Champion, please stay!

Chapter 188, Section 186: The Offseason in Progress
Similar to what Yi Shui thought, it should be one of the first round of signings in 11 or 12.

Walsh would definitely not agree to a 10-year first-round draft pick.

No matter how you look at it, the Cavaliers' interior strength will be significantly improved after O'Neal joins. O'Neal and Zydrunas Ilgauskas will take turns playing 20 minutes each, while Varejao will fill in for a few minutes, ensuring maximum rim protection and eliminating any concerns about stamina.

Yi Shui estimates that once the draft pick is reached, local fans will start waving their keyboards in protest, which is definitely aiding the enemy.

But for them at this stage, it's not important whether other teams get stronger or not. It doesn't matter if teams in the same division get stronger. The priority is to optimize their salary structure and improve their own strength.

With O'Neal, the Cavaliers are guaranteed a top-three draft pick next season, and Walsh will definitely not accept a 10 first-round pick.

The Cavaliers would never agree to a 13 first-round pick.

If we follow the pattern of NBA history, next season will be the best window for the Cavaliers to contend for the championship. Zydrunas Ilgauskas is getting old, and the bunch of players they signed with mid-level contracts are also gradually getting old or not getting enough playing time and declining further. That's why they are chasing after Shaquille O'Neal.

Last season, they won 64 games, which is definitely a championship contender year. For a small-city team, it's good if they can contend for a championship for two years. In the 10-11 and 11-12 seasons, it was inevitable that the performance of that bunch of high-salary but low-performing players would become even more 'low-performing'. In the 12-13 season, they may need to strive for a high draft pick.

In the first round of the 11 draft, it's impossible to get the top pick; Yi Shui remembers that he wasn't originally going to get the top pick.

But the lottery pick is a sure thing. With the Cavaliers' style of play, every player except the ball-handling star will have a role to play, so they can't avoid tanking.

Unless James chooses to stay with one team.

If that's the case, then we should remove our hats in respect at the Yi River.

Yi Shui looked at the secondary screen on the wall of the conference room.

Walsh also snagged the 44th pick, which, according to the ranking, should have been the 76ers' 14th-to-last draft pick.

The first round picks are ranked by first selecting teams that did not make the playoffs, and then by selecting teams that did make the playoffs. The second round picks are ranked directly by wins.

Yi Shui remembered that last December, the Thunder "sponsored" the Cavaliers, trading their still-capable former number one draft pick, Joe Smith, for Donyell Marshall, who was no longer getting playing time, in exchange for the 76ers' second-round pick, because Marshall had an expiring mid-level exception contract, while Joe Smith's mid-level exception contract expired in 10 years.

The draft has reached the 38th pick. On the secondary screen, you can see that Cunningham, Sam Young, Blair... Jerebko has already been selected!

Yi Shui looked left and right. Who else? Oh, Beverley. But there are already three point guards. Even if Curry plays shooting guard, there's no time for Beverley to level up.

Budinger? This blond guy is too soft; his defense is even worse than Big Q's, which is a negative effect.

Marcus Thornton? He seems pretty good, but he doesn't seem to be good off the ball, he's purely on-the-ball, and his football IQ isn't high either.

Yi Shui had a bit of a headache. He could recognize the dozens of black men individually, but with dozens of them sitting in one room, he could only recognize Beverley, Budinger, and Thornton, who had distinctive features.

After thinking for a moment, he turned his attention to Robinson. He had excellent height and wingspan, good stamina, was active in positioning and off-ball defense, and had good shooting talent and the ability to contest shots...

Good buddies can get a discount, Yi Shui was just about to call Walsh to ask if he had any candidates when he heard Stu Jackson read out 'Husky Team' and 'Stanley Robinson'.

Robinson jumped up excitedly and spun around with Yi Shui, Yad, and Price.

Although he was prepared to continue his studies, finish his senior year, and work hard if he was not drafted, he was naturally happy to be selected and step onto the NBA stage, as it was his basketball dream!
Yi Shui was both happy and speechless. He was just about to act like a big shot when his buddy was chosen.

After celebrating for a while and sitting down, Yi Shui looked at Ya De, thinking that this guy was pretty good too.

He can run and jump, and has a high initiative in counter-attacks, so he can be used as a striker... Just as Yi Shui's thought came to mind, he heard Stu Jackson say "Husky Team" again, followed by "Jeff Yad".

The Bucks selected Robinson with the 39th pick, the Nets selected Yad with the 40th pick, and the Pacers promised to select Price, but Price is a poor man's version of Duhon's point guard, which doesn't suit them... So there's no need to worry, let's see who the management chooses.

The second round of signings was indeed an unexpected gain, as we were not prepared for it.

...

Yi Shui felt as if his mouth had been blessed. After Yad was selected, the Lakers selected Beverley with the 41st pick; the Heat's 42nd pick became the Hornets' draft pick, which selected Marcus Thornton; and the Pistons' 43rd pick became the Rockets' draft pick, which selected Budinger.

With the pick at number 44, Yi Shui was starting to get excited. To be honest, the feeling of not knowing who you'd pick was pretty good.

The first thing that came through was the voice of the secondary stage host, just like when the 42nd and 43rd picks were selected, announcing that the 44th pick had been sent from the Cavaliers to the Knicks, which meant the trade was officially completed.

Then, Stu Jackson's voice reached Yi Shui's ears through the amplifier in the conference room.

"Ladies and gentlemen, in the 2009 NBA Draft, the New York Knicks selected... Danny Green from the North Carolina Tar Heels!"

The North Carolina guys sitting by the door jumped up and cheered.

Yi Shui looked in the direction of the sound and recognized it.

Zhang Tielin!
Yi Shui then discovered that the 09 class also had this player who had faced off against him once in Third Madness.

The main point is that, in his memory, Danny Green emerged during the two years when the Spurs' system reached its peak.

However, he did remember that when Danny Green joined the Lakers, he mentioned that he had partnered with LeBron James when he first entered the NBA, and that he had been looking forward to partnering with him again for a long time.

Yi Shui got up and walked forward, and Danny Green came to greet him as well.

Yi Shui shook hands with Danny Green and said, "Welcome to New York."

Unlike Gibson, Danny Green, while also excited about playing in New York, was much more composed, replying, "It's cool, but playing with you is even better. After last year's game, I've been looking forward to the day when we can be teammates."

As they were exchanging pleasantries, Stu Jackson's voice came through again.

The Pacers selected Price with the 45th overall pick.

The four members of the Husky team held hands and prepared to spin around. Danny Green hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and reached out his hand... and the five of them spun around together...

...

After celebrating, Yi Shui said goodbye to the three guys and Danny Green and left. After the draft, the rookies would have to take photos together, meet with the management and coaching staff of their new teams, etc. He couldn't help with that, and he wasn't worried about it.

I've seen all sorts of crazy managers, but those three guys are at least normal.

Yad was raised with an elite education, and Robinson's parents were also quite well-off.

Although Price is poor, he is ambitious. In Yi Shui's opinion, this "poor man's version of Duhon" is actually the one most likely to survive in the NBA.

Back home, Yi Shui turned on his computer... Walsh and Dolan got scolded again.

The boss is a ruthless person; he even criticizes himself. Cable Sports in the US criticizes him the most.

These media outlets are quite interesting. When they brought O'Neal back the day before yesterday, they attacked them relentlessly. Now that O'Neal has been traded away, they're attacking them again...

Regarding the draft, Harden's selection as the number one pick was considered a minor upset, but many people said it wasn't surprising.

Many people had predicted that the Bulls would not draft Thabeet and Griffin.

Harden's draft stock is the highest among the 1-3 positions.

Sports Illustrated's April draft special issue painted an exaggerated picture of Harden—a template of Wade, a safety net of Ginobili, and a floor of Francis.

If it were 05 or 06, Harden would have been a number one draft pick, meaning he would have faced two big men like Thabeet and Griffin.

The next day, Yi Shui, along with his three college friends, met up with Chalmers and went to Curry's house for a meal to celebrate that all three of them had been selected.

The Huskies had four players selected this year, making them the second-biggest winner in this year's draft. North Carolina had one more player selected, with five.

In the afternoon, the three brothers left with Bartelstein.

Yi Shui truly felt the reluctance of 'graduating from university' this time. Connecticut and New York are adjacent. Last season, Yad and Robinson would come to watch one or two games every month. Occasionally, he would also go back to the school. After this separation, he may only be able to see each other a few times a year in the future. If these two brothers do not work in the basketball industry or go to play in other leagues, it will be difficult to see each other even once a year.

However, he was already used to separation and loneliness in his 'past life', and he quickly composed himself.

On the 30th, Yi Shui arrived at Madison Square Garden early in the morning to officially begin his offseason training.

This summer, the training team devised a training plan for him, focusing on mid-range fundamentals to address his weaknesses; long-range and close-range training was also required, but at a lower intensity, as his skill level was already very high, and they would work on it gradually.

In terms of technology, focus on key areas—the three threats and their supporting technologies.

This tall guy can drive and shoot, and his triple threat style is extremely lethal.

On the defensive end, basic skills need to be further improved, and rebounding protection and offensive rebounding also need to be strengthened or improved.

On the day of the meeting, Yi Shui saw him training during the off-season with more than a dozen people, and he seemed a little uncomfortable.

But now I think it's amazing.

All he needs to do is express his thoughts.

Whether someone is a good fit for the team is a matter for discussion between tactical coach Dan Dalio and coaching staff consultant Mark Jackson.
Whether it is beneficial to his long-term plans is for player development coach Phil Weber to consider.

The training program was overseen by shooting coach and head of the training department Herb Williams and training consultant Clark.
Strength training is something Clark excels at;
Technical guidance was provided by Mark Jackson…

With trainers, physiotherapists, nutritionists, and so on, everything was taken care of for him. On the training days he planned with his agent and the team, he could simply get up, eat, train, eat again, and sleep without having to put in any effort; all he had to do was exert himself.

He didn't know if other teams' star players received the same treatment, but he was very satisfied.

However, there are still problems. The training goals set by the team are definitely not going to be achieved in one summer.

The team members were also helpless: Yi Jianlian's physical condition makes it impossible for him to participate in any kind of training!
...

Yi Shui felt good on the first day of training. After a month of rest, he was very focused on training, and the 'rejection' he had developed from playing ball for too long was completely gone.

During a break in training, he went to watch the training of two rookies, Ty Gibson and Danny Green.

Gibson is highly mature, a 24-year-old rookie with a fully developed body, solid defensive fundamentals, and while his offensive skills are lacking, he has a tough playing style. When the trainer tested him, he even used a shield to block...

Danny Green is much worse.

He has decent physical attributes; he's tall enough to play both the point guard and shooting guard positions, and his mobility is sufficient for the point guard position. While he's not particularly strong, he's not exactly frail either.

However, his basic skills and technique were far too poor. In one-on-one situations, Chalmers, who was called in as a sparring partner, repeatedly intercepted the ball.

His shooting wasn't as accurate as Yi Shui had hoped, and he hadn't even gotten used to the distance of the NBA three-point line.

However, his defensive foundation is decent, and his awareness is good. In a 10-point one-on-one matchup with Chalmers, it took Chalmers almost 20 rounds to win. Danny Green kept up with him closely and his shot interference timing was also good.

So, at noon, Yi Shui called over the elementary school student, who scored 10 goals over Danny Green in 11 rounds... It was really satisfying to watch.

July 1st marks the start of a new month, and the NBA offseason free agency market has also opened.

The league announced the salary cap for the new season: $5913 million.

Compared to last summer, when the salary cap for last season was first announced, Forbes Sports predicted a significantly higher future salary cap!

At the time, Forbes Sports' revenue forecasts for the four major leagues all predicted a decline due to the financial crisis.

Most of the predictions were accurate. The other three major leagues all saw their revenue decline by more than 5% compared to the 07-08 season, with the NFL, which had the highest revenue, experiencing the largest decline of 11%.

Many NBA teams also experienced a decline in revenue, a significant impact of the financial crisis. However, the decline in revenue for those teams was much less than expected, and the league's overall revenue actually increased!
The media summarized three reasons: Yi Shui, Kobe, and James. Kobe led the Lakers to a championship, Yi Shui led the Knicks to rise, and James is the league's highly touted 'representative of the new generation of black players'.

If the three of them perform well, the entire league's market and viewership will benefit.

In the evening, after finishing a day of training, Yi Shui gave an exclusive interview to The New York Times.

Most of the questions and answers were fairly standard, including evaluations of last season's performance, expectations for the new season, draft picks, and so on.

But the problem still arose: Dolan had lifted the team's interview ban after the draft.

When asked about the trade involving O'Neal, Yi Shui replied, "It's part of the management's plan. Donnie has extensive experience managing teams. Today is the first day of my second year with the team. Donnie's operations over the past year have been excellent, and I will support his work."

The reporter was also quite strange. With other players, it was difficult to get anything out of them with highly controversial questions; they needed to guide the conversation and dig traps in the questions.

But when they got to the Yi River, no matter how roundabout the questioning, they never took the bait.

The reporter went straight to the point, asking, "O'Neal is very unhappy with your handling of him like a commodity, buying and selling him back and forth. He said you'd better not meet him in the playoffs, or he'll make you regret it. Do you want to respond to that?"

Yi Shui shook his head and replied, "King is in danger. God help them. I hope they don't miss the playoffs in the new season."

"You should play straightforward!" the reporter continued. "O'Neal also said you don't deserve the title of 'greatest number one draft pick,' that he is the greatest number one draft pick. Do you think you are the greatest number one draft pick in NBA history?"

Yi Shui shrugged: "That doesn't matter. I'm curious how King will answer this question... I remember Magic Johnson has 5 championships, right? If Shaq leads the Cavaliers to a championship next season as their leader, I'll be the first to support him as the greatest number one draft pick in NBA history."

...

After finishing the interview, Yi Shui returned home and saw on the news that his answers in an interview an hour earlier had already caused controversy.

However, the controversy doesn't just revolve around him; O'Neal, the Suns, James, the Cavaliers... have also been caught up in the controversy.

Yi Shui isn't actually that impulsive, but since the draft, O'Neal has been criticizing him in every interview. He's been holding back for a few days, and now that the team's ban has finally been lifted, he has to give him a good comeback.

He had previously seen a report, which Barkley revealed, that after being traded by the Suns, O'Neal immediately inquired about New York real estate, planning to retire in New York and also wanting to work for Dolan's media company... but his happiness lasted only two days before he was traded again.

He understood O'Neal's anger, but if he wanted to retaliate, he should have targeted Dolan and Walsh! He definitely wouldn't tolerate it if he went after him.

He opened his email and checked the team information sent by Walsh's secretary.

Point guards: Duhon has 1 year left on his contract, while Curry and Chalmers have 3 years remaining on their rookie contracts.

Shooting Guards: Pavlovic has one year left on his mid-level exception, and Bill Walker has one year left on his three-year rookie contract with a team option.

Small forward: Wilson Chandler has two years left on his rookie contract.

Power Forwards: David Lee's qualifying offer is under contract extension negotiations; Ben Wallace's contract expires at $1400 million; Harrington's contract expires at $1003 million; Jeffries.

Center: Currently, only Jerome James has 1 year and $660 million left. Swift, Birdman, and Mickey Moore are all in talks to re-sign. All three are willing to stay with the team, and their salaries are negotiable.

With him, there are already 15 players, but two rookies, Gibson and Danny Green, have not yet signed, and there is still a mid-level exception that has not been used. Last year, the bi-annual exception was not used, but this year it can be used to sign a player with a contract higher than the minimum salary.

There will definitely be more deals, or they will choose not to renew contracts with anyone.

Yi Shui didn't feel it much last year because he wasn't involved in these things, but now that he's involved in the team's offseason plans, he feels that Walsh is really having a tough time!

There is absolutely no room for salary increases, exceeding the salary cap by nearly 4000 million.

Players with high trade value only have a few rookie contracts. To make a trade, you can only swap bad contracts for bad contracts, looking for the one that can be played. Like last year when we traded for Swift. Although he only has the ability of two or three million, we paid double the price, but at least he can be used.

The key signing last year was probably Birdman.

Yi Shui racked his brains, recalling which low-salary, high-performing players could be snatched up in the past two years, and provided a few names, but he didn't know if the team could actually acquire them.

However, the team's current situation means he won't be too concerned about signings or trades with other teams, since they didn't have the means to do so anyway.

Yi Shui focused on training and checked the news whenever he had free time.

As the days passed, on the 3rd, he saw the news that the Suns had used the amnesty clause to waive Eddie Curry's remaining two years of his contract, clearing cap space, but Kerr's offer of a 6-year, $1.18 million contract to Stoudemire was rejected.

On the 7th, after the waiver period, the Knicks announced the contract extensions for David Lee and Swift.

大卫-李拿到1+1球队选项，固定每年1000万的合同；斯威夫特以1年300万续约，都是鸟权帽上续约。

At the same time, they announced that they had failed to reach a contract extension agreement with Mickey Moore. Two days later, on the 9th, the Warriors signed Mickey Moore to a 3-year, $600 million contract.

The message Yi Shui received from the team was about the contract length; they were willing to offer a salary of 2 million, but only for one year.

Mid-month, on July 13th, the Magic made a major trade, refusing to offer Turkoglu a multi-million dollar annual salary and sending him to the Raptors in a sign-and-trade deal, freeing up salary cap space.

The Magic then completed a trade with the Nets, sending Alston, Courtney Lee, and Tony Battie to the Nets in exchange for Carter and Ryan Anderson.

Following two major trades, the Magic are generally optimistic about their performance in the new season, with many saying their perimeter shooting has been greatly improved.

Seeing this move, Yi Shui knew the Magic team had no chance.

Carter's stats may look better than Turkoglu's, but Turkoglu's role in orchestrating the offense is unmatched by Carter.

Sending Alston away further narrowed their path to the championship.

After the finals last year, Alston had a fierce conflict with Nelson, who made a forced comeback but performed poorly, and they almost got into a fight in the locker room. When Yi Shui saw this news, he knew that one of the two would have to leave.

In terms of ability, Nelson is definitely stronger than Alston.

But based on his experience playing against them, he felt that Alston was more important to the Magic.

Alston's ability to organize the offense is similar to Nelson's, but he has a better overall view of the game, is more willing to pass the ball, and is far superior to Nelson in receiving passes and shooting.

If the goal is to acquire Carter, who needs to handle the ball, then the team should use young star Nelson, who also needs to handle the ball, as trade bait to enhance the team's depth.

Just like the Knicks, last season, Nate Robinson performed better than Chalmers in isolation, fast breaks, and long-range shooting, but they chose to give up the dunk champion because Chalmers could play without the ball at all, while Nate Robinson had to have the ball when he was on the court.

As a result, the Magic traded away their point guard who could control the game and play off-ball.

Yi Shui couldn't understand why the Magic's management, who had handled things so well in the past two years, would suddenly start making mistakes after reaching the Finals.
A few days later, on July 20th, an even more explosive trade occurred than the one involving the Magic!
The Lakers and Rockets completed a sign-and-trade, with the Rockets signing Ron Artest to a 5-year, $3400 million contract and sending him to the Lakers in exchange for Trevor Ariza, who had also just signed a 5-year, $3400 million contract.

In terms of contract size, it can't compare to Turkoglu and Carter; they're just two slightly above-average renewal contracts.

But the impact of the trade is far greater than the two trades involving the Magic!

The Rockets, who had never advanced past the first round since the beginning of the new century, were able to reach the second round last season, battle the Lakers for six games, and appear to be on par with them, only losing in crucial moments, all thanks to Artest.

Kobe, Artest, Gasol, Bynum, this combination... Popovich is back to his rant.

After being sprayed by Yi Shui last time, O'Neal, who had been quiet for a while, also jumped out and cursed the Rockets' owner and management for having their brains filled with Manhattan Beach seawater.

After winning his fourth championship, catching up with Duncan, and having one more than Kobe, O'Neal wasn't too obsessed with winning more titles. But when Yi Shui compared his championship count with Magic Johnson's, his desire for a fifth championship was rekindled.

Regardless of what Yi Shui said, and regardless of how the media joked that O'Neal ruined the Suns, the mainstream opinion is that after O'Neal joined, the Cavaliers, who focus on defense, had a much higher chance of winning the championship.

Back in Yishui, not long after seeing the news that Artest had gone to the Lakers, he received a call from Yao Ming.

The little giant's string of curses in his hometown dialect stirred up Yi's homesickness.

Yi Jianlian decisively fueled the fire: "Replacing Artest with Ariza, who can't do anything? Can't you hit threes with Ariza? Or can't you defend Anthony and James with Ariza? If I were you, I'd opt out of my contract next year..."

After complaining for a while, Yao Ming was a little embarrassed and said, "I'll be in New York for an event in a few days, and I'll treat you to dinner then."

Yi Shui replied, "You're coming to New York and you're treating me to dinner? Don't you have any pride, buddy? Sister Li isn't coming, right? I'll take you to some fun places."

Yao Ming: "No, no, no, I'm not like you. I'd be cursed to death by people in China..."

The Little Giant's reaction strengthened Brother Li's determination not to cultivate a "Mr. Nice Guy" persona.

Fortunately, Bartelstein, Dolan, and Hook don't have such requirements.

By late July, the Knicks finally made a move!

On July 25th, Yi Shui received an email from the team, which was a screenshot of the league's confirmation of a trade.

The Knicks traded Jared Jeffries, Jerome James, Bill Walker, a 2010 second-round draft pick, and a 2010 second-round draft pick from the Cavaliers to the Bulls in exchange for Larry Hughes.

When Yi Shui saw the name Larry Hughes, and then looked at Ron Artest of the Lakers, Hedo Turkoglu of the Raptors, and Vince Carter of the Magic... all of them were NBA teams, but the difference was just too big!

On the bright side, the two big trades essentially 'condensed' the three bad contracts of Eddie Curry, Jeffries, and Jerome James into two expiring bad contracts of Ben Wallace and Larry Hughes, while also gaining a first-round pick from the Cavaliers.

They had their own 10-year second-round pick, and the Cavaliers have made up for it with this year's second-round pick. It's just a pity about Q.

Hopefully, Larry Hughes and Pavlovic will be in better form next season, and Danny Green will improve faster.

After the 'big trade' was completed, the Knicks freed up roster spots and signed two rookies.

在奥兰多夏季联赛11场比赛场均16分11板2.9盖帽的吉布森，以26顺位新秀固定薪水的120%完成签约。

Danny Green, who averages 9 points per game, only received the minimum contract of $460,000 for one year.

However, Yi Shui learned from Cheeks that although Danny Green's offense was extremely poor, he was not good at ball handling and his shooting was not adapted to the new three-point line distance, but his one-on-one defense and help defense showed good immediate combat ability, and he did a good job following Curry on the fast break.

Upon learning that Curry was dominating the Summer League with an average of 25 points per game and leading his team to victory, Yi Shui, who hadn't played basketball for two months, was itching to play and applied to play in the Rocky Mountain Summer League... only to have his call hung up on by Cheeks, the team leader.

Heartless! Indifferent! Team bullying!
A few days later, Curry was also sent back to New York, and the team that followed in the Summer League was led by Chalmers and Wilson Chandler.

Yi Shui's mood instantly brightened...

By the end of the month, Yi Shui's expectations were dashed.

Anthony Parker joined the Cavaliers with a 3-year mid-level exception, and Brandon Bass joined the Magic with a 2-year mid-level exception!

Brandon Bass averaged 8.5 points and 4.5 rebounds per game for the Mavericks last season. Despite his short stature of only 203 cm, he weighs 113 kg and has strong athleticism.

Anthony Parker averaged 10 points, 4 rebounds, 3.4 assists and 1.4 steals per game for the Raptors last season, with a 39% three-point shooting percentage. He can shoot, pass and defend, and can play both the two and three positions.

These two were their top targets for recruitment, both inside and outside, but they couldn't snatch them up! And the price... their combined value should be around 300 million, almost double!
However, it's not surprising to see that the Cavaliers and Magic are the teams vying for players.

Finally, on August 1st, the first day of the new month, Yi Shui received good news.

The team used its biennial exception and a 1+1 player option to sign former Suns player Matt Barnes to a two-year, $340 million contract!
After the official signing announcement, the Knicks used a two-year mid-level exception with a 1+1 team option to re-sign Chris Anderson.

When Yi Shui received the message from the team, he felt that their president, Walsh, was just one word—steady!

If there are no suitable small fish on the free market, then we shouldn't waste money; we should use it on our own people.

(End of this chapter)