Bishop of the Devil

After negotiating with Paramount, Richard made another call to Big Ben, who was the leader of this group of training players.

Richard said that a crew might come to them to film a movie next month and asked them to cooperate. When the movie is finished, all the people who took the photo will share the five million US dollars equally...

Richard's psychological expectation is actually five million US dollars. As for the extra five million US dollars, he is going to distribute it to Daben and the others.

Of course, this money cannot be transferred from Richard's account, it must be sent to the players from Paramount.

It would be very lively if money were transferred from Richard's side, and Richard would probably have to be watched by Stern.

…

In mid-August, the filming of the movie officially started. Richard did not go to join in the fun and stayed in Portland.

Spend the whole day studying the lineup and tactical arrangements for the new season with Stevens.

It has to be said that the five rookies harvested in this draft are not very good at defensive ability. The best old cat Mobley also suffered a lot when defending a tall backcourt like Kobe.

Among them, Nowitzki and Lewis, when they participated in the draft, ESPN initially provided the draft template for these two people, both of whom were Philadelphia 76ers rookie Wang Zhizhi...

Moreover, the upper limit of the template is Wang Zhizhi, which means that the limit of the strength improvement of these two people is Wang Zhizhi's level.

Although last season was Wang Zhizhi's rookie season, his performance was quite hot. He averaged 18.7 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game in the regular season, which was perfect...

That is to say, there is a ruthless character like Duncan in the same class. Otherwise, Da Zhi is very likely to win the honor of Rookie of the Year.

Because after excluding Duncan, the only one who can compete with Da Zhi is Keith Van Horn, who originally exchanged clubs with Da Zhi. Van Horn played for the Nets in his rookie season...

Van Horn averaged 19.7 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game in his rookie season. It seems to be slightly better than Da Zhi, but this guy's defense is quite bad. Compared with Da Zhi, it is still a level lower. Plus the team's record Far inferior to the 76ers, so when Zhi competes for the best rookie, he has a greater chance of winning than Van Horn.

Of course, now that Duncan exists, it makes no sense to think about this.

In addition to the hot statistics in the regular season, Da Zhi’s real shining point is in the playoffs. Let’s not mention the victory over the Bulls, which is enough to brag about for a lifetime. He averaged 22.3 points per game in the playoffs, which is enough. It proves that Da Zhi is the best rookie besides Duncan.

As experts said, Da Zhi opened up a new growth path for big players.

Under such circumstances, the draft prospects of Nowitzki and Lewis are actually pretty good.

Nowitzki was selected by Richard at No. 7. As for Lewis, according to normal history, he should actually be the candidate for the Little Green Room.

Officials feel that he has a chance to be selected in the lottery, so under normal circumstances, he should be in the Little Green Room, but because he participated in Richard's trial training, he lost the qualification to enter the Little Green Room... …

Losing the qualification for the Little Green Room seems quite pitiful, but in Richard's opinion, he should be considered as indirectly helping Lewis.

…

Lewis was the first player in NBA history to be drafted in the second round despite being in a green room. Of course, he was not the only one. Later generations of Jordan also faced this dilemma.

This matter is quite irritating to Lewis, and it’s normal to think about it. Originally, everyone predicted that you would be admitted to Tsinghua University and Peking University, but in the end, only Lanxiang Technical School sent you an admission notice. Do you feel uncomfortable in your heart...

Now that he has lost his qualifications as a Little Green Room, he is still selected in the second round. Although he is definitely not feeling very comfortable, it is better than being laughed at.

…

The five newcomers in this wave all have poor defensive capabilities. At least for now, it is impossible for them to take on heavy responsibilities.

Richard's team is based on defense. Once a player on the field fails to defend, even if the offensive firepower is slightly stronger, it will definitely cause the Blazers' field strength to decline.

Therefore, it is obviously impossible for these five people to take the starting position at the moment, and they can only practice on the bench first.

Among the five, Nowitzki is undoubtedly the player Richard values ​​the most. When Nowitzki was elected, a sense of responsibility was implicitly born on his shoulders.

If you want to talk about the greatest foreign player in the entire NBA history, then I am afraid that the veteran player will get the most votes...

Now that Nowitzki is under his control, Richard must make good use of him, otherwise, it would be a heinous crime.

Maybe this season, Nowitzki won't get too many starting opportunities. After all, in a bad team like the Mavericks, the veteran only started about 20 games...

But next season, with Rasheed leaving, Nowitzki will undoubtedly be mentioned by Richard to the permanent starting small forward position.

Some fans may be wondering, if Nowitzki is such a historical power forward, Richard puts him at the small forward position. Is it because he wants to abolish him?

actually not……

Similar to Duncan, a center wearing a power forward garb, Nowitzki can be said to be a small forward wearing a power forward garb, or simply a shooting guard.

Just look at his career average shot distance and you'll know that this statement is true.

The average shot distance means the distance from the basket every time a player takes an offensive shot...

For example, Shark O'Neal's career average shot distance is 3.6 feet, and one foot is about 30.5 centimeters, so O'Neal's average shot distance is just over one meter...

Similar to O'Neal is Big Ben, whose average shot distance is 3.9 feet...

Howard is also 3.6 feet, and the most exaggerated thing is Jordan, who is only 1.7 feet...

For example, Duncan, who has great basic skills, has a longer shooting distance because of his mid-range shooting ability, reaching 8.1 feet. Similar to Duncan, Olajuwon is about 9 feet.

Then there are inside players whose styles are more outside-oriented, such as King Webber and Garnett. Webb is 10.7 feet. After all, Garnett is an iron-blooded mid-range shooter, so his value reaches 11.3!

In other words, Garnett's average shooting distance is about 3.4 meters from the basket!

Then there are two more epoch-making stars. James is 11.9, which is basically the same as Garnett.

Then there is Kobe, who should be regarded as a standard swingman, with a shooting distance of 14.1 feet. Carter, the demigod, also basically has the same value, he is 14.4...

Finally, look at Nowitzki, the average shot distance is 15.1 feet!

What this number represents is self-evident...

Nowitzki is a shooting guard dressed as a power forward!

Having said that, Nowitzki is completely a shooting guard on the offensive end.

But Richard can't really let Nowitzki play shooting guard. He is different from Rasheed and Robinson. He doesn't have the strong physical fitness of these two people. He can't run fast or jump high. Really If you have to face the league's shooting guards 1V1, you will probably be reduced to ashes...

So Richard's biggest headache now is how to arrange Nowitzki.

On the offensive end, you can play shooting guard, but on the defensive end, you can only play a power forward who doesn't need very good movement speed and jumping ability...

This matter has troubled Richard for a long time. In the end, he didn't think about how to arrange Nowitzki. He could only wait until the game started...

Watch and study as you play.

…

In the blink of an eye, time has entered the end of September.

According to the situation in previous years, since preseason games will be played in early October, the team should have already started to gather players to prepare for the new season at this time...

But the labor salary negotiations have still not been reached. Judging from the current situation, it is completely impossible to negotiate a plan that satisfies both parties.

Richard also knew very well that if this matter did not come for another two or three months, it would definitely not be discussed...

It happened that the Amway Company's activities were about to start, and Richard called Da Zhi, who was in training, to return home together.

During the few days after returning home, nothing special happened.

He didn't want to see the great places of his motherland. Richard still had a lot of things to solve in the United States.

I might as well return to the United States directly after finishing my work...

…

Labor wage negotiations are still at a deadlock, with both sides refusing to give in.

Finally Stern couldn't bear it anymore!

Stern issued an ultimatum two days before Christmas. If he could not reach an agreement before January 7, he would completely cancel the season!

In this way, the two sides finally sat down and started negotiating. In the end, both sides gave in and reached a final agreement.

In fact, speaking of it, the players union still suffered a loss, because the salary cap has not been increased much, it is only a mere three million US dollars. Whether high school players can directly enter the league does not actually have much to do with them. Anyway, It won’t affect them making money…

However, the maximum salary regulations that they firmly resisted were negotiated by the other party.

So overall, the management committee and the boss have the upper hand in the negotiations!

Now that the negotiations have been reached, the new season must start quickly. If you play one less game, how much money will you lose!

On January 15th, the preseason of the NBA 1998-1999 season officially started!

Or simply talk about the 1999 season. After all, I didn’t play any game in this season in 1998...

It is strange to say that Richard originally thought that the pre-season games would be canceled directly and enter the regular season directly, but Stern obviously did not think so. He not only wanted to hold pre-season games, but also held many foreign seasons. Pregame.

For example, this year the Magic, Nets, Kings and Timberwolves played two preseason games in Tokyo, Japan...