According to senior scouts, the contract that Nowitzki chose to stay with the Dallas Mavericks may have cost him 20 million less. If he asked, the Mavericks would definitely give him a big contract.
Putting aside Cuban's love for Nowitzki, just talking about the past 2013~2014 season, the 36-year-old German tank was still selected as an All-Star and had the most efficient year since the 2007~2008 season.
Of course, the reason why Nowitzki chose to take a significant salary cut in the new contract should be to win a championship. After entering the offseason, the Mavericks management also did the same.
Portland.
The location of the summer training brothers camp has been decided. Starting from July 5th to early August, they will conduct one-month training in Hawaii.
The biggest reason why we chose Hawaii as the location is that it is a world-famous tourist attraction, especially the Waikiki Beach in Honolulu, the state capital. When you are tired from training, you can go swimming and surfing there to have a great time.
But Wang Zelin has no plans to leave yet, and he will not leave Portland for the next few days.
First of all, after the draft, Wang Zelin attaches great importance to the rookies selected this year. As a "experienced person", he is very aware of the potential of Nikola Jokic, so he came to the training hall today to observe the rookie Jokic who came to the Trail Blazers to report. strange.
Although Jokic still has a contract with an overseas team and may not come this season, no matter what, with Jokic joining the Trail Blazers, the future is even more worth looking forward to!
Secondly, as his influence expands, Wang Zilin's business activities will definitely become more intensive and frequent. How to balance training, business activities and rest time is not an easy task. He needs to work out this with his team. Summer plans.
After waking up in the morning and having a delicious meal, he happily went out and drove to the outside of the Rose Garden Arena. He also saw many tourists from all over the world gathered in the square.
Today, the Rose Garden Arena has become one of Portland's most popular tourist attractions.
I think about the first year I joined, how deserted the arena was before game days.
But what now?
Even if it's not a game day, the square is full of people!
The Rose Garden Arena is still the same arena, not much has changed. But the Portland Trail Blazers are no longer the team they once were.
A team is the soul of an arena. The huge influence after winning the championship brings high exposure, which makes more and more people fall in love with the Rose Garden Arena.
Just like the Staples Center and North Shore Garden Plaza, known as the temple of basketball, without the rich heritage laid by countless predecessors of the Lakers and Celtics, they would never be favored by so many fans.
Didn’t you see that without Jordan, the United Center will not be as grand as it was back then?
Of course, compared with the above two arenas, Madison Square Garden is particularly special.
The reason why it is known as the Holy Land of Basketball is first of all because it is located in New York City, one of the most prosperous cities in the world. Secondly, since the establishment of the NBA, there have been too many NBA stars leaving their marks of their times there. Various factors What makes Madison Square Garden unique.
Now, after the baptism of the spiritual championship in this Rose Garden Arena, the soul has been sublimated, and it has instantly gained super popularity.
Everything in front of him made Wang Zelin laugh. He really hoped to turn this into another basketball holy land.
After parking the car, Wang Zelin couldn't wait to walk into the training hall.
When he opened the door to the training hall, he found that twenty or thirty people had gathered on the Trail Blazers' training field.
"Here? Nikola Jokic has arrived and is undergoing physical testing now. You can see him in a moment."
Seeing Wang Zelin appear on the training ground, team general manager Nel Orsi greeted him warmly.
Wang Zelin glanced at the practice, and head coach Terry Stotts and assistant coach David Vanderpool waved at him.
In addition, he also saw a few new faces. Later, coach Gentry found out that these people were all outstanding players in the Development League team this year.
After confirming the additions of Artest, Alexander Pavlovich, Mike Muscala, and Mo Willem, the Trail Blazers now urgently need to increase the thickness of the bench.
3D players at forward and back will be the first choice.
In this year's free market, Hayward, Luol Deng, Ariza, and Bradley will all be within the scope of selection.
As for James and Anthony, the two biggest fish in the free market, the Blazers management will basically not consider them. They have Wang Zelin, Lillard, and Aldridge with unlimited potential, and they are better because of their youth.
Home-grown stars are always better than those born from the air.
In addition to pursuing 3D forwards and defenders, the team's renewal of several rotation players who expired last season must also be considered based on the actual situation.
There is no need to worry about Connett Lee and Beverley. After being traded to the Trail Blazers, they still have two years of contracts with the Trail Blazers. Especially Beverley, his salary will be the minimum for the next two years.
Speaking of which, thanks again to the Houston Mosaic management! Thanks to them for signing a three-year basic salary contract with Beverley on January 7, 2013.
Garnett is left with one season left on his contract. Considering that the Trail Blazers will still be a strong contender for the league's championship next season, the locker room really needs a veteran like Garnett to hold the place. Even with Jokic, Garnett is very useful as a third inside man and mentor.
As for Garnett, is he willing to stay with the Trail Blazers?
Isn't that obvious?
If possible, no one should be able to resist the temptation of a championship ring.
"Wang, Terry, Orsi, this is Nikola Jokic's physical test data."
At this time, the trainer's shout attracted everyone's attention. To be precise, it was the fair and fat young man behind him.
In fact, before the draft, Nikola Jokic had already gone to several teams to participate in trial training. After the trial training, he returned to Serbia and waited for the draft information, but no matter which time, he came to the Rose Garden like today. The arena is so tense.
Because he knows that the Trail Blazers are this year's championship team.
It has the best team atmosphere, and it is also the team where the league's number one center currently plays. Therefore, he not only hopes that he will be favored by the Trail Blazers, but also worries that after joining the Trail Blazers, due to the existence of Wang Zelin, he will not receive mediocre training opportunities.
"That's...Wang Zelin!"
And when Jokic completed the physical test with the trainer and saw Wang Zelin standing between the general manager and head coach, he was instantly extremely nervous!
Having been to so many teams before, as an unknown international player, he has never met the star of any team.
After all, those stars have just finished a long season, and now they are eager to enter the offseason. Who wants to waste time on the draft or a second-round pick.
Although he had long heard that the reason why he was selected by the team was entirely because of Wang Zelin's approval, he actually didn't take it seriously.
As this year's MVP and FMVP double award winner, it is unlikely that Wang Zelin has ever known himself specifically.
He would rather believe that the Trail Blazers team was keenly aware of his potential, so they intercepted him before the Nuggets.
He never expected that Wang Zelin, who won the O'Brien Cup on TV some time ago, was now standing in front of him alive!
Looking at Wang Zelin chatting and laughing with the team's head coach and general manager, Jokic's mind went blank. Thanks to the trainer's shout, his thoughts were brought back.
"Kid, how much do you weigh now?"
Putting down the physical test report, Terry Stotts looked at the fat Jokic and couldn't help but want to reconfirm.
"Uh...274 pounds."
Jokic hesitated for a moment. He had just finished weighing himself and could not lie. He gritted his teeth and weighed in again.
"Oh, my God," Nel Orsi slapped his forehead helplessly, then turned around and complained to Wang Zelin:
"Wang, you told me 255 pounds at the time, but now...he is 19 pounds heavier than you said."
"..."
Wang Zelin sighed inwardly when he heard this.
Although he had known for a long time that after Jokic was selected by the Nuggets, he was unable to play in the NBA immediately due to weight issues, but when he saw Jokic's physical test report with his own eyes, he was still a little helpless.
"Sir, don't worry, I will definitely lose weight in the shortest possible time."
After hearing what the two said, Jokic began to fear that he would be kicked off the Trail Blazers because he was too fat, and his NBA dream would be shattered, so he quickly added.
"Man, if you really want to make it in the NBA, I sincerely suggest you have to lose weight!"
Although Teacher Yue in front of him was too mellow, Wang Zelin still smiled and comforted the former.
"That's right, let's start with the skill test first."
The trainer smiled and came out to smooth things over. He had long known that the fat man in front of him was indeed appointed by Wang Zelin, so he tried every means to make the atmosphere more cheerful.
"Well, after the skills test is over, there will be another 5-on-5 group confrontation."
Nell Orsi said.
5-on-5 trial training is the event that best reflects a player's true strength.
In the scouting report, Jokic's biggest asset is his basketball IQ.
Although one game cannot determine whether a player is good or not, combining on-the-spot performance and people's previous understanding of a player can at least allow people to see a player more thoroughly.
It's a mule or a horse, take it out for a walk.
Wang Zelin came to the sidelines and sat on the bench. As soon as he looked up, he found Jokic staring at him on the court.
After realizing that she was also looking at him, she immediately turned her face away as she became more active. Combined with his chubby figure and the look he was looking around, it was as if a distracted student had discovered the class teacher standing at the window.
"Ha ha ha ha!"
Sensing Jokic's dilemma, Wang Zelin laughed out loud on the spot.
"Hmm...this guy is quite interesting."
Next to him, Terry Stotts was also amused by Jokic's actions.
Soon, Jokic's technical test came out, but Nel Orsi was not in a hurry to watch it. Instead, he asked Jokic to take a rest and prepare for a while of 5-on-5 training.
Fortunately, today, in addition to Jokic and the players from the Development League, there are also some free agents who came to participate in the Trail Blazers' trial training at their own expense. With the number of people on the field, 10 people can be gathered together for a group match.
Does this kid really have such a high golf IQ as Wang said?
So thought Nel Orsi.
Immediately afterwards, he turned his attention to Jokic who jumped the ball in the middle circle, with doubts and expectations in his eyes.
He understands that Wang Zelin has never been a person without aim.
But Jokic's figure was too weird after all, and it was difficult to convince him.
…
…
…
Half an hour later.
The 20-minute match ended.
Jokic didn't score much, scoring only 6 points, but he sent 4 assists.
Finally, he asked Wang Zelin for an autograph before reluctantly leaving the Rose Garden Arena.
"I have to say, King, the Serbian you appointed... is indeed interesting."
After everyone left, Nell Orsi said this to Wang Zelin.
Before leaving that night, he made a point of copying a bunch of game tapes of Jokic playing in Europe from assistant coach David Vanderpool's computer.
In his mind, he has initially recognized Jokic as a rookie.
Of course, before that, Jokic must work hard and cooperate with the trainer's arrangements to lose that damn fat.
…
…
…
As more and more players test the waters in the free market, six-eyed flying fish are also flying all over the sky.
Stoudemire stays with the Knicks;
Lowry and the Raptors reached a four-year, $48 million contract extension;
Pau Gasol wants to leave Lakers;
…
Everything feels like a storm is about to come.
Speculations about rumors are endless. Although the NBA off-season suffered from the World Cup stealing the spotlight, the popularity continues unabated.
Until July 12th.
According to ESPN reports, LeBron James has finally decided to return to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The world's norm is that the MVP has returned to the first team in his career and his hometown team.
After the Heat were eliminated by the Trail Blazers in the Finals, the drama of "Where is James?" that continued for a long time came to an end.
At noon local time, James informed Sports Illustrated that he would return to the Cavaliers.
Immediately, "Sports Illustrated" published an article written by James in the first person:
"I feel more for Northeast Ohio than I do for basketball, and I would have realized that 10 years ago and I realize it now."
This is another major event for the Alliance!
For James, this is also a big reversal from his decision in 2010. During the four years he played for the Heat, the Big Three formed by him, Wade, and Bosh won the championship twice in four years. It can be said that it was unsuccessful.
Prior to this, the Heat had tried their best to retain James. Heat godfather Pat Riley even flew to Las Vegas in person on Wednesday, hoping to appear and persuade James to stay with the team.
But in the end, James said "NO!" to Riley and the Heat!
He chose to return to the Cavaliers, the team that drafted him in 2003 and his hometown team.
Since then, the news that the number one active player LeBron James has returned to the Cavaliers has spread, causing a huge earthquake in the entire NBA.
