Chapter 394: The Super Center Leaves Again, and the Spurs Collapse Completely

Xiao Ao is an honest kid, and he was deceived into lameness.

His agent Mason is certainly not easily fooled, but he has his own considerations, because he wants to rely on Xiao Ao to connect with Zhao Dong.

Look at the Knicks players who played with Zhao Dong. All of them have become prosperous in their investments. If Ou becomes prosperous in the future, he will also benefit. Therefore, Ou has been advised to wait for a while before deciding where to go.

As a reborn person, Zhao Dong still knows something about O'Neal. He is a guy with psychological problems but full of talents.

If he plays well, he is a superstar; if he plays poorly, he is an average main player.

In other words, no matter how little O'Neal plays, he is still at the level of a main player.

After four years of training, Xiao Ao should be able to shine as long as he is given a chance. He must not be let go.

Then Bonzi Wells, who can barely play as the main force but is good as a substitute, is a typical bench gangster.

He asked Wittester to keep these two players, especially Ou.

"Mr. Wittester, Jermaine was drafted in the same year as me. I still know him well. He has very good potential. We can consider him as our main power forward next season."

"Main power forward?" Wittester was surprised.

According to his idea, even if Xiao Ao was kept, he would be a substitute, but he never expected that Zhao Dong would be so optimistic about Xiao Ao.

"Flyon, we have Brian Grant at the power forward position."

He was afraid that Zhao Dong didn't know the Trail Blazers' lineup, so he immediately explained: "Brian had some injuries last season, so the data was not very good, but now he is back to health.

He is only 28 years old and I believe his performance can return to his peak. In the 1998/99 season, he scored 11.5 points and 9.8 rebounds, which was still good. "

Zhao Dong said very directly: "Mr. Wittester, with such a performance, you can only play as a substitute."

"What?" Wittester was stunned.

However, he quickly realized that the person he was talking to was the God of Basketball, the first person in history, and the person who had won four championships in a row when he first entered the league. Of course, such a person has higher vision and requirements for his teammates than he does.

Zhao Dong continued: “In addition to the main force, we also need depth on the bench, and Grant and Bonchi Wells can become important substitutes on our bench.

But the main power forward,

We need stronger people, O'Neal is qualified for such a role, please believe me. "

"OK, Feilong, I'll do as you say."

After thinking about it briefly, Wittester decisively agreed.

He thought that Zhao Dong had recommended several good players to the Knicks, and he was famous in the league for his eye for people.

At the same time, owner Paul Allen also stated that he must give the Feilong full respect, including in terms of lineup construction, and must consider Zhao Dong's suggestions, because the future Blazers will be a team with Zhao Dong as the absolute core.

Zhao Dong thought about it for a while. The starting point guard is Xiao Fei Squirrel, shooting guard Smith, Marion plays small forward, power forward is Xiao Ou, and he plays the main center?

The backline is a little weaker and can continue to trade.

If you can find a good main center, that's fine, or you can play guard yourself. Anyway, you are all-round. If you find a main-level player at any position, you can complete the construction of the main lineup.

He said what he meant, and of course he would not interfere in the specific transaction. Wittester said that reinforcement transactions would be carried out immediately.

This reinforcement is relatively easy, because Zhao Dong is so versatile, so the position of reinforcement does not need to be fixed.

In addition, he didn't quite understand Marion being asked to play the main small forward. Marion's rookie performance in the playoffs was not good, but Zhao Dong made this request and he had no choice but to agree.

In addition, Zhao Dong asked him to sign Fordson, which the Knicks gave up, and it was easy to sign, and he agreed.

Although Fortson was injured, he still provided the Knicks with rebounding and interior defensive energy in the finals. His performance was not bad, but the Knicks were unwilling to offer him a big contract, so they had to let him go.

Signing Fordson can add depth to the bench even if he doesn't play the main role.

With Zhao Dong joining the Trail Blazers, the media also began to evaluate the strength of the Trail Blazers.

"Even if the Blazers only have Feilong, they are still a team with championship potential." Portland Sports News.

The local media in Portland began to build momentum for the team, so as to attract other players to join the Trail Blazers.

Many stars have commented on the Trail Blazers, such as commentator Barkley, who said: "No matter which team Feilong is on, that team will be the strongest contender for the championship."

Jordan's comments are more convincing than those of Barkley and Portland. He said: "The Trail Blazers must speed up reinforcements. As long as the Dragons are equipped with a lineup of role players, he can lead them easily." Reach the playoffs.

But if the Dragons still want to win the championship, the Blazers must introduce one or two stars, especially inside stars. "

The most influential New York media has not commented on the Trail Blazers and Zhao Dong. Now it only does one thing, and that is to fire at the Knicks with all its strength.

With the Zhao Dong trade finalized, Duncan also began to choose his next team for his future.

The Lakers, Magic, and Nets are the focus of his consideration. The reason why he waits for Zhao Dong's trade before deciding where to go is that he just doesn't want to be in the same league as Zhao Dong. Now that Zhao Dong has arrived in the West, he will go to the East, and the Lakers are excluded.

Both the Magic and the Nets have expressed great sincerity to him, and the contracts they have offered are good, far more than the Spurs.

But the Magic's lineup is too bad, but the Nets have Chinese Yao who was at the peak of his career just like him, and top guard Marbury on the outside.

According to the Tushen lineup, if the inside line is strong enough and can be stretched, it can allow the outside line to break through, increase the outside line's offensive share of the basket, and improve the overall efficiency.

But if the outside ability is not enough, it won't work. Just like the Spurs now, without good defenders, they can't beat the Lakers.

The Nets have Marbury on the outside and Chinese Yao on the inside. Together with him, it is in line with the team building theory of the God-killing lineup.

So, he chose the Nets.

The Nets offered Duncan a five-year, $73 million contract. The Spurs were too poor to match it, so Duncan went to the Nets as a free agent.

Duncan's announcement to join the Nets shocked countless Spurs fans. They ran to the team headquarters and began to abuse the management. The stingy owner and general manager Popovich bore the brunt of the curse and was scolded bloody. At the same time, many fans began to burn traitors. Duncan's jersey.

"Damn it, why didn't you go to the Magic and go to the Nets?"

Zhao Dong was a little confused, Dayao + Duncan, what kind of combination is this?

The strength of this combination is definitely better than the Spurs Twin Towers last season!

When O'Neal encounters this combination, he has to admit defeat.

Duncan + Dayao + Marbury, it seems that the Nets are going to invest heavily and start to hit the championship.

"Dayao, it's up to you in the Eastern Conference next year. Get rid of the email combination." Zhao Dong immediately called Dayao.

"real?"

Dayao was confused. He hadn't received the news yet. After Zhao Dong told him, he was very happy.

If he can join forces with Duncan, he will be confident of defeating the email combination next season and reaching the Eastern Conference Finals.

With Duncan traveling eastward, the situation in the east and west of the league has become a bit delicate.

The Eastern Conference has the Bulls in front and the Knicks in the back. In the past few years, the overall strength has been that the east is strong and the west is weak.

But with the rise of the Spurs and Lakers in the past two seasons, the West has gradually become equal to the East.

Now that Zhao is traveling eastward and Duncan is traveling eastward, the Knicks and Spurs will surely collapse, the Trail Blazers and Nets will surely rise, and the East and West will once again have a balanced situation.

"The new season will be the semi-finals, from which the championship will emerge."

ESPN gave a professional evaluation. They ranked the Nets and Digital Team in the East and the Lakers and Trail Blazers in the West as the top four in the league in the new season.

This assessment was approved by most people.

A few people believe that even if the Trail Blazers have Zhao Dong, their lineup is seriously uneven. If they cannot strengthen, they will not have the qualifications and strength to compete for the championship.

David Robinson, who was on vacation in Hawaii, was in despair. Duncan, whom he was optimistic about and supported with all his strength, actually ran away. What would happen to his dream of a championship? By whom?

Although the Spurs signed and traded and acquired Van Horn from the Nets, is that material that can help him win a championship?

Of the four super centers, Dameng won two championships by himself, Ewing won one with Zhao Dong, and he and O'Neal are the only ones left.

O'Neal is still young, but he is old. He can't wait any longer. He doesn't want to retire with regrets. He doesn't even want to lie on the bed and rub a ring like Ewing. He wants to win the championship as the main player.

But the current Spurs really can't let him realize this wish.

He thought painfully for two days and nights before finally calling Popovich.

"David, do you want to force me to death?"

Popovich went crazy when he received a call from Robinson, because Robinson told him that he was leaving the Spurs and was not going to renew his contract.

"Greg, the Spurs are my home team, and I really want to end my career with the Spurs. However, I want a championship. I don't have many years to play. I'm old, so you can help me."

Robinson said pitifully.

"you?"

Popovich was furious.

Robinson's contract with the Spurs has ended. If he wants to leave, even the king can't keep him.

Bang, Popovich smashed the microphone.

He is really going crazy. If you want to leave, leave early. In order to renew your contract, I let Duncan go. Now you actually want to leave, aren't you kidding me?

David Robinson's announcement of leaving the Spurs once again shocked Spurs fans and dealt them a second blow.

As the home team of the Admirals, the Spurs have prepared a big contract for the aging Robinson, with an annual salary of up to 15 million U.S. dollars and a total of 35 million U.S. dollars in three years. This is the largest contract in his entire career. For a contract, the Spurs are actually worthy of him.

He is already 35 years old. His performance has been declining in the first two seasons and he can no longer perform 20+10. It can be said that he is at the end of his career.

At this time, he rejected the biggest contract of his career, gave up his persistence to defend one city and left his home team. Everyone understands why he left.

Therefore, Spurs fans' response to Robinson's departure may have been stimulated by Duncan, but the performance was not very intense.

Some Robinson fans even sent their blessings, hoping that the general could win a championship with another team.

David Robinson played 80 games in the regular season last season, averaging 32 minutes per game, 17.8 points and 9.6 rebounds. His strength has declined, but he still has the strength of a first-class center, so his entry into the free market immediately triggered the pursuit of many teams.

Among them, the Trail Blazers, who had just acquired Zhao Dong and lacked a main center, were the most enthusiastic about Robinson. After the general manager received the news that Robinson had left the Spurs, he immediately publicly expressed his expectation that he would join the Trail Blazers.

David Robinson left the Spurs for the championship, so he will only join a team that has a chance to win the championship.

Whether it's the Lakers, the Nets, or the digital team, no matter how strong they are, Zhao Dong's team is one of the most powerful teams in the championship.

Although the Blazers' lineup is not yet complete, professional sports media ESPN still lists the Blazers as one of the top four in the league. Who dares to underestimate the Blazers?

So he immediately began to consider the possibility of joining the Trail Blazers and evaluated the Trail Blazers' lineup very seriously.

"David, the Blazers' contract is $15 million over two years. Do you want to go?"

Subsequently, the Blazers general manager called Robinson's agent, Austin, who immediately told Robinson.

Compared to the Spurs' three-year contract, the Trail Blazers' contract is lower, but he is very clear about Robinson's desire to win the championship.

"Flying dragon?"

Robinson took a deep breath and said, "I'll think about it again."

Austin said: "Their main center went to the Knicks. If you go, he must be the main center, which is exactly what you want."

Afterwards, the two began to discuss the Blazers' lineup and how much chance they had of winning the championship.

Analysis, analysis, if Zhao Dong plays small forward, then the power forward will lack a main force, and the back line is not very good.

With such a lineup, if they encounter the Lakers, the back line will be overwhelmed, and if he doesn't have a good power forward to help him in the interior, he won't be able to hold up the Sharks.

In other words, if he joins the Trail Blazers and the Trail Blazers don't have many reinforcements, both of them think they can't beat the Lakers with such a lineup.

In this way, we can't even make it out of the Western Conference, let alone win the championship?

Robinson was disappointed and asked, "Did those three teams call?"

Austin shook his head and said: "Not yet, they have people inside, and their salary space has already exploded. I'm afraid they can't even give the Blazers this contract, so you can't sign veteran Di Jiang, right?"

"Basic salary?"

David Robinson smiled wryly.

He has played for 11 seasons and has only received an annual salary of tens of millions for two seasons. His total career salary is US$70 million. The contract is still very important to him. Does he really need to get a minimum salary for the championship now?

"Why don't we wait and see if the Lakers and Nets digital team will contact me? Maybe in a few days, I will take the initiative to contact them?" Austin said.

David Robinson nodded, that was all he could do, his expression looked a little heavy.

Austin understood very well. When Duncan had not yet decided, Robinson repeatedly persuaded him to stay, but unfortunately Duncan still decided to leave. Robinson really hoped to complete his career with his home team, and this time he left for the championship. , it is really a last resort.

In fact, at this time, the Lakers were also considering whether to contact David Robinson.

Jerry West and other management have decided to trade big money, strengthen the lineup according to the best lineup, and find a power forward with both offense and defense.

They were eyeing Rasheed Wallace, who happened to be competing with McGrady for the top spot in the Bulls, but couldn't. The Bulls were more optimistic about McGrady. This was a good opportunity for them to trade Rasheed.

But the Bulls also intend to win the championship. Of course, they are also affected by the God-killing lineup. They don't want big money. They still want to resolve the conflict between Rasheed and McGrady and keep Rasheed.

So the Lakers' deal didn't work out, and now David Robinson has left the Spurs, giving them a chance.

Although David Robinson is a center, he can be pulled out. His ability to pull out is much stronger than O'Neal. This is in line with the construction theory of the God-killing lineup and can cooperate with O'Neal. As long as you have two super centers, you can definitely use the twin-tower strategy.

At the same time, the Nets created a Chinese twin-tower combination of Yao + Duncan, which put a lot of pressure on the Lakers. Once they met the Nets in the finals, the combination of O'Neal and Big Ben should be unbeatable.

West and Phil Jackson discussed repeatedly all night. Jackson proposed his tactical concept, which was to use O'Neal's side as the strong side and play a triangle tactic. David Robinson would be pulled to the weak side, emptying the opponent's inside line, and creating a triangle for O'Neal. Create singles opportunities, and if O'Neal is double-teamed, distribute the ball to David Robinson.

This combination of triangle tactics and twin-tower tactics will provide the Lakers with strong stretching capabilities and strong strong-weak side coordination capabilities. The height of the twin towers can also provide powerful ball-distribution capabilities when being double-teamed. It can completely tear apart the opponent's tight defense.

However, Robinson's contract is a problem. As a veteran super center without an annual salary of tens of millions, can he get it? With the current revenue of the Lakers, it will be quite difficult to sign another large contract worth tens of millions.

But you have to try, and at nine o'clock in the morning, West contacted Austin.

Austin was very happy to receive the call from the Lakers.

After the two briefly greeted each other, they immediately got down to business.