Healthy basketball, starting from eating the old Lakers F4

Chapter 273: The buzzing free market, the Celtics’ Big Three?Conspiracy!

The news of Duan's contract extension was like a resounding arrow, and there was originally no movement in the newly opened free market.

However, as Duan and the Bulls took the lead in completing the contract extension, the rising stars of the 03 Platinum Generation sprung up like mushrooms after a rain, and successively negotiated contract extensions with their respective home teams.

For example, Duane and Wade, who not only helped the team win the championship in their rookie contracts, but also met Duane's terms, directly renewed their contracts with a maximum salary of 30% of the salary cap.

As for James and Anthony, they did not win the regular season MVP nor bring a championship to the team. They only made one or two playoffs and became All-Star starters to satisfy the Dunn clause.

In fact, you can only get 25% to 27% of the guaranteed part, and the remaining 3% to 5% belongs to the incentive clause.

After all, the home team has the advantage of renewing the contract, and other teams cannot steal people. In fact, it is not shabby to only offer 25% of the maximum salary contract.

However, they are all princes chosen by their own families, and life has to go on, so they must be given some sweetness and coaxed.

At the same time, in order to prevent the prince from losing his ambition, the new contract still needs to maintain a certain gap with the contracts of Du En and Wade.

As for Bosh, he is one level behind James and Anthony, and can only get 25%.

The remaining players like Hinrich, Kaman, David West, and Josh Howard are not the bosses of the team. They only have about 20% of the sub-maximum salary, and they don't even have player options.

However, the league's salary cap last season was only 5300 million. Even 30% of the salary cap was less than 1600 million, and 25% was more than 1300 million.

You know, in the NBA last season, there were 1600 stars with an annual salary of more than 13 million, and next season there will be as many as 17.

Although Duane and Wade received the maximum salary among rookies, they are still far behind the maximum salary of veterans such as Garnett, O'Neal, O'Neal, Kidd, Kobe, Duncan, Iverson, and Tracy McGrady. cut.

Come to think of it, the Bulls will still be reaping Duane's rookie bonus next season.

There are sixteen playoff teams in the East and West every year, and the bosses of these teams are naturally eligible for the league's maximum salary.

Duane's salary next season will be tied for 18th with Wade.

If other stars are compared with Duane, those stars whose salary is more than Duane, except for O'Neal, Kobe and Duncan, and the rest who have not won the championship are undoubtedly "highly paid and incompetent".

However, this summer, Garnett, the most "highly paid and low-powered" player, was robbed by the free market.

In fact, Garnett's contract has not expired yet, and there are still two years left including player options.

Considering the actual situation, Garnett is 31 years old and has only been at his peak as an inside player for a few years. Moreover, Garnett failed to lead the team to the Western Conference playoffs this year.

Garnett is also aware of his current situation, seeing that he has no chance to win the championship with the Timberwolves.

At this rate, if the Timberwolves management does not trade him to the championship team, then by next summer, jumping out of the contract will become inevitable.

Before the end of his peak, Garnett will definitely join a championship team and compete again.

The vast majority of teams in the league know this. They don't need Garnett to rebuild the team. After all, they spent a lot of money to own Garnett and only have one year's right to use Garnett.

Teams that intend to compete for the championship next season are more looking forward to Garnett joining.

After all, the way to evaluate the strength of stars these days is not to look at tables but data.

Anyone who has watched the game knows that Garnett does have a very big influence in the game!
Although Garnett always fights and retreats, the emphasis these days is on defense to win the championship!
Garnett can defend, grab rebounds, and can stably provide 18 to 20 points on the offensive end. He can also use trash talk to get the opponent's mentality. It can be said that he has the winning attributes of a player on a championship team.

Moreover, everyone knows that Garnett wants to win a championship before retiring.

If a championship team gets Garnett, they don't have to worry about Garnett relying on his old skills and spoiling the team's locker room and chemical reaction. At the same time, they don't have to worry about Garnett joining to provide for his retirement or to make things worse.

In other words, after acquiring Garnett, Garnett will definitely take the initiative and find ways to help the team achieve better results.

It is for these reasons that Garnett, the most expensive player in the league and one who has never proven himself in the finals, will become the center of attention this summer.

In fact, before the free market began, some teams had already begun illegally contacting Garnett.

However, the management is not very strict these days, and the league officials have not made any comments.

What's more, there are some rumors from some media, indicating that some championship teams are in contact with Garnett.

At the same time, some teams are in contact with the Timberwolves to discuss specific plans to trade Garnett.

After all, Garnett is a "big box office". He is not only capable, but also very popular.

Perhaps, the league also hopes to maintain the popularity in the offseason by relying on "Where is Garnett going", so it did not interfere too much.

As for the Timberwolves, they also know that Garnett is eager to win and will leave soon.

Therefore, as early as the end of the regular season, the Timberwolves revealed to many teams that they wanted to send Garnett off.

Among them, the Celtics were the first to know the news, and they were also the most active party in competing for Garnett.

Today, Celtics general manager Danny Ainge and Timberwolves general manager Kevin McHale are old players. The two won the NBA championship together with the Celtics, and were also recruited by the Pistons Bad Boys. They were beaten violently and then retired one after another.

It is also because of this relationship that McHale still wants to help his old players and his old club to send Garnett to the Celtics.

However, Garnett expressed his position early through his agent Andy Miller - no dogs will go to the Celtics!

After all, with their current strength, the Celtics have trouble making the playoffs in the Eastern Conference. With the addition of Garnett alone, there is no way they can defeat the Bulls who now dominate the league.

For Garnett, he is still looking forward to joining a giant like the Lakers.

Los Angeles is one of the largest cities in the United States. This is the place Garnett has always dreamed of playing in Minnesota, which is surrounded by ice and snow all year round.

The relationship between Garnett and Kobe is also good. Both of them are very eager for the championship, and they are both offensive and defensive stars.

In Garnett's opinion, joining a championship team like the Lakers in a big city is undoubtedly the best choice among all trading plans.

However, the Lakers are not very willing to acquire Garnett.

It's not that the Lakers are unwilling to offer draft picks, but they have already given out a lot before, and now they don't have many bargaining chips to make another deal.

In addition, as the main body of the Garnett trade, the Lakers are only willing to give Odom.

Just looking at Gasol's performance in this year's playoffs and finals, the Lakers are quite satisfied.

In addition, the Lakers are relatively short of a qualified point guard, and Hinrich's configuration is okay.

If Hinrich and Odom are traded for Garnett, the Lakers will also need to solve the problem of lacking a main point guard.

In fact, if the Timberwolves general manager is not McHale, the Lakers still hope to trade draft picks from other teams, and then trade Odom's draft picks to acquire Garnett.

But these days, the Lakers and Celtics are still feuding and mortal enemies, so if McHale can take advantage of other teams, he can't take advantage of the Lakers.

After all, the Lakers' number of championships will soon catch up with the Celtics.

Therefore, the deal between the Lakers and Timberwolves has been put on hold for the time being.

The next teams that came into contact with the Timberwolves were the Suns, Knicks, and Cavaliers.

The Suns are also the team Garnett wants to go to, but the Timberwolves want Stoudemire and at least two first-round picks.

As for the Cavaliers and Knicks, unless the two leading stars James and Anthony are not for sale, you can just pick the others.

It's a pity that the Timberwolves don't like it at all. The Timberwolves are going to tear down the reconstruction. In the next few years, they only need stars who can sell tickets and more draft picks.

The Cavaliers and Knicks can make the playoffs in the Eastern Conference, and draft picks in the next few years are worthless.Except for James and Anthony, who were greatly surpassed by Duane and Wade, who were both in the 03 class, the rest are not very popular.

Just when the negotiations between various teams and the Timberwolves reached an impasse, the Celtics started making trouble again.

Since Garnett thinks the Celtics are not strong enough and lack the ability to win championships, he will continue to strengthen them until they can gain Garnett's approval.

Celtics general manager Danny Ainge is more accurate in judging people and has chosen the Seattle SuperSonics to change owners and is ready to start rebuilding from scratch.

So they spent some money and acquired Ray Allen in a trade, which made it easier for the SuperSonics to correct the somewhat handsome Durant.

After Ray Allen officially joined the Celtics, Danny Ainge approached McHale again, hoping that the veteran players could help.

At the same time, Danny Ainge is also in private contact with Garnett, hoping to reach a consensus as soon as possible and let Garnett become a member of the Green Army.

However, at this time, Bulls general manager John Paxson chose to intervene.

"What? Baron Davis and Tyson Chandler trading Garnett?"

Duen, who was on vacation in Las Vegas, actually had to come to supervise the game because the men's basketball team came to Las Vegas for summer league training. After learning the news, he was also shocked by John Paxson's generosity.

This summer, after the Bulls renewed Duan's contract, they actually didn't make any big moves. They were basically just trying to catch him.

Some teams wanted to bet on Milicic's talent and offered him a 4-year, 3000 million poison contract.

Perhaps John Paxson had already planned to trade Tyson Chandler, so he chose to match the offer and renew Milicic's contract.

As for Dior and Andres Nocioni, it is a little pity.

The contracts outside are too big, with a sub-maximum salary of around 4 million for four years. Under normal circumstances, this is the price for the team's third boss.

If the contract is smaller and the Bulls sign first and then trade, it won't be a problem to extend the salary space for one year. After all, as long as the expiring contract is traded, they can earn a few draft picks.

However, with two big contracts with a maximum salary of 4000 million games in a row, the Bulls couldn't bear it.

After all, if the Bulls want to remain competitive for the championship, they will definitely renew the contracts of Ben Gordon, Luol Deng, and Josh Smith next year.

Normally, these three have sub-maximum salaries of 4 million in four years. If other teams want to grab people, they can't even get 4000 million in four years.

In other words, by next season, the Bulls will have at least 3000 million more salary and luxury tax pressure.

The Bulls have already exceeded the luxury tax line by several million after renewing the maximum salary contract with Duan, and will have to pay luxury tax starting next season.

As general manager, John Paxson knows just how stingy Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf is.

In order to win the championship, there is no problem in paying a luxury tax of 2000 million to [-] million for a few years, as long as the team can make a profit.

But if he is asked to pay 5000 to [-] million in luxury tax every year, and the team may lose money if they don't win the championship, then Jerry Reinsdorf will definitely not be willing to do it.

Even if the team only earns 2000 to [-] million per year, Jerry Reinsdorf will not be happy and will inevitably ask him to clear the team's salary space.

After all, you can earn 6000 to 2000 million a year, and no one is willing to accept only [-] to [-] million.

It is also because of the salary pressure in the next few years that John Paxson cannot do much.

Who would have thought that John Paxson would be so bold. It was clear that Garnett was about to join the Celtics, but he suddenly used Baron Davis and Tyson Chandler as bargaining chips to get involved in Garnett's move. transaction.

Admittedly, the most important thing for the defending champions is stability.

John Paxson used Baron Davis and Tyson Chandler, two two-time champions, as bargaining chips to trade with the Timberwolves. Regardless of whether this happens or not, it will hurt the Bulls' internal unity and destroy the Bulls' locker room. Atmosphere.

However, from the perspective of general manager, John Paxson's intervention this time is really smart.

Once Garnett joined the Celtics, the Celtics formed a Big Three lineup.

If this happens, which team is the greatest threat?
There is no doubt that it is naturally the defending champion in the Eastern Conference - the Chicago Bulls!

So, in order to resolve the upcoming crisis, the Bulls certainly cannot sit still and wait for death.

"Don't worry, I'll take action," Bulls general manager John Paxson said.

John Paxson immediately cut his salary and took two of last season's All-Star starters to trade with the Timberwolves for Garnett.

Garnett is worth more than the All-Stars, that's for sure.

However, Garnett's expiring contract, which has the highest salary in the league, is definitely not worth the starting price of two All-Stars in their prime.

From the Timberwolves' perspective, this deal is definitely a blessing.

Others just trade for an All-Star substitute or a quasi-All-Star, and at most they add some draft picks and junk players to equalize the salary.

The Bulls simply did charity and traded their winning team, inside and outside, to the Timberwolves.

If this deal can be reached, maybe the Timberwolves can make the playoffs next season!
"Are you sure you don't want to dump a few draft picks? Well, just knock Garnett unconscious and put him on the plane!"

As for the Bulls, the Celtics do not have Garnett, and there are no insider stars on the market. It is definitely impossible to arm-wrestle with the Bulls next season.

In this way, a crisis will naturally be resolved!
At the same time, the Bulls have also made room for Ben Gordon, Milicic and others, and young players will continue to remain active.

By the way, Dunn quickly came to his senses after hearing the news that the Bulls were involved in the Garnett trade.

"This is kind of like a decision to bring talent to the South Coast!"

After being beaten by the Big Three of the Celtics for several years, I definitely don’t want a team with stars to reunite in the Eastern Conference.

However, at this time, if you can "add me one", then all difficulties will undoubtedly be solved, and winning the championship will become a piece of cake.

Today, John Paxson's strategy is to benefit himself at the expense of others, to feed the enemy and turn the enemy into a friend.

It is worth mentioning that this is still a conspiracy, because John Paxson sincerely offered a trade plan that the Timberwolves could not refuse.

Once the Bulls get Garnett, then Duane plus Garnett, plus a group of highly motivated young players who have won two championships with Duane, as well as veterans who desperately want to come to the Bulls and win the championship. We, the alliance is about to reach its finale.

If other teams don't want to sit back and watch the Bulls get Garnett and complete the feat of three consecutive championships, then they will inevitably have to sell everything and piece together things to give them at least two All-Star players.

It can only be said that with the Bulls' intervention, it is certain that the Timberwolves will definitely win.

As for the Bulls, no matter whether the transaction succeeds or not, they will not lose money.

After all, the team that acquired Garnett has already paid the price of two All-Stars. It does not have the strength to win the championship and cannot threaten the Bulls.

The Bulls have also resolved the crisis of the Celtics' Big Three in advance, and at the same time destroyed a championship team that may have obtained Garnett.

If the Bulls can get Garnett, even if they can't win the championship, they can get together with Garnett next summer and release more than 2000 million in salary space.

If he completes three consecutive championships, then he might be able to discuss with Garnett to let him break out of his big contract of more than 2000 million yuan and sign a multi-year pension contract with an annual salary of 1000 million yuan.

By then, the Bulls will also be able to reduce some salary pressure and pay less luxury tax.

Considering Garnett's condition, he will have the ability to be a top second player for at least the next three seasons.

The Bulls will undoubtedly continue to retain the possibility of winning the championship until the salary pressure completely erupts, and then stay quiet for a while to find the next window to win the championship.

(End of this chapter)