Chapter 1071 1070. Lao Yu Returns to Angel City!
The first day of the New Year in 2006 was destined to be an uneasy day.
Not only in China, but also in the United States, the Lakers were looking forward to seeing the Lakers recover and beat the Hawks.
Except for Liu Mang and the Hawks fans, no one else wanted to see the Hawks win three consecutive championships. There were many reasons, but the expectations were the same.
But before the game started, an unexpected news ignited the New Year's frenzy in advance.
In the early morning after the New Year's bell rang in the United States, a deal that was not a big deal, but it ignited the upcoming first game of the New Year, happened!
The Lakers and the Warriors reached a deal. The Lakers sent Smush Parker, Stanislav Medvedenko, Brian Cook and 3 million cash compensation, and got Derek Fisher from the Warriors!
Before six in the morning, Liu Mang was woken up by the little Lolita who found the hotel, and then he knew the news and sprayed "Fuck" at the little Lolita.
Since it was a holiday, the little girl's biological clock made her wake up naturally at five o'clock. When she woke up, she realized that she was not at home, and she couldn't fall asleep, so she turned on the computer to check the news. She was the first to know about the trade between the Lakers and the Warriors, and then she dragged her bodyguard Christine Wagner to find Liu Mang.
Fortunately, Liu Mang's family is considered a celebrity. Liu Mang's mother's breakfast shop is now also a "net celebrity restaurant". Many people know the little girl. The front desk gave her a door card and found Liu Mang directly.
Liu Mang picked up the little girl and went to the small living room of the suite. He opened the notebook that the little girl gave him, connected to the Internet and opened the NBA official website.
Just below the hotline news of the New Year's battle between the Hawks and the Lakers, the headline of the second page was the situation of the trade between the Warriors and the Lakers, and there were also comments from columnists who rushed out overnight.
It really happened!
Liu Mang looked at the details of the transaction and various surrounding gossip news, and learned the reason why this transaction happened suddenly.
Since the return of the Zen Master, the Lakers have privately contacted the Warriors to seek a trade.
The Lakers have a characteristic that the trades that are exposed are basically fake, and their trades often come out of the blue.
It has been rumored that the Lakers are interested in Jason Kidd and are ready to use Odom as a bargaining chip. They are also interested in Mike Bibby and Peja of the Kings, but in the end, the trade was still for Fisher.
Fisher applied for a trade a long time ago on the grounds of taking care of his daughter who was recuperating in Los Angeles due to illness, but this season Fisher's performance as the sixth man, averaging 13.5 points and 4 assists per game, is very important to the Warriors. He has become a hot candidate for the best sixth man, competing with Jason Terry, Mike Miller, Leonard Barbosa and others.
Moreover, the Warriors were not satisfied with the chips the Lakers gave at the beginning. Although their management sympathized with Fisher's experience, Fisher's daughter suffered from eye cancer, and the Warriors' top management was also discussing whether to terminate the existing contract with Fisher, but Fisher's contract was still long. The four-year full middle-class contract signed that year was only the second year, and the Warriors could not bear to lose so much money. Although the Lakers gave a 4 million expiring contract, the contract was given to Medvedenko. Medvedenko could not play with the 4 million contract, so it was still a loss-making business for the Warriors.
Fisher certainly would not give up the salary of the biggest contract in his career, even if it was to treat his daughter. He was middle-class only once in his career. Without this money, let alone accompanying his daughter, the money for medical treatment was very tight. Although he was the chairman of the Players' Union, his eight years with the Lakers, the first three years of his rookie contract added up to 2.1 million, and the last five years added up to 15 million. In the early years of the century, the tax rate of high-income groups like Fisher in Los Angeles added up to 48%, nearly half. With the commission of the Players' Union, Fisher had almost no spare money, and neither side was willing to give up this money.
Finally, after the Lakers increased their chips, Brian Cook, a space-type power forward who averaged 0.7 three-pointers per game and had a 40% three-point shooting rate in his career, was added to the chips, and Medvedenko's salary was compensated with more than 70% of cash, the Warriors agreed to the deal.
Smush Parker for Fisher!
Liu Mang felt that the Lakers made a fortune!
The Lakers point guard has been beaten countless times. In the 10 games the Lakers lost, at least three were because the point guard was beaten by the opposing role players. This year's No. 2 pick Felton scored a career-high 29 points against the Lakers.
Although Fisher is old and is beaten every day, his shooting ability at critical moments and his mentality of not sticking to the ball and not fighting for it are very suitable for helping Kobe dribble the ball. Compared with Smush Parker who often rushes to attack and does not pass the ball to Kobe and Yao Ming, he is much better!
The Zen Master is using Odom to advance with the ball because the point guard is too sticky to the ball, and Kobe just shoots more.
Watching the league pass the trade application like lightning, Liu Mang felt the deep malice from David Stern!
…
At 8:30 in the morning, Liu Mang brought the little girl to the visiting team training ground at the Toyota Center training hall.
The main function of the Toyota Center is to serve as a training hall for the Lakers, but it is also a medium-sized indoor competition venue with more than 8,000 seats. It is the home court of the Los Angeles D-Fenders, the Lakers' Development League team. Except for the smaller competition venue, it is no different from a regular stadium.
Therefore, when playing against the Lakers, the Hawks do not need to have the Clippers rent a private training facility for them to use like when playing against the Clippers, which is much more convenient.
Liu Mang came to the Toyota Center, changed his clothes, and prepared to let the little girl and the bodyguard pick up the ball. He started practicing shooting.
The Lakers trade is already a fact. As long as the physical examination report is submitted to the league this morning, they can play games in the evening. The league has given the green light to this deal.
But as soon as Liu Mang changed into his training clothes and came out, he saw the coaching staff entering the training ground with dark circles under their eyes and greeting the little Lolita.
"Ace, you're here so early. Come and study the Lakers' tactical changes with us. Dinah, you and Christine will play by yourself first. This is my card. Let Christine buy whatever you want. I'll take you to buy it." Coach Kruger saw Liu Mang coming out and sent the little girl away. Today's game was more troublesome than originally expected.
Mainly because of emergencies!
The sudden personnel changes of the Lakers disrupted the tactical plan prepared by the Eagles coaching staff.
Unlike the Eagles players who sleep like dead pigs, coaches are very nervous during the season. They have to be ready to take calls from the boss and scouts at any time, especially in the new year. , even more so after the high-incidence period of transactions in the middle of the season.
Coach Kruger received a call from his boss Price in the early morning. He summoned the coaching staff to his suite overnight and held a coaching staff meeting. He didn't sleep all night and went to find Liu Mang early in the morning. It turned out that Liu Mang had already brought him with him. The little loli left.
Liu Mang originally planned to find McGrady, but McGrady, a night owl, didn't know what time he went to bed. The phone in the room was taken away, the phone was turned off, and he knocked on the door but didn't wake him up. After Liu Mang's most "f*ck" time passed, , calmed down, and just ignored it.
Fisher will return to the Lakers one day. Sooner or later, he has to face Kobe with Fisher. Liu Mang is not in a hurry and comes to the Toyota Center to train on his own. Since he is not rented by the Clippers, The stingy behavior of the arena that only provides training on the day of the game. The Eagles staff took the team's jerseys, training clothes and other things to the Toyota Center yesterday, and yesterday's training at the Staples Center was just for Just for the media to watch.
After the little Loli got the card, she immediately forgot about Liu Mang and took Christine Wackerner to go sightseeing in Los Angeles.
Liu Mang followed the coaching staff to the conference room.
"Ace, what kind of impact do you think Fisher will have if he joins the Lakers?" Coach Kruger asked directly.
"Fisher is a very calm killer. With him around, he dares to take shots that others dare not take, and he will not disrupt the Lakers' tactical discipline like Parker. Uncle KFC also prefers point guards like Fisher. , Kobe and Fisher have been partnered for seven years, and their tacit understanding is very good..." Liu Mang told everything he knew about the help Fisher returned to the Lakers, and finally concluded: "...and Although Fisher’s defense is not as good as before, he is much better than Parker, and Fisher’s scoring ability at critical moments is better than expected.”
Liu Mang thought about the first time he played against Fisher, Fisher's continuous scoring performance at critical moments, Fisher's characteristic of becoming more and more demonic as he gets older, and Liu Mang's memory of the No. 1 performance in the 2010 Finals. In three games, when the Lakers lost their home court advantage, Fisher scored eight points in a row in the last two minutes of the third game to help the Lakers reverse the Celtics' spectacular performance to regain the home court advantage. At that time, Fisher Already 36.
Fisher is 31 years old this season, can't run fast, and can't jump as well as Iverson used to do dunks, but he averages a career-high 13.5 points per game, and his opponents often score more than 10 points without warning.
"Ace, you are thinking the same thing as us. Fisher does not stick to the ball, and he has a 40% shooting rate from open three-pointers, which will make the Lakers' space better." Coach Kruger agreed with Liu Mang statement.
"Yes, we will encounter many challenges on the defensive end. We can't let go of any of the Lakers' three outsiders, and the opponent also has BIG-YAO on the inside..." Mike Woodson thought of the Lakers' top three outside starters in 2001. , Fisher and Fox are both three-point shooters with a 40% shooting rate. Kobe's breakthrough singles feel like entering no one's land.
Liu Mang heard the Lakers' sudden changes in the coaching staff one after another, and now he feels a little dizzy!
The return of Fisher actually completely activated the Lakers' triangle offense!