NBA: I just want to play soy sauce, you let me win the championship

Chapter 199 Double insurance?
After his trip to China, Lu Yuanzhi returned to the United States to continue his training courses.

While Lu Yuanzhi was immersed in training, some huge changes took place in the NBA.

The biggest news is naturally the Boston Celtics' trade, not the trade of a certain player, but Gros-Baker's purchase of the Boston Celtics for $3.92 million.

The total assets of the Baker family are 16 billion, and Gross-Baker's personal assets are just over 4 million. In other words, he wants to imitate the Celtics' mortal enemies, the Buss family of the Los Angeles Lakers, and devote all their energy to team building. superior.

What changes this new Celtics owner will bring to the Celtics, who ranks last among NBA owner assets, has suddenly become the focus of media attention.

Another hot news is that Shaquille O'Neal underwent surgery on the big toe joint of his right foot to remove a bone spur there. The surgery was very successful.O'Neal will rest for 6-8 weeks.

Lu Yuanzhi noticed this news because in his impression, O'Neal did not choose to have surgery in the offseason after winning three consecutive championships. Instead, he performed the surgery slowly before the start of the season, which resulted in O'Neal's absence. The Lakers are just over a month into their new season.

But after being eliminated by the Kings in the Western Conference Finals, O'Neal was obviously unconvinced. He may have felt that he had not established a "Lakers Dynasty" yet, and he still had pursuits, so he completed the surgery in the offseason.

Lu Yuanzhi didn't know what impact this would have.

At the same time, the Lakers also put their veteran point guard Lynch Hunter on the market. Without paying luxury tax, the Lakers must streamline their lineup. Hunter's contract of 343 million is a bit useless in their opinion.

However, Hunter is not afraid of finding a new home. As a second-team rookie in the 93-94 season, Hunter averaged 19.7 minutes per game with the Lakers last season, shooting 38.2% from the field and 38% from three-point range.

Although the assist data has dropped a lot, from 4 per game in the previous season to 1.6 per game, this has a lot to do with the Lakers' lineup and play style, and does not affect Hunter's trading prospects.

Of course, the Lakers hope to trade for excellent forward players to take advantage of the confrontation with the Kings.

Last season, the striker combination of Lu Yuanzhi and Webb made waves inside and outside the Lakers, making the Lakers extremely uncomfortable.

But George's three-year rookie contract also ended at the end of the season. If they want to keep this player who is currently playing an increasingly important role at the 3rd position, the Lakers must increase the price and use the salary that Hunter finally freed up. Space for George.

This makes O'Neal and Kobe a little dissatisfied.

You sent Hunter away, but there was no reinforcement at all. So what will you use to compete with the Kings next season?

Bass, you really don’t want to win another championship?

But if reinforcements are to be made, the Lakers will have to make big moves.

Next season, the salaries of O'Neal and Kobe will continue to rise, with O'Neal rising from 2143 million to 2357 million and Kobe rising from 1125 million to 1238 million.

雪上加霜的是，今年联盟的工资帽不升反降，从01-02赛季的4250万降为02-03赛季的4027万。

Therefore, if the Lakers do not want to pay the luxury tax, they must make major adjustments to the lineup.

Not to mention whether the adjustment will be effective, but with such a large number of role players, it is still unknown whether the desired players can be replaced.

The only super trade currently happening is between the Dallas Mavericks and the Golden State Warriors.

The Western Conference semifinals showdown with the Kings made the Mavericks very dissatisfied with their inside strength, and the situation of their own outside perimeter also made the Mavericks very uncomfortable, so the trade took place.

The Mavericks sent Nick Van Exel, Avery Johnson, Ivan Eschmaier, Popeye Jones and Antoine Legadoux to get Antawn Jamison, Chris - Miles, Danny Fordson and Geary Welsh.

The other additions can be ignored. The core of the cover-up transaction is to use Van Exel, an outside player, in exchange for Jamison, an inside player.

But Lu Yuanzhi is not optimistic about this deal.Jamison is also a player who is strong in offense and weak in defense, or in other words, a player who has no defense at all.

Are the Mavericks short of attackers?
Do not!
What they lack is interior rim protectors.

Neither Bradley nor LaFrentz, whom the Mavericks traded from the Nuggets last year, can effectively protect the basket.

The Mavericks' interior line next season will still be a big sieve!
There is also an interesting rumor. The famous "tough guy" Karl Malone seems to have never recovered from Lu Yuanzhi's knee.

Malone may retire early.

At the same time, because Malone's injury was unknown, veteran Stockton also had the idea of ​​​​retiring.

It can be said that the current Jazz team is entirely supported by Malone and Stockton. If these two veterans retire, the Jazz will enter the reconstruction period early.

If rebuilt, Kirilenko would be a bit embarrassed.

Kirilenko landed in the NBA last year and his defensive abilities were unanimously recognized, but at the same time, his offensive abilities also exposed many weaknesses.

The shooting is unstable, and the main scoring area is concentrated at the basket. He has good finishing ability at the basket, with a shooting rate of 60%, and there is room for further improvement.

But the shooting rate from mid-range is less than 20%, and the shooting rate from beyond the three-point line is only 25%.

At the same time, Kirilenko's scoring under the basket is very similar to Lu Yuanzhi's, both scoring by eating cake.

He has no ability to attack independently.

If the hope of reconstruction is placed on Kirilenko, the Jazz must bet that Kirilenko can develop shooting and ball-handling offense.

This is a bit of a gamble.

But as a rookie who has just played for one year, Kirilenko himself is a very good role player.

Rookie Kirilenko's defense at the 3rd position can not only guard most opposing players, but can also swing up and down. When swinging down, he can guard Kobe Bryant, and when swinging up, he can guard space-based power forwards, and he can also be on the court. Provides very good defense.

Very good!
But here's the problem. If Kirilenko is not traded, and the Jazz don't have good bargaining chips to move to a higher draft pick, how can they rebuild?

The NBA has long known that 03 will be a big draft year.

There are not only Carmelo Anthony and James who have emerged in high school, but also Dwayne Wade who has entered college. There are also many outstanding players, such as Bosh, Kaman, Hinrich, and David Weiss. Special, wait wait wait!

The 03 class gathered a large number of outstanding five-star high school students and even outstanding international players.

If they want to rebuild, they must join the competition for the 03 draft.

The Jazz can be bad in 02, but the Jazz also know that while they have bad results, they may not be able to get a good draft pick.

This poor place in the Snowy Mountains has always been disliked by the Alliance.

Perhaps, Kirilenko should also be put on the table and traded to get himself a better draft pick?

Double insurance?
　02 was not that long ago, and the information is really hard to find!
　　Let’s make a reasonable deduction and see if Lu Yuanzhi, a little butterfly, can flap his wings to create a different NBA pattern.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)