Legendary star

Chapter 491 The Crazy Free Market and the Debut of Generation 03
With the Pacers successfully defending their title and Meng Xu winning the Finals MVP, the 2002-2003 NBA season has officially come to an end. For most players, the end of the long season means a leisurely vacation.But for the managers and head coaches of each team, the busy work has just begun, especially this summer, which can be called the strongest free market in history. It is the best battlefield for them to maneuver.

This summer this year is definitely the most prosperous free market in the past ten years. First of all, Tim Duncan, who has only entered the league for three seasons and is firmly seated as the number one power forward in history, after the end of this season, has become Unrestricted free agency.Entering the league for six seasons, except for the absence of the playoffs in the rookie season due to injury, the worst record of the Spurs in the rest of the seasons was reaching the conference semifinals, and Tim Duncan, the core of the Spurs, also made four consecutive Ranked in the top three of the regular season MVP rankings this season, so as the top three super giants in the league, Tim Duncan is undoubtedly a player that all teams dream of.

The second is Jason Kidd, who led the Nets to the Eastern Conference finals for two consecutive seasons. Kidd is definitely a player that countless other teams are rushing to.

Of course, the big-name players entering the free market this year are not only that. First of all, the Lakers, who failed in the finals for two consecutive seasons, and their head player Shaq O'Neal announced that he would jump out of the final year with the Lakers after the finals. Contract, entering the free market, although most analysts believe that O'Neill's move is forcing the palace management, and is also preparing for the next big contract. After all, O'Neill is now 31 years old. For two years, it is definitely very wise to sign a long-term big contract.After O'Neal announced that he had jumped out of the contract, Karl Malone, who joined the Lakers last season, also announced that he would no longer execute the remaining one-year, $1 million contract with the Lakers. When Malone joined the Lakers last season, he signed a 150+1 contract with the Lakers , After failing to hit the championship, Malone returned directly to Salt Lake City, and joined Gary Payton of the Lakers with Malone, and his contract expired this season. The intention to renew the contract with the Lakers, and after O'Neal jumped out of the contract, the Lakers' management has no energy to take care of Payton.As O'Neal and Malone jumped out of the contract, the whole of Los Angeles was in turmoil for a while. However, just after O'Neal announced that he had jumped out of the contract, Kobe Bryant's agent also officially submitted a transaction application to the Lakers' management. , After only one season, it came to an end.

The Pacers who achieved two consecutive championships also look very bad, except for Mutombo, James Posey, Jeff Foster, who only completed the contract extension last season, and the two-year contract left Meng Xu, as well as two rookies NN-Hilaryo and Tyshawn Prince, the remaining nine Pacers players have all become free agents after the end of the season, and among these nine players, only Jamal Tinsley and Bobby Simmons have become restricted free agents, and the rest such as Jermaine O'Neal, Reggie Miller, Richard Hamilton and others are all unrestricted free agents. The team that won the championship last season, even the fringe players in the Pacers are still hot in the free market.At the same time, for the purpose of weakening competitors, after the end of the season, many teams pounced on the Pacers like sharks smelling blood, trying to tear a piece of flesh from the Pacers.

But what is surprising is that the first to wave a hoe at the Pacers was not the Nets and Pistons, the Pacers' rivals, but the San Antonio Spurs, perhaps out of revenge for the Pacers poaching Riff LaFrentz last season , The Spurs launched a fierce pursuit of the Pacers' insider Jermaine O'Neal. David Robinson officially announced his retirement after the end of the season. The Mavericks were eventually poached by the Mavericks, so Popovich is now targeting the Pacers. While the contract extension negotiations with Duncan are still in progress, the Spurs are against Jermaine O'Neal The offer was made, and the 6-year 9000 million contract can also be seen that the Spurs' offer to Jermaine O'Neal is also full of sincerity.

With the outbreak of the past two seasons, Jermaine O'Neal, who was selected as the All-Star for two consecutive seasons and became the number one power forward in the Eastern Conference, is now clearly in the free market, second only to Duncan, O'Neal and Kidd. .Although he averaged 19 points, 11.7 rebounds, and 2.5 blocks per game last season, and failed to enter the 20+10 club, many experts assert that as long as Jermaine O'Neal can become the core of a team, let alone 20+10, even 25+10 is possible, and in this year's finals, Jermaine O'Neal's performance was also eye-catching, although the average of 14.8 points and 12 rebounds per game is lower than the regular In the first few rounds of the game and the playoffs, the decline was very obvious, but Jermaine O'Neal's excellent defense against Malone, and his outstanding performance when defending O'Neal alone, also made Jermaine O'Neal the fifth largest player in the league. Forward position, some media even claimed that starting from next season, the "four major power forwards" will become the "five major power forwards". Therefore, Jermaine O'Neal, who has become a free agent, is definitely the most exciting in the free market One of several players, not only the Spurs, but the Pacers' rivals in the East, the Nets, Pistons, Celtics, and even the Knicks, have also successively pursued Jermaine O'Neal, especially The Knicks even promised Jermaine O'Neal the status of the team leader.

As for the other players, after winning two championships, Reggie Miller has already withdrawn, and the rest of the players Lorenzen White has made it clear that he will not renew his contract with the team. -O'Neal's rookie in the same class, Lorenzen White is now at his peak, but Lorenzen White's playing time in the Pacers is getting less and less. Not only Mutombo's position is unshakable, but Lorenzen White - There are two strong opponents behind White, Jeff Foster and NN Hilario, and after winning two championships, Lorenzen White also wants to sign a big contract while he is young , and the Pacers obviously couldn't satisfy Lorenzen White's appetite.

Jermaine O'Neal and Richard Hamilton, who are the Pacers' priority renewals, face the 7-year 1.06 million contract offered by the Pacers. Jermaine O'Neal's current attitude is very ambiguous. After that, Jermaine O'Neal went directly to Portland, and Hamilton's negotiations were not going well. Due to his outstanding performance in the finals, Hamilton's agent wanted to find an average annual salary of around 1500 for Hamilton. A big contract, but the Pacers can only give Hamilton about 5 million in five years.

As for Jamal Tinsley and Bobby Simmons, who are now restricted free agents, the Pacers' prices are 400 million and 150 million respectively, but the Bulls directly gave Bobby Simmons a three-year offer of 3 million. And the Knicks were even crazier, directly offering Jamal Tinsley 1500 million for 6 years. Facing the Bulls and Knicks who were crazily wielding hoes, the Pacers really had no money to match their offer.

Moreover, what the Pacers are facing now is not only the contract renewal crisis of many players. What really puts the Pacers in trouble is Larry Bird's physical condition. In three days, Larry Bird was sent to the hospital. According to Larry Bird's current physical condition, it will be very difficult to continue coaching the Pacers next season.After Larry Bird was hospitalized, Pacers owner Herbert Simon appointed Kevin Pritchard, Rick Fuson to temporarily take over as general manager and president of basketball operations, and Hart appointed Leicester. Conor temporarily took over as the head coach and is jointly responsible for the team's new season's contract renewal and signings, but Larry Bird's departure also cast a shadow over the Pacers.

As one of the most successful teams in recent seasons, the Pacers and Lakers, who have met in the finals for two consecutive seasons, are facing disintegration this summer, which is also unexpected.

. . . . . .

On June 2003, 6, when the rumors of the free market were flying everywhere, the annual draft conference kicked off again in Madison Square Garden. Although the Pacers did not have a draft pick this year, Meng Xu still came On the spot, watching this year's draft conference is different from the last time I accompanied Larry Bird to watch the draft live. This time, Meng Xu came to cheer for LeBron James as a group of relatives and friends of LeBron James. By the way, he also witnessed this history It is a critical moment, and you must know that this year's draft conference is one of the top ten draft conferences in history in the system's evaluation.Many players who participated in the draft this year have eventually grown into superstars, even superstars.

There is another important reason why Meng Xu came to watch the draft today, that is, in this year's draft, there were two players who took Meng Xu as a template. One was LeBron, whom Meng Xu had long been familiar with. James, and the other is Carmelo Anthony, who has steadily overwhelmed LeBron James in the McDonald's training camp.At the same time, after the Odin brand was separated, the Odin series is not only exclusive to Meng Xu. As a separate sneaker brand, Odin also needs to sign a few players to fill the appearance, but it is very unfortunate that Meng Xu LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony, who are valued, have been taken first. First of all, Nike. After the separation of Odin, which Meng Xu belongs to, Nike needs to support a top brand, and Nike chose to be the same. Meng Xu is optimistic about LeBron James.As for Carmelo Anthony, He Hui had already started contact with Carmelo Anthony's agent. Carmelo Anthony was also very satisfied with the conditions proposed by He Hui, but Cheng Yaojin broke out halfway. , Jordan also found Carmelo Anthony. Anthony, who regarded Jordan as his idol, chose Jordan without hesitation.

Every year in the draft, there will be all kinds of dramas about cutting off bullshit and cheating you. But this year's draft, if you want to say which team is the most disturbed, it must be the Nuggets. University's Carmelo Anthony has long wanted, but the Nuggets now only have the No. 3 pick in their hands, and Carmelo Anthony, who led Syracuse University to the NCAA championship and was selected to the All-American team, is this year's No. [-] pick. Therefore, the head coach Bzdelik, who represented the draft, could not feel at ease from the moment he walked into Madison Garden, for fear that the Cavaliers and Pistons in front of him would cut off their beards.

This year is a big draft year, with a lot of talented young players emerging, so for the Cavaliers, this year's draft is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and the current troubles of the Cavaliers are completely happy troubles, because the excellent There are too many players, so the Cavaliers are completely delusional. However, after observing various training camps, the Cavaliers' selection targets are finally locked on two people, that is, Carmelo Anthony of Syracuse University, and High school student LeBron James.As the No.1 player in the league, Meng Xu's achievements needless to say. Although the templates of every rookie have a practice of blowing water, whether it is LeBron James or Carmelo Anthony, they have also shown extraordinary performances. Don't talk about the enhanced version of Meng Xu, as long as they can fulfill their talents and reach Meng Xu's level, the Cavaliers can definitely stand up.In the end, the Cavaliers chose the former between LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony, and LeBron James also became the second high school student in NBA history.

After the Cavaliers, the Detroit Pistons with the second pick chose center Darko Milicic from Serbia. Although among the rookies participating in the draft this year, there are still many players with more talent and potential than Darko Milicic, but Urgently needing to add insiders to complement the Pistons against the Pacers, they finally chose a very talented big man, but it is very ridiculous that just after the Pistons head coach Rick Carlisle participated in the draft conference, the Pistons management told He, he was fired, and he was replaced by Larry Brown who had just dismissed from the 76ers.

After the Pistons selected Darko Milicic, the Nuggets coach Bzdelik Gao Xuan immediately felt relieved. Although the Nuggets have the No. 3 pick, they have long been interested in whether they can be selected. Carmelo Anthony, the Nuggets have no confidence. In the end, after the Cavaliers chose LeBron James and the Pistons chose Darko Milicic, the Nuggets also chose Carmelo Anthony as they wished.

　Thank you for the reward I want to wake up the world, thank you.

　　Thanks to Fatty Xue for the monthly pass, thank you.

　　Thank you for the two monthly tickets of the pirate の mosquito, thank you.

　　Thank you for the monthly pass of Crayon Q Xiaoxin, thank you.

　　Thank you Fan Ge for the monthly pass, thank you.

　　Thank you for the monthly pass of Shuyulian, thank you.

　　Thank you for the monthly pass of Xiaolou Tingfengyu°, thank you.

　　Thank you for the handsome monthly ticket at 12 midnight, thank you.

　　Thanks to the lonely little bookworm for the monthly pass, thank you.

　　Thank you for the monthly pass of メ whining, thank you.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)