Champion, please stay!

Chapter 229, Section 227: The Luxurious Knight
The Wizards' swift and decisive demolition of the team's base left media and fans speechless.

Trading Caron Butler for Josh Howard was already baffling to many.

卡隆-巴特勒连续两年场均20+6+4，正值巅峰；约什-霍华德自06-07赛季入选全明星后，出勤率、表现都逐渐走低，这赛季已经只剩场均15分5板了。

Now something even more outrageous has arrived!
Jamison, in the past 10 seasons, except for the 03-04 season when he was a substitute for the Mavericks, has averaged between 19 and 25 points per game. So far this season, he is averaging 21 points and 8.8 rebounds per game, which is his prime.

The Cavaliers traded away 34-year-old backup center Zydrunas Ilgauskas, who averaged 6 points and 5 rebounds per game, for a protected first-round lottery pick in 13!
If we were to pinpoint Da Z's greatest value, it would be his expiring contract worth nearly 1200 million, nothing more.

Just a few days later, the Wizards are once again in the spotlight.

Stern scheduled a lot of popular games in January, including last season's comeback team, the Knicks, and the greatest rookie in history, Yi Shui, who were almost skinned alive by Stern.

As it turned out, after Christmas, the team that truly fueled the mid-season buzz was the Wizards!

From the gun-pulling incident to the All-Star clearance sale, the Wizards have been making headlines every time they've been in the news for the past three weeks.

The Cavaliers' acquisition of Jamison has become a hot topic. Unlike the Wizards' two trades, which were met with skepticism, the Cavaliers' move has been praised as a huge win!
ESPN's assessment of the trade: After Boozer defected from the Kings, the Cavaliers didn't have a power forward qualified to stand next to the Kings, and the Kings finally have a forward partner worthy of him.

Even the Los Angeles Times commented that Jamison, O'Neal, Varejao, and Hickson—the Cavaliers' frontcourt—have become the Lakers' biggest threat to their title defense.

The media was buzzing about it, and the fans were discussing it enthusiastically. At the resort house that Dolan had booked to deal with the harassment from Cavaliers fans on the outskirts of Cleveland, Yi Shui, Curry, and Chalmers had no interest in enjoying the resort's entertainment facilities and instead gathered together to browse the news.

Everyone thought the Cavaliers got a great deal, and so did they. Moreover, as players, they knew even better how good Jamison was.

To put it simply, David Lee never gained the upper hand against Jamison.

Except for his rookie year as a substitute, Jamison's performance with the Mavericks was better than David Lee's best year.

At the power forward position, excluding players like James Jamison and Tim Duncan who don't actually play on the front line often, the only players who can be said to have a better offense than Dirk Nowitzki and Chris Bosh are Jamison.

Jamison ranks among the top three power forwards in terms of one-on-one skills, shooting ability, and tactical applicability.

Boozer is not as good as Jamison. Jamison can play both positional and fast breaks, while Boozer can only play positional games.

Curry silently scrolled through the news for a while, then said, "The Cavaliers have acquired Jamison, giving them two All-Stars in the paint, one on offense and one on defense. Their bench consists of Hickson and Varejao, and with James on the court, their frontcourt is invincible!"

Although Yi Shui knew about the deal, he still found it outrageous when he saw it.

It's unclear what the Wizards were thinking. Even without the Zydrunas Ilgauskas refusing to be reported, the Wizards would have suffered a huge loss in this trade, while the Cavaliers would have made a huge profit in terms of trade value.

But in response to Curry's assessment, Yi Shui said, "Really? I think Shaq is finished..."

...

The next morning, Yi Shui and the team arrived at Quicken Loans Arena for pre-match preparations.

Unlike the typical scenario where the Mavericks-Wizards trade saw a surge in popularity followed by a decline, the Cavaliers-Wizards trade is generating significantly more buzz today.

When Yi Shui was interviewed after the team meeting, he was also asked about his views on the Cavaliers' trades and whether they would pose a threat to them.

He replied, "The Cavaliers have acquired the best offensive power forward in the entire league. In my mind, Jamison is the Dirk Nowitzki of the East. He can do everything on offense. I'm happy to see the Cavaliers get such a player, and I'm glad to see such a strong team emerge..."

As the saying goes, you reciprocate kindness. Last season in the playoffs, James praised his teammates in such a way, so of course he had to return the favor.

In the afternoon, after taking a nap, Yi Shui learned from Chalmers that Jamison had arrived in Cleveland around 11 a.m. and worked overtime to complete the physical test. The Cavaliers had already submitted a report to the league that the test had been passed.

This didn't surprise Yi Shui, but the Wizards' situation left him somewhat puzzled.

Even though Zydrunas Ilgauskas didn't go to Washington, the Wizards submitted their report to complete the trade after the Cavaliers did.

The trade has been officially completed, and Jamison is now a member of the Cavaliers and can participate in tonight's game.

At 7:40 PM, at Quicken Loans Arena, the opening ceremony began. Yi Shui and his teammates entered first, greeted by a deafening chorus of boos.

He didn't care; he was used to it from last year's playoffs. In fact, this kind of atmosphere made him feel more like he was playing away games.

It's a bit of a shame, though, that Ben Wallace couldn't come due to injury.

Perhaps due to his age, his recovery is progressing in the slowest direction predicted by the doctor. Fortunately, the injury is improving and has not worsened.

This season, the Knicks player most hated by Cavaliers fans is not Yi Shui, but Ben Wallace, who is regarded as a 'traitor'.

Cavaliers fans seem a bit obsessed. In the past two years, any player who has left the Cavaliers and done well has been labeled a 'traitor,' even those who were traded away.

When some people questioned this, Cavaliers fans brought up Boozer and criticized him.

When the home team entered the field, Yi Shui watched as quality role players such as Varejao, Hickson, Delonte West, Jamario Moon, and Daniel Gibson stood outside the player tunnel, while O'Neal, Anthony Parker, Mo Williams, Jamison, and James ran out one after another.

With a roster worth nearly 100 million, it certainly looks luxurious in an era where the salary cap is less than 60 million.

The Cavaliers have played 38 games so far, with a record of 29 wins and 9 losses, ranking second in the Eastern Conference, only 2.5 games behind the Knicks.

詹姆斯场均28.5分6.9板8.5助攻1.5抢断1盖帽，投篮命中率51%，生涯首次过五成。

奥尼尔打了35场，场均出战26分钟，拿到15.6分7.8板1.6盖帽。

Mo Williams averaged 16.8 points and 5.3 assists per game.

The star players performed exceptionally well, and role players such as Varejao, Hickson, Anthony Parker, and Gibson, despite being a bit pricey, also performed very well.

So far this season, the Cavaliers are averaging 104.3 points per game and allowing 94.6 points per game. Their net point differential of 9.7 points is the best in the league, even higher than the Knicks' net point differential of 8 points per game!

With the addition of Jamison, who averages 21+8 per game, the Cavaliers fans chanted "invincible," which makes perfect sense.

Yi Shui glanced at his teammates beside him. Their lineup, which was worth nearly 1.1 million, was pretty good.

The era-defining three-point shooter Curry, David Lee who averaged 20+10 per game, high school prodigy Webster, the mood-setter Birdman Anderson, the versatile Harrington, the defensive swingman Hughes, the genius second overall pick who dunked on the Little Giant...

They also have Ben Wallace, arguably the greatest defensive player in history, who is recovering from injury at home; and Danny Green, who has top-tier 3-and-D skills, both of whom are left in the G League and not given the opportunity to play.

We can fight!
Just as Yi Shui was trying to comfort herself, a system notification came!
"LeBron James, considered a leader of the middle generation, has the most luxurious team lineup in the early part of his career. Cavaliers fans are determined to wash away the shame of last season... Mission: The third stage of the Royal Power mission has been triggered."

Objective: You need to gain an advantage when facing the Cavaliers directly in the regular season.

Rewards: If the score is 3-1, receive +1 to Explosiveness; if it's a sweep, receive an additional +1 to Ball Control Talent.

Ball-handling talent? Rewards from missions related to LeBron James? Yi Shui didn't know where to begin complaining.

In addition to the newly launched missions, the "Road to the Scoring Championship" challenge that started with the previous match against the Nuggets has also been "refreshed".

To play against Wade, James, and Anthony, you need to score more points than them in total and have a higher average score per game than these three players.

To be honest, Yi Shui felt that the most difficult person to deal with in this task was James. If James really went all out, he might not be able to score more points than the opponent.

The match started at 8 p.m.

Yi Shui defeated O'Neal to win the jump ball, giving the Knicks the first possession!

On the first possession, Hughes, following his boss's instructions, passed the ball to David Lee.

David Lee glanced at O'Neal under the basket, feeling a little uneasy, but still gritted his teeth and attacked Jamison at close range!
(End of this chapter)