"...That's it, I'm already thinking about next season."

After accepting the post-match interview, Sun Ce left a message, took the towel handed by the staff, and walked into the bathroom.

Nothing unexpected happened, 1-4, and the Grizzlies stopped in the Western Conference Finals.

On May 26, the Grizzlies lost to the Mavericks 87-106 in an away game and failed to win their second away game.

After finally relying on winning the third game to bring the game back to the home court, they could not continue. On May 29, just ten minutes ago, 96 to 103, the Grizzlies tried their best, but could not continue.

A game that bid farewell to this season in the presence of home fans.

After taking a shower, Sun Ce did not go to the press conference, just let Randolph go.

At the press conference at the end of the Western Conference Finals, Sun Ce wanted to attend as a winner... but he was just lazy. When the final whistle of the game ended, Sun Ce felt that the season was over, and it was like summer vacation.

He didn't want to work after summer vacation, and there was no overtime pay.

…

After returning home, compared to Zu'e's frustration, Wang Keying's comfort... Sun Ce felt that this was not a big deal. He had made it to the Western Conference Finals. Some stars in the Western Conference might not be able to reach the conference finals in their lifetime if they didn't seek shortcuts.

The Grizzlies have nothing to regret after losing in the Western Conference Finals, and Sun Ce has nothing to regret either.

Being able to reach this point this season has exceeded expectations. Compared with last season, their progress this season has exceeded everyone's expectations, including Sun Ce himself.

In the Lakers team, which was the last peak of the Kojia combination, Yao Ming joined the Mavericks' super Mavericks. In the 10-11 season when the Spurs system first appeared, no matter how confident Sun Ce was before the start of the season, he never thought that he would almost win the regular season.

Championship, I was expecting 55+ wins, but ended up with 65 wins.

This season is a great harvest for Sun Ce, the Grizzlies, and Grizzlies fans.

The team suddenly became one of the few 65-win teams in the league. The history of the Pistons, which has three championships, is brilliant enough, but they have never won 65 wins. The best record in team history was Philip Sander in the 2005-06 season.

After becoming the head coach, Si got 64 wins and 18 losses. At that time, many people regretted that in the 2005-06 season, the Pistons star Ben Wallace was past his peak period. His performance dropped significantly and he could win the best defensive award.

The players were purely lucky. Kirilenko was regarded as the favorite for the best defensive player for a long time that season, but he was too fragile. His strength was at its peak, and his glass man attributes were also at his peak. That season he only played

More than 60 games, and even if he only played more than 60 games, he squeezed Duncan out of the first defense. If Flip Saunders coached the Pistons a year earlier, he might have won more than 64 games.

After reaching this point, the Grizzlies have gained a lot this season, and there is also Sun Ce's MVP!

Sun Ce has been playing in the NBA for two seasons, and his feelings about the NBA are not as idealistic as they were back then. In the eyes of local fans, a team that can win one championship in 10 years can already be called a great team.

.

Compared to overseas fans, American fans take the championship more seriously!

Just like the Pistons in the 2003-04 season, although they have only won one championship since the new century, when it comes to strong teams since the new century, the Pistons cannot be avoided.

In Sun Ce's memory, Nowitzki has been known as a softie for so many years. After winning one championship, he was directly recognized as a god and became the greatest non-American player in history.

Sun Ce browsed the forum. Although he didn't care as much about the fans' opinions as the original Schoolbag Man, Sun Ce still wanted to know the opinions of his team's fans and the local media.

This will determine his choice. If local fans and media are the same as Orlando and Oklahoma City, then things will change a lot.

But what surprised Sun Ce was that the fans were actually quite happy! The media did not attack them for losing in the Western Conference Finals. Instead, they were counting their brilliant performances this season that continued to set team history records.

The headline title given by the local media after the elimination was translated into Chinese and was called "The Brilliant Season".

Although Sun Ce hopes that his fans and local media will not be like Orlando and Oklahoma City, in fact, when he had this idea, he had naturally thought of the worst case scenario.

But...that kind of media and fans are weird in the entire NBA. Knicks fans can't be that weird. If Paul and Stoudemire can lead the team to the Eastern Conference Finals this season, even if they are swept, they

Many fans will praise the two of them as gods.

65 wins + regular season mvp + Western Conference Finals floor... After the Grizzlies lost the Western Conference Finals, the fans didn't even have time to grieve and regret. They couldn't wait to start thinking about the future.

Their idle Mengcun could make rapid progress and become a Western Conference Finals team. The fans and local media were not happy enough. How could they commit suicide like those two weird cities?

Although the Spurs have won 4 championships in the past 12 seasons, they have been eliminated from the playoffs in 8 seasons, and they often lose in the playoffs.

Their own team completed the construction of a new core lineup last season and has reached the Western Conference Finals in just two seasons. With such a speed of reconstruction, only the Spurs, who completed the reconstruction in 1997 and won the championship in 1999, are faster than them.

Watching Sun Ce reach the second round in his rookie year and the Western Conference Finals in his second year, what more can Grizzlies fans ask for? This is the West! James in the East only reached the conference finals in his fourth year of career, even if

It was Wade who won the championship in the third grade. In the second grade, with the help of O'Neal, he only made it to the Eastern Conference Finals.

After Sun Ce came to the Grizzlies, he helped the team reach the second round in his rookie year, and his big brother is the Tennessee version of O'Neal.

Fans remember clearly that before Sun Ce came to the Grizzlies, the Grizzlies were fifth from the bottom in the Western Conference!

The key is that the Grizzlies have reached the Western Conference Finals this season, and most of the players are young!

Gasol is only in the third grade, Sun Ce is in the second grade, Conley is in the fourth grade, Yi Jianlian is in the fourth grade, Jordan is in the third grade...

The only real veterans are Battier and Randolph, two players from the 2001 class. The Grizzlies are a team that is regarded as a youth team.

Moreover, there is Guy in a suit and a pressure jacket on the sidelines. Although it is difficult for multiple Guys to eliminate the opponent based on the opponent's performance, there is definitely a probability of winning more games, and Guy only plays

After four years of playing, he suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in his fifth season. Although he was delayed for a year, it was not the kind of injury that would affect his career.

After this season, the Grizzlies have brought a higher sense of hope and expectation to their fans than the Bulls with Rose + Noah and the 76ers with Holiday + Evans in the East!

Looking at the enthusiasm from fans in the Grizzlies section of major forums, and the enthusiasm in the local Memphis news forwarded... this is not what Sun Ce wants to see!

Even though Sun Ce looked comfortable, he still felt like he had won.

I'm used to seeing Durant being scolded by his team's fans after losing in the Western Conference Finals, and used to seeing Paul being scolded by his team's fans after losing in the second round. Seeing such scenes, Sun Ce is really not used to it.

And it’s not just their Grizzlies fans and local media who are enthusiastic about them, but also the public opinion in the entire basketball world!

When the Grizzlies lost 1 to 4, those netizens and media who had never wanted to see the Grizzlies defeat the Mavericks "betrayed" and praised the young players of the Grizzlies for their bright future. Sun Ce is expected to become

A truly top ten player in the league... this is different from before!

At the beginning of the season, ESPN forgot about him and could only rank him tied for 10th. When the other two authoritative media outlets, .t and Sports Illustrated, ranked him 20th in the league ahead of Duncan, public opinion almost drowned him out.

.

But now everyone started to praise him.

Sun Ce feels that the world is changing so fast, and he already praises him so highly without even knowing what happened. Just like Mitchell, Doncic, and Tatum in the future, he feels like he is being praised.

Sun Ce underestimates the benefits that the playoffs have brought to him in the past two years. The media and fans are so enthusiastic about him that in the future, Mitchell, 077, and Tatum combined will not be able to match him!

He recalled the future Celtics in the original time and space. Before they played the Eastern Conference Finals with the Cavaliers, the fans hoped that they would lose. But after they really lost, the fans began to praise them and said that they had a bright future.

James will no longer be their opponent this season.

Some fans are like this. When they prefer the veterans, they hope that the newcomers will lose. When the newcomers lose, they will rebound and talk about how the newcomers are talented and have unlimited future prospects. They always have to show their uniqueness.

different.

This made him feel weird...but not many people complained, which was always a good thing.

But Sun Ce also discovered a subtle thing... Most of these fans who were looking forward to the Grizzlies losing after the first game of the Western Conference Finals were Heat fans!

Sun Ce discovered from the posts in the Heat section that Heat fans hope the Heat can play the Mavericks in the Finals rather than beating the Grizzlies, who can defend without limits.

Sun Ce was dumbfounded. He didn't know where the Heat fans got their confidence. After watching the Grizzlies give up defense and attack in the first three quarters and lead the Mavericks in the first three quarters, they felt that their team could do better than the Grizzlies.

Well, the Mavericks won't be afraid of the Mavericks when they play offense. They have the Big Three.

This confidence... Sun Ce really wants to tell them that although he also thinks that the Heat are very strong and the Big Three are really powerful, the Grizzlies are not necessarily better than the Heat... but the Mavericks have no intention of attacking to win.

, they are just part of the strategic plan.

But Sun Ce felt that it was better for Heat fans to experience this kind of thing for themselves. He only experienced it after suffering a big loss, and he didn't even think of opening a trumpet to laugh at it.

…

After turning off the computer, Sun Ce returned to the bedroom from the study room... This chatty sister was sleeping in his girlfriend's arms again!

Sun Ce had no choice but to go to the guest room to sleep.

However, Sun Ce could use some time to clean himself up if he slept alone. Otherwise, the season was over and he would definitely be unable to control himself and wake up Wang Keying in the middle of the night.

Just like Sun Ce said when the game just ended three hours ago, he has already begun to think about next season, not just teasing McGrady.

Originally, normally speaking, when the season was over, Sun Ce would not want to worry about matters related to the NBA and the team for the time being. He wanted to take a good rest for more than ten days. He did not want to touch anything related to basketball. At most, as a fan

Watch the NBA live broadcast and have a good time.

From July last year to now, he hasn't had a good rest for almost 11 months. He is not a robot. He has been busy with basketball for 11 consecutive months. When he was eliminated, he even became a little resistant to basketball. During the season

It’s too long. To a certain extent, Sun Ce can understand those guys who drink too much during the offseason and become fat by overeating. Such emotions take time to adjust, and everyone’s approach is different.

But this year was special and he had to start planning early.

Not only is it about becoming a restricted free agent when the contract expires, the labor negotiations have collapsed. Now the players and owners are waiting for the season to be completed and the lockout will be announced after the draft is finalized.

No one thinks that the last negotiation on June 30 will be successful.

Sun Ce didn't believe it either. As a player, he couldn't accept that the contract he signed was one-fifth less than expected for no reason. Players who didn't sign a new contract couldn't accept that the next contract would be one-fifth less than expected.

Once the 57% share ratio is reduced to 45%, the salary cap will be directly reduced by about 20%, which means that even if his next contract is settled according to the ideal situation, it will be lower than expected.

Almost one-fifth less.

As for the boss... According to the information received from Bill Duffy, the boss's side has reached the time to purely protect face.

This is very consistent with Sun Ce's impression. In the end, the bosses were not able to reduce the share ratio too much, but adopted a flexible share ratio.

And now those bosses are still tinkering with the "Arenas Agreement", "Trade Restriction Clause", "Sign First and Exchange Restriction Clause" and other agreements to protect the rights and interests of the parent team or reduce salary. Regarding the situation surrounding Sun Ce
To be continued...