At present, the Trail Blazers have the highest trade value. Aldridge and Wang Zelin are the first ones, and they can already exchange 1 for 1 with the cores of other teams.
Next is Lillard. With some more chips, it's okay to exchange some of the team's core players.
Finally, there are Batum and Matthews. The two brothers cannot exchange cores, but if the Blazers just want to trade starting-level players with other strong teams, they do have the skills among players of the same level. with a higher transaction value.
However, judging from the current chemical reaction of the team, at least within these two seasons, the Trail Blazers management does not intend to make major changes to the team structure.
What they need to do is how to further enhance the strength of the Trail Blazers while maintaining their current combat effectiveness.
Therefore, Nel Arsi quickly put aside his inner melancholy and set his short-term goal on the team's 14-strong roster.
Yes, despite the fact that the Trail Blazers' record this year is the best in the league, in fact, their team roster has not yet reached the 15-man limit required by the league.
To put it another way, the Trail Blazers' current strength actually still has room for improvement. The specific details depend on the operations of the team management.
Now, there is still about a month left before the 2014 NBA trade deadline, which is February 21. As the trade deadline approaches, the current trading market has begun to become turbulent again.
Nel Orsi is busy digging for gold in the trade market. He doesn't want the team's last spot to be strengthened to go to waste.
This time, after the coaching staff and management unanimously negotiated the position of reinforcements, they also consulted the team's main players, and finally chose an outside blue-collar player, preferably one who can swing from forward to guard.
Take a look back at the Trail Blazers' current team structure.
Needless to say about the substitute players at the point guard position, the offense is provided by Mo Williams and the defense is provided by Beverley. While maintaining healthy competition, the two players with different styles also allow the Trail Blazers to target different opponents. The opponent's No. 1 position has more options.
As for the three positions of small forward, power forward and center, Batum, Aldridge and Wang Zelin also have two substitute players behind them, which is enough to deal with most situations.
Therefore, the team placed the final reinforcement spot on the shooting guard substitute.
Connett Lee is good both offensively and defensively, and can be called a model of the best 3D player, but if possible, Nell Olshey wouldn't mind having one more such high-quality substitute in the team.
The ancients said: The human heart is not enough for a snake to swallow an elephant!
But there is also a saying: How bold a person is, how productive the land is.
Moreover, there is such an old man in China, and after decades of hard work, he and his team really did it!
It is precisely because they want more that the Blazers management and coaching staff have so many happy worries.
If they are just satisfied with temporary gains and losses, based on the team's current 36-6 start, no matter how bad the Blazers are in the future, they will not be able to fall out of the Western Conference playoffs. No matter how bad they are at the end of the regular season, how will they attract around 55 wins? With this achievement, everyone can already open the champagne to celebrate.
It is true that the Trail Blazers are becoming more cautious as they play, and every step of the next schedule is on thin ice.
The reason is that everyone on the team already had a taste of the Western Conference Finals last season... Although everyone felt a little surprised at the time, they had finally tried it, so everyone wanted to try it in a different way this year.
For example, set a small goal first - a championship? !
…
After an hour, the players left the field and went back to prepare for the game. The management and coaching staff were left behind to remain melancholy in the conference room.
The Trail Blazers' opponent tonight is the Thunder, and they are playing back-to-back games. Although yesterday's loud and tough performance did not consume too much energy from everyone, the Thunder should not be underestimated after all!
In the 4 games against the Thunder this season, the Trail Blazers want to win every game, not for anything else but to leave a strong mark on the hearts of the opposing players in the regular season. In this way, if the two teams really meet in the playoffs, the Thunder will definitely be the one who is timid before fighting.
Tonight is the third contest between the two teams this season.
In the first two games, Wang Zelin broke out in the first game, scoring a massive double-double of 31 points and 13 rebounds, and ultimately led the Trail Blazers to win the first game.
In the second meeting, it was Westbrook's turn to break out. He scored 41 points, 11 assists and seven rebounds for a near-triple double. The Thunder and Trail Blazers tied 1:1 in the regular season.
Therefore, tonight's third game, both sides from the management to the players, are paying special attention from top to bottom.
After Wang Zelin led his teammates to the Energy Arena, he found that all Thunder players had appeared on the training ground. It seemed that they had been waiting for a long time.
After Durant saw the figure of Trail Blazers No. 36, he stopped shooting and sent a fiery look from the air.
Wang Zelin quickly noticed it, turned around, and looked at Durant from a distance.
After a while, both sides looked away.
"Hmph, I'll make sure you look good later!"
Durant flicked his wrist fiercely, suddenly started accelerating, and hit the basket with a one-armed tomahawk...
"boom!"
A loud noise instantly spread throughout the arena.
"Oh, you're so angry!"
Batum screamed strangely.
Matthews turned around and looked at Wang Zelin: "Aren't you going to answer this question?"
"necessary!"
Wang Zelin just took off his jersey, grabbed a basketball, dropped Matthews, and rushed towards the basket.
"Snapped!"
After catching the ball, Matthews smiled knowingly, saw the right moment, and hit the ground hard...
"boom!"
The next moment, there was a loud noise from the other half.
"Oh ho ho ho!"
The media reporters who were already present on the sidelines raised their cameras and clicked excitedly.
After Durant dunked one, the reporters had already noticed something was wrong on the court and were mentally prepared in advance.
Sure enough, on the Trail Blazers' side, Wang Zelin Matthews' ground pass was answered with a two-handed windmill dunk.
"This boy!"
Durant was hit so hard that he immediately shouted to Westbrook: "Russell, let's do one too!"
"Uh, okay!"
Seeing Durant in this state, Westbrook knew that no matter how much he said now, it would be in vain, so he might as well let the former vent his anger first.
"Hey David, look over there Thunder!"
On the sidelines, a Sports Illustrated reporter quickly reminded the photographer next to him.
"knew."
The photographer named David responded and quickly turned the camera to the Thunder half court.
Immediately afterwards, Westbrook and Durant were seen standing at 45-degree angles on both sides of the three-point line. Westbrook started first and rushed forward, while Durant slowed down and followed closely behind.
After arriving near the left free throw line, Westbrook grabbed the ball with his right hand and smashed it from bottom to top, hitting the middle of the backboard and rebounding quickly.
"drink!"
Durant accelerated instantly, took two steps forward and took off. He grabbed the rebounding basketball with his right hand and performed a fierce one-arm dunk in the air.
"Oh, mygod! Oh, mygod!"
"Are we here for the dunk contest?"
"Are you sure KD didn't participate in this year's dunk contest?"
The reporters on the sidelines couldn't bear it anymore and started screaming.
"KD! KD! KD..."
At this time, hundreds of fans who entered the stadium early shouted Durant's name, and at the same time they were rejoicing in their hearts: I just entered the stadium early because I had nothing to do, but I didn't expect to witness such a wonderful event. play.
"Damien, give me one too!"
Although there are not yet more than a thousand people inside the Energy Arena, the atmosphere at this time has been heightened to the extreme. Batum couldn't help it anymore. After taking off his jersey, Lillard shouted.
"Sure thing, man!"
Lillard immediately smiled at the memory.
"Look here! Look here..."
The reporters' faces were already flushed, and they were extremely excited by this extra joy.
Then...
Inside the Energy Arena, the two teams competed for dunks in the air, and the cheers were even louder.
