NBA: James wants to team up with me

After the entire game, the Bobcats only scored 68 points, and the Bulls won 101:68 at home by 33 points.

After just one game, the entire league has determined that this series will most likely end with 4:0. The Bobcats' strength is really far behind the Bulls, even if the Bulls are missing one Garnett. Still can't compete with it.

This is true.

In the next few playoff games, the Bobcats tried every means, but they were still unable to withstand the Bulls' sweeping momentum.

4:0, the Bulls easily swept the Bobcats and successfully advanced to the second round.

This series has made many people realize that even without Garnett, the Bulls are still the biggest favorites in the league, with Wang Chong as the core and around Curry, Billups, and Gasol. The tactical system created by players like you can also be the best in the league.

Since Garnett was retired for the season, the performance of other Bulls players has improved to varying degrees.

Curry's scoring average finally increased to 20+ at the end of the season. In the regular season, he averaged 20.2 points, 3.4 rebounds and 5 assists per game. His performance was almost on par with Tyreke Evans of the Kings, who averaged 20+5+5 per game. The current discussion about who will be the best rookie between the two is quite intense. Evans wins because as the core player of the Kings, the team's status is higher than Curry.

Curry's advantage lies in the fact that the Bulls have the best record in the league, and the Kings have the second-worst record in the Western Conference. They lose almost every day and have a lot of garbage time when they are behind. Therefore, Evans has a better chance of scoring points than Curry. There are more, and the data content is relatively low.

No matter what, Curry is one of the best players among the rookies in the 09-10 season. There is no doubt about this. The Bulls used Millsap and other players to trade for Curry with the sixth pick in the first round last summer. They really made a lot of money. .

It’s not just Curry who performed well. Although Billups gave up his position as the second offensive starting point on the outside because of Curry’s joining, with both strength and game experience, Billups still has the ability. With All-Star level strength, his personal statistics in the regular season can also reach the level of 17 points and 7 assists.

And because Wang Chong and Curry have attracted the defensive focus of most teams, Billups has made it easier to score this season than before, and his shooting percentage has reached a new high in recent years, with his three-point shooting percentage approaching 43%!

As for Gasol, because he is positioned as a blue-collar center in the Bulls, even if Garnett is retired for the season, his ball rights have not increased much. However, as his strength improves, his average data per game has also increased. He can stably reach 12 points and 9.7 rebounds, and his ability to protect the rim in the penalty area is quite outstanding. He is not inferior to Tyson Chandler, the earliest blue-collar center of the Bulls. Even if he is slightly lacking in rim protection skills and athletic ability, this flaw is completely Gasol can make up for it with his offensive skills. It's not that Gasol can't attack, it's just that the Bulls' current lineup doesn't need him to attack.

Considering that Chandler was already a player who needed an annual salary of tens of millions to stay, Gasol was only getting a low-salary and cheap contract for a rookie, and the price-performance ratio between the two was hugely different.

But unfortunately, the cheap contract during the rookie period will come to an end at the end of this season.

As a second-round pick, Gasol signed a three-year contract with the Bulls at the time. As the season ends, the Bulls will begin to have a headache over the issue of renewing Gasol's contract.

It’s okay if I don’t have a headache.

With Gasol's current strength and huge development potential, it will definitely arouse competition across the league. If they want to keep him, the Bulls must offer a maximum salary extension.

According to the current league salary cap, it would take about 4 million to renew Gasol's maximum salary for four years, and Gasol's starting salary next season will reach 5800 million.

The total salary of the Bulls' Big Three alone will reach 4800 million next season. If Gasol is renewed with the maximum salary, even if the remaining players are all calculated on a low salary basis, the Bulls' salary for the new season will exceed the 7500 million mark!
Of course, a salary of 7500 million is obviously nothing compared to the Lakers' exaggerated total salary of 9500 million this season.

However, the league's luxury tax floor is only triggered at 7000 million. This means that if the Bulls renew Gasol, they will definitely have to pay luxury tax in the new season. Even if the minimum is 7500 million, they will have to pay an additional 500 million in luxury tax. tax penalty.

If the Bulls sign a player with a mid-level contract worth around 500 million in the summer and his salary reaches 8000 million, they will have to pay a 1000 million luxury tax penalty.

Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf is not a very generous team owner, so the management has begun to feel the tremendous pressure to renew players' contracts at this time.

Once the team owner expresses his unwillingness to pay the luxury tax after the season and Gasol does not accept a salary cut to renew his contract, they will lose this extremely functional inside center.

Of course, Wang Chong would definitely not let this happen.

In his plan, Gasol will be one of the best interior centers in the league for the next five to eight years.

He has superb inside offensive skills, the soft shooting touch typical of European centers, the high post organization and support ability learned from his brother Pau Gasol, and the top rim protection ability in the penalty area.

At least until another European big man, Nikola Jokic, enters the league, Wang Chong can't find a second inside center more suitable for the Bulls than Gasol.

Based on this alone, it is impossible for him to let Gasol go, and the Bulls must renew Gasol's contract with the maximum salary.

As for whether the team owner is willing to spend money, that is not something Wang Chong needs to consider.

In the past two years, the Bulls boss has made a lot of money by relying on Wang Chong's two championships and one runner-up in three years and the advertising endorsements in the Chinese market. If this is not enough, then Wang Chong will not continue to stay. It makes sense to be with the Bulls.

Although after many years of his building, the Bulls' current lineup is already as strong as the only one in the league, and the newly acquired Curry has not yet grown up, so it would be a pity to give up like this.

But Wang Chong has absolute confidence. Even if he leaves the Bulls and gives up all this, with his ability and strength, he can still build a championship or even three consecutive championship dynasty team into any team in the league.

Wang Chong is already ready to put pressure on the Bulls in the offseason, forcing the team to renew Gasol's contract.

Not only that, after the end of 09-10, Wang Chong's contract will also enter the player option period. Not only him, but also the top players in the 03 batch are all in this period.

Top players like James, Wade, Anthony, and Bosh all have the right to re-sign out of their contracts.

It is precisely because of this that in the original summer of 2010, there would be a world-famous decision.

After James jumped out of his contract, with Cavaliers fans eagerly awaiting him, he publicly announced through a TV program that he would bring his talents to the South Coast. The formation of the Miami Big Three was completed, completely changing the league's structure.

Wang Chong also plans to jump out of his contract this summer, not to bring his talent there, but simply to renew the contract and get a bigger contract.

Wang Chong has always followed one principle in the NBA - making money.

He has no reason to save money for a bunch of capitalists, and he will not be compromised by various so-called meaningless PUAs such as for the sake of winning the championship, winning the game, and the team.

If you want to sign a contract with him, you have to show enough sincerity. Renewing the contract with a maximum salary is a must and there is no room for negotiation. Wang Chong knew very well that blindly compromising would only make the other party worse.

The best example is Wang Chong's good friend Wade, who worked hard for the Heat and never received the highest salary in the Heat in his career. As a result, at the end of his career, Pat Riley continued to squeeze him and made him a humiliating contract offer. .

What is loyalty? Is it tasty?
In the future, many people will use loyalty and one man, one city to flaunt Kobe.

But everyone knows that Kobe has never cut his salary. The Lakers have paid high luxury taxes all year round, which has a lot to do with Kobe's career total salary of 3.2 million US dollars. Moreover, Kobe has also forced the Lakers to trade reinforcements by applying for trades several times.

Even in the last season of his career, Kobe, who no longer had any competitiveness, still earned an annual salary of 2500 million and led a group of young rookies on a national tour to win 17 games and compete for the No. pick.

Wang Chong agrees with Kobe’s values.

The NBA is a business league, and everyone gets what they need, so why talk about feelings? If you want him to stay, just talk with money and that's it.

Moreover, Wang Chong does not intend to sign a long-term contract with the Bulls. With the Bird clause activated, Wang Chong can theoretically sign a six-year long-term contract directly with the Bulls.

But Wang Chong doesn't want his future to be so restricted. He will only accept a 4-year contract at most, 3+1. In the last year, player options can be waived out of the contract and re-selected.

Although this will affect the total amount of the maximum salary, making millions less, it will provide more flexibility.

After investing in several successful movies in succession, especially when Avatar made Wang Chong earn 1 million, millions are actually nothing to him.

The topic has gone too far. It is a bit too early to start studying the matter of opting out of the contract extension in the summer after the first round of the playoffs.

Back in the playoffs.

The Bulls defeated the Bobcats 4-0 and were the first to advance to the second round.

Followed closely by the Magic, which defeated the Milwaukee Bucks 4-0.

The Bulls and Magic became the only teams to complete a sweep in the first round.

The Cavaliers met the Heat in the first round. Although the overall strength had an absolute advantage, the Heat had Wade in charge after all.

The Cavaliers won the first two games steadily, leading 2:0.

In the third game, Wade returned to Miami and broke out. He made 24 of 16 shots, 7 of 5 three-pointers, and 9 of 14 free throws. He scored 46 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists. He changed his fate against the odds and helped the Heat. The team won a victory.

At this time, many people suddenly remembered that Wade also had a highlight performance in the past. He was elected as the Finals FMVP by averaging 34.7 points per game in the Finals. He was a top star who was no less powerful than Wang Chong and James.

It's a pity that the strength gap between the two teams is too big, and even Wade can only rely on his personal ability to help the team win a game.

The Cavaliers still defeated the Heat with a score of 4:1 and successfully advanced to the second round to face their archrival Orlando Magic.

On the other side, in the Western Conference finals, what is worth mentioning is the game between the Los Angeles Lakers, the No. 1 team in the West, and the Houston Rockets, No. 8 in the West.

Although Dayao can still maintain a healthy competitive state, although the Rockets have successfully fought their way out of the Wild West.

But times have changed, and the Rockets no longer have the ability to compete with the Lakers in the playoffs in the past two years.

The core main force of the Rockets' perimeter, Tracy McGrady, also known as Tracy McGrady, has been completely abandoned by the Rockets this season due to injuries and was traded away from the team in the middle of the season.

The Rockets' main outside players have become Kevin Martin and Aaron Brooks.

Kevin Martin is an outstanding scorer who has consistently averaged 20+ per game for several consecutive years. Brooks also had the best performance of his career this season, averaging 18+5 per game. Coupled with Dayao, the Rockets seem to have assembled a team of their own. The Big Three of their own.

But in the playoffs, the only one the Rockets can count on among the civilian version of the Big Three is Dayao.

Against the Lakers, Martin and Brooks both misfired, and the Rockets relied on Dayao to support them.

In a healthy state, Yao's strength is truly unparalleled. He single-handedly competed with the Lakers' three top players in the paint without losing any of his strength. He easily defeated Andrew Bynum in the paint and personally demonstrated how the opposing center should play.

But two fists are hard to beat with four hands, not to mention that the Lakers have a strongman named Kobe Bryant on the perimeter.

In this series, the Rockets, like the Heat, only won one game and were swept out by the Lakers 4:1.

In fact, when the Rockets traded Tracy McGrady away from the team at the beginning of the season, it already represented that the Yao-Maggie combination that belongs to a generation's youthful memories and the Rockets era have become a thing of the past. If the Rockets want to find a way out in an increasingly competitive league, they will inevitably have to carry out the trade. Trades and reinforcements.

Considering that Harden is currently playing well with the Clippers, averaging 16.8 points and 4.4 assists per game this season, and has been cultivated by the Clippers as the core of the outside line, there is a high probability that the Rockets will not be able to miss Harden as they did historically. , so Wang Chong actually doesn’t know what the future development of the Rockets will be.
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A few days later, the full results for the East and West first-round games came in.

In the East, the Bulls, Cavaliers, and Magic all ended their battles early. The stalemate was the showdown between the Eagles and the Celtics, who were fourth and fifth in the East.

Both teams are not weak and have complete lineups, but the Celtics are still superior after all. With Durant's scoring performance of 25 points per game in the series, they defeated the Hawks 4:3 and advanced to the second round.
As a result, the second round matchups in the Eastern Conference are the Bulls vs. Celtics and the Magic vs. Cavaliers.

The two sets of matchups in the second round of the Western Conference are the Lakers vs. the Suns and the Spurs vs. the Mavericks. Whether it is the Lakers and the Suns or the battle between the Bulls and Horses, it is a quite classic matchup in the Western Conference.

Before the start of the second round, the league announced the selection results of this season's best team as usual. (End of chapter)