Basketball trainer, I created a super giant

Chapter 449 That's O'Neal

For example, the 76ers.

Last year they sent Iverson and Salemport.

This year, they traded last year's rookie Andre Iguodala and the year before's rookie Willie Green.

Both of them have average skills, but they are physically gifted.

Xu Yuan from the 76ers' side said he hopes Townsend will prioritize training them into top-tier defenders.

If you have the energy, you can practice your offense, but defense should be the priority.

At the same time, there are quite a few teams that do the same thing as the 76ers.

Tang Sen immediately realized that some teams had noticed a problem.

That means even among star players, there are differences between them.

After last year's training camp, it seems that every team has star-level players, but can Francis compare to McGrady?

It's far from that.

Even if we send Francis over this year, he still won't be able to develop into someone like McGrady.

But defense is different.

A good defensive specialist can bring down the level of an opposing star player to an average level.

Just like how Sasser dealt with Kobe back then.

This is far more beneficial than improving one's own star players.

Moreover, once you get to the playoffs, defense is also very important if you want to go further.

If this is the approach, then defense might become the dominant strategy next season.

Tang Sen thought it was a good idea.

If the spear is improved, the shield must also be improved.

Last year, the team focused heavily on offense, which boosted the league's average points per game by several points.

In this situation, only by improving the level of defense can we contribute more exciting offensive and defensive plays.

Even back in Los Angeles, Jackson wanted to do the same.

As soon as the Western Conference Finals ended, Kobe had already spoken to the management.

I must secure one spot in this year's Tangsen training camp.

His attitude immediately dissuaded Jackson from sending someone else to New York.

Jackson truly felt that Kobe was already a well-rounded player.

With only two spots available each year, it would be better to use them to strengthen the shooting guard and small forward positions. The benefits would definitely be greater than those from Kobe.

Besides that, there's the issue of O'Neal.

Jackson had discussed it with Buss and the others for a long time, and finally made up his mind to trade O'Neal.

But that's on the condition that the Celtics are willing to make a trade and give up their number one draft pick.

Otherwise, it's better to keep it.

Shaquille O'Neal is no longer as effective, but he is still one of the league's top centers.

A week before the draft, the Lakers finally contacted Ainge and proposed trading for the number one draft pick.

They also stated outright that they were willing to trade O'Neal.

Angie had already started fantasizing about what would happen after Bynum joined the Celtics.

With most of their bad contracts cleared out by the end of this season, the Celtics are now poised to capitalize on Bynum's rookie status, attract a star perimeter player, and take off.

As a result, the Lakers pulled this stunt on themselves.

After hanging up the phone, Angie's heart was pounding.

That's Shaquille O'Neal!

The Celtics had Bynum given a tryout and thought he was very good.

He's a product of Tang Sen, and he's an inside player, so he can't be bad.

It's fair to say that at just 18 years old, Bynum could become a star and a top-tier center after only six months of training and entering the league.

But if you compare him to Shaq...

Angie's inner balance began to waver.

With the addition of O'Neal, the Celtics will have a top-tier frontcourt of O'Neal, Swift, and Pierce.

Then, trade LaFrentz for a star-level perimeter player, and the Celtics' lineup will be complete.

Lafrentz still has a 4-year, 4500 million euro contract left, which Ainge felt was not worthwhile and was too expensive.

Even though LaFrentz has improved a lot this season, his lack of skill in scoring under the basket means he is destined not to lead the Celtics much further.

The key is Shaquille O'Neal!
This is what troubles Anji the most.

Bynum is good, but what about O'Neal?

This is the most dominant center of all time, even though he's 33 and has only one year left on his contract. He is Shaquille O'Neal.

Angie couldn't resist the temptation and contacted the Lakers again, tentatively asking for more assets.

Some say O'Neal is old, others say he only has one year left on his contract, and they're worried about losing everything.

The Celtics, on the other hand, offered Bynum, a player with unlimited potential.

Ainge cares about O'Neal, and so does the Lakers.

That was Shaquille O'Neal after all.

Old Buss had this mindset that if he could give up O'Neal, what asset couldn't he get in return?

So when they learned that the Celtics were demanding even more, they decisively took a hard line.

Just tell Ainge, it's O'Neal, nothing else.

This firm stance brought several days of peace.

Kupchak felt that Ainge was testing his patience, but the draft was approaching, and most importantly, Townsend's million-dollar training camp was about to begin.

The Lakers need to finalize the roster of players to send to training camp as soon as possible.

Tang Sen said that there was a bug last year that allowed the Suns to gain an advantage, and that bug will be fixed this year.

Whoever gets Bynum will automatically take up one of the team's roster spots.

If they can't acquire Bynum, the Lakers need to decide as soon as possible who to send to training camp.

So the Lakers couldn't hold back any longer and contacted the Celtics again.

They offered to give more leverage, but the Celtics would have to make sacrifices.

The Lakers want LaFrentz.

The idea is to use it to balance out transactions.

The Celtics have tens of millions in salary cap space, but that's not enough; they need to add a contract to match O'Neal's salary.

Jackson thought that if the trade went through, there would be no point in the Celtics keeping LaFrentz.

LaFrentz can play power forward, but the Celtics already have Swift.

We can't possibly have LaFrentz, who earns a multi-million dollar salary, playing as O'Neal's backup; that would be too extravagant.

But the Lakers could take it.

The Lakers are missing a power forward who can stretch the floor, has a shot, and can also play some defense.

Ainge decisively refused; he still wanted to trade LaFrentz for a star perimeter player.

The two sides failed to reach an agreement, and the deal stalled.

And this delay dragged on until the draft.

The star of the day was undoubtedly Bynum; no rookie could help but envy him.

He was selected by Tang Sen in advance and became the must-have top pick.

Having trained with Tang Sen for so long, he'll be a star player once he enters the league.

So as soon as Bynum arrived in Madison, he was surrounded by the media.

Connors took out his phone and called Tang Sen.

He wanted to invite Townsend over to help Bynum cheer him on.

The call went through, but Tang Sen decisively refused.

They've already won the championship, what's there to cheer them on for?

What, is there anyone who would question themselves?

Townsend was also in Madison, chatting with Stern and the others while waiting for the draft to begin.

Tang Sen silently observed Stern.

When he recommended Bynum to himself, Townsend thought he was planning to find a replacement for Shaq for the Lakers.

It's unclear whether the Lakers and Celtics had reached a trade agreement by then.

Half an hour later, the world's attention was focused on the start of the 05 NBA Draft.

Stern hosted the event, and without any suspense, announced with a smile that the Celtics had selected Andrew Bynum.

This result is normal.

The key question is whether the deal will happen next.

Townsend had been waiting, but even after the first round was over, there was still no news from the Lakers and Celtics.

So, they didn't reach an agreement?

When Stern returned after the first round, Tang Sen could clearly sense that the smile on Stern's face was starting to look unnatural.

Clearly, he was somewhat surprised by the result.

(End of this chapter)