no shortcuts in basketball

Chapter 133 Don't Let Loyalty Kill You
Yao Ming didn't appear too surprised. Leaving the Rockets was one of the options he was considering. If not, he wouldn't have come to Tempe on purpose.

It's just like what he said at the beginning, the loyalty in his character prevents him from making that kind of determination.

"Brother Yao, you also saw what happened to McGrady last season. The Rockets are now offering you such a contract, which means that once you encounter a similar situation, they will never show mercy." Xu Yong said.

Yao Ming nodded, signaling Xu Yong to continue.

"And Brother Yao knows his own body. This year's contract should be the last big contract in your career. Even if you don't think about yourself, you should think about your family, right?" Xu Yong continued.

Yao Ming drank another glass upon hearing this.

"They're actually right," he continued.

"Yes, they are right, because the NBA is a commercial league, but since it is a commercial league, they don't talk to you anymore, and you still talk to them, doesn't it seem a bit...pretentious?" Xu Yong looked at Yao Ming said.

Because it's Yao Ming, he used the words more euphemistically, but a more appropriate term is actually like licking the so-called goddess.

People don't care about you, what's the point of you caring about others?
Yao Ming looked at Xu Yong and stopped talking. Obviously, he was a little moved by Xu Yong's words.

Seeing this, Xu Yong also struck while the iron was hot: "Don't let loyalty harm you, Brother Yao!"

Yao Ming was taken aback for a moment, and then gave a wry smile.

"Actually, Brother Yao, you don't have to think too much. Just leave the matter to the agent. Go around the free market and pick the best offer. If the Rockets give the same offer, then stay. Here, then you leave, anyway, our main goal is the London Olympics, isn't it?" Xu Yong continued.

Yao Ming smiled and nodded upon hearing this, yes, the thing he cares most about now is the London Olympics.

"It's Artest..." Yao Ming felt a little emotional after laughing.

He has been in the Rockets for so many years, he had a good relationship with Francis before, then Mutombo, and now it is Battier and Artest.

Especially Artest, who stayed with the Rockets last season because of him. If he pats his ass and turns around and leaves, it can't be justified.

"It's simple, Brother Yao, you can sign and exchange. The Rockets definitely don't want to send you away for nothing. You are doing your best to leave assets for the Rockets. Artest is also old. You can ask him about his personal wishes. If you want, you can go together as Timotou." Xu Yong is very flexible.

Yao Ming's eyes lit up after listening, and finally he showed a happy smile.

Sure enough, his trip to Tempe was not in vain.

……

"Don't let loyalty kill you."

Garnett's advice from the All-Star break echoed in James' mind.

In fact, he also hesitated about leaving the Cavaliers, mainly from two aspects.

One is the idol Jordan. If he leaves the Cavaliers, he will never have the opportunity to chase his idol again.

The second is to go to a new team. He may not have the privileges he had in Cleveland.

Because this time he is rushing to compete for the championship, he must cooperate with other stars.

So he got in touch with Wade, who had a good relationship, and the place he wanted to go most now was the meeting that was going to happen soon.

Knicks.

The previous rumors are true, the Knicks are his first choice.

The Knicks also have three advantages: backed by New York, salary space, and a new team.

Backed by New York Needless to say, in terms of salary space, New York is now the only team that can provide three maximum salaries at the same time.

That's right, he did communicate with Riley before about the Big Three, but he is such a smart person, so naturally he won't be led by the nose by Riley. It's a good idea to form the Big Three, but New York also Can.

Then there is the third point, the new team, not Wade's team. At that time, he can naturally become the boss of the new team by virtue of his style of play.

Soon, his agent, Leon Ross, led him into the meeting room.

In the conference room, Knicks general manager Walsh and owner Dolan are both there.

But what made him feel uncomfortable as soon as he entered was that neither Walsh nor Dolan showed the enthusiasm for his arrival as he imagined.

It also quickly turned out to be a very bad meeting.

Walsh barely expressed his welcome to join him, although like Wade's first meeting with Foreman, the topic was more about staying outside the team's plan.

But Dolan, the owner with the worst reputation in the league, even though he had made sufficient preparations before coming, the arrogance of the capitalist still made him very unhappy.

Although he is a part-timer, you can't make me feel that I am a part-timer all the time.

But Dolan doesn't seem to be aware of this, or in his world, these players are just a group of wage earners.

Even, he might feel pretty good. At the end of the meeting, he gave James a personal CD, expressing his agreement with James to join.

After the meeting was over and he left the building, James threw the CD directly into the trash can at the door.

He swore that as long as a guy like Dolan was the boss for a day, the Knicks would never have a bright future.

No one has come to this big city before, it's really not that others don't have eyes, but that they deserve it.

But when he got in the car, he was even more annoyed. If the Knicks ruled it out, his better choices would be the Nets and the Heat.

"Where is Dwayne now?" He asked Rose beside him.

Ross shook his head.

James frowned. Rose's ability is far worse than Rich Paul's. It seems that he will find an opportunity to replace him later.

……

"Still no progress?" Foreman frowned as he listened to the assistant's report.

It's been two days, and the Bulls asked around, not to mention that the Raptors did not agree to sign and trade, and no one from other teams was willing to take over Hinrich and Deng.

Hinrich played as a substitute for several seasons and still has a contract for two seasons, so it's really not that easy to give away.

But what Deng said is at least a normal contract, and he is young, so it shouldn't be so unmarketable.

"Try again." Foreman could only urge his assistants to step up their efforts. Trading this kind of thing can only be done at your own will, and it is impossible for him to force others to trade with you.

……

Chicago to Cleveland on a private jet.

Riley is sipping red wine while eating the freshest Chicago steak.

He turned his head and glanced out the window. At this time, the plane had just taken off, overlooking the city of Chicago.

There are many tall buildings and rivers and lakes.

What a beautiful and Gotham city.

In fact, long before the free market opened, he predicted that his biggest competitor was the Bulls.

That's not just because he knew Wade wanted to go back to Chicago, but also because of the competitiveness shown by the Bulls.

A young team that has just completed its eighth season and has huge salary space is extremely attractive to free agents.

Don't say that Wade is from Chicago, even if he is not from Chicago, he will have ideas.

So what he has to do is very simple, that is, to PK Chicago.

That's why he didn't stay in Miami, but chose to come to Chicago.

Of course, this is just the most inconspicuous thing he does.

His earliest, really effective thing was to contact James and then propose the idea of ​​the Big Three.

That's right, it is to bind three people, and then export this concept to the three people, so that they realize that they are not actually three people, but a whole.

One purpose of this is that as long as the trio is in one, it is impossible for them to go to the Bulls because of James.

James was a bit of a loser, and he was beaten away, but he was not at the point where he couldn't beat him and joined.

As for the Big Three going to other teams, he is not worried at all.

Most likely the Knicks, but as someone who coached in New York for four years, he knows the Knicks and Dolan all too well.

He can even predict that the Knicks may not even get a second chance to meet James.

So his operation is actually to set up fences for the "fish pond" of this year's free market early, and wait for the fish to drill into the sets he put.

However, man is not a god after all. After all his calculations, he still missed one point, which is Wade's determination to go to the Bulls.

Fortunately, he has been in the league for so many years. He can know when Bosh will arrive in Chicago, and he can also know the Bulls' movements.

After learning that the Bulls were actively selling Hinrich and Deng, he already guessed that Wade and Bosh wanted to join the Bulls together.

So he did one thing, which was to reveal the Bulls' thoughts to other teams in the league in advance.

The core lineup of Rose, Xu Yong, and Noah will make the Cavaliers No. [-] in the East black eight. If Wade and Bosh are added to this, the key is that they are still so young, five years, no, ten years of rule.

True League Finale!

When other teams heard the news, let alone rejecting the Bulls directly, they must be very conflicted in their hearts.

Even a bad team hopes to have a chance to rise in a few years. You seem to have no hope for ten years. If it doesn't contradict you, who do you contradict?
Moreover, Hinrich has negative equity, Deng barely has positive equity but has a long contract, which in itself is not very attractive to other teams.

What's more, because of Xu Yong's trade last year, the Bulls' most valuable first-round pick this year has also been sent away.

What?A future first-round pick?
You are going to form a lineup like this for the finale. Who cares about your high probability 30th pick!

The first round sounds the same as the first round, but it's actually very different.

So basically, when the Bulls call now, they are either directly rejected, or they say, "Is it okay to add a head? Who to add, Xu Yong!" The Bulls are so angry that they hang up the phone.

Riley finished the last steak, wiped his mouth with a hot towel, and stood up smiling.

The Big Three, he has never done such an exciting thing in his life, and now, it is really getting closer.

……

The time came to July 7th, and it had been five days since the free market opened.

At this time, some contracts have been signed one after another.

Some teams have already started their own reinforcements after knowing that they are out of play.

Wade and Bosh couldn't sit still.

They have been stuck in Chicago, but so many days have passed, the Bulls have been no progress.

Wade called Foreman to ask about progress, and Foreman's reply was the same as before, they are still working on it.

"We can't wait any longer."

After Wade hung up the phone, Bosh spoke.

Although there is still time in the free market, if it continues to drag on like this, even if their team signs them, there will be very little room for subsequent manipulation.

You must know that basketball is not a sport for one person. Even if you are the Big Three, you can't play with a lot of basic salary.

"Go back to Miami."

Wade also accepted the reality.

If the Bulls can manipulate the space, they certainly don't have to wait so long.

So far, it can only be said that going back to Chicago is basically out of the question.

But he was stubborn at last.

He called Foreman back and told Foreman that he and Bosh were willing to wait one more day.

the next day.

Before Foreman's call came, Wade first received a call from James.

"Dwyane, let's play together, no matter where, I just want to play with you now."

James is sincere, and Wade has mixed emotions.

On the one hand, there is the Bulls who can't ask for it, and on the other hand, it is the "true confession" of a good friend.

He didn't agree to James right away, but after hanging up the phone, he knew he had no choice.

"Chris, we will become the public enemy of the entire league next season." Wade looked at Bosh and smiled bitterly.

Originally, he just wanted to go back to his hometown to play, but he didn't expect to be half pushed and half done, and he had to embark on the most difficult road.

"That's not bad." Bosh was quite open-minded.

He spent too much time running with him in the first half of his career. Not to mention the championship, he only played twice in the playoffs.

This kind of life has passed for a long time, and he also wants to live a more exciting life.

Wade nodded.

On the bright side, they ended up going to his team anyway.

If he really wins the championship, his historical status should also be improved a lot.

……

Cleveland, IMG Building.

James hung up the phone, got up and picked up the championship ring from the Lakers era from the little swan blanket.

Although it may not seem worth a few bucks, James knows that its significance is not its value.

Especially when Riley said he could bring Miami a lot of titles.

"Let's have a big fight." James said with a smile after putting away his championship ring.

……

After leaving the IMG building, Riley had already started operations.

He mainly has two things to do now. The first thing is naturally to clear up enough salary space for the Big Three to join.

According to the maximum salary regulations, each of the Big Three with 7 years of service will account for 30% of the salary cap, and three people will account for 90%, which means that he will almost clean up the entire team.

The second thing is that he has to let James cooperate with him. He used to engage in the Bulls. If other management knew that the Heat were going to engage in the Big Three, he would not be able to clear that space.

So the news he releases now can only be to form a lineup with Wade and Bosh as the core.

In order to do these two things, he needs to sign and exchange Bosh with the Raptors first to expand the salary space.

The Raptors obviously can't refuse this, because if they don't do that, they can only lose Bosh in vain, not to mention trading with the Heat, and they don't have to accept garbage contracts like they did when they traded with the Bulls.

Immediately afterwards, the Heat began to sell Beasley to sell draft picks to satisfy the Raptors and the Cavaliers.

Beasley was the No. 08 pick in [-]. Although his performance was not as good as expected, he will only be in his third year as a rookie next season, so he doesn't have to worry about the trading market at all.

As long as these are done, he can put away the fishing net he put down so early.

　Let’s be considerate of the middle-aged bald old man. I’m not a short-cut single dog. I have a wife and children. I will definitely stay up late to add updates to the top ten list. Even if I don’t make it in the end, I will add it if I am in good condition~ Thank you very much for a very good 8 reward~~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)