On July 8, the door to free market signings officially opened.
With LeBron James staying in Cleveland, the biggest change has settled.
Pat Riley's dream of building a Big Three was dashed when his two-year-careful plan was derailed by a tweet and a conversation.
Of course, the Miami Heat did not get everything. They got Chris Bosh and formed a very powerful inside and outside combination with Wade.
Now that they are still short of a small forward, Riley naturally has his Plan B.
On July 9, the day after James made his decision, the Heat completed the deal with the Grizzlies.
The Heat sent Michael Beasley and acquired Rudy Gay from the Grizzlies.
Two talented young No. 3 positions completed the exchange.
Gay's rookie contract has just expired this season, and the Grizzlies used a sign-and-trade method to get a five-year, $80 million contract.
Acquired Beasley, 2011 second-round pick, 2013 first-round pick and 10 million trade exception from the Heat.
This transaction caused quite a bit of controversy, especially among the local media in Memphis, who believed that exchanging the already-performing Rudy Gay for the unstable Michael Beasley was a risky business.
And doing so will obviously help the Heat form a very strong championship-level lineup.
With Wade Bosh and Gay, the Heat have suddenly become a strong contender for the Eastern Conference championship and even the championship.
ESPN and some team managers have criticized the Grizzlies for providing assists to other teams.
They already did the same thing in 2008.
"In 2008, they already gave away Pau Gasol, and in 2010, they gave away Rudy Gay. Are the Grizzlies a reserve military academy for the league championship team?"
"Teams like the Grizzlies who trade randomly should be kicked out of the league. What they do is disruptive to the market."
"Chris Wallace should be removed, his bad trades have been making opponents better."
Faced with these controversies and doubts, Wallace said in a simple interview that he considers issues and the development of the team's lineup from a longer-term perspective.
He believes that "Michael Beasley is the more talented player. Now our team is full of talent. This is the most important thing for the Grizzlies. I set my sights further."
Reporters soon pointed out that Wallace's deal may have been inspired by Clippers manager Smart.
Because the Clippers just sent away the outstanding Eric Gordon and exchanged the higher-ranked James Harden from the Thunder.
According to internal Clippers employees, Smart often emphasizes within the team the need to take a long-term perspective.
Chris Wallace had close contact with Smart during last summer league.
In the middle of the season, the two teams completed the transactions of Kaman and Gasol.
It's obviously possible that Chris Wallace could be mentored by Smart, or learn from him.
The same day was the day after James made the decision to stay with the Cavaliers.
The Cavaliers offered James a six-year, $120 million supermax contract.
Among them, the last two years are player options. The signing of this contract gives Cleveland fans complete peace of mind.
Even if James wants to leave, he will have to wait until the summer of 2014, when he will be 29 years old.
The Cavaliers get four more years to continue chasing a championship.
Immediately following July 10, the Cavaliers made transactions one after another.
They first used JJ Hickson as the main player and acquired Robin Lopez from the Suns with draft picks.
Then, on July 11, they sent away Mo Williams and received a 2011 first-round draft pick, Carl Landry and Omir Casspi from the Kings.
With the Kings sitting on more than 30 million in contract space, they gained nothing from the free market in the summer, and small clubs have no attraction for superstars.
In order to give fans an explanation, the Kings management can only recruit third-rate All-Stars like Xiao Mo to support the team's backcourt.
These two transactions did not cause much reaction in the media, because neither Robin Lopez, nor Carl Landry, nor Kazby were powerful or star players.
Moreover, the Cavaliers also lost Mo Williams, the Cavaliers' only effective ball-handling point besides James.
Not only Williams, the Cavaliers also waived Gibson and West one after another, sweeping away all the small guards in the team.
On the contrary, they announced on July 12 that they had renewed the contract of the team's second-round pick Danny Green, and used a mid-level player to sign outside shooter Mike Miller.
Miller came to the Cavaliers specifically for James, and the Cavaliers are gradually reorganizing their lineup.
According to agent Leon Rose, who just terminated his contract with James, the reason why James stayed in the Cavaliers has a lot to do with the Clippers.
"LeBron decided to stay in Cleveland after that conversation in Los Angeles, and I'm sure that James now has a greater say in the Cavaliers. Many operations of the management require his personal consent. As for who he listens to Yes, I’m not sure. In short, I think he is a player who lacks his own opinions and ideas, and is always led by such and such voices.”
Because he was fired by James, Leon Rose was very angry, and he quickly broke the relevant information to the media.
But it also didn't cause much trouble. The fans' attention was still on the players, and an agent could say whatever he liked.
James' new team agent Rich Paul said: "LeBron is a person who has a clear plan for himself, and Cleveland will always be his first choice. He goes to other cities just to learn more about the league. , and listened to some useful experiences. In Los Angeles, he got some designations and confirmed his choice, that's all. Now his goal is to be himself and try to win a championship trophy for Cleveland."
Such a voice immediately won praise in Cleveland. James is already a well-deserved hero in this city. He is only one championship trophy away.
In fact, he was not the only one left behind.
In the summer, Pierce also stayed with the Boston Celtics.
Of course, the Big Three have just reached the finals, and they will continue to fight for the championship next season.
In the West, Dirk Nowitzki announced his decision to opt out of his contract on the first day of free agency.
The Mavericks' management immediately flew to Germany to negotiate the next contract agreement with Nowitzki.
They did not want to give up on the 32-year-old Nowitzki because of the disastrous failure in Black Seven of the 2010 playoffs.
It seems that only the Houston Rockets among other teams politely called Dirk and asked if he would like to come to Houston.
After all, they are all in Texas, so moving is easy.
Nowitzki naturally refused politely, even if the Rockets were willing to offer the maximum salary.
The Mavericks said that for the sake of the championship, they hope Dirk can reduce his salary from 96 million in four years to 86 million in four years.
Reduce the salary by 10 million so that the team has more salary space to sign other free agents.
Nowitzki agreed very happily. Not only did he sign the contract, he also reduced his salary even more, by 16 million.
Renewed his contract with the Mavericks with a 4-year salary of 80 million, and continued to fight for the championship in Dallas.
Several Texas teams are stingy, and it may be a tradition to cut the salary of core players.
With all the major free agents having their names, another Texas team is worrying about signing.
That was Popovich. He never expected that someone would compete with him for Matt Bonner.
(End of chapter)
