Chapter 1399 1398. When Did We Become so Miserable?

"Christine, take a photo of me and Avril..."

"Dina wants one too!"

"We'll come alone."

"..."

"..."

There's no chance to be alone on Valentine's Day anymore, at least for the past two years. Alexia watched Liu Mang take a bunch of photos with his daughter in his arms on Valentine's Day and said with a smile, "There's an old saying in China that a daughter is a lover in the previous life. Ace, you've interpreted this very well."

"Ahem," Liu Mang was a little embarrassed, but then he had a bad idea and said, "Aida, there's a second half to this sentence, you've definitely never heard of it."

"There's a second half?" Alexia asked curiously.

"Avril was my lover in the previous life, and you're the courier..."

"Courier?"

"Yes, the one who delivers."

"You're going to die..."

After playing around for a while, Liu Mang controlled himself from touching Alexia, looking at the little Lolita who had eaten her fill of dog food and was holding Avril with a look of contempt, and almost did something he shouldn't have done in front of the little Lolita.

The main reason was that the schedule was tight for a while before, and Levia and Alexia did not stay overnight with Liu Mang in the same room, fearing that it would affect Liu Mang's physical strength. Liu Mang had been thirsty for a long time. When many teammates had already gone to Las Vegas in advance, Liu Mang returned to Atlanta first.

From today, the All-Star Weekend holiday begins.

For the Hawks, this is undoubtedly a chance to relax like a long drought.

Holding the All-Star Weekend in Las Vegas can be regarded as Marion's home court. Marion graduated from the University of Nevada, and the largest campus of the University of Nevada is in Las Vegas. Although Marion only played here for one year in his junior year, in this year, Marion was selected to the second team of the All-American Team and became the ninth pick, which left a deep impression on the fans in the gambling city.

Marion has many fans in Las Vegas. Although there are not many people there, it did not help Marion to be selected as an All-Star, but Marion is also considered half a host. If the Hawks players want to watch the All-Star Weekend this time, Marion will be responsible for their food, accommodation and transportation in Las Vegas.

On February 14, Liu Mang did not set off for Las Vegas, but rested at home for a day.

Compared with the past few years, Liu Mang had fewer activities during the All-Star Weekend this year, and Schwartz helped him turn down most of the activities.

Liu Mang chose Schwartz because of his reputation in the future. He would not exhaust the players for commissions. Of course, he was not cruel. If Schwartz had not met Liu Mang, he would have been quite down and out for a while, but he did not fall. After accumulating a good reputation, he became the future No. 1 NBA agent.

This year, Liu Mang only had the promotion of the fifth-generation signature shoes of Ace, the promotion of Facebook, the promotion of Very Cola, and the photo shooting of a promotional photo for an airline on February 16 and 17. There were no other activities, not as tiring as in the past few years.

…

After resting at home for a day, on February 15, Liu Mang's family packed a lot of luggage and took a chartered plane to Las Vegas.

This All-Star is full of very different feelings.

Or, this season, the fans feel very different!

One word to describe the fans' impression of this season so far... that is - radical!

The All-Star break is here, and the management of many teams in the league has entered the busiest time.

On the afternoon of the 15th, Liu Mang and his family arrived at a villa hotel in Las Vegas. As usual, they did not live with other All-Stars, rookies, and triathlon players, but booked a villa for themselves.

On the second day of the holiday, Liu Mang saw a lot of news about player mobility.

On the Sonics side, Sharad Lewis insisted on a maximum salary when discussing the contract renewal with the management.

There are 29 players averaging 20+ points per game in the league this year, and the Sonics originally had two of them. Ray Allen and Lewis both averaged 22 points per game. Ray Allen is over 30 years old, and the Sonics sent him away, but they originally wanted to keep the core duo of Francis and Sharad Lewis. But if it comes to the maximum salary... Sharad Lewis has also played for nine years, and the maximum salary will be as high as 6 years and nearly 120 million. The new owner of the Sonics can't afford it. The new owner has just changed the new owner, and the capital has been emptied by the purchase of the team and the financing of the construction of a new arena in Oklahoma City. At most, the luxury tax can survive this year. It can't be paid next year, so Rashard Lewis can only be put on the shelf.

However, at this time, Liu Mang feels that it is difficult for the Sonics to get a good return from Lewis. It is estimated that they can only wait until the summer when Lewis' contract expires, and sign first and then trade to get some chips. With Lewis' three-point ability, three-pointers are more valued now than in the original time and space. Lewis can get a maximum salary wherever he goes.

There are even more rumors about the trade of some players from the Nets and the Pistons.

Since last summer, the trades of the teams aiming for the championship have been very aggressive, all trying to improve their strength as much as possible, but this has also made this season a huge soap opera.

Those who can send stars out in exchange for chips have all sent them out, and those who haven't sent them out have been dawdling for half a season, and it's almost the trading deadline, but they still can't send them out.

Because the teams that want to strengthen have squandered their salary space in the summer, and other teams that want stars are unwilling to give too much in return, and more importantly, for the top three picks in the 2007 draft, bad teams don't want to become stronger.

This is just like the madness of the summer of 1998 and the summer of 2002. The Hawks also followed the crazy league to get a big dog. This season, because of the Hawks' weakening period after three consecutive championships, other teams have also become crazy.

…

"Ace, we are going to play again soon. How about it? Are you looking forward to it?" Yao Ming smiled, that was called wretched.

"I am looking forward to it. You can only be happy until the All-Star Weekend is over." Liu Mang rolled his eyes at Yao Ming.

Just won a game, and he started to show off!

So far, Yao Ming has averaged 18 points, 8 rebounds, 2.1 blocks and 1.9 assists per game this season, and his average playing time is 31 minutes per game. It is a pretty good performance, and the playing time is not long. The Zen Master uses him more preciously than O'Neal.

The Lakers' "couple" is also showing off.

Compared with Kobe and Yao Ming, Kobe and Gasol have a better understanding of each other, a natural understanding, which makes Kobe and the three talls cooperate very well.

Kobe's score has dropped a lot since he played, averaging 25 points, 4.7 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game.

Gasol averaged 16 points, 11 rebounds and 4.1 assists per game, and went on a date with his hip girlfriend. Odom, who did not attend the "New Year's Eve party" held by Liu Mang, averaged 13 points, 9 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game. The four core players of the Lakers were all very coquettish.

Former Hawks defensive stalwart Matt Barnes, whose data in the Lakers was average, was loved by many Lakers fans. Compared with the extremely proud Kobe + three towers, Barnes's ruthlessness of trying his best anytime and anywhere surprised the Lakers fans who were used to the aristocratic style of play.

On February 16, the day of the rookie game, Liu Mang held a New Year's Eve party in the villa he rented.

Today, the Hawks only had Rondo participating in the Rookie Game. Rondo averaged 3 points, 3.7 rebounds, 5.4 assists, and 1.4 steals per game, and was selected for the All-Star Rookie Team.

Granger and Blake were invited to participate in tomorrow's three-point contest. Liu Mang rejected all invitations to the three-event contest this year. In order to increase attention, the league has been promoting and inviting Liu Mang to participate in all three-event contests since the All-Star voting, but Liu Mang really doesn't have the energy.

After promoting the so-called "Spring Festival Limited Edition" Ace V sneakers this morning, Liu Mang returned to the villa at noon and prepared for the afternoon party with the two girls.

Originally, Liu Mang wanted his parents to come to Las Vegas to celebrate the New Year, but the two old people went on vacation in Europe on Valentine's Day. They were so happy that Liu Mang hung up the phone without saying a word, complaining that the international roaming phone fee was expensive...

In addition to the three major Lakers stars plus Wang Zhizhi, Fisher who participated in the Skills Challenge, and some stars who participated in this season's All-Stars and had a good relationship with Liu Mang, the Hawks coaching staff also came to the party.

When Liu Mang wanted to criticize Yao Ming who was so arrogant, the coaching staff called him to the next room to talk.

"Ace, we have two opportunities to strengthen the team now." Coach Kruger operated the computer and called up two news reports, which were two transactions reached today.

Liu Mang looked at it and found that it was news about players being cut after two transactions.

The Heat sent Mark Jackson's contract, which was about to expire after this season, and a second-round draft pick protected in the top 40 in 2007, to the Hornets to get Brandon Bass, who was out for two consecutive seasons.

"This transaction... is it to save money again?" Liu Mang felt very strange about the operation of the fortune teller.

It was really utilitarian.

Brandon Bass... Liu Mang has an impression of him. He is not a particularly good player. After 2010, he had a short season with an average of 10+ points per game, but he suffered many injuries. Especially from Liu Mang's intuitive experience in this time and space, although he was a second-round pick, the Hornets signed a four-year rookie contract with him for 3.39 million US dollars. He was written off in his rookie season. He was written off again after playing more than a dozen games this year. The Heat sent Mark Jackson away, and there was no other possibility except saving money.

After the Hornets got Mark Jackson, they cut Mark Jackson. They just wanted to send Brandon Bass away and free up a team spot, so as not to let Brandon Bass, a big injury player, occupy the future team spot with a four-year fully guaranteed rookie contract.

When Brandon Bass was drafted that year, he was quite popular. The Hornets thought they got a bargain when he fell to the second round. After all, he was the best player in the NCAA Southeastern Conference. He averaged 17 points, 9 rebounds and 3 blocks per game in his sophomore year. Who knew that he would be written off every year after entering the NBA.

And with Mark Jackson, their inside strength might be enhanced, which might cause problems for their plan to win the top two draft picks this year.

As for the Heat's second-round pick... it is almost certain that they will not get it. The Heat have fallen out of the top 20 in the league this year and are now ranked fourth from the bottom in the Eastern Conference, successfully "overtaking" the Knicks.

Soon Liu Mang explained the reason why the Heat and the Hornets made this deal.

The second deal was related to the Magic. The Magic sent Kenyon Dooling and Travis Dinar a total of 8.9 million US dollars in contracts. Dinar was a second-round pick in 2005. In the past two seasons, as a substitute, he averaged 1.1 three-pointers per game with a 43% three-point shooting rate. However, he is only good at three-pointers and can't do anything else. He is only 1.85 meters tall.

But barely considered a potential stock, Kenyon Dooling... a completely garbage contract, including this season, a total of three years and 16 million contracts. The Magic signed him last summer and regretted it before the end of this season.

Using Dinar as compensation, and also eating the Grizzlies' team option for next season, Stromile Swift's garbage contract of 5.6 million salary, Kenyon Dooling was sent to the Grizzlies to save salary space.

Swift's characteristics are relatively similar to Howard, and he is an extreme poor version, and even shorter. After the Magic reached the deal, they used the Alan Houston clause to pardon Swift.

As for why the amnesty clause is used after the trade, Liu Mang thinks it's still the same word - money!

To amnesty Kenyon Dooling, you have to pay three years of salary. As for Swift, since it is a team option for next season, in fact, if the team option is not exercised, it is no different from the non-guaranteed clause. The Magic team only needs to pay the remaining 27 or 8 games' salary to amnesty Swift. This is the same as the Magic team's reluctance to amnesty Grant Hill for a long time. The salary was too high, and they waited until Grant Hill took the initiative to agree to a buyout.

Liu Mang looked at the two targets that the management wanted to strengthen, and felt that the boss and his team really had no tricks this year! It's so miserable! It's time to wait for other teams to buy out the players and then sign them!

Of course, it doesn't mean that the players cut by other teams are necessarily bad. Some teams can play well in the playoffs by signing players cut or amnestied by other teams.

Being cut or amnestied is not necessarily bad, it may be because the salary is too high, like Mark Jackson, who joined the Heat in the summer of 2005 with a salary of 15 million for two years. Pat Riley failed to get Alonzo Mourning at that time, so he could only spend a lot of money to buy a player with similar strength at that time.

Swift... after all, he was the second pick in 2000, and was selected by the Grizzlies themselves. After the rookie contract, the Rockets spent 5 years to sign him with the middle-class contract. Later, he was sent back to the Grizzlies with Caron Butler. The data is okay. He averaged 9 points and 5 rebounds as the starting center this season, but the Grizzlies are aiming for Oden or Horford, so naturally they have to clear the position in advance.

"Ace, is it appropriate to sign these two to strengthen the inside line? If you don't like them, we can just select new players, but time is running out. These two have good physical fitness and can be used as substitute inside players. If we don't sign them, other teams will also grab them. John and Chip have already contacted them." Coach Kruger said.

"Let's just pick them..." Liu Mang realized that the team was really out of options, and couldn't help but ask, "Coach, when did we get into such a mess?"

"..."