Chapter 552

The draft pick maniac Danny Ainge lives up to his reputation.

Danny Ainge, who was also in Chicago but not in the same hotel as the Hawks, was a little stunned to hear the "beep beep" on the phone being hung up.

Why don't you play your cards according to the routine?

Trading Antoine Walker is very sad for Angie. Although he feels that anyone can trade, Antoine Walker is a bit different. This is the first choice he chose to join the Celtics management after retiring A rookie, of course Antoine Walker was selected but Kobe was not selected. It seems to be a failure now, but Antoine Walker was one of the first few players in the 1996 generation to be selected as an All-Star. Earlier, it seemed that Kobe, who became the All-Star starter from the bench, was not counted. Antoine Walker was regarded as the best player of the 96 generation at that time, because he was a real player who could be coached by an Eastern lottery team. They were selected as All-Star players.

This also allowed Angie's draft vision to be recognized by the Celtics management, and he naturally became the general manager of the Celtics.

But then Ron Moser came along, Pierce came right after him, Pierce was ok, he played shooting guard early on, but Ron Moser was the standard mature player who entered the NBA and entered his prime, and Ann Towan Walker was forced to move from small forward to power forward.

This is the beginning of Antoine Walker becoming an All-Star in the second grade and then slowly falling. Antoine Walker is also very bad. He averaged 5+ assists per game, played as a center, and tried as a shooting guard. He has been honed to become the "panacea" in the mouth of the fans. Similarly, he has also practiced his profligate style of play. I think he is in the In the second grade, he also had a shooting percentage of 42+37.

In the 2006 Heat championship season, Antoine Walker had already passed his peak period, and he was able to average 12 points per game as the main small forward for the Heat, which proved that he sacrificed a lot back then.

Just like now, Angie is determined to trade Antoine Walker, but he did not do it voluntarily. It all started after he was swept out by the Nets at the end of April. Antoine Walker submitted a trade application and was still in front of the media. He spoke his mind.

"I'm tired of living alone in Boston. I don't want to continue to live like this in the future. I've been waiting for a long time, but Paul still hasn't grown up. I want to change my environment..."

As soon as this statement came out, Angie knew that the era of the Celtics' twin stars was over.

As everyone knows, when Pierce heard what Antoine Walker said to the media, he felt hurt. He did not grab power because he took care of Antoine Walker's face.

But neither of them understood the other's thoughts, and because of their young friendship, they accommodated each other, which made the other increasingly dissatisfied but hard to express, and finally broke out directly.

Sometimes you don't ask, others don't tell, and the rupture of the relationship suddenly explodes.

Probably this is why Pierce will become the boss of the Celtics Big Three as the youngest in the future.

In the future of the Big Three in 2008, everyone said that Pierce is the boss, and Pierce is the soul of the Celtics. He was clearly the boss of the Big Three from the start.

At that time, Garnett's reputation in the NBA was almost equal to that of James in 2010. The statistics were day by day, and his personal performance was terrible, but most of the playoffs were mediocre, but Garnett was the top three superstars in the entire league at that time. In the previous nine seasons, he averaged 22+12+5 super data per game. In the 06-07 season, he still averaged 22.4 points, 12.8 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 1.5 steals, and 1.7 blocks. Ranked second.

Pierce is only the top five stars at the small forward position. The two are not at the same level, but Pierce insists on the boss position. The main reason is that Pierce is in the formation of the Big Three because of the influence of Antoine Walker, who he once regarded as the absolute boss. When it comes time to lose face, it is necessary to establish the position of the boss, and don't want the situation like Antoine Walker to happen again.

Of course, Pierce's approach succeeded, eliminating the controversy of ball possession from the beginning, avoiding the situation in the first year of the Heat's Big Three, and avoiding the first year of James and Wade's cooperation because they both gave up the ball. Right, leading to the collapse of the finals.

When Antoine Walker's statement came out, Angie didn't feel too sentimental, and immediately decided to tear down and rebuild!

Trade Antoine Walker for draft picks!

Angie has an inexplicable love for draft picks. Using Antoine Walker as a bargaining chip to exchange for draft picks is also a good way.

But Antoine-Walker's trade value is far lower than Ainge expected.

The NBA rule is that when a team that has not entered the playoffs or is eliminated from the playoffs, it can negotiate with other teams that have finished their season. Of course, it is a verbal agreement, and the real deal can only be made in the offseason. The season, or the transaction with the draft pick, can be after the finals and before the draft.

To Angie's surprise, after two months, very few teams have inquired about Antoine Walker.

There have been two teams that were really interested in Antawn Walker. The team that was originally interested in Antawn Walker had an official offer. At first, the Trail Blazers, who were also preparing to rebuild, wanted to trade Rasheed Wallace for Antawn Walker. For this transaction, Angie said NO.

From the perspective of lineup and strength alone, the combination of Pierce and Rasheed Wallace is perfect, but Rasheed Wallace's reputation is too bad now, with thorns and cancer, which hinders the harmony of the team anyway. They cannot be traded.

Angie chose to refuse.

After the Western Conference Finals, the Mavericks also found Angie and proposed a trade plan.

Reeve LaFrentz is the main player, plus two extras to balance the salary, plus the Mavericks' first-round pick in 2004.

After experiencing the coldness of the trading market, Angie did not directly reject the Mavericks this time, but put the deal on hold first.

Anyway, the Mavericks are the first team willing to send a draft pick, and other teams want to use a bunch of players they don't want in exchange for Antoine Walker.

And Angie doesn't want to exchange a player with a cancer attribute for another cancer or a bunch of garbage contracts.

The main reason is that LaFrentz is not bad, a great big center. During the four-year rookie contract, he is also a high-quality shooting big center with an average of 13+7.5 per game. Otherwise, the Mavericks would not have sent an exaggerated one last summer. A 7-year contract of 70 million yuan poached him.

It's just that when LaFrentz came to the Mavericks, he was far from playing as well as he did in the Nuggets during his rookie contract. Both he and Nowitzki needed outside space, and their positions overlapped.

Angie was prepared to wait until the summer. If Antoine Walker couldn't get a better return, he would trade with the Mavericks. Unexpectedly, the Eagles came to his door.

The Eagles have been known as the Big Sheep in the past few years, and Angie was about to kill him. What he didn't expect was that the other party hung up the phone directly when they heard his asking price from the lion.

After hesitating for a while and looking at the time, Angie saw himself recalling the past when he and Antoine Walker grew up in management and player status. Half an hour later, Angie took out his mobile phone and dialed out again. .

Pick! Only the Eagles are willing to give two picks!

...

On the Eagles side, Coach Kruger, Price and others waited anxiously, walking back and forth.

But Liu Mang ordered a bunch of food. After more than 20 minutes, the waiter delivered the big meal to Price's room. Anyway, the team paid for it and picked up the expensive ones.

"Ace, are you still in the mood to eat?" Seeing Liu Mang cutting the steak into small pieces, Coach Kruger couldn't complain.

Coach Kruger used to be a college coach and had no experience in this kind of trading. Price was the type who thought the offer was acceptable and agreed directly.

"Don't worry, he will definitely call..."

Before Liu Mang finished speaking, Coach Kruger's cell phone rang.

Liu Mang pouted at the mobile phone on the dining table, meaning: Look, I told him he would still call.

The few people in the room who didn't know how to do business at all looked at Liu Mang in surprise. Liu Mang said, "Coach, you're still here, just say... the signal is bad."

"..." Is this an excuse made by people!

Coach Kruger organized the language, connected the phone and turned on the speakerphone: "Oh... I'm so sorry Danny, my phone ran out of battery just now, and I just recharged it. I'm calling."

"It's okay. I just thought about it. Maybe I asked for too much. I'm a little rude. This year's first round is really too precious, so I think I can change it to another bargaining chip."

Coach Kruger didn't expect that the opponent would back down as Liu Mang said, so he smiled and said, "Other bargaining chips? Danny, if you want Ace, you can't do it. He is not for sale."

"Haha, Lang, you are too joking, I won't waste your time, you should also be preparing for tomorrow's joint trial training, I thought about it, don't want this year's first round, use your Tyshawn-Pu Rings..."

"Beep beep..."

Liu Mang hung up the phone again: "Come on, let's have something to eat, we may have to actually negotiate later, don't be hungry and dizzy for a while."

Several other people calmed down this time, and they all sat down to eat. The coaching staff was alright, they were not good at this kind of thing, but Price, who had been the boss for several years, found that he didn’t have one Guys in their early 20s talk business!

When it comes to bargaining, the main thing is to have a thick skin, otherwise, it's really embarrassing to ask for such a thing.

Of course, bargaining to the death also requires a thick skin...

...

"Ace, I bought the repeater, why do you want this?" Price took the repeater from the team staff and handed it to Liu Mang.

"Recording! What if we talk about it and he backs out? Legally speaking, the promise of recording the conversation has legal effects. I don't know what the rules of the NBA are, but there must be something like this. Just to be sure, Angie will definitely call back, this time the real negotiation can almost start, boss, coach, if there is a formal negotiation in a while, follow what I said..."

Watching Liu Mang skillfully put the tape into the repeater, the people next to him tensed up, they must not be caught by this kid!

With such proficient skills and rich experience, he has done such things before!

Liu Mang is so proficient in operating the repeater because it was the most precious "high-tech product" he had as a child in his last life. Before lithium-ion MP3s were popular, the battery version of MP3s was more popular at this stage, but now Many MP3 players don’t have a recording function, and recording pens are not readily available these days, especially in the United States, a country that values ​​privacy. Liu Wei directly asked the staff to buy repeaters and tapes.

Regarding the game of this transaction, Liu Mang's idea is very simple.

Ainge first wanted the 2006 draft pick that the Eagles exchanged in 2003 and 2004 with the Spurs and the Eagles.

In the first round of the three rounds, Rasheed Wallace was directly exchanged, and the Blazers were asked to help them get the hot chicken contract. The Blazers would agree, and Liu Mang hung up the phone without hesitation.

The main reason is the 14th pick in the first round in 2003. This is the top priority. In case the lottery team misses a player who was originally considered a lottery rookie, this position is the best. If you miss the chance, you may find a future Kobe, so what?

Angie actually wanted Prince for the second time. In Liu Mang's opinion, Prince was worth more than the draft pick in the middle of 2003, right?

Although 2003 was the year of the draft, but the talents with good future development are basically concentrated in the lottery area, and there are very few outside the lottery area. If you really want to find them, except for Korver and Josh Howard, the others are even with Pu. Rings with comparable qualifications are hard to find.

Josh Howard is one of the candidates that Liu Mang is considering recommending to the management, and Korver is at the end of the second round. The Eagles already have a second-round pick. After the deal is broken down, if nothing else happens, Korver can be selected. Korver's draft market is not very good.

So this time, Liu Mang hung up the phone again.

Before waiting for Angie's call, a group of Eagles ate first. Liu Mang also called Levia and the others, helped them order their favorite food, then asked the waiter to clean it up, and asked the staff to buy it A repeater.

Everything is ready, just wait for Angie to call again.

Liu Mang was very impressed with Angie, a general manager who has a habit of collecting draft picks. Undoubtedly, Angie is a very good coach. The Celtics have been terribly dismal since the collapse in the late 1980s. When Angie took over, he was an excellent coach. It's a mess, it's still a mess with three talented small forwards, no idea what to do with three overlapping players, and then it's time to send Antoine Walker away, collect potential young players for several years, and then use This group of players traded to Garnett and Ray Allen in 2007, which proved his approach is correct, and the large number of draft picks that were traded to the Nets with the team spirit and Garnett in the future is also a proof of his ability .

Therefore, Liu Mang is very sure, when there are two first-round picks, and there may even be a third pick, Angie cannot be indifferent!

Because it is impossible for Walker to get more draft picks than this.

Liu Mang sat firmly on Mount Tai, and the people next to him finished their lunch, but Anji still didn't call, and started to feel anxious again.

Finally, at three o'clock in the afternoon, maybe Anji took a nap and thought about it? Coach Kruger's cell phone finally remembered.

In this conversation, the two sides became "sincere" and "harmonious" a lot...