Chapter 325 324. Avoid Stepping into the Trap Again
Facing the camera, Zhang Yang, Felton, Brad Miller and Tyronn Lue staged a "regrettable late meeting".

The Bobcats have a lot of rookie contracts. Okafor, the oldest player among the three core players, is still in the last year of his rookie contract. The highest paid player on the team is Mike Miller, who earns just over 800 million, leaving a salary space that is more than enough for a non-Bird rights maximum salary.

Regarding this matter, the domestic media is more anxious than the Bobcats management. From the offseason to the middle of the season, they have been making suggestions across the Pacific Ocean, asking who can be brought in, hoping that the Bobcats can spend the salary space quickly.

After the end of this season, even if Okafor does not immediately execute the new contract and retain the Bird Rights, the salary space he occupies will be 150% of this season. Coupled with the salary increase of other players, the salary space will shrink significantly.

Salary space is of little use to a team that is in a bad state. At most, it can help a team that wants to clear its salary space to take on a big contract and earn a draft pick or something.

But for a strong team, it is a top 'asset'.

For example, the Lakers in 1996 had just won 95 games in the 96-53 season. After the season ended, some players' contracts expired, and they had a salary space of nearly 700 million.

It is because of this 700 million space that the logo man has the possibility to sign O'Neal without a deal.

He made a bold move and traded Divac for Kobe's signing rights. The Hornets used the salary space in the transaction to take on Divac's contract with a salary of 96 million for the 97-472 season.

The Lakers used this to free up another $472 million in salary space, and ultimately offered O'Neal a seven-year contract with a starting salary of $1071 million and a total of $7 million, thus completing the OK combination.

After this deal, the Bobcats have finally used up their "idle" space. The salary cap is almost full, with only $120 million left, which is almost zero. The natural salary increase at the end of this season will eat up the remaining space.

山猫队引进了一个场均13+9+4+1+1的中锋，国内媒体比夏洛特的媒体还要激动，朝廷台还派出了摄像组来拍摄布拉德-米勒加盟的画面。

In China, the team that received the most criticism after the Bobcats completed this deal was... the Rockets.

Now the Bobcats have filled their salary cap. Okafor's new contract will start next season. In addition, other players' salaries will increase, so they will have to start paying luxury tax. However, the Rockets shouted "New OK combination to compete for the championship" in those years, but they never paid luxury tax. All the players they recruited were minimum salary, minimum salary, and minimum salary...

Brad Miller has two and a half years left on his contract, which is timed well and expires in 10. Zhang Yang and Felton's rookie contracts ended in 09. The Bobcats will have a season in 09-10 when they can catch up with the Mavericks in terms of salary. Ten years later, salaries can be reduced again, giving them room for maneuver.

...

Zhang Yang didn't know what other people thought, but he felt very tired after the interview. He liked being on TV, but the atmosphere required for acting in a court TV show was only good once in a while, at least not too often.

Thinking that this will happen again when Petrus comes in two days... Zhang San feels that senior Aaron and big brother Alan can take a break, as Petrus seems to be good at one-on-one defense.

However, although he wanted to take revenge on Pietrus, Zhang Yang was looking forward to the arrival of this new teammate.

Michael Pietrus, when he was in Europe, was known as the French Jordan. He had excellent athletic ability and was selected in the first round of the lottery in 03, but then failed.

After his rookie year, he faced reality, switched to defense and three-point shooting, and became a very outstanding 3D player in this era. He also has certain ball-handling skills. If he really can't make a shot, give him the ball and he may make a shot by rushing forward.

Last season, under Nelson, Pietrus averaged 11 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1 steal and 0.7 blocks per game, making him a very good substitute.

It's just that the Warriors have too many players in the forward and guard line, and the talent is overflowing. Matt Barnes and Kelanna Azubuike have also performed well this season. Although they are not as good as Pietrus, they are cheap and not much different.

Pietrus's salary this season is 347 million, and the other two are on minimum salary. The Bobcats wanted them, so the Warriors decisively gave them to the Bobcats as a bonus, saving money and allowing Barnes and Azubuike to get more playing time. The three of them are substitutes for the forward and guard line, which is too crowded.

Zhang Yang learned from Bickerstaff that it was Carlisle who wanted Pietrus because he was impressed by Pietrus's ability to defend alone on the outside and his ability to follow up and make fast breaks. So, relying on the large salary space, he took on Tyronn Lue's contract and asked the Kings to help get Pietrus back.

From the direction of this recruitment, we can see that although Carlisle has no in-depth plan to build a defensive system this season and is still in the process of further improving the offensive system, he has already begun to reserve manpower for building the defensive system. After the offensive system is improved, the defensive system must keep up. Carlisle's usual unlimited rotation defense still requires relatively high single defense capabilities.

After the interview, Felton took his teammates to formally meet the two new teammates.

Brad Miller, a powerful center who has been famous for many years, was selected as an All-Star reserve twice in the Western Conference when he was at his peak at the ages of 27 and 28. Although he is older now, he will be 32 soon, and his strength is not as strong as he was four or five years ago, but it is still good. So far this season, he has averaged 13 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal and 1 block per game. His shooting, passing and defense are all online. This season, his supporting area is the long two-point area, and his shooting percentage is as high as 47%.

Okafor is the person on the team who is most familiar with Brad Miller. When playing against the Kings, he and Brad Miller were directly facing each other. His impression of this opponent is disgust and hate.

He has a lot of defensive tricks, is brutal and rough in confrontation, and likes to remove benches and cause charges; on offense, he is very non-mainstream, he will not go into the paint if he can avoid it, he takes more long two-point shots than shots under the basket, and his passing is second to none among centers in the league... It's not that he can't play to his advantage in matchups, it's just that he feels very uncomfortable when facing them.

But now that they are teammates, Okafor likes Brad Miller more and more, and he is no longer the one being tormented!
And in every game you can see the opponents being tormented by his teammates!
Tyronn Lue, the point guard for the OK combination, the point guard for Wizards Joe, the point guard for Magic McGrady, the point guard for contemporary Jordan... In terms of fame, he is much more famous than Brad Miller.

Facing new teammates, Brad Miller and Tyronn Lue showed completely different personalities.

Brad Miller was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana, in the Rust Belt. When he was a child, his family was a typical white middle-class family. Later, due to industrial hollowing out, his parents lost their jobs and went bankrupt. If he had not been able to play basketball and received a full scholarship, he would not have been able to go to college.

He has the typical Rust Belt personality, speaking pragmatically and cautiously. You can tell that he is uneasy about coming to a new environment, and is a little anxious and shy.

Tyronn Lue's personality is completely different. He is generous and open-minded, and he brags without blinking an eye. He quickly got along well with his new teammates and even chatted and laughed with Boss Joe who came to grab the camera...

After the two new players got familiar with their teammates, Carlisle took Brad Miller and Tyronn Lue away to do some basic tests and health checks, as well as to communicate basic tactics.

Although the two new players did not participate in the preparation meeting and team training, tonight's opponent is weak, so they can just go out and demonstrate their abilities.

On the other side, Zhang Yang said to Felton: "Tyron is here, it seems you can't play tonight." Felton: "It doesn't matter, I'll watch how Brad plays on the sidelines and analyze how to cooperate with him."

Zhang Yang: "Hmm? We still need to consider this? Shouldn't he be thinking about how to cooperate with me?"

Little Fat Boss: It’s hard! My fist is hard!

Not only him, I'm also playing with you, okay!
I want to go and see how the big white bear plays basketball, isn't it also to better cooperate with you in playing basketball?
...

In the evening, the Bobcats faced the challenge of the Heat at home.

Tonight the Bobcats still sent out Jarrett Jack, Zhang Yang, Hill, Okafor and Perkins as the starting lineup.

The Heat sent out Jason Williams, Ricky Davis, Dorell Wright, Haslem and Earl Baron.

Zhang Yang came to the court and looked at the opposing team's lineup. He felt that Wade being selected by the Heat might not be a good thing.

The team won the championship in their third year, and the one who benefited the most was not Wade, but Pat Riley.

The Heat hardly ever trained Wade. In his sophomore year, Wade took on the responsibility of playing on the outside and assisting O'Neal in winning the championship. In his junior year, he directly carried the entire team and led the team to the championship.

Wade has been extremely exhausted in the past two years and has been suffering from injuries since winning the championship.

When it comes to dead-end stars, D'Antoni, Larry Brown, and Adelman all have to admit defeat in front of Pat Riley.

Seeing that the team has no hope of winning the championship, Pat Riley is not thinking about how to use Wade in a protective way, but is obsessed with reducing his salary below the luxury tax threshold. Wade is a very competitive player. If the lineup is weak, he will play harder, and the risk of injury will increase further...

Zhang Yang thought about the draft picks of the 03 class. The Pistons might be the most suitable team for Wade. Larry Brown went to the Knicks for tens of millions of dollars in annual salary after two years. Philip Saunders, who came later, did a great job in protecting the players. The team's strength continuity was amazing. If the Pistons had been in worse health in the past two years, they would have collapsed.

If Wade had been selected by the Pistons, he could have also competed for the championship early on. He might even have been competing for the championship from his first season in the NBA to now, competing with Duncan to see who is more powerful.

Secondly, the Nuggets are also a good fit for Wade. They have been in a slump for many years, have a good lineup depth, and replaced a very good head coach in the summer of 03.

It's just that Wade's draft prospects at that time were not good. The Heat selected Wade, just like the Bulls selected Jordan, and were criticized by the media in the summer of 03.

The game starts at 8pm.

In the first two games this season, the Bobcats played the Heat very casually and without much tactics. The players just swung the ball and that was it. They won the first game by 1 points and the second game by 19 points.

The lineup rotation and tactical arrangements of the God of Calculation this season are a mess. It's not that he can't do better, but that he takes the initiative to do the worst. Almost from the beginning of the regular season, he raised the banner of "I want Beasley".

Tonight, Zhang Yang, Okafor, Jarrett Jack and others did not swing the ball, but took the initiative to cooperate tactically.

On the Bobcats bench, Vincent glanced at Brad Miller, who was concentrating on the court, and said to Carlisle, "Don't let Brad start. Let him sit on the bench first to see how his teammates play tactically and understand how his teammates will play tactically. We haven't played against the Kings this season, so it is necessary to do this... But I remember you didn't make such arrangements in the morning meeting, right? The young players on our team are really outstanding, and they are aware of this."

Carlisle: "Emeka and Jack's first year in the NBA, I was very impressed with them. They played very maturely and knew what they should do on the court from the beginning. They took the initiative to show Brad the tactics tonight and helped Brad integrate. I was not surprised at all... But I didn't let Brad play as a substitute tonight for this."

Vincent: “Why?”

Carlisle: "In the afternoon, when I communicated with him about the basic tactical concepts, we mainly talked about how to cooperate with Jack and how to help Jack play better. I also agreed with him that he would serve as a substitute until he fully integrated into the offensive coordination."

Vincent: "You want him to know that Jack is the most important player on our team? To let him know that Jack is the only superstar on our team, and everyone else is just a supporting role?

He has played in the NBA for eight or nine years, so he shouldn't worry about this. He must know that he is here to assist Jack, and he won't be like Davis on the opposite side who is clueless."

Carlisle: "That's right, but we still have to emphasize to him that every time we sign players in the future, we have to do this and not leave any hidden dangers."

Vincent: "Hidden danger?"

Carlisle: "Most of our current main players entered the NBA at the same time as Jack. Most of them are potential players. They have witnessed Jack's terrifying talent with their own eyes. They grew up together, but Jack's progress was much faster than theirs. They knew that Jack was a super genius that they could never catch up with, and they were willing to assist Jack.

In the future, when we draft, we may not gamble on luck and choose potential stocks like Rajon and Paul as we did before, but instead choose mature players who are ready to fight.

The direction of improving the team's strength will also shift from tapping its own potential to replacing the team's excess talent with ready-to-fight power, or using middle-class clauses to introduce free agents.

It's hard to say whether there will be a player like Davis who is confused and wants to compete with Jack, causing internal problems. We must prevent this from happening. "

Vincent: "Yeah, after all, Jack is not black... Ahem, when you put it that way, I think of the Mavericks. Nowitzki was the regular season MVP last season, an inside player with an average of 25 points per game. Howard, a player who just made the All-Star team, actually wanted to compete with him for the core..."

Seeing that his friend fell silent, Kabal did not continue the topic, but just responded: "We must not repeat the same mistake we made with the Pacers!"

(End of this chapter)