Basketball trainer, I created a super giant

Chapter 366 You made Duncan practice three-pointers?
This result was within Leiden's expectations.

The Bobcats' expansion draft will inevitably involve some financial losses; it's just a matter of how much.

Prince left.

Leiden had more important things to do than worry about his frustration: keeping the players he wanted to keep.

Swift is one, and Doolin is another.

Dooling has excellent perimeter defense, which is very useful.

If possible, DeMar Johnson's asking price isn't too high, and he could stay.

He has never been able to develop a tall point guard like Hardaway or Magic Johnson.

If Tang Sen couldn't cultivate it, then it can only be said that he truly lacks talent in this area.

So for the past two seasons, his role on the team has been rather awkward. He rarely plays point guard, and instead plays shooting guard, relying on shooting to score. He also has a move like Prince's, a pull-up jump shot after a sideways step.

As for McDyess, Layden bluntly informed his agent that the team would not renew his contract and that he should take advantage of the time to prepare to find another team.

He's had a big contract before, and now he's won a championship with the Knicks. He's getting old, so he's taking advantage of training with Townsend to catch up and still be able to play. Finding a weak team and a retirement contract would be perfect for him.

The biggest problem in keeping Swift and his teammates is salary cap space.

It's not that the Knicks are unwilling to spend money; they've already won the championship, and their next goal is to build a dynasty. In this situation, Dolan, who isn't short of money, would be willing to offer another $100 million in contracts.

Consider it money saved from the rookie bonuses of the past two years.

The problem is that there isn't enough salary cap space.

Although they are all rookies and their contracts haven't been accumulated yet, the combined salaries of so many players are still considerable.

If we go by Leiden's idea, the problem is that the salary cap is too low. If the salary cap were raised to 100 million, he wouldn't have such a headache.

First and foremost, Leiden must free up salary space for a maximum salary.

This was reserved for Billups.

He came here on a pay cut. Leiden said that once his middle-class contract was over, he would be offered a big contract.

If you go back on your word, how will you ever get along in the future?

Moreover, Billups, as one of the league's top point guards, is worth a max contract.

With his maximum salary contract signed, his salary cap space is almost completely locked up.

Swift can only renew her contract as an early bird.

His situation is similar to Bender's: a high draft pick, he was offered a contract extension using Bird rights, and the contract they could offer was decent.

Last year, Swift's final salary was $459 million, and with an early bird offer of 175%, she could receive a starting salary of $800 million.

Then, with an 8% increase and a maximum term of 4 years, the maximum was reached, providing Swift with a qualification offer of 3613 million over 4 years.

That's how Bender renewed his contract last year.

For Dulin, his draft position is too low, so signing him as an early bird wouldn't be cost-effective. Leiden plans to sign him with a mid-level exception.

Starting salary of 500 million, the length of the contract depends on Durant's wishes.

It's not that we don't want to pay, but we simply don't have the room for salary increases.

Meanwhile, just one day after the expanded draft, the draft itself took place.

Tang Sen went to the scene to join in the fun.

Instead of going through the main entrance, which was full of reporters, we went directly to the team's office area through the side general manager's passage.

They also ran into Carlisle.

Although he is no longer a Knicks player, it doesn't stop Tangsen from caring about the Knicks' situation and asking Carlisle if he had reached an agreement with other teams to trade first-round picks.

We discussed who to choose in a previous meeting.

Tang Sen suggested choosing JR Smith, and Leiden took it to heart.

However, his prospects are looking good, with media predicting his draft position will be around the middle of the first round.

Therefore, the Knicks want to use their first-round pick plus their second-round pick to trade up to a mid-round first-round pick.

Carlisle walked toward the venue, shaking his head. "No, we are public enemy number one now."

A historic undefeated championship victory, the ultimate boss of the game has arrived. Any team now wants to take a piece of the Knicks. Trading with the Knicks would be aiding the enemy. How could that be possible?

Carlisle said dejectedly, "You know, no matter who we contact, they always ask us who we want to choose first, and then nothing happens. It's obvious they want to see who our target is, and then they can choose for themselves."

The Knicks' vision, to some extent, represents Townsend's vision.

Whoever Tang Sen targets, their stock price will rise.

In this situation, all transaction negotiations failed.

Tang Sen thought to himself, "That would make him a public enemy."

In Stern's script, the championship-winning Knicks are destined to become the league's public enemy in the future.

This will spur other teams to prepare intensely, improve their strength, and make the games more and more exciting.

Tang Sen casually asked who the plan was to choose.

Don't even bother with the second round picks; the 60th pick is practically nothing.

While there was still time, Carlisle dragged Tangsen to his office and then hurriedly played a video for Tangsen.

"Tang, what do you think of him?"

In the shot, a short Black player drives into the paint and finishes with a powerful dunk.

Carlisle handed over another scouting report.

The player's name is Tony Allen, and he comes from Oklahoma State University.

A senior player who transferred from a junior college to a university, he averaged 16 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 2.1 steals per game in his senior season and was selected to the Big12 All-NBA Team.

Tang Sen was reviewing the draft report while watching game footage.

His static talent is somewhat lacking.

Standing at only 1.93 meters tall, playing the shooting guard position is a major disadvantage, just like Wade's situation.

However, he lacks the playmaking ability to play point guard, which is rather awkward.

Then the draft report was embellished to a certain extent, and Tangsen knew how to see a player's true level from this embellished report.

Simply put, he lacks ball-handling skills as a point guard, is too short as a shooting guard, and his shooting is completely unreliable. His only advantage is his decent wingspan of 2.06 meters, and at 97 kilograms, he has a certain level of toughness, along with considerable speed and explosiveness for his weight.

Perhaps Tang Sen's standards are too high; from what we can see now, he's just an average player with decent athletic ability.

If he really had the talent of a supermodel, he couldn't have gone to college for four years and then slipped to the end of the first round.

NBA scouts are good at embellishing their reports, but don't doubt their judgment in judging players.

If they truly possess the talent of supermodels, they almost never misjudge them.

After watching the highlights video, Tang Sen asked him about the trial.

Carlisle nodded and said it was good.

Tang Sen put down the scouting report and said, "Then let's go with him. At this draft position, as long as he has the physique, that's enough. We'll develop him into an outside defender."

His wingspan is decent. Tang Sen noticed this when watching the video; his lateral movement speed is quite fast. He may not be an excellent scorer, but he has the potential to become a good perimeter defender.

He himself left the Knicks, but Brittenham stayed.

He's been training with me for two years, and his experience has improved a lot. With the rich training experience I've left behind, and if he works hard, he might be able to train successfully.

Moreover, in Knicks, defense is the most basic skill.

Carlisle nodded and said, "That's what I think too. We don't actually lack offensive firepower, but we need to supplement our defensive resources."

The Knicks are currently facing the problem of having only one ball and not enough to go around, so they don't really need a great offensive player.

As the two walked out, Carlisle mentioned the second-round pick.

He said he was going to choose Damien Wilkins.

Upon hearing the name, Tang Sen instinctively asked if it was related to Dominique Wilkins.

Carlisle laughed and said, "It's his nephew."

Tang Sen understood and stopped asking.

Carlisle knew what Tangsen was thinking and awkwardly explained that Damien's physical condition was alright.

Tang Sen thought to himself that no matter how good he was, he couldn't compare to his uncle.

If he had even half of his uncle's talent, he wouldn't have ended up at the end of the second round.

Arriving at the talent show venue.

Logically speaking, Tang Sen should be sitting at the same table as Stern and the others.

The core structure of the NBA's management is a president who vertically manages three vice presidents.

Stu Jackson is in charge of the league's day-to-day operations.

Law and labor relations, and the referee, Lars Granick.

Heidi Ueberroth, who works in international business, is the daughter of Peter Ueberroth, a very prominent figure in American sports.

The remaining heads of specific business units are not high enough to be vice presidents and are not worth mentioning.

Next, as planned, the league will announce a new appointment on July 1st.

This means that Tang Sen became the vice president of the alliance, specifically in the newly established position of vice president of alliance development.

He will represent the alliance and join Tang Sen's LYD company.

To put it simply, the so-called league development means working with Stern to figure out how to tell the league's story well.

The definition of this position is somewhat vague.

But it is precisely because of this ambiguity that the power is so great that anyone can interfere in anything.

For example, Tang Sen is fully entitled to get involved in the alliance's publicity and rule-making processes, to see if they fit the story being told.

The appointment hasn't been announced yet, and Tang Sen isn't going to bother with it.

He went over to meet and greet Stern and the others, then turned around and went to find Howard.

The little brat he personally trained is about to become the top scorer, so Tang Sen has to go and see him, give him a shout-out, and sing his praises.

As a result, they bumped into Popovich on the road.

"Don!"

Upon seeing Tangsen, Popovich, who was talking to Buford, brightened up and quickly came over to greet Tangsen with a warm hug.

The old fox's smile definitely means something's up.

After a few polite words, Popovich indeed made a request.

"Tang, we planned to send Tim and Tony to your training camp, but you know, this is an Olympic year. Tim is fine; he's already decided not to participate in this Olympics."

Because of Townsend's training camp, many star players have already decided not to participate in the Olympics.

As for the reasons, we can't put all the blame on Tang Sen; the reasons given were all for safety considerations.

After all, that incident only happened three years ago.

“But Toni is not an option. The French team cannot do without him, so could I discuss with you the possibility that he can leave the training camp to compete during the Olympics and come back immediately after the Games?”

"Tony has discussed with the French basketball association that he will rejoin the national team before the start of the Olympics, which will at most waste twenty days."

In Popovich's words, participating in the Olympics was a waste of time.

The Olympics this year will be held on August 13th and will close on the 29th, which is about twenty days.

Tang Sen said, "If it doesn't work, you can find someone else."

Popovich's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly shook his head: "How can that be? There's only one spot, it's very precious."

Tang Sen was both amused and exasperated, then nodded and said okay.

I've thought about this myself, after all, it's an Olympic year and there are quite a few international players.

But the cost can't be too low.

Popovich was overjoyed, saying that was natural; the Spurs were stingy, but they weren't that short of money.

He looked around, then lowered his voice and asked, "Don, do you think Tim can develop a three-point shot?"

Tang Sen was taken aback.

Tim Duncan, one of the league's top power forwards, was once moved to the center position after David Robinson retired. His playing style was completely biased towards the paint. You want him to practice three-pointers?
(End of this chapter)