriors defeated the Eagles 13:114 and achieved two consecutive victories.

This game was much easier than playing against the Cavaliers. Bogdan and Covington continued to play brilliantly, scoring 17 points and 14 points respectively, and made a total of 6 three-pointers. The two teammates were motivated, and repeatedly hit the Eagles penalty area and scored 16 points.

In addition, Livingston and McConnell are still very stable, scoring 10 points and 3 assists, 6 points and 7 assists respectively. Only Rooney and Wood performed as badly as the previous game.

Since then, the Warriors relied on strong outside firepower to win consecutive victories against the Kings, Knicks, Kings, and Pelicans all the way, and broke into the Las Vegas Summer League finals.

The Warriors' opponent in the finals was the Spurs, and they also entered the finals with consecutive victories, but they were much worse than the Warriors in terms of lineup.

决赛中，博格丹三分球13中7，全场狂砍28分，考文顿14分11篮板4抢断3封盖，维金斯17分5篮板4助攻2抢断1封盖，勇士以121:106大胜马刺，获得拉斯维加斯夏季联赛冠军。

Relying on his excellent performance averaging 19.6 points, 4.6 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game, Bogdan won the Summer League MVP.

Having experienced the baptism of the European League, the summer league is very easy for Bogdan, with three shooting percentages of 45.5%, 42.1%, and 87.6%, which are high-yielding and efficient.

When Bogdan received the summer league mvp trophy, Wiggins looked at him from the sidelines, pursing his lips tightly with a complicated expression.

Wiggins' performance is also very good, averaging 16.5 points, 5.7 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.8 steals per game. It's worse.

Wiggins's scoring mainly comes from scoring on the inside and mid-range jumpers after singles, and most of them appear in the middle and early stages of the game. At critical moments, the defensive intensity of the game increases, and the Warriors' scoring mainly depends on Bogdan's ball. singles out.

Although Bogdan is not a guard who mainly attacks with the ball, he grew up under the European basketball youth training system. His movement and control skills are much better than Wiggins, and his long shots are better. It is a more stable score at critical moments. At this point, Ron Adams also specially arranged a ball-holding pick-and-roll tactic for him.

Wiggins didn't expect that he would not be the team's first choice when he was the No. [-] pick in the summer league, which made him very upset.

Last summer, he hadn't entered the league yet, so it's okay to not be as good as Middleton. This year, he couldn't even compare to Bogdan, who also didn't enter the league. Even Covington, who has been sitting on the bench, played in the summer league. Not much weaker than him, where will he put his face as the champion?

Wiggins made up his mind that this offseason must practice three-pointers and dribbling. Like Leonard, he must practice accurate shooting and stable mid-range singles. He must not be caught by someone who entered the league later than himself Rookies are down!
His best rookie was taken away by a Serbian, and now the mvp of the summer league was taken away by another Serbian. After entering the league, he will be overwhelmed by this Serbian again?
In fact, Wiggins made a lot of progress last season, but mainly focused on defense, rebounding and off-ball offense, and this happens to be the most difficult thing to reflect in the summer league, so his performance is not as good as Bogdan.

Wiggins has worked hard on three-pointers for a year, but his shooting talent is average, and his progress in long-range shooting has not yet been reflected. The same is true for his movement and control skills. It takes time to accumulate and show up slowly.

Zhang Yu understands the characteristics of Wiggins and is very patient with his training. The barbaric growth of training in competitions is not suitable for him, and the environment of the Warriors does not allow him to do so. The growth of one step a year is the most suitable for Wiggins. s way.

And Bogdan is an excellent shooter, the intensity of the summer league is not as good as that of the European league, so he is like a duck to water, and won the summer league mvp in one fell swoop.

The two are actually players of the same level, but they focus on different aspects. Bogdan can score points, that is, his combat power is stronger, and Wiggins has developed in all aspects and has a higher ceiling.

After the finals, the players disbanded on the spot, but Ron Adams kept Looney and Wood, who had performed poorly in the summer league, and took them back to the Bay Area to meet Zhang Yu.

Looney and Wood looked at Zhang Yu nervously, but Zhang Yu looked at them with a smile and said:
"How do you feel after the summer league?"

The two looked at each other, and Looney spoke first:

"Boss, I don't play very well. I will train hard and try to improve my strength..."

"Me too!" Wood followed up.

The two discussed it in advance, actively admitting mistakes, and must have a good attitude.

Zhang Yu didn't mean to criticize them at all, and kept a faint smile on his face:
"Hehe, don't worry, I don't want to criticize you, I want to talk to you today about your future development direction... I watched your game, Kevin, are you uncomfortable with the center position?"

Looney, whose name was called, scratched his head and wrinkled his face:

"Boss, I used to play in the fourth position, and I'm really not used to the position of the center forward..."

"Then get used to it slowly, and you will play center forward in the future."

"what?"

"Think about it, your speed is not considered fast in the NCAA. If you enter the league and play the 30th position, how much disadvantage will you have in the game? If other teams don't take this into consideration, how can you play with your performance in UCLA? Likely to drop to the [-]th pick?"

Looney was lost in thought, images of summer league games flashing through his mind, scenes of him being swooped by defenders everywhere.

"So, it's a better choice for you to play center forward. Your speed disadvantage at the [-]th position is not a big deal at the [-]th position. You can also give full play to your keen sense of rebounding and protect the frame. Worry, what the team lacks most is the striker, who can help you protect the frame, just practice slowly, what do you think?"

Looney slowly withdrew his thoughts and thought over Zhang Yu's proposal over and over. The more he thought about it, the more reasonable it became, and his eyes became brighter. Zhang Yu didn't urge him, just patiently waiting for his answer.

"Okay, boss, I'll play center from now on!" Looney finally made up his mind.

"Very good!" Zhang Yu smiled and turned to look at Wood, "Christian, you will also play center forward in the future."

"I play center too?"

"That's right, you are different from Kevin. Kevin needs to play center forward to cover up his disadvantages, but I let you play center forward to play to your strengths."

"What is my advantage...?" Wood muttered to himself.

"Your touch is very soft, which is rare in the interior, but there are still many space fours in the league. Drummond is a very famous one. Putting it on the four, your advantages are not reflected. come out, but the space-type fifth position is rare, and switching to the center can maximize your advantages. And the team already has Drummond and Giannis in the fourth position, it is difficult for you to compete with them Competition, but you and Kelly and Kevin's characteristics do not completely overlap, and you have more chances to play."

Under Zhang Yu's detailed explanation, Wood nodded again and again, and when he heard the last sentence, he replied directly:
"Boss, I am willing to play center forward!"

He was selected with the 60th overall pick in the second round. The difference in talent can be seen in general. The most important thing is to have a chance to play. What is the difference between the fourth and fifth positions?
Zhang Yu smiled and said:

"Very well, then you will work hard on three-pointers and defense in the summer, gain weight according to the plan, improve confrontation and strength...Kevin, you also need to gain weight, but you don't need to practice three-pointers, you need to practice frame protection, switching defenses, and pick-and-rolls Just choose the position and keep the mid-range shooting training. You have also seen that the team only has Kelly as a center. As long as you perform well, you will not miss opportunities to play."

Looney and Wood looked at each other, saw the hot light in each other's eyes, and replied in unison:

"No problem, boss!"