NBA: Back to 97, to be the Jagged Bishop

Chapter 155 The new season lineup finalized

The next NO.12 pick belongs to the Warriors. They chose the 221 cm tall Montenegro center Aleksandar Radocevic.

Just hearing this name, I thought it was a Serb. The names of Serbs in the NBA all end with odd characters.

If he is really a Serb, with the height of 221 cm, he may not be just the No. 12 show.

Radocevic is a black man who can't be more black, and he can be used as a typical representative to prove Yao Ming's strength.

Some fans feel that Yao Ming is strong because he is tall, and Radocevic is not short, and it is not the same as pulling his hips.

At the No. 13 pick, it was still the Cavaliers' draft pick. They selected a shooting guard, Trajan Langdon.

Just like there is a general election, there is a saying about the No. 13 pick in the draft.

Since 1990, since [-], as long as the pick is outside, all of them have been played, without exception.

Even if you choose the inside, you have played an All-Star power forward like Dell Davis.

Under normal circumstances, this year's thirteenth pick is Maggette, but now that Comb's beard has been cut off, Langton has lost the water.

After the lottery picks were selected, although the order was a little off, the thirteen people were still the same as in Kumbu's memory.

The Timberwolves with the 14th pick selected a point guard William Avery. All four point guards who appeared in front of him were all played, and when it came to him, it was directly faulted.

The reason why the Timberwolves will choose a point guard is because they made a deal when they didn't play half of last season.

Marbury was sold in exchange for the small Cavaliers point guard Trier Brandon who was selected as an All-Star in 96.

Marbury's defensive and offensive efficiency is really eye-catching, but Brandon is actually not much better.

There is also a gap between the All-Star point guards. Brandon is slightly weaker than Little Momonga, and compared to point guards like Payton and Kidd, the gap is ten thousand miles away.

If the Timberwolves want to make a big difference, the point guard must be improved.

Before the general manager McHale made a phone call with Comb before trading Marbury, he thought about using the old horse to make a deal with the Raptors. He didn't want much, and he was even willing to take a first-round pick and Other chips, for the Raptors' Mashburn plus Tyronn Lue.

If someone else was in charge of the Raptors, he would probably nod in agreement.

Lao Ma's current transaction value is still extremely high. A young point guard who averages 20 points and 8 assists per game has a bright future.

After all, Kumbu has opened his eyes. He knows very well that the old horse is of no use in trading. It is reasonable to say that the old horse came to the Raptors to play as a substitute. His role may not be as great as Grandpa Lu.

At least Grandpa Lu's basket is quite accurate, and his defense is better than Lao Ma.

Comb didn't even want such a price, which also strengthened McHale's determination to sell Marbury. They quickly cut the mess and sold the old horse within three days.

"I announce that the Toronto Raptors selected Ron Artest from St. John's University with the fifteenth overall pick in the first round."

As Stern read out the fifteenth pick, everyone turned to Elgin Baylor.

Obviously, this Artest is the bargaining chip used by Comb to make a deal with the Clippers.

It is not that no team has tried Artest on the scene, and they are very impressed with Artest.

This is a player with extremely high fighting spirit, but unfortunately, his personality is too extreme. During the trial training, he yelled at his teammates.

In fact, Artest has always had such problems.

When he was in junior high school, he was teammates with this year's No. [-] pick Brand once, but before the game even started, the two had a big fight during the warm-up session.

Not long ago he held a press conference announcing that he was leaving college to enter the draft, rambling on and on for hours, thanking everyone he knew.

This is a typical bipolar affective disorder. Sometimes the temper is terribly grumpy, like a powder keg, and it will explode at one point.

Sometimes I am sentimental and want to love the world and peace.

After helping the Clippers select Artest, Combe began to wait for the next 22nd pick.

After the Jazz finished picking Odom at No. 19, their next pick was No. [-]. Combe was afraid that the Jazz would cut off Kirilenko.

As a result, the Jazz finally chose a small forward Quincy Lewis like the official history. It may also be because Odom is a combo forward. It makes no sense to take another combo forward Kirilenko with the 19th pick.

Kumbu breathed a sigh of relief, the Jazz didn't choose it, let alone other teams, they may not even know that there is such a player as Kirilenko.

After 15 minutes, the AK47 was successfully obtained.

The Raptors gave the Rockets the 29th pick, but they still selected Kenny Thomas.

Since the first round of the draft has officially ended, each team has joys and sorrows.

The natural joy of picking the player of your choice, but the natural worry of only picking the spare tire player.

"Kong, we still have the No. [-] pick in the second round. Why don't you give us some advice?"

Unseld looked embarrassed, he had just winked at Newman, trying to get Newman to speak.

As a result, Newman just pretended to be stupid, lowered his head and pretended not to see anything.

"Okay, it's an honor."

Kong Bu readily agreed.

His straightforward attitude shocked the three Wizards.

Newman almost cried, isn't Kong Bu obviously helping himself?Meeting Kong Bu is the greatest luck in my life.

Jordan's idea is that Kumbu is really an admirable person. The two are rivals. Now that he has retired and becomes the management of the Wizards, Konbu will help him without saying a word.

"But let's talk about it first, this time round, we definitely don't want to select too good players."

"It's not every season that you get a strong second-round pick."

"By the way, what kind of players do you want?" Kumbu asked curiously.

The reason why he helped the Wizards so simply was to give the host a little face, and on the other hand, he wanted to have a good relationship with Jordan.

Even if Jordan retires, his influence is amazing, and there is no harm in maintaining a good relationship with him.

"Shooting guard!"

"Center!"

"Point guard!"

All three of the Wizards spoke, and ended up talking about three different positions.

Jordan is obviously going to be shooting guard.

Unseld wants a center, after all, the center has the highest value, and Newman is out of consideration for the team lineup.

Kong Bu waved his hand, "There is really a good shooting guard."

"It's not an All-Star, but he can still average [-] or [-] points per game, and he is good at shooting and can play the third position."

The eyes of the three Wizards immediately lit up.

A swingman with 13 points per game?Still good at shooting?This is a baby bump!

The player mentioned by Kumbu is named Gordon Kirisek, a Croatian national player whose style of play is somewhat similar to Tracy McGrady.

Although he is white, his ability to pass people is very outstanding. Whether it is a mid-range shot, a three-pointer, or breaking through the basket to score points, he is a good player.

The style of play is quite chic and elegant.

The only thing is that the defense is relatively bad, and I don't like physical confrontation with opponents.

He played pretty well in the first two or three years of the NBA, averaging about [-] points per game, and his shooting percentage was still high. After he went to the Jazz, he quarreled with Jerry Sloan and was sold immediately.

After being sold to the Suns, he had a quarrel with the elderly O'Neill in the training game, and then he was choked by O'Neill, and the whole person fell into a coma.

This kind of embarrassment directly ruined his NBA career and made him return to the European League in despair.

That's right, Ao Pang, who is often beaten up on the court, is terribly fierce off the court.

No one knew about this at the beginning. Later, Grant Hill became a commentator after retiring. He broke the news on TV about his experience in the Suns and mentioned it.

Kumbu didn't know much about this guy, but judging from his experience, he should be the kind of sharp-tongued player.

He still prefers the less talkative like Big Ben.

Anyway, I can't use it myself, so it's okay to give it to the Wizards.

"Kong, I owe you a favor."

"If you need my help in the future, please call me anytime."

Jordan was very moved. For such a player, Kumbu actually gave it away as soon as he said it.

If it were me, it would be no wonder if I was willing to do so. Even if I didn't have a pick in my hand, I would still have to buy a second-round pick if I bought it overnight.

"You're welcome, Michael, we're old friends."

"It's nothing to be busy."

Don't look at Kong Bu always offending people, he really wants to get close to people, he can be regarded as a glib tongue.

"Yes, we are old friends."

Jordan laughed.

The second-round picks were selected one after another, and when it came to the Wizards, they selected Kirisek.

After waiting for about an hour, Combe used the Spurs' second-round pick to snag Ginobili.

Under normal circumstances, Ginobili officially landed in the NBA in 02, and Popovich didn't say how much he valued him at the beginning.

Choosing Ginobili, Popovich is more like casting a wide net, anyway, such a late second-round pick is not worth much.

The Raptors are not short of shooting guards now, McGrady and Carter are enough, and Combe is not in a hurry to let Ginobili join the team for the time being.

Since then, Comb's current draft tour has come to an end.

He won the bearded Davis, the hacker Marion, the fifty-zero Maggette, the AK47 Kirilenko, and the demon sword Manu Ginobili.

Maggette has only one nickname, called FIVE-OH, where OH means zero.

The reason why it is called 50 is because Maggette's jersey number is [-], which is a weird and special number.

Looking at five rookies joining the team, in fact, neither Kirilenko nor Ginobili will be able to report next season.

Of course, if Kumbu wanted to, he would definitely let these two join the team. The big deal would be to spend more money to buy out their contracts with the home team.

It's a pity that there is really no such need. The Raptors are like a cloud, and these two are not bad.

After removing these two, that is to say, three people joined the team.

In the Raptors' original lineup, Jermaine and Lewis will leave the team, and the others will remain unchanged.

In this way, the Raptors' lineup for the new season is roughly determined.

Center: Big Ben, Miller

Power Forward: Bus, Marion
Small forwards: Mashburn, Pierce and Maggette
Shooting guard: McGrady, Carter

Point guards: Payton, Beard and Grandpa Lu
Exactly twelve players, at least two in each position, in case anyone gets hurt.

What followed was Combe's third season in charge, and it was also the first season in which the lineup configuration was completely flawless.

In the past two seasons, there has been a lack of point guards, and now this problem has been completely solved.

On the second day after the draft ended, Kumbu first called Jr. and told him about the deal he had made with the Supersonics.

In the past two years, Xiao Ao has seen many teammates trade, and he has developed resistance in his heart.

In fact, he is also very clear that he will definitely be traded during this offseason or halfway through the new season.

The reason is simple. Daben has a salary of 1500 million, Payton is 900 million, and these two are 2400 million.

The salary cap for next season is about 3400 million. If O'Neill is given the maximum salary, the Raptors' salary space will be completely locked.

For the trade to the Sonics, Xiao Ao readily accepted.

The main reason is that the Sonics have two teammates of their own, and the original starting No. [-] Wen Baker was also traded out.

After Xiao Ao passed by, he immediately became the core of the team's inside line. He didn't have to share playing time with the bus like he is now.

With a maximum salary and plenty of playing time, the core players are all his old teammates, so it is completely acceptable to go to the Supersonics.

Seeing that Xiao Ao can accept going to the supersonic speed, Kong Bu felt relieved.

Then he called Lewis again and told him that he had been traded to the Wizards.

Lewis grinned from ear to ear, he had been looking forward to this day for a long time.

After I went to the Wizards, I immediately started, and not only started, I may enjoy a lot of shooting rights, and my data will definitely skyrocket.

When the time comes, won't the value be revealed?
Seeing Lewis Lecheng's ghostly appearance, Kong Bu was speechless, as if the Raptors had treated you badly.

After notifying the two players who were traded, several teams held a trade press conference in the afternoon to officially announce the content of the trade.

Raptors fans couldn't accept the news that O'Neill was sold to the Supersonics.

Xiao Ao's popularity in Toronto is super high, and he is the most popular player after Tracy McGrady.

Now that it has been traded, and only two draft picks have been sold, it must be difficult for fans to accept.

However, it is difficult to accept and has to be accepted, after all, this is a deal made by Kong Bu.

In the city of Toronto, no fans will question any of Combe's decisions.

That night, after the trade press conference ended, Kombub wanted to return to Toronto quickly, pack up, and prepare to go back to China to call the Tianchao men's basketball team to start training.

As a result, the phone kept ringing non-stop, and all the top executives of the teams asked Kumbu to have a drink.

Their purpose, Kumbu can figure it out with his big toe, is nothing more than wanting to wholesale some players back from Konbu.

The Harrington that the Pistons got, as well as the Nuggets and the Supersonics, whoever saw it would not be envious.

It just so happens that Combe and I are both in Washington right now, and taking advantage of this opportunity, they want to get close.

"Huh? Mashburn's phone?"

Konbu refused to answer the calls from the team's top executives. When his own players called, Konbu definitely had to answer.

"Coach, I think..."

Mashburn faltered, as if he had something to say.

Combe sighed, "Jamal, do you want to be traded too?"

"That's right, coach, I know you gave me a chance to be born again, but I..."

"I feel that the team doesn't need me very much at the moment. That guy Paul is very strong. In the usual training games, I am almost no longer his opponent."

"Even if I leave, the Raptors are still an unbeatable team."

"And I think the coach picked a lot of small forwards this time."

Marsh should have considered for a long time before deciding to call Combe.

Kumbu is not a fool, of course he can clearly know what Mashburn is thinking.

He is not young anymore.

Mashburn, who was born in November 1972, is now 11 years old.

He still has one year left on his contract with the Raptors, when he is 28 years old, he still has a chance to get a contract of at least four years.

As for the size of the contract, it depends on his personal data.

The competition for the Raptors is too fierce. Even if Combe had started him last season, his statistics were only 14.7 points per game.

With such data, it is difficult to have a chance to get a maximum salary.

He is very confident in his own strength. If he is traded, the next season will be a contract year. As long as he plays 20+5+5 data, he has a good chance of signing a maximum salary.

Because of previous injuries, his salary was pitifully low, and his desire for a maximum salary was extremely strong.

After pondering for a moment, Kumbu said, "Okay, Jamal, I promise you."

"It just so happens that all the top leaders of the league are gathered in Washington, and I will try to finalize this matter tonight."

Combe could fully understand Marsh's desire to leave.

If it were me, would I be able to refuse the temptation of a maximum salary contract?Probably can't refuse.

Pierce has already entered his prime, and with the addition of Maggette, the Raptors have no shortage of small forwards.

And it's not that Marion can't play small forward. When the bus starts, Marion can also start.

"Really? Coach, thank you!" Mashburn's ecstatic thank you came from the phone.

"You have been with me for two years, when did I lie to you?"

"Don't worry, I will try my best to trade you to a team that is more offensive and not too weak, so that your data can also be a little bit gold."

Just now a lot of team executives are calling to find him, and Combe feels that he can find a suitable next home for Mashburn tonight.

Mashburn's transaction value is still very high, mainly because his salary for the new season is only 350 million US dollars, a typical high-powered player with a basic salary.

(End of this chapter)