In the history that Xu Yong knows, the NBA adjusted the trade deadline in the 2017-2018 season and moved it forward to the second Thursday before the All-Star Weekend. However, before that, this iconic node day of the league was always on The 16th Thursday after the start of each season.
This year, it will be February 19, the third day after the All-Star Weekend.
Many people are familiar with this time point, but they may not understand why such a day exists.
In addition to the literal sense that it can no longer be traded, more importantly, the league will calculate the total salary of each team this season based on the latest lineup of each team on the deadline day. Teams that exceed the luxury tax trigger line will be levied a luxury tax Tax.
Seeing this, you understand. Don't look at how much some teams exceed the luxury tax at the beginning of the season. How willing the owners are to spend money, whether it is true or not depends on the lineup after this day.
So at this time, in addition to strengthening the lineup, tax avoidance is also an important reason for the transaction.
In fact, trade rumors were already flying all over the place before the All-Star Game weekend, and even a deal like Tracy McGrady's previous deal was completed.
And during the All-Star Weekend, there are endless scenes of stars recruiting each other.
For example, this year, Xu Yong heard it in Dallas, and there were many more.
For no other reason than the summer of 2010 was special. It was the craziest free agency year in NBA history.
James, Wade, Yao Ming, Bosh, Nowitzki, Stoudemire, Joe Johnson, Pierce, these All-Stars who participated in this year's All-Star Game will all become free agents this summer. Or hold player options.
In addition, there are Ray Allen, Boozer, Big Z, etc., which together constitute the craziest summer this year.
This is the main reason that contributes to this phenomenon.
Although players cannot direct transactions, they can lobby for free agents to join or form a team.
Based on this fact, the team has made many transactions to free up salary space.
The Bulls are one of them.
One thing that sounds absurd but is very realistic is that Brad Miller's contract expires this summer. As long as Hinrich's contract is disposed of, the Bulls can even sign James and Wade at the same time.
This may not necessarily happen, but the Bulls have been working towards this for a long time.
Hinrich's name has begun to appear frequently in the trading market.
Especially as the deadline approaches, even the Bulls players feel that the team's oldest veteran has entered the countdown to leaving the team.
Three days passed quickly, and as the trade deadline continued to approach, large and small transactions continued to break out.
Among them, the Wizards are the biggest sellers at this year's trade deadline.
As one of the Bulls' trading partners in last year's draft, the Wizards have experienced ups and downs this season.
They used the fifth pick at the beginning of the season to recruit Salmons and Thomas from the Bulls. Together with the original lineup, they can be said to be strong.
However, before the season officially started, Thomas suffered a fracture in his left arm and would miss most of the season.
Losing one of the generals before the season has even started is a bad start.
Fortunately, they have enough personnel and their overall strength is still strong. They were in the playoffs at the beginning of the season.
But something happened midway through the season that hit rock bottom.
Arenas and third-year player Crittenton had an argument while playing cards on the plane. Afterwards, Arenas, an All-Star with a personality who would poop in teammates' shoes, transformed into the first-generation "gun king" in the locker room. Drawing a gun on Crittenton.
The key is that what happened inside the locker room was exposed by the media, which resulted in Stern being severely punished with a 50-game suspension.
The team boss was suspended for a whole season. After waiting for two seasons, the Wizards were no longer able to maintain their lineup and directly announced that the Wizards Supermarket was open for business.
Caron Butler had been traded from the Wizards to the Mavericks before the All-Star break.
And on the day of the trade deadline, Antawn Jamison was also sent to... the Cavaliers.
That's right, the Cavaliers, who were ranked first on ESPN at the beginning of the season and are now second only to the Magic in the Eastern Conference, are strengthening their teams again.
This is a deal that can be called a robbery of Pau Gasol. The Cavaliers only paid "Big Z" Ilgauskas, and then exchanged Jamison from the Wizards.
For comparison, Ilgauskas, who has been reduced to a substitute after O'Neal arrived, averaged only 7 points and 5 rebounds per game this season, and his shooting percentage was only 44.3%, a career low.
And Jamison is getting stronger as he gets older, still averaging 20.5 points and 8.8 rebounds per game. He is one of the best space-based power forwards in the league.
Moreover, the Cavaliers' deal is extremely similar to the Rockets' deal for Hamilton. Ilgauskas/T-Mac both have expiring contracts, and both Jamison/Hamilton still have big contracts for the next two years.
While other teams are busy clearing space, they are doing this kind of deal to block space, which actually has only one purpose.
The Rockets are trying to keep Yao Ming, and the Cavaliers are trying to keep James.
But no matter what, Mo Williams + Anthony Parker + James + Jamison + O'Neal, except for the older frontcourt, this lineup is basically a perfect lineup that can be created by 2K in this era.
Of course, only Xu Yong knows. What's even more outrageous is that later on, the Cavaliers management will make a bug and re-sign Ilgauskas back with a minimum salary.
At this point, Xu Yong still couldn't figure out how the Cavaliers' lineup failed to reach the Eastern Conference finals.
Then the Bulls also took action. They made a three-way deal with the Knicks and Celtics.
The Bulls traded Will Bynum and Sangueira for Nate Robinson and Bill Walker.
The Knicks traded Nate Robinson and Marcus Landry for Eddie House and J.R. Giddens.
The Celtics sent Eddie House, JR Giddens, and Bill Walker to get Will Bynum, Songela and Marcus Landry.
Xu Yong only learned the news the day after the deadline.
His first reaction was surprise.
Bynum has not played badly since coming to the Bulls, and Bynum is a Chicago native.
But if you think about it carefully, it doesn't seem that difficult to understand.
The first is the issue of salary space. Sangella still has a contract worth nearly 5 million next season. If the Bulls want to make a difference in the summer, they must try to trade him.
Then there is Brown. Just as Xu Yong thought at the beginning, the Bulls traded Brown for O'Neal and Howard.
But after Brown actually arrived at the team, they found that Brown's condition was too poor.
Yes, players are in shape. If you want a player to be in shape, you have to give him playing time.
In terms of hard power, as both short players, Nate Robinson is obviously stronger than Bynum on the offensive end.
After all, he averaged 17.2 points per game last season and was much better than Bynum in three-point range.
And overall, the Bulls are equivalent to taking Tim Thomas, whose contract is almost garbage and expiring, plus veteran Hunter, in exchange for Nate Robinson, Kwame Brown and Bill Walker.
Just as Xu Yong judged in the draft, Foreman's business ability as a general manager is not bad at all, leaving aside what he is as a person.
As for the Knicks, they are more fulfilling Nate Robinson.
Robinson was the first-round pick of the Knicks in 2005. He has never played in the playoffs in his career. He has worked hard for the team and is in a contract year. He is eager to show himself on a higher stage.
Bynum's experience has shown that he can get that kind of opportunity in the Bulls.
As for the Celtics, House is in poor form this season. As a defender, his shooting percentage is barely over 40%, which obviously does not meet the needs of a championship team.
Switching to Bynum, and at the same time getting Sangela, this deal will not be a loss no matter how you look at it.
But I understand, and Xu Yong has a deeper understanding of the NBA business field.
After all, he hasn't finished his rookie season yet, and the teammates next to the closet have changed twice.
A few days after the trade deadline, Xu Yong met Nate Robinson in the locker room.
His first feeling was that he was short, really short.
It's not that the two teams have never played against each other on the court before, but because they spent less time on the court at the same time, his feeling is not that strong.
But now standing in front of me, I really feel like an uncle seeing a child.
Nate Robinson is definitely not 1.75 meters tall, and he shouldn't even be 1.7 meters tall.
But this guy is really strong. His muscles are like mounds, stronger than the Griffin he played against before.
There are really no good little guys who can make it in the NBA.
"Xu, just because you won the championship, if someone else wins, I have to make trouble with him." And as soon as he saw Xu Yong, he was complaining about the dunk contest that had just ended.
It was obvious that he was quite unhappy about not being invited to participate in the dunk contest.
Xu Yong was happy after hearing this. Unlike Bynum, Robinson seemed to be a bit genuine.
But this is consistent with my impression. Robinson is passionate and energetic on the court. This kind of person definitely doesn't have so many twists and turns.
This kind of personality is also what Xu Yong likes, so he quickly said: "When the training is over, we can compete."
"Really? I've had this idea for a long time!" Robinson couldn't sit still when he heard this.
This is really true enough.
Xu Yong smiled and nodded, and also thought of something very interesting.
With Robinson's current enthusiasm, there is a high probability that he will participate in the dunk contest next year. Griffin, DeRozan, and Nate Robinson will be worth looking forward to.
In the team's training sessions, Robinson showed the ability of a player in his early years, and he quickly integrated into the tactical system.
Although, maybe Denagro's tactical system is not that simple.
But there was one person whose performance Xu Yong never expected.
Bill Walker, a player Xu Yongsheng had never heard of before, actually performed exceptionally well.
Especially the shots from outside the three-point line are so stable that it is unbelievable.
You must know that Walker played for the Celtics for two seasons before, but rarely had a chance to play, the type that made people completely unaware of his existence.
Did the Bulls get another bargain?
"I know him." Ross and Xu Yong were chatting after the training session.
Xu Yong looked curious. He really had no impression of this kind of player who couldn't find any information even when he opened the search engine.
"If he hadn't had a knee injury, he would have been a star player by now." Rose said with emotion.
Bill Walker can be summed up by more than just a simple sentence: "Everyone who can enter the NBA is Jordan in their stories." In high school, he was the same master of flying and escaping as DeRozan, and was known as "The Second Carter" , he was in the same high school with O.J. Mayo and had a bright future.
But when he entered high school, knee injuries began to catch him.
In his last season of high school, he suffered a season-ending cruciate ligament knee injury, which ranked him only 69th among high school students in 2007.
Then he entered Kansas State University and played on the team with Michael Beasley. He averaged 16.1 points and 6.3 rebounds per game and seemed to be on his feet again.
But just a few weeks before the draft, he injured both knees, his third major injury in five years.
That caused his draft prospects to plummet, and he was only selected by the Celtics with the 47th overall pick as a supplement to James Posey who failed to renew his contract.
But it's a pity that the Celtics formed a Big Three lineup that summer, so he, a second-round pick, would not have much chance.
Listening to Ross's description, Xu Yong thought of another person.
"Little Eddie" Perry Jones was selected by the Thunder in the 2012 draft.
Jones was also a top-10 or even top-five prospect at the time, but ended up falling to the bottom of the first round due to injuries.
The experiences of the two are really surprisingly similar.
But looking at Walker's condition, he seems to be much better than Jones.
Especially being able to transform from a dunker to a shooter is very rare.
This kind of player can be used as a tactical end point, just like Novak of the Rockets back then, and has great tactical value.
At this time, in the corner of the court, a person was scanning the court. It was Foreman, the team's general manager.
There are not so many free picks in the world. He was able to pick out Walker from the crowd of rubbish. This was all due to his work as a scout in those years.
If the Bulls hadn't run out of second-round picks that year, he would most likely have picked them.
And looking at this circle, the Bulls' lineup has changed a lot from the beginning of the season.
Point Guard: Rose, Nate Robinson, Jerome Pargo
Shooting Guards: Xu Yong, Hinrich, Bill Walker
Small forward: Deng, James Johnson, Damien Wilkins
Power forward: Gibson, Brad Miller, Richard
Center: Noah, Kwame Brown, Aaron Gray
He is quite satisfied with the lineup he has built in one season.
At least it has been greatly improved compared to the beginning of the season, and it already looks like a playoff-level lineup.
At this moment, the entertainment dunk contest between Xu Yong and Robinson began.
Both of them showed their individual talents.
Xu Yong's dunk is just like the original dunk contest, which is a combination of strength and aesthetics, while Robinson's violent aesthetics belongs to a short man.
Xu Yong's dunk will make people wonder why he can dunk so beautifully, while Robinson will make people wonder how he can jump so high.
Looking at the two people watching the game and the cheering players on the sidelines, Forman couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
In fact, he was a little worried about the impact of frequent transactions on the team, but now it seems that this concern is unnecessary.
Even if you think about it, if the Bulls really make the playoffs this year, he should be able to compete for the best general manager award.
The pace of the book will be faster. Just like the previous NCAA season, the games that are not driving the plot will not be written. In other words, the playoffs are about to begin, and the scenes of some role players will not be specifically written in games, but will be written in games. Conclude in the playoffs~ In addition, please recommend tickets, monthly tickets and subscriptions every day~~
(End of chapter)
