Chapter 242 Trading Gliders

The Portland Trail Blazers were unlucky, poached by the Bulls last season Clifford Robinson, leaving only a glider Drexler, and the 33-year-old glider has entered the late stage of his career, two years because of the shin and knee The injury, the state has declined from the peak, does not meet the reconstruction requirements of the Blazers, so the Blazers are preparing to rebuild.

  In 1983, the Blazers selected Drexler with the 14th overall pick in the first round and valued his potential very much.

Even in the second year of the draft, because they already had Drexler, they selected center Sam Poway with the second overall pick, but not Jordan. In fact, Jordan was ready to play in Portland. preparation.

  Jordan, Drexler, Wilkins, these are three guys who can be called flying men in this era of the league, because they are all people who fly above the basket and play.

   But because of the Blazers' choice, when Jordan met Drexley later, he would torture him to prove that the Blazers' choice was wrong.

Now, although the glider is full of injuries, it can still play. It is not completely old. Last season, he averaged 19.2 points, 6.5 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 1.4 steals in 34 minutes per game. In several games, he averaged 22 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists per game.

   Like the Suns traded for Barkley, the Blazers wanted to take advantage of the lack of gliders and trade him to lay a foundation for a rebuilding team with a first-round pick.

  This season is the last year of Drexler's contract, and the annual salary is only 1.58 million. Compared with his data, this annual salary is definitely cost-effective. Many ball rights have contacted the management, hoping to trade the glider.

  For example, the Mosaic team hopes to get a glider to make up for the lack of outside lines, and has promised the glider the main position.

  Glider is not happy that the team wants to trade him, but he is very willing to go to Houston. He doesn't have a ring yet and wants to go to Houston to get one.

   And Da Meng is his college teammate. He really hopes to join forces with Da Meng. Da Meng also called and invited him personally, hoping that he can go to Houston to help.

It is a pity that Mosaic did not have the first-round pick of 1995 and 1996 that the Blazers wanted, and could only give a 97-year sign. The Blazers believed that 1997 was too long and was not conducive to reconstruction. Although they did not directly reject Houston, they did not directly agree. The two sides are still talking.

   Colangelo contacted the Blazers management as soon as he arrived in Portland, and he also wanted a glider.

   Now both AC Green and Thorpe want to leave. The two's agent is looking for trouble with him every three days and urging him to trade. He also has a headache. Since he can't keep it, he can only trade.

   At least one must be traded. Although the remaining one cannot get the main position, but can get playing time guarantee, it should be able to stay.

   Now the Blazers are going to rebuild, which just gives him a chance. If he can get a glider, although the inside lineup will suffer a lot, the outside line will be strengthened.

  Old K has always been dissatisfied with Robert Horry's open shooting percentage. Glider Drexler is a swingman at the front and back. Just to replace Horry with him, the strength of the Suns' main lineup will be greatly strengthened.

  Old K, Danny Manning, Drexler, Dan Marley, Kevin Johnson, the five main players are all All-Stars.

   Among them, the first three are still serious All-Stars. Although the latter two have no All-Stars, this main lineup still belongs to the All-Star lineup.

   They will blow up the main lineup of the Mosaic team, and they are very competitive even against the Bulls, and there is no problem with the weaker bench lineup.

   Thinking of this, he was very excited.

   However, there is a big weakness in forming this lineup, that is, the average age of the main lineup will increase.

The glider is getting old, Danny Manning is easily injured, and he is 29 years old. Kevin Johnson and Dan Marley are both old, one young and four old, and the average age is close to 30 years old. This lineup is actually not suitable for rebuilding the team. The principle of team building, a typical combination of veterans.

   In the afternoon, he negotiated with the Blazers management.

When the Blazers got the call from Colangelo, they were happy because they knew that Mosaic's 1995 and 1996 first-round picks were all in the hands of the Suns, plus their own, and at least four first-round picks in the next two years. Round sign.

   They made an offer, Otis Thorpe, and the Mosaic's 1996 unprotected first-round pick, not the Suns' own.

   The Blazers management knew that if the Suns got Drexler, their first-round pick next year would be worthless.

   This price is very expensive, especially when it was an unprotected first-round pick in 1996, which was a big year for the draft.

   Because the glider is almost 33 years old, no one knows how long the current state can be maintained.

Colangelo's original plan was to hope that Mosaic collapsed in the 1995/96 season. Of course, this is the best situation. If not, then he intends to use his first-round pick and Mosaic's first-round pick to trade up and try to get it. A lottery pick.

  The Suns had four first-round picks in '95 and '96, and they could trade for one or two high picks.

   Now using this pick to select a veteran is actually not in line with the principle of team reconstruction. It will not work for one to two years, and a first-round pick is wasted.

   However, Green and Thorpe pressed too hard, and he had to speed up the transaction, so he was also a little bit distracted.

   In the end, he agreed to the Blazers' offer, but not the 96-year sign, but the 95-year signing of the Mosaic team.

  The Blazers agreed to the offer considering Drexler's age and some good rookies in '95.

   In time for get off work, the two teams reported to the league and passed quickly. At 4:40, the transaction was completed.

   Blazers training base, the team just finished afternoon training and returned to the locker room, the players are changing clothes.

"Clyde, just now, Rackham informed me that you were traded to the Suns, and the trade was just completed. Congratulations, Clyde, you will play for the Suns tomorrow night, there is no worse than the Mosaic team, you are the same There is a chance of winning."

   This is the core of the team, Drexler, who received a call from his agent and was stunned.

"what?"

   He didn't react a bit. Didn't he go to Mosaic to find a big dream? Why did he go to the Suns? He had just been rehearsing with the team to play against the Suns.

He really wants to go to the Mosaic team because he is from Houston, which is his hometown team. When he was drafted in 1983, he hoped to be selected by the Mosaic team. Unfortunately, Mosaic's lottery was too high that year. The No. 1 pick selected Ralph Sampson, and Rodney McRae was selected with the third overall pick. He was selected by the Trail Blazers at No. 14.

"boom!"

   At this point, the locker room was pushed open, and Blazers general manager Jess Rackham walked in.

   He glanced at Drexler, who was still in a sluggish state with his mobile phone in his hand, and said, "Clyde, you know that?"

  The eyes of everyone looked over, not knowing what happened.

   Drexler nodded blankly without speaking.

   "Clyde, thank you very much for your hard work here..." Lykem said politely with a sincere expression and tone.

  “…”

Drexler has some heat in his eyes. This is his home team. He has been fighting here for 11 seasons. Now it is his 12th season. But today, he was traded, and the team traded without any nostalgia. .

   "By the way, and you, Tracy."

  Lakeham turned to another player.

   was also traded Tracy Murray, 24 years old, forward, the 18th pick in the first round in 1992, but not very strong, this season's annual salary of 1.16 million is used to match the transaction.

   Murray doesn't have as much feeling as Drexler. He's a marginal person. He can play if he has the ball, no matter where he plays.

  The Suns also notified the trade.

   Thorpe is both satisfied and dissatisfied, because at his age, to go to a rebuilding team is to be a cornerstone.

   Satisfaction is that there are many opportunities for rebuilding teams, especially a team like the Blazers who are just starting to rebuild. He can have more playing time, play better stats, and fight for a bigger contract in the future.

  Robert Horry sighed in his heart after knowing this transaction, now my main position is going to run away, but what should I do?

   But he doesn't have the credentials of Thorpe and Green, and nobody cares what he thinks.

  Wang Tiejun and several other main players are very happy. With a strong teammate, the chance this year will be even greater.

  AC Green was also a little anxious when he saw that Thorpe's transaction was completed. At this time, Colangelo called him over and had a detailed discussion with him.

   Colangelo said sincerely: "AC, you are also 32 years old this year. Even if you go to other teams, it is impossible to have a fixed main position waiting for you, so why not consider staying?

  The coaching staff will make a certain balance in terms of playing time. Danny Manning will play at most 30 minutes in a game, and the time of old K will be kept at about 35 minutes. The rest of the time for him and old K is yours.

  You will be the first backup at No. 4 and 5. Thorpe has left, and your playing time is guaranteed, no less than 30 minutes. When you enter the bench, your shots are more guaranteed than in the main lineup. An ordinary main force is no more beautiful than the sixth man of the team. Why does the league set up the award for the sixth man alone? Because he is very important. "

Under Colangelo's sincere persuasion, AC Green felt that it made sense. After all, he was not young and his state was declining. The salary paid to him by the Sun was the highest in the team, and Thorpe left. Playing time is guaranteed, and the identity of the sixth man is not unacceptable.

   He said that he would discuss with his agent, Colangelo was very happy, and he did not directly refuse, which means there is hope.

Thorpe is gone, Green doesn't want to let go. Green's style of play is similar to that of Danny Manning. He is good at long-range shooting and matches the old K. He will not squeeze the space of the old K in the penalty area like Thorpe. Very suitable inside bench.

   And if Green leaves again, there will be no one inside the team as a substitute, and the original strength will directly become a weakness.

   As long as Green stays and the bench has Green on the inside and Horry and Danny Ainge on the outside, it's not too bad.

   The resources of an average strong team are concentrated in the main lineup, and the bench lineup is not very good. The Suns' bench lineup is passable.

After    sent away AC Green, Colangelo now went to the coaching staff to discuss the team's lineup and tactics.

  The team brought in Drexler, and the 3 position, which had not been strong enough, was reinforced, and everyone was excited.

But Colangelo raised a question. With the five starting players of K, Danny Manning, Drexler, Dan Marley, and Kevin Johnson, then this lineup can actually build four cores. Point, because except for Dan Marley, the other four have the strength to become the core of the team, so the question is, do you really need to build four cores?

   Head coach Westphal shook his head and said: "It is absolutely impossible for four cores to appear, then the field will be in chaos. And they will all become the core, and our locker room will be in chaos."

   Colangelo nodded and said: "And this lineup is only a transitional lineup, because except for the old K, the age of everyone else is not suitable for our reconstruction requirements.

   With this lineup, we have the same strength as last season to challenge the championship, and it is stronger than last season.

   But it's really just a transitional lineup, we have to get more rookies and slowly complete the real rebuild. "

  Westphal nodded, looked at Colangelo and asked, "Boss, what do you mean?"

Colangelo said firmly: "Continue to take the old K as the core, and continue to strengthen the old K's core position and leadership during this period of Kevin Johnson's aging, and build a true traditional center. The team. We can't With the introduction of Danny Manning and Drexler, it changes our stated requirements for rebuilding."

  Westphal didn't think too much about it. What the boss said was what he said. He just asked strangely: "Then if we win the championship this season, will some people seek higher team status?"

  Colangelo is right when he thinks about it. Just like Barkley before, he can tolerate old K stealing part of his core position before winning the championship, but not after winning the championship, and this situation may occur in the future.

  Thinking of this, he also looked weird and authentic: "If any of them are not convinced, then trade with whom, just use them to complete our reconstruction."

  …

   After the deal was announced through the media, it immediately caused a stir and heated discussion.

  The most obvious one, ESPN immediately adjusted the Suns' championship probability overnight, rising directly from 10% to 31%, even higher than the Mosaic team, becoming the team with the second highest championship probability in the league, second only to the Bulls.

The reason given by ESPN is that the addition of Drexler has made up for the strength of the Suns' perimeter. Conducive to the play of low singles tactics.

   Then Drexler's ability to break through also made up for the negative impact of Kevin Johnson's decline.

   At the same time, Danny Manning is in good shape. This lineup has an advantage against Mosaic, so the Suns’ chance of winning the championship can surpass Mosaic.

   "Patterson, didn't you say you're going to bring Clary to Houston? How did you do it? Are you fooling me?"

  Dameng was dumbfounded and a little desperate when he heard the news. He called Steve Patterson, the general manager, and asked him in a roaring tone.

   It’s no wonder that he is so hot. Barkley is very injured. It’s been a few months since the offseason and he has not come back. Now the rival Suns have robbed the glider again.

   "Hakim, we don't have leverage, trading Barkley has overdrawn our potential, you know that."

  Stim Patterson was very annoyed by the attitude of the big dream, but suppressed the anger in his heart, and explained helplessly:

"We applied for a '97 first-rounder, but the Blazers refused, they didn't want a '97, they only wanted two years, and the Suns had our two-year first-rounder. sign."

"boom!"

  The extremely angry big dream hung up the phone directly.

   After thinking about it, he called Drexler again, unwilling, and said, "Clyde, what's going on? Why did you go to the Suns? Didn't you say you wanted to help me?"

At this time, the glider was having dinner. Although it was traded by the parent team, it was a good choice to join the Suns. There was a chance to win the championship. Hakim, I can't decide anything."

   "Damn, they traded Thorpe and our first-round pick for you, it's too much!" Da Meng complained.

   Drexler can only express his helplessness towards Da Meng's rogue attitude, but they gave you a Barkley, didn't they take your signature and people for nothing?

After hanging up the phone, Da Meng was silent for a long time. Suddenly, he hated his own management. The opponents snatched all the people who obviously got it. This must be the stingy Alexander who was reluctant to give more chips. He said angrily. : "If it goes on like this, if I can't win the championship, I have to leave."

   He's not kidding, he played with the team in 1992.

   In March of that year, after the victory over the Clippers, he was going to fight against the Lakers. He suddenly announced that he was injured, saying that it was a strained left hamstring and he would be out for two games.

Of course, he actually thought the salary was too low. His annual salary was $3.17 million that year. Although it was good, he felt that it was not in line with his worth as a super center. It happened that the contract was about to end, so he wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to increase his bargaining chip.

At that time, the Mosaic team was in the playoffs, and it was at a critical moment of competition with the Lakers. That game was very important. If you win the Lakers, you can enter the top eight. The management immediately arranged several expert consultations. The results were shocking, he was healthy .

  The team let him play, but was rejected by him and his team. The owner at that time was Charlie Thomas, who thought that the big dream was a fraud and was very annoyed, and ordered him to be suspended indefinitely.

   In the end, the big dream came back after a five-game ban, but the team had left the playoffs, and Mosaic did not make the playoffs that year, ranking ninth in the West.

   And the big dream of comeback also announced that he would leave Houston, and it was put on the shelves for a time. In the end, the deal was not negotiated and he stayed in Mosaic.

   Then the team changed owners, Charlie Thomas stopped playing with him, and Alexander became his new owner.

  However, he didn't expect that this stingy Alexander could not even get a glider, which made him so disappointed, and he wanted to leave Houston again.

  The news about the glider is not only a headache for the Mosaic team and the big dream, but also for several teams.

  The Spurs, Admiral David Robinson, had high hopes for this season and were disappointed by the news.

  Especially David Robinson, who can't deal with Rodman inside the team, and now the old rival Suns has strengthened it again, making him so anxious that his throat is smoking.

  East, the same goes for bulls.

  Although the Bulls are still strong, Grant's departure is a loss for the team's strength.

  Tony Kukoc's performance is very good, his scoring ability is not inferior to Grant, and his assist ability is better, but the Bulls lack Grant's cutting ability and rebounding. In these respects, Kukoc is not as good as Grant, and Grant is also better in defense.

   The Bulls reacted cautiously to the news that the Suns were strengthening their perimeter.

   Coach Phil Jackson immediately analyzed how this change would affect the Suns and Bulls.

   This analysis made him very shocked, because the Suns, with the main lineup of Old Khe, Danny Manning, Drexler, Dan Marley, and Kevin Johnson, are no weaker than the Bulls. If the Bulls meet the Suns in the Finals, the outcome is unpredictable.

   Jordan is the same, even more cautious.

   He wants to defend the title this season, and then complete the three-peat next season to create a dynasty and era that belongs to him. Now everyone is saying that this is his era, but without a dynasty, his era is not bright enough.

   However, the reinforcements of the Suns cast a lingering shadow on his title defense.

  …

   (end of this chapter)