Basketball's No. 1 Anti-Fan

Chapter 157: Dominoes Fall

Hollins' firing itself was justified because he was stubborn and incompetent in last season's playoffs.

Stubbornness is relatively nothing. Many famous coaches have this problem. After all, being a famous coach means they have had successful experience. Their stubbornness is more due to their inability to adapt to the development and changes of basketball.

Incompetence is fatal. No matter whether he faced Popovich or Carlisle, he was beaten to a pulp.

When a team aims to win the championship, it is almost inevitable that he will be fired.

After all, for an NBA team, the head coach is much cheaper than the players.

What surprised Han Sen was the timing.

If management had realized Hollins' problem after the playoffs, they should have fired Hollins at the end of the season so they would have had time to choose a coach.

If management still wants to evaluate Hollins, it should wait until the season has started for a while before making a decision.

The lockout has just been lifted and the season has not officially started yet. Firing him at this time would be a complete last-minute move.

In other words, which famous coach has reached an agreement with the Grizzlies?
Phil Jackson, Jerry Sloan, these famous coaches who are nominally retired can also come back at any time.

Mike Brown and Larry Brown are also unemployed at home.

But even for those famous coaches, they need time to build a new system, and it is a shortened season, so the time is too tight.

Because the team has not yet announced the new head coach, Hansen also talked to Toyes.

After talking with Tois, he realized that things were completely different from what he had imagined.

Because Hollins' dismissal was not only related to last season's playoffs, but also to Conley's contract extension.

Gasol's contract renewal went relatively smoothly. Although he was beaten by Nowitzki in the game against the Mavericks, it didn't matter who defended Nowitzki.

His previous performances against the Thunder and Spurs were very impressive, and as a result he received offers from many teams including the Knicks and Rockets.

Top centers, or inside players with the potential to be top centers, are very popular in this era.

Moreover, Gasol is a restricted free agent①, so there is competition. Unless the Grizzlies let him go for nothing, a match is inevitable. In the end, he got a fat contract of 4 million for four years.

The key to the problem lies in Conley.

The Grizzlies only offered Conley a five-year, $5 million contract (with a hard-to-get bonus of $4000 million).

This is a contract that is obviously underpriced. With Conley's performance last season, it is not a problem for him to get a contract worth tens of millions.

As for why Hollins fought for Conley, Hansen also learned some information from the communication between him and Conley.

Conley was the No. 2007 pick in 4. He started as a starter after joining the Grizzlies, but in the second year, head coach Mark Iafaro replaced him with Lowry as the starter. It was only after Hollins took office that he was replaced as the starter.

Therefore, Hollins can be considered as Conley's mentor, and it is not surprising that he fights for his disciple.

It’s just that Hollins didn’t have a clear understanding of his situation. His position in the management was already precarious, and now he has run into trouble.

After learning the reason, Hansen couldn't help but think of Gay's contract. The Grizzlies also used the same method to lower the price.

It seems that this is the Grizzlies' usual operation?
Although this operation is not surprising for a small-market team.

Especially since the new labor agreement has increased the penalties for luxury taxes, the bosses will have more to consider.

But what does this have to do with the players?

Last season, the Grizzlies made it to the Western Conference Finals and have the possibility of competing for the championship. Even from the perspective of rewarding merit, Conley should be given a generous contract.

Aren’t the players playing so hard just for a better contract?

Even if you consider it from the team's perspective, if you want to win the championship, isn't it normal to invest more in the team?

The Mavericks' roster didn't seem very good last season, but they paid $1900 million in luxury tax.

Paying a high luxury tax does not necessarily mean you can win the championship, but if you want to win the championship without paying or paying just a little, you are dreaming unless you get the rookie bonus.

Apart from anything else, as far as Han Sen knows, the Thunder's reluctance to pay Harden the extra $400 million directly led to the team's lack of a championship.

You can't just think about the bonuses that come with winning the championship but not be willing to invest.

After talking with Tois, Hansen went directly to find Wallace.

"We need Mike." Hansen expressed his position.

Don't forget that Conley, like Gasol Jr., has a rookie contract. If other teams make a higher offer and the Grizzlies give up matching it, then Conley will be gone.

This is completely different from the situation when James was fighting for a contract for Varejao. James was fighting for a more lucrative contract for Varejao, but now it is about whether Conley will continue to stay with the Grizzlies.

Although Conley cannot become a superstar due to his limited talent, there are not many such solid academic point guards in the league.

More importantly, the Grizzlies have very little salary space left with three big contracts of Gay, Randolph and Gasol Jr., and it will be almost impossible to sign a guard of the same level if Conley is let go, and their strength will inevitably decline.

And Conley is also important to stabilizing the Grizzlies locker room.

Wallace didn't expect Hansen to come to him so directly, but he was actually very aware of the importance of maintaining the lineup.

"We will try to keep him."

It can be seen from Wallace's reply that this is not something he can decide personally, but should come from the management, or the will of the owner Michael Heisley.

On the same day that Hansen finished his conversation with Wallace, Hansen received a call from O'Neal.

O'Neal decided to retire.

He is in a similar situation to Peja. If there had been no lockout, they would have been able to maintain their form through training.

But this suspension directly destroyed their bodies.

This is not surprising at all, as "Rain Man" Kemp was directly eliminated due to the 1998 lockout.

The lockout is a real test of the players' self-discipline. O'Neal has never been a very self-disciplined person, especially after winning his fifth championship, he was already satisfied.

As for where he will go after retirement?

This is what O'Neal said on the phone.

"I will be taking my talents to TNT and joining Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith to form a peak Big Three."

In fact, O'Neal has always been resentful towards James because he did not win the fifth championship with the Cavaliers.

So even though he won the championship by stepping on James last season, it is foreseeable that he will definitely make fun of James as a commentator.

O'Neal's retirement came somewhat suddenly, but it also allowed Hansen to turn his attention back to this year's compressed free market.

Although Cuban said he would give it another try, more than half a year has passed and many things have changed, especially Nowitzki was injured when he played a warm-up match for the German team in the summer. Will the Mavericks continue to retain the lineup?

The answer to this question will not be known for a while, but news about Paul is already flying around.

The Magic management on Howard's side tried hard to persuade him, but the Hornets did not.

It’s not a question of difference in trading value, but rather the current situation of the Hornets.

Hornets owner George Shinn was unable to continue managing the team due to cancer, so he prepared to sell the team, but he could not find a suitable local buyer (the league did not allow the Hornets to leave New Orleans).

In order to allow the Hornets to continue operating, the team eventually entered a state of league trusteeship, which means that Stern is now the nominal owner of the Hornets.

Stern is only a trustee, so it is impossible for him to persuade Paul to stay as a boss, so Paul's trade is a foregone conclusion. The only difference is where he will go in the end.

Right now, there are already three rumors of exchanges that have failed. The first one is from the Celtics, who want to trade Rondo for Paul.

This is understandable. Stern now wants to find a good buyer for the Hornets, which will inevitably increase the team's attractiveness. If you replace Paul with Rondo, both the strength and attractiveness will plummet.

The second one is from the Warriors. The Warriors want to exchange Curry and this year's No. 11 pick Klay Thompson for Paul.

The Warriors' sincerity was much better than that of the Celtics, but Stern ultimately did not agree because Curry's trading value at the time was obviously not as good as Paul's, and Thompson was just a rookie.

Of course, what is more important is that Curry has begun to show signs of injury, which is also not conducive to enhancing the team's attractiveness.

Or looking at this, we can actually see that what Stern wants, in addition to young players with potential, is draft picks.

Paul's trade means the Hornets need to rebuild, and those are what a rebuilding team needs.

The third one is from the Clippers. The Clippers are willing to send young players, mainly Gordon, and draft picks for Paul.

Stern still disagreed.

Han Sen was surprised when he saw this.

He may have misremembered other things, but he remembered Paul going to the Clippers very clearly.

Fortunately, the news I saw next explained this.

Because the Hornets have basically agreed on a three-way deal with the Lakers and Rockets.

Gasol went to the Rockets, Paul went to the Lakers, and the Hornets got Odom, young players and draft picks.

When Hansen saw this, he remembered Stern's famous veto for "basketball reasons".

What needs to be mentioned here is that although Stern is the acting boss, because he is under the trusteeship of the league, his decision will be constrained by the owners of the other 29 teams in the league. Simply put, if more than 29 of the 18 owners oppose it, he cannot agree.

So if nothing unexpected happens, the process should be like this: the Hornets and the Lakers reached an agreement, but in the end because the owners opposed it, Stern finally vetoed the deal, and then the Hornets compromised and went back to the Clippers, and finally the owners accepted it and the deal went through.

Time flies and it is December 12th, when free agents have begun to sign contracts one after another.

Things on the Grizzlies side have also come to fruition.

The Grizzlies ultimately chose to match the offer from the Knicks and signed a five-year, $5 million contract extension with Conley (including a $5000 million hard-earned bonus).

At the same time, they also signed a three-year, $3 million contract extension with Battier.

Although it came a little late, the Grizzlies' core lineup has been stabilized.

Moreover, the Grizzlies were unable to hire a famous coach, or they fired Hollins at the beginning of the season and never thought of doing so.

The team promoted Dave Joerger as the team's new head coach, and Toews became the first assistant coach.

This was within Han Sen's expectations. After all, such an operation would have the least impact on the team, and more importantly, it would be the most cost-effective.

It was at this time that Stern's "basketball reasons" officially emerged.

This triggered strong protests from Lakers fans, and of course mainly Kobe fans.

Because the Hornets management had already accepted the offer, but Stern rejected it for an absurd reason.

You know, this may be Kobe fans' last chance to win their sixth championship and surpass Jordan.

But in fact, if you use your brain a little, you will know that this was most likely rejected by other bosses in the league.

Various experts on social media were also analyzing the situation, and one of them touched upon the most crucial point.

Are Kobe and Paul strong?

It is indeed strong enough, but not strong enough to make other teams in the league so afraid. After all, the Lakers will lose Gasol and Odom in the trade.

The key is still the 2012 free agent market.

Even if the Magic insist on not trading Howard this season, Howard can still become a free agent in 2012.

Although the Lakers will have no salary space by then, they can use Bynum as a bargaining chip to form a super trio of Paul, Kobe, and Howard, which would be a truly terrifying lineup.

Three of the league’s top five teams are even better than the Heat.

The Heat's peak Big Three have already made the owners of other teams and the league so wary. Now that there is another super Big Three, what will other teams do?
It seems that things will develop as Han Sen knew.

But the next day, something different happened.

After learning that he was included in the trade bargaining chip, Odom approached the Lakers to apply for a trade, but the Mavericks did not want Odom at that time.

Although it was a little late, Cuban still took action. His contract renewal with Barea and West showed his determination to retain the lineup, and he was also actively negotiating with Chandler and Caron Butler.

And more importantly, it was at this time that Kobe spoke up.

Kobe rarely participates in management decisions. The only time he did so was in 2007 when he requested a trade to strengthen the roster.

Then this time, stimulated by O'Neal's fifth championship, he scored twice.

The direct result of this is that the Lakers increased their bargaining chips in the transaction.

The change in the bargaining chip is that Gasol became Bynum.

This change, like a domino effect, triggered a series of changes.

Gasol is good, but he is 31 years old after all, and his condition has declined significantly in all aspects.

But Bynum is different. Bynum is only 23 years old and has a bright future.

Especially the Houston people are very good at training centers. The Lakers are willing to give up Bynum, so they are naturally willing to increase their chips.

The biggest change in their chips was replacing Dragic with Lowry.

洛瑞在2008~2009赛季加盟火箭，在上赛季布鲁克斯受伤之后迅速成为了火箭首发控卫，场均有13.5分4.1板6.7助攻的表现。

As the man who suppressed Conley and made him the starting player, Lowry is physically strong and has good organization and shooting skills. He is known as the "Little Cannon" and is highly regarded in the league.

Or to put it more intuitively, Dragic at this time is just a substitute-level player in the league, and a white man who is not good at physical confrontation.

This change in chips has rapidly increased the Rockets' chips, which is in line with Stern's requirements.

Of course, the most important thing is that the Lakers sent Bynum away and lost the bargaining chip to trade Howard.

Because in terms of trading value, Gasol at this time was far inferior to Bynum.

The Lakers can rely on Bynum to trade Howard, but what about Gasol who will be 32 years old by then?
The Magic will instantly turn into a cold goddess, the kind that is difficult to attract even a third party.

So this eliminates the possibility of a lineup of Kobe, Paul, and Howard next season.

So when it came to December 12, the last day of the free market, a four-party deal was reached that surprised Hansen.

The Hornets sent Paul and Okafor to the Thunder in exchange for Scola, Kevin Martin, Lowry, Nate Robinson, the Rockets' 2012 first-round pick, the Lakers' 2012 first-round pick, and the Thunder's future second-round pick.

The Rockets sent Scola, Kevin Martin, Lowry, Jordan Hill and the 2012 first-round pick to get Bynum and Odom;
The Thunder sent Nate Robinson and a future second-round pick to acquire Derek Fisher;

The Lakers sent Bynum, Odom, Fisher, and the 2012 first-round draft pick to get Paul, Okafor and Jordan Hill.

-Dividing line-

① Restricted free agent: After the rookie contract ends, the parent team has the priority to renew the contract. Other teams can make offers, and the parent team can decide whether to match within the specified time.

(End of this chapter)