Chapter 1442 Set Sail, the New Lakers Appear
On September 15, the entrance to the Staples Training Center, home of the Lakers, was crowded with reporters from all over the world early in the morning. They occupied a large part of the space and the security of the arena had to be pulled up. There was a whole cordon, and with the reporters' constant barrage, Staples' door seemed to have become the red carpet of an awards ceremony.
Our old acquaintance Shen Yang is also among them. As a reporter for the Los Angeles Lakers and Ji Feng these days, Shen Yang has made a name for herself in the University of Notre Dame in the past two years. Because of her good relationship with Ji Feng, she can often Obtaining first-hand information, apart from CCTV, she is the reporter who has obtained the most exclusive interview rights with Ji Feng. Coupled with her beautiful figure and Yujie's face, she has become one of the most famous sports reporters today. .
This also gave her a quick promotion and salary increase. She is also called the most beautiful basketball reporter by fans. Her Weibo followers are close to 500,000, which is higher than ordinary starlets, and now she is also the top reporter of Tencent Sports. Well, it stands to reason that she does not need to appear in person on such occasions, she only needs to appear on large occasions.
However, Shen Yang still chose to come here early to wait, and she still chose to follow the Lakers to interview for the new season. She knew that everything she got now started from her choice to follow Ji Feng for interviews. Interviewing Ji Feng was what she had done in her life. She made the wisest decision and she would never let go of this right.
And today is the first day. She feels that according to the Lakers' team culture, there might be exciting scenes!
"Sister Shen! It's coming, it's coming!"
Just when Shen Yang was deep in thought, the reporters around him were agitated, because it was almost 8 o'clock, and Lakers players began to arrive one after another!
It was the climax right at the beginning. Ji Feng and Kobe came together early this morning, because last night Ji Feng rested in the guest room of Kobe's house, and the training between the two did not end until 1 o'clock in the morning.
And when the luxury car they were riding in stopped outside, Ji Feng, wearing the latest Versace white suit that can blind people from a distance, got off the car side by side with Kobe, who was wearing a striped black suit. You can imagine that The whole scene is crazy!
"I'm going to match black and white!"
"The perfect male god! Ji Feng, look here!"
"Kobe, Kobe! What a cool move!"
After them were Lao Yu and Farmar. Their attire was quite satisfactory, but Bynum caused a commotion. After an offseason, he actually showed up with a haircut and a blowjob. Paired with his naive expression, it was considered a look. Big news.
After that, important members of the team also appeared one after another, such as Vujacic and others, and after Phil Phil slowly walked into the arena at the buzzer at 8 o'clock, the familiar faces of the Lakers made their appearance.
After a few minutes, another group of people came over one after another. Obviously, this also aroused the reporter's strong interest.
"Ah, this is Shannon Brown, it is said that he is a dancing boy!"
"Radmanovic has been traded away, and the former insiders DJ Mbenga and Josh Powell have been traded back. I don't know what the effect will be."
"Poor Sun Yue, he was laid off at the last moment. It's really uncomfortable."
"Artest is here, will this locker room bomb explode on the first day?"
…
The last players to appear were the players they had just signed this season. Originally, the Lakers had been sitting still in the trading market, which was in line with everyone's psychological expectations.
However, within a week after Artest announced that he would join the Lakers, the Lakers once again made frequent moves in the trading market. After all, Artest's joining brought the Lakers' luxury tax to an incredible level. Before the start of the season, the Lakers management was motivated to reduce the number of players. In order to reduce the team's expenses, the Lakers underwent extensive transformation in a short period of time.
In addition to exchanging this year's rookie deal for next season's draft picks, he then exchanged two draft picks for 4.5 million in cash.
What makes Chinese fans sad is that Sun Yue was given up by the Lakers, and the Chinese two-stars will no longer be able to play on the same team in the new season.
This is not over yet. The Lakers traded Radmanovic, whose performance last season was very average, but whose salary next season will be extremely high, reaching 9.5 million. The Lakers sent Radmanovic to the Bobcats in exchange for In exchange for Shannon Brown and some cash, Shannon Brown, a famous jumping man who was as famous as James in high school, is only worth 1.2 million this season. This transaction freed up as much as 8.3 million space for the Lakers, which made Artest join the team. The impact is minimized.
Old Buss can finally breathe a sigh of relief. This season, more than 10 million US dollars have been wasted in vain. Even the richest people will feel sad. Now it's better. Although the luxury tax is still there, millions are not as good as the championship. Than, the patience is over. Compared to the income that can be created this season, a few million is really nothing!
The Lakers also cut several small names on the roster to free up space worth hundreds of thousands. Not to mention, the Lakers also signed insider Josh Powell at a bargain price in the free market to make up for Radmanovic. Leave the gap.
"Kupchak deserves to be the best general manager in the league. He traded for Kobe Bryant, traded O'Neal, traded for Gasol, and brought back Ji Feng. These decisions were later considered to be extremely wise and have proven this. One point, and this season, in a very short period of time, the Lakers have completed the transformation and upgrade again. Not only have they cut down the bloated lineup, but they have also built a galactic battleship at the minimum cost. There is no doubt that the upgraded Lakers are still The favorite to win the championship in the new season." ESPN's trade rating gave the Lakers the highest rating ever.
In this way, the Lakers’ lineup for the new season becomes:
Head Coach: Phil Jackson.
Center: Bynum, Mbenga, Shi Powell.
Power forward: Gasol, Morrison.
Small forward: Ji Feng, Artest, Vujacic.
Shooting Guard: Kobe Bryant, Farmar.
Point guard: Fisher, Walton, Shannon Brown.
The 13-man roster is undoubtedly the most top-notch configuration of this era. Whether it is inside or outside, it is balanced at a historical level.
Especially the No. 3 position, which sits on the best defensive first and second teams last season, and is also the only player in history to win the Best Defensive Player of the Year as a small forward. This kind of thickness is enough to make all other teams in the league fearful at the No. 3 position. !
"Wolf is crying!" Sports Illustrated reported today's headline.
Of course, there are also people who have doubts about whether the new Lakers players can integrate into the team. Some people even maliciously wonder whether the Lakers will be like the previous teams that formed luxury lineups, where the discord between the players has the opposite effect. The Lakers F4 is falling apart before our eyes.
Galaxy battleship is not a good word!
However, where the reporters outside the door could not see it, just as Shen Yang predicted, there was really a good show going on.