Chapter 550 549. Please Trust Me

Time: June 17, 2003.

Location: General Manager's Office at Phillips Arena in Atlanta.

"Ace, are you sure you want to be teammates with Rasheed Wallace?" Price asked after a long silence after reading the trade plan submitted by Liu Mang.

Not only coach Kruger, but also boss Price doesn't think it would be a good thing to pick up cheap ones like this.

After seeing the bad consequences of Big Dog's greed for cheap, Price became a lot more cautious.

"That's right, I believe Rashid will be our best reinforcement inside." Liu Mang nodded in response.

"But his defense is a problem," Mike Woodson said, not happy about another offensive player. Boozer is already a hole. Add Rasheed Wallace. He feels that his brains are not enough. How can we put these two people on the field at the same time and how can we ensure that the inside line will not become a black hole? Mike Woodson continued to persuade: "And his character is a problem. He also showed that he is not willing to play center forward. Only trade him, Ace, we have others to consider..."

Mike Woodson signed a one-year extension with the Hawks after the season. Why? Isn't it just for the title of a champion assistant? But the deal Liu Mang proposed this time seems to be exactly the same as when the boss's head was in the sea last year, and he wanted to pick it up when he saw a bargain.

Price and coach Kruger also persuaded Liu Mang, try another person?

The management of the Eagles is relatively weak. Because the team did not make money in the past, the team management can be streamlined. Price is the executive vice president and general manager. Other logistics groups, operations, etc. The vice presidents of the team are only responsible for their own part of the affairs, so there was a situation where Price acted arbitrarily and almost ruined the team last offseason.

This year, Price took the initiative to share the power. The coaching staff has two voting rights, and the logistics team and the operation team also have one voting right. Right, still with Price.

Although the coaching staff now supports Price's idea of ​​being on the safe side, now, the initiative to recruit is on Liu Mang's side. After all, it is a restricted free agent, and at this stage, there is no idea of ​​​​renewing the contract in advance. Of course, this is also an important bargaining chip for Liu Mang and the Eagles management to gain the right to speak.

Liu Mang wanted too many things this summer, not only Price, but even coach Kruger felt a headache.

However, the trading plan proposed by Liu Mang is not impossible to implement, which makes the Eagles management feel helpless.

And if Liu Mang's well-designed signing plan is not satisfied, and Liu Mang doesn't renew his contract in advance, what should he do next season to test the free market?

Forcibly trying to keep Liu Mang, what if Liu Mang directly chooses to sign a qualification offer?

It can be seen from the fact that Liu Mang is ruthless, and even if he gets the Bird clause for a year's base salary, it can be seen that although Liu Mang looks gentle, he is as ruthless as he was when he was playing.

"Ace, although I understand your feelings, but if Jason or Sharif can be put into the trading chips, we have a chance to get a better player than Rasheed Wallace. We have a chance with Carter. I can fight for it." Price continued to persuade.

"Boss, I understand your concern, but I don't think anyone will make us stronger than before without the addition of outsiders like McGrady or Bryant, and I want to try it once, just once, and finally One year, no matter what the result of next season is, no matter who is traded after that, I will not have any opinion, even if you trade Sharif and Jason away together." Liu Mang said seriously.

If Liu Mang wants to keep the core lineup and strengthen it, he has to bet. From what he knows about Rasheed Wallace's experience, as long as he is on a team that emphasizes defense, there is someone who can supervise With his people around, he can play well.

Liu Mang felt that it was time for him to take on the responsibilities of a leader, let Rasheed Wallace play well like Sabonis, or be like Ben who suppressed Rasheed Wallace in the future. Wallace urged Rasheed Wallace like that.

After Sabonis retired, Paul Allen finally began to make drastic changes to the team.

When Sabonis was there, Paul Allen didn’t act badly or dismantle the team’s strength because he cared about the face of this great basketball star in the world. Paul Allen is a true basketball fan, and his colleagues Ballmer is about the same, but Sabonis announced his retirement, and Paul Allen is about to clean up the team's bloated candidates.

Originally, after the Trail Blazers' playoff trip, the Blazers management communicated with Rasheed Wallace, wanting him to play just over 15 minutes this season but averaging 9 points and 5 rebounds per game. The potential Zach Randolph partnered inside, but Rasheed Wallace directly stated in an interview that he did not accept the matter of playing center, which made Paul Allen put Rasheed Wallace on the shelf.

But because of Rasheed Wallace's character, so many technical fouls, and this direct public choke with Paul Allen, other teams avoided Rasheed Wallace.

If it is the original history, Rasheed Wallace did not trade out all summer, until the Eagles announced that they would push to rebuild and trade Raheem, who had lost his desire to play, before Rasheed Wallace was traded. Wallace got it back, and Rasheed Wallace played one game. The Eagles immediately sent Rasheed Wallace to the Pistons in order to clear the cap space.

Rasheed Wallace's trade value is very average, as long as a star forward is enough, the Eagles can operate, but now the Eagles management is very cautious after suffering from the Bucks' losses.

Price, Coach Kruger, and Mike Woodson looked at each other, seeing helplessness in each other's eyes.

Coach Kruger looked at Liu Mang, who had his own ideas and was so determined, and felt that the child had grown up and his wings were hardened. Although he didn't know whether this firm idea would end well or not, he was still childish after crossing the line. At the stage of making arrangements for the team, regardless of the team, Coach Kruger is very happy about it.

Give him a hand! If you succeed, you are successful, if you fail, a big fall is also a kind of growth.

Coach Kruger asked seriously: "Ace, are you sure you want to be teammates with Rasheed Wallace?"

"Of course, trust my coach, I know him well, you will be very satisfied with such an insider, Mike, you don't have to worry about his defense, he will do a good job, trust me." Liu Mang is also very serious, I do not know Unknowingly, Liu Mang's tone was full of delusion: "We have the best defensive coach, the most enlightened head coach and owner. We will succeed. I will definitely lead my teammates to success next season. We will not will fail!"

Coach Kruger pondered for a moment and said, "Okay, I agree with this proposal, Mike, what about you?"

Mike Woodson looked at this guy who changed his mind and did not accept the invitation of his mentor Larry Brown but stayed with the Eagles, that is Liu Mang's firm expression, and smiled helplessly: "Okay Come on, Ace, go crazy with you for a while, and I agree."

"...You really don't take money for money! Well, I agree, Ace, if the deal is completed, you have to renew the contract in advance!" Price put forward a condition weakly.

Since Price's wrong signings last offseason, his authority has been greatly damaged. If he fails to renew his contract with Liu Mang this time, and let Liu Mang run away due to dissatisfaction after the next season, he estimates that he is close to being released. It's not far from being transferred to a position with little real power.

Liu Mang wants to keep the core lineup of Raheem, Jason Terry, Muhammad, and Ratliff. Price and the coaching staff are a little helpless. If one or two of these people can be used As a bargaining chip, it is not impossible to impress the management of some teams with unstable superstars.

Like Carter, although he is not a superstar because of his defense and playing attitude, his strength is no worse than that of a superstar, but his desire to win is a little lower, especially because he has fully recovered from his injuries, and he is still trying to attack. The attitude of flying under the basket has completely failed to play its due role with his comprehensive skills.

In addition, he was forced to participate in the slam dunk contest, and Carter and the Raptors management had a bad relationship. Anyone with a discerning eye can see that Carter will not stay in the Raptors for long, and it is not impossible to give a suitable bargaining chip.

But Liu Mang clenched his teeth and wanted to fight with these people for another year, so there was no other way but a roundabout way of trading.

This difficulty is not small, only in terms of draft picks.

As for Prince and Boozer, they don't consider trading for the time being. They still have three-year rookie contracts and a salary of millions of dollars. Such a cheap contract has the strength of the starting level. Important, the first three years are not in the trade plan of the Eagles management... Of course, if you can get a superstar, it doesn't matter so much.

But having a cheap contract is the key to every championship team. The OK combination can win the championship because Kobe's contract extension is only 9 million starting salary at the beginning, and the Lakers only have dual cores, so they can have enough role players. The money was given out, and the Lakers got a bunch of high-quality role players in the summer of 1999, and they lasted for three years.

Of course, after three years of playing, the group of role players of the Lakers have all drained their abilities.

Since the introduction of the salary cap in 1984, the rookie bonus has become the key to winning the championship!

The Lakers won the last three championships in the 1980s, relying on a free No. 1 pick to select Jordan's senior James Worthy.

The Bulls' two three-peat championships relied on the salary cap increase, plus Pippen's cheap contract and Jordan's four-year, 16 million contract during his first three-peat championship.

The Rockets' two consecutive championships depended on Olajuwon's salary of more than 3 million, which gave them room to introduce the glider Drexler with an annual salary of up to 9 million.

The Spurs' 1999 championship relied on the bonus of Duncan's three-year rookie contract.

When there is Prince like the starting forward with a salary of only 1.02 million next season or the first substitute for the forward and guard, and Boozer as the first substitute inside with a salary of 970,000 next season, for the Eagles, it is undoubtedly possible. Spend more money on starters.

In particular, Liu Mang's one-year rookie bonus extended next season, with a salary of $720,000, will give the Eagles more money to spend on other players.

On Liu Mang's side, he sacrificed so much to extend the rookie's contract renewal rights for the home team for one more year to get a base salary, not just for the bird rights, but also to get the top salary directly beyond the salary cap. .

More importantly, because of these teammates!

If he can't win the first championship with these teammates who have grown up together from the beginning, he feels that he will definitely leave regrets that cannot be erased in his life.

Extending the rookie contract for one year can start to get more money in the fourth year, and at the same time give Jason Terry and others room to renew the contract. For Liu Mang, this wave is not a loss.

"Okay, since we have set our goals, let's start to act, and we can't let others take the lead." Price is also a person who does what he says, otherwise he wouldn't be so hard-headed last year and was beaten by the Bucks. Huyou, "Lang, I now appoint you as the team's head coach and deputy general manager, and I have the right to discuss trades with other teams. I will communicate with the Blazers. Lang, you go to discuss with the Celtics." Communicate over there..."