402. The prodigal son turns back

The fans who once supported him left one by one.

The alumni who regarded him as proud put his signed jersey at the bottom of the box.

No one regards him as an idol anymore, no one talks about how good he is.

The only news related to him is violation of law and discipline.

Once upon a time, he no longer expected to see such a scene in front of him, and he no longer even thought that he would stand up again one day. In the 2002-03 season, he averaged 6.9 points and 3.5 assists per game, and he despaired of himself...

He never felt the slightest remorse at the worst time.

But when he got through the worst stage, forged ahead in the darkness, found his own path and achieved some success, he began to reflect on the past.

In the past, Little Flying Squirrel wanted to walk through this passage quickly and leave the airport early, but today, he hopes to walk a little slower, and then a little slower...

When we arrived at the parking lot, everyone said goodbye and prepared to go home. We didn't talk much as we saw each other every day.

When Little Flying Squirrel said goodbye to the warden, he wanted to say ten thousand words, but the thousands of words converged into one sentence: "See you tomorrow."

…

Although the 55 points scored by the Little Flying Squirrel were against a team with almost no defense like the Hornets, the gold content is that the performance of the Trail Blazers players who can find faults anyway, of course, the media must clearly praise and criticize.

, the news constantly emphasizes 'beating the last place in the Western Conference and scoring 55 points'.

But the popularity cannot be stopped! In Portland, it has played a role in attracting old fans to return.

Basketball enthusiasm is rising throughout the Portland metropolitan area!

After seeing the news, the old Portland fans went back to watch the Flying Squirrels' performance, and found that the Flying Squirrels had performed so well recently. Memories flooded into their minds, and the fans who chanted for the return of their youth formed a group to pick up the Flying Squirrels at the airport.

The hottest topic in today's basketball world: Who among the four of Flying Squirrel, Stackhouse, Ben Gordon, and Ricky Davis is the strongest substitute in the league?

As for the question about the gold content of reporters and experts, fans of the prison team directly started to criticize - which substitute can score more than 50 points in a single game like Little Flying Squirrel?

The Flying Squirrel also pushed each team to pay more attention to the sixth man. Stackhouse's use of the bench during his peak period had already promoted a lot, but the Flying Squirrel came up with a strong medicine this time.

At the same time, the way the Trail Blazers use the Flying Squirrels gives teams that have veterans who are past their prime but whose playing style is based on the core players' style... Of course, it depends on whether the veterans are willing and willing, and also

It’s not that every player with a core style of play can “reduce their attack” after passing their peak and declining in strength. In the case of Kemp and Vin Baker, let alone being demoted from the core to the bench to reduce their attack, the Knicks let Vin-

When Baker went to the G-League, the coaches were disgusted and eventually bought him out.

But after all, it opens up an idea! This kind of thing will feel very simple when you discover it, but without successful examples, few teams dare to try it.

However, this matter gave the Blazers vice president who owns the little flying squirrel a headache.

After returning to Portland, the vice president called the general manager and the coaching staff held a meeting.

The content of the meeting was about the expiration of Little Flying Squirrel's contract.

It’s not that I don’t want to give money.

Instead, they have to use the expiration of the contracts of the Flying Squirrels, Raheem, George Lynch and others this season to free up salary space. They can use this method before the new contracts of Randolph and Kwame Brown have been officially signed.

The salary cap is calculated at 150% of the season salary. Liu Xiu and the Outlaws both have rookie contracts, freeing up a maximum salary space.

But if you want to do this, you have to give up the bird rights of Little Flying Squirrel and others, or complete the contract renewal at a lower price.

But as far as the current situation is concerned, the value of these small guards with outstanding scoring ability is rising.

"Boss, our players have done a good job now. We just need to wait patiently for the Warden, Butcher, and Fanatics to grow up. We don't have to go to the free market to compete for stars..." Hollins put forward his own plan

view.

The coach, who usually holds such meetings mainly to fish for fish, spoke this time: "Leonard, it's not that our players are so good, it's that you and Jeff did a good job.

We had a year last season for the veteran players to develop a tacit understanding, and this season we have been polishing the tactical system for the lineup we have and creating a style of play that is suitable for our current lineup.

We lack a truly powerful off-ball shooter, which has always been done by Warden; we lack a truly first-class support inside line, which is done by Bishop; and the help and defense on the outside are also done by Warden and his gloves.

Yes, Warden is our core outside line, and the fact that Glove is so old is something we need to consider.

If we can find one of these three types of stars, our strength will have a qualitative change, which will have a much greater effect than a sixth man."

It’s not that Hollins doesn’t understand, but he is a nostalgic person, and despite his age, he is still a little naive. He thinks that even if he has obvious flaws, he can beat the Timberwolves, the Spurs, and the Suns.

, the Nets, who could beat Kidd without getting hurt, had their flaws exposed when they were waiting for strong teams, but he believed in dreams and believed there was light in the world...

The management and other coaching staff appreciate Hollins' naivety. In the world of sports, there are so many "naive" people that can lead to so many miracles.

But now the vice president is the management. The responsibility of the coaches is to lead the players to rush, to challenge, to perform their best or even surpass themselves, and his responsibility as the vice president is to create the best conditions for the coaches.

, this condition naturally refers to the strength of the lineup.

General manager John Nash sent a list to the participating members, and everyone took a look at it. Players with contract years who have not yet been renewed, stars who can opt out of their contracts... are not limited to the three types of players mentioned by the coach.

Duncan is among the stars who can opt out of their contracts. The maximum salary contract he signed in 2000 still has one year left, and his salary next season will be US$15.83 million. If he opts out of the contract, he can be signed if he meets the age specified in the 7-year veteran contract.

The next new contract has a starting salary of $17.43 million.

With a salary gap of more than 1.6 million US dollars, why not just break out of the contract?

But in that case, the Trail Blazers have a chance. Although it is slim, they can try. If the money is spent, the owner who is worried about spending too much money will not know how happy he will be.

The free market, that's what it is.

But when it was time to give it a try, the vice president decided to give it a try. Of course, Duncan was not his ideal goal, but a delusional goal.

It would be great to be able to get an All-Star-level player in the offseason, such as a star in Larry Hughes's class.

And he was prepared to draw water from a bamboo basket and come up empty-handed.

The vice president had already set the tone, and the participating members began to express their opinions on each candidate star. Strengths, weaknesses, personal characteristics, personality, playing style compatibility, age... multiple considerations were raised.

Now they are about to get busy. Signing up is not a matter of taking a slap on the forehead. What they want to free up is a maximum salary space. The maximum salary may be a sign-and-trade Bird Rights maximum salary. If they throw it away, it may be up to 100 million.

, money is not the problem, the problem is that after throwing out the money, it will be difficult if it is not suitable or if the players are brought in and signed with big contracts and then collapse, look at the Knicks.

Then the scouts have to be busy. They have to keep an eye on the target, investigate the possibility of introduction, and a bunch of other miscellaneous things...

While everyone was busy, there was a knock on the door.

Everyone focused their attention on the door. When the vice president nodded, the secretary went to open the door.

The management and coaching staff were very surprised to see the visitor. The visitor was also surprised to see so many people in the office...

The visitor is none other than Damon Stoudemire!

…

…

"Warden, we are going to play 6 consecutive home games. We are so happy!" Little Flying Squirrel looked at the team manual and was very excited.

Liu Xiu nodded and reminded heart-warmingly: "After that, there will be four games in five days on the road."

"..."

This guy is good at everything, he just has an extra mouth!

Little Flying Squirrel regretted making the decision like yesterday.

Is it too late to break your promise now?

I heard that breaking a promise will cause nightmares?

Forget it, I still keep my promise, nightmares are too scary.

As one of the most popular teams, the Trail Blazers have the third-highest number of national live broadcasts in the league this season. Their schedule in January has few back-to-back games and few games. There is also a sweet wave ahead.

6 consecutive games, but there was a wave of 4 games in 5 days at the end of the first half of the season. We had to fight back to back, so we concentrated on returning.

But at least the schedule in January is easy, and there are four consecutive away games in five days, followed by an eight-day All-Star weekend break, which is already a good schedule.

After returning home to rest for a night, the Trail Blazers faced the challenge of the Hornets at home on January 24th.

In the first three games of this six-game homestand, the opponents were the Hornets, Timberwolves, and Kings. They were the same opponents who had just played three consecutive away games. Now they are back at home and playing again.

Originally, this was a very interesting schedule. The Kings had a gorgeous style of play, the Hornets had the epoch-making point guard Baron Davis, the Timberwolves had a random-looking three-headed monster, and the Trail Blazers played 6 games in a row.

The league arranges a mid-season schedule to boost ratings, and all the popular and powerful teams have some kind of "mid-term highlight schedule."

But I didn't expect that all three teams collapsed! The attention was far lower than expected.

I didn’t even expect that the little flying squirrel would become the NBA’s bench scoring king in a single game...

The alliance is naturally happy. Although the process is different, the result is what they want to see.

For example, tonight, ESPN broadcast the Trail Blazers' return home game against the Hornets, and the number of subscriptions and payments actually reached more than 7 million. In the end, the number of paid viewers exceeded 10 million, which is not a big problem.

This is definitely a breaking point in the middle of the season.

At 7:30 pm, the Trail Blazers faced the challenge of the Hornets at home.

The last time they played against each other, the Little Flying Squirrel crushed the Hornets' courage, drive, passion, and basketball dream under their feet.
Chapter completed!