"The host has signed a contract with the Los Angeles Clippers. Congratulations to the host for receiving the first signing reward: 10,000 achievement points."
"Los Angeles Clippers roster:
Point guard: Jeff McGinnis, Kenyon Dulin, Earl Boykins (injured), Greg Anthony.
Shooting Guards: Eric Piakowsky, Quentin Richardson.
Small forwards: Li Ao, Corey Maggette, Teilon Naseby.
Power forward: Lamar Odom, Brian Skinner.
Center: Jermaine O'Neal, Sean Lukes, Cherokee Parks, Chris Mihm.
You can check your teammates' past game resumes. The first player evaluation report will be updated before the start of the regular season. The player evaluation report will be updated in real time based on the player's recent performance. "
After completing the signing, Li Ao received a system prompt and the team interface was updated.
He scanned his teammates' information and couldn't help but let out a "fuck".
Of the 15 players, 14 entered the NBA in the first round.
The only non-first-round player - Boykins, the shortest player currently active.
After losing the draft in 1998, he signed short-term contracts with the Cavaliers, Magic, and Nets for two seasons. At the end of last season, he played a certain role in the Cavaliers. He played more than 10 minutes as a substitute in each game and shot 47% from the field. He averaged 5 points and 1.8 assists per game, showing the potential of a high-quality substitute attacker.
After the season, the Clippers signed him with a one-year minimum salary.
The most exaggerated thing is that Li Ao saw the team's total salary, which was US$29.319 million.
This is the total salary after all four rookies have completed their signings.
The most frightening thing is that his contract for the new season is US$3.288 million, which is the team's second-highest salary. Only O'Neal Jr.'s salary of US$5.71 million is higher than him.
He was wondering how to describe their team's salary structure.
Finally, he muttered: "Every one of my teammates is of high quality and low price, mainly because of the low price..."
The management's actions are so fast!
From the time Li Ao completed the signing to the time he returned to his apartment, it was only an hour after he was fully prepared. The team released the news of his official signing.
They didn't even hold a press conference, they just rushed the news to the media.
In the evening, after returning from the dinner party, he saw TV news that made him not even know where to complain.
The starting salary is US$3.288 million, totaling US$15.51 million in four years. The increase in the first three years is not much. The fourth year is nearly US$1 million more than the third year. It is 120% of the standard salary of the third pick, the highest salary.
At the same time, it was announced that he was provided with 4 sets of season tickets and team charter flights for relatives and friends and other additional conditions for the signing.
This additional condition was made public, and Li Ao was in pain.
He seemed to feel the gaze of two pairs of eyes.
Vivian wondered: "Other teams will not announce the contract details after signing a contract. How come the Clippers seem to be eager to directly give the contract to others."
Li Ao responded: "It is probably for the sponsors and fans of our flower garden. This Jew is not good at anything else. He is really good at making money."
Once he started complaining, he couldn't stop. He complained about some of the outrageous money-saving things he had seen in the Clippers these days after returning to the team.
Not to mention, Vivian, who was watching it for fun, was so amused that she couldn't stop laughing, and teased Li Ao about whether he could no longer stand it and became the team chef.
Li Ao thought about it and realized it was really possible.
terrible!
After a night's rest, Li Ao got up early the next morning to plan the next training.
The summer league was not fruitless. He had a direct understanding of the playing styles of several core teammates and teammates with good potential.
Then he has a clearer direction on what aspects he wants to improve this summer.
Originally, he planned to play professionally after finishing college.
The earliest idea was to establish a foothold in the sophomore season, mature his off-ball play in the junior season, develop a certain ball-handling ability in the senior season, and enter the NBA as a mature player through two and a half years of practice. .
What I'm looking for is a stable word.
But the plan couldn't keep up with the changes. He won the championship directly in his sophomore season. He had nothing to pursue in college and entered the NBA ahead of schedule.
Now, let alone being a mature professional player, he has not even developed his skills without the ball to a satisfactory level.
So it has to be adjusted according to the actual situation.
First, make your positioning clear.
The team has a good point guard structure, with rookie Kenyon Dooling, in-year Jeff McGinnis, veteran Greg Anthony, and Boykins as a backup attacker, and even Odom can play point guard. guard.
Based on this team environment, Li Ao decided to continue his previous style of play at this stage, no ball + defense + support.
This can be regarded as a continuation of the university's plan.
He has a very relaxed mentality and treats the coming season as his junior season where there is a lot of money to be made.
He quickly wrote down 5 goals.
The first goal is a mid-range shot.
The first step for CIC to strengthen is to practice its own basic skills to the top level in the NBA.
He discovered a bug in his shooting development during summer league.
There are also teammates who are good at mid-range shots, but they generally only have good mid-range shots in certain areas, and are terrible at other areas. However, their mid-range shots are generally only in areas where they are good at.
He also discovered a similar situation when he was in college, but he thought it would be different now that he was an NBA player.
The results are the same.
But here, from the beginning of the development of CIC, it has been all-round and balanced development from all angles, and training tasks also have requirements in this regard.
Therefore, he relied on his skills to reach the NBA's top-level mid-range shooting, which shocked Gentry, a veteran assistant coach who has been in the NBA for nearly 20 years, saying that he had never seen a player who had just entered the NBA be as good as him. CIC.
Li Ao's previous comparison targets were players such as Eddie House, White Mamba, Kapono, and Mike Miller. These players' mid-range and long-range shots are all covered and accurate from all angles.
After learning the truth, he decided to target those people. The huge advantages brought by all-round CIC must of course be continued.
After raising the mid-range shot to a first-class level, he can improve it as much as possible, including catch-and-shoot, emergency-stop catch-and-shoot, and the lying-back mid-range shot that he longs for.
The second goal, three points.
In the summer league, he tried to shoot three-pointers in the game. Even in the summer league, the shooting rate was not ideal. Under the influence of factors such as large-scale running, confrontation, physical exertion, and other factors, the shooting rate in wide gaps was not high.
He estimated that even if 60+ is a pass, he still has to practice to a good level of 70+ before he can truly be considered 'able to shoot in the game'.
The third goal is passing the ball.
There is no need to worry about this, you can practice it in your spare time. If you play without the ball, the bonus of 'Transfer Expert Level 2' is enough to cope with it.
The fourth goal is to continue to improve basic defensive skills. This is the most boring, but it must be practiced.
The final goal is to improve strength and stamina.
This is very important.
He has already hired a trainer. The old man who runs the sports stadium has a lot of information and contact information of registered trainers. He just has to pay for it.
Having determined his goal, he began to make a detailed training plan for mid-range shots and three-pointers.
After spending the whole morning finishing the training plan, he couldn't wait to drag the hospital assistant's aunt to the Memorial Stadium for training in the afternoon.
After playing a few summer league games, he became more eager to play at a higher level.
In order not to be abused, he must be stronger!
Li Ao returned to the two-point and one-line life of the training ground and the apartment.
Occasionally I go to the library to borrow a few books, and when Liam has time, we make an appointment to play games together.
Time passed day by day. On August 1st, he suspended training for a day, and many people came to celebrate his 19th birthday.
The hospital assistant's aunt, Liam, Dean Teng, the Trojans coaching staff and some players in Los Angeles, the Clippers coaching staff and several teammates... Li Ao had a lively birthday.
At this moment, he felt that playing basketball was really good, and there were more friends around him.
As the time comes to mid-August, the last summer league has come to an end, and the NBA has entered a long rough period. Basketball news that has passed for a long time has been repeatedly hyped.
For example, the fact that Li Ao just turned 19 was hyped up every two days, coupled with his performance of 31.5 points per game in 4 summer league games.
In the past few years, there have been many rookies to hype in the offseason. From 1994 to 1999, too many top talents emerged every year.
But this year, only Li Ao stands out.
No matter how much the news in the past is hyped, the popularity will become less and less popular.
Just when basketball fans' enthusiasm for watching basketball news reached a freezing point, a bombshell woke up all basketball fans!
On August 13, 2000, the Magic held a press conference, and Tim Duncan attended.
The Magic used two future first-round picks as compensation to complete Tim Duncan's signing and signed a 5+2, seven-year, full maximum salary contract with a total salary of US$93 million!
When Li Ao saw this, he sprayed "I'm a fool" more than a dozen times in a row.
What about GDP?
He is full of expectations for playing against GDP in the future.
As a result, such a huge GDP will be gone at the drop of a hat?
But after being shocked, he was more looking forward to it!
This is definitely a signing that changes the league's landscape!
The future of the basketball world will be very different from what he remembers!
Losing the knowledge of his future in the NBA has never been important to him.
He chose to play basketball because he simply loved it.
Later, he decided to take a professional path. It must be said that it had nothing to do with the basketball dream system or understanding the future of the NBA. He just wanted to play, like to win, and like to stand in the spotlight and enjoy the feeling of the fans cheering.
Moreover, he had thought early on that when he was added to the world of basketball, there would be a huge change from the original time and space.
He came up with an idea - Could it be that the Clippers' agreement to let his relatives and friends fly on the team's chartered flight affected He Document's choice?
He felt a little sore for a moment.
He chose to add this condition that was insignificant to him, just to trash-talk Duncan during the game!
'I can take my family on the team's chartered flight.' He wanted to see how Duncan would react after hearing this.
As a result, this may have been the reason why Duncan signed the Magic contract?
That’s very embarrassing!
but……
Although he regrets not being able to play against the Troika, he looks forward to a basketball career full of unknowns!
Now he was filled with curiosity.
McGrady was forced to take over because Duncan didn't come and Hill was reimbursed. The Magic didn't expect McGrady to have the talent to lead the scoring.
Now with Duncan, what will Tracy McGrady look like?
With Duncan and Tracy McGrady supporting him, will Hill rush to come back every time his injury is not fully healed, and end up with the injury getting worse every time?
Without the Stone Buddha, sports car and demon knife, would he still grow into an All-Star player?
Can Popovich still be a top coach without Duncan?
If the Lakers have opponents like the Magic, can they still become a dynasty?
What impact will Duncan's change of team have on other teams?
All of this made him eager to start his career.
What he is most curious about is, in such an unknown basketball world, what kind of existence will he become?
…
Like Li Ao, all media, basketball fans, and NBA players have focused their attention on the Magic.
Magic fans are excited now!
After that summer, they have been the object of ridicule from other fans, from the team to the fans.
"Is O'Neal worth 100 million?" They are repeatedly criticized by the media and fans every summer.
Even though O'Neal repeatedly failed in the playoffs in the first three years after joining the Lakers, the number one center has become more and more stable in these three years.
In June, after the Lakers won the championship, the popularity of the topic 'Is O'Neal worth 100 million' reached the highest level since it happened.
Now, things are different!
They have Hill and Duncan!
Their team has become the focus of media and fans!
On the streets, in forums, and when facing other fans, they are full of confidence.
Magic fans enjoyed the moment...but, it didn't last long.
Here comes the one who steals the limelight!
It has only been two days since Duncan joined the Magic. Before Magic fans had time to enjoy this highly anticipated moment, an even more exciting news came!
On August 16, 2000, ABC TV broke the news that Clippers owner Donald Sterling had terrorist tendencies, antisocial personality, and genocidal thoughts. The video was played on the live news broadcast, and he was criticized on the spot!
As soon as this news came out, it was not just basketball fans, nor just sports fans who gathered the attention... The whole United States was shocked!
(End of chapter)
