In July and August, the NBA's long offseason continues. Although they are on vacation, most of the players are not idle. For professional athletes who have been living off their youth, making money may only take a few years. A little waste will affect their lifelong jobs.
Stars hold various training camps across the United States to maintain their condition and improve their skills. Many fringe players also show up through these training camps in the hope of attracting the attention of scouts and getting a job opportunity.
Most of these training camps are held in Los Angeles, which has been a gathering place for holiday stars since the 1980s.
The warm climate, developed tertiary industry, complete training facilities, and many related practitioners make this a paradise for basketball.
As long as there are players, there will naturally be scouts. They fly from all over the United States and even the world to inspect players on-site and establish contact with some young players who have potential but are temporarily unemployed as a human resource reserve for the team's future players.
Of course, the uniforms of each team will not be idle. The players can rest and concentrate on training. For the uniforms, summer is when they really want to fight.
Starting in July, the NBA player free market has officially opened. Although this year's free market is destined to not be as full of expectations as next year, it does not mean that there will not be any big fish this year.
Different teams have begun recruiting players to prepare for next season based on their different needs and positioning.
Bulls guard Ben Gordon's contract expired. In the 2009 playoffs, they played a thrilling first round with the Celtics. In one overtime after another, Ben Gordon played the best game of his career. Playoff performance.
But the Bulls, who already had Derrick Rose, no longer needed this slightly shorter shooting guard and directly let him test the free market. The rebuilding Detroit Pistons signed a five-year, 60 million contract with him, starting a new era. The first shot of summer free agency.
Subsequently, the Boston Celtics, the powerhouse in the Eastern Conference, also made a move. They signed Rasheed Wallace for 12 million in two years as a backup for Kevin Garnett.
The Celtics, who originally had a full lineup, were invincible in the 2009 season. As a result, Kevin Garnett was injured and reimbursed near the playoffs, which greatly weakened the Celtics. Otherwise, Kyle would definitely be facing off against the Lakers in this year's finals. Special person.
The old rival Celtics have strengthened, and the defending champion Lakers will certainly not be idle. They immediately made an important signing, acquiring All-Star forward Ron Artest, and used him to get Paul Pierce.
Artest had just represented the Rockets in the 2009 playoffs against the Lakers. He clashed with Kobe Bryant many times during the game, but his contract expired in the summer and he was not part of the Rockets' rebuilding plan. As a free agent, he longed for a championship. , so "if you can't beat me, then join" and came to Los Angeles to join forces with Kobe.
And Trevor Ariza, an important contributor to the Lakers' previous championship, swapped clubs with Artest and joined the Houston Rockets. Of course, it was for the big contract offered here, 33.95 million in five years, and the Rockets seemed to be interested in acquiring him. To cultivate Ariza as the new core of the team, they gave Ariza the previous No. 1 jersey of Tracy McGrady.
Maybe he just hopes that Ariza can become the second McGrady. McGrady also started as a defensive forward in the Raptors. After coming to the Magic, he soared and became one of the most terrifying scorers in the league. The Rockets are also very whimsical and full of ideas. .
In addition to these several signings on the opening day of the free market, each team subsequently made a lot of big and small moves.
The Mavericks and Raptors reached a deal for Marion, and because of the salary mismatch, they pulled the Grizzlies and Magic into a four-way deal.
The Raptors will acquire Turkoglu from the Magic through a sign-and-trade, give the Magic a trade exception, and acquire Devin George and Anthony Wright from the Mavericks.
The Mavericks will get Marion from the Raptors, who received a five-year, $40 million contract. At the same time, Humphries, sent by the Raptors, will also join the Mavericks.
The Grizzlies received Stackhouse from the Mavericks and a future second-round pick from the Raptors. However, the Grizzlies are not prepared to keep Stackhouse. Chris Wallace will soon move Stackhouse Cut off.
This time the Magic was purely a partner, sending away Turkoglu, the general who helped the team enter the finals, in exchange for only two sums of cash. The reason for this self-inflicted transaction is also very simple: 1. They gave Can’t afford the big contract Turkoglu wants and doesn’t want to pay taxes;
2. In the trade in June, they acquired Vince Carter from the Nets. The management believed that there was a replacement and the Turk was no longer needed.
A team that made it to the Finals last season just dismantled and reorganized their core lineup... But considering that it was the Orlando Magic management who did this, it's not surprising.
In addition to these large-scale signings and large multi-party transactions, there are also various small signings and small transactions.
The Magic signed Brandon Bass to strengthen the forward line, the Suns signed Channing Frye to enhance the three-point shooting firepower in the interior, and the Mavericks signed Tim Thomas to continue to target Duncan of the Spurs.
The Memphis Grizzlies even signed former super-popular superstar Allen Iverson, hoping that he can cooperate with Blake Griffin to expand the basketball market in Memphis and attract more fans to watch the game at home.
In short, each management team has its own unique skills. According to their own needs, they strengthen, save money, and rebuild, regardless of which one will be happy, which one will be sad, and which one will be scolded after the start of the next season. No matter which one you praise, you have to do something.
Even if the team has been bad for many years and its operations have been poor year after year, as long as you sit in this car and you can't drive the car, you still have to shake it up and down and pretend that the car is moving forward, so that you can explain it to the fans. .
But from July to August and then to September, a summer was almost over. In the free market, all the big fish, small fish and even shrimps were almost fished out by various teams, but there was no movement from the Los Angeles Clippers.
Throughout the summer, Olshey was almost out of his mind, not even a single transaction or signing was made!
Although his salary increased by 20%, his workload decreased by 50%, which was a good thing for him.
But how long can such a wonderful working state last? If this continues, the team will have no hope of rising! (It seems to have been promising every year before.)
The new season was just around the corner, and Olshey couldn't hold it in anymore. He submitted several signing application reports to Min Congda, but all of them were rejected.
Olshey felt that his career was facing an unprecedented crisis. On September 15th, he once again submitted a signing application and scouting report. The free market was almost empty.
The Clippers still had vacancies on the front line, so Olshey selected former Lakers small forward Kareem Rush. This player had a magical performance in the 2004 playoffs, making 6 of 7 three-pointers to help the Lakers. Defeated the Timberwolves and reached the finals.
This kind of player who has had a small shining point, especially after going through the playoffs, is worth a try.
But five minutes later, Olshey received a call from Ada, telling him: "Sorry, Mr. Olshey, Mr. Smart vetoed your signing application. Then he also said, don't submit any more signing applications." …”
"But the preseason is about to start. Before the start of the regular season, we have to submit a roster of 15 people. There is still one person missing. What if I don't sign?"
"Well... I'm sorry Mr. Olshey, Mr. Smart said he would take care of it."
Olshey has completely lost his temper. Come on, you deal with it, you deal with it slowly, this team will be bad sooner or later!
Before hanging up the phone, he asked again: "Ada, what is Mr. Smart doing in the office? Recently, he locks himself in the office as soon as he gets to work every day and doesn't care about anything except meetings. What is he doing?"
Ada hesitated for a while and replied truthfully: "Uh...Mr. Smart...Mr. Smart is playing games in the office."
"Playing games? What games are you playing?"
"2k10..."
"Snapped!"
Olshey hung up the phone heavily. He really couldn't bear it anymore. This Smart actually plays games in the office every day?
Although he is playing a basketball game.
But what's the use of this? Do we need to rely on 2K Games to trade and sign people?
It's over, the Clippers, it's completely over.
