Healthy basketball, starting from eating the old Lakers F4

After Curry's contract extension was finalized, the Bulls management quickly signed contracts with two rookies.

White is getting a normal first-round pick's standard four-year rookie contract, and the amount is also maxed out at 120%.

As for Dillon, he was persuaded by the Bulls management to sign a four-year 2+2 contract.

Because of the Arenas clause, rookies cannot get a maximum salary contract in the third year, and they are also restricted from getting a big contract in the fourth year.

Therefore, in recent years, some teams have taken advantage of contract loopholes and signed non-standard rookie contracts of 2+1 or 2+2 with second-round picks.

For second-round picks with All-Star potential, they can either complete their three-year contract with their parent team, become a restricted free agent, and look for opportunities to go to other teams for sub-maximum salaries, or convince management to stay with the team and get maximum salaries.

Or they can maintain a tacit understanding with their parent team, sign a four-year contract first, and after the third year, have the parent team voluntarily give up the fourth-year team option in the summer, and then "renew the contract in advance" and sign a maximum salary contract as a free agent.

After the 2+2 contract is completed, the player will become a free agent directly, so for rookies, as long as they have the ability, they don’t have to worry about being hidden by their parent team.

Of course, for a strong team, it is naturally very beneficial to be able to get a potential rookie for one or two years for free with a base salary contract of one or two million.

Especially like the Bulls now, they no longer have any draft picks.

But they still want to catch up with the Celtics and Lakers before Durant's condition completely declines.

But when it comes to luxury tax, the boss is unwilling to spend too much.

Therefore, the only resource the Bulls can use to compete for the championship in the next few years is the rookie contract.

Most of the players on the Bulls team now are rookies, and more than a dozen rookies need playing time and ball possession to be trained.

White and Dillon, who were selected this year, certainly did not have many opportunities to be trained in the NBA or to perform in their first two years as rookies.

The Bulls management can only hope that they will be self-disciplined and hardworking enough in private and practice for two more years in the Development League.

When the team needs them in the last two years of their rookie contracts, they can be used directly.

In this way, the Bulls do not need to spend too much time and resources to train them, but the rewards they reap are quite significant.

If such a good thing really comes along, the Bulls management would naturally want to give it a try.

However, even if White and Dillon are not developed, it will not be a big deal for the Bulls.

Anyway, the combined contract value of the two is only over 10 million over four years.

……

Time flies, and early August arrives quietly.

Because the Bulls management did not make any recruiting efforts during the offseason, while other teams were making big moves, Curry, who had become the boss of the Bulls, was a little dissatisfied.

However, Curry will not interfere too much with the team's operations and management because of his own emotions and thoughts.

In order to ensure that the team is competitive enough in the new season, Curry can only use his own way to improve the team's strength - opening a training camp.

As the saying goes, if there is something good at the top, it will be worse at the bottom.

The Bulls had just completed a "change of dynasty" last season. After learning of Curry's moves, the rookies on the team who were expecting to start and play important roles naturally took action immediately.

Of course, Curry is also learning from Durant's early operations.

It can be said that Curry is the beneficiary of Duane's first few training camp batches.

The rookies on the Bulls may not be very clear about this, but most of their agents know about these past events.

Therefore, after Curry opened the training camp, most of the rookies on the Bulls rushed to the camp and followed Curry's footsteps, sweating profusely in the training camp.

White and Dillon, the two rookies selected by the Bulls this year, also witnessed Curry's terrifying training volume for the first time, and in less than half a day, they were completely convinced.

As for the guards who wanted to catch up with or even replace Curry, such as Josh Richardson, Dejounte Murray, and Fred VanVleet, seeing Curry's meticulous dedication to training, they also stepped up their efforts and tried their best to train as hard as Curry.

Over time, other Bulls players in Curry's training camp also devoted themselves to training, and one by one they rolled up, either actively or passively.

I have to say that Curry's training camp was very successful.

By the time the preseason started, the Bulls rookies were even more energetic than they were in the half month of the finals.

"That makes me feel relieved..." As the Bulls started training camp for the new season, Duane returned to Chicago and saw the status of other teammates. Duane already had the idea of ​​resting assured in the new season.

“Stephen, you did a great job, everything from now on is up to you!

From now on, I will just assist you and help you manage the locker room.

By the way, do you have anything else to add?"

When taking the new season's makeup photo with Curry, Duane briefly explained the situation to Curry.

Originally, Duane had planned to play health-preserving basketball in the new season, but he did not expect that Curry's first rookie training camp would be so successful.

Curry is in power, Curry is full of fighting spirit, Curry is at his peak...now Duane feels comfortable.

Duane thought, since Curry made more money than him, it was only right for him to be a little lazy and rest on his laurels for a few years.

"Okay, nothing much to add! Duane, thank you for your support." Curry obviously also supports Duane's actions.

After all, this season, Curry has completely become the boss of the Bulls.

There is no prince who lasts for 40 years in the world. Now that the daughter-in-law has become the mother-in-law, she is finally crowned as king and holds the power!

Curry naturally wants to experience it all, who the hell is the boss of the team, who the hell is the ruler of the league!
Duane completely gave up his power and said he would not compete with Curry for the right to speak on the team. Curry was of course very happy about it.

By the way, after Curry really takes charge, some changes are inevitable within the Bulls.

The first thing to change was last season's championship-winning starting lineup.

Gobert has left due to contract issues, and Jokic's promotion is justified and what everyone expected.

But the problem is that neither Curry nor Jokic is known for their defense, and the defense is even considered the weak link of the team.

Curry is also aware of this, so some defensive resources must be added to the Bulls' starting lineup.

The four-player configuration of Curry, Durant, Horford, and Jokic has already been determined, so last season's starting small forward Bojan will naturally be taken away.

Bojan himself is a player who is strong on offense but weak on defense. It is impossible for the Bulls to let Duane and Horford work together to fill three gaps in the new season.

With the help of preseason debugging and running-in, the Bulls coaching staff quickly communicated with Curry, and then obtained the consent of Duane and Horford, and finally promoted second-year rookie Dejounte Murray to the starting lineup.

Murray starting is a bit of an exception for the Bulls in recent years.

I thought the other rookies who started were either juniors or seniors.

Murray was still playing in the Development League last season and did not have much experience playing in the NBA regular season and playoffs.

Judging from Murray's personal qualifications, this is undoubtedly not suitable.

However, the Bulls coaching staff needs to fully consider the two core players, Curry and Durant.

Now Jokic is not the tactical core of the Bulls, nor is he the team's first scoring point. The tactical core and first scoring point of the Bulls are Curry.

Therefore, defensive resources must be used to take care of Curry and revolve around Curry.

Curry can't defend against fast small guards, so he has to let Duane, the Bulls' nine-time champion, chase him, which is a bit of a waste of talent.

In order to solve the defensive problem on the back line, it is necessary to promote a young player who is fast and has good defensive ability.

In fact, Josh Richardson is also okay, and even has an advantage over Murray in terms of game experience and maturity.

But Josh Richardson is not willing to simply play a blue-collar role.

These days, if guards want to get big contracts, they have to show more offensive talent.

Josh Richardson has won two championship rings with the Bulls and was a key rotation player for the Bulls last season.

As the saying goes, anything produced by Bull is of the highest quality.

With Josh Richardson's current achievements, he is fully qualified to go to other teams and get a maximum salary after completing his rookie contract.

It was because of this ambition, coupled with the fact that his playing style and attitude did not meet the needs of the Bulls' starting lineup, that the coaching staff had to make substitutions.

In comparison, Murray was more obedient, and Duane knew that Murray had better talent, so he agreed.

After Murray started, Duane changed from shooting guard to small forward.

The Bulls' starting lineup for the new season is basically confirmed to be Curry, Murray, Duane, Horford, and Jokic.

Considering Jokic's defense and tactical needs, the Bulls will reduce Jokic's playing time in the starting lineup.

Horford will also replace part of the power forward position in the five-small lineup, so the time at the power forward position will be shared by Gordon and Portis.

As for Siakam, he still needs some time to level up, and the Bulls don't expect Siakam to be useful this season.

In general, the Bulls' second lineup in the new season is roughly Rondo, Josh Richardson, Bogdanovic, Gordon, and Portis.

The third lineup is VanVleet, White, Dillon, Rooney, and Siakam.

Compared with previous years, the Bulls have streamlined the center position and reserved more resources on the guard and forward lines.

In the new season, the Bulls have a great advantage over other teams in terms of athletic ability and the number of players who can play.

The only problem is the lack of a traditional center. Once Jokic is injured and absent, the pressure on both offense and defense in the interior will increase rapidly.

Fortunately, these days, traditional centers have basically faded out of the league, and the Bulls' front line is enough to limit most functional centers.

If nothing unexpected happens, the Bulls' current lineup is likely to bring the Bulls another championship.

Of course, there is still a gap between winning four consecutive championships or winning the championship one year apart.

In order to continue the Chicago Bulls dynasty and increase their legendary status, the Chicago Bulls must go all out in the new season and strive for consecutive championships. (End of this chapter)