bestfiction Chapter 18 (7) New signings
Chapter 18 (7) New signings
Chapter 18 (Seventeen) New signings
"Ah, this..." Billups suddenly remembered that his agent mentioned that the Rockets gave him an invitation contract, but he didn't pay much attention to it.For a moment he didn't know what to say.
"I have always believed that you are one of the best point guards in the league. Even if you are not as good as Jason Kidd (the superstar point guard who just led the Nets to the Finals), you are not much worse." McGrady continued; "As the core star of the team, I invite you—my old teammate Chauncey—to join our Houston Rockets."
After all, Billups has suffered setbacks, and his character is relatively tenacious.He gradually calmed down, and said, "Tracy, thank you very much for your invitation, and thank the Rockets for giving me this opportunity. But my wish is to join a relatively strong team. I will seriously consider your suggestion..."
"Please listen to me, Chauncey." McGrady interrupted his polite refusal, "I know you are considering agreeing to the Pistons' offer, don't ask me how I know. I was the same as you in 00, full of worries, and afraid of making the wrong choice. We all know that players who choose the wrong team may ruin their entire career. But coming to Houston is the most wise decision in my career. It is full of humanity and a sense of belonging, and the senior management is willing to give the old captain a high salary. Renew the contract until the age of 40, willing to sign the former champion Thorpe back to the team and hold a retirement ceremony for him, and willing to give the retired old Curry a job as an assistant coach. You can’t experience this kind of emotion in other places.”
Listening to McGrady, Billups seemed to see scenes of fighting in recent years.Yes, even though the Wolves win the Rockets more, the Rockets players are always so happy, they can always face each other with a smile, facing the game, even if they keep losing, they are not discouraged at all.It seems the Rockets have what they're missing. "But Tracy, isn't there a lot of rumors that you and the head coach are at odds? Is the relationship in your team really good?"
"Hahaha." McGrady laughed for a long time on the phone, "Chauncey, how can you believe it? I have a very good relationship with Mr. Tomjanovich. My less playing time is the team's arrangement, and I am willing to obey this arrangement. Of course, I can't admit on the phone what kind of plan the team has, and you can understand it yourself. Let me ask you a question, is there any team in the league that has more outstanding young players than Houston?"
"You mean, you played less time because..." Billups swallowed the word "bad" abruptly. He said in surprise, "No wonder you got injured for a few games and came back alive. No wonder you played so little time. No wonder the media said that the Rockets lost a lot of games but not many points. So you have a lot of young outstanding players now."
"That's right! So we were not as good as the Pistons last season, and we may not be as good as the Pistons this season, but in the next 2 to 3 seasons, we will definitely be stronger than the Pistons and even the Lakers." McGrady continued to seduce Billups: "Chauncey, we have an MVP-level superstar captain, a championship-level head coach, and a very good management team. They are very friendly to young players, especially Hakeem who takes care of me like a big brother. Our players have Hakeem and the promising No. There are excellent young players, only a good point guard is missing. As long as you and I form a backcourt partner, we don’t need 2 to 3 years, and we can become a first-line team in the league immediately.”
"Don't talk about Tracy, please ask Manager Dawson to contact my agent again." Billups, who had been frowning for many days, smiled, "I am very interested in what you said, let them discuss the contract."
***
When Billups' agent heard that Dawson was willing to add another $50 per year to the Pistons' offer, the deal went through.
7月18日，自由球员昌西.比卢普斯以6年3800万美元签约休斯敦火箭队，这笔交易在后世被誉为火箭队史上最高性价比的签约（史为比卢普斯以6年3500万签约活塞）。
"Jason, I'm not very confident about the task you gave me. I played with Chauncey, and I didn't think he had much potential." At first, even McGrady questioned whether his invitation would bring help to the team.
"Tracey, trust my data. Chauncey is the most suitable point guard for you and Yao. And he is great off the ball. When you organize with the ball, no one dares to let him go to double-team you." Yuan Fei replied.
Of course, McGrady's lobbying and Dawson's asking price are inseparable from Wang Yuanfei's strong proposition.Now that the Rockets finally have a new team brain, the next step is to sign young players, but there is also a headache for Dawson: Reid signed a 2000-year low-salary contract in 3. It will expire next year, and his agent expressed hope for a substantial salary increase.Okur, like a year ago, hopes to get a high offer contract.Yuan Fei decided not to participate in this specific price negotiation, and let old man Dawson do it himself.Reid is relatively easy to handle, after all, he still has a lot of affection for this team.And Okur will always be a little envious of the attention his compatriot Turkoglu has received in the past year.
Okur's greedy agent insisted on asking for a larger contract worth more than $2 million in two years. Fortunately, the Rockets got Yao Ming in the draft, and Magloire also played very well before. Dawson was more confident in the negotiations.
After Dawson's efforts, on August 8, Okur finally agreed to join with a 20-year low-pay contract totaling 2 million US dollars.Of course, this contract is already much higher than the basic salary of most second-round rookies.
Another concern for Dawson is lack of personnel, with Thorpe and Curry retiring and Williams leaving.In the draft, only Yao Ming was added, and the total number of Rockets' teams was not large.Yuan Fei is not worried about this. Anyway, there are still draft picks for the coming year, and it will be enough to supplement next season.What's more, there are not many players, but almost all of them have rotation strength, so he instructed Dawson to sign a marginal player enough. On September 9, Dawson renewed Terry Brown with a basic salary of $26. On October 39, Yao Ming formally signed a three-year plus one-year team option contract with the Rockets (the team option means that the team has the right to choose whether to continue the contract at that time), expanding the Rockets' roster to 10 players.So far the construction of the Rockets for the new season has been completed.The team's total salary has reached more than 20 million yuan, which has not only been reinforced, but also successfully compressed within the salary cap (for the time being, the settlement is based on the last day of the regular season).Boss Alexander spoke highly of the work of Yuan Fei and Dawson.
Several other teams related to Billups looked miserable. The Pistons were forced to continue to start with Chucky Atkins after failing to poach corners, but they traded the team's top scorer for Richard Hamilton of the Wizards.And the Wolves, who lost Billups, couldn't catch up with Andrew Miller, so they had to sign (free agent from the Magic) Troy Hudson, a mediocre point guard, to fight the fire.
Yuan Fei was very satisfied with the operation of the Rockets in the summer, but did not satisfy the local fans in Houston.Many fan groups voiced their protest against the arrival of Billups. They believed that the young Parker played very well last season, and it would be great if he signed a first-line superstar point guard. An ordinary player like Billups will only reduce Parker's playing time and delay Parker's training.
The media also questioned the Houston deal, and even ESPN, which has always been the most optimistic about Dawson, also expressed doubts.One of their columnists pointed out: "The arrival of Yao Ming will only seriously affect Magloire, who played very well last season. It is undeniable that this big man in the East has great potential, but his lack of wingspan destined him not to become a super center. Since the Rockets lack guards, why not directly cultivate Jay Williams who was selected in the draft? It is incomprehensible to replace Jay with Yao with two draft picks, and then to strengthen guards in the free market. What's more incomprehensible is that they gave Billups a huge six-year contract Contract, this long-term contract will seriously affect the development of rookie Parker. I don't understand why Dawson is strongly optimistic about Billups-a player who has failed to fulfill his talents in 6 teams."
The "Sports Illustrated" is relatively more optimistic about the Rockets.They even made a feature "the.next.big.thing——YaoMing" (a real event) with Yao Ming as the cover character.The author believes that Yao Ming may become another dominant super center after Olajuwon and O'Neal.And McGrady already has the strength no less than Kobe, Carter and Iverson. The only shortcoming of this two-time All-Star player is the lack of good teammates to promote him to achieve good results.The average age of the Rockets with great potential in the new season is 24.1 years old, second only to the Cavaliers and the second youngest in the league.Under the leadership of McGrady, as long as the little giant Yao Ming grows up smoothly, the Rockets will be able to return to the playoffs in the next year or two.But the author is also critical of the Rockets' summer deals. He believes that Magloire and Parker were the biggest gains of the Rockets last season, and the entire job of the management this summer is to find Yao Ming and Billups to share their playing time.This may prove to be a head-scratching construction scheme in the future.
This time Alexander firmly supported Dawson and Yuan Fei in the face of pressure. He stated in an internal meeting that it doesn't matter what the media says, and the Rockets don't need to change the current lineup easily.Tang Shuai was even more tactful. In an interview with the media, he said that he was very satisfied with the management's summer operations. This season, he will definitely achieve the goal that he failed to achieve last season and reach the playoffs.
Most people think that the old fox is playing bureaucracy again. When the Rockets are struggling to make the playoffs, this team has really started.
On October 2002, 10, the new season opened!The rocket set off!
This is my first book. Although I have published some novels in magazines before, this is the first time I have written a novel, so it is inevitable that I am inexperienced.I also invite all book friends and golfers to give more valuable opinions.
(End of this chapter)