527. Offseason storms

Time passed by on July 22nd. Liu Xiu's two-week business activity had ended. He took his family back to his hometown to rest for a few days. In a few days, he would go to Los Angeles to meet his old college teammates.

The scheduled gatherings and scheduled training sessions with Anthony, Ray Allen, Kobe, Nash and others are all scheduled at the end of the month and the beginning of next month.

After returning to his hometown, Liu Xiu enjoyed the treatment of a 'big star'. Unlike the last time when he came back for two days and then hurriedly left for the training camp, this time, all his relatives and friends from his hometown came, and his parents even specially

We held a 'championship celebration banquet' and all the neighbors were invited.

Among the guests who came to the banquet, Liu Xiu could not find many who had watched his complete game live broadcast. This reminded him of red and white matters...

During the celebration banquet, the street director used the hotel's broken amplifier to say, "Welcome our big star Liu Xiu to go back to his hometown for vacation...", which made Liu Xiu want to yell: Buy him!

However, Liu Xiu was very happy to find that everyone knew him.

He shined in the Olympics and won the NBA championship. He is not a household name in China, but most people have seen him through various information channels.

Moreover, the TV audience these days is not as crazy as it will be in the future. If someone recognizes him on the street, even NBA fans will at most come up excitedly and ask for an autograph. Fan circles and abnormal products like the fan economy have not yet appeared.

As a social cow, Liu Xiu even went out of his way to buy Polaroids. When he met real fans, he not only signed autographs but also took photos with them.

Liu Xiu had a very happy time on the whole when she went back to her hometown for vacation. If there was anything that hurt her, it was that Anne Hathaway bought a bunch of "traditional Chinese cultural souvenirs" that were too fake to be fake. No matter where she went,

This girl wants to buy whatever she likes. What can he do? Just carry the bag.

After resting, Liu Xiu also continues to pay attention to NBA matters.

The most interesting thing is undoubtedly Popovich's curse.

After the Trail Blazers signed Ray Allen naked, Popovich angrily said in an interview: "The NBA should implement a hard salary cap. Those teams with money will always exploit teams without money. They have wardens.

If they are a butcher, they can still sign Ray Allen at no cost, and it will not affect their renewal of Kwame Brown. Is this fair?"

When Paul Allen showed off at the press conference that he renewed Raheem at a low price, and later successfully renewed his contract, Popovich went berserk: "They are robbing the players! They are doing this to the players.

Damn it! Raheem should go to Sacramento and get that 44 million!"

The reason Popovich said this is that the Kings are obsessed with getting Raheem, and there is news that the Kings have used Peja as a bargaining chip to negotiate a sign-and-trade deal with the Trail Blazers to get Raheem.

After the Trail Blazers acquired Ray Allen, the Trail Blazers naturally had no interest in Peja. At this time, the Kings were ready to find ways to make room for a naked signing of Raheem, and gave a four-year offer of US$44 million.

Shim rejected the offer and stayed with the team for 14 million for two years.

What makes Popovich craziest is what Raheem said in an interview after renewing his contract - "I may not continue to play after this contract ends. We will see when the time comes. I will do what I want based on my own situation."

Decided that if I find my performance starts to decline, I'm not going to play anymore."

Liu Xiu saw an expert's analysis. The reason why Popovich went crazy was not that Raheem cut his salary and renewed his contract. Popovich didn't care how much other teams spent to sign a player.

Raheem lowered his profile and willingly accepted a new team role, which is the real reason for Popovich's anger and curse.

In the playoffs last season, the Outlaws gradually replaced Raheem as the starting small forward. Raheem will most likely be on the bench in the new season.

As an old basketball player, Popovich knows that no matter how willing he is when signing a contract, he will always be unwilling to step on the court and play as a substitute for a player who is not as good as him. If this emotion accumulates for a long time, it will inevitably become a disaster.

What is certain is that in the next 3-4 years at least, the strength of the Outlaws will still be inferior to that of Rahim. Moreover, although the Outlaws have excellent defensive talents, in terms of offense, the Outlaws have not surpassed Rahim.

Sim's possibility, and defense is always less conspicuous than offense.

The role of Outlaw is a high-end functional player with a focus, while Raheem is an all-around forward swingman who can stand alone on the offensive end.

When Raheem, a strong and grass-tolerant player, is willing to come off the bench and play a supporting role, coupled with the unique and well-matched starting frontcourt of the outlaw, butcher, and parallel import No. 1 pick... As another Western Conference championship contender

It would be strange if Popovich, the coach and vice president of the popular team, doesn't curse.

…

While Popovich was cursing, Liu Xiu was just watching the fun. He has paid more attention to the changes in the players of each team in recent times.

The Trail Blazers exploded into free agency this year.

A few days ago, on July 17, Larry Hughes joined the Cavaliers with a non-Bird Rights maximum salary of $78.92 million over five years!

Liu Xiu originally thought that Larry Hughes would not go to the Cavaliers, because Larry Hughes had stated that he would give priority to staying with the Wizards, and after the free market opened, there were a lot of teams that made public offers to Larry Hughes.

, Larry Hughes has not chosen to leave the team after half a month, he must be waiting for the Wizards to match the contract.

As a result, the Wizards did not offer him a maximum salary in the end, and this breakout perimeter player who had just been drafted into the first defense and was in his prime ended up going to a team that was not suitable for him.

Then the Wizards sent Stephen Jackson, who averaged 16.9 points per game last season, and 2002 backup shooting guard Juan Dixon, who averaged 8.2 points per game, and acquired Peja from the Kings.

Liu Xiu felt quite confused after seeing this operation.

Liu Xiu heard that the Wizards management was unwilling to give up the money because it did not match Larry Hughes' big contract.

But Peja's five-year contract of US$63.28 million is not low, and this contract will not be implemented until next season. By the 2010-11 season, Peja will only be in the last year of the contract when he is 33-34 years old.

Liu Xiu analyzed it. To put it simply, the Wizards wanted to lower the price to renew Larry Hughes. As a result, Larry Hughes left Washington without any nostalgia. Then the Wizards management panicked and became seriously ill.

He went to the doctor randomly and exchanged the Martial Saint for Peja...

However, the Wizards wanted to save money, and Liu Xiu also discovered the reason, which was related to their prison team.

Because of the pressure their prison team brings to other teams, the value of role players and insiders has increased!

First, the Nets used a three-year, $9 million contract to grab former Cavaliers center Desaguena Diop. This blue-collar center, the eighth overall pick in the 2001 class, originally received a three-year offer from the Mavericks.

The Mavericks offered this price of 6 million U.S. dollars. The Cavaliers had already chosen to give up the matching rights with their home team and felt it was not worth the price. Unexpectedly, the Nets raised the annual salary to 3 million U.S. dollars.

Immediately afterwards, the Nets poached veteran center Selke Rebrasha from the Clippers with a two-year contract worth $6.34 million.

Both signings have received good reviews. The Nets have McGrady who averages 25+ or even 30+ per game, Richard Jefferson who averages 20+ per game, and the power forward position also has a player who can average 10+ per game.

+ Juwan Howard who scores points, it is a normal operation to supplement the interior line with mainly higher-quality blue-collar players.

But the salary given has raised the value of blue-collar insiders!

The Wizards are one of the teams affected. Brandon Haywood, who averaged 9 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game last season, could have renewed his contract with an average annual price of 4 million, but the Nets made such a move and let him

The Wizards spent 5 years and 27.5 million US dollars to keep Brandon Haywood, which affected the whole world. The Wizards wanted to save money when renewing Larry Hughes, but in the end they failed to keep him.

This swingman has just been drafted into the first defense.

In addition to the Wizards, there is another team in the Eastern Conference that has made a big move.

Through a series of operations, the Heat signed Anthony Walker, one of the Celtics' twin stars, for US$32 million in four years. The fortune teller also obtained a championship team transformed by Hubie Brown from his former colleague, the logo man.

Standard blue-collar point guards White Chocolate Williams and James Posey.

This move by the logo man made Memphis fans furious.

Barkley came out to add to the popularity and said - "Memphis basketball fans are the worst fans in the world."

The most exciting team in the Western Conference is undoubtedly the Rockets.

Mobley was poached by the Pacers for $44 million over five years. The Rockets played emotional cards in the hope that Mobley would take a salary cut and stay with the team, but the total salary they offered was short of $10 million, and the five-year, $34 million contract was rejected.

.

The Raptors poached Mike James for $4 million in one year, Bob Sura retired due to injuries, and Tyronn Lue was poached by the Hawks for $10.5 million in three years... The hottest thing about the Rockets

, or Jeff Van Gundy chose to resign.

When Jeff Van Gundy resigned, he said: "I hope they fight for Garnett. I believe Garnett, whose contract expired last year, has enough motivation to partner with Yao. They agreed, but the person they traded back was Joe; Nash originally wanted to

To join us, I was already drinking wine with his agent, and the last one they gave me was Bob; I hope they try to sign Fisher, a great guy with accurate wing shooting and multiple championship experience.

Point guard, but what they traded back was Tyron... OK, they are all good players and have some of the characteristics of those players I want..."

Jeff Van Gundy's words caused heated discussion in the United States, but there were a lot of comments about "it's easy to get together, it's easy to break up" in China. This Liu Xiu is used to it. After learning about the Rockets' various "substitution" operations, he

Don't know where to start complaining.

In addition to the Rockets, there are two other teams whose coaches are very eye-catching.

The Pistons did not renew Larry Brown's contract. After the contract expired, they quickly signed former Timberwolves coach Flip Saunders. Liu Xiu's impression of this coach was exactly his coaching performance with the Pistons.

After Larry Brown ended his coaching career with the Pistons, a team immediately took over - the Knicks signed Larry Brown with a record-breaking five-year, $50 million contract.

What is the concept of salary? According to media statistics, Larry Brown has coached NBA teams for 22 years, and his total salary is US$47.3387 million. A contract with the Knicks is equal to the money Larry Brown will earn in his lifetime.

Normal people think that although Larry Brown is good, he is definitely not worth the price.

Another famous coach named Brown commented on this matter in an obviously sour tone: "Dolan may feel that his limelight has been stolen by the Trail Blazers and Mavericks in recent years. Unconvinced, he expressed in this way that they are the

It is the team most willing to spend money in the NBA..."

Before signing Larry Brown, the Knicks had just poached Eddie Curry from the Bulls for six years and $60.72 million. The Bulls did not hesitate to give up the parent team match when they saw such an offer.

right.

The Knicks’ operations this summer are so extravagant!

During this period of time, Liu Xiu was engaged in career and enjoying life at the same time, which was very exciting to watch.

He is very concerned about the changes in the strength of other teams, but mainly he is watching the excitement.

The Trail Blazers have finalized their signings, with 13 guaranteed contracts, most of which are 1-3 year contracts, with flexible operating space. In addition to Lou Williams' 3-year partially guaranteed contract, the 14-man main roster has been finalized, with one remaining

Position, leaving room for reinforcements for potential injuries, or if you meet a player you really want to get, you can sign it smoothly.

So now Liu Xiu can watch the excitement of other teams with ease and no pressure.

…
To be continued...