After the confession failed, I went to the NBA to play and lose weight

Chapter 357
"LI, do you have any thoughts about the draft, or about trades and signings?"

When the championship parade was over and Li Chengming was about to return to China, Orlando Smith, the general manager of the Magic team, came to the airport to see him off and asked such a question, which stunned Li Chengming.

But he quickly reacted and grinned.

What does this mean?
The most intuitive thing is that his current status in the team has improved.

In the past, even before the end of the finals, how could the manager have such an attitude towards him?

This is enough to show that whether it is from the perspective of the team management or the order of the boss, Smith now treats him as the core of the team.

As a commercial league, the NBA has a very important status of stars, especially the core of the team. Therefore, managers and coaches will also consider their opinions when adjusting the lineup and arranging tactics.

Sometimes it is even to make the core play more comfortable, so as to match the lineup.

Li Chengming is obviously qualified to suggest or even decide the team's lineup selection now, and there is another important reason why Smith would ask this question, because in the next few days, the annual NBA Draft will arrive.

08 was a small draft year, but no matter how big or small, it has little to do with the Magic, after all, they don't have a high pick.

As the new championship champions, they only have a No. 30 pick in the first round. This kind of non-stop pick makes the team obviously have a headache when making choices, because they may only choose to miss.

Otherwise, it is to trade the draft picks, or to seek an upward trade, or to trade future draft picks, or simply do transactions involving player transfers for reinforcement.

Of course, it is also possible to exchange some cash directly.

For the championship team, defending the title is an issue they must consider during the offseason, so most teams will choose to keep the core lineup first after winning the championship, and then make minor repairs.

There is also some overthrow and rebuilding, but in terms of the current core age group of the Magic, it is far from that time.

In this way, the opinions of the head coach and the core of the team are very important. What they want and need, they must tell the general manager to let him operate.

However, Smith obviously tasted the sweetness in Li Chengming's draft. He missed it once, and of course he wanted to do it a second time.

In fact, for the current Magic, if they can choose a good player in the draft, train them well in the regular season in the new season, and play a certain role in the playoffs, it will be considered a success.

Li Chengming is also honest and blunt. After thinking for a while, he said: "I think we still need a player with enough size and tough defense at the third position. If it is a draft, we should investigate in this direction. Of course, this is just my personal opinion. Opinion."

Smith nodded thoughtfully, smiled and said, "Okay, I'll look in this direction."

Li Chengming hesitated for a moment, and then said: "Actually, it's okay if there are better defenders. I mean the ball-handling aspect."

Smith was slightly taken aback, then understood and nodded.

In fact, at the end of the playoffs last season, the Magic almost only had Nelson as a genuine point guard.

Arroyo has not been as good as before since her injury. In the playoffs, she had to shoot but didn't shoot, and she couldn't defend if she wanted to defend. Even her breakthrough was limited by injuries.

If it weren't for the magic team's real organizational core, Turkoglu was actually responsible, and at the same time, Li Chengming also undertook part of the organization's work, because of the shortcomings in this area, they are likely to have problems.

Although it seems that such a big problem is not a big problem now that they have won the championship, the team must still respect objective laws. After all, who knows if there will be a team that will make a big fuss about their problems next season.

Especially for the Lakers in the finals, their lineup only needs to survive the offseason. In fact, it can be stronger without reinforcements, because they have important inside players absent from the injured bench.

In the offseason, they will definitely seek outside reinforcements, which is the only point where they can strengthen their advantage against the Magic.

The same is true for other teams. As the defending champion of the new season, the Magic is destined to become the biggest imaginary enemy of every team in the league that is committed to winning the championship. Instead, it is specifically aimed at them, especially the strong teams in the East that have a certain strength foundation, such as the Pistons and Cavaliers.

As for Lukai, there is no room for improvement in their lineup, mainly because there is no room for trading. We can only see whether the trio can work together better next season and whether Rondo can grow further.

After all, in this playoffs, Rondo's shooting can be said to have affected Green Kai to go further.

Competitors will find ways to strengthen themselves. If the Magic team stays in place or even regresses next season, then defending the title may become wishful thinking.

Judging from the current situation, the Magic will retain most of the original lineup in the new season, and the main core will remain in the team, including Li Chengming, Howard, Turkoglu, Lewis, Nelson, and an important rotation member, Gota. Te, Bogans, Foyer.

They all have contracts, or simply want to fight for a good contract for their future in the contract year. For example, Turkoglu does not need to use defending to mobilize his enthusiasm.

Of course, Redick estimates that the new season will also have a chance to be reused. After all, he is a shooter trained by himself. Last season, whether it was the regular season or the playoffs, he played a limited time and played a certain role. It is time for him to come out.

Even if you don't play well in the end, you can still seek deals during the season.

As for the rest, they basically either trade or don't have to renew their contracts.

They are all replaceable, and even better ones can be found, but with the current salary space of the Magic, their maneuverability is not high when the owner is not willing to exceed the luxury tax too much, so they still eat rookies. Benefits are better.

Similarly, Li Chengming's rookie benefits are enough for them to eat for the next season, and then they have to consider the issue of contract renewal. Of course, the Magic will also be Li Chengming's priority, but if other teams are willing to spend a lot of money, It's not that Li Chengming doesn't think about leaving.

Like Smith now, part of him has shown his favor to Li Chengming and started to prepare for next year's contract renewal.

When he came to bid farewell to Smith and the others, Li Chengming took Li's father and other members of the team and boarded the plane back to China.

As for Amy Adams, who had agreed to go there together, she would have to delay for another two days, and Li Chengming might be asked to pick up the plane instead.

Also, Dayao returned to China beforehand. He also has a lot of business trips to run. Seeing that the recovery training in Los Angeles is almost done, he simply returned to China to finish the chores and take a good rest at the same time. After a while, prepare to enter the national team training camp.

Of course, Li Chengming's itinerary was announced early on. With his current domestic attention, it can be said that hundreds of millions of people are watching his words, deeds and actions.

When he was in the United States, Li Chengming also experienced the situation of being double-teamed by fans, but it was not until he returned to China that he realized that it was nothing but the people of the motherland.

"Li Chengming! Li Chengming!"

Li Chengming still walked through the VIP channel, but when he came out, he was still taken aback by the congested scene in front of him. The key point was that most of them were mainly men, and the momentum of shouting out was even more astonishing.

Father Li seemed to know better, and was mentally prepared for this. He patted Li Chengming's shoulder from behind, and said with a smile, "Son, don't underestimate your status in the hearts of the people of the motherland."

(End of this chapter)