Chapter 239 238. I have read a lot and I won’t lie to you!

On the evening of June 2007, 6, the NBA officially announced a deal in which the Bulls sent Ben Gordon, Yi Jianlian, and three first-round picks in 9, 2008, and 2010 in exchange for Yao Ming.

As soon as the news came out, it caused a sensation in the entire basketball world!

The media reported it extensively, fans discussed it heatedly, and management of each team was overwhelmed.

The Bulls traded for Yao Ming with a small amount of chips, which was roughly equivalent to Ben Gordon plus four first-round picks? Is Alexander crazy?
The next morning, the Rockets held a press conference and said: "Yao is eager to win the championship. We have not been able to recruit players in recent years and have no way to build a team that can compete for the championship. We are willing to help him and have found a team that is perfect for him. We hope he can realize his dream of winning the championship. We have also got the talents we wanted. We are excited by the talents of Gordon and Yi..."

Yao Ming also expressed his gratitude to the Rockets over the years through a telephone interview, wished the Rockets all the best in the future, and expressed his longing to join the Bulls.

After seeing the Rockets' explanation, the American media and fans were all puzzled - are they willing to provide help to players who want to leave and send Yao Ming to a team that can realize his dream of winning the championship?

If Yao Ming was 37 years old, this statement would be fine, but Yao Ming is not even 27 years old!
Popovich appeared on camera and cursed...

The reactions from the media, fans, and team management were pretty much what Zhang Yang had expected.

From a normal person's perspective, the Rockets' trade is nothing short of crazy.

Even if Yao Ming insists on leaving, the Rockets should at least get a few more talents, right?
The Bulls still have talented new stars like Hinrich, Luol Deng, Nocioni, Duhon, etc. whose talents have been fully realized.

In the end, the Rockets only asked for Ben Gordon!

But considering that the owner of the Rockets is Alexander, Zhang Yang thinks this deal is normal.

In Alexander's eyes, the return given by the Bulls was not that Ben Gordon was the subject of the transaction, but Yi Jianlian was. Ben Gordon and three first-round picks were just extras.

Yesterday at noon, Zhang Yang received a call from Tellem. When he heard that Yao Ming was traded to the Bulls, before Tellem mentioned the bargaining chip, Zhang Yang guessed that Yi Jianlian must have been used as a bargaining chip. Otherwise, Tellem, an agent who had nothing to do with Yao Ming, would not have known about this first. There was no news on the Internet at that time.

Moreover, if Yi Jianlian was not a bargaining chip, the Rockets would definitely not have made the trade unless Yao Ming publicly broke off relations with them.

But Zhang Yang did not see the news about the falling out between Yao Ming and the Rockets. Yao Ming did not even appear on the list of players who applied for trades exposed by the media.

In other words, Yao Ming still cared about his reputation, but he had a private falling out with the Rockets and had to leave. Alexander did not want to completely lose the Chinese market, so he chose to "help" him and chose Yi Jianlian as a second choice.

Talent and results are not as important as money. If the Bulls' high-quality players were all rookies, or their rookie contracts were only for one or two years, Alexander would probably want them. But Hinrich's rookie contract has ended, Luol Deng is about to enter the last year of his rookie contract, and Duhon, a second-round pick, has only signed a one-year rookie contract. The three-year, $1 million cheap contract he renewed in the summer of 05 has also been in effect for two years, with only one year left. If he wants to renew his contract, it will cost five or six million a year...

If Ben Gordon hadn't averaged 21.4 points per game in his junior year and looked like the most talented player on the Bulls, Alexander probably wouldn't want him.

Taking away Ben Gordon, Zhang Yang guessed that Alexander wanted to form a pair of outside shooters to sell tickets? Indeed, the Nuggets' tickets sold very well, and the Wizards' three musketeers also did very well at the box office. The three musketeers of the Supersonics also had no trouble selling tickets.

However, Zhang Yang remembered that Ben Gordon was very dependent on the pass.

He remembered that Ben Gordon refused to renew his contract during the 24-07 season because of the "Incident No. 08". After his rookie contract expired in 08, he rejected the 5-year, 6000 million contract offered by the Bulls and even rejected the sign-and-trade offer from the Bulls. He signed a one-year qualifying contract and then signed a 09-year, 5 million annual contract with the Pistons as a free agent in . He would rather take less money than give the Bulls any return.

But after leaving Hinrich and Rose, Ben Gordon's new contract turned into a garbage contract in the first year, averaging only 13 points per game, and the number dropped to 11 in the second year.

Jordan, who was on the bench, was eventually sent to Jordan's team by the Pistons in exchange for a draft pick, and then was pardoned by Jordan using the Arenas clause.

Jordan's amnesty for Jordan on the bench was a hot topic at the time.

After browsing the news for a while, Zhang Yang opened the NBA official website, entered the Bulls page, and looked at the Bulls roster...it was a headache!
On the Bulls player salary page, Zhang Yang saw that the Bulls' total salary was only 4279 million, with P.J. Brown and Michael Sweetney's contracts expiring and Hinrich's new contract not yet officially taking effect and only occupying the Bird Rights space, which directly consumed Yao Ming's remaining four years of sub-maximum salary.

Zhang Yang feels that the Bulls have fully realized the "rookie bonus". Last summer, they relied on a bunch of rookie contracts to occupy a small space to sign Ben Wallace, and this year they relied on the salary space to sign Yao Ming.

Hinrich, Nocioni, Duhon, Luol Deng, Sefolosha, Adrian Griffin, Malik Allen, Ben Wallace... and Yao Ming.

Fortunately, the Bulls gave Chandler to the Hornets for free, otherwise it would be even more difficult.

The Bulls' head coach, Scott Skiles, is a very capable head coach. He was ranked second in the 04-05 coach of the year award, losing to D'Antoni, who caused a storm of criticism.

Zhang Yang had heard of this unlucky head coach who fell under the "Knife No. 24" in his previous life.

In 03, Skiles took over the Bulls, which had been rotten for 4 years after Jordan retired. At that time, the Bulls had a tendency to become the next Warriors, playing badly every year, getting high draft picks every year, selecting talented players, using them for two years, and sending them away when their rookie contracts were about to expire... Elton Brand of the Clippers was a gift from the Bulls. At that time, in people's eyes, Skiles was the next scapegoat coach of the Bulls management, because in the previous few years, the Bulls had changed several head coaches, and each time they ended up being blamed and fired because of poor performance.

But after Skiles took over the Bulls, it only took him one year to put the Bulls back on track. The next year, they made the playoffs in the 04-05 season. After two consecutive years of training in the first round, he led the Bulls to a 06-win season in the 07-50 season and swept the defending champion Heat in the first round of the playoffs. With his strong coaching ability and talented players, as of this point in time, the Bulls' prospects were favored by countless people.

Until a player wearing the No. 24 jersey jumped out and said he wanted to join the Bulls. The Bulls management suddenly lost their minds and publicly stated that they wanted to trade N for 1. As a result, the player decided not to go after seeing this situation. The collective mentality of the Bulls players exploded and they collapsed on the spot.

In the 07-08 season, the Bulls had a record of 9 wins and 17 losses in the early stage of the season with the core lineup unchanged and reinforcements made during the offseason. Skiles was fired on Christmas Eve and eventually followed in the footsteps of his predecessors and took the blame for the Bulls management.

Zhang Yang was happy that Yao Ming had escaped from the sea of ​​suffering. Although it was a headache to have such a strong rival in the Eastern Conference, he was also excited because the Eastern Conference finally had a second capable opponent!
As for Yi Jianlian, Zhang Yang initially thought that he had accidentally let Lian Mei down, but from another perspective, going to the Rockets after the "Houston incident" might not be a bad thing for Lian Mei...

However, Zhang Yang felt that this summer's free market had such a bad start for the Bobcats. They only had Gerald Wallace, a completely free agent who was determined to leave, as a bargaining chip, and their say in the trading market was too low.

When they signed and traded Gerald Wallace, although they didn't get only a first-round pick like the Cavaliers did when they signed James to the Heat, it was impossible for them to get too much in return. Gerald Wallace would definitely consider the strength of the new team.

Just like Kobe, he was drooling when he saw the Bulls, but he was definitely thinking of trading for Ben Gordon or Ben Gordon and Gabriel Deng. As a result, the opponent wanted to trade 6 for 1, so Kobe simply didn't go.

Given Gerald Wallace's personality, the Rockets only asked for these returns in the trade for Yao Ming, which might have given him some inspiration.

Zhang Yang knew that it would be difficult for a team to win the championship and that they would encounter many unexpected troubles, but why did their troubles come so strangely?
...

Zhang Yang wanted to take a day off today, read all the gossips, true or false, that were revealed by the media after Yao Ming was traded, and check out the trade rumors of other teams. He also asked Felton to find out what Gerald Wallace thought after seeing the trade of Yao Ming... As a result, at noon, Yi Jianlian called him and said that he had arrived in Charlotte!

Zhang Yang drove to the airport and took Yi Jianlian to a cafe.

After ordering the dishes, Zhang Yang asked, "Aren't you participating in the Orlando Summer League? Even if you are traded, the Bulls should still take you to the end of this summer league, right?"

Yi Jianlian was silent for a while, then said, "I withdrew from the Bulls summer league. I was in a bad mood and wanted to talk to someone. I don't have any friends in the United States, so I didn't know who to talk to. I only thought of you."

Zhang Yang thought about it and decided to be more direct, so he asked, "You are more familiar with Dayao, right? Why don't you go find him? Do you think you were betrayed by Dayao?"

Yi Jianlian shook his head: "He was still in China. After he was selected by the Bulls, I participated in the commercial activities of the Basketball Management Center with him. He told me about his application for a trade. The team he wanted to go to was not the Bulls, but the Lakers. The Lakers also wanted him and offered Bynum and Odom as bargaining chips. He excitedly told me at the time that he was going to partner with Kobe."

Zhang Yang: "The Rockets don't want Bynum and Odom, they only want you."

Yi Jianlian: "Yes, after the Bulls informed Arn yesterday at noon that they were trading me to the Rockets, he told me the same thing... Damn, if I hadn't participated in the draft last year, I wouldn't have been traded to the Rockets."

Zhang Yang: "As long as Yao Ming wants to leave, the Rockets will definitely regard you as their first target, no matter which year you enter the NBA."

Yi Jianlian: "Why don't they trade you?"

Zhang Yang's mouth twitched, and he said, "You're really rude. Jordan won't trade me. I have more commercial value than Yao Ming."

Yi Jianlian knew he had said something wrong again, but he couldn't control his mouth... He grabbed his hair and said, "I don't want to go to the Rockets!"

Zhang Yang: "If you think about it from another perspective, it's actually a good place."

Yi Jianlian: "It's rotten there, Yao Ming has left! Their boss is a vampire who only knows how to exploit Yao Ming. Wouldn't it be the same if I went there?"

Zhang Yang: "It's different. You are not him. And it is precisely because Yao Ming left that it is a good place for you. Their management and coaching staff will treat you like their own father and are afraid that you will leave. What they want is money, and what you want is the opportunity to be trained. As long as you show an unkind, cold and ruthless character who only cares about interests, they will be more patient than any other team to train you slowly."

Yi Jianlian: “…”

He had never thought about it from this perspective, but he thought it made sense!

Indeed, if he goes to the Bulls, he will have to compete with Tyus Thomas. After all, he was the No. 4 pick last year and was abandoned in his rookie year. He may receive more attention in his sophomore year. It's like scratching a lottery ticket, you can't just scratch it for one year.

In this summer league, Tyrus Thomas got more opportunities than his sister, and she has played in the NBA for a year. She plays better than him in the NBA rules and NBA-sized stadiums.

Yi Jianlian asked, "Yang Yang, how can I act cool and ruthless?"

The corners of Zhang Yang's mouth twitched again.

There is no need to get enthusiastic all of a sudden!

Holding back his discomfort, Zhang Yang said, "Just keep talking to others the way you do."

Yi Jianlian: I feel like you are scolding me!
Zhang Yang added: "Don't explain anything to the Rockets management and the media. If you think something is not good for you, just refuse it and become an egoist."

Yi Jianlian: "Is this okay? Shouldn't I be a player like you who is loved by my teammates?"

Zhang Yang: "Not every teammate likes me. There are always those who hate me and those who envy me. I prioritize my own interests in the team, not others. I always infringe on the interests of other players, but I don't care about them. I have been abroad longer than you and read more books than you. I won't lie to you."

Yi Jianlian nodded, thinking...

Zhang Yang casually mentioned: "When partnering with McGrady and Gordon, you'd better practice more pick-and-rolls, long-range shots, and cutting into the basket. Your athletic ability and shooting feel are very suitable for partnering with them. Your body is too weak for singles in the interior."

A-Lian's eyes lit up. "Do you think so too? I played three summer league games, and those damn white guys were as strong as animals. I couldn't stand up to them at all. Arn also suggested that I reduce low-post singles and play more open cuts and long shots. But Liang Mu... my agent in charge of my domestic commercial endorsements, told me to practice low-post singles more and become an inside monster like Yao Ming, saying that fans would like it more."

Zhang Yang: "Don't pay attention to him. Are you the boss or is he the boss? Why should he care about you? I just told you to be an egoist. Only if you play like Yao Ming will the fans like you. Only if you play well will the fans like you..."

(End of this chapter)