basketball never sleeps

Chapter 270 Tell Cuban to get ready for 100 points (6.5K)

As soon as the news of the Cavaliers' two signings came out, it was like the landing of "Little Boy" and "Fat Man". Cleveland suddenly became extremely hot, and other regions also suffered a certain degree of impact and radiation.

Several teams including the Supersonics, Mavericks, Spurs, Suns, Pistons, etc. did not have major personnel changes before the trade deadline.

After all, when it comes to achieving good results, stability is everything. Just like in a long-distance race, what the runners need is to maintain a certain speed and persevere, rather than stopping halfway to change into a new pair of shoes that fit their feet.

But this is just to deal with the fans' comments.

The fact is that each team also wants to change tires and refuel in the middle of a car race. There is no such thing as a perfect team. Unless a team can win all the time, it will be able to find shortcomings and areas for improvement.

But reinforcement comes at a price, and the price for strengthening a strong team will only be greater.

There are many big-name players who intend to leave the team at the moment, including Klay, Harden, McGrady, Hill, the Nets' two stars, and Pierce, who are not for sale. Even Billups, who has thick eyebrows and big eyes, has started to become a sea king, casting a wide net and making more friends because he will become a free agent in the summer.

Everyone is envious of these second-hand virgin girls, but looking at the up to 88 yuan betrothal gift, the "single" weak team can still spend all their family funds to give it a try, while the strong team who are already married and have to take out a "bride price loan" can really feast their eyes.

But the knight, who had no moral principles, actually ate it, and he ate a pair of "sisters". It's not too excessive, but - it's really damn it!
"Robbery, this is definitely a robbery. Mike Bibby is a real All-Star player. He averaged 21 points and 5.5 assists last season. The Cavaliers only used Drew Gooden, who averaged 11 points and 8 rebounds per game, and a worthless first-round pick to trade him. What else could this be but robbery?"

During the team's training session, Popovich angrily complained to the media, "There must be insider trading, otherwise this kind of transaction would never happen!"

"I think the league shouldn't have approved this deal so hastily. The Kings still have hope of making the playoffs, but they traded away their biggest star and almost only point guard at this time. This is obviously not in line with business logic. Stern should investigate the issues behind this deal."

At about the same time, Cuban also spoke on his own radio station.

The Spurs and Mavericks were really anxious. Not only did their representatives speak out, but their fans also bombarded the league's customer service phone line with complaint letters that flooded the league's mail room like Harry Potter's admission letters.

The Heat, which had been invincible for two years, finally collapsed due to Mo Wen's departure and injuries. The Pistons also lost their dominance on the defensive end due to rule changes and the departure of Ben Wallace. The pattern of the strong West and weak East reappeared, and the good days when the Western Conference championship was equal to the NBA championship are coming back.

At the last moment, a five-star knight popped out.

The youngest in history, MVP James, "Mullin of the time" Reed, the white devil Bibby, the old king Webber, and the veteran All-Star center Big Z.

Combined with the relatively easy Eastern Conference playoffs, it's like one tough guy falls and another tough guy comes up!

That's right, James was beaten badly by the Heat in last year's playoffs. He did all kinds of things, but in the end he was easily swept and lost face.

But the problem is that last year the Heat swept from the first round to the finals, achieving the first "FFFF" (four) in NBA history.

The Cavaliers, who are already in the first tier of the Eastern Conference, have added two All-Star players, and the outcome of this year's championship seems to be a little uncertain.

In the president's office, Stern responded to the Nets owner who called to question him with a relatively gentle tone.

The Spurs and Mavericks are very angry, and the Eastern Conference teams are also feeling bad.

Everyone felt that the Cavaliers had seriously disrupted the balance and dampened everyone's enthusiasm.

But Stern now became the embodiment of rules, telling these selfish bosses that there was nothing wrong with the transaction according to the league's existing regulations.

Yes, this transaction by the Cavaliers is not in line with the concept he has always promoted, that is, one person, one city, and everyone gets rich together.

But as Mo Wen's influence grows stronger, he must strike a corresponding balance.

Last year he gave the MVP to A-Jan and the FMVP to Mo Wen, so this year it would be a perfect time to switch things up.

When Mo Wen returns to the finals stage again next year or the year after, the league can hype up another 23VS66, the Son of Fortune fighting against the alien demons, or in a more Americanized way, it would be the Jedi Knight fighting against the Imperial Stormtroopers.

Even though Stern is already in his sixties, thinking about that scene still makes his blood boil.

The rise of the Cavaliers will definitely affect the competitiveness of the Eastern Conference, but when the Magic and Bird were competing, most of the time other teams were just slacking off, and it didn't prevent the league's copyright from becoming more and more valuable, and more and more people were watching the game.

It is not a big deal to deliberately write a script. We all know that colorful drinks are added with technology and are unhealthy, but if there is a choice, who would drink plain water?

As for insider trading or something like that, that's not really the case.

The Kings' performance was on the edge of the playoffs, and there was no hope of going further after entering the playoffs, so it was normal for their owners, the Maloof brothers, to learn from Sterling and start controlling costs in order to gain more profits.

Of course, Stern could also see the little thoughts of the Maloof brothers. The most popular Webber, Peja and Bibby had all left, and it was impossible for local fans not to be disappointed.

Like Bennett, the Maloof brothers have been submitting requests for a new arena.

If the government does not approve the construction of a new stadium and the fans become disunited, they will have the opportunity to move the team to a big city, such as Las Vegas, the home base of the Maloof brothers.

Without Bibby, the Kings' salary space has approached the poverty line. From the most optimistic point of view, they have the opportunity to recruit two superstars at the same time in the summer to directly revitalize the half-dead situation.

After the Sonics' market was revitalized by Mo Wen and they were temporarily unable to move out, Stern took a tacit attitude towards the Maloof brothers' behavior.

He needs a moving-away-team example to convince hard-line politicians to fund NBA arena construction.

Otherwise, saying "If you don't pay for the new arena, we'll move out" every day will have no deterrent effect at all.

But he is not optimistic about the Maloof brothers' relocation plan. The Kings have moved to five cities in history and are even nicknamed the "wandering kings." However, Sacramento fans are very loyal and there are no teams from other sports leagues in the area. In order to keep the only team in the city, the local municipal government is more likely to make concessions...

In the Sonics' training hall, during the training breaks, the players were discussing the trade with the Cavaliers.

Because other teams have very little voice in the trading market, and most of them are just patching up second-round picks and marginal players, the sports pages of almost all newspapers are expressing their opinions on this matter.

Bibby and Webber are indeed worthy of this topic.

Bibby has never been to the All-Star Game nor has he received any honors such as the Best Team. One reason is that his playing style is relatively steady. He does not have a picturesque fadeaway or the ability to pat his chest and roar after shooting. The second reason is that he cannot understand Excel. The third reason is that there are always a few people who are better than him in his generation.

He is of the same type as the future Mike Conley. When people mention him, they all say he is excellent, but if you ask him who is the best point guard of his era, Klay 22 years ago couldn't count on him - at least he would have to count four fingers.

As for Webber, although his decline has made the 76ers unable to help but cut him, looking at his salary, Webber is actually making the highest salary in the league this year, making him a real superstar.

Looking at his average stats for the 76ers, they are not that bad. His average of 11+8 is not inferior to Drew Gooden.

To round it off, the Cavaliers traded a late first-round pick for Bibby.

After hearing the news, Mo Wen was surprised for two seconds at first, and then did not show too much worry. Fortunately, for him, this team of knights did not become more difficult to beat.

This transaction looks very good on paper, just like marrying a sweet-looking Sichuan girl. Looking at the pretty bride, everyone can imagine the future groom's happy life, but only Sichuan kids know that the road to Shu is as difficult as climbing to heaven.

Looking at the statistics, Gooden is just an ordinary double-double player, but his value to the Cavaliers' defense is not comparable to that of Webber, who only has mediocre athletic ability.

Big Z is getting slower and slower, James is unwilling to do the dirty work, and Varejao is not mature enough. Although Drew Gooden's defensive level is only in the middle of the league, he is the most influential person in the Cavaliers' defense.

Historically, Duncan's shooting percentage dropped by 10% when he was double-teamed in this year's finals, and Gooden contributed greatly to this.

Bibby has indeed improved the Cavaliers' perimeter defense. His broad shoulders make it easy for him to defend against back-to-the-basket shots. But Bibby is only 185cm tall after all. The trouble he can cause to Mo Wen is limited.

Ray Allen was also holding a newspaper, which did not have any photos of the Cavaliers' Big Five, but instead had a gambling table and a series of numbers on it.

The newspaper was the Seattle Daily News, and it was discussing the previous bet between the SuperSonics and Seattle regarding the renovation fund.

Up to now, the Supersonics have defended 30 home games and won 600 million in renovation funds to be doubled.

But in the next 26 games, the remaining 12 home opponents of the Supersonics can be said to be full of strong teams, several of which are from the Eastern Conference, and the others are all strong teams in the Western Conference playoff sequence.

The Seattle media is quite optimistic. They think the SuperSonics can at least defend 8 home games. As for defending all of their home games, they are not so optimistic yet.

After the All-Stars, the intensity of the game began to approach that of the playoffs. The Supersonics had the burden of winning streak and the top spot in the early stage. At that time, not only Mo Wen, but other players also fought very hard on the court. In the second half, they all had problems with their physical reserves to varying degrees.

Although the SuperSonics were still on a winning streak before the All-Stars, fans watching the game could feel that the SuperSonics were clearly lacking strength when facing strong teams.

"12 home games, how many do you think we can hold on to?" Ray Allen asked.

"Every game." Mo Wen answered straightforwardly and firmly.

"Sometimes I can't tell whether you are confident or arrogant."

"Everyone knows that we Chinese are the most humble." Mo Wen showed a smile that he thought was shy, but Ray Allen did not see any humility in it.

"Is your goal this season really still the championship?" Turning his eyes away from the newspaper, a hint of melancholy somehow appeared in Ray Allen's eyes again.

"Why have you become so effeminate?" Mo Wen was too lazy to answer.

"Mr. Bennett said that if the funds finally approved by the municipal government are sufficient, he might consider raising some more funds to build a new stadium directly."

"What kind of new scam is this?" Mo Wen raised his eyebrows. He had heard others talk about building a new stadium for the Supersonics, but he didn't believe that Bennett, a sports businessman, had such an idea.

"What if he's serious?" But before Mo Wen could answer, Ray Allen continued to talk:

"Next season, your salary and mine, plus Chandler's salary, will almost fill the salary cap. Add in other role players and we'll hit the luxury tax line. But Dak wants to renew his contract, and Bennett wants to build a new arena. What do you think will happen?"

"I don't know who will leave by then, but there is a high probability that someone will leave, unless you can really win the championship as you said."

"It seems that we still have a lot of time. Except for me, you are all very young. But what I want to say is that the time left for you may not be that abundant." Mo Wen fell silent. What Ray Allen said was what he had thought about before coming to the Supersonics.

In fact, unless you join a team like New York or Portland where the boss is stupid, rich and willing to obey, or meet a "suck-up" like Cuban or Gilbert who is willing to spend money when he meets "true love", it will be difficult to maintain a stable championship-contending lineup as you wish.

Most players play for dollars rather than passion, and the same goes for owners running their teams.

It is easy to always maintain an All-Star lineup, but the problem is that the basketball copy space is to teach him how to play, not to teach him how to be a team manager.

Having traveled through time and space with a cheat, he certainly doesn't want to have any regrets. But if in order to avoid regrets, he forces himself to bury himself among star teammates, then will he have no regrets when he looks back on his career?

If he doesn't think about developing his own upper limit and only relies on his brothers, or sacrifices his brothers for personal performance, then isn't he "that kind of person"?
Of course, he would never force himself to endure hardships or be a cash cow like Yao Ming did in history, and Bennett's position may not be so stable.

A few days ago, Congressman Mark told him that if the municipal investment is really sufficient, there must be conditions for equity investment. Once official power is involved, it would be fine if Bennett runs the team honestly and makes money. But if he messes around, with the current popularity of the Supersonics, Seattle will have no shortage of people to take over.

So, after going around in circles, we still have to win the championship.

"You're right, so take care of your body. Otherwise, if you fail to win the championship, you old man might be traded." Mo Wen joked.

……

In the five games after the All-Star Game, the Supersonics secretly lost a game to the Warriors in Golden State, breaking their winning streak that was about to break double digits.

As soon as March began, the Supersonics faced a tough battle at home.

The Pistons, who were competing with the Cavaliers for the top spot in the Eastern Conference, burst out with unprecedented energy today, alternating the lead with the Supersonics more than 20 times until the last 2 minutes of the fourth quarter.

David Lee, who was promoted to the starting lineup after the All-Star Game, showed his hot hand in the All-Star Rookie Game. In the first three quarters, he made 14 of 8 shots and 6 of 6 free throws, scoring 22 points and becoming the biggest contributor to the Pistons' keeping up with the Supersonics' firepower.

Although David Lee is still one step away from being as good as Ben Camby on the defensive end, he has already earned the nickname "Contemporary Laimbeer" on the offensive end.

When it comes to Laimbeer, most people probably think of him as "a rich second-generation white man who came to the NBA to legally beat up black people" or "murderous basketball". Coincidentally, David Lee is also a rich second-generation white man who has to go back to inherit billions of dollars if he doesn't play well...

In fact, compared to the dirty moves that made Laimbeer famous, Laimbeer also has good offensive abilities. Although his shooting is slow, his accuracy is good. He is also one of the few centers in that era who consciously developed three-pointers. He has solid footwork and is very stable in attacking the basket. During his peak period, he averaged 15+ points per game for many consecutive years.

Detroit is Webber's hometown. After being cut, Webber originally planned to play hometown basketball. However, after learning from the lessons of Mo Wen and Milicic, the Pistons attached great importance to training new talents.

They were afraid that introducing Webber would affect the training of David Lee. If they signed Webber but did not let him play, his personality would destroy the locker room environment. So they simply rejected Webber's intention to join.

But David Lee was not the protagonist today, and at the last moment the basketball was handed over to two people with big hearts.

"Hey, you only scored 8 points today, Changxi. If you miss one of these two free throws, it will be hard for you to score double digits in less than two minutes." Mo Wen mocked Billups in a frivolous tone at the free throw line. "If you can't even score double digits, how can you get a big contract with an annual salary of tens of millions?"

Billups rolled his eyes at Mo Wen, tried his best to keep calm, and made one of two free throws.

The Pistons lost 105:104 to the Supersonics, missing a great opportunity to widen the gap.

Damn!

He wasn't talking about that bitch Mo Wen, but his physical fitness.

Even if he exercises every day, he can't withstand the constant consumption of the Supersonics throughout the game. After all, he is 30 years old and can't stay hard as long as he wants like when he was young.

In the Supersonics' round, Prince was still the only one defending, while the others were ready at all times.

The Pistons also wanted to double-team Mo Wen, but they led by 8 points at the beginning of the fourth quarter. It was because of the double-team on Mo Wen that Ray Allen and Milicic found opportunities to hit him consecutively, directly eliminating the score difference.

Feeling his sore calf muscles, Mo Wen sometimes wondered if he would be a lot more relaxed if there wasn't that damn home-court bet.

But apart from the heart-wrenching moral issues like “poor families spend their meager savings to watch him play”, he also needs some motivation to distinguish between the copy and reality.

Mo Wen pushed the ball forward with his left hand, but Prince was not the kind of fish that would bite as soon as it saw the bait. Not only did he not step forward to grab the ball, he even retreated half a step.

Then Mo Wen stepped forward and pulled back his right hand. While slowing down his steps, he buckled his right hand and hid the ball behind him.

Prince immediately perked up, and this move was considered a classic breakthrough by Mo Wen.

Because it is difficult to observe Mo Wen's ball path, it is difficult to determine the direction of breakthrough. Mo Wen can directly break through with a cross step after changing hands, or he can shake his back and dribble back to his right hand and break through with the same step.

Fortunately, he made the right bet this time, but he soon realized that something went wrong. His steps were a little weak when he was blocking, and he didn't step firmly enough to put up any resistance.

Mo Wen immediately noticed Prince's mistake, and A-Jan took possession of him and made a direct breakthrough.

Rashid, who was guarding the inside, returned to defense in time, but unfortunately he hesitated for half a second between sending Mo Wen to the free throw line and trying his best to defend Mo Wen's shot.

So Mo Wen, with the interference of Rashid's long arms, shot the ball into the frame against the spin.

2+1, without any defense, he also gave Mo Wen an extra free throw, it was a "double happiness".

Standing at the free throw line, it was Billups' turn to talk trash.

"You are the highest paid youngster. If you miss a crucial free throw, others should..."

Swah——

As long as I shoot fast enough, your trash talk can't catch up with me!

"Are you expecting the three-point king to miss a three-pointer?"

Mo Wen bumped into Billups' shoulder.

Either Mo Wen is a die-hard fan of Joe, or as long as 2+1 is counted as a three-pointer, then Danzi's three-pointer is also at a historical level.

As for himself, the four-point shot is the realm of God, no one should have any objection to this, right?

In the last minute, both sides made two misses, and Tyson was sent to the free throw line, making 1 of 2.

Unfortunately, Billups missed the last-second three-pointer, and Sonics fans lost the chance to experience overtime.

It is worth mentioning that so far in the season, the other 29 teams have experienced at least one overtime, but the Supersonics have never played overtime!

What is a socialist successor? (Tactical retreat)

In front of the TV, seeing Billups miss the shot, Terry threw away the remote control with regret and patted Dirk on the shoulder.

"We have to rely on ourselves."

If the Supersonics lose this game, the Mavericks' net win will be only 2 games behind the Supersonics. Considering that the Supersonics still have to play two games with the Mavericks, the Supersonics will be overtaken by them if rounded off.

The Mavericks' performance this season is also quite exaggerated. If they hadn't lost 4 games at the beginning of the season while trying to find their form, with their current record, they might not be able to challenge the Heat's 75 wins, but they could at least challenge the Bulls' 72 wins.

Of course, there are not so many ifs in the world. After finding the right form, the Mavericks still played with amazing dominance - they became the only team after the Bulls to have four consecutive double-digit wins in the season.

Nowitzki has also been climbing up the MVP rankings, firmly securing the second spot, and the calls for Nowitzki to win the MVP are growing louder and louder.

The Dallas Morning News stated that if the Mavericks win consecutive games against the SuperSonics in subsequent matchups and overtake them to win the best regular season record, then even if Mo Wen has better statistics and wins the scoring and assists titles, the MVP should be given to Nowitzki.

Because the Supersonics still have two All-Star players, and Nowitzki is leading the team alone.

Cuban highly praised this view and promoted it in front of the media.

"It's obvious that Dirk is the better one. He is more selfless and helps the team more. Mo is of course an amazing player. I will never forget his performance in the finals. His 88 points this year also made me wonder if he was transformed by aliens.

But he doesn't have such a magical performance in every game. He only scored 40 points in the last game, so we won because our defense has evolved. Unless he can score 50 points every game, I think the final winner will still be us and Dirk. "

"If Dirk beats Mo three times in a row and the judges give him the MVP, it only means that you chose him as the MVP just to see him get embarrassed like LeBron did last year."

At the press conference after the Supersonics game, a reporter relayed Cuban's remarks to Mo Wen.

Cuban studied... journalism?

Wait, Cuban is indeed in the media business (Cuban’s second venture was a sports video and audio website).

To be honest, this was the first time that Mo Wen encountered a situation where the other party jumped up and took advantage of him before he had even settled the account in his little notebook.

Mo Wen, who really likes to follow the hot news, decided to take advantage of other people's jokes this time.

- After Arenas scored 60 points in the game against Kobe, he began to frequently clamor for 50+60+ in subsequent games against opponents. After being kicked out of the Dream Team by K., Arenas wrote on his blog that if he had the opportunity to return to college, he would rather waste an NBA season. He would score 88 points in the game against Duke University just to teach K. a lesson.

With a "nuclear-kind" smile on his face, Mo Wen slowly extended a finger under the curious gaze of the reporter.

"Two games with 2 points, tell Cuban to get ready for 50 points."

　I don't think there's anything in 4K, and I encoded it a bit, so it's late.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)