Basketball's No. 1 Anti-Fan

Chapter 293 2015 NBA Free Agent Market
The next day, Hansen went to the locker room to change into training clothes and found that Jokic had not arrived yet.

Just when he thought Jokic had overslept, this guy walked into the locker room on time.

In addition to him and Cunningham, Grover was also in the training hall today.

Han Sen called Grover yesterday, and the latter flew over early in the morning.

Hansen continued his own training with Cunningham, while Jokic was thrown to Grover by him.

After he trained for a while and sat down to rest, he paid attention to the other side.

What surprised him a little was that Jokic worked very hard during training.

This is completely different from his previous slightly lazy attitude.

Han Sen felt that this guy was just like himself in his previous life, who didn't want to go to work but had to work hard to make a living.

Just as Han Sen's training was proceeding in an orderly manner, the door to the 2015 NBA free market opened on time on July 7.

On the first day of its launch, a shocking piece of news went viral.

Pat Riley announced that former Heat head coach Spoelstra has been adjusted to become the team's deputy general manager, and he will return to coach again!

And Riley also made a harsh statement afterwards:
"If I fail to lead the Heat to a championship, I will end my coaching career and hang Hansen's No. 77 jersey over the American Airlines Arena."

This set of operations is very un-Riley. The name "the God of Calculation" comes from his shrewdness, not this kind of impulsiveness.

The reason that allowed him to make such a twisted operation is the situation the Heat are facing now.

If the Heat had lost to the Warriors last season, they would have had another year to play normally, after all, Durant still has one year left on his contract.

Although that year is a player option, he should give it another try.

But now, the Heat lost to the Cavaliers and were blocked from the finals, and everything became different in an instant.

Durant may opt out of his player option, Wade may also opt out of his player option, and Dragic and Vucevic's rookie contracts are expiring, so the Heat are facing disintegration.

If there are no external factors involved at this time, the reconstruction of the Heat will be a matter of a moment.

This means that the final result of Riley's formation of the peak Big Three was 4 runner-up finishes and 1 Eastern Conference runner-up finish, which was a complete failure and the biggest black spot in his career resume.

So in this context, he had no choice but to leave.

This time it is not about picking peaches like in 2006, but about real rescue.

As for hanging Hansen's jersey, it is a great motivation.

That translates to a slap in the face of the Heat players, and then loudly asks them: "Are you convinced just like that?"

Facts have proved that Riley's status in the league is still there. Durant and Wade both announced the exercise of player options after the free market opened, preparing to gamble for another year.

The Heat then announced that they had reached a contract extension with Dragic for 5 years and $8600 million.

Because the salary cap has increased significantly in the new season (from 6300 million to 7000 million), the luxury tax they need to pay is much less than expected.

Of course, this also means that they gave up Vucevic, who turned around and reached a four-year, $4 million contract with the Trail Blazers.

The Trail Blazers signed Vucevic to make up for the impact of Aldridge's departure. After the free market opened, the latter chose to sign a four-year, $8410 million contract with the Spurs.

After letting Vucevic go, Riley showed off some amazing skills.

They signed David West to a minimum salary contract!
West, 34, still averaged 11.7 points and 6.8 rebounds per game as the Pacers' starting power forward last season. He previously waived his $1200 million player option for the final year with the Pacers.

The outside world thought that he did this to seek the last long-term contract in his career, but unexpectedly he directly signed a minimum salary contract with the Heat!
This behavior of treating more than 1000 million US dollars as nothing really shocked the league.

West's subsequent response on social media was just one sentence: It's all for the championship.

This sentence can be understood as West feels that the Heat are the most likely to win the championship in the new season, and he can make the greatest contribution there.

So, after this wave of operations, the fans discovered something incredible.

When you thought last season's Heat couldn't be any better, they immediately demonstrated this season: No, they're still okay!

Moreover, the new season will be a do-or-die battle for the Heat, and the energy that this team will unleash will be amazing.

If basketball games were decided based on the strength of the lineup, then the league could have awarded the Heat a championship ring in advance.

The Heat's series of operations can be said to have brought continuous shocks to the league.

But you thought this was over?
The Lakers say the summer has just begun.

James opted out of his player option, and with Varejao's contract expiring, that leaves the Lakers with a ton of cap space.

It was at this time that Love announced that he would opt out of his final year's player option, reached a five-year, $5 million contract with the Timberwolves, and then signed and traded to join the Lakers!
In this sign-and-swap, the Timberwolves received three future first-round picks from the Lakers, as well as bonus items and trade provisions.

Love was selected to the All-NBA Second Team in the 13-14 season. Although he was not selected to the All-NBA Team last season, he averaged 25.4 points, 12.2 rebounds, 4.1 assists per game, and a 37.3% three-point shooting percentage, which are still very explosive.

And now Love has developed his organizational skills and is very stable in three-point shooting. He is a complete Love.

If it weren't for Love's personal wish (Nike's push), the Timberwolves would never have sold him at such a low price.

So this news is even more exciting than the Heat's, because when 23+24 is still not successful, then just go for the epic Big Three!

Just after trading for Love, James signed another 1+1 contract with the Lakers.

In this way, the Lakers not only formed an epic Big Three, but also retained Frye.

And because Mozgov, who was traded earlier, is a team option this season, this means that their frontcourt depth instantly became the best in the league.

What they need to do next is to consider whether to keep Jeremy Lin, whose contract has expired, or to strengthen the team with some veteran players.

The voices on social media at this time were also very interesting. In addition to being shocked, everyone was calling out to West, saying that he signed with the Heat too early.

Hansen only found out about Love's move to the Lakers when he saw Griffin coming after training.

He was a little surprised, but not that surprised.

Kobe's strength has begun to decline. If the Lakers and Nike don't seize this opportunity, then they will really have no chance.

Including the draft picks that James gave away to the Lakers, the Lakers have already emptied out their entire future, a typical all-in.

But not everyone is Musk. It’s not easy for the Lakers to win the championship, let alone enter the finals, after all, there is the Warriors in the Western Conference.

Others may not know, but Han Sen knows that next season will be Curry's peak season. But this will make the new season very crazy.

There are two super, even epic teams in the East and West. If the Warriors are counted, there are three teams. The team that can win the championship in such a season will surely go down in history.

To put it poetically, only a championship like that is worthy of being the first championship in the Cavaliers' history.

Seeing Hansen so calm, Griffin was no longer panicked. After all, Hansen's victory over the Heat last season was really shocking.

If Han Sen says it's okay, then it must be okay.

By the way, he also talked to Hansen about the Cavaliers' summer reinforcements.

The Cavaliers' main goal this season is to retain the original roster and sign as many players as possible.

JR and TT must be retained. The Cavaliers were able to beat the Heat last season because of their outstanding performance.

JR is calm around Hansen, while TT makes rapid progress under Garnett's guidance.

However, the contracts between the two are quite different.

JR opted out of his 600 million-dollar contract option and went out for a look, only to find that he couldn't get a bigger contract than his player option in the market!
Theoretically speaking, given his outstanding performance in the playoffs last season, it would be no problem for him to get a contract worth eight or nine million.

But the fact is, in the eyes of the general managers of various teams, you, JR, have been abnormal for so many years, and now you have only been normal for one year. It is hard for us to believe!

So in the end, the Cavaliers saved money by signing JR, and they got a two-year, $2 million contract with a player option for the second year.

But TT asked for a huge sum of money, a 5-year, $8000 million contract.

"This is your job. Don't consider me." Han Sen would not participate in such negotiations.

This is different from when Conley and others renewed their contracts, because at that time Conley and others were worth the market price, while TT's was obviously a premium.

What Griffin actually wanted was what Hansen said, because no team has made an offer to TT yet, and the Cavaliers can afford to drag it out.

In addition to these two, Williams and Garnett will also sign contract extensions with the Cavaliers.

Although the team would not necessarily win the championship if Irving played in last season's finals, that kind of experience is always unacceptable.

In addition, the Cavaliers also signed Mike Dunleavy with a three-year, $3 million contract.

This surprised Hansen a little, because Dunleavy was a starter in the Bulls, but he could only be a substitute in the Cavaliers.

And the reasons given by Griffin are irrefutable.

"He chose to join us because of you. In fact, there are other players who want to come, but we don't have that much salary space to operate now."

This statement is very true. Hansen plays so well in the Cavaliers, how could no one want to join him?

Especially, as an opponent in last season's playoffs, we experienced his dominance on the court face to face.

As for Dunleavy, Hansen had played against him when they were still in the Western Conference playing against the Lakers. He was a very "typical" white player, with average physical fitness but high basketball IQ. He mainly played without the ball and was a plug-and-play type of player.

His joining is indeed a very good reinforcement for the Cavaliers bench.

The reason why the Cavaliers signed Dunleavy, in addition to the factor of strengthening the team, is that James Johnson is about to go to the Raptors.

Johnson entered the rotation during the regular season last season, but had fewer opportunities to play in the playoffs.

His situation is similar to Gay's. He previously followed Hansen to win three consecutive championships with the Grizzlies. He needs money more than the championship.

The Raptors can give him more opportunities.

Of course Hansen knew this, and he also agreed with Johnson's actions.

Just like Oakley only played on the same team with Jordan in the early stages of his career and then went to the Knicks, players need to consider their own career plans.

Especially Johnson needs opportunities the most at this stage.

In fact, Garnett had persuaded Pierce to join the Cavaliers before, but Pierce eventually returned to the Celtics with a three-year, $3 million contract at the call of Ainge.

After all, he is different from Garnett. As Han Sen's first anti-fan leader, he cannot surrender to Han Sen because of his personality.

The free market is coming to an end, and Hansen is preparing to hold his summer training camp for another year.

However, before the training camp started, Irving arrived at the training hall earlier.

His recovery took longer than expected but he has now fully recovered.

The first thing Owen said when he saw Han Sen was, "Help me become stronger!"

This operation stunned Jokic who was in training. He looked at Irving in surprise, and his expression seemed to say: It's just work, why are you so excited?
Honestly, Han Sen was also quite surprised, but looking at Owen's resolute expression, it seemed that Owen must have thought a lot during the month of recuperation.

One thought that must be there is: I missed the first championship of my career.

This is a good thing.

Irving has a rather self-centered personality. No matter what the reason is, he actively wants to become stronger, which is good news for the Cavaliers.

The Cavaliers have limited lineup reinforcements. If they want to defeat the Lakers, Heat and Warriors, they can only rely on making the existing players in the lineup stronger.

So what aspects can Irving become stronger in, or what aspects does he need to improve?

The first and most useful is actually organization.

Last season, the team's performance was inconclusive, but this season he must be given enough opportunities to gain experience.

There is no requirement for Irving to really become a master of organization, as long as he can improve his "passing tendency".

However, this aspect needs to be changed through competition. In addition to the training games in the training camp, regular season games are also needed.

Another aspect that is actually very important is Irving's defense.

Irving's defense is now unstoppable. Last season, against the Heat, Dragic could easily dribble past him.

In other words, Irving's defense is just like James' back-to-the-basket defense. Although it cannot be improved to the elite level, because his original level is poor enough, he can still improve to the league average level if he really practices hard.

As long as these two links are filled, Irving's skills will have no weaknesses, and next season he should consider not the All-Star team, but the best team.

(End of this chapter)